"Payne, do you have a minute?
"Dear Ars, what's wrong?
"No, I just wanted to ask Payne something. But before that, have you gotten used to working in Vulcania?
"... right. Does it feel like little by little? The work here is quite different than it was when Urk, so there's a big part of me that's confused."
"Well, maybe so. But I'm glad Payne can do her homework. We would have liked more of a civilian job."
"Civilians and martial arts officers are often divided here in Barca. Normally, we have to be able to do both, because we fight on the battlefield while we do our territory work."
"Well, I guess we're special. I'm chronically understaffed, and even women have to work if they're willing."
"That surprised me, too. The Reed family, starting with Master Kyle, is also giving magic to women, isn't it? I know it's an unusual way to do it, but I think it's okay."
"Right. We'll all be happy to hear that."
"So what is it that you want to ask me, Master Ars? Ask me anything I know."
"Oh, I did. Actually, I wanted to ask you about iron, but there are mountains where iron can be removed even in old Urk territory, right?
"Yes, there is a mine in the territory we cut off this time as Barca territory. Do you need iron?
"Right. Barca has never had the means to obtain iron in a stable manner. He wants it if he can get it."
"But doesn't Barca have hardened bricks? That would be unbeatable hardness on those metals, wouldn't it?
"That's true, because hardened bricks are hard to process. If it's iron, it could be used for a lot more things, right?
"That's true. Even if you can produce a hardened brick with Barca's magic, you can say that iron is better at processing it."
"That's the thing. So, here's the problem. Are you familiar with steelmaking? Look at this iron sword. What do you think?
"Is this the sword? Let me take a look.... This is iron with a slightly different pattern. I've never seen it. But isn't this......, possibly quite a business?
"Right? As a matter of fact, this iron sword is a sword made of iron in a special way, but a normal sword allows the opponent to beat it without spilling a blade, even iron."
"That's amazing. I see. The fact that the iron making method is special means that the iron itself is not special. Does this mean that we can produce iron ore in mass?"
"That's a good guess. That's the thing. I think Barca will make iron as a new industry. To that end, I want to know exactly how much iron is mined in mines on the old Urk territory. Will you look into it, Payne?"
"Okay. I'll take care of it, Master Ars."
Payne subscribed to Barca in the Urk Strategy.
I had that pane do a lot of work in Barca.
Apparently, he was a pretty good and capable type of person, who also assigned jobs in terms of home affairs and so on.
I was talking to that pane as I showed him the iron sword.
What I showed Payne was a sword made from iron that had no substitute for anything very common.
But when I saw it, I saw that Payne was a business at first sight.
And that's for sure.
Because there is no special ability like a magic sword, but it has a cleavage far beyond the existing metal sword.
Actually, this is one of the weapons made by Gran.
Grant built a new flame blast furnace, a furnace capable of producing super-high temperatures.
The advantage of being able to give temperatures that could not normally be served in a furnace until now was nothing but the advantage when working out flame ore.
The same was true when steel was made.
In other words, the sword of this industry was a sword that was successfully created by using an unprecedented furnace called the Flame Blast Furnace.
The surface of that sword glows like a mirror, but somehow it still has a pattern in it.
I don't know much, but it feels like Damascus steel.
If we finally make the sword of the past an "iron sword," can we even say that this time Gran made it a "steel sword"?
There are things I've never cared about but haven't been able to do.
That was a well-equipped Barca army.
Ordinary armies mobilize and make up armies in solidarity with the nobles and knights against the inhabitants of the territory when necessary.
For this reason, the knights and others have good equipment, but the mobilized peasants and others were carrying their own weapons.
I wish I were someone with a weapon, but if I don't have a satisfactory prey, I sometimes take farm tools and the like as a weapon.
That's why the weapons we all have, even when it comes to the military, fell apart.
The Barca army was a little different on that point.
Instead of gathering people when necessary, he was always securing a certain number of soldiers as a standing army.
And we also had a weapon for the soldier.
But the weapon was never all good either.
I would like a better weapon if possible.
That's what I thought.
Perhaps this is just the right opportunity to be able to make a steel sword like never before.
We can also make further use of the flame blast furnace, which was created using flame ore called phantom ore in large quantities at all costs.
Thus, Barca decided to start a new steel-making business.