Chapter 290 – 100 Swords
Although 5.5 nickel steel is very tough, it is not quite suited for blades.
This is because of the excess nickel which leaves quite a bit of austenite and therefore reduces the hardness.
And as such, Jin started by separating the nickel from the remaining ingots. It takes two times the effort but he still has to do it.
“‘Extraction’: nickel.”
Out of the 1.79 tons of 5.5 nickel steel, 98 kgs of nickel was separated. The remaining pure carbon steel was more than enough to make 100 swords.
“Okay then, Elsa. How about practicing ‘separation’?”
Jin told Elsa to come closer. And then he began explaining.
“Listen well, Elsa. The trick to ‘separation’ is to properly grasp the amount. And you do that by feeling the weight. 1 gram each so for 10, 10 grams. For 100, 100 grams. It’s just a repetition of that.”
“Hmm, I do understand the logic behind it.”
“The vital point is to grasp how much makes 1 gram. Start from there.”
By explaining the things he does solely based on his instinct alone, his understanding of the concept also deepened. And at the same time, he also realized how extremely similar his predecessor’s thinking was to the current Earth’s science.
Of course, not all of it. Just the parts about visualizing things digitally and handling materials all the way down to the atoms.
Moreover, it took him quite a while to realize but, the joints on the golems are really similar to the humans and one wouldn’t be able to think so far if they hadn’t known anatomy.
(My predecessor might have also been summoned..)
Jin was thinking of such a thing, but there weren’t anyone present who could possibly have an answer for him.
“‘Separation'”
Jin shifted his attention to Elsa. She was using ‘separation’ with her utmost effort and was trying to separate 1 gram.
“Looks like you’re able to use separation without problems now. All that’s left is to perceive the 1 gram.”
They say a skilled artisan can check the level surface with just their palms.
Of course, magi craft meisters also possess that skill but even without that, humans’ eye measurement is surprisingly good.
A skilled carpenter can even tell apart boards with thickness of 3 and 4 millimeters and an experienced driver can also tell the difference in the tire’s air pressure.
In short, depending on how much you are used to it, you can reach a certain level. The higher that level, the closer they can get to magi craft meisters.
“‘Separation’… how was it this time?”
After doing it for a few dozen times, Elsa was getting much better at it.
“Yep, it’s pretty good. Now then, let’s try taking out 2.2 kgs this time. Reiko, handle the adjustments.”
“Yes, father… Elsa-san, let’s do it.”
“Hmm.”
And so, Reiko inspected the parts Elsa separated and did the more minute adjustments to the amount.
At first, she was making it too big or too small but after doing about 30 times, the difference gradually kept decreasing.
“Hmm, Elsa-dono is quite amazing as well.”
Said Gloria,impressed with Elsa’s growth. She too didn’t know any normal magi craftsman and so didn’t comprehend how extraordinary this was.
Princess Lieschen was deeply interested in magi crafts and was eagerly watching.
Hanna too liked to see Jin work and so was watching quietly but as one would expect, seeing them make 2.2 kilo portions over and over again did seem to make her lose interest.
Jin could tell that and so took the 70 portions which were done and began to make the swords.
“‘Forming’.”
The clump of steel gave off a faint light and started changing form in the blink of an eye. And soon took the form of a sword. Time elapsed to make one: 5 seconds. But even then, Jin was holding back. If he had gone all out, he could have finished it in a second.
“Ohhh, amazing! Jin-dono, is it okay if I take a look at it?!”
Gloria couldn’t stay quiet. Jin smiled and handed over the sword.
“I haven’t yet attached the patterns, though.”
Taking the sword, Gloria walked a bit further from everyone and tried swinging a little.
“Yep, this is great! I don’t really use long swords much but this is really easy to use.”
“Really? I tried taking the sample sword and Heintz-san’s sword as reference.”
Hearing that, Gloria couldn’t help but be surprised. And at the same time, the princess also raised her voice,
“What?! You understood the details of the sword in such a short period of time?!”
“What?! Heintz-dono’s sword is unsigned but is quite sharp!”
Although the points they were surprised about were different.
