Chapter 113 Dwarven magic mechanical engineers
Perhaps it was because they were shocked by the Magic Air Conditioner, but after Xu Yi had led them on a tour of the two workshops, there were a total of nine people of the thirteen magicians who were willing to stay with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
As for the four people who rejected him, the ones who made Xu Yi most disappointed were Erwin and Bob.
“I’m sorry, Xu Yi, I really do want to struggle with you, but……” Erwin was a bit embarrassed, “My dream since I was young was to become a powerful magician. I am still young, so I don’t want to give up yet……”
Xu Yi asked in a confused voice, “You can also study magic here. Even Rooney is stay and his magician grade is higher than yours.”
Erwin scratched his head before saying with a laugh, “Compared to here, I prefer going through danger to increase my power. As for Rooney…...His family’s condition isn’t good, so he always hoped for a stable income, he is different from me and Bob. Based on giving me face, I hope you can take care of him.”
Seeing that Erwin had made up his mind, Xu Yi could only give a helpless sigh and a slight nod, “Alright, I will take care of him.”
After sending off the four magicians who wanted to leave that included Erwin and Bob, Xu Yi didn’t have time to be hurt. He brought the remaining nine magicians to find Sebas, to have them sign an employment contract with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
From this day forth, these nine magicians would be officially employees of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce. The work they did was to finish drawing all the Magic Arrays on the magic machines.
Even though there were only nine people, because they were full time workers, being able to work longer than the Baron Rickto Magic Academy students and adding in the fact that they had studied magic longer, their experience in drawing Magic Arrays was much higher than the students.
As long as they familiarized themselves with their work, Xu Yi was certain that the work they completed each day would surpass the students.
After signing the contract, Xu Yi had Sebas lead them back to Banta City.
In order to welcome these magicians, Xu Yi specially contacted Heinz ahead of time to rent two buildings in Banta City as their temporary residence.
Of course, as there were more and more workers for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, these two buildings wouldn’t be enough. Xu Yi had long planned to build worker dorms near the factories, giving a place for the employees of the company to live in.
After taking care of these magicians, Xu Yi went to the magic machine workshop. He called together Camby and the other dwarves in charge to hold a small meeting.
“Three thousand unit?” Hearing the number Xu Yi gave, Camby and the other dwarves all revealed look of pleasant surprise.
Of course they were happy because of the large orders, which meant that the dwarves would have quite a bit of work to do and they would receive a large wage from this work.
They were shocked because this number was just too high. With the current production of the magic machine workshop, they probably couldn’t finish this amount by the spring harvest at all.
“Chairman, you should be very clear on our abilities right now, so why did you accept this order?” Camby looked at Xu Yi doubtfully and asked, “Or are you going to gather more dwarven brothers to increase productivity? Time is short now and it takes some time to grasp how to make the agricultural magic machines. Even if you can recruit enough dwarven brothers, I’m afraid this bit of time isn’t enough.”
Xu Yi revealed a bitter smile and helplessly replied, “Of course I know this, but there was no other way. This was the lowest amount the king would take and if we can’t complete it, perhaps this order would be gone.”
Camby was even more confused, “That isn’t right. The king should know that our Frestech Chamber of Commerce is the only one who can make agricultural magic machines, so even if we can’t complete the order, could it be that he would find others to do it?”
“Of course he wouldn’t. But the king said that if we couldn’t complete this order, he would force us to hand over the technology and use the kingdom’s power to build them. Do you think I had a choice?”
Camby and the other dwarves looked at each other and after a while, Camby let out a long breath.
“Your human king really is unreasonable.”
Xu Yi shrugged his shoulders, “Alright, let’s forget about this. I’ve already taken the order, so we should be thinking about how to complete it.”
Camby awkwardly scratched his head, “Chairman, I can have the brothers work overtime and supervise everyone to increase productivity, but there is a limit to this. It would still be very difficult to complete such a large order. Then again, other than this order, we also have to complete the orders for the nobles of the cities around Banta City, who also want agricultural magic machines. Moreover, you said before you left that because we are working with the large companies in the city, we also have to complete some production magic machines? If it’s this much…...I feel like we can’t do it.”
