"Whew-hiss-"

"Whew-hiss-"

Michael Acasta struggled to control his breathing, staring closely at the formed steel billet in the fire, carefully noticing the color change above it.

He had never been so attentive, and the average temperature in the town of Ian Sher in the middle of the kingdom of Sampazia in May was already in the thirties of the temperature, and it was an indescribable feeling to be in front of a fire, but he seemed to be unaware of the sweltering heat, and let a drop of sweat the size of a bean on his flushed face drip across his face with a golden and white beard and onto a linen towel and a deerskin blacksmith's skirt - just staring intently, intently at the sword embryo in the fire.

The charcoal burned silently, and Michael seemed to be back two weeks ago.

......

The weather was hot and dry.

Even craftsmen who are already familiar with this temperature can become lazy on such days, and only the tireless summer cicadas begin to squeak.

- Michael is a native of Avenella, or rather, his ancestors are from Avenella. About a hundred years ago, perhaps even further, his ancestors were forced to leave Avenella and migrate south under the invasion of the Loans, and when they finally settled here, they changed their surname to Acasta in order not to forget their old homeland.

Over the course of a century, the family used their craft to become hereditary blacksmiths, and after the death of Michael's father more than a decade ago, he took over the blacksmith's shop and began forging day and night. Through hard work, Michael has made a name for himself in Ian Sher - which is not as simple as ordinary people think. Experienced people can tell from the name of the town, because more than 50 percent of the inhabitants are of Avenella descent. The name was also acquired in the Arvenella language.

And it means "iron shield".

The raids and raids of the Luoans. It is organized and disciplined.

Their main targets were craftsmen of all kinds who possessed handicrafts - the Luoans themselves did not bother to do anything other than fighting, so they plundered slaves from other countries and regions to farm and build various housing tools for them, and as the first need for warfare, blacksmiths who could craft all kinds of armor and swords were naturally the first to bear the brunt.

So many of the Avenela who fled with their families were professional blacksmiths, and Michael's father, all of them hated the Loans.

It was a cliché to force them to leave their homeland, but Michael, who was nearly fifty years old at the time, had no heart to care about the rotten debt of nearly a century ago, and he had achieved quite a lot here. Ian Sherry, which was lined with blacksmiths, became the number one signboard - and that was enough for him.

The heights are overwhelming, and as the strongest blacksmith in the land, Michael is lonely.

He was now largely out of the mountains, leaving the work at hand to his apprentice blacksmiths, for he didn't think there was much to think about and build with a hammer.

――Until that day.

The man on the tall horse, with the blue mercenary badge and the great sword on his back, was almost immediately eyed by him, but then he caught a glimpse of another person behind him—the striking white hair of the man, to be exact.

"The ...... of the Loans"

Presumably, the other party had already attracted a lot of attention when he entered the city, the old blacksmith thought nonchalantly, and he didn't pay much attention to this Luoan man. One reason is like what we said earlier. Michael doesn't care about the old debts of a century ago, and the other reason is that the other person looks like a teenage girl.

A delicate face, a simple high ponytail tied behind the head for easy movement, and slender limbs. But Michael was more concerned than any of this was the suit of armor on her body, which was clearly damaged by battle—and he immediately noticed the empty belt around his waist, and the old blacksmith thought to himself.

'A century ago, you Roans had to come to us to make weapons for you. A century from now, you'll still have to ask us to make weapons for you,' he was so triumphant that many of the weapons he had forged were displayed at the door of the blacksmith's shop. I think the other party will be amazed by this superior quality after this.

"It's all rubbish. ”

"Cough, ......cough, Those who are not convinced will often find some ruffians and even low-level mercenaries to make trouble here, but the former will usually be driven away, while the latter, seeing the quality of the weapon, will directly sell their employers in order to get a discount for future purchases.

But this man is different, first of all, he doesn't look like a guy who can afford to be hired, and secondly, he has a very serious and serious expression on his face, as if he says it's rubbish because it's all rubbish.

"Alas—" sighed the blacksmith apprentices who looked back, they were sensible men, but their master, Michael Ecasta, who was in his fifties, was good at craftsmanship, character, and everything, but he was stubborn and could not bear anyone to slander his work.

