Swiss Arms
Chapter 22
-VB-
Deacon Benjamin did as he promised. He asked the people after their welfare, their questions about the faith, and whether they needed help or not. He didn't ask anything remotely political or speak threateningly.
In fact, he got more questions from the locals about why the bishop started the war.
I helped explain to them that it wasn't the bishop who declared war but the greedy nobles who attacked the good bishop.
It wasn't until later that night that I talked with the deacon again, but this time, he was curious about the "alliance of villages" that I helped establish.
"So what is the Compact about?" he asked me. I could see that he was honestly curious. I supposed that he already knew the general gist about what the alliance was about.
I wasn't sure if I should talk about our goals, however.
The bishop of Chur, technically, remained an enemy of the Compact of the Seven Towns not because we fought against each other. This was because the Bishop of Chur was our geopolitical rival; they laid claim over the valley where two of our seven-member towns resided (St. Peters and Langweis), held ecclesiarchal domain over the region, and played political games with the surrounding nobles, who were our direct enemies.
Count of Sax-Misox died, yes, but the title of Count of Sax-Misox was still in conflict with us. Just because the man died and his army broke up and retreated didn't mean that the war he pursued against the Baron of Vaz stopped and ended. The new Count of Zernez had signed a peace treaty with me, so he was honor-bound to keep it; beyond the peace treaty, he had no manpower, gold, or will to fight me.
Telling Ben about what the Compact wanted would be counterproductive to the Compact's goals.
If we had a goal, that was.
The thing about the current "model" of the Compact was that it was an emergency defensive pact between seven towns plus myself. I intended to keep them all interested in remaining within the Compact by providing them with industry.
"No, I don't think I will tell you," I replied. "You are still beholden to the Prince-Bishop of Chur, who is the secular ruler of Chur and the lands he claims. He did go to war with the Baron of Vaz over a small portion of farmland that belonged to the baron."
The deacon nodded uncomfortably yet understandingly. "I see your point. Very well, I won't pry."
The next day, we traveled to Langweis, the town deeper in the valley, then he returned back to Chur while I crossed over the mountains with my men back to Davos, and finally, from there, I traveled on my own back home.
With my first patrol of the Seven Towns complete, it was finally time to work on my own goals.
-VB-
The first thing I worked on once I got home was put two ideas to test.
The first idea was primitive blacksmithing automation using water power. Unlike the volatile and unpredictable wind, water flowed down constantly without stopping.
So with Arnold's help (he was more or less my apprentice now), I made a water wheel, a mill, and large cogs. I reached LvL.50 in Logging, Construction, and Carpenter while working on the mill, and the 25% reduction in material need was a huge boost to how quickly we could construct the watermill.
In only two weeks, I had a working mill (without using Construction's instant building mechanism), and also got a new skill.
[Engineering] LvL.1 (Pre.Req: Construction LvL.50)
Making a better solution to your problem.
*0.05% reduction in material cost for tools
*0.01% increase in tool output
… I wasn't sure what "tool output" was or what objects qualified as tools. Considering that I couldn't - as of yet - detect how much damage I delivered, the best I could do was …
It didn't take long after having that thought for me to go looking for tools.
However, this only happened to objects that were made after my skill acquisition.
Anyways, the first thing I did with the water mill? Because the end of its mechanical cogs ended with a hammer within my fort (the entire mill was just outside the walls to the east) right next to my smithing area, I melted down a bunch of iron to test out the gear mechanics and the hammering speed and strength of the watermill.
And then when I was ready to have someone hammer the molten iron into shape, I walked over to the wall and pulled down the lever with a grunt.
The lever controlled a mechanism that lowered a cog down onto the slowly spinning gear within the watermill itself.
And when the cog slammed into place, the hammer began to move.
And move hard it did.