The other dwarves all looked at each other before giving sighs and shaking their heads, clearly thinking this would be very difficult.
“Relying on pushing people to do labour isn’t a good choice, so I have some other plans.” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile and took out a blueprint from his chest which he opened in front of the dwarves, “Come, everyone take a look. This is the new magic machine that I drew in my spare time on the road, how long do you think it will take you all to finish this?”
The dwarves gathered around and looked at the blueprint for a while. Camby made a yi sound, “Chairman, this magic machine is a bit like the small Magic Punch Press.”
Xu Yi nodded, “That’s right, this magic machine is called the Rolling Forge Magic Punch Press, it’s used to create parts like connecting rods. With these things, you don’t need to rely on hand forging to make connecting rods when it comes to agricultural magic machines.”
Camby seriously looked at the blueprint for a while before he sighed, “Chairman, although I don’t completely understand this blueprint, I can tell that it is very powerful. If it is really like what you described and we can rely on this production magic machine to make connecting rods, our efficiency would be greatly increased.”
Xu Yi laughed, “It isn’t just this Rolling Forge Magic Punch Press, there are also others. There is the Mechanical Magic Punch Press, the Extrusion Magic Punch Press, and other machines. My goal in the end is to use magic machines to replace as much human work as possible. Although the craftsmanship of you dwarves is very good, to increase productivity and produce in batches, we need to start using more magic machines.”
Camby couldn’t help asking, “Chairman, since you had such a good thing, why didn’t you take it out earlier?”
Xu Yi pointed at the blueprint, “If I didn’t let you come in contact with the simpler magic machines and directly took out this blueprint, would you have understood it?”
Camby could only scratch his head as he said with an awkward smile, “No.”
“Right, this meal had to be eaten bite by bite and this road had to be walked step by step. I want to design all the magic machines at once and make it so everyone can easily produce what they want, but that is not realistic. It’s a good thing that you dwarves are so skilled and have an especially strong comprehension for this matter that I could take out these magic machine blueprints for you all. If it was a normal person, I wouldn’t dare take it out at all.”
Hearing Xu Yi say this, the dwarves all revealed looks of pride. Camby forcefully patted his chest and loudly said, “Be assured, chairman, as long as you can give us complete blueprints, I can guarantee that without a single mistake, we will make this…...this……”
“Rolling Forge Magic Punch Press.” Xu Yi reminded him.
“Right, we’ll make this Rolling Forge Magic Punch Press!” Camby confidently said.
“Chairman, you are planning to let our magic machine workshop be the same as the household magic machine workshop, having these production magic machines make these components and then have us assemble the components, right?” A dwarf suddenly asked this.
Xu Yi looked at that dwarf and recognized him to be Bordeau, one of the dwarves from the Angola Tribe. Because he was skilled and learned quickly, he became one of the backbones of the magic machine workshop.
“That’s right, that would be the ideal condition. But as for how closely we can reach that, it’ll depend on my research and your craftsmanship skills.” Xu Yi replied.
Bordeau turned to look at the busy dwarves in the workshop and said with a depressed look, “But chairman, like this, wouldn’t us dwarves become useless? If these magic machines solved all the problems, what would you still need us for?”
Hearing Bordeau’s question, including even Camby, the others dwarves looked at Xu Yi. Their eyes were burning, clearly showing that they cared about the answer to this question very much.
Xu Yi smiled and softly shook his head, “No, Bordeau, you’re looking down on your value too much. Machines are just machines in the end, although they can help us complete some work, there are many kinds of work machines can’t do. Just like Bordeau said, for the small Magic Plowing Machine that you are responsible for making, when each machine is made, you need to listen to it to ensure that there is no problem with the machine. Can this task be done by a machine?”
Bordeau revealed a smile and looked confident.
“To me, an experienced worker is far more valuable than an inflexible machine. Bordeau, you don’t have to worry that once there are more magic machines, it will mean the dwarven brothers will have nothing to do. Rather, as the magic machines become more and more developed, I will need the help of you dwarven engineers with rich experience, strong skills, and a deep understanding of magic machines even more. Let me tell you, each dwarven brother in the workshop is a precious resource for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce! They are much more important than those ice cold machines!”
