Chapter 54

Chapter 54

TL-Mechatronic

Professor Geramim signed the contract and asked Nina to hire all her students.

She was surprised at the unique deserted nature of the Black Shield Castle, but the interior and atmosphere of the castle were excellent. She couldn’t think of it as a notorious castle at all.

Geramim was nervous at first when she talked to Louis but soon found out that he was a good conversation partner.

She wanted to apply the bureaucratic system, which was also a part of her research, to the Duchy, and Louis was ready to use any reasonable system.

Once the existing Duke’s blood-related family was organized, a new bureaucratic system should be created according to the new ruling Duke.

Her students, Pasha and Lotte, were in charge of accounting. Jean turned over the ledger he had organized singing exclamations of joy.

Although the handover took time, Pasha and Lotte quickly adapted and reorganized the books in a new form.

Jean’s training time was extended with a grin.

By the time Geramim had finished making the new administrative system, about one-third of the letters Nina sent returned with a reply.

Geramim was astonished by the Duke’s ability to attract people regardless of gender, nationality, and age. It would be a disorderly crowd of people in other eyes, but in her mind, they were the right people.

“How much is he spending on the information network?’

As she came to know why the castle was empty, Geramim became dizzy.

“Besides, why is there a Grand Sage of the Blue Stone Island here?’

When she heard the news that Lotte brought from listening to gossip here and there, she wondered why there were no rumors about the Duchy of Luverne.

“Once this knowledge explodes, the repercussions will surely be tremendous…….’

Suddenly, Geramim trembled, recalling the Duke she had met several times for approval of the new system

When talking in front of him, she always felt like she was standing in front of a professor with her research results during her undergraduate school days.

“Compared to him, Viscountess La Dell was comfortable to be with.

If you are the leader of the Dark Knights, you are no different from being the only Commander of the armed forces of the entire Duchy of Luverne.

Along with the gentle General Manager (Louis), she was in charge of one of the Duke’s limbs. Nina never seemed sloppy, but she also didn’t seem to be one of the left hand or the right hand of the Duke.

“How strange.’

She came into a really weird and unknown place. Geramim shook her head thinking so.

Nina approached the Sage Steel mine and got off the unicorn at some point.

‘Why is the mood so gloomy?’

Maybe it’s because the mining work is hard. “I wish I had something to cheer them up. What would be good?’

As Nina pondered, Pocco came to meet her.

Like the atmosphere of the mine, her expression was dark, and she had bags under her eyes.

“Dame Nina, you’re here.”

They greeted each other and Nina asked.

“What’s wrong? Is mining work that hard? I will talk with my master-.”

“No, it’s not.”

When the word Duke of Luverne came out, Pocco jumped, shaking her hand. “That’s not the problem.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

When Nina asked anxiously, Pocco looked down at her and sighed.

“Come this way, please.”

Near the mine, a forge and a wooden building stood decently.

But Nina was even more embarrassed because everyone passing by somehow looked ‘off.’ Pocco, who took her to the small forge, said.

“This is a specially crafted forge. As the temperature inside it rises, it melts the iron.” “That’s interesting.”

“But the Sage Steel doesn’t melt.”

“Ah.”

Oops.

Nina looked at Pocco without knowing it. On one side, a large basket was filled with mineral ore.

“I think the highest temperature of the fire that we can produce here is up to this much. There’s a reason why Lency steel is hard. But…….”

The Sage Steel is insoluble.

It doesn’t melt, so it can’t be processed. With the treasure in front of them, she felt like they couldn’t make a penny with it.

“We’re doing research trying to increase the temperature of the fire somehow.” “Ms. Pocco.”

Nina grabbed her hand, and Pocco opened her eyes wide in surprise.

“If that’s only the case, I can handle it!”

“What?”

Pocco looked puzzled. Nina said.

“Wait and see. Well, I’ll be back by tonight since I’m mounting a unicorn.”

Nina said and then quickly got on the unicorn and disappeared at an alarming rate. Only unicorns can run through this complex forest like that.

