Chapter 51: Wanting to Create Magical Weapons
General Durba set off with his entourage to various locations in the Rocha region. The day before, as promised on the battlefield, he had taken me to my usual tavern and we had a grand feast while discussing our one-on-one duel. He seemed completely unaffected by any hangover. By the way, I only drank fruit water and richly flavored dishes due to my age, so I didn't have a hangover.
A few days after General Durba's departure, we successfully reduced the amount of iron ore mining, which allowed us to free up a portion of the labor force working in the mines. We asked only the blacksmiths among the laborers to leave and brought them to the research and development bureau I had established for magical device research.
Well, securing the budget turned out to be quite a challenge. I felt that keenly through back-and-forth negotiations with the management team. While not all of the budget requests were granted, by taking on the production of weapons for other countries, we were able to acquire the state-owned blacksmiths, which brought the budget close to full.
At any rate, I decided to introduce myself to the group of blacksmiths who had gathered, numbering around fifty or so.
"Nice to meet you all. I am Millimos Nonette, the prince of Nonette Kingdom, who has become the lord of the Rocha region. Having served in the previous war, I seem to be called the Monkey Prince as a nickname."
Seems like the nickname is more well-known than my real name, and the blacksmiths, who had been eyeing me skeptically, turned from astonishment to fearful expressions.
"The Monkey Prince, huh? That's the one who attacked swiftly like a monkey, froze soldiers with magic, and cut off both hands of a general encased in armor, right?"
"Rumor has it that the person who created the Sword of Light is also that prince."
"If that's true, then he must have really been serious about creating a magical sword."
It seemed that the blacksmiths held me in high regard due to rumors about me that even I wasn't aware of.
"Some of you seem to have caught wind of it, but the highest priority of this research and development bureau is to create magical weapons that can rival those of the Empire. The mechanism for manifesting magic has been somewhat understood in the Nonette homeland. However, we lack the steel-making technology necessary to replicate the process. And that's where all of you come in!"
As I enthusiastically tried to explain, one of the blacksmiths raised their hand and asked, "Hmm? Do you have a question?"
"Well, you see, even though we're called blacksmiths, all of us here have been dismissed as unfit for service from various blacksmith shops."
"Our group became miners because our blacksmith shop went under, but it was such a modest forge that our skill level is pretty apparent."
It appeared that the people gathered here were somewhat lacking confidence in their blacksmithing skills.
"Don't worry about that. In fact, your conventional blacksmithing methods might not be as applicable here, so even if you have a bit of wisdom in working with iron products, that's enough. I want you to approach this research with the mindset of creating entirely new techniques from scratch. And if you feel that your blacksmithing skills are lacking, you can always improve. Besides, part of this research and development bureau's role is to create products for selling weapons to other countries, so as you handle more projects, your skills will naturally improve."
As I earnestly mixed in a bit of humor, the blacksmiths seemed relieved.
"We thought we were going to be asked to immediately make magical weapons, so starting from scratch sounds good."
"Fundamental research is apparently being conducted in Nonette Kingdom. Our role is to turn that research into reality."
With everyone on board, I decided to show them the results of Nonette Kingdom's efforts for now.
I gestured, and my assistant Hones approached pushing a cart. On the wagon were a wooden bird, a matching crystal ball, and the Sword of Light, also known as the Skewer Sword. Both items had been brought from Nonette Kingdom and were in an unfinished state, with visible magical patterns. We couldn't bring the empire-made magical sword for research purposes, and I couldn't just dismantle my own sword, so a large replica of the patterns was placed on paper.
"Here you go, everyone. These are magical tools."
Upon Hones' words, the blacksmiths swarmed around the wagon and began picking up and examining the items.
"The patterns on the board on this wooden bird's body. Are these the patterns needed to invoke magic?"
"Wait, there are patterns on its wings too. And the metal that's in its eyes doesn't look ordinary."
"We can probably replicate the bird's pattern exactly. Carve the pattern into wood, ink it, analyze the metal's contents, and reproduce the same thing. But—"
"The sword is a different story. It has patterns on the iron material itself, and those are carved with lines to form the magical patterns. Simply carving the pattern won't be enough to replicate it."
"The Sword of Light is made from easy-to-cast bronze, with limited functionality to reduce the complexity of the patterns. This approach should make casting possible."
The conversation flowed freely as they delved into technical discussions.
This kind of open exchange of ideas is likely to lead to technological breakthroughs.
Of course, I, who was a college student in my previous life and have only been studying magic and training soldiers in this life, have never dabbled in the realm of creating things, so it's just a speculative forecast without any real experience.
As I quietly watched, the discussion seemed to intensify even further.
"Probably creating layers by mixing different grades of iron and forming patterns, I guess."
"Hey, hey. Shrink these patterns down to the size of your palm in your mind. How many layers do you need to stack? Also, how would you even create wood-grain patterns?"
"If it's an iron alloy, wouldn't it be easy to make patterns?"
"Iron is a tough metal to melt. Which metal are you thinking of mixing? Iron can't be used for weapons unless forged, and other metals would melt at the temperature used to heat iron."
"There's no need to stick with iron. If patterns can be made, other metals should work too."
"Hey! Steel is the best for weapons!"
"Huh? But it's a magical weapon. It's not about the hardness of the metal itself; it's a mechanism that enhances the sharpness with magic power, you know?"
With various opinions shared freely, it seemed a point of contention had arisen.
Feeling that this couldn't continue, I clapped my hands to gather attention.
"We understand your passion for blacksmithing well. And yes, it's true that magical weapons could be created with various approaches. So, here's the thing—"
Cutting my words to sound meaningful, I attracted even more attention before continuing.
"—We'll split into three groups and start researching magical weapon creation. Therefore, there's a limit to three methods that can be tested simultaneously. With that in mind, I'd like to reopen the discussion."
With the presented conditions, a new direction emerged in the blacksmiths' conversation.
"Splitting into three groups, huh? Well, one group could focus on creating magical weapons entirely from iron, like the Empire's example."
"The most reliable approach. I want to be in that group."
"Wait, wait. If we're talking about examples, the Nonette Kingdom has theirs too. Bronze can be easily cast. If we can establish a technique to create patterns with a bronze-centered alloy, it should be the easiest for mass production."
"I'm going with the bronze group. I mostly did casting in the collapsed factory."
"Hey, anyone else up for experimenting with different alloys?"
"Sounds interesting, count me in. Though, this group seems like it'll only have two people."
It appeared that they had successfully divided into three groups.
The group focusing on all-iron weapons had the most members, followed by the bronze group, and lastly, the duo working on the new alloy.
Let's allocate the budget based on the number of people. Give more budget to the iron group and a smaller one to the new alloy group.
It might seem biased, but when you divide the budget allocated to each group by the number of members, the iron group would naturally get the most. It's unavoidable.
"Now, this group will be responsible for researching from now on. Get along well with your teammates. Oh, it doesn't mean you should have conflicts with other groups. When producing weapons for export, everyone will work together. Make sure to maintain good relationships between different groups."
"Prince Saru. No need to worry."
"We're blacksmiths. Nodding along is part of our rhythm."
"When you work together as blacksmiths, there's no way relationships would sour."
As if in sync, the blacksmiths burst into laughter.
Seems like my worries were unnecessary.
And so, the division tasked with researching and developing magic weapons was officially established, and they began their activities.