Hearing Xu Yi’s passionate words, Camby, Bordeau, and the other dwarves all revealed smiles of incomparable joy.
The dwarves were a fairly simple and honest race. Since they arrived at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, they had already noted in their hearts how Xu Yi treated them.
Now that Xu Yi had given them such a high evaluation, confirming that they were precious, it filled the bottom of their hearts with joy and pride.
“Engineers?” Another dwarf called Ailim repeated this before revealing a happy smile, “Chairman Xu, although I don’t know what this word means, it sounds very powerful and I like it. Alright, when I introduce myself to others from now on, I’ll tell them that I’m a dwarven engineer!”
Xu Yi laughed, “The accurate way of saying it should be a dwarven mechanical engineer. Oh, no, it’s dwarven magic mechanical engineer.”
The dwarves looked at each other before breaking out in wide smiles at the same time.
“Right, we are all dwarven magic mechanical engineers!”
Chapter 114 Sincere request
Because they were too involved in the design of the new magic machines, Xu Yi and Camby’s group of dwarves stayed in the meeting and didn’t even leave at the normal time to get off work. When they finally decided their tentative plans and the meeting ending, when Xu Yi finally left the workshop, he found that it was already night outside.
It was already December and the winter freeze had already arrived, so now that it was night, the temperature outside was naturally very cold.
Suddenly coming out of the workshop that was heated up by the Magic Air Conditioner, when Xu Yi was hit by the cold wind outside, he couldn’t help shivering.
The dwarves that walked out with Xu Yi didn’t show any strangeness. Although they were wearing less than Xu Yi, they were filled with energy and didn’t look cold at all.
Camby even excitedly stood on his tiptoes to pat Xu Yi’s shoulder as he said in a loud voice with a smile, “Chairman, your human bodies are too weak. I think you should exercise to strengthen yourself and don’t be like those other magicians, being able blown away with a single gust.
Xu Yi looked at Camby’s body that was twice as thick as his with a bitter smile and shook his head, “Forget it, how can I compare to naturally talented people like you dwarves? It’s better for me to go back and put on some more clothes.”
Camby dug in his chest and took out a bottle to give to Xu Yi.
“Here, this is some half a bottle of good wine I didn’t finish yet. You’ll feel warmer after a few swigs.”
Xu Yi took it and sniffed it, it really had a strong wine fragrance. He couldn’t help knitting his brows as he said, “Camby, didn’t I say that you can’t drink while working? Why do you bring a bottle of wine along with you?”
Camby rubbed his head and laughed, “Relax, all those brothers are watching me, so I can’t break the rules. I just carry this bottle along with me and take a drink after getting off work. You can relax, there definitely won’t be any mistakes.”
Xu Yi helplessly shook his head. He knew that wanting these dwarves addicted to drinking to stop drinking was impossible, so Camby restraining himself like this was already very rare.
Opening the bottle, he raised his head back to take a swig and he felt a warm current flowing down his throat into his stomach. After a while, the essence of the wine came from his stomach and heat came out bit by bit.
Xu Yi let out a breath of wine and felt much more comfortable. He waved his hand to the dwarves before walking out the factory.
When he walked into the darkness away from the factory lights, Xu yi remembered that because of his special orders, the two horse carriages outside the factory had been sent off to bring the magicians back. Now there wasn’t a single carriage left.
Moreover, it was already night, so there wouldn’t be any carriages in this remote place. So, after Xu Yi looked around, he was depressed to find that he could only walk back to Banta City.
It was a good thing this place wasn’t considered that far from Banta City. After Xu Yi gave a bitter laugh, he took another sip of the wine and woke up his mind before he quickly walked towards Banta City.
Without going far, Xu Yi suddenly stopped and his somewhat hazy eyes suddenly became sharp.
“Who? Come out!” Xu Yi gave a cold roar into the darkness.
In the shadows of the trees to the left, there was suddenly a strange distortion before a person slowly walked out.
Xu Yi looked in that direction with the moonlight and could see that person’s slender form, as well as the two sharp ears on their head.
