Chapter 21: First Spear of Angaria
[Remaining Days: 89]
When James came to his new business the next day, he realised he had made the right decision when he chose Tobias to be his employee. In the yard, there was a newly built Reverberatory Furnace with several apprentice blacksmiths standing around it holding poles assumedly connected to the rakes inside stirring the ore, they had been made of full metal and were wrapped in a thick layer of hiding to prevent them from burning their hands.
"Mr Franklin, I am truly amazed at your working speed, I wasn't expecting you to be finished for another half day at least! Have you been able to test the method I told you about yet?"
"I have, and it's honestly worlds better than I thought it would be, I've never seen such pure iron from any of the smiths in the city, especially from lower quality ore!" His excitement was evident from the fact he practically ran up to James and spat out his praise so fast it was almost incoherent.
"Have you been able to make any batches of steel yet?" James didn't have the time to listen to this man sing his praises; he had more to do today so needed to get going.
"So far we've made about 20 ingots of the stuff and were ready to work it any time now."
"That's great to hear; I'm impressed with your work, oh and while I'm here take these and have your apprentices sign them." James pulled out six spirit contracts he had bought yesterday and handed them to Tobias; he wasn't prepared to trust anyone with his designs and needed to limit the talk of his methods before word got out to his competitors.
"Let me know if you want to take on any more apprentices, and I will prepare the necessary contracts for them as well."
After leaving James went to find a carpenter to make the spear handles for him and was able to find someone capable of keeping up with his demand. This carpenter was well reputed in the city for his quality work, so he had no worries of his spears being ruined with poor craftsmanship. He found that there were a suitable species of ash wood in the forests near the city that was used for most tool handles so he chose that for all of his spears due to it being light, durable, and flexible.
He had asked the carpenter to make him a spear handle to take with him, and it was finished within an hour with the help of his employees. With the staff in hand, James headed back to his smith to see if he had finished making any spearheads yet.
When he got back, he found himself looking at three finished spearheads which were being sharpened already. Tobias didn't waste any time with his work. With some help from the smith, he was able to use a polishing rock to shape the top of the handle he had bought to fit the spearhead perfectly and drove a nail through the hole he had implemented into the design of the spearhead.
After giving it a few test swings and stabbing through a sack of grain James was happy that the spear was going to stay together well, he wrapped it up in a roll of cloth he had bought when he got some tailored clothes, if one wanted to succeed in the outer district it seemed image was everything.
He grabbed the finished spear that had been branded with the mark 'DW' and headed to the house the merchant Fletcher had shown him on the map. When he got to the address, he saw a towering mansion that was more like a small fortress than a house with its towering wall surrounding it and its wrought iron gates. Altogether this house must cost an absolute fortune on upkeep alone, James couldn't even fathom how much money it must have cost to build in the first place.
He approached the guard standing at the gate and told him he was here to see Mr Fletcher about some business, but the guard simply ignored him thinking he was a young man making trouble, having no other option James just had to stand there hoping he would see someone who he could get to listen to him.
Not long after what he feared most had happened, and the young master of the house had come back from a day of messing around with the rattish boy Eamon.
"Look Shayan isn't that the peasant who insulted you? I wonder where he stole those clothes from, or maybe he bought them with the money he extorted from your father? I wonder if he's here to ask for more?" It has to be said Eamon had turned riling people up into an art form as instantly Shayan drew the sword he had kept on him since that day in the market in hopes of seeing James again.
Now here in front of his house, he had run into him. The gods were indeed on his side today.
"You filthy peasant, who said you could dirty my house like this, watch if I don't end your trash existence today!" Shayan then broke into a sprint towards James with his sword held firmly in his hand.
James heard the scream and instantly panicked, he remembered how close he had come to losing his life the first time Shayan came at him with a sword, the only difference was this time James wasn't empty-handed.
Grabbing the edge of the fabric in his hands, James flicked his wrists to make it unroll as fast as possible and grabbed the spear before it hit the ground. Even though he has no experience with spears, he knew roughly how to manoeuvre one except he decided to keep the pointed end behind him.
He braced himself ready waiting for Shayan to get into range, and with a timely notification from the system he jabbed forwards as fast as he could, he managed to land a solid jab right in Shayan's solar plexus causing him to instantly drop his sword to grab his stomach and double over in pain. A weird raspy noise could be heard from him as he attempted to get his breath back which had been knocked straight out of him. Thankfully James didn't have sufficient strength only being 12 years old and wasn't able to break his diaphragm or with this ages medical prowess; he would have probably died.
James had to admit that he was lucky as he had been just trying to jab Shayan in his stomach to stop his movement so he could run as far as possible, with the threat now neutralised he didn't have to leave and could carry on waiting. Shayan was carried away by some guards, and the others moved to apprehend James for harming their young master.
James remained calm and placed the spear back in the cloth while he was circled by the guards and handed it to one of the guards to carry while the rest escorted him inside to decide what to do with him. Upon entering James was taken to a courtyard where after about 10 minutes he finally saw the man he had come to see.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone