Chương 25: First Job
Rinat and her apprentices stood in front of a large building. They had been working on it for the past few days with help from the villagers, but they were still floored by its size.
The inside was separated into two areas. The workshop itself where all the tools were kept and the storage area Chris ordered were finished. The workshop had to be large enough for multiple carts to be assembled inside side by side. The roof was so high that even Rinat, one of the tallest people in the camp could not touch it by jumping.
Many of the tools needed by carpenters were lined up on the walls, courtesy of Mia. The rest they would have to make themselves.
[He wasn't kidding when he said I would have my big projects back...] She looked around. [This is actually bigger than my workshop in the capital.]
Next, she walked to the tools provided by Mia. [The tool selection will have to be improved. Still, it's impressive to have so much already.]
"Boss, the lumber delivery is here." Shouted one of her apprentices.
"Very well, open the storage gate while I am checking the wood." She ordered.
"Yes!"
[Hm. Good selection. A mix of hard and heavy Oakwood and lighter softer Pinewood. This will do nicely.] She appraised. "Ok! Bring it in!"
"Hey! Watch what you are doing! What if it breaks?!"
A loud argument grabbed her attention. The voice came from the Blacksmith workshop on the other side of the road.
"As if an anvil would break by falling, you old dwarf! That's a solid piece of metal!"
"Who's a dwarf?"
It was Carmelo arguing with one of his disciples.
"Hello, neighbor." Saluted Rinat. "Full of life I see."
"Hahaha! Well, it's not everyday you get a brand-new workshop." Mad or happy, Carmelo was always full of energy.
"Ah! Hello Miss Rinat, looked pretty as usual!" A young head popped out the window of the blacksmith's shop.
"You've got work to do you idiot!" Barked Carmelo before turning back to Rinat, a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that, youth and all that."
"Huhu. It's fine." Laughed Rinat. It was not her first time interacting with this father-son pair. "Is the forge done already? I expected it to take longer." Asked Rinat.
"Surprised heh?" He said proudly. "I started working on the firebricks the very day we settled here. It didn't take long to find good clay, and the rest was easy with my portable furnace."
He ran his finger on the brand-new firebricks of the furnace. "Look at this baby. It's perfect. A large firepot, a nice elongated hearth for swords..."
BANG
"Hey, you idiots! I said to watch it!" He barked.
"Shut up old man! It's freaking heavy stuff!"
He turned his head back with a big smile. "Well, it's good to be back to normal. I felt like a kid playing with the little portable furnace. I couldn't stand it."
"I understand perfectly." Smiled Rinat. "The best I had to do for months was arrow shafts and baskets."
"I have a comrade here!" Beamed Carmelo. "A fellow workaholic!"
"If only my apprentices were the same!" He barked towards the workshop.
"I will be counting on you for tools." Said Rinat as she stretched her hand.
"Same here."
They shook hands and were about to go their own way when they heard someone whistling approaching. It was Chris with his two bodyguards.
"Hey Carmelo, Rinat. Enjoying your new digs?" Chris was in a very good mood. The merger between the two camps went very well. According to Berg, it was because people were used to moving between refugee camps. So there were very few problems.
And now the construction of two very important workshops was done. They would be able to start their operation today.
"Hello, Lord." Said Rinat as she bowed. "The carpenter workshop is more than I could have asked for."
"Same here! Although these are still just the basics. We have plenty left to do if we want a fully functional blacksmith workshop."
The contrast between Rinat and Carmelo was quite funny. He was small and thick while she was tall and lean, at least in comparison as she had quite a muscular build. He was unrestrained and spoke loudly, and she was... well the opposite of that.
"Don't worry. You have plenty to do, and you'll have the tools needed for the job. You too Rinat. Actually, I might have something for you already."
They both looked at him, intrigued.
"But I need to ask you something first. How do you transport goods from place to place?"
"If it's heavy, we use horse-drawn carts. Like for this lumber delivery." Rinat answered the strange question. "And for lighter loads, we use baskets, like those over there." She pointed to a basket with handles on both side so that two people could carry the load.
"That's pretty much it." Confirmed Carmelo.
Chris proudly handed them a leather scroll. "Then you guys are going to like this."
On the scroll was the equivalent of a modern blueprint of a simplified wheelbarrow. The workers didn't need nice flourishes, but something practical and easy to build. Thus, the wheelbarrow was merely a bow with two handles in the back and a wheel attached in the front. The dimensions of each part was detailed on the blueprint, as well as how everything should fit together. This was actually Chris' forte, and this kind of blueprint was child's play. Actually, it wasn't far from the kind of homework he would get during his first year of engineering school.
"You... drew this?" Asked Rinat. She reacted the strongest to the blueprint. As a carpenter, building complicated machines or buildings was part of her job. Unlike Carmelo who worked mostly on weapons, nails, and simple iron parts as they were needed.
"These are the dimensions for the individual parts. This is so easy to read." She commented.
Carmelo stood on his tiptoes to check the scroll in Rinat's hands. "This looks like a horse-drawn cart, but it has only one wheel?"
"Yes, but it's much smaller, look at the dimensions." Continued Rinat.
"There are irons parts for the wheel axle and some of the supports. Nice, that's my domain."
"The main body is made of wood." Commented Rinat. "Good, since we lack iron."
