Back at the office, Roland immediately began drafting the new machinery.
During the days when the First Army and the Witches were in the capital, Roland wasn't idle. In fact, he felt busier than usual. Even without Nightingale by his side, the time he spent alone with Anna was scarce. Besides settling the refugees brought by ships, he also had Anna and Lucia test the composition of smelting products and build new smelting furnaces.
In the past, whether in iron smelting or steel production, processes relied entirely on experience and intuition, leaving the composition of the final product entirely unknown. With Lucia's assistance, Roland has now developed a precise method to analyze the composition of metal ingots. Leveraging his expertise in material decomposition, he can obtain detailed smelting data through repeated comparisons—such as the stirring time after melting, the exact amount of charcoal added, whether to incorporate limestone or other additives to remove sulfur and phosphorus, or to blend with other metal raw materials to create alloys...
Based on this data, Roland could establish standardized processes for the smelting industry, ensuring consistent quality of iron ingots or steel products across multiple production cycles, while gradually dispelling the uncertainties in material science.
The new smelting furnace is also built for this purpose.
This square furnace measures four meters in length and width, with a height of two meters, its base sloping toward one end. The sturdy cast-iron shell is lined with clay bricks and coated with Soloya's "earth" material, offering exceptional heat resistance. At the lowest end, a movable gate is operated by a steam engine. Given that advanced heating methods like oxygen blowing or electric arcs were impractical, the furnace was designed without any combustion equipment—instead, it relied entirely on Anna's black fire to smelt molten steel. After adding raw materials in the tested proportions and completing the smelting process, the molten steel is discharged directly through the tail gate.
The furnace can produce approximately fifty tons of molten steel in a single operation. Anna completes the smelting process in just fifteen minutes, and including material feeding and steel tapping, the entire cycle takes only about half an hour. This output is sufficient to meet current demands for firearms and artillery production. The town's current smelting model relies on blast furnaces and shaft furnaces in the kiln cluster to produce large quantities of pig iron. This iron can be used for manufacturing daily ironware and steam engines, or further processed in iron furnaces as raw material to produce wrought iron or steel.
...
Roland is currently developing a design for a bullet stamping production system. With a stable and reliable steel supply, the manufacturing and assembly of stamping machinery have overcome hardware challenges. The successful trial production of mercury tetrafluoroacetate (MTPA) has further accelerated the mass production of new bullet designs. While Anna's black powder cutting system is highly efficient and precise, completing the entire process alone still requires significant time. However, once the stamping machine assembly line is operational, over thirty trained workers can handle the production, enabling daily output of at least tens of thousands of bullets. This will eliminate the need for soldiers to manually reload ammunition.
After dinner, he spent a considerable amount of time sketching until the midnight bell rang outside the window, finally bringing the entire set of sketches to life. Of course, this was merely a preliminary conceptual design, and he wasn't sure whether some details were feasible—these would need to be tested before finalizing the work.
Roland would usually yawn constantly, but today he was in high spirits and not the least bit sleepy.
After gathering a dozen draft sheets and retrieving the parchment letter from the drawer, he laid it out on the table. The moment he'd been waiting for finally arrived—the selection of the visiting Witch.
The list documented the abilities of over sixty support-type witches. According to Maxie, the total number of witches on Sleeping Island was estimated at two to three hundred, though Tilly had clearly omitted some abilities from the roster. This approach mirrored a leader's strategy—proactively extending a hand of friendship rather than revealing all resources. The fact that the other party had shown such willingness already demonstrated their sincerity in forming an alliance. Roland then switched on a new candle and focused on examining the appendix containing the witches' abilities.
It must be said that this was an extremely difficult decision to make. After thorough comparisons, he finally selected the list of five visitors.
Roland then spread out a sheet of parchment and began writing the reply.
"Dear Sister, I'm delighted to receive your letter." "Your decision has filled me with excitement and relief. With your support, my chances of repelling the Church's assault have significantly increased." "My trust and support from the Witches stem from this very fact—the entire Graycastle continent, except Border Town, has completely eradicated the Church's influence. The indigenous people not only embraced the Witches but even fought alongside them, from resisting evil beasts to confronting the Church. My subjects and the Witches have formed an inseparable unity. Now, their contributions are evident throughout the town—your curious steam engine, for instance, was made possible through the Witches' assistance. This is a promising trend, and my goal is to extend this momentum across the Western Frontier and ultimately throughout the kingdom." "To achieve this, I must destroy the entire Church, turning the Witches 'claim of being the embodiment of evil into dust, and liberate all people from ignorance and folly. This will be a long process, and I need your continued support." "As for what led me to this decision and why I'm no longer indifferent to everything as I once was, I'll elaborate on those matters when the opportunity arises. Given the limited space on this letter, I won't dwell on them further." "I'm eagerly anticipating the Witches' visit next month." "Rest assured about security. I've mapped out a direct route to Border Town that completely avoids the Church's surveillance and doesn't require any ports. The only risk lies in navigation, but with Maxie leading the way, the chances of ships getting lost are minimal. I'll attach the detailed route map and send it to Sleepy Island with Maxie." "Once these witches arrive in Border Town, they'll naturally participate in foundational knowledge training—what we call knowledge-enhancing witch evolution. I believe their transformation stems from deepened understanding of the world, encompassing nature, Magic Power, and self-awareness. Undoubtedly, each witch who evolves gains an edge in our fight against the Church, and I fully agree with that perspective." "Finally, I've listed the five selected witches here, hoping to meet them soon." "Terrain Shaper—Lian." "Status Maintainer—Candlelight." "Brewer—Evelyn." "Tamer—Honey." "And True Eye—Hilvy." "Wishing you all the best. Your brother, Roland Wimbledon."