So he scolded: "You ignorant mercenary! You young man who doesn't know where you came from! Hairy boy, old man, my work is in the end—"

The voice stopped abruptly, and all the blacksmith apprentices turned their heads in a daze, in their impression, their master would definitely not stop scolding for a while, and this time it was ......

The tall black-haired mercenary, who was our Henry, of course, leaned down and picked up a display sword that lay on the wooden platform, and with this action he showed Michael the silver blade of Kramer, which was not covered by the cloak, and the old blacksmith was completely silenced by this sight.

"This surface treatment ...... How did you do that!", despite being over half a hundred years old. Michael was still on his feet, but his attempt to grab the big sword was easily avoided by Henry. The sage didn't look at it, and took a step back to make the old blacksmith pounce on him, and at the same time looked at the blade of the long sword in his hand. Finally, he shook his head with a "tsk" sound.

"You kid, give me that-" "You sword, you can't do it." ”

The old blacksmith's brows furrowed into a puff at the end of the remark, but the words that followed Henry made him and any blacksmith apprentices who heard it freeze in place.

"The center of gravity of the sword is too forward, so that the recovery of the hand is a little slower, and the combination of the gauntlet and the blade is also a bit problematic, here it is obviously crooked - but the biggest problem is the material of the blade, and if you look closely, you can see that there is a crack extending from the weak part of the true blade (1) to the part of the spine of the sword, which is obviously the result of a mistake in quenching. That wasn't the end of it, Henry went on to tell the story.

"The blade on the left side is thinner and narrower than the right. This means that there was the same rift here, but you just rubbed it off. ”

"I can understand that the grinding process is excellent, it is no problem to cut off muscles and bones, and the center of gravity is designed to enhance its single kill, which I can understand, but that doesn't change the fact that it's rubbish. ”

"You ......" The words spoken by the other party can now be judged by experienced blacksmiths located here, although this sword was originally used to sell as a bargain, but no matter how the other party saw this problem, they were still a little embarrassed.

"But ......," but Henry then nodded, "The handling of the steel is okay, although it is a little softer." But it can be seen that there is a heart to do. He turned to look at Michael at the door, "Is this what one of your novice apprentices here did—"

"......" Everyone fell silent again, and Mira behind him covered her mouth and snickered quietly, Henry naturally couldn't be so slow to detect the atmosphere, he was completely ill-intentioned and deliberately bullied people.

In fact, along the way here, the two of them had already visited a number of blacksmith shops beforehand. At first, there were several people who said that they would not give Loan artificial weapons, and then after asking all the way, they learned more or less about the strongest blacksmith shop in Ian Sher, including the stubborn character of this old blacksmith who prides himself on his high nostrils - and when Mira was worried about whether the other party would make it. Henry shrugged his shoulders and said he had a solution for him.

"Yes...... The old man did it. Michael almost gritted his teeth and uttered the phrase, looking rather unwilling and angry. But because of this, Henry understood that the other party was interested. And so he began to narrate.

And as the sage's words progressed, the unwillingness and anger on the old blacksmith Michael's face were gradually replaced by abruptness and thought, and in the end, he even slapped his thigh vigorously and shouted loudly: "I can still do this!"

The color of joy arises spontaneously.

Michael, who seemed to be twenty years younger, had always been regarded as stubborn and stubborn, and for a moment began to ask questions like a student in front of Henry, who was only about three-fifths of his age, and then nodded his head as if the chicken pecked rice.

When you have been obsessed with a certain skill for a certain number of years, when you reach a certain level, as long as you mention it, you will be engrossed and refreshed.

The solution given by Henry took Michael a lot of time to prepare.

Ian Sherr's other blacksmiths watched in bewilderment as the apprentices at the Ecaster Blacksmith hurriedly went out to shop, and then returned to the city with a cart of sand, two pieces of glass, and a truckload of high-grade clay and red bricks and iron ore.

They didn't know what the men were trying to do, and some curious people began to gather around, and then watched as Michael and his blacksmith apprentices busily began to build a stove on the dirt floor outside.

