Chapter 326 - Volume 3
Chapter 105 – Trentheim and the young lord (5)
Brendel opened the letter. The contents in it were empty save for a darkened spot on the corner. He immediately understood what it was. He crumbled the letter and burned its corner with a spark of fire that came from his hand.
He then tossed it away as it turned into ashes.
The druids had replied to him. This bit of good news made him feel relieved, but he did not immediately make plans to meet them and instead spoke to his new assistant:
“Mordenkainen.”
“Huh? Y-yes, my lord, what is it that you need?” It took a moment before that young man realized Brendel was calling for him.
“Find Tagiv and bring him to me.”
“Who is Tagiv?”
The forges hardly converted Magicite to fuel. The city was like a rubbish dump rather than a place fit for living. Outside the city walls was the Wilderness, and the agriculture produced here was stuck with primitive techniques.
The era that the old blacksmith worked in was approximately ten years ago, and he stayed in one of the richest city in Aouine. At that time, the land was aided with the assistance of magic. Apprenticing Elementalists that studied in the nearby magic academy arranged the Elements in the air and changed the climate in a small area, allowing something like a greenhouse effect and kept it from flooding.
But there was nothing here.
Machinery that ran on Magicite were used to speed up various tasks in agriculture and was considered to be an industrial revolution. Kirrlutz stole the technology from the Hazell kingdom, and Aouine later got to learn from it. (TL: Hazell is that country next to Kirrlutz with advanced machinery technology.)
This revolution in technology affected the November War and brought the second Holy War to the world, which again advanced the research of Magicite as well as the techniques to utilize it. (TL: Somewhere in the story it was mentioned that the second holy war lasted for decades, and I think it takes place after the November War.)
Bosley looked at the two gigantic forges in the center with a deep frown. The machines attached to them were old technology built decades ago. This workshop was the most advanced area in the entire city. It was as if the owner of the entire region was owned by someone who disliked magic and allowed the area to remain outside of civilization.
But that was just Bosley’s biased outlook. Aouine’s southern borders were impoverished due to many reasons, and it was not only Trentheim that was poor. The Grinoires region and the south of Karsuk’s area were just as poor.
Aouine’s southern borders were next to the Wilderness, and thus they were at the edge of civilization. Poor geographic locations and having monsters attacking all the time were the real reasons that Bucce and Trentheim were poor areas. Even Bruglas was also affected because it had to supply Fortress Riedon and Bucce with resources.
“You have to try and accept it, Grandmaster Bosley. Even though these two Magicite converters are considered trash anywhere else, they are valuable treasure here.” Brendel said.
Amandina wanted to break them apart in order to study the internal components the first time the two crumbling machines were found, but Bosley refused to let her do so with all his might.
His decision was considered wise since the two machines still aided his work greatly. No matter how outdated they were, the production they had was still faster and better than the primitive usage of just human hands.
Brendel did not want to think about the fact that Firburh was stuck in an era where it was the equivalent of Earth’s medieval period. His plans needed a long adjustment time before they were fulfilled if it were so.