Back to work

"Alright! So what have you guys been up to while I've been out?"

Geraltavin walked up to Shiro's bed and spread out a bunch of papers across it. Shiro couldn't read any of it, but was already getting excited to see what progress has been made.

"We're just about finishing up the last of the larger rails. I tailored ye earth rune engravings to stop deformation at the ends."

Geraltavin gestured to another sheet.

"For the ceramics we ran fiber with heat runes in between the mineral layers. They'll still crack after a while, but won't ebe replaced as often. Also included easy swapping for both the rails ceramics and capacitors and this new design."

Geraltavin pulled out another sheet and kept explaining. And then another after another.

Azura and Johnaquil got lost in the conversation as Geraltavin and Shiro went through iterations and revisions.

"I like the capacitor swap. If you can keep that on the right hand side, you can try and use the same design to reload the bolts on the left hand side. Then we can add wind and ice runes on a separate jig for cooling, and we get a high fire rate! All in all, I'm impressed."

"Haha. I guess yer can say I got some firsthand experience."

"There are a few more things I want to work on with you for the cannons. But I think this is your project now."

Shiro looked at Azura. Her glare was gone. Her expression now remained neutral.

"I need to start working on the Airships. I made a big promise to the master general about my Inverted battle ships."

"... You seem to be committed to this invention."

Johnaquil poked his head into the conversion.

"What did I miss? Did something happen between you two?"

"Nothing."

"... alright then... Well, I have some news from my side as well. Word is already spread about the "Forge Hero of Fire and Lightning" and with that comes opportunity."

"Forge Hero of Fire and Lightning?"

"That's me?!"

"Heroes tend to have...'Confusing' names. Because of this, they are traditionally given titles based on their abilities. It's also better than the 'Fallen Hero' or 'Hero of Revorgress' or many of the other titles that other nations were giving you."

Shiro felt his stomach turn at the last title.

"Well whatever. You said opportunity, we have investors?"

"Yes, Chancellor Alamak has been singing your praise among the nobles of Vermelionne and other nations. He came asking for the price to make the rail cannons. Then he went and priced it at four times the price. He is taking a commission, but people are looking to buy your weapons."

Damn!!! That guy was a bit... Off... But I guess when it comes to nobles, he knows his stuff

"No one's asked for the rail cannon or its large variant yet, but the light rail cannon has multiple orders. Normal and the fire one you used against that demon raid leader"

"..."

The room went quiet.

Just like that, everyone knows about it... Vermelionne needs the money. Alamak got sales at a three hundred percent profit margin. It's cause for celebration...

Azura interrupted his thoughts.

"You already made thermite. You did it to save my life, no? Then that dice has been cast and you no longer have reason to hold back on this."

"Yeah, yeah. 'Be less passive'... Find them!"

Shiro looked back at Johnaquil.

"You're selling bolts separate from the light rail cannon? Like bows and arrows?"

"Naturally, though, we did promise a few bolts with each cannon purchase."

"All right, well we'll have normal bolts which are pure aluminu..er Feather steel. Then we'll have thermite bolts and rune bolts. Like how bows have flaming arrows and magic arrows."

"Already ahead of you on the magic bolts. It's just the ter...thermite?. We tried putting spells like 'flame pulse', but none of them had the same power or effect."

"... Yeah it's not really a fire in the conventional sense. I'll go through the math with Geraltavin later, but it's a powder mix of Feather steel and rust. Mix them together and if you put enough energy into the system, they will burn together."

"..."

"..."

"..."

No one answered. Shiro could see the look of shock across their faces.

"What?..."

Honestly the rail cannon has so much more potential and way more threat... I guess the concept of a fire that burns metal like it was wood is hard to wrap their heads around.

"Pretty sure I told you so. Well we're here now so we'll have to find some sort of glue or sap that's flammable and can hold the two powers together."

Geraltavin was the first to answer as he scratched his beard.

"...I.. I can think of a few things that might work."

"That's good. I'll once I'm out of here we'll get on that. The main thing now is starting development of the Airships. It's going to be a completely different field of engineering, so I hope you didn't get too comfortable."

"It never ends with yer."

"Before we can start. I'm going to need some smaller supplies like we did for the rail cannon. It's going to have to be all imported..."

Shiro looked at Johnaquil.

"Don't worry we'll have the funds. Especially with the light cannon sales.

"Perfect. Because we're going to need those sails they use on ships."

"You weren't kidding when you called them 'Air' ships. Transportation of something that big will be a bit expensive. Especially since we're landlocked... on a mountainside... With multiple nations separating us from the coast. But we have the funds, how much will you need."

"Hmmm well I'll need more in the future for the full ship. I'm just looking to test a small balloon. About the size of a rowboat..."

Can't just look up hot air ratios or buoyancy calculations. If I think of the sails on pirate ships, each mast is probably like one third a balloon...?

"...Yeah. It is going to take a bit to figure out the weight ratio. Let's go with nine mast worth of sails."

"Nine mast for a rowboat?!?!"

Geraltavin patted Johnaquil on the shoulder.

"Feel my pain."