episode_0043

“Baron.”

“Now, instead of using titles like nobleman or baron, call me boss. Well, since I run several businesses, I guess you could say I’m the chairman… … I think it’s a little early, so just call me boss for now. First of all, I’m the one who hired you.”

“Ah, yes. president. So, sir, what kind of iron ore are you using?”

“Iron ore? I’m just using iron ore that I dug up.”

When asked about iron ore, he pointed to a pile of iron ore piled up inside the research and development headquarters. It was brought here during preparation, and was brought here to be used during research and development.

The more iron ore was dug up, the bigger the mine was, so more skeletons were put in, and more was produced, so there was room to spare.

Anyway, when I pointed out the iron ore, the researchers approached where the iron ore was.

“Oh? Isn’t this magnetite?”

However, the researchers who approached the iron ore pile and checked the iron ore looked quite cheerful.

“Lodestone? Isn’t it just ordinary iron ore?”

“Didn’t you know? There are different types of iron ore. No matter what you use, you can obtain iron, so it is called iron ore, but it can be divided into different types. ”

“Really? I just knew about low quality and high quality. Now that I think about it, when I asked for high-quality iron ore at the top, the iron ore I brought looked like this.”

“… … president. How did you avoid being scammed? If you don’t know the type of iron ore, you’re just at risk of being scammed.”

When the researcher looked at me as if he didn’t understand, I secretly looked away. I thought all iron ore was there.

The researcher briefly reacted in bewilderment to see me like that. Although I quickly deleted it after realizing that I was an employer and a nobleman.

And, before I could even say anything, he started explaining about iron ore.

“I will explain briefly. There are several types of iron ore. Usually, they are distinguished by various characteristics. They can be distinguished by color or by other features that stand out. There are many types of limonite, hematite, magnetite, etc.”

After briefly explaining the types of iron ore, the researcher lifted one iron ore from the pile.

“Among them, this magnetite is called magnetite because it is an iron ore with magnetism. It doesn’t mean much because the magnetism disappears when melted… … . Have you ever seen iron ore trying to stick together when using this iron ore?”

“Uh… … . I don’t know? Just melted it all down.”

“Is that so?”

The researcher said he would show it to him, so he found the largest iron ore and brought it near the smaller iron ore. Then, the iron ore was quivering, as if magnets were attracting each other.

As I was amazed at the sight, the researchers began to teach me various things as if they were teaching a student.

“Iron ore has something called dignity. It is determined by how much iron can be obtained from iron ore. If the quality is ten percent, then one hundred kilograms of iron can be obtained from one ton of iron ore. Of course, iron ore of this low quality is not widely used because it costs a lot to mine or smelt. No matter how bad you are, you should still get over 40 percent.”

“Really? So how much is this?”

“It’s not exact, but it seems to me to be over seventy percent. It can be said to be of a very high standard. Even if you simply sell iron ore, you can make quite a bit of profit.”

When I heard that the quality of the iron ore I was mining was very good, I shrugged my shoulders for no reason. And, the loyalty to the royal family that allowed development while receiving only 20% of the mines capable of mining iron ore… … It didn’t really spring up, but some friendly feelings arose.

“Then, research an efficient smelting method using this iron ore as a standard. If you need anything, let me know. I’m sure we can save most of them.”

“Yes! We will definitely find a smelting method that meets the level you want!”

The researchers who answered energetically immediately grabbed the iron ore and began discussing among themselves.

Is it a lot of impurities or a little, how is it crystallized, what about grinding, what about sintered ore. As I listened from the side, words I didn’t know came out little by little and they were discussing among themselves.

After discussing for a while, they soon grabbed a pile of iron ore and divided into several groups to take action. Although the grinding of iron ore was the same, differences arose in the subsequent process.

One group started adding things to the crushed iron ore powder, while another group put the crushed iron ore into the kiln and then added the additives. Another group processed iron ore in different ways, such as doing it without any additives.

This is what happened when everyone was wondering if I was right or if you were wrong, and then decided to check it out for themselves. But I couldn’t help but nod happily when I saw that. There is a lot that can be gained by implementing these methods simultaneously.

I observed the situation with pleasure and appropriately helped them with whatever they needed or asked for help. If you needed some material, I would get it from wherever I could, and if I needed more firepower, I would use black magic to make the flame stronger.

As I helped out little by little, the smelting of iron ore was quickly completed. In particular, places where I used black magic to make the flame stronger were smelting finished more quickly.

Iron ore that glowed with heat and turned into molten iron was poured into a pre-made mold and made into iron ingots.

And from then on, the researchers’ discussion began again. No, rather than a discussion, it was closer to seeing the results of a bet.

“Look! The way I said is the best! Give me back med!”

“Mr… … . I thought there would definitely be better results. Why on earth is it good to powder it and put it in with coal?”

The two researchers showed conflicting reactions as they exchanged 100 med coins.

However, not all researchers showed this behavior.

