Arthur brought up the Arbor fleet as a shield, leaving everyone in the room speechless.
Seeing no further objections, Arthur signaled Quentyn to report on the progress of the port construction at Beacon Tower.
"Describing the port construction isn't as intuitive as counting how many ships were built, how much salt was produced, or how many mills were repaired," Quentyn began.
"I would like to invite you, my Lord, to personally inspect the port. I can give you an on-site tour of the construction and the future plans for the harbor."
"Additionally, I would like to ask you to name the port."
A glint of cunning flashed in Quentyn's eyes as he mentioned the naming. Lord Arthur had strongly supported the fleet after naming it the "Summer Sea Fleet." If he named the port, would the budget increase accordingly?
Beside him, Karl 'Bi's eyes lit up. He glanced at Quentyn in surprise, not expecting him to come up with the "on-site inspection" tactic.
Compared to a plan made of words on paper, tangible objects were much easier for people to accept.
Arthur nodded and announced, "Alright. We'll go tomorrow. I can also inspect the fleet, the ship construction, and the status of the various workshops."
Even if Quentyn hadn't suggested it, Arthur had planned to go to Beacon Tower anyway. As the site of the most implemented plans and the recipient of the most gold dragons, he needed to inspect the fruits of the past year's development personally.
After listening to reports from Jerry and Gerold regarding the production and sales of Peach Orchard spirits and the expansion and operation of the arena, Arthur adjourned the meeting.
As the attendees filtered out of the hall, Arthur kept Karl 'Bi' behind.
"Is there any progress on smelting obsidian into weapons?" Arthur asked.
Karl 'Bi' shook his head. "After the reward was announced, the enthusiasm in the Blacksmith's Guild was high, but the results have been disappointing."
"Mixing in obsidian significantly reduces the blade's strength. Even the best obsidian swords we've made so far don't meet the standard for quality."
"Forget Valyrian steel strength; they can't even match the strength of a standard Peach-marked sword."
Arthur hadn't expected such meager returns after a year, despite the heavy rewards. Looking at the sunny weather outside, he stood up.
"Let's go. I'll take a look personally and see what's going on."
"It's great that you can visit the Smithing District in person, my Lord!" Karl 'Bi' exclaimed happily.
The Black Mamba sword, the transforming Valyrian steel sword Zhan Lu, the techniques of Twisted Damascus and clay tempering—these all came from Lord Arthur's hand.
Truth be told, Karl's requests for construction plans were mostly driven by the guild masters and the livelihoods of the craftsmen—purely work reasons. Striking iron was his life!
Actually, his push for watermills was primarily to better serve the smithing process; everything else was secondary.
Without the cumbersome wheelhouse, Arthur's mounted party moved quickly. Crossing the arched bridge beside Starfall Keep, the dense cluster of buildings in the Smithing District came into view.
Even from a distance, Arthur could hear the clang of hammers on anvils. It stirred long-dormant memories, and his hands began to itch.
"My Lord, follow me." Karl 'Bi' urged his horse alongside Arthur.
"The Smithing District has been replanned to gather all the guilds together. The Blacksmith's Guild isn't in its original location anymore."
"Lead the way."
Arthur had visited several times before, but the changes here were so rapid that he doubted he could even find the original address of the Blacksmith's Guild now.
Following Karl 'Bi' through the dense buildings flanking the road, they arrived at a prominent hill on the north side of the district. The entire hill was surrounded by a two-meter-high stone wall.
Arthur entered through a tall stone archway. The first thing he saw was a large statue. It looked like the Smith of the Seven, but the face was somewhat strange, giving him a sense of déjà vu.
Noticing Arthur observing the statue, Karl 'Bi' laughed. "It was carved in your likeness."
Arthur suddenly realized why it looked familiar. He didn't linger in front of the statue.
The hill was covered with distinct and varied buildings. According to Karl 'Bi', these were the guild halls of the various trades.
The Blacksmith's Guild Hall occupied the largest area, located on the east side near the Torrentine.
The guild hall was fully equipped, including a huge exhibition hall displaying various weapons, armor, and tools; a quality inspection area for assessing forged items; and a teaching area for instructing forging techniques and training smiths.
