Chương 170: 167. Parchment Print

Kivamus laughed.

"Don't worry, you didn't break anything. I knew it wasn't gonna last too long and you dropping it would certainly have removed any magnetism it had left. But we can hit it again with a hammer, and it should start to work once more."

"Really?" Lucem asked with wonder. Kivamus smiled and nodded at him.

"I didn't know you could even perform magic, my Lord," Syryne said with a chuckle. Kivamus snorted.

"It's hardly magic, but you already know that." This time, Feroy, who had been standing a little away from others while frowning, moved closer and took the rod from the table, and picked up the hammer as well. Kivamus walked closer and after checking that the same rusted side of the rod was on the top again, he tilted it until it was at roughly the same angle with the ground as earlier.

"You have to remember to hit this same side every time you are trying to magnetize it, otherwise it won't work as well. Now give it a try." Feroy nodded, and after repeating the same process of hitting the rod for a while, he took the rod to check its magnetism again, and it was working once more. Lucem and Clarisa were still looking at it in wonder. Once the ex-mercenary was satisfied with trying the newly magnetized rod to pick up nails, he handed them to the kids so they could do it themselves.

Duvas looked at Kivamus with raised eyebrows.

"I have to say, I didn't really believe you could do it. I haven't ever seen a compass, but I understand what it does. But you really did it, milord, just like a magician on the streets of Ulriga..." Kivamus laughed loudly.

"Like I said, this is no magic. It's just... science." Before he thought of explaining what that word meant, Feroy interrupted him with a frown, and asked, "But how is it supposed to show us the direction? That's what a compass is supposed to do, right? Or am I still not getting it right?" Kivamus explained, "This is not a compass. All I've done is to make a temporary magnet. I will still have to think of how I can use it to magnetize a needle, and how to mount it in a frame so it can work as an actual compass.

I only hit it a few times when I did it, which is why it didn't last very long, but I think it should last up to an hour or maybe even longer by hitting it more. But yes, this was the difficult part. I should be able to do the rest with the help of Cedoron." Feroy nodded his head in acceptance.

"As much of an expert I am in finding paths through the forest, even I did get lost on occasion in the past. If I had something which could show me where the north is... Oh, how much time I would have saved!"

"Well, we can't change what has already happened," Kivamus said, "but if we are able to make even simple compasses, we can still save quite a lot of time of the hunters, who would be able to return back sooner with more and more meat, instead of just trying to find their way through the forests. It would also mean they would be able to go on more trips per week than now."

After some time, Feroy had gone to do something about organizing the guards in the manor, while Duvas had again gone to visit the longhouse block to confirm that the supervisors were doing everything properly. And soon, Cedoron arrived in the manor hall. Kivamus stood up to demonstrate how to magnetize that iron rod to the surprise of the Blacksmith. Then he ordered Cedoron to deliver a dozen iron needles, each around half a centimeter long, on which the compass needles would be supported.

Apart from that, he also ordered him to make the same number of needles in an elongated rhombus shape, and these would be flat needles, with a small bump in the centre of them - these would become the actual compass needles. He did have to draw the required shape on a piece of parchment for Cedoron to understand it fully, and then he also gave him that parchment so he could refer to it later on.

"Apart from those," Kivamus continued, "I think you will also need to make some thin iron rods." He pointed at the rod he had used for the demonstration.

"This one is quite thick at nearly an inch in diameter, so it is difficult to magnetize it. I want you to make a dozen rods of similar shape, but around half a centimeter in diameter. Their length should be around, let's say, thirty centimeters, or around a foot. That should make it easy enough to carry it. Also, make these rods tapered on one end - just the last one inch or so - so that we can easily recognize which side is which. Can you do it?" Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve.

Read this novel on Royal Road.

"Of course," Cedoron replied.

"The rods should be easy enough, and I'll tell my apprentices to make them after I've verified that they can do it properly. The needles are the tricky part. But I think I should be able to deliver at least a few of them by evening, since I have other pending orders too. But I'll work on them myself to make sure they are built correctly."

"Good!" Kivamus said with a nod. Earlier, he had also told Duvas to give an order to Taniok's apprentice to cut up some small pieces of square shaped wood from a thin part of a plank, which would become the base of the compass, along with an open wooden box in which that square shaped base could be fitted inwardly for safekeeping of the compass. Making it as a circular box would probably be a better idea, but that would take longer, and he wanted to get this built as soon as possible.

