***Seventh and Last Bonus Chapter of the Week***
Dreadfort Castle
POV of Domeric Bolton
"Any other news for me Auntie?" he asked, and she gave him a nod before she climbed on top of her horse and told him to follow her.
He gave a nod, climbed back on Grim's back, and followed behind her as she led him toward the section of the river where he had built the water wheels and the Blast Furnace.
"You were right." She said after a long silence as they reached the large furnace that was empty at the moment.
"So, they completed it?" he asked after a long silence, and the look on her face, which reminded him of someone who had eaten a sour lemon, made him laugh at her.
"They did." She said bitterly "The first day when Master Tobho Mott ran the Furnace, he produced 40 steel ingots within six hours. 40 steel ingots! Can you believe that?" she asked with a slight fascination, and he had a feeling that she had a love-hate relationship with the blast furnace.
Love because of how beneficial it was for them. Hate because it proved her wrong.
And despite all her good qualities, he knew that his aunt was a woman who could hold her grudge for a long time over really petty matters.
So instead of egging her on, he simply gave a nod and asked, "How many steel ingots have they been producing every day since then?"
"About 150 steel ingots over 3 shifts per day." She replied curtly.
"Hmm... and the quality of that steel?" he asked.
"I don't know much about such things, but Tobho Mott informed me that the steel produced here is even more sturdy than Castle forged Steel. Armor and weapons made from it will be highly sought after once they are released to the market."
"I see." He said and hummed a little before asking "I believe that even all the blacksmiths in the castle combined are not able to deplete our steel ingot supply?"
She laughed at his words. It was not a derisive laugh. But a laugh filled with amusement.
"No. They are not even able to finish 1/3rd of the steel ingot that we produce every day. And now, instead of pig iron, our warehouses are filled with high-quality steel."
"Not for long." He replied and she looked at him with a raised eyebrow, asking him what he meant by those words, and he smiled back at her before taking out a parchment from his bottomless pouch and giving it to her.
She unrolled the parchment and looked at the diagram drawn in it before she looked back at him once again "I don't understand what it is. I can see that it will be using the power from the river judging by the water wheel drawn in it. But I don't know what the rest is all about." She returned the parchment to him "You might as well tell me what that is."
"It's a water wheel powered hammer." He replied "The water wheel will supply the power to raise the large hammer before letting it fall on the steel ingot. This will save the blacksmiths hours of time in forging armor and swords along with other equipment. It'll definitely take some time for them to set up this design and even more time to get used to it but in the end, it'll increase the supply of steel products created by us by a huge amount."
As he finished, he could see that his aunt was enamored by the whole idea.
After all, high-quality steel was more valuable than pig iron. And high-quality weapons and armor were more valuable than high-quality steel ingot.
The more armor and weapons that they produce in Dreadfort, the more easily they'll be able to arm their men. And once they've armed all their men properly, they'll be able to sell the remaining steel products to the other houses. Gaining more gold. Which will lead to more prosperity.
She was right in her views, in a way. Except for the fact that even if gold did bring prosperity to the people of a kingdom, there were other ways to make a place more prosperous.
"Give it to Master Tobho Mott when he wakes up in the morning." He said, "He'll understand what to do with the design."
His aunt gave a nod and then carefully pocketed the design in her pocket as he wondered how long it would take for the blacksmiths to forge these Waterwheels.
Maybe a month. Maybe less. Maybe more.
The point was that when it does, he'll start making steel plows and other such things for the smallfolk in huge quantities so that they'll be able to increase their harvest even more in the future.
That would definitely be more useful to him than making weapons and selling them to other houses.
"You're leaving already?" his aunt asked sadly, and he realized that he had indeed not spent a lot of time with her since the start of the Greyjoy Rebellion.
"Yeah. Sorry about that Auntie." He said with a bitter smile but knew that he needed to leave in order to search for Children of Forest or information about how to create Heart Trees.
He also planned on searching for priceless artifacts like Valyrian steel blades and dragon eggs once he was out there on his search but knew that he had to use his magic wisely as there were very few Weirwood trees in the world right now.
Regardless, having a simple breakfast with his aunt wouldn't delay him too much.
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Next Chapter's Name: Ch.33: Book of Glass Making