Victor and Linea passed through Ironwood, accompanied by two dwarves and the blacksmith Karram, since everything that would happen in Rivenhall was directly related to them.
Together, they arrived in the village, or rather its northern part, where a river ran, and it was here that he intended to establish his metalwork production.
That's right — metalwork, not weaponry. From the very beginning, the intention was to produce everything that could be made from metal: shovels, pickaxes, frying pans, pots, and many other items.
In this world, Victor noticed that people used tools made from wood. For example, a typical wooden shovel was not only inconvenient but also very labor-intensive to produce.
The same applied to other tools, especially mining equipment. Although they were made of metal, they were cast iron, which was heavy and short-lived. Even weapons lacked reliability and durability, and without mythril, they wouldn't have justified the metal used to make them.
Incidentally, one of the problems in this world was mythril itself. Possessing such a resource, people here didn't seek other alloys. If a single gram of this metal could radically alter the properties of cast iron, why bother searching for anything else?
But Victor had an idea: if mythril were added to high-grade steel, it would become much stronger and acquire new properties.
This thought came to him while he was looking through weapons in his inventory, and he clearly saw that many of them were made from steel, not cast iron. He hypothesized that the technology had been lost.
And now Victor wanted to bring steel products back to this world, although he had already considered aluminum, but without electricity — and in huge quantities — it was fundamentally impossible.
So he decided to focus on what was right in front of him.
— Here I plan to install three waterwheels, — Victor informed his companions, pulling several parchments from a bag slung over his horse's back.
Victor squatted down so the dwarves could see the drawings, and as everyone clustered around him, he began explaining what was going to happen.
He had already sketched a hydrohammer and a hydraulic system for bellows, but the most important component here was the blast furnace diagram.
Needless to say, it bore no resemblance to modern furnaces, but it could perform all the functions required for producing cast iron.
Unfortunately, steel production required not only a suitable furnace but also certain conditions that he had yet to figure out how to implement. But the possibility of producing cast iron on a large scale was already desirable for him.
Vorcat was searching everywhere for coal, which was essential for the furnace, and even the inhabitants of his territory had received a new paid "quest" to search for coal.
For steel, it was also necessary, but it was coking coal. Victor understood that this would take too much time, and he did not intend to wait until he could achieve it. Because even in small quantities, he could still obtain steel and even forge shields and swords for his soldiers.
Victor understood that it would take too much time, and he did not plan to wait until he could achieve it.
Since in small quantities he could still obtain steel and even forge shields and swords for his soldiers using hammers.
He even had a drawing of stamping equipment, a very basic model, but it was enough to capture the market of this world and witness how "golden streams" would flow into his domain.
After explaining everything and giving orders to the village elder to follow the instructions of the blacksmiths, he returned to the castle, while the dwarves remaining on-site were so excited by what they had seen that they wanted to start working immediately.
What Victor had shown them was a novelty that could create a dwarven forge anywhere in the world and allow them to work just as they did at home.
Unfortunately, only Karram had partly understood the part about the waterwheel, but he was embarrassed to clarify the details and decided to follow the dwarves, who seemed to have figured it out by the time the lord left Rivenhall.
Victor and Linea were almost back at the castle when the girl, who had been silent the whole way and was in doubt, finally spoke up.
— Where did you learn all this?
Victor, who in the heat of enthusiasm had completely forgotten about her presence and was still in a dreamlike state, only now realized that he had inadvertently revealed many secrets to her, and, of course, she had questions.
— From books, — Victor replied briefly and immediately started thinking about how to explain everything to her without revealing anything.
— What kind of books mention things I've never heard of? — the girl asked again and, before he could answer, continued: — Even dwarves have never heard of such things, and there is no one in the world who knows more about blacksmithing than they do.
"Looks like I'm screwed; those two were there too, damn my carelessness!"
— I'll tell you more when we meet your father, — he finally decided to delay answering the question.
— You plan to meet him? — Lineya asked in surprise.
"Someone kill me, I totally forgot to tell her about the meeting!"
— Yes, sorry, in the rush I completely forgot to inform you that he'll be arriving shortly, — the baron replied, hoping she would now relax.
— Okay, — the girl replied briefly and asked no more questions, as if answering Victor's prayers.
He looked at the girl, who seemed completely unfamiliar to him. Unlike their first meeting, she now behaved too quietly. Sometimes he completely forgot about her existence, and if it weren't for regular meals and joint training sessions, he probably wouldn't have remembered that she was always nearby.
— How do you like your new room? — Victor decided to start talking about unrelated topics to spark a conversation.
— Thanks, everything is fine.
