One month after the discovery of Sage Ore
Kurt made several reports after the discovery of Sage Ore a month ago. Klendiana successfully created Sage Anvil and Pickaxe, allowing the Lexington Family to mine Sage Ore without any worries. He also reports to Earl Sylvester regarding discovery and a letter from the Kingdom of Scharlwarltz, stating that the Lexington Family has exclusive access to the mine to research. In terms of exporting to the Kingdom of Scharlwarltz, Yuki would prepare necessary documents for negotiation.
"I wouldn't expect you to make such a big discovery. Now Scharlwarltz can hire elves to do smithing with Dwarves assistant."
"Thank my children instead. They said they want to train magic control using Sage Ore from now on."
"Hoooo? Interesting. I wish I could see them."
"Don't you have other matters to attend, Madam Shina?"
"I will once your wife is done preparing the document for export."
"Looking forward to it."
Kurt makes some swords from Sage Ore, but the quality was not good enough when he forged them.
"I wonder what went wrong…?"
The Sword made by Sage Ore has a good quality, but it seems he was unable to unlock Sage Ore's potential. It seems he hit some deadlock when researching new weapons. However, one thing that bothers him is how Klendiana was able to craft an anvil and pickaxe from Sage Ore? That's another mystery he needs to solve.
"It looks like I have to ask… hm? What's Reynes doing?"
CLANG! CLANG!
Reynes channels his magic as he begins to forge a sword, and now it's taking shape. He secretly inserts the low-quality red gemstone during smelting, as he wants to try on something.
"I don't recall that I've taught you how to make a sword, my son."
"Father. Isn't it wrong for me to increase my skill after looking at how you made a sword several times? I also want to step up, not to be stuck in a dagger."
"I will help you. So hold that hilt side as we hammer it together."
Together, a father and a son forge the sword until it is complete before lunch break. After the lunch break, Reynes looks at the sword and brings it to the backyard. Yuki and Shina were discussing the negotiation terms while Reynes was about to swing his sword around.
"Okay, let's try this."
When Reynes channeled his magic to the sword, surprisingly, the sword lit up flames, and he could swing his sword around without any problems. When he chants some wind spell, the flame spins around the sword, and Reynes can unleash the spiral flame sword in front of him. When Shina looked at it, she was surprised as even the Valkyries can only use the spear to channel their magic through it instead of imbuing the weapon with magic attributes.
He channels his magic again to make the flame sword dissipate, and when checking it, it is as if the sword isn't as hot as he thought.
"Oh, looks interesting."
"Show me again!"
"Uh? What?"
Reynes is surprised when Shina comes to him.
"Show it to me again!"
"O… Okay…"
Reynes performs the same thing as he did before, and Shina looks at it.
"How can you coat the sword with fire element?"
"I… buy some low-quality fire gemstone and smelt it before I forge it into a sword."
"You smelt it!?"
"Y-yes."
It's a breakthrough for Shina and the Kingdom of Scharlwarltz. If the Valkyries have a weapon crafted from weapons imbued with an elemental property during smelting, they can use magic more efficiently.
"Reynes. Can you write a report about this, including a guide on how to make this sword? Right now, Scharlwartlz needs a strong reason to hire an elf as a blacksmith. I will also take this sword as a gift for Her Majesty for evidence."
"Give me two days, teacher. I have to recreate it as I'm also writing the recipes for it."
"Okay. I'm looking forward to it. Yuki, I will postpone the negotiation for export. If Her Majesty were pleased with this discovery, she would pour a lot of money for us to experiment on this ore."
"Eh? Then should I dispose this document, or…?"
"Keep it. We may need to rework everything."
"If you say so."
--
Three Days later, Kingdom of Scharlwarltz, Ancardia Royal Palace
"My, what an unexpected discovery."
Shina presents the sword forged by Reynes Lexington to Luciana. One of the guards stationed inside the throne room does not have fire aptitude, so she calls her.
"Try to activate this with your magic power."
As the guard activated her magic power, the sword slowly lit up flames around it. It surprises Luciana, Randgris, Marietta, and the Valkyries inside the throne room. As per Shina's instruction, when she withdraws the magic power, the flame on the sword also disappears.
It intrigues Luciana as she reads the instructions for making a sword per Reynes' specifications. Furthermore, when creating a sword, one of the instructions is to pour a constant stream of magic power, which further perks her interest.