Arthur wasn't in the mood for a tour. He followed Karl 'Bi' straight past the inspection area to a row of smithies equipped with blast furnaces.
Feeling the waves of heat and hearing the dense hammering from inside, Arthur could sense that there were more people here than anywhere else in the guild.
"This is where we research obsidian weaponry," Karl 'Bi' introduced.
Soon, at the Summer Islander's call, many bare-chested smiths brought out samples of the obsidian weapons they had made.
There were dozens of items—axes, longswords, knives, spears. They all shared a common trait: darker in color than ordinary weapons, with some parts showing irregular dark brown patterns.
Karl 'Bi' picked up an axe and swung it. "These are considered the masterpieces."
Arthur picked up a longsword and ran his hand along the blade. Instead of the smooth, metallic feel of steel, it felt rough and gritty, like touching stone.
However, when he touched the dark brown patterns on the blade, the roughness vanished, replaced by the glassy smoothness of obsidian.
After carefully examining the sword, Arthur asked, "How was this obsidian weapon forged?"
"Using the technique you created for the Black Mamba sword," replied a tall master smith who had forged the blade.
"In addition, I tested various amounts of obsidian powder mixed in the canister to find the optimal ratio for forging."
"However, even with the standard ratio, the results aren't consistent every time."
Another master smith couldn't help but ask, "My Lord, is obsidian really the material for forging Valyrian steel?"
"Weapons with added obsidian powder universally have flaws, and smelting obsidian is extremely difficult."
"I don't know. It's just a conjecture. Whether obsidian is the material for Valyrian steel needs constant exploration." Arthur swung the longsword a few times, feeling that its strength and sharpness barely qualified it as a sword.
"Exploration is always harder than learning. If it were simple, I wouldn't have offered such a high reward."
Feeling his hands itching, Arthur took off his outer robe. "Bring me a forging hammer."
Karl 'Bi' asked in surprise, "You're going to forge it yourself?"
A master smith who had witnessed and learned from Arthur's forging didn't say a word, hurriedly handing over his own hammer.
Bare-chested, hammer in hand, feeling the heat from the blast furnace, Arthur felt like he was back in Braavos, forging and practicing swordplay all day.
Entering the smithy, Arthur found a full set of tools: trip hammer, forge, blast furnace, bellows. He even saw a grinding wheel connected to a water wheel for polishing.
Materials like obsidian powder, iron ingots, coke, and iron ore were naturally fully stocked.
"Fire up the blast furnace. Add charcoal and crushed iron ore. I need sponge iron."
Arthur didn't rush to swing the hammer. Instead, he instructed the master smith who was watching his every move to start the furnace.
Many knowledgeable people present, including Karl 'Bi', were confused.
Sponge iron produced from a blast furnace could be forged into wrought iron (or soft steel).
But the characteristics of soft steel were ductility and toughness. It was generally used for chainmail, armor, and nails—things that needed to bend, not weapons.
"Swords mixed with obsidian powder break easily." Arthur prepared a canister with layers of iron and obsidian powder according to the ratio.
"I intend to sandwich the obsidian longsword between layers of soft steel. This might solve the problem of brittleness."
The tall master smith helping Arthur prepare the canister lit up. He almost blurted out, "You mean to put a suit of armor on the obsidian sword?"
Another skilled smith quickly pointed out, "That would certainly increase the strength significantly, but if the obsidian sword is sandwiched in soft steel, the sharpness will be greatly reduced."
Unhurriedly, Arthur placed the canister into the forge with tongs. A smith's apprentice instinctively began operating the bellows.
Holding the tongs with one hand, Arthur pointed to the grinding wheel with the other. "As for sharpness, we can use the grinding wheel to grind away the soft steel at the edge, exposing the obsidian blade."
Karl 'Bi' and the watching smiths gasped. They hadn't expected the Lord, who hadn't touched a hammer in three or four years, to attempt such a major innovation right off the bat.
"My Lord, what is this technique called?" asked the tall smith assisting him, full of anticipation.
Feeling the rising temperature of the furnace, Arthur said, "I call it the Sanmai (Three-Piece) technique, or Clad Steel technique."