"Is that it? She doesn't know how to continue a conversation?"
— Are you always this chatty or just with me?
The girl looked at him with surprise, as if not understanding the question.
— I rarely leave the territory and don't particularly enjoy the company of other nobles, — Lineya finally replied.
"That's strange; during negotiations I didn't get that impression," Victor smirked.
— I was afraid you were trying to deceive us, — the girl countered.
"What hint of deceit was there? Yes, I gave them such conditions that they could consider it a gift."
— As you can see, not all noblemen are principle-free egotists, — Victor said, not breaking eye contact with the girl.
The girl only smiled slightly, and that ended the conversation.
However, Victor couldn't stop looking at her, and when he saw her riding a horse, he felt a sense of unreality. Because she looked very frail, but the armor she wore and the sword hanging from her belt were not something a weak girl could carry.
Her appearance contrasted with all this so sharply that it seemed like she was an elfin maiden from fairy tales. Her slender waist attracted Victor's gaze, and her melancholic look made her appear like a girl who needed protection.
The magical combination of innocence and sexuality did not allow Victor to relax in her presence, because it was misleading: standing before him was a bronze knight, and if he didn't want to lose his hands or even his head, he had better be extremely cautious.
But what he didn't notice was the small seed that had been planted in the dried-up soil of Victor's heart, lonely for so long. Whether it would sprout or not, only time would tell.
***
Returning to the castle for dinner, the two of them went to the dining hall, where they spent the evening in the same company as at lunch. As promised, the count handed him the letter, which he promptly gave to the butler, because he did not want to read it immediately but rather wait until the issue with the fort was settled.
After the shared dinner, everyone dispersed to their rooms, but Victor couldn't calm down.
It was all because of the letter he had received from the duke but hadn't read.
"Human brain is a strange thing; I remember getting angry at the girl, but when I start thinking about it, it seems everything isn't as clear-cut as I initially saw it."
The longer he stayed in this body and the more he studied the memories of its previous owner, the harder it became for him to remain his old self.
Some things that seemed immutable were no longer so definitive.
Earlier, he found it hard to endure being bowed to or kneeled before, especially by elderly people or women, and although he had banned kneeling, the bows continued and no longer disturbed him so critically. Of course, he didn't derive pleasure from it, but he didn't feel negatively about it either; it had become a sort of handshake.
The same applied to the daughter of the duke, who behaved too haughtily, but after considering everything that had happened, he began to understand her a bit more and how such a "character" had formed.
"A fifteen-year-old girl under hyperprotective parenting from a father who lost his wife. You could find kids like that on Earth too. What was I so upset about?"
He didn't forgive her behavior, but he looked at it differently now, and the rage he felt when thinking about her no longer manifested.
"I'll have to somehow resolve the issue with this wedding, and if I can't, I'll find a way to coexist, but one thing is certain: there will be no cuckolded Victor Baltas."
Finally freed from his thoughts, Victor was able to fall asleep.
***
When he opened his eyes, the first rays of sunlight of a new day were peeking through the narrow gap that served as a window in this small room.
Feeling refreshed and well-rested, the lord summoned his servants, and after they dressed him, he headed to the dining hall.
Everything here was as if he had returned to the house of the count. Servants who had arrived with his father had brought many things, filling almost the entire dining hall and even replacing the castle's tableware.
The count himself kept his habits intact, appearing last as if he were the master of this house. However, none of this bothered Victor.
He was in a good mood and had great hopes for the future. After breakfast in familiar company, they all left the castle together.
True, there was one thing that did bother Victor. Throughout the entire period of the count's presence, he had shown no interest in Lineya, only once listening to her introduction and then ignoring her completely.
The lord knew that upper aristocracy could ignore lower-tier nobles, but there was another reason for this behavior that he couldn't quite grasp.
Lineya, meanwhile, behaved naturally in accordance with her status and did not ask any questions about why she was ignored, attributing it to the relationships between aristocrats in this world.
Truth be told, Victor didn't think about this for long, and as soon as they set off with their convoy toward the mithril mine, he returned to his ideas.
During the next nine hours of uninterrupted march to the mine, Victor spent his time thinking and planning the construction of a cement plant. He wasn't sure where to build it — on his own territory or on Clint's land.
***
Meanwhile, in the forest on the northern side of the burned-out fort, five men in leather armor with bows on their backs were standing. All of medium height and, judging by their clothing, more like bandits than soldiers.
— It's the Shermanyn flag; what do we do? — one of the men asked.
— We're returning; we can't decide anything ourselves here; let the viscount think about it, — answered the man who seemed to be the leader of the group, and, turning around, he walked toward his horse.