NOVEL FROG 53. Blacksmithing
After observing the training exercises for a few more minutes, Kivamus decided to resume his tour of the manor grounds. As he rounded a corner, he spotted Madam Nerida approaching him.
"You asked for me, my Lord?" she inquired upon reaching him.
"Indeed," Kivamus confirmed. "I have new instructions regarding the meals you make. From tonight, I want you to significantly increase the quantity of food prepared." He continued, "Starting tonight, we'll be providing meals twice a day for all the elderly and children living in the village. Once our grain reserves are replenished, we will increase that to three meals a day." He gestured towards the manor house. "You can talk with Duvas to get a more accurate headcount for preparing the meals."
He paused for a moment, then continued, "As you may have heard, starting tomorrow, we'll be compensating both the new guards and the manual laborers with grain instead of coin. You'll need to allocate a suitable amount for each individual, enough to sustain their families for a full week, since we will be providing a weekly payment of grain rations to them." He added, "Now, for those chosen as guards, I want you to allocate a quarter more grain than what the manual workers will receive."
Nerida's brow furrowed slightly. "My Lord," she began cautiously, "even with the recent grain purchase, our remaining stock can't sustain this level of increased consumption for long."
Kivamus offered a reassuring smile. "You don't have to worry about that. I've already made arrangements to acquire a fresh supply of grain within the week."
Nerida absorbed the information with a firm nod. "Understood, my Lord," she finally replied. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I must begin preparations immediately if we're to have enough food for everyone tonight."
"Of course, Madam Nerida," Kivamus said with a nod. "Carry on with your duties."
With a final nod of respect, Nerida hurried off towards the kitchens.
A guard, his posture stiff and formal, approached Kivamus, ushering forward a man whose powerful build demanded attention. While not quite as massive as Hudan, the newcomer's broad shoulders and bulging muscles still rivaled the guard captain's physique.
The man, his strides purposeful, stopped before Kivamus and dipped his head in a respectful bow. "Cedoron at your service, my Lord," he rumbled. "I take care of all the welding and blacksmithing work in Tiranat."
Kivamus returned the greeting with a nod, his gaze appraising the blacksmith. "Cedoron," he began, "I have a few things I'd like to commission, and your skills are exactly what I need for them."
Cedoron's face, etched with the lines of a life spent wrestling with fire and metal, lit up with a mix of relief and eagerness. "New orders would be very welcome, my Lord," he admitted. "Work's been scarce for me ever since the mines shut down."
Kivamus began, "As you may have heard from the village announcements, I'm aiming to clear a part of the surrounding forests to make way for farmland, for which I'll need a lot of axes. I'm also planning to construct a couple of large longhouses, which is a type of communal housing, before the harsh winter arrives, along with a few other projects I have in mind." He paused for a moment, allowing the information to sink in.
He continued, "While I'll send you to speak with Duvas, the majordomo, to determine the exact quantities needed, here's a rough estimate. I'll need around two dozen axes, along with a few hammers. Maybe a dozen machetes as well. And of course, a substantial amount of iron nails and some hinges for doors, along with various other odds and ends."
A frown creased Cedoron's brow as he interrupted. "Forgive my ignorance, my Lord," he said, scratching his head, "but what exactly is a machete?"
Kivamus pondered for a moment, searching for a way to explain the unfamiliar tool. "Hmm, it's like a small sword," he began, tracing a shape in the air with his hands. "But unlike a sword, it's usually a little curved and used for clearing away smaller branches from trees and shrubs."
A spark of recognition ignited in Cedoron's eyes. "Ah, I believe I understand what you mean. It's something similar to a cutlass, then?"
Kivamus raised an eyebrow, surprised by the blacksmith's knowledge. "A cutlass? Like the ones pirates use?"
Cedoron chuckled, a deep rumble that seemed to emanate from his very core. "Not just pirates, my Lord," he clarified, "they're quite common among sailors in general. But yes, I see your point. For clearing small branches, they would certainly be effective. I can definitely craft those for you."
"That's good," Kivamus said. He continued, "Taniok, the carpenter, mentioned you didn't have any apprentices to help you. With such a large order, it might be difficult to fulfill everything on your own. So, tell me, how much can you realistically handle? Knowing that will help me determine how much I need to buy from Cinran."
"When do you require these tools, my Lord?" Cedoron asked. "And what do you need first?"
Kivamus considered the question for a moment, his eyes scanning the grounds of the manor. He began, "I think we should already have at least half a dozen axes here in the manor, apart from whatever the villagers might own themselves. That should give us a good starting point for felling trees. But acquiring more axes is the first priority, so we can start clearing these forests at a large scale. Then we will need some machetes to prune the trees so we can convert them into logs for easy transport and storage."
He paused for a moment. "As for shovels, I believe Pydas, the merchant, already brought a few with him. It makes more sense to purchase those from him, freeing you up to focus on crafting the items we lack entirely. So, after axes and machetes, our next priority would be saws for Taniok so he can start making planks from the logs. He said that he already had two saws with him, but we will need more in case they break."
Kivamus paused, allowing Cedoron to absorb the information. "Hammers, nails and hinges," he added, "won't be needed immediately. We'll only need them later in the construction process, when the framework of the longhouses begins to take shape in a couple of weeks."
Cedoron listened intently, his brow furrowed in concentration as he mentally tallied the workload. "While I possess the skill to craft all the tools you've mentioned," he admitted, "I don't have enough iron ingots here to make all of it. I do have a small stock, of course, which will allow me to craft some of the tools, but I'll need more within the week. The thing is, my Lord," he explained, "my usual workload only revolves around repairing the mining tools that get damaged in the coal mines here. There's basically no demand for new tools in Tiranat, so I don't keep a large stockpile of iron ingots."
Kivamus considered this new information for a moment. "Very well," he said. "I can arrange to buy more iron ingots for you from Cinran. You should provide Duvas with an estimate of the amount of ingots you'll need later. But speaking of iron," he continued, a thought striking him, "can't you produce iron ingots from ore yourself? If I only needed to buy iron ore for you to smelt here, it would likely be significantly cheaper."
"Well, you see, my Lord," Cedoron explained, "I do have a small forge here. But like I mentioned earlier," he continued, "most of my work involves welding and reforging mining tools. Usually, that involves nothing more than heating the broken pieces in a hot coal fire in my forge. Once softened, I can weld them back together and reshape them to their original form."
Kivamus recalled seeing the wagons loaded with coal earlier. Upon closer inspection, it had looked like bituminous coal to him. It wasn't the best quality anthracite, but it was certainly better than some other types of coal. But it felt odd to him to hear Cedoron using coal instead of charcoal. "Duvas mentioned that you purchase coal from the manor," he said. "But wouldn't charcoal be a better fuel source?" Of course, coke, which was made after processing coal, would be the best fuel for it, but it was very likely that the process to make it was unknown in this era.
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