Paul entered the reception room and saw a middle-aged man sitting there uneasily.
"The man standing before you is the owner of Northwest Bay in the Alarda Territory, His Excellency Count Paul Greiman," the servant leading the way announced loudly. He then turned and quietly introduced the count to the man. "My lord, this is the casting craftsman Malo. He came in response to your summons."
"C-Count." Perhaps because he was too nervous, Malo stammered. He gave an awkward bow and asked, "May I ask why you summoned me...? I've always been law-abiding..."
"All right, all right. I summoned you for something good. Otherwise, we'd be meeting in a prison cell. Are you particularly skilled at casting bells?"
"Yes." Seeing that the lord did not seem intent on making things difficult for him, Malo breathed a sigh of relief, and his speech became more fluent. "The bell at Lakeheart Town Church was cast by me several years ago. Um... if it hasn't been replaced."
"Excellent. To be honest, I've even struck that bell myself. To an amateur like me, the craftsmanship seemed quite good. The surface is very smooth."
"Heh heh, you flatter me, my lord."
The count took out a piece of parchment and slowly unfolded it. "I need you to cast something like this. Can you complete it? This is a cross-sectional drawing. Its actual appearance should be that of a tubular object. I call it—a cannon."
Malo leaned over and studied it carefully.
This was a cross-sectional drawing of an early cannon that Paul had made based on information he had seen while browsing forums in his previous life, with the dimensions marked down as well. The barrel was narrow at the front and thick at the rear, approximately one meter long with an inner diameter of about eighty-four millimeters. It had a breech, trunnions, and a touchhole, and could fire four-pound solid iron shot or grapeshot. Leaving aside the difficulty of manufacture, its structure alone was far simpler than that of a musket. As a fake military enthusiast, Paul had not dared to draw anything too outlandish and had instead come up with a fairly conservative design.
Malo had never seen anything like it. "May I ask what you intend to use this thing called a 'cannon' for, my lord?"
"Let's not discuss that for now. I need someone to work here long-term. I'll pay you eight hundred Copper Coins a month, with raises if you do well. Would you be willing to work for me permanently?"
"Willing, willing!" Malo nodded repeatedly like a pecking chicken. Craftsmen who specialized in casting like him could not often find work in the economically underdeveloped Northwest Region. Sometimes, they were even requisitioned without pay by the lords under the name of corvée labor. Now that he had a stable, long-term livelihood with such high wages, only an idiot would refuse.
"Good. Here's an employment contract, or what's called a covenant. You only need to put your fingerprint on it later. I'll read it to you first."
Aside from a few lines concerning wages, the contract was mainly about confidentiality. For example, he was forbidden from revealing the nature of his work to others or leaving the workplace without permission. The long list of secrecy requirements left Malo dizzy.
This was the first time Malo had encountered such a "particular" lord. He had never heard of nobles making commoners sign covenants when hiring them. Though some of the clauses restricting his freedom made him uncomfortable, the benefits were simply too tempting. He pressed his fingerprint down without the slightest hesitation.
"Perfect!" The count was secretly delighted. He immediately put away the contract. He had thought Malo would go home and consider it for a few days, but the man had made his decision so quickly.
"If you do well, I guarantee I won't mistreat you. Oh, right! From now on, you'll stay in my territory. I'll send people to bring your family here and arrange everything properly."
"Let's continue discussing this cannon. Since you'll be working for me, you'll have to learn about certain things sooner or later. You know about catapults and ballistae, right?"
"I do." Malo nodded.
"The cannon serves a similar purpose, except I've replaced their projectiles with iron pellets called 'cannonballs.' You place the cannonball inside the barrel, then pack the bottom with a substance called 'gunpowder.' When this substance is ignited through the small hole at the rear of the barrel, it explodes violently and propels the cannonball outward. Can you understand my explanation?"
"I understand, I understand. Your explanation is very clear, my lord."
