Two days after Ashes left, Maisie unexpectedly returned to Border Town and appeared in front of everyone again.
After asking why, her return was warmly welcomed, and the Witch League added a new member.
What moved her greatly was that the welcome banquet was held in the back garden of the castle. The long iron shelf was covered with all kinds of meat, which could be taken off and grilled at will. The seasoning is also very rich, including salt, oil, minced pepper, pepper, and Roland's own barbecue sauce. The mushrooms and whole chickens produced in the hidden forest are stewed together, and then salt, sugar and wheat flour are added to make up the soup. No MSG sorry. Maisie stopped when she almost ate her stomach.
In the afternoon, Roland tested her ability.
According to Nightingale's judgment, her total magic power is at a medium level among witches, and her ability can be transformed into various birds only if she has seen it before. When changing, the magic power consumption is quite large, and it can continuously change 4-5 times a day. When maintaining the deformed state, it consumes very little magic power. It is a summoning ability and is affected by the stone of punishment. The favorite bird is the pigeon, but Roland noticed that no matter what kind of bird she becomes, she will be much bigger. For example, sparrows, in his opinion, are about the same size as ordinary pigeons. As for really turning into a pigeon, it is almost the size of a sea eagle.
Maisie couldn't turn into the flying beasts in the fantasy, such as the phoenix, griffin, and Kunpeng drawn by Roland, which made him quite regretful.
In addition, there is another point in Ashes' plan that deserves his attention, that is, what abilities do the many witches that Tilly summoned have? If there are auxiliary witches who can greatly improve the efficiency of farming, he doesn't mind exchanging technology for them.
To this end, Roland decided to write a long letter to Tilly, first explaining the natural alliance between the two sides, then warning her about the church's intention to unify the continent, and finally handing out an olive branch, expressing her willingness to help each other and make progress together. When Maisie heads to the fjords next month, let her drop by.
The next day, the prince ushered in another good news.
The building for the production of steam engines was finally completed. The factory is located on the opposite bank of Chishui River, on the west side, next to Ye Ye's experimental field. The entire site has been fenced off with wooden fences, and a simple road leading to the pontoon has been leveled. In Roland's plan, this will be the industrial park in the future of the town.
In order to expand the building space as much as possible, the workshop is made of wood with a light weight and covers an area of about 1,000 square meters. The machine tools made by Anna have been delivered, including two steam boring machines, two manual milling machines, one manual grinder and one. A manual lathe. Although the principle of these machine tools is simple, the workmanship is first-class. Except for the parts such as the base or pedal, which are made of wood, other parts are cut from wrought iron or steel. It can be said that under the level of existing materials, the Highest precision machining.
At present, there are only a measly ten workers in the factory. They were blacksmiths and apprentices in a small blacksmith shop, but they were now recruited here by Roland with a high salary of fifty silver wolves per month to learn how to operate high-end machine tools. And their iron tools and blacksmith shop have also moved to a brick building outside the factory building. Except for making some unimportant parts, the production of steam engines will be completed by machine tools.
Roland held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the gate of the factory building. In order to strengthen his momentum, he invited a group of officials from the city hall and gave a short speech. In the sound of the echo simulation cannon salute, Graycastle Industries officially announced its establishment.
In the next few days, Roland, who is the head of the company, ran into the workshop whenever he was free, and demonstrated in person the operation method of the machine tool and the manufacturing process of the steam engine. For an illiterate blacksmith to master how to process and assemble a steam engine, the best way he can think of is to explain the flow chart, similar to the assembly manual of a model, to indicate the name, number, and size of the parts one by one, and then install them. The sequence and connections are depicted graphically. At this point, Soraya helped him a lot.
The first few days of production were as he expected, with hardly a single part meeting the requirements, let alone putting together a complete steam engine. But Roland didn't care about the scrap rate. In Anna's hands, these scraps could be recast into new plates in the blink of an eye. He believed that with practice, it would be a matter of time before these blacksmiths mastered new-age crafting methods.
In addition to the industrial plant, the prince transformed the firing room in the Beipo mining area together with the backyard into a military factory, mainly for the production of revolving rifles and bullets. The temperature of the blast air bag has been greatly improved, and the cement powder can be fired independently, and there is no need to exist in the firing room.
However, limited by the craftsmanship, the production of revolving guns and bullets is still done by Anna. Roland is designing a steam punch for punching bullets. Although the efficiency is not as good as Anna's cutting and forming, it can at least reduce her burden. .
In order to thank Anna for her busy work for nearly half a month, he decided to give her a gift.
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"Gift?" Anna put down the cut parts in her hand, stroked the strands of hair that had slipped to her forehead, and showed a bright smile, "Okay."
"Aren't you going to ask for a gift?" Roland teased her.
"Well..." She thought for a moment, "I like all the gifts you gave."
After more than half a year of recuperation, Anna has lost a trace of what she saw in the dungeon for the first time. She was thin and weak, and now she has become slim, her blue eyes are full of energy, and a plain dress looks fresh and neat. Full of youthful energy.
This is what an eighteen-year-old girl should look like.
Seeing the corners of the other party's mouth lifted involuntarily, Roland's mood became much happier.
The gift was placed in the courtyard of the castle. In order to surprise Anna, it was covered with a layer of sackcloth when making the Ashbringer. He had this idea in his mind. Since it is a prince, of course, the gift must be special. Finished products such as jewelry are too insincere. He thought about it for a long time before he came up with this idea.
Roland uncovered the sackcloth, and a basket made of rattan appeared in front of the two of them. The top of the basket was connected to many hemp ropes, and the other end of the hemp rope was a huge piece of canvas.
"This is... what?" Anna stepped forward and circled it, curiously.
"Hot air balloon," he replied with a smile. "It can take you up into the sky and overlook the earth like a bird."
"Fly to the sky?" She turned her head back, her eyes twinkling with excitement, "Is it really possible?"
Soaring in the sky is the dream of mankind since ancient times. From gliders to hot air balloons, from airships to airplanes, people have made huge sacrifices in exploration and challenges, and have never given up their pursuit in this area. Although there are witches in this world, flying is still the right of the few. The scenery seen from the high-altitude perspective is bound to leave a deep impression.
"Of course, just let the hot air fill the air bag."
Roland asked Nightingale to find Lightning and Maisie as emergency rescuers. In the event of an accident, Lightning and Maisie, who turned into a large sea eagle, could at least protect them both from landing safely. As for the other witches, he decided not to call them for the time being, especially Wendy and Scroll, who would definitely object to any of his risky behaviors. In their eyes, there was absolutely nothing wrong with him. (. If you like this work, you are welcome to come and vote, your support is my biggest motivation. Please come.)