Of Arms and Arcane-Chapter 217

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When I started crafting my first piece of work in my new workshop, I decided to test things out by making a normal steel longsword blade. It took a couple of hours to get the hang of the different quirks and make some slight adjustments to the tolerances, but what used to take around fifteen hours of work, with the help of my machines and some aura-enhanced elbow grease, I managed to knock out a the longsowrd blade, sharpened and polished in around five hours.

As I gazed upon the polished shine of my latest work, a manly tear of pride came to my eye. "So much time saved."

After renovating my workshop to accommodate all the new tools and the tools themselves, I exceeded the hundred gold budget that I asked Mum for by twenty-three gold.

Fortunately, Dad's socializing and gifting of my previous swords had borne fruit. I got orders for five Weave Smithed mana steel arming swords from a Viscount for his knights, and a Weave Smithed mithril-alloy long sword from an Earl to be a gift to one of his relatives. Both orders came with requests on the design and what enchantments they wanted, which meant that it was a good excuse to jack up the price.

The next day, I decided to get the long sword out of the way first and knocked it out in six hours, ready for engraving and enchantment. After that came the five arming swords. Common sense would tell most people that it would take five times as long to craft five swords, but with my new workshop, they could not be more wrong.

After stretching and cutting the billet into five equal pieces, there were some things I could do in bulk that saved a lot of my time, like grinding the blades into their general shape. I simply had to stack and clamp the five pieces of metal together and take them to the belt sander. In the time it took to grind one sword into shape, I did five.

By the end of the day, I missed dinner, but I had the blades for all my orders done and ready for engraving and enchantment. I will make the hilts, engraving, and enchanting tomorrow. Now, I was too hungry and tired to work.

Just before dinner time the next day, I had all six swords ready for delivery. And since I had the tools and material, I decided to make a presentation box for each sword using some nice dark wood, gave it a nice oiled finish, and stamped a brass casting of my Wyrm Works logo on the box lid.

For the inside of the box, I carved some wooden support cradles to hold the bare blade and its accompanying sheath, and to make the presentation of the sword look even more luxurious, I bought a bolt of smooth red fabric and the scrap cloth from the local tailor. I then wrapped the wooden cradles with a few layers of scrap cloth, used some pin nails to secure the scrap cloth to the cradle, and finally, wrapped the cradles with the smooth red fabric. This made the cradle cushioned for the blade to sit comfortably and not scratch up the cradle or box,

Before installing the cradles, I applied glue to the inside of the box and lined it with the same smooth red fabric I used for the cradles before nailing the cradles inside the boxes, and finished everything off by adding leather straps to the cradles so that the swords do not move while being transported.

After stepping back and observing my work, my only regret is that this world did not invent velvet, and I have no idea how it is made either. It would have made everything feel much more luxurious.

When I showed my parents how the swords would be presented, they were impressed by the presentation. Typically, when someone received a sword, it was merely wrapped in cloth or leather; however, Mum said this could easily serve as the centerpiece of a room's decor.

The next day, Dad found merchants who were going in the direction of the nobles who ordered the swords, so we paid them to deliver the swords.

***

After completing the job requests, I spent the next few days crafting my signature Weave Smithed weapons in bulk. I had different designs of swords and daggers, all bearing my Wyrm Works brand at the base of the blade.

Dad set aside space in the armory to store my swords so he could gift them out anytime he was visiting or was visited by nobles.

As for the presentation boxes, we outsourced their production to the local carpenter, and I got to say, he made me feel like a total novice after seeing the boxes he produced. I may have the superior tools, but I could not beat decades of woodworking experience. After showing the carpenter a sample of the presentation box I wanted, the final product he presented me blew mine out of the water.

So now with a good stockpile of weapons that my parents could gift or sell off, I wanted to try my hand at making my first set of full plate armor.

Just as I was collecting the tools and ingots that I would be using to make the armor, there was a knock at my workshop door, and I heard the voice of one of the house's maids call out to me. When I opened the door, the maid passed me a sealed letter.

I thanked the maid and broke the wax seal to read it. After going through the letter, it seems that Santon from the Steward's Guild wants to meet me. This reminds me that I told him I wouldn't be taking any further jobs for a month to handle my personal affairs, and it seems I have exceeded a month by quite a bit.

I better go see him. It is not a good look for an employee to go on a long leave only after just joining the company... I wonder if he would appreciate a nice set of blades as an apology.

***

I show up at the same table where I first met Santon. When I looked at him, he did not seem to be unhappy, but with that business smile, I never know.

"Ah, Sir Ironcrest, good to see you again. I heard you have been busy." Santon said as he welcomed me to take a seat.

"Indeed, I have," I said cordially.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Santon said, "I will get straight to the point, Sir Ironcrest. For new initiates like yourself, the guild would prefer that they take a more active role in completing jobs. If not, it is hard to justify letting them enjoy the perks of being a member of our guild."

I sighed. It looks like my first full plate armor is going to be pushed back again. "I understand," I said before taking out a long wooden box that we now used to present my swords. "I will take on more guild jobs. Please accept this as a token of appreciation for allowing my prior prolonged absence from guild activity."

I pushed the box over to Santon as he looked at it with a glimmer in his eyes. "Oh my. I hear your father has been gifting these so-called Weave Smithed weapons. I even got a first-hand look at one when I went to visit a client. It was a most impressive piece of craft and artistry." he said as he undid the latch for the box and opened it. "And the same could be said for this."

Inside the box was an arming sword along with a dagger. Santon unbuckled the leather strap holding the dagger down and brought it up to catch the light coming in from the window. "Beautiful, the patterns are also very much different from the one I saw at my client's place."

I nodded. "I like practicing different designs as I advance my craft."

"As every craftsman should." Santon said as he put the dagger back in the box, "But before we get too carried away, let us settle business first, pleasure can come later."