For Celine, the world felt small. Of course, that didn't mean the world was actually small. She had heard of Rhineland, Britton, and even other continents. But those were just vague stories that she found difficult to imagine. They felt so far away, so unreal.
In reality, her life revolved around this village called Einsburg. The place where she was born and raised.
Since childhood, she had always been curious. She wanted to see more things, to know more things. This village sometimes felt boring, so boring that she longed for adventure.
Unfortunately, she knew that she would eventually live here, get married, have children, and then watch her children grow up and die. It was the stable life that many people longed for, but she found it boring.
However, there was one thing that interested her: Evan Eisenberg. At that time, she was still a child, and she had heard about Evan from her friends but had never played or communicated with him.
Even so, she once secretly listened to Evan's conversation with his friends. Evan was telling an interesting story about a pirate with a compass that never pointed north. It sounded interesting, and Celine liked it.
From then on, Celine often secretly listened to Evan's stories until one day, Evan left the village. Her life became boring again. Until eight years passed and Evan returned.
He returned as a handsome young man who had inherited his father's title.
"...Are you listening to me, Celine?" A familiar voice woke Celine from her reverie.
"Ah, sorry, Milord." Celine bowed her head in apology.
"I'll say it again, take these two pigs back to the farm, separate them from the others and let them reproduce. Tell the farm manager not to slaughter these two pigs, or their offspring."
Celine stared at the two pigs with short, smooth, pink hair. The pigs were large and elongated, like cylinders. She remembered that the two pigs she had handed over yesterday had very different physical appearances.
"May I ask what you have done to these pigs?" Celine asked curiously.
"Well, in short, I changed them with magic. These two pigs can now give birth more than twice a year, with each birth producing 12-14 piglets," Evan explained.
Celine was surprised. She remembered that pigs on farms could only give birth once or twice a year, with 4-6 piglets per birth. The reproduction rate of these pigs was twice that of pigs on farms.
"These pigs can also reach slaughter weight in just 5-6 months, compared to the original 2-3 years. Additionally, their meat-to-bone ratio is significantly higher. This is truly a product that can generate income, hm!" Evan proudly presented the pigs he had simulated.
"You are truly amazing, My Lord! I will take these pigs to the farm and relay your instructions to the farm manager." Celine praised Evan and then took the two pigs.
Evan nodded. "Yes, go ahead."
Celine went to the farm, gave the two pigs to the farm manager, and conveyed Evan's instructions. After that, she returned to the castle and prepared lunch for Evan.
After lunch and a short rest, Celine accompanied Evan to the iron smelting complex. The blast furnace was finally officially completed.
The iron smelting complex, which had begun construction two months ago, was finally complete. Celine could see the workers busy doing their respective jobs.
Some were in the boiler room putting coke into the heater, some were transporting iron ore and coke, and still others were supervising the operation of the steam blowing engine and blast furnace.
Evan looked at the iron smelting complex with pride. "Can you feel it, Celine? The smell of industry."
"Milord, I can only smell sulfur and metal," Celine replied, fanning away the smoke and particles that made her eyes water.
Evan, realizing Celine's discomfort, snapped his fingers. "Oxygen filter."
Celine suddenly felt the smell of sulfur, metal, smoke, and everything else that had been bothering her since entering the iron smelting complex disappear.
Was this magic? It was so practical!
"Thank you for your help, My Lord."
Evan simply responded with a nod of his head.
Then, Celine accompanied Evan to meet Phillip Kruger, the blacksmith and current head of the iron smelting complex.
Phillip appeared to hand over his work to his coworker and approached Evan. His clothes were dirty, his face was covered in dust, and his body was drenched in sweat. Celine was forced to take a few steps back.
"Good afternoon, sir. I apologize for my unkempt appearance," Phillip greeted him.
Evan shook his head, not bothered by Phillip's appearance. He then asked, "It's fine. It's proof that you're working hard. How is this iron smelting complex going?"
Phillip reported, "We employ a total of 25 people in this complex, producing 1.2 tons of pig iron per day and 1 ton of wrought iron per day. Seeing all this is like a real miracle, iron ore that used to take a long time to process can now become wrought iron in an instant. You are truly a wizard, My Lord."
"What about the armor I ordered?" Evan asked with a happy expression.
Phillip replied briefly, "It will be ready in 2 years."
"That's too long! What's going on?!" Evan looked shocked by the long estimated production time for the armor.
Phillip explained slowly, "My Lord, the blast furnace and reverberatory furnace eliminate the process of converting iron ore into wrought iron, but to convert wrought iron into finished goods, blacksmiths are still needed, as you can see, there are only two teams here. We can only produce a maximum of two suits of armor every three months."
Hearing Phillip's reasonable explanation, Evan looked frustrated. "I'll think of something about that, you just continue your work."
"Yes, My Lord."
Evan was accompanied by Celine back to the castle. On the way, Celine couldn't help but ask.
"Sir, is armor that important?" asked Celine.
Evan sighed and replied. "Hah, it's not just about armor, it's about the production speed of the iron smelting complex. Without good production speed, how can I get a return on my investment?"
Celine didn't really understand, but she supported what Evan was doing. She knew her lord had a dream of turning this small village into a city. It was a big ambition, and she wanted to see it happen.
The following week, Celine saw Evan working on something in his castle. According to Evan, it was a tool to help blacksmiths process wrought iron.
"This is a rolling mill, a giant dough grinding machine for iron,"
Evan explained as he pointed to a massive rectangular frame with two steel cylinders mounted parallel on a sturdy iron frame.
"This one is a steam hammer, a large hammer driven by steam."
What Evan pointed to next was a tall vertical steam cylinder, with its shaft connected to a large square steel hammer head.
"These shears are guillotine shears for cutting iron sheets. The last one is a punching machine, useful for punching holes in iron."
Celine looked at the last two tools. One was a very strong C-shaped steel frame, and a heavy rectangular blade that moved vertically inside the frame. The second was a box-shaped steel housing with a cylindrical hole at the top and a pointed steel piston rod attached vertically above the hole.
These tools could help with blacksmithing, but Celine didn't know how or why. She only knew that in the afternoon when she and Evan delivered these tools, Phillip Kruger jumped up and down like a little kid.
That was Celine's daily life. By the way, when Phillip said it would still take more than a year to create 20 set of armor for His Lordship, he looked disappointed again. It turned out that it took time to master these tools.