I Became a Slave to a Mythical Shepherd

Episode 29. How to control the wind (2)

“Like I said last time. The fabrication of waterwheel itself is difficult. Besides, how did you increase the size of the forge to match that? What a dream.”

We headed to the common kitchen behind the temple. Uncle Skleos said to me as he ate leftover lamb ribs that were sacrificed to the temple.

I also wipe the meat grease from the corners of my mouth and listen to the uncle.

“It’s not that I wasn’t interested in hearing your story. Is it just possible? I’ve heard the rough story, but what kind of carpenter can skillfully make something like that…”

“If you’re going to fail anyway, you can fail.”

I have to gently seduce Skleos, who is still skeptical.

As far as I know, bellows powered by water wheels were also used in ancient China.

It may be hundreds of years later, but is the difference in technological prowess between China during the Warring States Period and Greece during this era really that great?

“If you succeed, this insignificant city will become a land blessed even more than the Hittite city of Hattusha.”

“It has been 100 years since Hattusha became a cursed land. Mad kings burned it.”

“Uh… I didn’t know that. Anyway, isn’t it too great to give up just because you’re afraid of losing money? If you’re a follower of Hephaestus, it’s something worth trying.”

It’s difficult, of course, but it’s possible.

Even Mr. Skleos, who had taken it as just a child’s curious idea when I talked about it last time, his attitude slightly wavered when I talked about it seriously.

“Imagine.

There is a country where it is hotter than the land of Egyptus in summer, and it rains all month, so that all the rivers overflow, and in winter, it is colder than the land of the Barbarians in the far north, and the water of the rivers is jumbled.”

“under! There’s no way people could live in such a hellish land, right? First of all, it’s a fun family. Go on.”

. . . No, what kind of words are you talking about to someone who has lived in that hellish land?

If I had talked about yellow dust in the spring and fine dust from China, I would have been treated like a crazy person.

“Keuheum, anyway, in such a place, no matter how well the waterwheel is made, can it be used properly?”

“It will probably be difficult. In the winter, the river freezes over and you won’t be able to move, and in the summer, everything will just be washed away.”

“that’s right. But what about this land?”

Unlike the beggarly climatic environment of Korea, where you can experience the weather of Vietnam and Siberia in one year, this blessed land with a Mediterranean climate maintains a steady temperature throughout the year.

In addition, the dryness unique to the Mediterranean climate is a handicap considering the physiology of this region, which is mostly island nations and coastal cities.

It is moderately humid, has constant precipitation, and the annual temperature difference is not large, so the river does not freeze easily.

“If you set up an aberration wheel, you can probably use it all year round. Turn the bellows with that power? Imagine that a better wind blows than Hattusha at any time.”

Iron and steel making in this era, since there is no bellows, is highly dependent on the quality of the wind.

A strong wind blows the temperature of the flame and melts the iron so that it can be handled.

Even the Hittites were a powerful iron civilization because strong winds often blew in their land.

During this period, iron production areas were limited geographically, and steel was treated as precious. Maybe as expensive as gold.

I was also revealing a new technology that infinitely copies golden iron to Skleos.

No matter how absurd it may sound, it can’t help but be tempting.

“Hmm… they say they make wind with the power of the river.”

No matter how young and insignificant a child suggested it.

“that’s right. Besides, it can be activated whenever you want. The Hittites probably don’t always get blown by strong winds like they breathe.

But you can use that gale… whenever you want.”

“…”

Skleos’s face turned into a serious expression. Soon after, the uncle brought a clay tablet and a broken reed and held it out to me.

“Draw it.”

“ah.”

“If you talk so confidently, you must have an idea of a structure or a way to build it.

Looking up, you can see the passion that is hard to hide in Skleos’ expression full of doubts.

“If you draw it, I will show it to the carpenters. If you tell me what size river or stream you need, I will look into the site.”

Uncle Skleos’ reaction was more active than I thought.

As I hesitate after holding the reed, Mr. Skleos looks at me slightly anxiously.

“Can you really do it? By any chance, was it something you did just like last time?”

