Roland took a deep breath, then he gave Anna the signal to start “start now”. The latter nodded her head, took a steel ingot, and placed it over the hole. Under the power of her green flame, the ingot quickly turned red and began to melt, forming a small waterfall out of molten iron which flowed into the hole. The molten iron glowed red-orange and became so bright that it was hard to look at. In order to protect Anna’s eyes, Roland specially set up a support frame at the edge of the hole. She just had to take a good position first and then she could lean against the support frame to produce the cannon without looking into the hole.
The ingots were normally only used up slowly. After all, Anna alone couldn’t start the era of hot steel, but producing a small batch wasn’t a big problem — the most difficult problem to solve was to hold the temperature at the same level, but with Anna’s help he was able to produce a small batch of excellent quality steel.
This was also the reason why Roland dared to produce a cannon of the size of five meters. Compared to the cannons produced out of bronze or iron, the cannon made out of steel was clearly much stronger. Even if Roland built the cannon in the wrong size, the probability that it would self-explode was much smaller.
The amount of molten steel was continuing to rise within the hole, but the numbers of ingots were also becoming less and less. Seeing this, Roland couldn’t help himself but feel some heartache. In the end, he only could wait until the time when he would be able to build some blast furnaces on his territory. The number of steel and iron ingots a noble could produce was one of the criteria used to measure strength and power during this time.
When the two molds were filled, Anna’s cheeks were bright red because of her effort. So, Roland took out his handkerchief and gently wiped the sweat from her nose away. Unable to accept this embarrassing care, Anna showed some resistance at the beginning, but after a few seconds she obediently closed her eyes and let Roland take care of her.
Her face had a red shine from the light of the molten steel, causing Roland to think about taking a bite out of her. However, when he looked further down her neck, her exposed, slender clavicle entered his view. The both of them were so close together that Roland could smell her delicate fragrance.
“Ahem, well …” Roland embarrassedly took the handkerchief away while trying to control his restless emotions, “that was everything for today. Well done! I will tell the kitchen to specially prepare a pepper steak for you.”
Now wasn’t the right time, Roland thought, if I take action now, everyone will think that I am taking advantage of a vulnerable person. I will have to wait until she is completely free…
When Anna opened her eyes, she could feel that Roland had wiped away all her sweat, but his face seemed to be redder than before. She gently nodded to Roland and expressed her thanks.
In the next few days, Roland traveled between the castle and the North Slope Mine several times.
In addition to cannons, he also needed to make a sufficient amount of boring tools.
The production method of the boring tools for gun barrels and cannon barrels were quite similar. After their removal from the mold, Anna would heat them up again, so that they could be processed with a hammer. It was quite different from producing an ordinary knife. At first glance, it looked like a blunt iron rod. However, the only difference was that it had a gap on its head, which was used to discharge metal debris. At the last step, the iron was quenched to increase its hardness.
The production method was quite different from modern high precision drills. After all, Roland only needed them to drill into iron. Taking their high wear rate into account, Roland and Anna produced five boring tools within a week. Thanks to this boring tools and the usage of the steam engine for drilling — the production of the gun barrels rapidly increased from 2 each month to ten each day.
After everything was ready, the miners would dig out the two cannon embryos, then clean the scum from the surface and transport them onto the carriage smithy.
For the production of these two cannon embryos, nearly all of Roland’s steel ingots were consumed, a priceless test. So Carter and his whole guard were responsible for the protection of the transport, which let the Chief Knight feel a little superfluous. Who would steal so much inflexible stuff?
According to the requirements of the Prince, the blacksmith began to polish and flatten the appearance of the embryo, after the grindstone. When they had finished it, the embryos were delivered into the castle backyard. At this time they just looked like two solid iron bars with dark gray and rounded appearances, exuding a heavy metallic luster.
Roland couldn’t wait to start the drilling, so together with Carter he brought the embryo to the right place, and placed the tip of the cutter head at the top of the steel bar.
With a face full of expectation, Roland pulled the valve on the steam engine. The boring tool slowly began to operate, but not much later it was already running at a steady speed.
“Begin!” the Prince loudly shouted.
Hearing this, the Chief Knight pushed the sliding base down so that the boring tool came in contact with the embryo. When the tip of the boring tool came into contact with the embryo, a harsh noise which even overshadowed the noise of the steam engine could be heard. As lubricant they used lard, which was packed into the drilling, coming out of the wire as black foam. The onlooking witches withdrew from the wooden shed, and only Lightning insisted on staying. It seemed to her that looking at this machine was much more beautiful than any landscape.
Chapter 70 Spy (Part 1)
“Groundhog” Kohl was somewhat anxious as he looked out of the window.
In this hell-like place, it was snowing without end. He thought that the sky looked exactly like his grandmother’s sheets which she hadn’t washed for years, both of them dirty and gray. Even though he couldn’t see the sun, he still had another way to judge the hour.
That ‘way’ was the militia training; as long as the weather permitted, the militia would run every morning (at 8 am) around the town square. The group of idiots had already started it a month before the Months of the Demons, but they were still doing it even now.
Don’t these people know that it’s most important to save as much strength as possible during the winter so when the time comes that they truly need to run, they won’t need to pray to God to lend them stronger legs?
However, thanks to this bunch of idiots, he could now determine the right time to leave.
That’s right, Kohl wanted to flee this possessed town! Although he was ordered by the 2nd Prince to stay in Border Town to observe everything that the 4th Prince did and then send the gathered intelligence back to Valencia, But now, he had reached a point where he didn’t want to stay any longer.
His thoughts were, I’m afraid that in less than two weeks I, along with this town’s inhabitants will all become the Devil’s sacrifices.
This wasn’t him being paranoid!
Since the beginning of winter, one strange thing after another had happened. Perhaps other people weren’t aware of it — which to him, wasn’t surprising.
These townspeople don’t have any experience; they’re all country bumpkins! As long as they have enough to eat, they don’t care even if the heavens were to fall down on them. But I’m different, I’m “Groundhog” Kohl! Because my skills in stealing information and snooping for news are the best, His Highness Timothy himself hired me for this job.
One night, when he had climbed over the city wall, he had discovered a strange weapon that was able to knock down demonic beasts, but of course, this wasn’t the most startling discovery.