Arnold, Alvia, some of the residents of the fort, and I stared with pride as the watermill-powered hammer hammered the heated iron piece held by the tongs by Arnold. It was nothing like the hydraulic presses and hammers I remembered from my previous life, but this was still good!
"Well, I guess that's a start!" I chuckled. I could improve the water mill's design in the future as well, so I wasn't going to complain at all.
I then proceeded to make molds. Most of these molds would have heated iron laid on top of them while someone (our water mill) would hammer it into place. The shaped iron would then be processed (sharpening, cleaning, sanding, etc) by someone else with the right skills.
Now, I had a lot of options when it came to what I should make.
I needed to make something that was not noticeable, something made from iron and steel but something that wouldn't stand out like sword or speartips (because those were still made by castle blacksmiths rather than village blacksmiths).
I already thought to make nails. It was probably the cheapest product for us to make. Sure, it wouldn't get us a lot of profit per object sold, but the point was to make a profitable industry, not make a massively profitable industry.
Actually, I knew that nails were important. I kept underplaying the nail's importance and how cheap they would be, but I keep forgetting that nails were hard to come by for normal people because iron was hard to come by. I had a bunch of iron because I could mine for it without getting black lungs, but I could only do that because my power more or less broke physics to make it happen.
Nails wouldn't just be used to fasten building materials together but also on wine barrels.
… I would have to talk with passing peddlers and merchants to get a better accounting of the needs of the market, but I will make nails. With the water hammer, the speed of the smithing should be faster.
Yeah, nails will be the start of my fort's export economy.
-VB-
Arnold blew out a breath as he pulled the finished nail out from under the scary hammer and tossed it into the pile next to him. Then he reached into the heated furnace next to him with the same tongs and pulled out another heated rod. He waited for the hammer to pull up and placed the rod down at an angle. The hammer came down, and he winced as the impact strike of the hammer crawled up his arms. He quickly flipped the rod around and winced again as the opposite got hammered. He then placed the iron into a slot where it slid down until its now two-sided tip wedged into the carved groove.
The hammer came down, and a new flathead was made for the nail.
He removed this one as well, and then walked over to the wall next to the hammer and pulled the lever up with his fatigued arms.
The hammer clunked as it shuddered once and stopped moving.
Arnold had to give it to Hans. This was a genius way to make nails.
And what did Hans say when he told him this?
"No, I'm sure someone else came up with it first. I'm just reinventing something the world already knew… and maybe lost somewhere along the way."
Hans said things like that a lot, but this one stuck with him.
Arnold knew that what he did here in his homeland with his family was nothing new, but for how long had this been "not new"?
It got him thinking.
But right now, he had a job to do: sharpening those nails.
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<  VagabondI trust you know where the happy button is? New Swiss Arms Chapter 23 -VB- We made enough mirrors using silver and glass for the first semaphore and also a shit ton of nails for the watchtowers the mirrors would be housed in. As spring washed away to summer, I sent those two out, each with thin paperback instructions on how to use light as a communication system. I personally went out to deliver one such set of mirror and nails to town farthest from the center of our compact and was closest to the frontlines of the regional madness. When I arrived at Maienfeld, the chief of the town greeted me warmly, especially when he saw the crate of nails and the small box that held the mirror. "Welcome back to our humble town, Mr. Hans!" the thin man with a bushy beard greeted me heartily. "Come, come! Let us break salt and bread. A friend of the town should get the best of the best, especially when he comes bearing gifts, no?" "Thank you for your hospitality," I smiled as the shorter man wrapped an arm around my back and shoulder with some difficulty, and gave me a solid pat on the back. I let him lead me into the town, and I got my second good look at the town. Maienfeld was small; it was closer to a village than a town. Some four hundred people lived together here, which was significant for a Swabian Alp town. It was as big as Travaos, which I always kept referring to as a village. I stopped myself before I got lost in my thoughts over semantics. "I hope nothing's gone wrong while we have been gone?" I asked him while wordlessly greeting the townsfolk who recognized me. "No, nothing, but I am glad you are here because the Baron of Brandis has been calling." "Is he not your liege lord?