Chapter 64
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John finished this meeting with both of them as they also started to make their preparations . Right now he decided to visit the forge which had been recently finished by Tornwall, John looked at the huge building which was occupied by the forge,
’Quite a good piece of art, it seems Ryfon is certainly enjoying his time exploring architecture, its good that he planned the town based on their need . ’
he entered the forge after watching the forge for some time,
As soon as he entered the forge, a dwarf recognized John and immediately headed to invite him while he ordered his new colleague to call the manager of the forge, Tornwall .
This Dwarf’s name was Redbeer, he too was kidnapped and sold by mercenaries, His family engaged more in the business of Beer in the Dwarven kingdom however they never stopped working on their main work as blacksmiths .
Recently, after watching and experiencing the normal life which they had been promised he had started to believe the promises which John made to them earlier . He also had a good opinion of John as he understood that John meant well and he too was under constraints when it came to tackling Slavery as a single man .
The slaves who were bought earlier worked with more passion as they experienced the life of normal men . They were fed well, clothed well and given shelter while they were also given higher than normal basic salaries compared to laborers of other cities because of this they were able to have a good life and able to spend the money which they earned, this also reaffirmed the point that John meant good for them and only genuinely needed men . And there was no need for John to explain to them about his intentions if he was only doing lip service . Redbeer thought that If he was in John’s place then he wouldn’t have bothered about slaves if it was earlier when he wasn’t a slave . His guilty conscience made him ashamed as he had that thought .
The New slaves were quite afraid at first but after watching the treatment they too started to believe the promises that Morgan Family gave them when they reached here .
Tornwall arrived with Ryfon, As soon as they watched John, they immediately hurried and invited him inside Tornwall’s workplace .
"Ryfon, Forge was quite well made this time around . You did a good job, it seems you are enjoying your work here . "
At John’s compliment Ryfon was quite happy as he answered him in a Jolly mood, "Haha, I certainly am enjoying more over here at North-frontier town than I did at Imperial city,
the food here is especially great at ’Hope’, I can always explore the wilds over here and there is a lot of inspiration in this town . So I guess a lot of factors are helping me discover more about the world, life and myself . "
Looking at Tornwall he remembered meeting Redbeer, John asked him in a teasing tone, "Tornwall, you didn’t hire that guy as your assistant because of his beer’s right?"
Tornwall didn’t meet John’s eyes as he said with a flinching yet firm tone, "No . . . , I don’t have anything to hide . "
Ryfon showed a teasing smile when he saw Tornwall and laid him bare, "don’t you lie, I know you had got a Box of beer in your courtyard, weren’t you already bragging in front of me when I couldn’t find a source of good wine and beer at Hope and all of North-frontier town . "
Tornwall panicked and gave a furious roar at Ryfon, "You . . ! How dare you spill all the beans in front of Lord John . "
"No . no, I didn’t . I mean I didn’t mean anything . It was only a gift from a colleague . " He panicked more as he unconsciously said the truth and tried explaining himself .
Tornwall said as he got exposed about his earlier deed, "Didn’t you complain about not being able to use Cement which was recently being used for building roads . "
Ryfon hmphed and said with a triumphant smile to Tornwall as he was enjoying Tornwall’s miserable state, "Hmph . . . Blame yourself for being a cheapskate when you didn’t share that box with me and hence the spilled beans . "
Ryfon was not bothered about Tornwall revealing his frustrations on not being able to use cement and bricks for construction as he too understood that Maintenance of roads was one of the important work right now as they had already signed a deal with Baron Mendez .
During these few days, Ryfon understood that Tornwall loved his beer more than anything else and his time when he was experimenting to make new things . He was waiting for this opportunity to get back at Tornwall for bragging and not sharing those beers with him .
Watching this show between them, John smiled and understood that both of them became quite close buddies in these few days now that they were cursing at each other without any hesitance .
John stopped their fight with a cough and said to both of them .
"Okay, okay it’s not a big deal Tornwall, I was only Joking . Let’s get to serious matters first . "
Ryfon showed a sad face as heard that while Tornwall was quite happy as he escaped the current situation . He seriously heard John now that he was serious .
John continued and asked him in a serious tone, "Tornwall, were there any problems with the forge when you processed the metals?"