Some researchers were looking at the results they had produced, discussing their opinions, and finding out which parts produced better results.

“Hmm. All processes were the same as before, but the results were better when a higher flame was created using the boss’s black magic. This means that the temperature of the fire plays an important part in the smelting process, right?”

“I think that’s right. However, I also tried to make the flame stronger with the help of my boss, but the results came out very poorly. It’s full of impurities. To make this usable, you’re going to have to break something. The fact that similar results were not obtained even though the same iron ore and the same auxiliary materials were used seems to indicate that there is an appropriate temperature limit.”

As we put our heads together and began conducting repeated experiments several times, the quality of the results became better with each experiment. At first, results were being produced at a level where re-melting was the only solution, but now results were being produced at a level that could be considered quite useful. It seemed that if I experimented a little more, I could immediately obtain iron of excellent quality.

But there was one problem in the meantime. In other words, I had to work at the research and development headquarters to conduct proper experiments. As the experiment was repeated, it became clear that melting iron ore with a more intense flame produced better results than simply lighting a fire.

It was impossible to create an intense flame using ordinary methods. Even if you put a lot of firewood and burn it, or mix things that are said to burn easily, you could not easily create a good fire. So, I was in a situation where I had to join in and start the fire using black magic.

However, it was not possible to stick around forever. I had to go back and forth between the mine and Carbon on a regular basis, and I also had to receive blood from Father Thomas and process it into blood essence. There were quite a lot of other things to do, so it was impossible to stay attached to the research and development headquarters in the first place. In the first place, research was being conducted without me, and I hired blacksmiths as researchers by paying them high salaries so that I could use the results of the research.

“Hu… … . It’s such a waste, but there’s nothing we can do.”

In the end, I had no choice but to use the blood essence I had been saving. Blood like my blood… … No, it’s blood. Anyway, I decided to use the important blood essence.

Blood essence could also be used as a medium for curses, and it could also be used in a blacksmith shop. It is a curse made to feel burning pain until death, and by using the curse, the temperature can be raised as if lighting a fire using black magic.

The fire was lit using the unquenchable flame of a curse. Although the damage was severe compared to lighting a fire using black magic myself, there was nothing I could do about it. I couldn’t help with research and development at the R&D headquarters forever.

It would have been more beneficial to use the blood essence to create an unquenchable curse flame and create a skeleton mage while the researchers were using the flame.

Therefore, I poured out the blood essence I had saved, ignited a strong flame in the research and development headquarters, and began to focus on the production of Skeleton Mages.

However, despite continued focus on creating skeleton mage, there has not yet been much progress. Even though I did exactly what my grandmother left me in the book, I kept failing.

There were cases where skeletons were created that seemed to use a little bit of black magic, but they were completely devoid of intelligence and could not use black magic. There were also cases where they were intelligent in their own way but could not use black magic because they could not handle black magic. I wish I could just mix the two, but that wasn’t easy.

Still, I couldn’t give up easily because I saw researchers working hard and producing good results despite repeated failures.

As the researchers did, they extracted strengths from failures and improved the results. Thanks to this, there were a lot of failures that failed to become a Skeleton Mage, but that wasn’t a problem because it was enough to transform them into cart skeletons or skeletons to be used in the mine.

Anyway, as the results started to improve little by little, there was more and more hope. Skeletons that use dark magic but have the intelligence of a 3 or 4 year old have been created, and skeletons that can’t even use magic but use only a small amount of black magic have been created.

And, when I made about 40 skeletons that could be called failures, I was able to create a skeleton that exceeded the minimum requirements. If I had to give it a separate name, it was at the level of a skeleton reserve mage, but it was enough to be used right now.

Even though you have to wait a few tens of minutes to recover once you use black magic, it was important to be able to use it once. In addition, his intelligence was quite high, so it felt like he could be used as a useful subordinate number 3. It was vague enough to be used at the level of a secretary, but if asked to do something like an errand, it was intelligent enough to do it well.

“… … Worship the master of death!”

However, the downside was that he would say things that seemed a little cringe-inducing. He was a skeleton mage who was not perfect in many ways.

‘hmm… … . Should I dispose of it?’

I had a bad thought for a moment, but since I had immediate regrets, I decided not to throw it away. It would be beneficial to set it up like a bell at the R&D headquarters and keep it burning.

I moved right away, thinking about sending the skeleton spare mage to the research and development headquarters.

However, the moment I left the workroom, crossing over the failed skeletons that got in my way, the figure of the head researcher, who could be said to be the leader among the researchers, came into my field of vision.

As I was thinking that I could become a skeleton reserve mage without having to bother going to the research and development headquarters, the head researcher spoke first.

“Boss. Research has made some progress, and we have found a way to make iron ore more efficiently while using less auxiliary materials and fuel than now!”

“Oh! Really?”

“Yes! But there is a little problem.”

“Problem?”

I started to feel a little nervous when I saw the head researcher saying there was a problem. I was worried that people would say that everything except using less auxiliary materials and fuel was a problem.