Chris enjoyed the back and forth continued as they discussed the blueprint. Their curiosity alone was enough for Chris to think he could work well with them.
"Right. This is a job for both of your workshops. I'm sure you'll enjoy the results as it will greatly help your workers."
"This one-wheeled model is for light loads. It's meant to be pushed forward by a worker. If you check on the back there is another blueprint for a two-wheeled handcart, this one is for heavier loads that still do not require a horse-drawn cart, it's meant to be dragged by the worker, just like a normal cart."
"The wheel will handle most of the cargo's weight, making it much much easier to transport goods." Chris smiled. "If you follow the blueprints, no one will ever want to use that thing back there." He was, of course, pointing to the basket with handles on both sides. The whole weight of the cargo had to be carried by the workers. This was just ridiculous for Chris. It was just incredibly inefficient.
"This is a rush job, please work on it even as you finish preparing your workshops. When can you have a prototype ready?"
"Frankly, this is so simple I can have most of it ready in an hour." Said Rinat. "The only thing that will take longer is the wheel as we have none of that size ready. But I can be done today."
"I can have molds for the different parts ready tomorrow. But if it doesn't have to be perfect, I can forge by hands the different metal parts for the prototype, it will be rough but it will still be functional. In that case, I should have the required parts for one prototype done today."
"Haha perfect! I leave it in your hands. Please try it out and see if anything can be improved if needs be. And then we need to mass produce it. Let us know if you need more workers." Said Chris just before leaving. "Just think about it, this will allow people to carry heavy loads as if they were nothing, metal, wood, sand, it doesn't matter. We really need this for Brine city!"
Chris left for his next stop while whistling and thinking what kind of prank he could pull on Mia.
Rinat and Carmelo were left behind lost in their thoughts.
Rinat was the first to speak after a while. "Hey, think it was the King who drew this?"
Carmelo looked at her surprised. "Why wouldn't it be him? He explained everything on how it works to us, right?"
"Well..." She was a little embarrassed. "This... This 'blueprint', is something none of us could think of right? I mean you should know the kind of plans we draw for complicated projects... It's just nothing as good as this. Can you imagine our previous King showing up to our workshops with a blueprint?"
"Haha." Beamed Carmelo. "I guess he just put us into our place. But isn't it a good thing for us? A king that understand his craftsmen. Look at the kind of workshop that got us?"
"But, Rinat, you came from Five Cave Village with him, right? I'm surprised this is news to you."
"He joined us just a few days ago. I knew he was very approachable. We even had a few chats but that was it." Explained Rinat.
"Oh right, I heard he came from the sky. Some people said he flew in, others said he jumped from the back of a dragon?"
Rinat thought back to Chris first appearance in Five Cave Village... All those rolls and crashes... "Well... It was an incredible entrance."
**** ****
Chris' next stop was not far, it was another workshop, however, this one was clearly still under construction as there was no roof yet.
There he was met by Aiden, his new chief mason. His task was simple, he had to refine Chris' recipe for mortar.
"My Lord!" Saluted Aiden before turning to his masons and barking. "It's the King! Come pay your respects!"
A dozen of muscular people came to salute.
"How are you doing?" Asked Chris.
"As you can see, my people have more brawn than brain." Said Aiden as he pointed to the masons. "However, this little one has made great progress. I believe we have something ready for mass-producing."
Aiden pointed to a small pillar, it was next to a sign with the number '42' on it.
Chris checked out the pillar, it was very close to his expectations. He asked one of his two guards to pound the wall with a hammer and only little bits of mortar fell off.
[This will definitely stop Kunalls.] He thought as he checked it out more carefully. [Yup. This will do. The only way to improve it significantly is to develop cement. But we don't have time for that now.]
After all, Chris did not remember how everything was made in his world. This was why he had Aiden, and his men improve his recipe. Cement was out of his expertise. He had some notions on how to make it, but it would require a lot of trial and error, which required time they did not have.
Chris turned to the young man and asked in a gentle and magnanimous tone. "What's your name?"
"I-I am Gabin, my king!" He bowed.
"Explain to me how you made progress on the mortar recipe." Chris did not ask about his process in order to copy or check on it. He just wanted to know if this was the result of chance, or if he had found a capable subordinate.
"Y-yes!"
"I started with the original recipe and mixed everything together in the recommended amounts. This was prototype number 0." He turned his eyes to the first block of rock and mortar.
"From there, I picked one material, like lime, made ten prototypes, each with a different concentration of lime and chose the best results. For the next ten prototypes, I kept that lime concentration but changed the amount of water used. And so on. Prototype 42 was the best result.
"Good job Gabin." Praised Chris. "I want you to continue your work. Try different materials or techniques to make an even stronger mortar."
"Yes, sir!" Shouted a relieved Gabin. He was worried all this while that he would be reprimanded for improving the King's own recipe.
Chris turned to Aiden next. "Aiden, we need to start manufacturing the mortar in huge quantities. Mia will make sure you get all the materials needed. I need you to prepare enough mortar dust to cover a mountain! Don't worry about your workshop, now that Carmelo's and Rinat's are done yours is the next priority!"
"Yes, sir!" Shouted Aiden as well.
Chris felt that was a pretty good day of work.
[What time is it?] He thought as he looked at the sky. [Almost noon huh... I guess I'll find someone to play with me.]
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