By the next morning his new hammers had finished cooling. After clearing out rubble with the rest of the boys, mainly from the tunnel expansion he had been working on yesterday, he prepared his forge and got to work on producing all the pick-axes that were due, eleven more in all. Eventually he settled into a rhythm, first beating the iron into the rough shape with his largest hammer and then eventually smoothing out the details with his smaller hammers. He even sharpened them somewhat while waiting for the next iron ingot to reach the right temperature.
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 9/9
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 11/11
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 11/11
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 10/10
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 9/9
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 11/11
[Appraisal]: Pick-axe, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 11/11
Even though the quality remained at ‘Very Low’ for all the pick-axes according to his [Appraisal] skill, James could see that he had visibly improved from his prototype the day before. The shape of the pick-axe was a lot closer to the example he’d set aside.
By this point the morning was nearly half over, and James still needed to produce eleven more shovels. In an attempt to save time, he decided to use a bit more iron than he strictly needed for the shovels and to make them thicker, more like his prototype from yesterday than the example. It would be easier for him to forge, if not easier to use due to the extra weight. Still, it would be better to have even heavy shovels rather than clearing rubble by hand the way they had been until now.
With this strategy in mind, James was able to complete all eleven shovels before lunch. It ate into the mined iron a bit, but James figured he could mine a little extra in the afternoon to make up for it. As he got used to the process, he managed to forge each shovel in less time than the last while keeping closer to the template in his mind.
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 16/16
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 14/14
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 16/16
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 16/16
[Appraisal]: Shovel, Quality: Very Low, Durability: 15/15
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Again, like with the pick-axes, James could tell these shovels were better than the one he’d produced the day before. They had a more consistent thickness, and did not even need to be sharpened before his [Appraisal] skill recognized them as tools rather than lumps of raw material.
[Smith] Skill [Forging] has reached Level 2.
James twitched at the intrusive thought, but before he could reflect on it Coin and the spear-wielding slaver approached. “Did you finish your task, Smith?” Coin asked.
“Uh, yes.” James nodded. He then gestured to the finished pick-axes and shovels, lined up in rows on the ground. Coin gave them a short appraising look. “So you did…” he paused. He picked up one of the shovels, hefting it in his hands. “What’d you do with the shovels? Bit heavier than they should be.”
“Er, I was having trouble forging them, so I made them a bit thicker. I- I’m going to make up for the iron I used-” James was cut off by a pinching gesture from Coin.
“Tsk tsk tsk, that wasn’t your iron to use, Smith. You bein’ crap at your job doesn’t give you the right to-”
“Wait.” Coin, in turn, was cut off by a word from the spear-wielding slaver.
“What?” Coin responded a little petulantly.
“There’s no problem. The smith’s going to replace the iron, right?” He gave James a pointed look.
“Er, yes, absolutely.” James stammered, nodding.
Coin tossed the shovel on the ground and turned to face the spear-wielding slaver directly. “And how long is that going to take? I’m making a run day after tomorrow, and we’ve been behind on production for over a week now. Ain’t no way-”
“Smith.” The spear-wielding slaver interrupted.
“Y-yes?” James replied.
“How much extra iron did you use.”
“About, about six ingots worth, on top of the 12 from smelting the broken shovels.”
The slaver nodded. “Makes sense, judging by the thickness. And how long will it take you to mine enough to replace the six ingots.”
“I- I was going to mine it out this afternoon.”
At this the spear-wielding slaver raised an eyebrow, while Coin grew incensed.
“You’re just going to go mine it this afternoon, eh? You do realize that’s on top of the iron you lot need to produce already, you idiot?”
“Er, I was going to work later…”
“And you need to smelt it, too.” Coin glared at James.
But the other slaver shrugged. “He’s only been mining half days anyway, he’s probably rested up. If he wants to pay back his debt by working a little harder, it’ll be fine. Of course…” now he also glared at James. “That’s if he can actually do as he says.”
James nodded rapidly. “Of, of course, I’ll definitely manage it…”
Coin looked at the spear-wielding slaver, then blew an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, whatever, I’ll let the iron he stole go for now. But we still need to meet the quota before I go. Smith!” he barked. “Show me all the iron you’ve smelted so far, and the ore you still need to smelt.”
The slavers followed James around to the back of the smelter, where several day’s worth of ore was piled up and there was a tidy stack of iron ingots also stacked up. Coin’s eyes rapidly scanned the stack of ingots, counting them, before pausing on the pile of iron ore. His eyebrows raised and he blinked. Then, he did some rapid counting on his fingers.
The spear-wielding slaver ignored the iron and looked more at the ore, then turned to James. “How long will it take you to smelt this, and today’s ore?” he asked. “I should have it all done by tonight.” James replied.
“And that includes the extra ore you plan to mine?”
“Y-yes.”
The spear-wielding slaver turned back to Coin, who looked mildly annoyed. “Well?”
Coin blew another exaggerated sigh.
“You can’t keep being soft on him, if he starts pinching iron…”
The other slaver barked a short laugh. “What, at his level of skill? He’s no threat. Even if he did, you can hear him forging from halfway down the mountain. There’s no chance of him forging anything behind our backs.”
Coin rolled his eyes. “You just want him to fix up your spears.”
“Yes.” the slaver boldly replied. James’ eyebrows rose in surprise. “I’m certainly not getting paid enough to go out and buy new ones, and since we’ve got ourselves a little blacksmith right here, why not? Only problem is he’s crap. If he’s fixing up the tools, hopefully he’ll improve to the point of being able to do a simple spearhead. Or, what, are you going to use the money you save on tools to buy me new spearheads?”
Coin snorted at this. “Of course not.”
“Then there’s no point in beating the smith, so long as he makes it right.”
Coin sighed again, then turned and glared at James. “I’m letting this slide as a courtesy to my colleague here, but if you go pinching iron again you will be getting a beating. Next time you think you need more iron, you ask for permission first. Got it?”
James nodded. “Y-yes, of course.”
The spear-wielding slaver smirked and Coin waved his hand over the pile of iron ingots, storing them in his magic bag, then he walked to the tools and repeated the process before walking away. The spear-wielding slaver chuckled so quietly that James could barely hear it and followed after him.
