Feasibility and the Blast Furnace.

Dale finally spoke up to break the men out of their excitement with a calm reminder; "Anyway… I can make this spinning wheel with very little issue, I just require Alarics help with the finer metal parts."

Alaric reached over Hektor and all but snatched the designs from Dale and began examining what he was required to make for the project, which were neatly organised on two separate pages of parchment, listed out in order with further sketches, details and explanations.

Spindle:

Function:The spindle is where the fibre is twisted into yarn.

Precision was needed to ensure smooth rotation and even spinning.

Flywheel: Required to be even and well balanced.

Function: The flywheel helps to maintain a consistent spinning speed and smooth out the motion.

Whorl: Simple design, weight and balance are crucial for consistent spinning.

Function: The whorl helps to regulate the speed of the spindle and the tension of the yarn.

Bearings & Axles: Required precision, with varying complexity.

Function: These parts support and facilitate the rotation of the wheel and spindle.

Bobbin Shaft and Flyer: No intricacies required.

Function: The bobbin shaft holds the bobbin, while the flyer guides the yarn onto the bobbin.

Alaric studied excellent designs and truly wondered how Cassius was able to create them, he wanted to pull the boys skull apart and study how his brain worked to come up with such easy to follow and intricate designs.

"What do you think Alaric? Can you make these? And will it be feasible?" Hektor asked, trying to forget about whatever that Blast furnace design was for the time being.

He scratched his chin and considered their applications and use, as well as how long it would take him to create them. "Creating these will be a challenge to get them perfect, but these designs will suffice, I assume it will take me 3-5 days if I get some of my apprentices to help out."

"And yes, between Dale and I, we should be able to make these designs feasible and have a 1-2 week turn around depending on our shops."

Dale nodded, his side of the wheelhouse would have no problems with the designs that were presented to him, although he and Alaric despised one-another due to personal history, neither of them would turn away Hektors commission.

Alaric then turned to study Cassius once again, and gestured down towards the blast furnace design he had hastily put together, cluing the master blacksmith into his intentions to change gears back to his new plans.

His heavily bearded face split into a wolfish grin, he too wished to continue their discussion on this design and wished to learn more.

Eventually Hektor finished his brief discussion with Cassius about payments, and the timeframe for the start of his payments towards the young lord and prepared to leave, having felt uneasy.

His renowned gut was warning him that if he stayed, he may hear something his wallet couldn't handle.

"Alright then! Farewell for now Lord Cassius, I have much to prepare for!" He hastily began to rise before two large callused hands from two separate men reached out and pressed him back into his seat.

He was stunned, and saw both Dale and Alaric staring at him like a fat sheep for the slaughter with wolfish grins, before looking across the table to Cassius and his retainers who shared a similar look.

Alaric and Dale for a change were both on the same page and saw the look in each other's eye, they desperately wanted to know more about this blast furnace and if possible, invest heavily into its creation.

Now why would a Carpenter necessarily be interested in mass production of steel? Well that's quite obvious. High quality fittings, gauge's, tools, fasteners, etc etc. He could cut down on his expenses dramatically if he invested in this industry and acquire high quality steel for a negotiated price if he helped out.

Alaric didn't need to be explained, a blacksmith lives and breathes on steel, he could not afford to pass up this opportunity. Plus, he absolutely couldn't resist the urge of rubbing this in his family's face.

"Hektor my dear friend, why don't you stay for a while longer? I believe we still have much to talk about!" Cassius said, feigning a genuine tone.

Sighing in resignation, Hektor knew this couldn't be avoided.

"Alright alright, I see there's no loyalty in friendship anymore." He said with a bitter smile while Alaric laughed and Dale kept a quiet smile.

Reaching back over and grabbing the 'Blast Furnace' design, he examined it seriously.

"You stated that this can produce several tons of 'Pig Iron' A day. Is that right?"

"Indeed, however as Alaric could explain, Pig iron typically contains a high percentage of carbon and various other impurities such as sulphur, phosphorus, and silicon. This high carbon content makes it brittle and not very useful for most applications without further processing.

This is why we will need to introduce another stage to the process to refine the pig-iron into usable steel. This involves melting the iron in a crucible and adding other materials to improve its properties. We can do this using charcoal and a crucible made of clay, or other materials that won't melt in the high temperatures."

Afterwards, we will still be left with several tons of usable, high quality steel a day. To fuel the process we can likely use coal.

Alaric immediately snapped his head towards the boy "How in fucks name do you know all this?"

Cassius, realised he had misspoken and had revealed more than he, a child should know and more than he had intended.

"Ahem, my apologies, I acquired a metallurgy book from the Eastern continent, and they claim that the 'impurities' in pig-iron are named as such, and such pig iron possesses other flaws as well, and their method of refining steel I thought could be improved on, and we could mass-produce it."

"The methods listed in the eastern book outlined how to refine the pig-iron itself, but the crucible design is one I have uniquely created, I doubt anybody on Astria can claim to have a similar design, maybe the Empires to the south have something similar, but I do not know for certain."

He absolutely did not have an eastern book, but he did know this was a design he had experimented on in his cottage, and had just upscaled it.

Alaric remained quiet at this, the boy was already quite unusual, and this knowledge was something far outside of what he as an experienced blacksmith even knew for certain.

He knew of the concepts his family had constructed, how the iron needed to be bent and bludgeoned to remove impurities and allow the steel to ring true, a common trade secret among the Ironforge Kingdoms smiths and bloomeries was to add coke, crushed up coal, or sprinkle the iron with bone material in some cases to 'baptise' the steel as it was commonly known.

It was an ancient method that predated the Kingdom, and was said to have originated when a shaman from the plains had escaped to the Iron mountains and had taken up the hammer, creating legendary steel weapons that never broke or lost their edge with his archaic method.

Unlike most smiths of the time, it was claimed that he openly passed his methods on to his many apprentices and descendants willingly so as his teachings might live on.

It is said that this is the true meaning behind the Ironforge Kingdom's name, and why armies were slain in great numbers. Arrows and Axe broke before armour, shields and breastplates were slashed and speared. A fully armed and equipped Ironforge Company could oftentimes bulldoze their way through opposing armies under their heavy armour, supported by medium and light infantry who could out manoeuvre their beleaguered foe.

That being said… Every single suit of armour, and every single blade cost a fortune to make, this is why although the Stenfalls were Margraves, they were often considered one of the poorest higher class nobles and thus the most down-to-earth in the entire Kingdom.

Of course, nobody would dare to look down on the family for their wealth. Since their Army, while not the largest, was the single most experienced and well equipped force in the Kingdom, and with the highly experienced commanders leading it, nobody outside of the Cross Kingdom dared to claim the fertile lands.

This, on top of them being the protectorate of the Kingdom of course, who wanted to lay claim to a land that saw multiple raids and armies a decade? Fertile lands and rich mines be damned.