Lord of Rot

Inside the simple, red-bricked factory walls, the water-powered trip-hammer pounded without rest.

A young man, his cheeks flushed red from the heat of the forge, used a pair of tongs to pull a glowing Iron Ingot from the coals. Gripping the ingot, he strained with both hands, the veins on his arms bulging. Holding his breath, he trotted back to his workstation.

The red-hot piece of iron was clamped onto the anvil.

BAM!

The water-powered trip-hammer rose, then smashed down.

The massive hammer, which tests had shown could dent an iron ball in an instant, crashed onto the glowing Iron Ingot, sending out a sea of sparks. For a moment, the young man seemed to be submerged in a fiery red lake. But in the blink of an eye, the sparks died out, leaving only a few red marks on his skin.

BAM!

The second strike followed.

The young man showed no fear of the heat, letting the sparks rain down on him, crackling against his skin. He just gritted his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and stared intently at the anvil.

The red-hot iron quickly changed shape under the blows.

Once the red glow faded, the young man breathed a sigh of relief. He picked up the piece of iron with his tongs and returned to the furnace, burying it in the coals once more.

The smithy was in its initial phase of operation.

After breakfast in the early morning, the blacksmiths would come here and hammer away, the factory ringing with the sound of metal on metal all day. Of course, they could take breaks and swap out when they couldn’t take it anymore, but most gritted their teeth and persevered.

Calling it a factory was a stretch; it was really just a low-walled courtyard made of simple red bricks, with a makeshift roof overhead. It would be properly constructed later, but for now, everything was kept simple. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

The location was near a body of water, so when the men got too hot, they could jump in for a dip to cool down and avoid heatstroke.

The apprentice craftsmen in the factory were incredibly satisfied with this arduous but high-paying work.

Before this, they did similar hard labor but earned five or six copper stars a day at most, and the work was no less strenuous.

Going back even further, during the time when Leech’s father, Lieder, was the Baron, there were simply no jobs for commoners. People often went hungry. In years with a good harvest, they could half-fill their bellies; in bad years, they were reduced to eating grass.

A whole Silver Moon, and they didn’t even have to craft a full suit of armor—they just had to finish the task at hand.

A nimble worker could complete their part of the process in a few days to earn a Silver Moon. Once they got the hang of it, earning three or four Silver Moons a month wouldn’t be difficult.

Thanks to the new assembly line, the factory’s first suit of armor was quickly completed.

The experienced craftsmen had to put in a great deal of effort. The apprentices, being new to the assembly line, had no experience and produced nothing but useless, semi-finished junk. This forced the master craftsmen to fix their work, souring their moods as they thought about cleaning up this mess for what felt like meager pay. But then they recalled that once these fools were properly trained, they could sit back and rake in money, and that thought gave them enough patience to continue teaching.

Since each person was only responsible for one or two steps, it was naturally much simpler to learn, but they still needed to accumulate experience.

As soon as the first full suit of heavy armor from the assembly line was finished, Leech rushed over. He had specially brought two of his Knight squires-in-training with him.

Little Joel had stopped growing taller. He was half a head taller than Leech and very sturdily built.

When he learned he would be the one to test the armor, Little Joel grinned like a fool in his excitement. He had long coveted the gleaming armor worn by the veteran soldiers, but he’d never had the chance to own a set. If he had to earn the money to buy his own, there was no telling how long he’d have to save up.

He stripped off his clothes, and with Carrot’s help, he was quickly suited up in the armor.

Once the entire suit was on, Little Joel happily fidgeted and shifted about, testing the movement.

"Not bad," Leech nodded.

It wasn’t as refined or beautiful as the heavy armor worn by the Porcupine Territory’s previous soldiers, but its practicality wasn’t far behind. The main difference was the lack of a craftsman’s fine engraving and polishing. It was a full suit of silver-colored heavy armor in its natural metallic state, with an enclosed helmet that had a nasal guard. Its defense was far superior to typical lamellar armor.

At that moment, Little Joel looked like a man encased entirely in iron.

"Carrot, take this sword and give it a try." Leech grabbed an unsharpened, unpolished sword and tossed it to Carrot.

Carrot was smaller and leaner, specializing in agility.

Little Joel clapped his chestplate and grinned at his friend. "Bring it on!"

He had no intention of just standing there and taking a beating. If he managed to grab Carrot, he wouldn’t hesitate to give him a good punch.

"Watch out," Carrot said, before charging forward and swinging his sword. Little Joel instinctively reached out to grab him but clutched at empty air.

The cumbersome armor made it difficult for him to catch Carrot, but with a CLANG, the sword struck Little Joel’s armored body and bounced off.

The Porcupine Territory’s style of armor was a chainmail core covered by iron lamellar plates—heavy, but not without flexibility.

The blow only left a scratch on the armor.

But then Little Joel cried out in pain, "Ouch!" The blacksmiths watched him nervously, only to hear him burst out laughing. "It doesn’t hurt at all!"

"As punishment, you’re not allowed to drink beer with dinner tonight," Leech said, his face dark.

"Huh?" Little Joel hastily removed his helmet. "My lord, I was just trying to make a joke."

With his high-intensity training every day, being forbidden from drinking alcohol was surely a punishment worse than death. Unfortunately, his lord ignored him. With a pained expression, Little Joel swore to himself that he would never make such a stupid joke again.

With Carrot’s help, Little Joel reluctantly took off the heavy armor.

Next, Leech planned to hire some skilled farmwives to weave surcoats for the armor, make Soft Armor, and create the padded caps worn under helmets. This part of the expense wouldn’t be too high.

Infantry would typically be equipped with shields, maces, flails, and other such weapons. The shields would be made of wooden planks with iron-sheet edging, offering some protection against arrows and Cavalry charges.

There was still a lot of work to be done. Creating a suit of armor was clearly not something that could be accomplished on a whim.

The smithy was now truly up and running.

He had also noticed that the armor wasn’t a perfect fit. Especially when Little Joel was taking it off, he saw that some areas of his body were red from chafing. Most Soldier armor wasn’t form-fitting. Because they would wear undergarments, leather armor, Soft Armor, and other padding underneath, the armor was usually made looser. For it to still injure the wearer under these circumstances could only mean there was a problem with the armor’s design.

Infantry usually didn’t wear full plate mail. Even in the Porcupine Territory, which favored heavy-assault troops, they would never create a few iron cans that could barely walk. Only noble Knights would wear full plate armor and charge on horseback.

"You can get carpenters to make a batch of wooden mannequins, then build the armor based on them," Leech told the craftsmen. "Have the carpenters measure the general height and weight of the Porcupine Territory’s soldiers and then create several different sizes: small, medium, large, extra-large, and so on. As long as people have a similar build, they’ll be able to wear it. Then you can produce the armor based on the mannequins’ figures."

Leech was likely the first person in this world to propose making clothing in standardized sizes.

On the Lu Leiyi Continent, whether rich or poor, if someone wanted a new set of clothes, they would always have a tailor make them to measure.

But in Leech’s eyes, this was a waste of manpower and time. While custom-tailoring each piece might result in a more comfortable and better fit, it was also far more wasteful.

’We can think about refinement and beauty once everyone has enough to eat and drink.’

Porcupine Territory currently had no plans to transition into a handicraft-based economy, and he had no intention of setting up assembly lines for clothing. However, he could establish the rules for clothing sizes first. That way, people with similar builds could wear the same clothes, which would at least be very convenient for the armor manufacturers.