Although he hadn't forged in a long time, Arthur possessed the Sword Vision talent. He didn't need to sense the canister's temperature by hand like an old smith to judge the state of the smelting.
Sensing the smelting was complete, he removed the canister from the forge, stripped it while hot to get the billet, and then began forging and twisting it according to the Black Mamba sword process.
The smiths watching Arthur forge for the first time looked at each other, then stared wide-eyed at the wild yet aesthetically pleasing forging process, afraid to blink.
Truth be told, after the statue at the guild entrance was unveiled and revealed to have Arthur's face, they all thought it was just the Summer Islander sucking up to the boss.
Including the techniques rumored to be invented by Lord Arthur—Black Mamba swords, clay tempering, Twisted Damascus—they assumed the guild was just putting gold on his face to curry favor.
How could someone who earned the title "Sword of the Morning" for martial prowess also be so accomplished in smithing?
The Seven had seven faces, but for one person to be both the Warrior and the Smith? What a joke!
But they understood the guild master's sycophancy. After all, Arthur was the moneybags.
Now, seeing Arthur's stance and skill at the anvil, their worldview was undoubtedly overturned.
Soon, Arthur finished forging the main blade shape. Then, he took the sponge iron from the blast furnace and forged it rapidly with the hammer, removing impurities to form soft steel.
Then, in one smooth motion, he hammered the soft steel into a U-shaped sheath.
"The outer soft steel and the blade core are two different types of steel." Arthur hammered the blade core into the U-shaped soft steel, not forgetting to explain.
"So, forging them together perfectly to prevent delamination or cracking later is the most critical part of the Sanmai technique!"
Arthur assembled the longsword and put it back into the forge for heating. "You should know the difficulty of smelting two different materials like obsidian and iron together, right?"
"Only too well, my Lord," the tall smith sighed.
"Fusing the soft steel perfectly with the core presents a similar, massive difficulty." Arthur dismissed the apprentice and manned the bellows himself.
"I can't guarantee success every time."
The smiths watching for the first time saw Arthur moving fluidly, forging as if taking a leisurely stroll, while still having the presence of mind to explain difficulties and even be modest.
What is the demeanor of a Grandmaster? This is the demeanor of a Grandmaster!
Truly a role model for us all!
Sensing the billet was ready, Arthur removed the glowing sword from the forge and hammered it carefully, ensuring the soft steel and the core were fully fused.
Finally, after tempering, Arthur nervously plunged the longsword into the quenching bucket.
After quenching, Arthur examined the sword closely. Although it was slightly bent, there were no cracks on the spine. He relaxed.
He hadn't expected to succeed with the Sanmai technique on the first try!
Arthur didn't hand off the subsequent work either. He personally installed the hilt, guard, and decorations, then used the grinding wheel to grind away the soft steel at the edge.
Looking at the longsword he had forged with his own hands:
At the transition between the edge and the spine, two faint lamination lines were visible. The edge had the dark texture of the previous obsidian swords, with dark brown patterns visible in places, while the body and spine gleamed with the metallic luster of soft steel.
Overall, it gave the visual effect of the body being brighter than the edge, which was quite unique.
"Let me test it!"
After it was finished, the onlookers shouted impatiently.
Arthur gave the honor of testing the sword to Beck, the tall smith who had discovered the obsidian powder ratio. He learned that Beck had followed him from the Snow & Peach Smithy in Braavos.
In the testing area, there were many materials. Beck started with the most anticipated strength test: chopping stone.
The stone was limestone. Someone with a morbid sense of humor had shaped it like a tombstone.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Beck, the old boy, really put his back into it.
Under everyone's tense gaze, he held his breath and hacked seven or eight times, turning his face red and smashing the "tombstone" to pieces.
"It didn't break?" After chopping the stone, he was shocked himself.
"My Lord, the sword didn't break?!"
Karl 'Bi' rolled his eyes at him, then looked at Arthur with admiration. "Strength is no problem. My Lord, the obsidian sword is a success! You always have a way."
Arthur didn't stay for the sharpness test. He put on his clothes and said coolly to the Summer Islander:
"I said before that I would erect a statue in the Smithing District for whoever could make a qualified obsidian sword."
"Since you've already erected a statue for me, I couldn't let you down, could I?"