"Inform the Minister of Financial to prepare investment for the Lexington Family for research. Send our best blacksmith to study under their tutelage! Marietta, prepare an arrangement with King Eudes as soon as possible. Make sure we have permission to set up shop in Shills and Armenia! Prepare three delegation teams at once. First Honor Guard Squad to Fourth Honor Guard Squad, split up into two teams. We will be going to both Dwarven and Elven Kingdom, respectively!"
"Yes, Ma'am!"
"Shina. Inform Lexington Family to begin preparations of resignation from the Minister of Agriculture. If possible, I would like them to focus on researching this Sage Ore."
"If you say so."
The Kingdom of Scharlwartlz began to make its move to fund the Lexington Family in researching the potential of Sage Ore.
--
Several days later, Kingdom of Arminia, Capital Town of Armenia, Minister of Agriculture Office
Kurt only frowned when Shina offered to retire from his current position as Minister of Agriculture in exchange for full funding for Sage Ore research. He definitely didn't like how Scharlwarltz wanted to do as they pleased.
"No. I choose not to retire as Minister of Agriculture or hand it over to someone else. This Kingdom is not ready for my retirement."
"Then how are you going to manage your time between your job as a minister and researching Sage Ore?"
"I will leave that to my wife and my children. After all, my son made that sword, and I have no right to interfere with his research. Furthermore, they began to conduct another research."
"Such as?"
"They are helping my wife in making a Sage Bow, and they would compare the composition for qualities. I would be grateful if you could help me set up the workshop and hire several elves first to measure magic quality aptitude before hiring dwarves. Besides, you have other work to do, isn't it?"
"Ah, yes. I think I will leave the program to your wife for magic training. Your children can train their magic power when making equipment from Sage Ore."
"That's what I've planned for. As for physical training, I think I found a suitable method."
He gives Shina a purple gem, which perks her curiosity.
"Gravity Gemstone?"
"If they can successfully research this, I think you know what comes next when it comes to physical training."
"Aaahh, I see! I wouldn't expect that kind of training."
While Kurt and Shina were discussing Sage Ore, Yuki, Klendiana, and Lexington were finishing several prototypes for the bow at Lexington Manor's workshop. Yuki brought some of the good-quality bow materials to be smelted with Sage Ore for an experiment. Some of the bows were made from Bamboo, Red Elm, Cedar, and Maple, while steel and iron bows were not ruled out from the option as well. Yuki had already thought of creating a whip bow, a bow that could be detached into two handheld knives.
The string, however, requires more material, such as linen, flax, and animal tendons. They would use linen first, as Yuki immediately experimented with it by adding linen to Sage Ore for smelting.
"I think the best for us if we want to make a whip bow is to use spider silk as the main material for the bowstring."
"Why's that, mom? Isn't animal tendon powerful already?"
"Yes, but not powerful enough. Whip Bow can serve as your personal defense weapon. If the bowstring is strong enough to resist sword, longsword, or spear, it would be beneficial for our survival."
"I see."
"I will talk to the Spider Tribe to see if we can secure some spider silk from them. It will take a while, though. Klendiana."
"Yes, mother?"
"I will recommend you join the adventurers guild when enrolling into the academy."
"Can I sign up by myself? Academy usually would register us first."
"You can, and it's better to do it yourself. With my recommendation, you can start from at least E Rank. I will continue to train your magic power from now on."
"Isn't that supposed to be Madam Prophet's job?"
"No. She's getting her hands full on Scharlwarltz matters, so she entrusts the magic session to me."
"I will not let you down, mother."
They've put the newly crafted bow to the test, and the result is another surprising matter. When hunting for boars and deer, the power of the bow is beyond their expectations. Six boars and eight deers, each of them, were killed in just one shot to the head. Most of all, the Bamboo Sage Bow with linen bowstring is the most prominent one.
"I wonder what would happen if we use spider silk for this bowstring?"
Yuki looks perplexed after live-testing the bow. Even during an earlier test before a live-testing session, an arrow almost went through a meter-thick tree. Still, she can't make a lie if she wants to make the blueprints.
"Mom. This bow is too strong. I think we should give note that it would be very confidential and requires strict supervision."
"I agree with that, Klendiana. Reynes, what do you think?"
"I was thinking that we should avoid live-testing when using Sage Bow with Spider Sage Bowstring, let alone the arrow as well. The damage could be more than we could anticipate after I've tested this."
"Well. This is what we've feared for. Surely, we haven't tested it with magic power and imbued it with elemental attributes. I will talk to Kurt about this."
Satisfied yet concerned about the test result, Yuki wants to enforce some regulations so the weapon made by Sage Ore will be restricted.
"This could be a problem in the future."
Sighing after making such a discovery, Yuki can't help but move on as she wants to continue researching.