The Workshop

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

Mr. Ekins got up early today. While it was still dim outside, he began grooming himself, carefully trimming his beard. After a hasty breakfast, he rushed to his workplace—a blacksmith workshop on the outskirts of Alden Town.

By the time he arrived, all the employees were already present.

Ekins stood on a wooden crate and said very seriously, "Everyone, perform well today! Give it your all!"

"Don't worry, boss!"

"We won't let anyone look down on us!"

The employees responded in unison.

Today, a big figure was coming to visit!

Ekins came from a family of blacksmiths. In earlier years, being a blacksmith was a highly respected profession. Of course, being a blacksmith is still a good choice now, but it lacks the same level of demand it once had.

This phenomenon is due to the advancement of technology.

First, because Earl Grayman improved the iron smelting technique, raw materials were no longer a limitation.

Then, the rapid development of the machinery factory in Alden Town required a large number of metal components, initially custom-made from local blacksmith shops. However, these shops were generally family-run businesses passed down through generations, scattered throughout Alden, making the process time-consuming.

Moreover, Earl Grayman's requirements for the dimensions of various components could be described as "excessive," and he even invented a measuring tool called a "caliper." However, due to various reasons, the quality of products made by these small shops varied significantly. Thus, the machinery factory began to train its own blacksmiths.

As a lord, the Grayman family employed some blacksmiths who had served them for generations, and they were among the most skilled in all of Alden. For example, the blacksmith Mr. Hermann, whom Ekins once admired greatly, was the most talented blacksmith in the lord's manor. However, he hadn't seen Mr. Hermann much in the past two years, as he was said to have been assigned an important task and was no longer in Alden Town.

Now, Earl Grayman had assigned this group to the machinery factory and adopted a training method similar to that used by Weiss Academy for its students, actively recruiting and training blacksmith apprentices. Unlike other places where blacksmiths needed to be well-rounded, the Earl only required them to master the crafting of one specific component, but they had to hone their skills to perfection. These newly trained young blacksmiths repetitively performed a simple set of actions in what was referred to as the "workshop." Some more complex items were even crafted through a relay process, with each person completing a part and passing it on until the entire piece was finished.

However, the inspection of results at each stage was strict, with dedicated personnel monitoring and checking with measuring tools. Blacksmiths with too low a pass rate could face wage cuts or even lose their jobs. For commoners, the wages at the machinery factory were quite substantial, so everyone worked diligently.

Not only blacksmiths, but carpenters in the machinery factory also employed this working method.

After meeting the demand for large machine components, such as those for four-wheeled carts and harvesters, the factory began producing smaller items like hoes, rakes, and pitchforks—common agricultural tools—and offered them at very low prices.

This significantly impacted the livelihoods of traditional craftsmen.

However, they were squeezed by the grand workshop under the name of the Earl of Alden. As commoners, no one dared to step up to organize the craftsmen to resist the lord.

In times of poverty, the desire for change grew. Some well-off craftsmen began to expand their production scale, recruiting blacksmiths and carpenters to join their teams, learning the work methods from the mechanical factories. Thus, one workshop after another was forced to be born.

Strangely enough, facing what could be seen as competitors, Earl Grayman not only didn't hide away but also summoned these new workshop owners to visit his mechanical factory, allowing them to observe the workflow in detail and announcing his encouragement for their entrepreneurship, with a three-year tax exemption.

Ekins was one of those workshop owners who had transitioned from a traditional blacksmith.

Thinking back to the early days of starting his business, it was truly hard to describe.

Despite having a family history in blacksmithing, Ekins had some savings, but that money was far from enough for purchasing a site, hiring workers, and acquiring tools. He tried to raise funds at the stock exchange in Frand Port, but he was not a person of traditional business and had no fame to attract others, so he had to resort to the old-fashioned way of borrowing money from friends and relatives, eventually managing to establish the workshop after much struggle.

However, due to the first-mover advantage of the mechanical factory in Alden Town, which quickly occupied the market with its low prices and good quality, many private workshops were struggling on the brink of failure, with those who couldn't cope quietly going under.

Ekins' workshop faced such misfortune too. Just when he felt he couldn't hold on any longer and was disheartened enough to consider disbanding the workshop and seeking a job at the lord's mechanical factory to spend the rest of his life paying off debts, a turning point arrived.

Under the leadership of Earl Grayman, the lords of the northwest established a so-called company named "Northwest Industry," whose main business was selling weapons to the southern kingdom's government.

Workshop owners who had not yet gone bankrupt were summoned to a meeting at the lord's residence, where the earl claimed to have found them a financial path: to join Northwest Industry and supply goods to this "company." He assured them that the industries under his control would not involve the production of weapons like swords and armor, assuring them that there would be no competition and encouraging them to produce confidently.

They wouldn't even have to worry about transportation, as Northwest Industry would handle that; they only needed to deliver on time.

There were two additional requirements: first, to unify the design style, allowing clients to form an impression and recognize that the products were from Northwest Bay at first glance. Second, to strictly control the quality.

As soon as Earl Grayman finished speaking, the workshop owners raised their fists and shouted long live the lord. Everyone knew that war was a great opportunity for wealth, especially in the arms sector.

Although many of them were cursing the earl's mechanical factory for not leaving them some room to breathe as they entered the lord's residence.

Ekins was so moved that he almost cried in the hall; he felt like he might never turn his life around.

He sincerely thanked the earl.

Later, he learned that a rebellion had broken out in the distant south, and the kingdom's government was purchasing weapons everywhere.

Ekins sighed, realizing that he should pay more attention to current events; focusing only on his little plot of land wouldn't bring him opportunities for wealth. Then, he pondered if the earl had established Northwest Industry to find a way out for people like him, and he chuckled at this somewhat absurd thought.

Next, the continuous orders for weapons from the south revived the private workshops, allowing them not only to stabilize but also to make a fortune. Ekins also entered the ranks of the wealthy.

However, with the end of the rebellion, the demand for arms in the south plummeted sharply.

Finding new business opportunities became Ekins' top priority.

While he was scratching his head over this, news came from the lord's residence that a major client had arrived from Horn Bay.

Ekins' workshop was selected for a visit by the new client, and it was the earl himself who personally brought the client.

(End of the Chapter)

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