"It was just about making iron" - many people just turned away, but for those who remained, what happened next was far beyond their expectations.

"Steel, which is essentially a combination of carbon and iron, controls the amount of carbon. It is possible to control the hardness and softness of the steel. Henry's words were not foreign to the blacksmiths, who had known this fact for a long time. Some iron ingots that are soaked into the furnace fire during the forging process will have a considerable hardness after molding. But this process was not within their control, because the traditional mode of ironmaking was to place red-hot pieces of iron on the felt and constantly knock out impurities with large and small hammers - before that, they had to place them on wooden piers and knock off the hard slag on the periphery with stones. Stones are used because hammers are not hard enough to deal with them.

Even an old blacksmith like Michael can't guarantee the amount of impurities in the forged weapons, and in fact he is the strongest blacksmith here not because of the quality of the weapons he forges, but because the weapons he forges have a lower chance of being scrapped than others.

There is no guarantee that the impurities will be completely removed, let alone the carbon that will penetrate during this painstaking and tiring process - this is why the weapons forged throughout the West Coast, including the longsword that Mira bent before, are usually very soft, because the carbon content is difficult to master, and if you deliberately increase it, it is likely to cause the weapon to be too hard and brittle, and it will shatter into countless small pieces when hit or blocked.

The softer steel was for safety, as no blacksmith anywhere would want to see a mercenary or knight with a half-broken sword come to the door for revenge - back to the place.

Henry's proposal. Michael never thought of it before that.

According to him, this is a method of forging from the east and the north, and it is the excellent handiwork of the Skimps and Lamanites. He gave a detailed list of all the steps and the required materials. Michael and his apprentices built a whole furnace, with a pigskin blower placed nearby, and a large pile of charcoal was placed in it, followed by a small pot made of clay, and then covered with more charcoal, and finally closed the furnace.

The best way to control the amount of carbon in a metal is to put it together with a certain amount of carbon. At the same time, it is cut off from the outside world.

A crockpot is the best container, and it can be done by putting iron ore and charcoal powder in it, closing the lid around it, and sealing it with clay - but not only that, the expensive glass is broken to pieces, Michael takes a few small pieces and puts them in the crockpot with the fine sand taken from the sea, and then places the whole crockpot directly in the furnace. Ignition, incineration.

There are impurities in iron ore, essentially because of insufficient temperature.

It is said that on the other side, the Ottolo Empire, which tamed the dragons. They will use the hot dragon flame as a warming tool for smelting swords, but the precious Wyvern's combat tools are only a luxury to use for this act. It's even more fantastical for a blacksmith in a small country on the West Coast - fortunately, human intelligence has long been a brilliant being, and it is impossible to reach a sufficient temperature directly by incineration. Then build a thick furnace and imprison the temperature.

The kiln made of thick bricks is also covered with a large amount of clay, and the iron ore placed in the clay pot melts directly as the charcoal is simmered sharply, and the first melted slag flows to the bottom and has a magical reaction with the sand and glass, and they merge together, while the remaining pure metal is turned into a liquid and blends with the toner powder that was put in before.

In the midst of the beautiful music played by the flame furnace and the air fed in by the blower, Michael's fine steel ingot, which he had never seen in his life, was born.

When the fire cooled down, the kiln was smashed open, and the clay pot was smashed with iron tongs, revealing a mass of steel ingots that emitted a very, very bright golden light even in the daytime, and the old blacksmith, who had lived for half a century, could not help but burst into tears.

It was a pure steel ingot, burned golden and transparent, completely devoid of any black spots representing impurities.

But it wasn't over at this point, and Henry's next proposal made him feel even more that he had to pay full attention.

Steel weapons, all of which need to be quenched.

Heated to extremely high temperatures and then cooled quickly, the steel will have a high degree of hardness, so that it will not bend, curl or create a notch when slashing an opponent.

But this is also a problem, first of all, the quenching temperature, too low, the steel will be soft, too high. Cracks can be cracked or even broken – this must be judged by years of experience, which is why Michael will check it himself. The blacksmith shop was covered with black linen around the perimeter, and the entire interior of the shop was pitch black. Only then, only by staring so closely at the fire, watching it all closely, and only the slightest change in the color of the flame and the steel in his eyes could Michael seize that precise moment and quench it.

