The Red Lands

Chapter 227- Inventions to shake an industry



Inventions to shake an industry

Miki sat swaying on the pair of back legs of a chair.

Her feet rested on the end of the long table while she sharpened a crossbolt on a rectangular grindstone.

Between her lips, she chewed a stick of dried jerky as she hummed a tune. Last night, a band of hungry wildcats decided to choose the barn as ground zero for a raid.

Horses do make an enticing meal during the lean winter months.

Even with Amarok and Fenrir absent, Lykos would have made quick work of the slinking cats.

The wolf might be the youngest of the three, but he was also the quickest. The white fur on its left shoulder bore a faint pattern, the only indication of a modified ancient talisman.

When Lykos activated his abilities, his movements were indecipherable.

Miki, however, kept the wolf grounded within the walls.

The six hungry cats proved too little to vent her grousing since she had to share the kills with Toll and Rose.

With her crossbow skills, she quickly dispatched three of them from her perch above the stables.

Rose and Toll defeated the rest in close combat.

Currently, she sat replenishing her ammunition inside the large warehouse outside the farm.

Maybe winter served as the time for families across the Empire to hunker down and ride out the chill. But on this farm, such thoughts were blasphemy.

Large iron braziers crackled to ward off the chill of winter while illuminating the large interior. Within these walls, progress through invention resided.

"I'm saying I need a hundred workers for this wall, Dad. Remember, it also has to bear the weight of the multishots and guard towers."

"And I am saying you don't need that much. I want half of your workforce to help me out in the grasslands, cutting stones. You can't construct the wall without stones."

"Fine, but you have to hand over all of them when I am laying the foundation."

In the middle of the same table, Halter and his son, Pine, circled around a model of the farm and surroundings.

Stacks of paper filled with designs, measurements, and estimates were scattered around them.

Ever so often, the two would burst out in an argument before meeting on common ground.

At the other end, Bon sat with a hammer, beating the life out of a piece of iron.

His intermittent hammering failed to bother the other occupants. Around the large room, small groups tinkered or argued among themselves.

Sometimes the entire party would then burst out from the building for the forge or some other location.

At the center of the warehouse, Dareck paced around two strange pieces of equipment.

The youngest Grandmaster to earn the title from the Blacksmith Guild hovered around the two pieces while constantly making last-minute adjustments.

He only paused intermittently to steady his shaking hands before continuing.

The large doors creaked as Shine and the women from the farm entered.

Her eyes rolled on spotting the raven-haired girl,

"Why do you look more like a bandit leader every day? I have half a mind to snitch to Mrs. Thomas about you when she returns."

Shine commented while setting down a large basket on the table.

Whenever Chu departed on his little adventures, Miki assumed the position of Commander.

A young girl controlling a farm with over thirty families and individuals would raise an eyebrow.

The men on the farm, however, bore no hidden grudges.

This girl not only could lead a pack of villagers to victory over a horde of demon beasts, but she also held an undefeatable status in the game of chess.

"Why are you all here? What about the babies?"

Miki asked on seeing Sherry enter last and close the door.

"Yin is with them in the daycare room. Shauna and Franny are with her. Don't forget they're both experienced midwives."

Stavia answered. Life on this farm differed like heaven and hell from the rest of the Empire. Worries over food, clothing, and shelter proved non-existent.

If that alone was not enough, they also enjoyed a lifestyle even nobles would dream of.

"Ok, then let's begin. Sherry, you can go first."

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The chair clattered as Miki stood up and reached for a bell. Every three days, she chaired this meeting with the exception of the guards and those carrying out the normal activities on the farm.

Her hands reached for the stack of documents prepared last night. During the day, she may appear lazy, but at night, she sat beside that large desk in the barn.

Clod and Rose were well aware of her seriousness whenever Chu handed over the position of Commander.

"This is the design Chu asked for. As you can see, the shirt is not the normal pullover one but can be opened from the front by these wooden buttons. Depending on the material, I can make clothing suitable for both heavy farmwork and general wear."

"Not bad, the button doesn't force us to only wear long robes or pullovers. What about the pants?"

"It's still in progress. I think they might have to be created to fit individual needs. They tear around the bottom if they're too tight."

Miki nodded while moving on to Halter and Pine to hear their report.

"The estimates are ready, and I have also sent in an order to Karst via the Trading Post. Even though John is not around, we do have a great reputation with them. Once the labor is available, the construction will begin."

"What about the clay?"

Miki asked from scanning her documents. The masons of the Empire use the mud from the rivers to aid in their constructions.

Normally, merchants would bring it in by the cartload to be mixed by foot with straw from the fields. The mixture helped stick the stone slabs in place.

"Commander, if I may?"

Old Hodge ambled to a stand from a corner. Beside him, a teen hammered an iron pestle into a large mortar.

"The Boss had spoken to me about using the powder from the white rocks called limestone to substitute for the mud. I did prepare a sample, and it worked well. The problem is that it needed to be crushed into a very fine powder, which makes it tedious."

