Iron Harvest: When Farming Becomes Conquest

Chapter 73 - 73 7 Forging Experience +1

?73: Chapter 7: Forging Experience +1 73: Chapter 7: Forging Experience +1 Roman went to the Blacksmith Shop today.

Lax thought Roman was there to inspect the work and was ready to report to him.

But unexpectedly, the Lord grabbed a forging hammer from a Blacksmith Apprentice and started using it himself, leaving the apprentice bewildered and standing aside, watching Roman swing the hammer.

There was a clang!

The red-hot iron ingot became somewhat deformed under the hammer’s impact.

“Ah, this…”

Lax was completely stunned.

It felt as though the hammer was striking not the iron ingot but his own head.

I know you want me to train qualified blacksmiths because you have a lot of work, so you let them compete with me, but did you really have to do it yourself?

Lax was very confused and watched as Roman swung the hammer several times.

Each strike was forceful, sending sparks flying.

Roman said, “Lax, how do you think I’m doing?”

Lax replied honestly, “I don’t think it’s quite suitable.”

“That’s true, I’m still a novice in blacksmithing.”

“I meant your status.”

After all, it seemed unnecessary for a noble to compete with blacksmiths.

Roman, lifting his face, said, “You think I can’t be a blacksmith?”

“That’s not what I mean…”

Whatever makes you happy, I guess.

Lax then informed Roman of the current progress in the blacksmithing tent.

“These iron ingots are all of good quality.

So far, we have forged 60 cross pickaxes, 30 hoes, and 15 flat wedges.”

Each cross pickaxe weighs 3 jin, each hoe weighs 2 jin, and each iron wedge weighs 2 jin.

In total, nearly 300 jin of iron was used.

This is different from the heavy plows Lax previously cast.

Although those were massive, they were few in number and structurally simple.

The most difficult part was only the plowshare because it needed to be very sharp.

But the sharpness only needed to split the soil, not to chop vegetables.

However, tools like the cross pickaxe and hoe were different; each cross pickaxe had to be hammered thousands of times and re-forged dozens of times, otherwise, it couldn’t withstand the high-intensity mining tasks.

The saying “thoroughly tempered” comes from this process.

The twenty to thirty people took several days to forge these tools, leaving them all exhausted to the point of gasping for air.

Roman said, “The Salt Mine has enough supplies for now, Lax, let everyone stop; you’ll forge something different next.”

It goes without saying for shovels.

This tool is crucial for infrastructure, definitely needed to significantly increase paving Speed by thirty to fifty percent.

Roman needs at least hundreds of shovels, both square and pointed ones, ensuring everyone has one.

Furthermore, Roman was very concerned about the growth in the wheat fields.

That batch of Spring Wheat would be ready for harvest in a little over a month; not having the proper agricultural tools was not an option.

Some things must be prepared in advance.

Roman gave Lax a new design for agricultural tools.

It was an iron blade one meter long and five centimeters wide, resembling a Chopper.

This tool is called a scythe.

A robust adult could use the scythe to harvest four to five mu of wheat each day, greatly saving on labor.

Roman tasked Lax to forge 100 scythes within a month—just the blades, which would later be attached to a sieve-like woven object, therefore, carpenter Vic needed to come over as well.

Roman himself would forge something else.

…

[Forging Experience +1]!

He busied himself finding an anvil and began the divine path of forging.

Lax was quite interested in Roman’s actions.

There was no help for it; he held the highest status in the entire forge.

Although blacksmiths in this era were not lowly regarded and most blacksmiths had excellent relations with the local lords.

The more skilled a blacksmith’s craftsmanship, the higher their status.

The noble lords often favored the blacksmiths and the situation for skilled professionals was naturally different from that for commoners.

Yet, he had never seen the nobles personally stepping in to snatch business.

[Forging Experience +1]

Was Lord Roman trying to forge a kitchen knife?

[Forging Experience +1]

His hammering technique was very unpolished, clearly he had never forged before.

It was better to advise him to stick to being a noble, as not everyone was cut out for blacksmithing.

[Forging Experience +1]

… It started to look somewhat decent.

[Forging Experience +1]

Hmm?

[Forging Experience +1]

Hmmm???

Lax watched intently as Roman, over the course of an afternoon, transformed from a clumsy beginner into a confident and mature blacksmith.

From blindly striking at first to hitting just the right spot with each hammer drop.

Eventually, he forged a gleaming kitchen knife.

It couldn’t exactly slice through hair as though it was air, but it could be said to be of high quality.

After earning five forging experience points in one afternoon, Roman was somewhat satisfied.

He was quite proud of his innate Blacksmith Saint Body.

Roman examined his first-ever kitchen knife, fitted a wooden handle to it, and then under Lax’s stunned gaze, he left the forge.

He returned to Origin Manor.

Roman gifted the kitchen knife he crafted today to the chef, Bob.

“You’ve been quite diligent these past days; keep it up.

This item was forged by myself as a reward to you.”

Chef Bob, who had started learning to cook with his father at the age of six and served in the Grand Duke Domain for twenty years, looked more like he was in his mid-thirties or forties with his plump appearance.

He secretly thought a day off would be more important than anything else.

Bob harbored some doubt over Roman’s claim of having ‘hand-crafted’ it himself, but that didn’t stop him from feeling thrilled to have won Roman’s favor.

For Roman, the gesture was casual.

He didn’t expect to win Bob’s utter devotion with just a kitchen knife.

But ensuring Bob continued to serve him without complaints was feasible.

During dinner, Seth reported the day’s specific details to him.

The road construction target was met.

Roman wasn’t surprised; he had estimated the paving progress in the morning and was certain that 500 meters could be completed by nightfall.

The initial phase of the road construction was quick due to the low difficulty of transporting materials, but the latter half grew difficult, requiring back-and-forth transportation of building materials.

The salt mine was also inconvenient.

Due to the road construction, workers at the salt mine could only detour around it by cart.

Fortunately, the previously leveled road was wide enough that it didn’t affect transportation.

Roman leisurely bit into a fried chicken leg and spoke to Seth, “I’ve had Lax work overtime to produce a batch of shovels; the road paving speed will only increase.”

“I want this road completely fixed before the summer harvest.”

Roman set this goal.

Seth shook his head, “I fear there may be a shortage of labor in other areas.”

Roman calmly responded, “No worries, more slaves will be sent to Sige Town in the future.”

Seth advised, “Having too many slaves is not a good thing for you.”

“Why?”

“They are refugees, with no homes or land, they are a potential source of instability and each has their own agenda.”