King Zenu's loud laughter echoed inside the castle walls. It thundered inside his quarters just as the lightning outside illuminated the dark skies.
"You are saying that… he wanted to learn how to forge?"
"Yes, my King. Today, he asked his people to create a forging room for him. And he asked them to buy some cheap iron."
"He didn't know how to use elements! How was he—don't tell me he was going to use the ancient method?" With this thought, the King beamed. "It seems that he was really different."
"Yes, my King. Rumors were going around that he had… finally become insane."
"Tell me about them," he asked the man wearing a cloak that was kneeling in front of him. The hood of the cloak covered the man's face.
"Duke Li… was injured a couple of days ago. They said it was Lady Wang who injured him. After that, he stayed in his room and never came out again."
"Eh?"
"After a day, he asked his people to build a forging room and buy an iron. They said… he wanted to create a weapon that could defeat Lady Wang. And that the thought of defeating it made him insane."
"Lady Wang dared to hurt my brother? How come I wasn't informed of this?"
"This was only a rumor. No one knew about it, as Lady Wang sent everyone away. After that, Duke Li was sent back to the Duchy after fainting."
"Hah! That woman is indeed brute! But isn't this interesting? Do you have any news about Old Wang?"
"Unfortunately not. He wasn't doing anything suspicious."
"He wasn't trying to stop the wedding?"
"No. He was just busy in the training camp every day. So far, we didn't see any peculiar movement from him and his people."
King Zenu squinted. The shadow cast from the illuminating pearls inside his quarters made his handsome look more sinister. "continue watching him. I am sure he is going to do something about this." He already laid the trap. Why wasn't the old general doing anything?
King Zenu expected the old man to plan a revolt, perhaps even try to have Li Qiang killed. And once that happens, he would immediately execute the old man.
True! This plan was risky. It could easily kill his own brother. But then again, Li Qiang was useless. He should be happy that King Zenu was planning to use him as a sacrifice in this game of chess between him and the Wang Family!
.....
The loud thunder echoed inside Li Qiang's forging room.
Yet, it wasn't enough to quench the heat from his eyes. Li Qiang's face was serious as he directed his steely gaze towards his steel needle. It took him two nights to finally turn iron into steel, then a day to turn it into spring steel. Finally, another three days to make his first set of needles.
Three f*cking days!
To think that he only made four needles for the set was also a little depressing.
"What kind of needle is that?" Dou Lin suddenly asked. He had been watching Li Qiang for days too, looking at the weird way he was processing that cheap lump of iron that was pretty common in this world. He had wondered if Li Qiang had finally become insane after what happened to him.
To his surprise, Li Qiang could really forge his own needles.
"Steel."
"Steel? What is that?"
"I made it from iron."
"Is that strong?" Dou Lin approached him.
"Probably. Who knows?"
"…" Dou Lin stared at the needles. It was about the length of his pinky finger. It wasn't as thin as the needles used to sew clothes, but it's still easy to conceal. Moreover, they really looked sturdy. "Did you make me carry all those iron that night just to make four of this?"
Right.
Li Qiang was only able to make four from the first batch of iron that he bought that night. To his excuse, it was because of the trial-and-error process. He knew how to make steel from iron, but he had nothing else that could measure the temperature of the fire.
Obviously, he couldn't use elements, so he had to rely on actual fire and had a hard time controlling the temperature to change the iron into pig iron, then into steel. Moreover, the process of turning the steel into spring steel needed precision and all of his concentration. He needed to make sure that the steel was equally heated and tempered before finally molding it.
As a first-timer, Li Qiang made a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of materials.
"Yes." Li Qiang nodded. The steel indeed looked sturdy. In fact, this looked better than what he had on Earth. This made him ecstatic. It seems that he could make another batch of weapons faster next time!
The knocking on the door interrupted his stupor.
Almost immediately, Dou Lin disappeared.
"I told you not to disturb me," Li Qiang told the maid who looked a little too dressed for a simple maid. The woman's clothes showed off all the right curves in her body. It was something that would have easily tempted the previous Li Qiang.
Li Qiang gave the woman a disproving look.
"Duke… please forgive this servant. However, someone from Duke Wang's household is here to see you."
"Oh?" Li Qiang snorted. What took them too long? "Then led him into the drawing-room."
"Understood." The woman bowed. She gave Li Qiang another glance before leaving the room.
"Dou Lin…"
"What is it?"
"Kill that woman."
"I am not your servant."
Again, Li Qiang snorted. Well… it was worth a try. "Right."
"Why do you want to kill someone who did nothing to you?"
"Do I need a reason to kill someone?" Li Qiang countered.
"You—"
Li Qiang waved his hand and hid the needles in his sleeves before hiding the mold on the vault that he secretly placed in the room. He made sure to make it look like he was trying to make a sword instead of a needle. Obviously, he was also making it look like he was failing miserably at it.
After a few minutes, he left the room and went to see the attendant that was sent by the Wang Family.
"Duke Wang… my name is…"
"Why are you here?" Li Qiang interrupted him.
"Lady Wang… wanted to see you."
"No."
"Par—pardon me?"
"I said no. Clearly, I am still injured."
"With all due respect…"
"You can leave now."
"Eh?"
"Tell Lady Wang I needed time to recuperate. After all, I am but a worthless man who fainted because she asked his right-hand man to beat me." Li Qiang beamed. Then he left the room without saying anything else.
....
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