Duke didn't go too much into the matter at night, anyway, he was used to living in the side hall. As long as you are sure that Hera has no evil thoughts about her, she will wait until she sees Gandalf tomorrow.

Early in the morning, while Duke was still asleep, he heard Sophia come and wake him up in a panic, saying that a strange woman was living in the main hall. Duke, who wanted to wake up naturally from a sleep, could only force himself to get up from the bed and deal with the matter.

Because of Hera's special status, if the witch enters the castle and is known to others, especially Bishop Carsmay, it will be a big problem. So Duke had to find an official identity for Hera and hide her origins.

So Duke could only get up in a hurry, and as soon as he opened the door, he saw Alan hurrying towards the main hall with the Storm Guards. It is estimated that Sophia's actions also alarmed Allen, who was on duty at the castle.

"My lord, my subordinates have been derelict in their duties and let strangers enter the castle!"

As soon as he saw Duke, Alan quickly confessed. But Duke just waved his hand lightly and said, "Alan, this has nothing to do with you, and it's not a stranger. It was an accident that a distant relative of mine came to Stormcastle without informing you. ”

Hearing Duke say this, and Sophia said that a woman was lurking in, it was inconvenient for Alan to ask more. Since it was not a security issue, Alan quickly retired and left, and at the same time announced the strengthening of the castle's guards, and he was also a little puzzled when the lord brought in a person.

After pacifying Alan, Duke hurried to the back garden and found Gandalf, who was controlling the magic circle, to find out what was going on.

"Gandalf, there was a witch named Hera at the castle last night, who the hell is she?"

Originally, Gandalf controlled the magic array with an unhappy face, but after hearing the name Hera, he immediately stopped the magic in his hand and said in an unusually surprised tone: "I just asked the Dark Witch Society to send a few low-level magicians or little witches over, how could it be Hera, a crazy woman, who came over in person?"

Duke didn't expect Gandalf to be so surprised, it seems that this matter really has nothing to do with him. But this also deepened Duke's curiosity, what is the identity of a woman who can make Gandalf, a great mage, shocked?

"Mad woman, she's in a high position in the Dark Witch Society, isn't she?"

"That's right, she's the archsoress of the Dark Witch Society, almost the equivalent of a high-ranking mage. It's just that witches are even rarer, so she's almost the highest level of witches in the French Empire. However, unlike the ordinary high-level Dark Witch Society, who live in seclusion and basically don't see people, this Hera likes to show her head on the mainland, and even play with fire in the Holy See!"

"I tell you, you must not underestimate this woman, she is going to go crazy far beyond ordinary mages!"

After listening to Gandalf's description, Duke was also surprised, he knew that Hera was definitely not a simple character, but he didn't expect her status to be so high. What's more important is that the woman who can make Gandalf lose his temper like this, the strength is probably not below Gandalf.

As Gandalf said, witches are already rare in this world, and it is absolutely rare to be able to reach this kind of terrifying strength, and even to operate openly on the mainland.

"And what did she come to Stormcastle for?" Duke asked, puzzled.

"How do I know, it's said that she's a madwoman, who can know the thoughts of a madman? By the way, the people sent by the Dark Witch Society are estimated to be coming in the next few days, so you should prepare and find a way to avoid the eyes and ears of the Holy See. ”

"No problem, I'll leave this to me. By the way, Gandalf, find a way to help me design a magic circle to increase the temperature of the furnace, I can use it a little. ”

As soon as Duke said this, he saw Gandalf glaring at him, and he said in an extremely angry tone: "Young man, you have already made the Grand Magus do too many things that are out of character, and I signed a contract with you not to be a furnace worker!"

In the face of Gandalf's anger, Duke was really afraid that this guy would not do anything, so he quickly reassured: "Great Archmage Gandalf, I know your inner dissatisfaction, but now Storm Castle needs you very much, and I also need you!

"Really?" Gandalf asked suspiciously.

"Of course, don't worry!" Duke replied affirmatively.

Hearing that Duke was sure again, Gandalf could only nod and reply, "Okay then, I'll believe you once!"

After getting Gandalf, Duke immediately called someone to bring in Martin, the owner of the largest blacksmith shop in the city, as a castle with hedron mining as its main income, the ironware industry is actually a relatively prosperous industry in Stormcastle, so it is not difficult to find a group of blacksmiths.

However, although it is relatively prosperous, the development of iron tools in Storm Castle is still backward, and it is still in the initial stage of pig iron, basically it is no problem to barely build agricultural tools, and if you want to make weapons, they are all shoddy. No matter how corrupt the lord was before, he didn't dare to use the iron weapons of Storm Castle to equip his soldiers, after all, this was a life-saving thing.

Therefore, the annual weapon procurement cost is also one of the main expenses of Storm Castle's finances, and if it can produce qualified weapons by itself, then Storm Castle will save a lot of money. What's more, Duke is really a bit poor now, and the military expenses of the professional army are a huge burden, not to mention that Duke plans to expand the cavalry.

Compared with the controllable temperature of the porcelain kiln, the magic array of ironmaking is much simpler, and it is enough to simply increase the temperature. And with Duke's early application of coke, a high-energy substance, and the large hydraulic blower under development, Duke believes that the historical earth-based blowing blast furnace will be born in Storm Castle ahead of schedule!

If it is combined with hydraulic hammer forging, all the "hundred steel" and "Uzi steel" will be floating clouds, and maybe the strongest high-carbon steel plate armor at the end of the Middle Ages will appear in Storm Castle. One can imagine what it would be like for a group of Storm Guards, dressed in armor beyond their time, to ignore most of their crossbow ranged attacks.

Even as strong as the Ice Demon, once the Ice Crystal Sword formed by their magic condensed could not pierce the high-carbon plate armor, it was the moment when Storm Castle pushed back. Perhaps the strength of individual soldiers is not as good as that of the Ice Demon, but in the face of absolute technological power, these low-level magical creatures also have no ability to resist!

If other metals can be found for alloy processing, such as tungsten steel with higher hardness and lightweight titanium steel, then there is no need for firearms, and the Storm Legion will sweep most of the legions on the continent.

Gandalf, who was manipulating the magic array earlier, suddenly saw Duke smirking beside him, looking like an idiot, and quickly moved to the side. As a noble archmage, it is really a shame to serve such a mentally handicapped lord.