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "He is, he is," the thin chief replied. "But he has been calling for more men and tax than he promised to take." It's always that, wasn't it? "If it pleases you, then I will stay here to talk with the heralds." He grabbed my hands. "Thank you, Sir Hans!" he cheered and I couldn't help but wonder if I just signed myself up to stay for several months. At the very least, the valley here was wider, warmer, and livelier than Travaos. I sent back three of the ten men who came to help me with the delivery. The rest remained with me. -VB- It happened on a clear day and on the flat valley ground. We were only at Maienfeld for a week when a knight of the baron came riding in on a warehouse and a dozen men-at-arms. I spotted them first; I liked to keep an eye out as always, because I had the highest chance of survival should an altercation happen. The knight rode while the rest walked on the road towards Maienfeld. The knight had a plate helmet, but his chest plate was just that; there was no full plate abdomen guard except for his brigandine. No shoulder, arm, or thigh guards, either. He had forearm and sheen guards, but they looked brittle and ill-maintained. Was this guy even a proper knight? He could be a hedge knight who just swore allegiance or something. He spotted me and my big ass sword rather quickly because I was waiting by the entrance of the village. "Who are you?!" he demanded. "I am Hans of Fluela! Who are you?!" I demanded in return. "Hans of Fluela? You are the rumored noble killer!" he snarled as he drew his sword. I blinked. Wait, was this guy serious? Drawing the sword right off of the bat? Also, I was known and rumored? Should I be flattered or alarmed? "I don't think you want to do that," I warned him while reaching for my sword hanging from my back. "Shut up, peasant! It is a crime for you to continue to exist when you have broken so many laws and slain so many knights and nobles! Surrender yourself and I will be merciful and deliver a quick death!" Okay, this man woke up today and chose violence. He kicked his horse into action, and it screamed as it charged forward. I took out my sword and waited for him to get in close. And then when he yelled as he brought his sword down in a decapitating strike as he was passing by, I stabbed my much longer sword forward and let him slam into it. Moving too quickly as he was, he got less than a second before he slammed into the tip of my sword, chest plate first. I let gravity do the work and watched as the impaled knight and my sword fell, and the impact of the fall was enough for my sword to cut down his mostly unprotected abdomen. I winced as the guts sloshed around the wound and the blade, but the now bigger wound made it easier for me to pull my blade out. The knight, barely alive at this point and profusing bleeding, keeled over and remained still. I pulled up my longsword and firmly planted its tip into ground. I then looked at the dozen men now looking at me. Except for a few, their faces set on firmly. They had made their decision. "Was he a recently sworn in knight on something?" I asked them as they started to spread out. My own soldiers, who had just watched it from afar, quickly came up to my side and spread out, shields up and weapons pointed towards the enemies just like how I taught them. "Something like that," one of them replied. "He was still a knight of the Baron of Brandis, though," the same man-at-arms said as he raised his spear. "Is it really necessary for us to fight? If he heard of me, then surely, you've heard of me and what I've done," I replied as I pulled my sword back out of the ground. "Maienfeld's villagers are traitors anyways," the same men-at-arms spat. "Instead of fighting for their rightful liege lord, they went behind his back and sought the help of their peasant friends! Kill them!" "You should have brought more soldiers if you wanted to do something like this!" I roared back as I jumped forward and activated [Intimidation]. Like a wave, the confident men-at-arms suddenly paled and staggered backward while my men, unaffected by [Intimidation] as they weren't the targets, surged forward. It took them two seconds to get themselves back together, but by then, I'd crossed the distance between them and had swung my first strike. My thick and heavy blade tore through one man's neck, another man's brigandine-armored torso, and the third man's hip from high to low in that one strike. Just like that, their force was down from twelve to nine. Pulling out throwing knives out from under my bear fur cloak, I threw them one at a time but as quickly as I could while I used