On a clear, cloudless evening, the first iron-smelting vertical furnace on the North American continent belched up roaring flames. The acrid scent of a volcano, accompanied by the oxidation of pyrite, billowed from the mouth of the furnace. And the first plume of smoke from the Iron Age officially began, from this moment on, to pollute this sea and sky that had remained pure from ancient times until today!
"This is the flame of iron smelting, and even more, it is the guidance of the Main God's divinity, leading us into a brand-new era... May the Main God bless us!"
Scholar Miki murmured his prayer and waited patiently. Heating the furnace and pouring in the iron ore was only the beginning of smelting iron. In this age, even if it was only a few hundred catties of ore, iron smelting could not be completed in a day or two.
Following the ancestral formulas of experience, the blacksmith Otani Kengo observed the color of the flames while controlling the progress of the smelt. At his instructions, the able-bodied men kept adding ground charcoal powder into the opening at the top of the vertical furnace, making the flames burn brighter, even faintly tinged with blue.
Every so often, Otani would also have the able-bodied men take long poles wrapped in mud, avoid the flames that burst out, and carefully stir the molten iron inside. From time to time, he personally set to work as well, raking out some of the separated slag from the bottom of the furnace.
"Mm... This slag affects the quality of the iron the most. It's all bad dross..."
As Otani muttered the ancestral formula, he supervised the able-bodied men as they busied themselves, sweat pouring down like rain. From time to time, he also complained worriedly in