Pocco looked at her hand that had been held with a puzzled expression.

“Can she solve it?”

How?

Karak’s workshop was one of the oldest workshops in the Kingdom of Lency. Until their predecessor’s era, they had pride in producing the best Lency steel. With artisan wisdom and technology, complex equipment and dexterity that have been accumulated over the years.

‘But somehow……’

She doesn’t think that Nina was lying or bluffing, it really feels like the Dame could bring a solution to their dilemma.

Everyone snorted when Pocco told the other craftsmen these words.

“How will she solve it?”

“I don’t know that either.”

“Isn’t she just mistaken? She might just bring a process that she thought is new, but would just turn out it’s a process that we already have.”

“That’s also possible.”

The proud craftsmen shook their heads. It was hard to believe that there were advanced forging techniques they did not know.

“Let’s wait and see.”

At Pocco’s words, everyone coughed and shut their mouths.

In the middle of the night, she began to worry,

No matter how many times she might have done it wouldn’t it be hard to run through the forest on this dark night?

There’s a good chance that a bellac will show up.

It was not until midnight passed and dawn came that Nina appeared.

“I’m sorry. I was late because bellacs showed up on my way.”

She grumbled while brushing off her bloody uniform and dropped one of the bags from behind the unicorn

“But I thought it’d be better to give you a solution as soon as possible.”

“Is that the solution?”

“Yes.”

Nina smiled and opened the bag.

The craftsmen, who couldn’t sleep because they were curious, made puzzled sounds.

She said cheerfully. “It’s a transparent fruit.”

“Transparent fruit?”

Pocco tilted her head in confusion while Nina moved to the forge with the bag, and spilled the contents in front of everyone.

The transparent fruit, which turns white when dried, was the size of a jujube.

“What is this?”

When asked by Pocco, Nina simply explained, “It’s a high-grade coal.”

When she lit it on fire, it did not shine orange but burned with a bluish flame.

Everyone opened their eyes wide. They were well aware of the difference in temperature depending on the color of the flame.

“Isn’t this enough?”

Nina’s solution was simple and perfect. At her words, Pocco held her hands tightly.

“It is! Dame Nina, where the hell did you get this? Oh, how could there be something like this?”

“It’s a strong suit of the Violet Forest.”

Without this, they couldn’t melt Sage Steel, but Nina felt sorry for forgetting to tell her. “L-Let’s try it out now, Chief!” “Yes, let’s set the forge on fire!”

It’s still early in the morning, but everyone was suddenly energized and started working.

“How many more are there? Is there a lot?”

“I brought enough bags for now. I know there’s quite a few in the warehouse.”

“I see.”

Pocco relatedly let go of her hand and began to command the craftsman.

First, they tested whether the ore melted well in a small forge. In the black darkness, a melted iron flowed out shining brightly in a burning white.

Silenced by the strong emotion, the artisans began to chatter after a while.

“Oh, oh!”

“We did it!”

“Amazing, beautiful…… It’s nothing like steel.”

“Doesn’t it look like pure gold? It’s so clear and transparent!”

Nina whispered to Pocco.

“You made it.”

Pocco looked back at Nina. Her face shone brightly in the light of the fire. Pocco tried to smile with a teary face, but it didn’t work out.

All the hardships they had gone through.

Even though she managed to find the Sage Steel, she worried what would happen if they could not use it.

The dead are in front of her, and the living only looks at her.

Pocco, who had to take responsibility for them, was in a more difficult situation.

“Yes.”

Pocco barely spoke in a trembling voice as she touched her eyes to get rid of the tears.

“Yes, Dame Nina.”

Nina said as if pretending to not see her tears

“I’ll be looking forward to the completed sword.”

“We’ll make you the best weapon we can.”

Pocco pledged.

“And let’s spread the flag of the real Karak Workshop.”

Pocco held her breath at Nina’s words, and after a moment of silence, she replied.

“Let’s do it.”