Chapter 99

After finishing the order discussion, all that was left was to go home. I said my goodbyes to Camilo and left the shop. Come to think of it, this might be the first time I’ve properly received a commission and made something, other than when I pushed for special orders or when I pushed for additional orders, like with the halberds. I’m glad it was Camilo for my first time.

I nodded to the guard at the entrance of the town and passed by. Glancing over, he still had a spear. I wonder if the halberd training is going well. Since they asked for additional halberds, I assume they plan to use them in the town’s guard. Otherwise, they could have just assigned the first batch to the manor’s guards.

Well, that’s something Marius will think about. There’s no point in me worrying about it. I pushed the halberds out of my mind and focused on keeping pace with Rike.

On the way back, the road was still a peaceful scene. Sometimes, I think we don’t need to be on guard since nothing ever happens, but Camilo mentioned that bandits occasionally appear, and Helen said she recently took down a large bandit group. We can’t let our guard down. These things tend to happen when you least expect them...

Sure enough, nothing appeared on the road that day. For a normal person, the forest ahead would be the place to be most cautious, but for us, it’s familiar territory. It’s almost relaxing.

However, we don’t want to unnecessarily provoke the forest animals, so Sermia leads the way, keeping a watchful eye. We passed by animals a few times, but no trouble occurred. On the downside, Dian didn’t encounter the wolf pup she was eager to see, so her mood dropped a bit.

When we got home and finished unloading, the rest of the day was free time. I decided to prepare the molds in advance for the mass production starting tomorrow. It’s been a while since Sermia and Dian did this. I stuck clay to wooden molds, dried them, and made casting molds. By the time dinner was ready, I had made quite a few. This should be enough for the mass production starting tomorrow. I nodded to myself and went back home to prepare dinner.

The next day, after breakfast, we moved to the workshop instead of sitting at the usual breakfast table. We bowed to the shrine and started the meeting.

"Since you were there, you know that our Eizou Workshop has been commissioned to mass-produce longswords. So, starting today, all of us, including me, will focus on this."

When I said this, the three of them responded with different words but the same meaning.

"Let’s try to be as efficient as possible. Dian, keep making the molds."

"Got it."

"Sermia, you’ll pour the molten metal into the molds. No need to do the finishing today."

"Alright."

"Rike and I will do the finishing."

"Yes, understood."

"Speed is important, but be careful not to rush and cause accidents. It’s fine to take it slow and steady. Do everything safely and accurately. Remember, ‘slow is smooth, smooth is fast.’"

"Is that a northern proverb or something?"

Sermia chimed in.

"Something like that."

Actually, it’s something I heard in my previous world, like in special forces training.

"Alright, let’s get started."

"‘Yes’ (‘Alright’)"

And so, our workshop’s first mass production began.

We were all fired up, but we couldn’t start until we lit the forge and furnace. While waiting for the temperature to rise, all four of us worked on making molds. We might use all of these molds by the end of today. The molds can be reused to some extent, but there will be some loss, so we’ll eventually need to replenish them. By the time this mass production is done, we might need new clay. But for now, we’re focused on mass production.

Once the furnace was hot, we put in the iron ore, melted the iron, and poured it into the molds. During this time, Rike and I had nothing to do. This is when Sermia is the busiest, pouring the molten iron into the molds and adding more iron ore to the furnace. At this pace, we won’t be idle even after we start the finishing work. If Sermia gets idle, she can help with making molds.

When the swords cooled, we took them out of the molds, grabbed them with tongs, and hammered off the excess metal. Then, we heated them in the forge and, at the right moment, took them out and hammered them to finish. I started first, and Rike followed, hammering away to finish the swords. From what I could see, they weren’t top-tier, but they were pretty good for standard models.

The sound of our hammers echoed loudly, mixed with the sounds of the flames, the wind, and Sermia and Dian working. We’ve been in this situation before, but this time, it feels more like a family effort because we have a clear goal.

And so, I finished the first longsword of our family’s mass production.