my other hand to lift my sword back up. I threw three (which was all I had) by the time I had my sword back up, and saw two of the knives find their targets, but only one managed to score a kill. Four down, eight to go. That's when my soldiers crashed into the shocked and unnerved Brandis men-at-arms. Men screamed as speartips and blades slashed and stabbed. By the end of the brief skirmish that took only a minute from the first blood to the surrender of the last two men-at-arms, eleven people laid dead, ten of theirs and one of mine. I grimaced, looking at the man who'd died fighting with us. He didn't need to, but war caused tragedies like this. "Strip the bodies of everything valuable except for Dean's. We'll… we'll wrap him up and send him back home. Traoan, go and tell the chief that the baron's men attacked us first. This is a clear sign of aggression, one we need to answer together. Call up the other villages." War had come again to our doorstep. << Index Today at 3:17 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply mothtoflame, moontheir4, KopiLoki and 162 others like this.  VagabondI trust you know where the happy button is? New 2 more chapters on Patreon Today at 3:18 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply 5rgygyvcrtgbkn, Wentley and Your Target like this.  Gamehun7erYour first time is always over so quickly, isn't it? New Hans in a few chapters " I sell nails and nail accessories " Today at 3:26 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply RCCooper555, dave521, Noctis and 36 others like this.  MorkailShado-Master New This is how you "ops" a conquest of a nation. Thanks for the chapter. Today at 3:29 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply ExquisiteTopHat, The End786, 5rgygyvcrtgbkn and 15 others like this.  FieryfoxpawsKeeper Of Coffee New Wow what a stupid move by that knight, he not only get himself killed, he also started a war. Today at 3:33 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply ExquisiteTopHat, The End786, 5rgygyvcrtgbkn and 11 others like this.  etulaunaVersed in the lewd. New Oh boy, here I go killing again. Fieryfoxpaws said: ↑ Wow what a stupid move by that knight, he not only get himself killed, he also started a war. Something something fear not a competent enemy but an incompetent ally. Today at 3:33 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply jedimaster1942, ExquisiteTopHat, The End786 and 13 others like this.  Your TargetVery excited bastard New Thank you for this chapter, i still believe that when Hans has the spare materials and time he needs to make an ass kicking suit. Today at 3:34 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply jedimaster1942, 5rgygyvcrtgbkn and Venyr4434 like this.  morzillapigGetting out there. New Those guys really saw a man one hand kill a guy on a horse casually and still showed no hesitation to charge him? Damn why are this people so committed? Today at 3:34 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply jedimaster1942, 5rgygyvcrtgbkn, Shadow Pen and 4 others like this.  Mr. DyeusReasonable ethics New War... Can not wait Today at 3:38 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply 5rgygyvcrtgbkn, TheWoo, Dragonslayer Ornstein and 1 other person like this.  GreengreenGrwenGetting some practice in, huh? New Hey vagabond, where's the happy button? Today at 3:42 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply 5rgygyvcrtgbkn and Venyr4434 like this.  MastersgtVersed in the lewd. New Curious if/when we will get a time skip that is not just a "looking back on history" thing. Like... Has the Author decided yet whether this world is set in Disney or not? With Elsa, Jasmine, and the like. Today at 3:49 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply 5rgygyvcrtgbkn, Shadow Pen, TheWoo and 3 others like this.  IseeyouGetting sticky. New Instead of Disney, I want a Warhammer 40k expy. I want the main character to shit his pants once he realizes that the warp exists. It would really change up the dynamic because there is now a deep sense of panic as Hans has to try and find the Emperor and try to work with him to get humanity ready as fast as freaking possible. Today at 4:04 AMReport Like+ QuoteReply Making a book The whole skill-books thing really piqued my interest. Even while I was going around trying to find affordable books to absorb, there was one thing on my mind. What makes a book, a book? Like, say I found an e-book version of a book – those are usually cheaper than hard copies – and was able to download it and print it, what would it take to turn those loose pieces of paper into a book that I could absorb? A few staples here and there? Paperclips? Glue? So in my free time I found myself researching something that would probably raise a few eyebrows. I want to learn what counts as a book, the types of books, and the elements that