Rebecca felt a big hand rubbing the top of her head, but she was a little confused.
Her first reaction was that she had misheard. Her second reaction was that her ancestor had misspoken. Her third reaction was … she took it as a kind of comfort.
It can't be sarcasm, right?
Miss Viscount, who had never accomplished anything since she was a child, never thought that she would be praised for real.
Seeing Rebecca's reaction, Gwen repeated what he had just said, and then laughed. "Don't be stunned. I'm serious about praising you. I'm afraid you don't even realize how incredible your talent is."
"Really?" Rebecca said in a daze, and then blinked a little embarrassedly. "But these are just little tricks … they don't come in handy at all."
Such extraordinary talent was classified as little tricks … This made Gwen a little speechless.
Rebecca was born too early, but fortunately, Gwen was not too late, and these talents still had a chance to be used.
Gwen took a closer look at the structure of the magic circle that Rebecca had adjusted. Although he was a Knight, Gwen Cecil was half a polymath, and he had done a lot of research in magical theory and so on. In addition, the Kingdom of Gondor was a country with very advanced magical technology, and the basic knowledge of magic was very popular, so it was not difficult for Gwen to understand this magic circle that was only put together with basic runes. After looking at it carefully, he was sure that Rebecca's adjustment of the runes was quite reasonable. This magic circle had changed from a rough concept to a "prototype" that was completely in line with his expectations and could lay the foundation for future applications. If he wanted to continue to improve it, he could only wait for practical testing.
Gwen only asked one question. "Have you considered expanding it further?"
"Expanding it further?" Rebecca was stunned. "How do I expand it further? Do I draw it bigger? "
"No, I mean connecting it with other self-charging magic circles of the same framework but different scales, and even using a certain magic circle unit as the basic structure, infinitely connecting and expanding, and finally forming a large network that can cover a wider area." Gwen looked at the neatly arranged runes and vaguely saw that it seemed to be able to be combined and repeated. He could not help but propose a rather bold idea. "Each magic unit is no longer an independent entity, but connected together. Can you understand?"
Although Rebecca had outstanding mathematical talent and creativity, this level of concept was still too difficult for her. She thought hard and could only frown in the end. "Ancestor, that thing you mentioned … Is it possible?"
"Just think of it as a whimsical idea." Seeing Rebecca's dilemma, Gwen knew that he could not be hasty, so he decisively stopped the extension..... "You first, build the Magic Net, and let the blacksmith shop. we'll talk about other things later...."
"Okay!" Rebecca nodded happily. "I was just talking to Hammer about the blacksmith's shop …"
"Oh?" Gwen raised his eyebrows. He did see Rebecca and Hanmer discussing something, but the surprise brought by the Magic Net made him almost forget about it. "What were you talking about?"
"About the new furnace," Rebecca said, looking up. "I was thinking that if the Magic Net is up, then the blacksmith can draw a formal magic circle on the furnace instead of making those unusable runes. In that case, the furnace can be modified, right? But I don't know how to forge, so I had to discuss with Hanmer to see if he has any ideas on how to improve the furnace and work process. "
The old blacksmith Hanmer stood aside in fear and trepidation, lowering his head to listen to the discussion between the viscount and the duke. He was both honored and nervous that a commoner like himself could stand here and participate in the conversation of the nobles. When he saw that Gwen had turned his attention to him, the old blacksmith broke out in a cold sweat. He did not dare to imagine what it would be like to have a noble who had not even worked a bellows instruct him to build a blacksmith shop. But he had to cooperate, so he was ready for Gwen to make a lot of outrageous requests, and he had to lead the apprentices to complete the task.
This was not unusual, for it is said that a viscountess in the north had, on a whim, taken it upon herself to instruct the gardeners to prune the nursery, and had decreed that each chrysanthemum should be divided into two buds instead of three when it bloomed. A dozen gardeners were flogged for this, until the viscountess lost interest in the matter.
"Don't be nervous." Gwen saw Hanmer's nervousness and said calmly, "Tell me what you think."
"I … I don't have any ideas." Hanmer lowered his head and said humbly, "Miss Viscount is really knowledgeable and intelligent. Her designs are things that poor people like us can't understand in our lifetime. It's very difficult for me to learn how to use them. How can I give an opinion?"