“It’s not like that… It’s just that it’s complicated in my head to pull out something that’s been in my head all of a sudden.”

“Don’t be too hasty. It’s just that I was just trying to see if that was childish white noise…”

However, on Skleos’ face, a light of ‘just in case’ comes to mind.

‘What if’ this kid recreates something like scissors?

What if that thing called ‘bellows’ really did a great job like last time?

I could see where that anticipation was coming from.

“···mister?”

“Why?”

“You can do it. Because Hephaestus is watching over me.”

Firm faith in Hephaestus.

Uncle Skleos, who was silent for a moment, gave a small reply.

“···okay. You can’t be wrong with him. He has chosen you.”

Skleos murmured softly toward his respected master and said,

“Since you staked the name of God, that resolution must be great. See if you can do it.”

***

So the challenge began again.

This time, it wasn’t on a scale that me and the two men made as a hobby.

At most one bellows, at most one small forged iron.

But what about an aberration larger than a person’s height?

Forges that are huge and solidly stacked like a fortress?

It required the help of many people.

“Now, let’s all talk about our opinions without hesitation. What do you think of Paris?”

Needing help was the same as needing their consent.

Everyone gathered here is, after all, old colleagues of Skleos, and respected engineers in the city.

The old man over there stroking his beardless chin doesn’t have any hair below his lower lip because of the burns.

That woman’s left cheek was swollen, and that was because it was burned by the blade of a spear once heated.

The bitter medals obtained while engaged in this dangerous job, the traces of the years accumulated like annual rings.

“I am against it. I’ve never heard of iron being treated this way.

It is unheard of that the Hittites as well as the Achaeans (Ἀχαιοί, Greeks) smelt iron like that.”

“Right. And no matter how much the Hittites say it’s a waste of time, giving up some iron ingots to a subject country is something they can’t give up even for the sake of the security of the border.”

“Yeah, that’s right. It’s not like the Hittites will cut off trade right away, so why are you doing that?”

“I’m also a bit distant. It’s a design that seems like it’s going to break even money… is that okay?”

In the midst of these suspicious eyes, everyone had to agree.

And Skleos was a man who knew full well that dramatic showmanship could sometimes do more good than a thousand words.

Uncle Skleos said nothing and threw a knife at the table spread out between the crowd.

“How is it?”

I didn’t even have to guess the meaning of the question.

The artisans removed the scabbard and looked at the shining white blade inside it.

“Not good.”

“The quality is not uniform.”

“This middle part must be fragile.”

Sharp criticism follows. And again, the eyes of the artisans return to Mr. Skleos from the blade.

“It’s not like you to waste iron on a knife like that. There’s still a long way to go before another shipment comes in from Hittite.”

‘Hittite’.

Waiting for that one word to be heard, the two of us looked at each other and smiled.

Uncle Skleos, trying not to show off his pride, stiffened his expression as sternly as possible and said,

“It’s not Hittite steel.”

“Then where is it? Missia? Lycia? Phrygia? You couldn’t make something like this there either?”

“My God, did the Phrygians finally make it after receiving so many Hittite refugees?”

“Not all.”

By this time, both Mr. Skleos and I couldn’t hide our laughter.

“It’s Antandrosan.”

The moment of astonishment was quiet.

“Paris.”

“yes.”

“I helped, but this kid did it. Everyone should know that this guy was favored by Hephaestus.”

From the beginning, I could have put my name on it and pushed through the work by mentioning the name of God.

But Uncle Skleos didn’t do that.

Vivid evidence was needed to convince these self-respecting artisans.

“Then… is that design the same?”

“It belongs to Paris.”

The name of the boy who is favored by Hephaestus is enough to stay in the role of driving a wedge.

Silence ensued, without even whispering.

Intense thoughts rose like sparks and small stars between the dark eyes of the artisans and collided with each other to twinkle.

A few exchanges of glances continued between the artisans,

“I will follow Skleos-sama’s judgment.”

“I will believe in Hephaestus too. Skleos-sama took that child, so I’ll trust that child’s skills as well.”

Little by little, words and actions of agreement burst forth.