“Young miss Agnes? Why is it you?” Xu Yi asked in a daze.
The one who suddenly appeared was actually the female elf Agnes!
Under the moonlight, Agnes’ body was releasing a faint light that made her seem like she was a dream, not seeming like a real person at all.
Xu Yi knew that this was the special characteristic of the elves.
The elves were known as the race of the moon goddess Elune. They would gain special characteristics under the moonlight, for example the faint glow that was currently surrounding Agnes’ body. It could counter most of the physical and magical damage against her, as well as making her body more lithe and agile.
All the races of the Sines Continent were certain that challenging an elf of the same grade in the forest and under the moonlight was no different from suicide.
And someone who challenged an elf in the forest and under the moonlight…..That fellow must definitely be insane.
Thinking of this, Xu Yi’s eyes looking at Anges filled with more vigilance.
Although he had just passed the Fifth Grade exam and was already a Fifth Grade Magician, but since Agnes could use the Shadow Stealth Spell of the elves since they first met, that meant her power was only higher and not lower than Xu Yi’s. If she suddenly wanted to attack Xu Yi, Xu Yi would suffer quite a bit.
It was a good thing Agnes wasn’t showing any hostility at all. After she walked of the shadows, she even gave a standard elven greeting to Xu Yi.
“Hello chairman Xu. Under the brilliance of Elune, I sincerely express my happiness at your return.”
Xu Yi was stunned. Agnes was actually using Elune’s name to show her feelings, that meant she was truly happy.
But why was that?
Why was it that Agnes would be happy that he was back?
“Because I have waited over a week for you.” Agnes replied.
Xu Yi was even more confused, “It’s only been a week. To you elves, this is the same time as a blink of the eye for us humans.”
“Yes, but the water source issue to our clansmen, even one second is too long.” Agnes’ almost perfect face looked to be in low spirits, which was a mood that was very rare for elves, “Before leaving the tribe, the river that flows through the river was almost blocked, so the lives of our clansmen have been very hard.”
Xu Yi looked at the expression on Agnes’ face and couldn’t help asking, “Then you didn’t think of another way to solve it? Since you live in the Falling Rain Forest, your water source wouldn’t only rely on the river, right?”
Agnes softly shook her head, “This wasn’t a problem at first, but now that the river is drying up, the forest has also been influenced and now many trees of the Falling Rain Forest have started withering. The grand elder said that if this continues, the entire Falling Rain Forest will disappear. Like this, we will be forced to leave.”
Xu Yi wanted to say “leave then, it isn’t that big of a deal”, but when he saw the hurt look on Agnes’ face and remembered the legend of elves loving their home, he couldn’t say these words.
“Alright, young miss Agnes, based on the situation you described, if the Falling Rain Forest hasn’t been hit by the legendary curse spells, then there is only one reason why it suddenly became like this. That is that the environment upriver has met some kind of destruction.”
“The environment has met some kind of destruction? What does that mean?” Agnes looked at Xu Yi with a confused gaze.
Xu Yi patted his head. He remembered that environment being destroyed was a popular phrase on earth, but it wasn’t said on the Sines Continent.
“Un…..This thing is very complicated, I can’t explain for now. Has your tribe sent anyone upstream to check? I dare to guarantee that the soil erosion upriver is very serious…...Oh, you don’t understand soil erosion either. To put it simply, it means that the area upriver shouldn’t have any vegetation and is completely bare. The soil there probably turned into silt and fell into the river, flowing downstream. Finally the silt at the bottom of the river will stack and will cause changes to the river in the end, even blocking it. Don’t you think this is correct?”
Hearing Xu Yi’s suddenly giving his guess, Agnes’ eyes looking at Xu Yi gradually lit up.
“Chairman Xu, you clearly haven’t been there yet, so why are you so clear on this?” Agnes called out in a pleasantly surprised voice.
“I was just making a simple analysis based on what you said.” Xu Yi said with a shrug.
Agnes asked with an expectant look, “Then you definitely have some way to solve it, right?”
“That I wouldn’t dare guarantee.” Xu Yi gave a bitter laugh.
