Looking at the little old man's elated look, it was as if he had just found a new job after a two-week break. This image made Gwen's previous impression of him disappear. Now, Gwen was completely sure that the old man's tattered robe, leaky soft hat, and unshaven beard were not because he lived as a hermit, but because he was really poor …
Gwen could not help but whisper to Amber, "Is this person you found … really reliable?"
"Oh, don't worry. Although his personality may be a little strange, but you saw it too, didn't you? At least Druil's ability is real. You're not the kind of pedantic nobleman who would look at a person's background and stick to the rules. Don't you usually say that talent is the most important? "
Gwen did not expect that his usual mutterings would be heard by the half-elf and even used to checkmate him. He could only helplessly twitch the corner of his mouth and ask curiously, "Say, how do you know him?"
A little old man who looked like the shame of Druil and Amber, the shame of the elves, did not seem out of place. But Gwen was still curious about how the two met. Was it just because they were the shame of their respective groups that they were birds of a feather?
Unexpectedly, Gwen's whispers were heard by the little old man beside him. The Druil with good hearing turned his head and laughed, "My lord, I'm old acquaintances with Amber's adoptive father. I watched this little girl grow up. In terms of seniority, she should call me uncle …"
Amber immediately rolled her eyes, "You want me to call you uncle when you don't even look like an elder?"
"I see. You two have such a relationship." Gwen nodded in understanding. He had heard Amber mention her adoptive father before and knew that he was a human lurker. In fact, he was a low-level rogue.
Hu Po shook his head and said, "This guy used to be very close to my foster father. Back then, they even used the name Nightstalker and prepared to become the most powerful thieves in the Southern Territory, but they didn't have any fame at all."
Gwen subconsciously frowned and looked at the old man. "You were a thief before?"
"That's all in the past, that's all in the past." The little old man waved his hand. "I'm not doing that anymore. All these years, I've been doing a proper business."
Gwen was intrigued. "So you changed professions because you couldn't survive as a Thief?"
"Because his craftsmanship is too trendy." Amber rolled her eyes with a look of disdain. "He was caught stealing from a dead person and even got beaten up. He's not cut out to be a thief. Of course, he's not cut out to be a Druil either. Now it seems that he's not cut out to be an antique expert or a chef."
Gwen was stunned. "How did you get caught stealing from a dead person?"
"Mainly because there were more than two hundred gravediggers standing there at the time …"
The little old man could only smile sheepishly at the side. It was obvious that even though he was an elder, his attitude towards Hu Po was very amiable. It was probably not the first time he had been ridiculed like this by Hu Po, especially on this topic. Hu Po had the right to ridicule his skills as a thief. After all, he had been beaten up for stealing from a dead person, but Hu Po had not only stolen a dead person, he had even brought the dead person back to life while he was at it …
Although it was not considered "stealing" at that time …
After chatting for a while, Gwen suddenly realized that he had forgotten a very important thing. "By the way, what's your name?"
The little old man pressed his hand on his chest and performed a nondescript salute. "Pitman Lauren is at your service. You can just call me Pitman. "
"Very well, Pitman, you can take a rest first. I'll arrange for someone to take you to your residence later. As you can see, everything is still in its infancy. The living conditions may not be very good, but as long as you and my people work hard, it will soon become a rich and comfortable new home. "
Pitman Lauren smiled like a flower. "For those sparkling little cuties, I will do my best."
The miscellaneous Druil followed Gwen's arrangement and left the tent, leaving Amber and Gwen looking at each other. After paying attention to the surrounding atmosphere, the half-elf smiled awkwardly and was about to slip away, but Gwen grabbed her and asked, "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to help patrol the perimeter of the camp!" Amber jumped and shouted. "Hey, let go of me!"
"First, explain what it means to 'dig out a 700-year-old antique' — I haven't forgotten that sentence."
"Eh —"
Everything in the camp was on the right track, but not everything would be smooth sailing.
In a courtyard on the west side of the workshop area, Rebecca was looking at something in front of her in a daze.
In front of her was a weird-looking kiln, which was made of fire-resistant bricks and mud mixed with quartz sand. It looked like a giant bowl that was upside down on the ground. On the two sides of the 'giant bowl' were simple runes that could increase the temperature and control the firepower. At the bottom of the 'giant bowl' was a door of the kiln that had just been opened and was sealed with mud. Its style was a bit like a brick kiln used to bake bricks, but what was baked in it was not bricks.
