Our Family Has Fallen

Amanda felt this deeply. When facing Lance, she was not at all timid as she was with her teacher; instead, she exuded a sense of reliability.

To say she wasn’t tired would certainly be false. But at this moment, her stress seemed to have vanished. When she talked to Lance about what had just happened, he even agreed with her complaints. It felt more like chatting among friends rather than delivering a report.

”Have you really decided? Everything hasn’t reached that point yet. Giving up like this doesn’t seem fair to you~”

Lance seemed to be offering advice, but the word ”fair” stung her like a thorn.

”Fair? Haha...” Amanda wanted to say something, but held back.

Why should Tamara, the thief who stole the Sacred Object, be able to go back and receive the best nurturing?

While I, after toiling for over a decade, ended up marginalized?

”I don’t owe them anything.”

At last, all her emotions coalesced into one phrase, which also explained Amanda’s choice.

”Whatever decision you make, I support you,” Lance said to her, soothingly, yet it sounded more like encouragement.

「Hamlet, weapon workshop.」

Before completion, Barton would come to check whenever he had the chance. No wind or rain could stop him; his worry amplified each time, fearing that the cannon molds might have issues.

The reason for his constant concerns was simple: with so many Artillerymen, they had only one training cannon. This effectively reduced him, the commander of the artillery, to a mere caretaker for it.

Another issue was the immense difficulty in creating clay molds. It wasn’t a task for just any craftsman.

The molds were made of compressed clay, which had low breathability. This made it difficult for internal moisture to dry completely. Even when using charcoal fires to bake them, they often ended up dry on the outside but wet within. Sun exposure could cause cracking due to uneven drying, and rain could bring back moisture. They had to be thoroughly dried in the shade before use.

The degree of dryness was where a skilled craftsman’s importance truly showed. They could judge by tapping whether the mold was thoroughly dried. If undried, the clay molds could release moisture during casting. This would cause honeycomb-like cavities on the cannon barrels and increase the risk of explosion.

Once the clay mold was finished, the most difficult step of cannon casting was completed.

After waiting for over two months, the molds were essentially ready, and everything was in place. Now that the moment of casting had finally arrived, Barton, surprisingly, seemed in no rush.

Barton carefully checked the procedures again, even though he had already inspected them with the master craftsmen and discussed them.

Each mold was precious, the fruit of long hours of effort. It was essential to ensure nothing went wrong.

”The Lord has arrived!”

Someone came running in from outside, unable to suppress the excitement on their face.

Everyone tensed up a bit after hearing this. After all, they couldn’t afford to make a mistake in front of the Lord.

Lance walked into the weapon workshop. It wasn’t his first time here. In fact, he strode in unaccompanied.

”My Lord!”

”Don’t mind me, carry on with your work,” Lance greeted and walked over to Barton’s side, his interactions with the craftsmen completely unpretentious.

This indicated he must visit often; otherwise, the craftsmen probably wouldn’t be able to work so calmly in his presence.

Indeed, this was the case. Though he had visited before, it hadn’t been this frequent. But with cannon casting recently underway, his visits had become more common.

It couldn’t be helped. Lance had invested a great deal here and took the development of the Artillery troops very seriously, so he naturally came to check on their progress.

”Continue,” Barton commanded, and the craftsmen returned to their posts to busily engage in their work.

When Lance initially brought them back from Totnes, everyone understood it was for casting cannons. Now, returning to their old trade, they showed no signs of unfamiliarity.

On the flat land, a pit deep enough to accommodate a cannon barrel’s length had already been dug. The dried clay mold was placed upright inside, and the surroundings were tightly packed with earth.

In the sweltering summer heat, most craftsmen worked with their upper bodies bare. Their not particularly muscular but powerful arms tirelessly operated the bellows. Under the force of several bellows, the blast furnace roared, heating the melting furnace.

When all the pig iron in the melting furnace had liquefied, they opened the outlet. The molten iron then flowed through a channel into the cannon barrel mold, completely filling its empty cavity.

In this process, the flow of molten iron could potentially misalign the cannon core inside the mold. This could cause the cast cannon’s bore to deviate from the central axis of the barrel. Therefore, it was necessary to control the speed of the molten iron’s flow, highlighting the importance of a skilled craftsman’s technique.

Once all the molten iron had flowed into the cannon barrel mold, it was left to sit for a period. After the molten iron inside had cooled naturally, the clay mold was removed from the pit and smashed open with a hammer.

Thus, all the molds were single-use. Two to three months of preparation culminated in this single moment.

Lance inspected the other steps underway; some cannon barrels had already cooled here.

One could see the craftsmen breaking open the molds and then using other tools to scrape all the clay and sand from the surface of the metal cannon barrels and the insides of the bores. However, what they obtained were only rough casts, still far from the final product.

The craftsmen needed to grind off excess flashing and fill any sand holes. Then, they used a boring tool to smooth the inside of the barrel, making it as straight as possible so that the Bombs could be fired more effectively.

Not only the craftsmen but also these grinding and cutting tools had been brought from Totnes, as Hamlet lacked the capability to produce them.

This process also demanded considerable time and tested the craftsmen’s skills. Lance’s previous investment was now paying off.

To Lance, these craftsmen were like sculptors; their hands breathed new life into mere materials.

Once the bore and exterior of the cannon barrel were properly machined, a drill was used to create the touch hole at the rear of the barrel.

Lance demanded standardization. All the cannons currently cast in Hamlet were the lighter six-pounder cannons. These didn’t have such high manufacturing requirements, but a barrel typically still weighed around seven to eight hundred pounds, requiring several craftsmen and tools to maneuver.

After these assembly line steps, the cannon barrel was essentially complete and could undergo quality inspection to ensure it had no fatal flaws.

First, the barrel was visually inspected for any obvious defects. Then, it was tapped moderately with a hammer to check for cracks.

If no cracks or other flaws were detected, the touch hole was sealed, and the barrel was stood upright. Water was then poured into the bore to observe for any leaks.

If water seeped from the barrel, it indicated a crack. Such a barrel was unusable, as it would burst during firing!

If the cannon passed these inspection methods without any obvious defects, it could then be fitted with its carriage.

The carriages had been prepared long ago. Hamlet lacked many things, but wood was never one of them.

Several craftsmen used tools to lift the cannon barrel and mount it on the carriage frame. Because the design had been precisely calculated, even with manual precision errors, it resulted in a snug fit.

In this stage from mold to finished product, at least thirty percent had to be discarded, meaning that out of ten molds, only seven rough casts could be produced.

Watching them roll a cannon off the production line, Lance understood that Hamlet’s strength had grown once more.

The noise inside the workshop was considerable, but as the cannon carriage was pushed out of the workshop, the sound decreased significantly. At that moment, a faint sound of cannon fire suddenly came from afar, drawing Lance’s attention.

”Right now, Master Eugene is conducting live-fire tests on the first batch of completed cannons. To deliver them to the army, this step is necessary. This is because the inside of the barrel could very well have unseen cracks. Without live-fire testing, a burst during actual combat would be a severe accident,” someone explained.

”Let’s go have a look,” said Lance.

Lance naturally knew that this was the first batch undergoing live-fire tests; otherwise, he wouldn’t have come at this time.

As they neared the target range, the sound grew louder. Fortunately, Lance had anticipated this and had the testing area set up in the outskirts, far from the town.

Listening to the cannons’ thunderous roar, Lance’s excitement grew. His Artillerymen!