Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

"Is there anything I can help with?" Winters asked, "Anything at all."

"No need, I'm not lacking anything right now, and I don't have to go to work, I'm good."

Winters looked into Benwei's eyes and said with earnest solemnity, "If you hadn't saved me at the docks that day, I would have drowned. I owe you my life. If there's anything... anything I can do, just say the word, friend."

Winters emphasized the word "anything" heavily.

Benwei understood what Winters meant; he chuckled and playfully punched Winters's knee, "Do we even need to talk about repaying favors between us? You just go be a good officer and don't worry about my trivial matters. Speaking of which, I do have a favor to ask of you."

"Name it."

"Is your family's workshop still running?"

"It is, my uncle is running it now."

"Can you help me secure an apprenticeship spot?" Benwei asked somewhat awkwardly.

"Of course! I'll vouch for you, my uncle will definitely agree," Winters declared, patting his chest.

"It's not for me to be an apprentice, I want it for my younger brother," Benwei hurriedly explained, "He has also graduated from Lu You, and this year finished his studies, but unfortunately, he can't go to Guidao City. I don't want him to work at the docks, so if you could secure an apprenticeship for him, that would be perfect."

Skilled artisans represent the middle-income class in this society; they earn money through their craft, neither dependent on the weather like farmers nor scorned and criticized like merchants. They are the envy of most manual laborers.

However, becoming an artisan isn't something one can just decide to do. In Vineta, guilds in various trades have since ancient times monopolized entry qualifications by paying large sums in taxes.

A person who only knows carpentry can't become a carpenter; they can at best make furniture for their own home. Only official members of the Carpenters Guild are allowed to publicly sell carpentry products and provide carpentry services to others.

The same is true for other industries as well.

Through this method, artisans limit the number of people entering the market, thus avoiding excessive competition. In fact, not only artisans do this, but merchants also carry out the same practice through commerce guilds.

And to become an official guild member, one must first be an apprentice to an official member, and after a five to seven-year apprenticeship, one can automatically become an official guild member with the tools given by their mentor upon completion.

The apprenticeship is extremely tough, as many craftsmen have bad tempers, advocate corporal punishment, and are easily provoked to hit and scold; moreover, apprentices do not get paid. However, this is the necessary path to enter a lucrative industry, and many people are desperate for it.

"Why don't you join my family's workshop too? The work at the docks is very hard on the body and can't be done for a lifetime," Winters sincerely suggested, considering Benwei's well-being. Benwei, at nineteen, was the same age as himself, and it wasn't too late to start an apprenticeship at that age.

"I'll pass," Benwei said with a light smile, "Apprentices don't earn wages, and I have a whole family to support. It's enough for my brother to become an apprentice. I am just worried that the kid can't handle the hardships of apprenticing."
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"Don't worry, I will ask Giovanni to look after your brother," Winters remembered something important to ask, "Right, I wanted to ask you something. You were there the day the dock's pier was blown up, right?"

"I was there."

"The people who blew up the pier weren't the men in black robes, but dressed like dockworkers. Do you remember?"

Benwei nodded with a cold smile, "Of course I remember, it was those Montans."