What was burned was stone, or rather, a mixture of limestone powder and clay. According to the ancestor, the calcined material could be mixed with the slag from the blacksmith's shop. After grinding it into powder, it could be used as a new building material.
But no matter how she looked at it, it did not look like a success.
In a basket in front of the furnace, there were some finished products. The finished products were a kind of grayish-black board that looked dirty and ugly. There were a lot of hard and brittle lumps mixed in the large and small debris. Rebecca had tried to grind some of the debris together with slag into powder, and then mixed it with water according to the ancestor's instructions. Now, the first batch of test mixture had dried, and it had turned into something that looked like rotten wood.
It was impossible to build a house.
Rebecca rested her chin on her finger and fell into deep thought. Her face was black and dirty, and she did not bother to wash it.
For the past two days, she was either supervising the installation of the First Magic Net and the new furnace in the blacksmith's shop (now renamed Cecil Steel Works) or here to burn stones. The viscountess spent most of her time dirty like this. However, the Knight and the soldiers in the fief were not surprised. After all, the viscountess used to be like this all the time. It was common for her to smoke herself black from practicing fireball magic. Sometimes, she would go to the woods to fight with wolves and come back covered in mud. Everyone was used to it.
As for the civilians who rarely had the chance to see the nobles in the territory but now had the chance to get in touch with Heidi, Rebecca, and the others, they had a good impression of the viscount lady who was always running around. Gawain was a strong pillar and backer, but he was too intimidating for the civilians. Heidi was smart and kind, but she was more or less stern. Rebecca, on the other hand, was the only girl who ran around helping without putting on airs and treated everyone with a smile, which almost made everyone subconsciously ignore her identity as a noble.
Another important reason was that Rebecca's big fireball was really good at burning and blasting stones.
Seeing that Rebecca was deep in thought, the few civilians who were helping her did not dare to say a word. They did not understand the duke's intention of building such a place to burn stones, but the waterwheel that the duke ordered to build had shown its magic, and the planning of the camp was quite clever. Coupled with the smooth development of the wasteland and the existence of the newly recruited Druil, everyone was quite convinced by Gwen's arrangements. Although they did not see the use of burning stones, it was always right to follow the plan.
After thinking hard for a while, Rebecca finally looked up and came to a conclusion.
It was not suitable for her to think about this.
So she waved her small hand and said, "Carry these things and bring them to my ancestor!"
A moment later, Gwen saw a pile of … indescribable things in front of him.
"This is the … 'cement' you burned?" He looked at Rebecca in astonishment. If he had not ordered it himself, he could hardly associate the grayish-black lumps with the "cement" in his impression.
"Eh? So this thing is called cement? "Rebecca's eyes widened." What a strange name. "
Gawain did not have the time to explain the meaning behind the term. Although he was mentally prepared, he still felt a subtle sense of defeat. When he saw Rebecca take out a "rock" that looked like a porous rock from the other basket, he was even more certain that he had failed this time.
"This is the product after mixing the finished product with water according to the method you said." Rebecca blinked. "It does solidify quickly, and after solidification, it looks like a stone, but it's actually loose and brittle …"
Before Rebecca's voice trailed off, Amber came out of nowhere and said, "What's loose and brittle? Let me have a taste! "
Gwen pushed Amber back into the shadow and turned to look at the black lumps and sighed. "Looks like it failed."
He had repeatedly confirmed Rebecca's operation process and confirmed that there was no problem from the raw materials to the production process. He also learned that Rebecca had deliberately adjusted the ratio of various raw materials, the firepower, the calcination time and other parameters. She also used four furnaces to conduct several cross-tests, and even changed the limestone and clay of different textures and places of origin, but the results were similar.
The world once again showed Gwen its uniqueness and malice.
The nature of the material did not match. How many of the well-known indigenous recipes in his memory could be used?
Gwen decided that if possible, he would test everything he knew in his mind that could be verified with simple methods. When he made this decision, he was mentally prepared to declare all the tests failed.
At the same time, Rebecca was still looking at him. The girl, who could help everyone but failed, did not seem to think that there was a problem with the "recipe" provided by Gwen. She subconsciously attributed the problem to herself. "Ancestor … Have I disappointed you?"
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