Reiner set down the armor and asked the blacksmiths, "How many of these iron suits can you produce? How long would it take to forge one?"
"Er... Baron, although this armor is less complicated to make than chainmail, it still takes quite a bit of time. The five blacksmiths here can forge fifteen suits in a month..."
As the blacksmith spoke, he looked at Reiner with a slight frown, his words hesitant.
The output was indeed a little low by Reiner's standards, but he could understand it. Armor forged entirely by hand naturally took a long time. Still, he knew this was already the limit. If the two blacksmiths in Morland Castle whom he had sent off to make farming tools were assigned to forge armor, they would probably be even slower.
Reiner nodded and said, "Don't worry. I'm very satisfied with this pace. Forge as much as you can. Try to produce fifty suits of lamellar armor within three months if possible, but don't rush. What I want is armor that meets the standards."
After arranging this matter, Reiner recruited some soldiers from among the free people in Goer Castle, replenishing the number of ordinary soldiers to fifty.
This caused him another pang. The soldiers' wages were supported by the grain from the autumn harvest and the ten gold coins from the system's beginner gift pack. At the end of the first month, Reiner would have to pay his army six gold coins in wages. With the small amount of money he had on hand, he could last only another two months. After that, he would not even be able to pay their wages.
By then, although the manifested soldiers would not desert or betray him, the system would forcibly sell off Reiner's current property to pay their wages.