make a book a book. Yeah, definitely the sort of thing no sane person would care to look up… Is what I thought at first. But what do I find after typing in 'making a book,' on YouTube? Legit videos of people making books whether by hand or using machinery. And they have views too; some even with millions of views! Instead of spending time wondering why people cared about this subject, I decide to simply make use of them. Don't look gift horses in the mouth and all that. I scroll down the page, checking out moving thumbnails. Seems like the ones made by hand are more journal or diary-type books. Made with blank paper as the foundation. The books I'm familiar with, the ones you just read, are made in factories using automation. Hm. I look around a bit more and click on a video about book binding at home. I make sure it's a simple book too, not some fancy, medieval-looking tome. You know the type, the ones you see in games featuring spell books; the ones with buckles and metal corner protectors on them. Something like that would only be a waste of time. So I start the video and brace myself to be bored to death. I watch two of those videos for the sake of variety and what I see does not make me happy. Sure I now know about signatures, and using string in the spine of the book, and even how to go about making the exterior of the book but the handcrafted version simply takes too much time. Not as much perhaps as having to actually read the book but I'm certain there's a quicker way to go about this. So I check out the factory version. I'd chosen not to start there because I don't have the machinery but maybe I can come up with alternatives. Couple takeaways from watching books be mass produced: it's actually pretty simple and a lot of paper seems to be thrown to recycling. The process starts with pages being printed, then the exterior is printed and seemingly laminated, and after that the pages are clasped together while adhesive is applied to the spine. The machines then stick the pages onto the jacket and after slicing off the excess, the book is basically ready for shipping. Not bad. Much more to my liking. And now we move to the testing phase. … Not every book brings up the skill-book notice. From what I've noticed, only – and I'm going to put this in my own words – hard data can be 'learned.' Things like agreed upon terms, math equations, scientific laws and theories. A book about military tactics used in WW1? I can learn that. A copy of any Harry Potter book? That's a no. AP-level psychology? Yes. A Rick Riordan work? No. i could go on but I won't. As long as it's some type of knowledge that applies to this world and people generally agree on, there's a chance that I can learn that book. Makes me wonder how it works with contrasting ideas. Like, even just a few decades ago people were operating under misconceptions that people today think are obviously wrong. So assuming people as a whole can be and often are wrong, what are the odds that a skill-book I learn today becomes invalidated tomorrow? Would I get some sort of software update to fix that skill? A patch of some sort? Would I even be notified or would my skill be changed without my awareness? Like today I know something and tomorrow it's changed? You know what, that's actually kind of intimidating… Er, repress! Okay. This whole monologue about what counts as a skill-book is because I had to take a trip to the school library and find a book that one, was learnable and two, was short. If I was going to print some book as a test then logic dictates the book be as short as possible to save on money. I found a decent one after a bit of searching, the subject was history. Not what I'd have preferred but it met the criteria. After that I looked the book up on this platform called Z-Library, self-proclaimed largest e-book library in the world. You provide the title, author, or even the ISBN code and provided they have the book in their system, you can download it. Absolutely HUGE collection that ranges from fiction novels to course textbooks to whatever else people read these days. A major money saver depending on your needs. And the funny thing is, I actually learned about it through Tik Tok; it was featured in a video about what they don't want people to know. So say what you will about that app, thing comes in clutch sometimes. I was able to download the book as a PDF and save it onto a flash-drive which I then took to a local FedEx and printed with a bit of finetuning to make it like a book. The final price had me wincing internally but it was worth it to proceed with this experiment. I don't waste any time getting started when I get back home. Aligning the pages in order is easy, if a bit time consuming, and once done with that I staple all of them together. I wait, even try flipping through it, but nothing happens. Figures. I expected this result since stapling