"Quite the opposite, It is easier to handle this forge with the supplementary equipment provided, And the most important thing about this forge was the power and control which it showed when we were working on it . So comparably it will be easier to work with this forge for our men, unlike the traditional forges where it required experienced hands more . "
’As expected’ John thought when he heard Tornwall,
After confirming that the forge was working well, John came to the main topic, "I heard that you have already started making the prototype of the Ballista, how is the progress? If there were any problems, you can always ask me as they were designed by me so I can always modify it to suit our needs . anyway first let’s head to the room where the prototype is placed then answer my questions . "
Tornwall, John and Ryfon came to a room which was tightly guarded by guards which were provided by both John and Vlad, some of these guards had Horns at their heads which indicated they were demons from Longsea house .
One of the guards thought after he recognized John and showed a bit of killing intent, ’So this is the guy that Master is teaching right now, I wish I had such luck’ and he sighed as he saw him .
John looked at the place where Killing intent came from and didn’t bother any longer as he smiled at him and headed inside .
After recognizing John and his men, they allowed them to enter the room, "hmm . . . it is good that the security here is tight . Meanwhile, it seems that the prototype is 2/3 complete, did you face any difficulties when you were making it?"
Tornwall thought as John asked this question, ’I guess there were some difficulties when we didn’t have the new forge, I wonder where he gets all these crazy ideas to make such incredible machines . ’
Tornwall reported about the difficulties he faced at the start, "We faced some difficulties at the start but it was resolved after we used the new forge to produce the required parts, I think now we can easily make the remaining parts now that we have the forge . "
John smiled and thought of Tornwall’s answer, ’I guess the forge came in to be quite useful after he adapted to it . ’
He later asked him in a serious tone, "How many days would you require to complete the prototype?"
Tornwall thought a bit and gave his answer, "It won’t take long, I think we can finish in it in the next 3-5 days . We can demonstrate its ability as soon as we make the prototype and prepare for its testing . "
John heard his assurance and said to him in a serious tone, "Okay, I am reassured now that you have adapted to the new machines . Report me directly as soon as you finish making the prototype, you don’t have to report to anyone else regarding this project . It would be good if fewer people know about the completion time of this project . You understand what I am saying right?" John smiled and said to him .
Tornwall was someone who was experienced and understood that John wanted to keep this project under the wraps so that they don’t reveal their firepower this early in their game . After looking at the blueprints he very much understood the firepower of the Ballista and hence had given that remark earlier when he saw the theory behind it .
With an understanding gaze he replied to John, "Lord you don’t have to worry about it, I will make sure to keep the completion of this project a secret . "
After hearing Tornwall’s answer, John smiled and said to him, "When you finish this project I will give you a surprise blueprint which will change your thinking on wars and how we will handle strong powers in future . "
"I just have one request lord, as you know, not a lot of traders come here to trade for high-quality beers and wines at this town and the ones we get here are already low-quality one so I hoped you could solve this problem for all of us dwarves,"
John thought and gave him an answer, " Okay I will look into it, However, It will take some time . Maybe if you can show better results then maybe I myself will create a good wine which is never tasted in this world . " John said that with a mysterious smile .
Listening to this Tornwall instantly jolted and got back into work as he knew that the various cuisines which were introduced in this town were created by John . Hearing this assurance, he hoped to drink the wine personally created by John . This bit of news motivated him a lot more as he got busy with his work .
John then turned to Ryfon and told him about the matters which he had observed today, "Ryfon, recently you are doing a good job, After watching this forge I am quite satisfied with your work . You should go to the Administrative building and help Mayor Sam in building it from now on . And as the cement and brick factory has already started and increased their production, you can use those resources to build a grand structure . In your free time, you can look for me as I have certain types of architecture which I want to be built . However, as I am not free to handle everything on my own I need you to execute some projects from start to end . "
At the mention of new types of designs and architecture for building grand structures, Ryfon was quite excited and he couldn’t wait to finish his work at the Administrative building however he also understood the importance of that building as it would represent North-Frontier in the future . This structure would be recorded in history . However, he was still excited since he would be able to use those new resources in building architectures from now on i . e Cement and bricks which would improve the solidity and grandness of the structures .