The old artisan reported. Given the size of the construction project, there was no way he could provide enough of this simple cement.

Miki nodded before replying.

"Old Hodge, where have you been living for the past years? Do you think we need to crush this using a mortar and pestle? Halter, take some time tonight and invent something that works using the windmill. The sooner the better, so we can begin crushing this stone before Spring."

"Yes, Commander."

The two men made wry smiles and retreated. This girl would run them ragged before Chu returned.

She turned to Bon.

The blacksmith rose hastily from his chair. Miki proved to be a different entity when she assumed her role as a leader.

"Commander, I have done it. This is a sample of the first pipe I made, which doesn't leak. They can be fitted together and hammered. The apprentices in my group have also used the larger pipe to create the hand pump. The only problem we have is that it leaks too much and requires us to pump for a long time before the water comes out."

Miki touched a finger to her lip.

"Did you try wrapping it in rags as we discussed during the last meeting?"

"Yes, but it begins to leak after a while. We need a new idea."

"I thought you might. Have Toll organize a trip to the Barrelworm cave. I kept thinking about it since the last meeting, and I think this might work. We will use the rubber from the Barrelworms to caulk the leaks. You can also dab it around the joints of the pipe to seal the leaks."

Miki replied. Her words drew looks of admiration from the gathering.

Practically everyone knew she spent her nights thinking and devising solutions for their problems.

One by one, she walked around the warehouse listening and noting the progress and the problems encountered.

She finally stopped in the center of the building.

"I hope this works today, Dareck. Otherwise, you will be sleeping in the smithy again tonight."

Miki remarked.

This young man might be the youngest Grandmaster awarded by the Blacksmith Guild, but out on the farm, that title was worthless.

Dareck had built up a muscular frame from his daily activities and good living on the farm.

He also knew this young lady possessed a sharp tongue.

"Ahem. Commander, I have rectified the problems found from the last test. The rollers for this one were spaced out too much while the space of the teeth..."

"Grandmaster Dareck, you do know I only want to hear about problems you can't solve so I can have the others aid you, right? Now let's see it."

"Yes, Commander, but I can't help myself today. The importance of these machines is mindblowing."

Dareck coughed before calling over two of the muscular blacksmith apprentices. One of them set upon the modified lever and began turning.

Within the thin inclined trough, two long cylinders began spinning concurrently towards each other.

Both had lazy spirals grooved into the faces. Satisfied with the movement, the young Grandmaster removed a few sheaves of corn from a bag.

These normally were kept in the seed storage room for transplanting during spring. Throwing them into the trough at the top, Dareck gave a signal.

Immediately, the apprentice blacksmith increased the rotation on the lever. Slowly, the cylinders began pulling away at the dried husks of the corn.

As the ball of corn traveled down the incline of the trough, the cylinders ripped away the enclosed leaves, leaving the cleaned-out corn cob.

Below, the leaves littered the ground.

"Amazing! Do you know how long it takes us to clean the leaves from the cob? By the heavens, this machine cuts the work of harvest by more than half."

Stavia remarked.

Farmers had to outsource labor from the village during harvest to undertake this labor-intensive operation.

She suddenly remembered something else which fitted their Boss perfectly.

"On a large farm, this can save us hundreds of silvers..."

"By the stars, how did the Boss come up with this idea. And Dareck, for you to make this..."

"Heavens, you've done it, boy!"

Dareck coughed on listening to the praises heaped all around.

"Wait until you see this one."

He said as the second apprentice began spinning the lever on the next machine.

This device had rows of little cylinders that opened at the top. Like the previous machine, this one was long and thin.

The churning of gears and metal could be heard inside it.

Holding five of the recently cleaned cobs, he gingerly placed them, narrow end first, into the holes.

Immediately after, the clattering of grains sounded as the cleaned cob clattered on a wide collection pan below.

Removing the cobs, the onlookers gazed upon the grains resting below. Under the flickering light, they scattered on the pan free from the cleaned husk.

"What..."

The gathering turned speechless on witnessing the result. The time taken for only five cobs to be shelled was less than a minute.

And Dareck had yet to utilize all the open holes running down the trough. If the first machine did not blow their minds, then this one certainly did.

"Imagine this hooked up to the shaft of the windmill."

Dareck murmured to their silent faces. The young blacksmith had brought life-altering machines into this world...

"Heavens... If the Boss so desired, he could sow seeds from here to Karst and yet complete his harvest on time. All he requires is the help to tend the fields..."

"Harvest is the most important time on a farm because of the time needed to do this very thing... The Boss and Dareck just made it insignificant."

Miki nearly cried from relief while hearing the comments.

Harvest time was the most terrible time on the farm. Everyone who remained on the farm fell under the schedule of Clod.

One year, she had shelled corn so much, her hand blistered all over.

She couldn't even hold her crossbow back then from the pain. With these machines, the end of hard times had begun.

Her tears of joy soon vaporized as Clod chimed in.

"With this, I think we can more than double what we planned for this spring. Good work, Dareck, because of these tools we can really get our backs going when spring arrives."


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