A river being diverted from soil erosion, even on the advanced industrialized earth, this was a troublesome problem. Not to mention the Sines Continent with such a low technological level.
“But didn’t you give me a blueprint last time? After the elders saw it, they all said that this method should solve our problem. So you definitely have a method, right?”
“But you rejected my request to inspect your tribe, so how can I help you?” Xu Yi said as he spread his hands.
Agnes passed for a second before suddenly bending down on one knee and lowering her head, giving a very serious bow to Xu Yi. She said in a very sincere voice, “Chairman Xu, I ask you to forgive me for my offense from before. After I brought your request back last time, the elders agreed to accept your conditions and allowed you to come to our tribe for an inspection. Now I am seriously requesting you to take a trip to the tribe with me and help us solve our problem. Can you save our clan and our clansmen?”
After saying these last words, Agnes looked up at Xu Yi with an expectant expression and eyes filled with hope.
The moonlight perfectly fell onto Agnes’ face and those beautiful and fair cheeks were bathed in soft light. There was a mysterious beauty and attraction that was coming from her that made Xu Yi almost want to directly agree to her.
“This…...Although I’m very willing to help you, but you see…...I just returned from Anvilmar City and now there are a bunch of things I need to take care of now, so I can’t leave right now……”
“How long will it take you to finish these matters?” Agnes kept asking.
Xu Yi stroked his chin, “That is hard to say. There are some things that are hard to take care of, so I’m not certain how long it’ll take.”
Agnes’ eyes dimmed before she thought it over and pleaded again, “Chairman Xu, I am seriously hoping you can help us. If you need some form of reward, the elders have already decided that as long as you can help us solve our problems, no matter what reward you want, we’ll definitely agree as long as we can give it.”
“Then can you give yourself to me as a reward?” Xu Yi couldn’t help teasing her.
Who would have thought that Agnes would only hesitate a bit before sincerely nodding, “Alright.”
Xu Yi helplessly rolled his eyes and gave a sigh. He reached out to help Agnes stand up and he gave up his thoughts of teasing her. He seriously looked at Agnes and said, “Young miss Agnes, you have to believe that I do have a way to solve your problem. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have given chief Monto those blueprints and had them give them to you.”
Agnes gave a slight nod, “Yes. It is because of this that I came looking for you.”
“That’s good. Then I’ll sincerely tell you that although I very much want to help you solve your problem right now, I do have some very important things I have to take care of. Moreover, it definitely won’t take just a day or two to solve the problems you have, so I must make some preparations before going to your tribe for an inspection and actually coming up with a real solution. Do you understand what I mean?”
Agnes kept nodding, “Yes, I understand. But chairman Xu, around how long will it be before you can come with me to our tribe?”
“I really can’t give you an accurate answer for this. But I think that within a year, I should have time to take a trip. Does this answer satisfy you?”
“Within a year?” Agnes innocently blinked those baby black eyes and thought it over before saying with a faint smile, “Alright.”
If this was a human speaking, they normally would have added “I hope you can keep your promise” here. However, Agnes just said a simple “Alright”, like she completely believed that Xu Yi would keep his promise with her.
Xu Yi gave a sigh in his heart as he said to Agnes, “Since it’s like this, then young miss Agnes, we’ll leave it like this for now. When I’ve finished my urgent matters here, I’ll notify chief Monto and have him contact you or your clansmen. I hope you can wait patiently for my message.” He waved his hand to Agnes after he finished and turned to leave.
After taking two steps, Xu Yi was surprised to find that Agnes was actually following behind him and didn’t look like she was going to leave at all.
Xu Yi turned to look at her, “Young miss Agnes, what are you following me for? Didn’t we already make a promise? You can go back to your tribe now and can come look for me when you receive a message from chief Monto.”
Agnes shook her head, “The elders ordered me to come back with you and since you can’t leave, then I can only stay by your side and go with you when you decide to set off.”
Xu Yi pointed at himself and said in a voice of disbelief, “Your meaning is that you’re planning to follow me all the time during this period?”
Agnes gave a serious nod, “Yes.”
Xu Yi couldn’t help wanting to hit his head.
This elven girl, she was actually a simple minded idiot?