55: Blacksmith Shop

Red River Town, Blacksmith Shop.

The rhythmic clanging of hammers on anvils was constant!

"Lord, Arnold greets you!"

Arnold, the manager of the blacksmith shop, stood stiffly before Wren.

Arnold, the manager of the Red River Territory's blacksmith shop, was also the most skilled blacksmith in the territory. His family, including himself, had served the Derrick Family for three generations.

His son was currently an apprentice in the shop and would continue to serve Wren in the future.

Arnold was middle-aged, with a scruffy beard and an unkempt appearance, but Wren didn't mind. He was here to see how the latest batch of farm tools was coming along.

After recruiting Farmers from the farmstead, Wren brought two of them to the blacksmith shop to have the Nest Farmers explain the required tools to the blacksmiths.

With the Nest Farmers describing them personally, it was much clearer than Wren's own explanations. Thus, the progress of upgrading and modifying new farm tools in the blacksmith shop was significantly ahead of schedule.

The Nest Farmers, proficient in farming techniques, could skillfully use all kinds of farm tools and naturally understood them very well. The Red River Territory's blacksmith shop had already produced many new iron farm tools and begun using them.

"How is the production of the new farm tools going?"

Wren got straight to the point, without any small talk with Arnold.

"How long until all the Farmers can use the new tools?"

Arnold organized his thoughts and said carefully:

"Lord, currently the blacksmith shop can forge thirty iron farm tools a day. To fully meet the current needs of the territory, it might take another two to three months."

"Three months?"

Wren was somewhat dissatisfied.

"It takes that long?"

Arnold hurriedly explained to Wren.

"Lord, the types of farm tools those two masters you brought mentioned are simply too many. There are twenty or thirty types in total, and many require one for every farmer. The demand is just too great."

"Furthermore, the forging techniques for many of the tools are very demanding. Currently, we cannot meet those requirements here."

Wren frowned and looked at Arnold.

"Then why did you tell me it would take three months to meet the territory's needs?"

Facing Wren's reproach, Arnold knelt down in a panic.

"Lord, when I said 'meet,' I meant meeting the territory's basic needs. According to those two masters, only thirteen of those tools are essential, while the rest are optional."

"The technical requirements for the basic tools are not high, so we can manufacture them."

As Arnold explained flusteredly, the two Nest Farmers Wren had brought a few days ago walked out, holding a stack of drawings.

"Master!" The two Nest Farmers stood stiffly before Wren.

"What are you holding?"

"Farm tool drawings, Master!"

"Let me see them!"

Wren took the drawings from the two Nest Farmers and looked at them carefully.

Arnold, still kneeling, saw Wren inspecting the drawings and immediately began to explain.

"Lord, these are the farm tool drawings my son, Holland, drew based on the masters' descriptions. Every drawing was carefully compared by the masters after it was finished, and there are no issues."

Wren didn't respond to Arnold's words and carefully flipped through the drawings until he finished the last one.

"Your son drew these?"

"Yes, my son drew them, Lord."

When Wren saw the drawings in the hands of the Nest Farmers earlier, he had thought they had the skill to draw them. It seemed he had overthought it; the Nest Farmers weren't that overpowered.

The two Nest Farmers stood blankly by his side without an order from Wren.

"You didn't draw these?"

"No, Master!"

"Then are these drawings the same as the tools you use?"

"They are the same, Master!"

"Good!" Wren nodded.

After confirming, Wren turned back to look at Arnold.

"Stand up!"

"I didn't expect your son to have this talent for drawing farm tool blueprints. Call your son over; I want to talk to him."

Arnold turned back and shouted loudly.

"Holland, come here quickly! The Lord wants to speak with you! Hurry over!"

The blacksmith shop had five or six rooms, each quite large and filled with various blacksmithing tools. When the blacksmiths were working, the rooms were filled with all sorts of loud, noisy sounds.

However, Arnold's shout was even louder now. Wren hadn't expected the timid, soft-spoken Arnold to have such a powerful voice.

The shout echoed through the entire blacksmith shop, making Wren's ears ring slightly as he stood beside him.

Wren frowned slightly, but he said nothing and just stood there waiting for Holland to come over.

Soon, a young man who looked somewhat like Arnold ran over. His face was a bit more handsome than Arnold's, with a head of red hair flowing loosely behind him.

"Lord!"

"Father!"

Arnold pulled his son over and said:

"Quickly, tell the Lord about those drawings you made."

Wren looked at the nervous young man and asked:

"You drew all of these?"

Holland answered honestly.

"Yes, Lord, I drew them all."

"Have you studied technical drawing?"

"No, Lord, I haven't."

"Then how did you draw these? How did you do it?"

"I'm not quite sure myself. Anyway, when they explained it to me, I could picture it in my mind, and then I thought about drawing it. In the end, I don't know how, but it just came out naturally."

"At first, some parts didn't match up or were a bit off, but after drawing them a few more times, I didn't make any more mistakes."

"These tool drawings don't feel that hard to draw. Is there something I need to learn, Lord?"

Speaking of drawing the tools, the previously nervous Holland suddenly relaxed, and his words flowed smoothly.

"A natural genius?"

This was Wren's first impression.

Without any formal training—the young man might not even be literate—the drawings he produced were perfect. Even to Wren, they looked extremely professional.

"No wonder Fornal gave you parchment; you indeed have this talent. Your technical drawing skills are exquisite."

Wren acknowledged Holland's skill. Usually, drawings were made on parchment, but parchment was not cheap, and the Red River Territory didn't have much in stock.

Being able to get the stingy Fornal to give Holland parchment meant that Fornal had clearly recognized Holland's skill long ago.

"That fellow Fornal, he didn't mention such a talent sooner!"

Beside them, Arnold was so happy to hear Wren's praise for his son that his grin almost reached his ears.

His precious son was his greatest pride. With the Lord's recognition, Arnold felt that Holland's future in taking over his position was secure.

Originally, Arnold had felt a sense of urgency and felt his position was threatened after a dozen blacksmiths from the Iron Wall Fortress arrived in the territory.

The blacksmiths from the Iron Wall Fortress were no less skilled than he was, and while they weren't necessarily better, Arnold was no longer the Lord's only choice once they arrived.

Fortunately, that threat had now vanished. With his son being so outstanding, what did he have to worry about?

He believed his son Holland would soon surpass him and become a Master Blacksmith. At that time, perhaps he could even have a surname and establish his own blacksmith family.

Wren didn't know that Arnold was already fantasizing about the future. After a brief exchange with Holland, he became increasingly satisfied with the young man.

Holland not only had a talent for drawing and decent blacksmithing skills, but his thinking was also extremely open and active, unlike his father's.

Generally, people who haven't seen the outside world and have always lived in a closed environment have conservative and relatively stagnant thoughts, unwilling to take the initiative to change themselves, just like Arnold, Fornal, and others.

Wren felt that the people of the Red River Territory were all like this—conservative and closed-minded. The Holland before him was truly a breath of fresh air.

"Very good, Holland. Keep working hard. I believe you will be an excellent blacksmith in the near future. The territory needs talent like yours."

"Yes, Lord."

Holland was now no longer nervous. After interacting with Wren, he felt that his Lord was not as terrifying as he had imagined; instead, he felt very comfortable in his presence.

He had unconsciously spoken his mind to Wren just now. There were many things he wouldn't even tell his father, as he would be scolded, but he had told Wren everything, and instead of being scolded, he had been praised.

After receiving Wren's recognition, Holland's confidence surged, and he prepared to go back and give it his all.