Iron Ore

Derek had left the base, but the training continued without pause.

Following the same pattern, the earlier Militia led the new recruits' training.

The efficiency was much lower, but with the Data Panel's boost, it was not too slow.

In contrast, Little Tru's progress was truly sluggish. The first few days as a blacksmith apprentice had been fine, but the moment Derek left, his progress immediately dropped to less than half.

Still, with the Data Panel's boost, the overflowing experience was added in.

In ten days, they had already gained the official Army Blacksmith class.

Little Tru quickly realized that the new apprentices were geniuses just like him.

No, he remembered Lord Derek's words. Geniuses? No. As long as the materials kept coming, even a pig could become a qualified blacksmith.

He had secretly mocked Lord Derek before, but now it seemed that he had been the foolish one.

In an instant, his attitude changed.

Since blacksmithing could not remain an exclusive secret, he might as well obediently listen to orders and avoid getting dealt with.

Little Tru was young, after all. If it had been Old Tru, he certainly would not have talked himself into it so easily.

If the Data Panel had a loyalty stat, Little Tru's loyalty would have risen by at least fifty percent by now.

Even in Watch City, Derek could roughly guess what had happened through the Data Panel.

So this method of controlling people worked fairly well?

Toying with a country blacksmith's son clearly gave him no sense of accomplishment.

The next day, Derek began visiting the streets. Watch City had a large population, and the nearby nobles all clustered here to live.

There were all kinds of shops, and supplies were exceptionally abundant.

Derek could not afford to offend any of them. His knightly title was merely an entry ticket.

Reputation, strength, and price were all matters Derek needed to consider.

He did not intend to buy too much Iron Ore at once. Little Tru only used seven or eight pounds a day, so the short-term consumption would not be high.

Watch City truly deserved its reputation as the largest city nearby. Every sort of business could be found here, and Iron Ore was not scarce.

There had been no wars recently, so prices were especially stable.

A pound of Iron Ore cost only around ten Copper Coins and yielded roughly one-third as much iron.

By that calculation, a pound of iron cost only thirty Copper Coins, yet the market price had always been between forty and fifty.

Did that sound highly profitable?

But after deducting labor, fuel, transportation, and other costs, it was still hard-earned money.

A ton of Iron Ore cost only around eighty Silver Coins.

If he brought it back for the blacksmiths to practice with, it would yield over three hundred pounds of iron ore, enough to forge seven or eight hundred spearheads.

Those were worth more than three hundred Silver Coins. Even with three novice blacksmiths, it would take two or three months.

After deducting the negligible labor and material costs of a dozen or so Silver Coins, the net profit would be around two hundred and fifty, with a few dozen more besides.

Derek knew that if he really calculated it that way, he would be a two hundred and fifty himself.

A business worth only a dozen or so Gold Coins over three months had dozens of people and horses to feed. Wages and maintenance alone cost three Gold Coins a month, so three months would amount to working for nothing.

Of course, there were certainly other ways to earn money while maintaining dozens of people.

Ordinary nobles would not keep so many people either, so there would still be profits.

To Derek, money was merely a resource. Expanding his own strength was what mattered most.

With three squads of regular soldiers under his command, even Baron Ferrera would have to take him seriously.

Derek chose his target and quickly bought a cartload of Iron Ore.

The amount was not large, so no one paid any attention.

This trip to Watch City had made him seem like a mere nobody, unnoticed by all.

Derek knew that would soon change.

The creaking convoy returned to Haystack Village. Andrew still did not think highly of Derek's insistence on training blacksmiths.

He had lent the Training Ground to Derek and rarely went there himself afterward.

Maintaining an appropriate distance was also key to preserving family affection.

The round trip had taken nearly a month.

Yet the levels of the soldiers at the base and those who had gone out were not much different. The recruits hovered around levels three to five, while the veterans were only levels five, six, or seven.

The blacksmiths, on the other hand, had improved rapidly.

Tru

Class: Army Blacksmith, Level 4 (17/100)

Experience Pool: 22/100

The other two blacksmith apprentices had also reached level two.

When they met again, Little Tru bent even lower at the waist.

"How many spearheads can you forge in a day now?"

"About ten or so. My skills have improved a little recently, and with the help of the two apprentices, we can forge around ten sets of spearheads a day."

"Try forging a few Iron Swords. Use the Iron Ore I brought back as you please. A good blacksmith cannot be trained without practice."

"You're right. I've improved faster here than I did in ten years following my Father. I have some ideas about Iron Swords, but I may need to experiment a few more times."

Little Tru was brimming with confidence. Although his recent progress had slowed, he could still see himself improving. Given enough time, he would certainly be able to forge qualified Iron Swords.

Derek nodded in satisfaction. In truth, he could see that Little Tru's talent had more or less reached its limit.

His natural improvement each day amounted to only a little, and sometimes there was none at all.

He relied entirely on the Experience Pool's overflow experience to add points. Otherwise, he would have topped out as a level-five blacksmith in his entire life.

That was with the Panel accelerating his growth. Without it, he would probably have been fated to become only a level-four blacksmith, much like his father.

But that did not matter.

An Iron Sword required three to five pounds of material and cost only one or two Silver Coins, yet it could sell for five Silver Coins.

Even if they forged only one Iron Sword a day, the profit would double.

Of course, that required a blacksmith to reach level five.

At present, that seemed to be a threshold. Below it, one was basically a country blacksmith earning two or three Gold Coins a year.

Level five meant one had finally made it. They could create value worth at least forty or fifty Gold Coins a year.

Enormous profits. That was true enormous profit.

Sure enough, increasing added value was the way to make money.

Otherwise, fifty Gold Coins was already the output of a tiny Estate.

Once all three blacksmiths could forge Iron Swords and were paired with a few apprentices, they could earn one hundred and fifty Gold Coins a year. That would be enough to support six or seven squads of soldiers.

Of course, there were various other expenses in reality, and supporting even four or five squads would be difficult.

After arranging matters for the blacksmiths, Derek returned to training with his head down. The prerequisite for everything was having military strength to protect it.

Otherwise, a business like this would be enough to make many people jealous.

Having the ability to make money did not mean one could expand without limits. In this feudal society, nobles controlled the basic resources, and one had to act within the rules.

A month and a half later, after countless failures, Little Tru finally managed to forge Iron Swords.

Compared to cheap spears, Iron Swords were far more valuable.

After stockpiling several dozen more Iron Swords, the Iron Ore had nearly been used up.

Counting the time, three months had passed in total.

Nearly half of the Gold Coins in his hand had been spent.

If he continued staying here, he would attract other people's attention.

Derek had to find a place to establish himself.