“Well, it’s a relief if it turned out good.”
Saying that, he went back to work. Elsa and Reiko were done making the last portions.
“‘Forming’. ‘Forming’. ‘Forming’.”
He kept finishing swords. And within 15 minutes, he was done making a 100.
“Th-that’s fast…”
Both Gloria and the princess watched with their eyes wide open.
“All that’s left is the tempering, I guess.”
Mumbling that, Jin started explaining to Elsa again.
“‘Heat treatment’. ‘Shaving’. ‘Finishing’. ‘Hardening’.”
Seeing Jin do 10 swords like that at once, the ones watching were lost for words. It took him about 30 seconds to do the sequence and about 5 minutes to finish doing 100 swords.
“Now, I just need to do the sheathe, the guards and the pattern. Elsa can do this too.”
“‘Tsuba’?” (The pronunciation for ‘guard on swords’ in Japanese.)
“Ah, it’s ‘guard’.”
“Ah if that’s it then I got it.”
And so Jin prepared the materials and the leather he would use for the guard and the hardwood for the pattern.
He asked Elsa to do the brass on the guard.
He made a sample and told her to make it like that.
“I will do the minute tuning so go all out.”
“Mm, got it.”
Elsa separated the brass needed for the guard from the brass clump. Watching her work, Jin was impressed by how much she grew in this short period of time.
Moreover, after seeing her also make the forms with ‘forming’, he was assured that he could leave it to her and went on to work on the sheathe and pattern.
Reiko was in charge of gathering the materials and Jin was processing them.
And in the blink of an eye, the sheathes and patterns were being done.
“Waah, cool!”
Even Hanna looked happy watching this. This was also done within 10 minutes. Elsa was done with about 20 at that point.
“Sorry for being so slow.”
She was apologizing with a sorry face but it’s just that Jin was too absurdly fast and that she was actually also quite fast to be working with him. It’s a tragedy everyone with very capable siblings go through.
Jin installed the guards into the swords and planted the patterns and finished it up with some more minute adjustments. If they just add the sheathe now, the sword would be complete.
For what it matters, Jin used ‘soft tracing’ to change the sheathes color little by little.
Every 10 swords, the swords went from close to white tea color to dark tea color. It was a gradation of tea color.
“Hmm, it looks quite pretty.”
Gloria was also admiring it. Prince Lieschen and Hanna were both gazing at it. Looks like they aren’t bored.
After using all the guards Elsa had made, Jin also started helping her out in making guards.
And 100 swords were done a little after 2 30 pm.
“This makes the whole set complete.”
“Got to see some really nice stuff today.”
Sword maniac Gloria was also satisfied.
“Alright, now all that’s left is to hand it over to the minister… hey, you over there, go call the minister. Tell him that Jin has completed the order.”
Princess Lieschen told a guard who just happened to pass the workshop at that moment to go call the prime minister.
On the inside, Jin was a bit worried thinking ‘can the prime minister be called out that easily?’ but that ended being needless worries.
The minister literally came flying.
“J-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-j-jin-donoo, it is completeeeeeeeeeedd?!!”
Then came the accompanying guard, amazed at how fast the minister came rushing.
“Hoho, so even Powell makes that kind of a face, huh?”
Princess Lieschen was having fun seeing the usual stern looking minister panic like that.
“Haa, haa, haa……”
Having ran all the way to the workshop with all his strength, the minister was now wiping off sweat and breathing heavily.
“You don’t need to hurry that much, now do you?”
“Hohohohoho, did you really finish all 20 golems and 100 swords?!”
He came asking Jin.
“Yes, please have a look.”
Jin pointed inside the workshop.
There stood 20 brilliantly shining grey golems with 5 swords in each of their hands.
“S-s-so, it is really true…..”
“Ah, yes, although it was from the middle, Gloria and I also watched. Certainly, Jin was the one who made all these.”
For some reason, the princess being boastful.
At that moment, just when Jin thought that that marks the order as complete,
“As if the swords a magi craftsman made will be of any use in actual battle!”
Such a bothersome voice echoed throughout the workshop.