Gwen looked at him and shook his head. "Of course you don't know about magic, but you know best about the furnace and the anvil. You are an expert in this field, so we will respect your opinion."
Respect … a civilian's opinion?
For a moment, Hanmer thought he was hallucinating. But when he saw Gwen, Heti, and Rebecca's serious faces, he finally confirmed that it was true — at least that was what the duke had said.
Thus, he could only bite the bullet and say, "I think … I think that since the furnace will be heated with real magic in the future, instead of tinkering with the old furnace, it would be better to start from scratch and create a brand new furnace …"
Gwen raised his eyebrows. "A brand new furnace?"
Hamel scratched his arm and tried to express his thoughts clearly. "Now that we are using real magic, the restrictions of the previous runes are no longer there. First of all, the furnace can be bigger, and more steel can be smelted at one time. Then, since the magic circle won't be broken, the furnace won't have to go out and cool down all the time. Perhaps we can keep it burning all the time, which will save us a lot of time and effort when we reheat the furnace. But then, it will have to be used all the time … "
Gwen listened carefully, only interrupting when he thought he could make suggestions. Hanmer, on the other hand, spoke out all his thoughts in one breath.
At first, he stuttered and made mistakes due to nervousness, but soon, he spoke more and more fluently. When he was about to finish, he was very surprised.
He did not expect that Gwen was really listening to him. A grand duke, a real noble, a figure that the common people would not even dare to imagine, was really standing in this messy place and listening to the opinions of a civilian. And it was not a pretense, because not only was Gwen listening and nodding, he even raised some detailed questions and suggestions from time to time!
Those questions and suggestions made Hamel confused from time to time. Was this really a noble who had never touched a bellows or a hammer? How did he know so much about steel smelting?
Although many of the questions sounded a bit far-fetched to Hanmer, there was no doubt that those questions were closely related to the actual situation of steel smelting. They were definitely not nonsense like "when a chrysanthemum blossoms, it should be divided into two buds instead of three"!
When Hamel finally finished, Gawain let out a sigh of relief and stared into the old blacksmith's eyes.
The old blacksmith was nervous. "My … my lord …"
"How long have you been a blacksmith?" Gwen suddenly asked.
"Three … almost thirty years," Hanmer quickly replied. "But people like us can't remember the years very well …"
"A thirty-year-old blacksmith, I didn't expect you to have so many innovative ideas." Gwen was a little confused. "It stands to reason that these ideas are easy for young people to come up with. How did you come up with so many ideas?"
Hanmer opened his mouth and said after a few seconds, "… My lord, I'm not afraid that you will laugh at me. These ideas are not new. They have been accumulating for years …"
Gwen showed an interested expression. "Tell me about it."
"I've been a blacksmith for decades. I really don't know much about the furnace and steel. I'm used to it." Hanmer's wrinkled face squeezed out a smile. "But I still remember when I was an apprentice. At that time, my father was a blacksmith in the village, and I learned from him. One year, the Lord asked us to refine a batch of fine iron, and I volunteered to take charge of the furnace myself. My father thought that since I had studied for so many years, I should be able to take charge of the furnace myself. So he let me try, but something went wrong. "
Hanmer paused and then said, "I was too impatient. When the furnace was cooling down, I didn't wait for enough time and raised the temperature again. As a result, the runes broke.
"Once the rune was broken, the furnace would be completely destroyed. It was the most valuable and most important item in the blacksmith shop. My father was furious. He hung me at the entrance of the shop and whipped me for a long time. He almost beat me to death. He said that the only reason he didn't beat me to death was because if he really killed me, no one would work for the family, and no one would inherit the blacksmith shop …
"That year, we didn't fulfill the lord's order. My father was whipped dozens of times in the castle."
Obviously, this incident when he was an apprentice had left a deep impression on Hanmer.
When he was punished by his father and saw his father going to the castle to receive the punishment, many ideas about the blacksmith furnace began to sprout in his heart.
Fortunately, 30 years had passed, and those ideas had not completely withered in Hanmer's heart. Perhaps they had withered, but Rebecca's plan to "draw a magic circle on the furnace to replace the runes" had revived the hope in the old blacksmith's heart.
It was a good breakthrough to be able to revive hope.
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