The Peerless Kobold - Chapter 70
“Alright, the anti-backflow valve is working well. It’s complete!”
“Thanks, Mr. Grimer. Please work on the remaining leather bellows too.
He repeated the same process, and before long, all 4 leather bellows were completed.
And the next day, we finally started the first steelmaking operation in the settlement.
(…Back then, we traveled to the eastern mountains to look for iron ore, but we were faced with a setback because of the strong monsters we encountered in Balberra forest, among other things. Now that I think of it, I wonder how Muriel is doing?)
I continued to work even when I suddenly remembered the red-haired mage. In front of me, the fire jumped out of the 1.2-meter tall furnace opening as the coals were tossed into it.
“Now, add more charcoal to the top of the furnace! Let’s fill it up from top to bottom with charcoal!”
Under Barrack’s direction, Grimer and Joseph threw more coals into the top of the furnace.
“Archer, start pumping in some air with the leather bellows.”
I instructed the floppy-eared kobolds to use the bellows to pump air into the furnace. After two hours of adding more coals from the top of the furnace, it finally warmed up, and the flames appearing from there turned orange.
“We’re going to send air into the flames to maintain their current color, so keep them orange until the end!”
And then, iron sand was poured inside when the level of the coals went down.
“Mr. Grimer, please pour equal amounts of the iron sand when the coals decrease! Joseph, please take care of the lime dust.”
“Leave it to me.”
“Alright!”
The two shoveled in the lime dust and the iron sand into the top of the furnace, and Barrack immediately piled the coals on top of it in a similar manner. They repeated the same action as the coals continued to decrease.
Barrack would poke the corners of the furnace from above with his steel rods to make sure there were no holes in it.
“Hey! The small, droopy-eared guy, get out of the way!!”
“Wafuh!?”
When Smith went to take a closer look at Barrack’s work, the latter scolded him, and he freaked out and curled his tail in surprise.
“Tsk, not enough air… The temperature’s dropping! What the hell are you guys doing!!”
“Gurua, guruuunn!” (Boss, we’re at our limit!)
“U, auu…” (It’s impossible…)
“Kuu, ruua!?” (It’s still not enough!?)
The floppy-eared Kobolds who have been pumping the leather bellows since earlier became exhausted.
I’m sorry, I was so engrossed in watching the process and forgot to tell them to switch places…
“Garuah!” (Alright, change!)
“Waonn!” (OKAY!)
I let the one-year-old Kobolds take over from the floppy-eared Kobolds and used my wind magic to temporarily strengthen the fire.
“Wofu, oaann!” (O wind, blow wild!)
When I directed the wind into the fireplace, the flames in the furnace shot up and its color returned to orange.
“Alright, let’s keep the fire like that!!”
Eventually, after feeding the furnace with lime powder and iron sand for about 30 times, we were almost done with processing the steel. Impurities dissolved in the sludge that flowed from the furnace outlet and collected in the circular depression that had been dug earlier.
From there, they stopped feeding the iron sand and coal was added several times, and we stopped introducing air to it when the level of the coal was almost half of the furnace.
“You can stop pumping air into it now. Good job, guys. Let’s dismantle the furnace!”
When the Blacksmith destroyed the draft furnace using the wooden mallet in his hand, a lump of red-hot iron was revealed from the inside.
“Now, let’s hammer it in!!”
Using wooden sticks, the three Werecat craftsmen hoisted the lump of iron into a nearby tree stump. Of course, the wooden sticks and the stump caught fire, but… will they be alright?
Tssssss
Joseph poured water from a clay bottle into the lump of iron, causing some steam to rise up from it.
“SHAAAH!!”
With a spirited shout, Barrack swung his hammer down!!
clang, clang, clang
Repeated blows were applied to the sponge iron and the remaining impurities in it were knocked away.
Before long, a high-purity lump of iron was formed.
“… Fuu, I guess this is good enough.”
Later on, this iron block would later be re-finished on a flat stone and transformed into Lancer’s new spear.
With the blacksmithing work done, the farmwork led by Joseph was completed without any hitch. They stayed for about half a month training the members of my pack and went back to Lucua village after.
Of course, we came along and escorted them back to their village.
During that time, I met the Village Chief of Lucua village for the first time. Liz asked me to train with her, and many other things happened, but… That’s a story for another time.
And as the days passed peacefully, I forgot to be vigilant, and trouble came knocking at our door…
