Herald of Steel

The iron workshop that Alexander was talking about was a brand new complex built inside the western district's restricted 'Industrial Zone'- the place where the magic of Zanzan happened.

The premises were completed under Cambyses's supervision with direction from Alexander, who had yet to visit the place due to being away in campaign.

He thus found the huge workshop situated next to a few streams, built in a huge new clearing made by cutting down much of the forest where Pasha Muazz used to host his infamous hunting games.

It was even said several large burial grounds were found around these parts, full of men, women, and even children parts.

But such macabre details were a tale for other times, for today Alexander was more interested in what was inside those walled premises.

"My lord, welcome!" The in- charge of these iron workshops, a Galiosian (from the island of Galiosos) blacksmith named Marvin greeted Alexander at the entrance, being accompanied by several of his high ranking colleagues.

Who then soon took him inside for the tour.

The huge complex's layout was quite similar to the other iron workshops Alexander had that were used for producing armor and weapons, with huge sprawling sheds dotted all across the land, where the artisans could be seen toiling away.

These sheds had no walls but only a roof, so that as much of the natural light as possible could get in, and make the transport of both raw materials and produced goods to and fro from these 'factories' as fluid as possible.

Inside many of these sheds, were rows and rows of seemingly uncountable numbers of large burning furnaces, fueled by coal and stoked with large bellows to make them reach ever higher temperatures, with smoke snaking out of the numerous chimneys built into the roofs.

Each furnace had one or even several skilled artisans, using the fireplace to heat their metal pieces and then shape them into the desired product by hitting them, in a process called hot forging.

'Twink-twank!' 'Twink-twank!'

The harmonious clanking of huge, solid iron hammers smashing against the red hot pieces placed on a sturdy anvil was a sight to see.

Although the continuous sound of hundreds of such strikes every day for hours on end tended to eventually get on one's nerves, as the lack of any walls around the shed meant that all the air around the vicinity buzzed with this sound.

In even made Alexander's ears after a while, causing the man to note to himself, 'I will need to ask Marvin to design some protective earpieces later. Or else, a couple of years from now, everyone here will go deaf'.

But that was for towards the end of the tour.

For now though, he turned his focus on his tour of these sheds, with each of them being dedicated to the manufacture of one particular product, or perhaps even a single part of a large product.

Alexander started to tour each and every one of them, with the very first workshop he came to see being the tool making shop.

Blacksmith Marvin introduced to Alexander, "This is where we make the various tools. Nails, hoes, plows, sickles, scythes, axes, chisels, saws, hammers….. You name it sire! We can make everything for you, haha," The pride contained in that statement was unmistakable.

And there was even good reason for the man to feel like that.

Because this tool- manufacturing branch of the workshop was undoubtedly the biggest part of the entire iron workshop, accounting for more than a third of the total iron product produced inside here.

The reason for its huge size was naturally because the market demanded it.

For now, the biggest consumers of civilian iron products were various artisans, followed by farmers, the former using it in the manufacturing of their equipment, and the latter primarily in their plows.

Something which Marvin would go on to inform Alexander with a small grin, exaggeratedly saying,

"My lord, the enormous order that you gave us will be enough to keep us occupied for the next couple of years. Haha, when I first read it, I thought my translator had made a mistake! So many hammers, chisels, and plows!"

Being a foreigner from Sybarsis, and knowing neither Azhak nor Thesian, of course, both men were using translators to communicate.

And due to this language barrier, Alexander could not tell whether Marvin was praising him for entrusting him with so much work or complaining about the load.

The neutral tone could mean either.

He however decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt and responded,

"Yes… the availability of cheap iron has meant that all the people around not just here, but the entire Central Sea are now switching from bronze in favor of iron. My recent conquest of Tibias has also generated a huge influx of demand for hammers, nails, plows, and all those tools you listed there. That is also from where the order came. Everyone there is wanting to switch to iron and steel for forever."

"This means that the aggregate demand for all the tools we make will likely stay high for at least a decade if not two whole decades!"

Alexander's grand prediction was accepted with great enthusiastic nods from the group of blacksmiths, with Marvin adding,

"Yes, yes, those are my thoughts exactly. Why use the softer, brittle bronze when you can buy a much better steel one for almost the same price? You would be foolish!"

"I even heard that there is a rumor if they use bronze tools, blacksmiths are seen as second rate by some of the lords. So every forger worth their salt is trying to switch to these iron products as fast as they can."

Saying this, Marvin furthered informed with a short chuckle,

"In fact, you might not know my lord, but a few months back, my wife even wrote to me asking her to send a large collection of iron tools from here for her sister's dowry. She wanted it particularly from here because you see currently in Galiosos, any tool made by your workshop is treated like gold, haha!"

Marvin was obviously exaggerating about the price here, but still, it was undeniable that those iron ingots and tools possessing Alexander's unique seal of a flower with wings fetched a premium in the open market, especially among artisans who had the qualified eyes to discern quality.

Such as that blacksmith who was marrying Marvin's sister in law, and thus demanded a full set of smithing tools from Zanzan.

The girl's parents even agreed to this, paying the money to Marvin's wife and asking their son in law Marvin to send it with the messenger who brought the letter- Marvin's eldest brother in law.

The latter did not carry the large sum of money directly to him due to security concerns.

Marvin's remarks were actually news to Alexander because he did not think his goods were this popular.

In his mind, he thought his products sold so much because of the sheer volume he produced, flooding the market with only his product.

"Oh, is that right? I see, I see." Thus he could not help but comment with a twinge of pride in him at the supposed quality of the product.

Because it had to be remembered that Alexander was using his 'bad steel' to make all these tools- one with all the impurities.

Only the tools and weapons used within his own fiefdom got to use the properly processed good steel.

Hence to have even the 'bad' ones have such a stellar reputation, naturally stoked his pride as a metallurgist.

Seeing that his boss was happy, Marvin was more than happy to butter him up even more,

"Yes, yes, I swear. The iron that my lord produces is unlike anything I or any one of us have ever seen! Melts like butter under the slightest fire. It's so easy to work with! Previously we would have to wait hours for the iron to melt. Now, it takes literal minutes! It's all so easy!"

Again, Marvin was indeed stretching the truth a bit here.

It did not take minutes for the iron ingots to melt.

But he was still right in the essence of the sentence- i.e.- the ingots melted quickly.

The pre -processed iron ingots that arrived right on their doorsteps right from Alexander's blast furnace were much easier to work it than going through their usual tedious process.

Where the blacksmiths would have to first slowly extract the iron from the ore using a primitive bloomery furnace over a few hours, and then once the ore had become hot and malleable enough shape it into the desired dimensions.

Since here the first part was already done in the blast furnace, the smithies only had to process the end product, making the production process much faster.

Something that the man right next to Marvin was happy to let Alexander know, and then added,

"The large size of the workshop is also a great boom for us my lord. Never have I worked in such a huge shop! And with so many well renowned blacksmiths. I have learned much from them. And it has helped us make the products so much faster! Truly a wonder! This has to be best iron workshop in the world."

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