"Start by casting some in bronze. Later, we'll try casting them in iron." Based on what Paul knew, bronze had better ductility, making bronze cannons less likely to burst. Even if one did burst, the consequences would not be catastrophic. The new-style army he had worked so hard to train was not meant to serve as cannon fodder. Every soldier was precious to him, and he could not let them die inexplicably because of their own weapons.
"Based on your experience, how much would it cost to cast a bronze cannon of the dimensions shown in the drawing?"
"A cannon this size would probably require more than three hundred kilograms of bronze. At current prices, the cost would be around five hundred Aldo Silver Coins, or roughly fifty Auldo Gold Coins."
Paul was stunned. Why was it so expensive?! That was almost as much as the compensation for ten soldiers. As the saying went, whenever cannons roared, gold flowed like a river. Come to think of it, he had not yet asked Philip how much the firearms research had cost recently. At the time, he had merely ordered the craftsmen to provide whatever was needed. Hopefully, it would not make his heart ache again.
But now, he could only pretend to be rich despite being poor. He had already hired the man, and he urgently needed the cannon.
"How long would it take to cast one?" he asked, focusing on the question that concerned him most.
"I've never made one of these, so I can only estimate. It would take at least a month."
"This... That's far too long!!!"
Seeing the lord's bulging eyes, Malo wondered whether he should mention the concept of the failure rate to Paul.
"All right, a month it is. I'll arrange a group of apprentices for you. Teach them properly so that we can cast several at a time. And don't even think about refusing to teach them for fear of starving the master. The more apprentices you train, the higher your wages will be, and there will be additional rewards as well."
"Yes, yes. I'll do my utmost. But, my lord, why not use iron directly? If we use iron, I'm confident I could keep the price to around a quarter of bronze."
"Sigh—I don't mean to boast, but this is also because I'm kindhearted and thinking of you craftsmen. As far as I know, iron is more brittle. If too much gunpowder is loaded during testing and the cannon bursts, that would be disastrous."
"What? Bursts??" Malo seized on what sounded like an extremely dangerous term.
"It means the explosion inside is too powerful and blows the barrel apart."
And you call that kindhearted? Only then did Malo realize that he had accepted a job that might cost him his life. "My lord, this... this..." He became tongue-tied again. "I have elderly family members to support and young children crying out for food. Couldn't you... couldn't you just have me handle the casting?"
"What are you afraid of? When the time comes, build a mound of earth, make the fuse a little longer, and go light it from behind the mound. You'll be safe. Oh, forget it. I just captured a batch of pirate prisoners. I'll assign a few to you. Use them however you like."
"Oh, all right." Malo breathed a sigh of relief. "I was too out of line just now. Please forgive me for making a fool of myself."
"The operating principle of a cannon is similar to that of another weapon called a firearm. We've already made one of those. In a moment, I'll have someone take you to the place where we manufacture weapons. You can discuss things thoroughly with the craftsmen making firearms and carefully consider the details of the work ahead. I require the cannon-casting project to begin immediately."
"Yes, my lord." Though he agreed, Malo was still somewhat unaccustomed to suddenly becoming a craftsman responsible for weapons production.
At that moment, the steward Philip walked in. "Count, Father Anderson and his teacher, Friar Leonard, have come to visit. Friar Leonard is the abbot of North Shore Monastery."
"Oh? Anderson is the one who treated me, right? I've heard of the other man as well. What brings them here? Have them come in. Also, arrange for Master Malo to go to our training camp and participate in the development of the new weapon. Provide him with whatever he needs."
Thanks to "Red Left-Handed Sword" for providing the data. I modified the cannon caliber based on it. I looked it up online and found that there seem to be two versions of the information: one says an 4-Pound Cannon has an inner diameter of 84 mm, while another says a 6-Pound Cannon has an inner diameter of 84 mm. Since I couldn't find data for a smaller inner diameter for an 4-Pound Cannon, I'll use 84 mm for now. Please forgive me if there are any errors.
Before you continue