pages doesn't make them a book but I still wanted to try it this way. Just in case you know. I pull out the staples and toss the black and white cover page into the waste bin, don't need that anymore. Grabbing the fully-colored and laminated – on one side – sheet I'd made; I get to work. This piece consists of the cover, allotted space for the spine, and the back of the book in one long sheet which I go about gluing to the loose pages. One thing I realized was that books have distinct exteriors. Even with paperbacks, the pages inside the book are different from the material making the cover; where the pages are simple paper, the exterior is usually thicker and has a slight layer of lamination. I assume this is for protection and maybe even aesthetics but it makes it so you can tell them apart by sight and feel this way. The same can't be said for pages stapled together. So when the test earlier failed, I got a feeling the lackluster exterior was the reason why. Something I can test as soon as this glue is dry. Ten minutes later and I pick up the finished product. Skill-book: Understanding the Industrial Revolution obtained. Do you wish to learn it? Fuck yeah. Love it whenthings go to plan. … The work doesn't stop with one successful test. No sir, it's the opposite actually. I've proven I can make skill-books so now the focus switches to making them efficiently which also translates to 'I need a printer.' We have one at home, an EPSON brand that's cheap but has printing and scanning features and meets the family's needs. And by needs I mean the once in a blue moon when I have to print something for school or my parents need to print some important document. Very low frequency usage and it's ink cartridges are small but it is perfect for my household. Unfortunately, if I intend to make a habit of printing books I'm going to need a different printer which is something I've started researching now. Laser and inkjet printers seem to be the two broadest categories and each have their own benefits. Laser works best for high frequency printing, where you'll be printing lots of pages for a long period of time. It can also do color but if you want really high quality pictures then inkjet is best. Since only the title needs color I'm leaning more towards laser. The make of the book exterior was the next problem. I could either laminate it or try printing on another type of paper, something thicker like construction paper or whatever. Different paper type would be easiest but I don't know if it would be good enough so I looked into my options for cheap lamination. Turns out you can buy pre-laminated paper at stationary stores but the downside is that laser printers don't work well with them. So luckily there are DIY lamination kits, I could buy a roll of the stuff and apply it as needed. I'd just print the necessary papers, self-laminate the exterior, and then glue in the pages and boom! Skill-book ready for learning. All this comes at a price which is another reason I need to find a way to make money; the printer, toner, and paper won't buy themselves after all. Neither will the books I can't pira- er, procure at a reasonable price. I need money and a somewhat reliable method to keep it coming. I'm going to dig around for online job options, things that will let me create and build on computer related skills and allow me to work on a schedule I pick. Should be easy to figure out; if I can learn how to make books from the web then I should definitely be able to learn how to make money using computers. While I'm working out the how, I should also think about the what. If all goes to plan, I'm going to be like a rich kid in a candy shop. So many options in front of me that I could end up learning stuff that I don't need or not learning the stuff that would benefit me most. I don't want that problem so it's best if I have a plan before reaching that point, a way to maximize my gains and steadily build on them. Maybe I could consolidate my foundation in terms of critical thinking skills and high school level knowledge to help with subjects I pick up later on? Eh, I'll think on this further. I keep asking for ALL the comments and I hope this serves as proof that I do read them. This chapter is actually brand new; it came about because you as readers had questions and feedback about the introduction of skill-books. And yes, I did actually watch videos on how books are made to make this more accurate. You're welcome. In case you're curious, here is a pretty good video on how it happens. Let me know if I forgot anything or just your thoughts about this chapter. A smart sounding definition of what books count as skill-books would be much appreciated... Also, because this chapter is kinda short, I'm going to post the original chapter three (now four) today as well. If you finish this before I get that up here then please sit tight.