It was a simple enough task, so he should be getting them by evening. If everything went well, they might just be able to equip a few hunters with primitive compasses from tomorrow. Then he showed the blacksmith the blueprints he had made of the crossbow. Cedoron looked surprised on hearing its purpose, having never heard of it, but was curious to understand everything. Once Kivamus had explained how it was supposed to work, he pointed out those parts which needed to be made from iron in each of the designs.

These would be small and complex, but they wouldn't be durable enough if made from wood. He had also made separate blueprints of those parts in larger size so it would be easy enough for the blacksmith to forge them. But he snorted. It might be better to call it a parchment-print rather than an actual blue-print, but it was good enough to explain how it was supposed to be made. Cedoron looked uncertain.

"These parts are going to take some time, since I also have to work on your other orders, including the needles and the iron parts of the wheelbarrows. The needles would already be tricky enough to make, but I haven't made something as intricate as the parts for the crossbow in my life." Then he seemed to think about it before he nodded.

"It might take a few tries for me to get it right, but it will be a good challenge for me to test my skills. You said you want two sets of each iron part?" Kivamus nodded.

"Yeah, so that we wouldn't have to wait for you to make another one when testing them, in case it breaks or doesn't work as expected. And if those parts don't work at all, you can just reuse that iron anyway." He explained, "I would like to make at least two crossbows of different designs made at the same time so that we can compare which design would work better. Of course, I still have to get the wooden frame and the other parts made from the carpenter, but that will have to wait until he gets more time."

He continued, "That means the crossbow parts are only a side project for now. You should do it in your free time but they are not our first priority at the moment. I need you to finish those needles and the rods first, along with your other orders. The crossbow parts won't be useful until I can get the other wooden parts made as well."

"I understand, milord," Cedoron replied with a nod.

"I'll try to deliver at least a few needles and the thin rods by evening. As for the crossbow parts, I'll keep trying to make them in my free time, and hopefully I'll be able to make them too. Thank you for trusting me with such a complex project."

"I have seen a sword which you had made for the previous baron along with the intricate carvings it had," Kivamus remarked thinking about a decorative sword which he had found in the manor, which was probably for the previous baron's personal use. Or more like, it was made for him to show off instead of actually fighting. He continued, "So don't worry, I know you have the skills for this. Good luck!" And with that, the blacksmith gave a quick bow, and exited the manor hall.

It was early evening now, and Kivamus and his advisors were sitting inside the manor hall. Gorsazo would have to start teaching in the longhouse block soon, since it was nearly time for the workers to start coming back. Earlier in the day, he had asked how was Gorsazo going to make the students practice their writing, since they couldn't afford to give parchments to everyone, unlike when he taught him in the Ulriga Palace, where there was no shortage of it.

After some deliberation, they had settled on giving small charred wooden sticks for everyone to write with, along with small square boards of wood, which would be cut up from a thin plank. It was far from ideal, but at least it would allow the villagers to try to copy the alphabets which Gorsazo would show them on a bigger plank, which they had already fixed to one wall of the longhouse block.

Making those charcoal sticks and boards would take another day, but Taniok's apprentice had been told to do that by tomorrow, since it was simple enough. For today, Gorsazo had told him that he was only going to give them an introduction anyway. Soon, a servant knocked on the outer door of the manor hall and the huge blacksmith entered inside along with Feroy, who had also brought a spear on Kivamus' request. Cedoron looked at him and held up a small cloth pouch towards him.

"Here are the four pieces of both types of needles you had ordered." He reached into one of his pockets on the side of the apron he was wearing, and pulled out a bunch of thin iron rods.

"And these are a dozen rods as well. I was done with my tasks for today, and I was really curious to see what you had planned to do with them, so I hope it's okay that I came as well." Kivamus took the pouch and smiled at the curiosity of the blacksmith.

"Of course, it's not a problem at all." He stood up and walked towards the long table, where the small wooden boxes were already kept on one side. He frowned for a moment and looked at Cedoron, "We'll need a smaller hammer for this. Did you bring it by any chance?"