The height of the new shaft furnace was nearly eight meters, enough to have as much as four times the capacity than the old shaft furnace. The furnace was tower shaped, and its largest part was three meters wide. In order to prevent the tower from collapsing, he had installed some brackets at the bottom. The furnace walls were relatively thin, with a thickness of half a meter and the innermost layer would be made out of Soraya’s heat-resistant firebricks. At the same time, it also had a ventilation hole through which a steam engine would continually provide fresh air.
In order to make full use of the power of the steam engine, Roland had also designed a set of automatic feeding equipment for the blast furnace, which included a climbing rail and a movable door at the bottom of a unique material cart.
With the help of a steam engine the cart would climb to the top of the furnace, there the buckle at the bottom of the car would insert itself into a hook, pulling open the pouring mouth and dumping the fuel or ore into the furnace. For this era, this system could be regarded as the best possible method.
Unlike the old shaft furnaces with their large openings and low heat, his new furnace, once it started production wouldn’t stop for a long time. Though they would have to continuously feed it with fuel and ore, its output would be much higher than that of Lesya’s shaft furnace. As long as they construction five or six of these furnaces the town’s pig iron production would be multiplied.
…
When Roland finished drawing all the blueprints, he rubbed his sore wrists and then took a box out of ones of the table’s drawers and pushed it to in front of Nightingale.
The startled Nightingale didn’t know what to expect, “This is…”
“Ah… I had intended to give it to you at an early time, but engraving the pattern took some time, after all, I’m also not extremely skilled with the machines in the factory,” Roland smiled, “You should open it and take a look.”
On his words, she stretched out her hand to open the box, and was unable to suppress a gasp of surprise.
Looking inside she saw two revolvers which were completely different from the prototypes used by Carter. The two pistols were made out of shiny silver and polished so much that she could see her own reflection within. Furthermore, its body and grip were engraved with delicate patterns, on top of the barrels he had even engraved Nightingales name: “dedicated to Veronica.”
This idea had already been in Roland’s mind for a long time. Compared to carrying around those inconvenience flintlocks from before, the newly developed revolver was quite perfect for her. Whether it was their security or their firing rate, it was all of a high level. And now, after giving such powerful weapons to the hands of an agility type like Nightingale, Roland was already looking forward to the results.
“Thank you,” with a big smile on her face she picked up the two pistols, jumped off the table, and directly stepped into the shooting position. “Will you teach me how to use them?”
“Of course,” Roland nodded, seeing Nightingale in her white assassin outfit coupled with a gorgeous and dazzling smile, made him instantly understand what it meant to be handsome to the point of having no friends, “Using them isn’t difficult, as long as you are able to sneak at the target side, you only have to pull the trigger and shout: ‘it’s high noon’.”
Chapter 184 Self
Scroll stood in front of the door, outside of the bedroom, unsure of whether she should enter, however she decided to push the door open and step into the room.
Within the room, she saw Wendy sitting at the table looking miserable while holding a book in her hands. Scroll didn’t even need to take a look, she could already guess that it was certainly “The basic theory of natural science”.
Scroll couldn’t stop herself from chuckling out loud, she had rarely seen Wendy ever display such an expression. Even when they were trapped in the Impassable Mountain Range with the Witch Cooperation Association and the shortage of goods had already reached a critical level, she had still always shown a smile, trying to cheer up every sister, seemingly never worrying about the hardships they had to endure.
I had never expected it would be a book that would trouble her so much.
“I’m unable to understand it at all, is what you think right?” Scroll said, “It was the same for me when I read the book for the first time.”
“I thought you were Nightingale,” Wendy, who had heard her chuckled and turned her head. “…and now?”
“It’s still impossible for me to understand it.”
“Fortunately, you and I are alike.” Wendy sighed, “Anna would never say that. And I would never have expected that it would be Soraya who would be the second to connect everything and evolve her ability. I feel that if I’m not working hard enough, I will soon be surpassed by the younger generation. I do not understand how His Royal Highness knows so much and that what he says about the invisible world is actually the truth.
“In fact, there are numerous things he isn’t aware of,” Scroll shrugged. “I’m referring to certain aspects.”
“Such as?”
“It’s the matter with Nightingale,” Scroll said, taking a stool for herself and then sitting next to Wendy. “Don’t you also find that her current behavior is very different from how she acted in the past? Previously she had always concealed her body when she was protecting His Highness, even if she merely went out she would still put on her hood, but… she is now even listening earnestly during the evening lectures. You, who are living with her in the same room, should be even more aware of this than I am, maybe you can tell me what had happened to her in the end?”
“Nothing,” Wendy shook her head. “She had just finally made her choice.”
Seeing Wendy’s disregarding attitude surprised Scroll, “Her choice?”
“Well, it is just as you have guessed,” Wendy closed the book and bluntly said, “Without a doubt she had developed feelings towards His Highness Roland Wimbledon, which can clearly be seen without having to guess. If they shelter one of us it is only a matter of time before they win the heart of the witch, during the journey with the Witch Cooperation Association, it wasn’t uncommon to hear rumors about things like this.”
“Those were just stories made up by others, most of the sisters did not fare well in those circumstances.”
“His Highness is not the same as the people in the stories.”
Scroll got startled, she did not expect to hear this coming from Wendy, who had held the same view as herself until recently, “You know, us witches are unable to have children, the Prince cannot…”
“The Prince will take a witch for his wife,” Wendy didn’t even let her finish speaking, “He even told you so personally.”
How can it be that she knows about it… was Nightingale present at that time? Then she suddenly understood what the other wanted to say her, “Wendy do you blame me for not telling this to you? I just didn’t want to let this matter leak out. This could bring unnecessary problems on His Highness’ road to the throne.”
“…” Wendy remained silent for a while and then said, “I know, and I’m not blaming you because it is exactly the same thing I previously said to Nightingale. Before I knew His Highness’ answer, I thought it would end well if it were to happen to one of our sisters, but since the Prince does not mind it, do we really have to try to change their minds? Previously when Nightingale suppressed her feelings, she always seemed to be depressed. I prefer how she looks now, no matter what the outcome will be, at least she followed the feeling of her heart.
So that’s the reason, Scroll thought. Although she agreed to not abandon the practice of not letting the news spread, she still doesn’t want to stop the development of the feelings of her sisters. Unexpectedly there is a difference between Cara who never allowed someone to do something on their own wanting to be the only one who decided how to deal with their problems. Where Wendy instead is always looking at it from the perspective of her sisters, even trying to cheer them up during their times of hardship.