But...... He recalled Henry's words: "The reason why your sword will shatter is because water is used for quenching, and if it cools down too quickly, it will be much better if it is replaced with oil." ”

But that'...... Won't it bend off. A trace of worry and hesitation existed in Michael's heart, but everything that had gone before had proved that the other party knew more than himself, and he threw off the self-esteem of the old blacksmith for many years. Keep your eyes on the fire - the time has come!

"Attention the heat!" the old blacksmith picked up the sword embryo and put it directly into the stone trough filled with black oil.

"Wow!!h

"Everybody held their breath as two weeks of hard work and investment were made or lost.

"No sound...... Michael's eyebrows were raised, the corners of his mouth curled more and more, and he raised the sword embryo from the stone trough, the black greasy sword of the half-hand sword was flat and steady, without the slightest bend.

"Take, bring the test bench!" cried the old blacksmith. The so-called test bench was a pedestal-like thing with a crack in the middle of the wooden pier, and he waited for the entire sword to cool completely in the air, then clamped the blade between the gaps and began to twist it vigorously.

Level. Sixty degrees, fifty degrees, the whole sword was twisted by the old blacksmith to the level of forty degrees. Many of the blacksmith apprentices next to him retreated again, for fear that the sword would break off and fly out and hurt themselves.

The "no broken ......" twist reached about thirty-five degrees. But this was just the beginning, and several older apprentice blacksmiths looked at their master. Michael was engrossed, then slowly released the sword in his hand.

"Wow-woo-"

It's still straight, and it's not completely bent because of torque.

"Oh my God......" Michael clutched his chest and stepped back, his closest apprentices rushing up worriedly, but the old blacksmith waved his hand to show that he was just too excited.

"I think we'...... I think we've made a king's sword!"

......

Time passed, and after a while, another week passed. Mila finally got her new sword, and was satisfied with the excellent balance of the weapon in her hand.

With a sleek, straight blade and an inverted V-shaped gauntlet that identical to Henry's broadsword, it was already a lovely weapon from the outside.

But what the girl cares more about is Michael's words when she wants to pay.

"Why are you embarrassed to ask for money. The old blacksmith said this, iron ore, clay, bricks, sand and glass, charcoal, and the labor of refining, and it took so much effort to forge this sword, which was not too much for the girl to make, even if it was to be ten thousand daino, but the other party just shook his head, and said to the sage seriously.

"What you have given us is far beyond the value of this forging. ”

Things came to an end, and the duo couldn't find any suitable work in a town full of blacksmiths, so they chose to move on.

Perhaps it should be said that after the departure of the Sage and the Roan Maiden, the border town of Ian Shel in Sampazia began to have rumors of a legendary blacksmith who could forge the king's sword.

This event later attracted many adventurers and even nobles who wanted a good sword, but only a few people knew about it.

It all started when Henry felt that Mira needed a better sword.

"Knowledge is great. "Including the cost of maintaining the armor and forging Henry's new armor and weapons, it was all taken away without any cost," said the girl with a smile on her horse.

"Yes...... yes," Henry in front of him looked back at her, then at the front again.

The sun was about to set, and one man and one horse continued to move forward.

......

Note: The true blade refers to the blade of the double-edged sword, that is, the side facing the enemy when you hold the sword, and the weak part, if the blade part of a sword is divided into two parts equally, the part near the handle is called the strong part, and the part near the tip of the sword is called the weak part. This kind of normative terms are generally rarely used, so they have not been described before, and here is the intention of quickly pointing out the location of the part in the dialogue between experts, and it probably won't appear too much in the future, so you can just remember it a little, don't care.

In addition, readers of this chapter as Chinese can actually be proud and complacent, because the steelmaking method described in this chapter has been used in the Han Dynasty of China, and the Europeans of the same period will only use hammers to knock out impurities in vain, so everyone can actually be regarded as an excellent ancient Chinese civilization steelmaking technique to hang the European turtle XD (to be continued. )