“Then, shall we try our hand at this point? Those who oppose it, raise your hand.”

Uncle Skleos played tricks again here.

While the mood was up, they drove the momentum and pushed to vote, even making opponents raise their hands first.

Opponents, of course, would have had one or two, but they couldn’t raise their hands because they noticed.

After confirming that everyone’s arms were not moving, Uncle Skleos spoke again with a satisfied smile.

“Then now those in favor raise their hands.”

Uncle Skleos himself was the first to raise his hand.

Following them, hands rose through the forest.

. . . From then on, a lot of things went smoothly.

“First of all, how much charcoal should be adjusted…”

“Here, Paris! How do I adjust the intensity and number of bellows?”

“I don’t know that yet. Each person adjusts differently to find the optimal value.”

Once started, it was trivial.

As much as the number of forges in the forge, new bellows began to appear.

As Uncle Skleos said, iron is usually imported from Hittite in the form of iron ingots.

What the blacksmiths here do when handling iron is about hammering it with a hammer or putting it into a mold to shape it.

Of course, imported iron ingots do not come in every time, and there are repairs at that time, so it does not mean that iron is not procured locally. It’s just that its quality is noticeably inferior to that of Hittite.

“Look! I bumped into a Hittite iron sword and an iron sword I made myself!”

“what? Why do you waste a good knife blade again? . . . So what are the results?”

“Both are damaged!!”

“It was great!!!”

But not anymore.

The secret of Hittite steel may not lie only in the wind.

They will have their own know-how that has been going on for tens of hundreds of years, and the result of the overlap of other luck and efforts will have completed their famous steel.

However, the blacksmiths of Skleos now know that the strong natural wind had the greatest help in making that steel.

I let you know.

Now, when a pot made of Hittite steel is broken, no one notices even if it is roughly repaired with locally procured iron.

However, the clients pay the same amount as before when importing iron ingots, so the balance is ours.

Uncle Skleos calculated the surplus of silver and copper coins and handed me enough coins to fill one of my pockets.

and! Salary in cash! This is the taste of business.

“It would be nice if I could use the super strong method…”

“What is that? Did you think of a new steelmaking method?”

Now, not only Skleos but also the other blacksmiths in the workshop look at me with eyes full of anticipation, but unfortunately I can only shake my head.

I heard that even during the Three Kingdoms period, Gayana and Baekje developed a technology called ‘Chogangbeop’, quickly mass-produced steel, and sold it to Japan and neighboring countries.

“The problem is, I only heard the name, but I don’t know how to write it.”

Even when I looked back on the entire class of the national history teacher, who enjoyed wearing the dark-colored improved hanbok, I couldn’t remember anything. What lectures did you skim through while preparing?

Anyway, even after leaving behind their regrets about the ‘iron-making method of the mysterious Eastern country’, the blacksmiths of Antandros were already intoxicated with the sweet water of profit expansion.

“How… is there any way to increase production further? Like the bronze smelting method.”

“I don’t know much about bronze. There is no sharper way.”

“Oh, is that so?”

“but···”

That’s right, pretending to lose weight like this to attract people.

“but?”

“But I know of other ways to push the yield of steel to a very high level.”

“what is that?”

When I come this far, Mr. Skleos will answer in my place. someone more authoritative.

“Make the forge bigger than the hut. It’s about twice as tall as a person’s height.”

“What did you say? Even if the forged iron came out like that, my hands would go out from hammering. If your hands don’t come out while working the bellows before then.”

“Yes, that is nonsense! How many charcoals can a crab that big eat!”

“That much steel will vomit. And the bellows and the hammering have to be done by human hands.”

“What if people don’t do it? Do you have a cow?”

“It will work.”

When Skleos turns his gaze away, the artisans follow his gaze and look back at me.

I shrug my shoulders and point my finger at the artisans far away.

My finger was pointing at the river that flows near the city.

“We can do it with the power of water.”

My hands were sweating in my heart.

If it’s just for a moment… if you get over this hurdle…

The history of mankind’s steelmaking technology has been progressing for more than 2,000 years.