「これはもう、転炉でもないと“鋼”自体を作れないかも......」
そうセレーネさんが言い出したのは、ルブルムストーンを燃料とした試作品を幾つか作製した後のことだ。
周囲の壁にはその結果である失敗作が立てかけられている。
そんな作業場には彼女と俺、トビの三人が顔を揃えているわけなのだが。
トビがはいはいはいと手を上げながら俺に近付いてくる。やや鬱陶しい。
「ハインド殿、ハインド殿! 鋼って良く聞く単語でござるけど、具体的にはどんな金属でござるか?」
「そっから!? 今まで使ってた武器も鋼なのに!? ......あー、分かった。ちゃんと説明するからそんな顔するなって。鋼っていうと鉄の一種ではあるんだけど......」
話しながらセレーネさんに視線を送ると「そのまま続けて」という苦笑い付きの表情で続きを促された。
彼女の方が断然詳しそうなんだけどな......まあいい、間違っていたら訂正してもらおう。
「大事なのは鉄に含まれる炭素の量だ。どうせ鉄の五元素だとかの細かい話は――」
「聞いても分からんでござる!」
「だろうな! だから、簡易な説明でいくぞ。鋼というのは鉄中に含まれる炭素含有量約0.02%~2%の鉄の総称を定義して呼称しているものだ」
「正確には0.0218%~2.14%だね。武器だとその中でも、やや高めでバランスを取るかな」
「細かっ! で、その量だと何が凄いのでござる?」
凄いとか凄くないの問題ではない。
それによって大きく変わってくるのは硬度と
トビが首を捻った。
「簡単に言うと金属のしなやかさだな。炭素が多いと硬くなりしなやかさが失われ、少なすぎると柔らかくなり過ぎてしまうんだ。硬いだけでしなやかさがないと、こう簡単にポキッと」
そう言って俺は壁に立てられている大斧を指差した。失敗作の一つである。
耐久力10って......一戦闘も持たない数値じゃないか。
あれではどれだけ攻撃力があっても無意味だ。
「あ、ということは先程までの耐久性が低い武器達は......」
「うん、トビ君分かってきたね。炉の温度が高すぎて、炭素が大量に入っちゃったみたいだね」
「それだけでしなやかさのない、カチカチの失敗作になるのでござるか......」
セレーネさんとも感触的にこれは駄目だろう、と言葉を交わしつつ。
それでもゲームだから判定が甘いかもしれないということで、砂で作っておいた型に流し込んでみたのだが。
」と判定されてしまったらしく、ご覧の有り様である。
「悪いことばかりじゃないんだけどね。燃料が魔法の石だから、木炭以上に不純物を出さないし」
「ただ、やっぱり火力調整がな。一個だと木炭未満、二個以上で石炭並かそれ以上とちょっと極端だ」
「同時に二つ以上使うと連鎖反応で火力が上がるみたいだね。魔法の石だから計算も難しくて」
ただ、この連鎖反応を受けて斧に付けるルブルムストーンは二個にすることに決めた。
アルベルトはお前達にやると言ってくれたが、彼とフィリアちゃんの物を二個使うことに。
属性石は武器のサイズにもよるが、相克関係でなければ二つまで装着可能だ。
もちろん、同じ属性の石を二つ付けることも可能である。
通常は二個目の効果は半減するのだが。
させることで炭素量を調整するのが転炉っていうわけだ。確か、設備レベル8にあったような気が......」
「あの、ちなみにそれって何世紀の技術でござるか? 聞いた限り、とても中世の物とは......」
「私の記憶が確かなら19世紀だったかな? 割と最近だね」
「中世風の世界の技術としては、オーバースペックも甚だしいでござるな......」
「それはともかく、レベル8に必要な投資費用を計算してみるよ。場合によってはそこまで上げちゃっても良いし」
今の設備レベルは6で、7は炉の素材が丈夫になる......ってことは、こういう高温状態も運営の考慮の内か。
炉にも耐久度が設定されているからな......今のままだと頻繁に修理が必要で面倒だとは思っていた。
その費用が500万G、まあ妥当か。
で、肝心のレベル8への必要資金が――
「5000万G......」
「はて、聞き間違いでござるかな? 今、ごせん――」
「合計で5500万G掛かる......」
工房の空気が凍り付いた。
「思うに、レベル8からは生産ギルド向けの設備なんじゃないかな......?」
「ここまで設備が揃えば、もう
「ハンマーで叩かないと鍛冶っぽくないと思うのは、拙者だけでござるか?」
「「それは俺(私)も思ってた」」
中世の鍛冶と言ったらやはり
鋳型での作製は生産及び質の均一化という点では強いが、作り手の個性が出るかというと......。
「アルベルトさんの望む大剣はこっち方向じゃないね、きっと」
「でしょうね。となると、ルブルムストーンは一個にして木炭を補う形で使いましょうか?」
「そうだね。その方法でも、燃料代は大きく節約出来るからね。不純物も減るし」
「それよりも、ルブルムストーンを砕いてみたらどうでござるか? 細かく砕けば調整も自由自在! なーんて」
トビの冗談めかした言葉に、俺達は口を開けたまま顔を見合わせた。
「どうしたでござる、お二人とも? 拙者、何か変なことを――」
「セレーネさん。こんな簡単なことに思い至らないって、俺達本当は大馬鹿なんですかね?」
「うっ、そうだね。ちょっと頭でっかちだったかも。どうして気が付かなかったんだろう......?」
何故だか、これはそういう「調整の利かないアイテム」だと思い込んでいた。
そうか、砕いた上で熱を発する機能が残っていれば問題ないのか......。
布で覆って破片が飛び散らないようにすると、セレーネさんに最終確認を取る。
「成功しても失敗しても属性石としての機能は失われますが、構いませんね?」
「うん、やっちゃって。駄目なら他の方法を考えよう」
「えっ? えっ? お二人とも、決断早くないでござるか? 拙者のあんな軽はずみな意見を採用しちゃって、本当に大丈夫でござるか!?」
「待っ――」
ガッという鈍い音がしたものの、しっかりと砕ける感触が手に返ってくる。
そのまま塊を叩き、叩き、適当な大きさになるまでそれを繰り返す。
武器に嵌めた属性石は絶対に砕けないらしいが、やはり素材状態では適応外のようだ。
そっと布を捲り、細かくなったルブルムストーンを手に取る。
「持ってみてください」
「あ、拙者も拙者も!」
セレーネさんとトビの手の上に、細かくなった石を落とさないように少しずつ渡す。
トビはウッと石の裏にびっしり虫が付いていた時のような顔をしたが、セレーネさんは笑顔になった。
「何でござるか、このウィンドウの数......」
「粒の一個一個に出されても困るよな。でも、これが出るってことは熱を発する機能が生きてる証でもある」
「これ、使用する時は全部の“はい”を選ぶのでござるか?」
「いや、さっき連鎖するって言ったろ? 使用中の石の近くにあれば、他も勝手に作動するから。一個だけ着火して他を放り込めば問題なし」
「――じゃあ小さいのを試しに一個使ってみて、大丈夫そうなら炉の中の石も回収して砕こうか。これなら上手く行きそうだよ! ありがとう、トビ君!」
「サンキュー、トビ。お前が居てくれて助かったよ」
「なんのなんの。珍しくお役に立てたようで、なによりでござるー」
それ以降、調整のコツを掴むのにかなりの時間を要したものの......。
丸々二時間ほどかけてようやく満足出来る炉の状態を作り出すことに成功した。
後はどれだけ上手く鍛造を行えるかに掛かっている。
[With this, if we don't have a converter, we might not even be able to make "steel"...] (Selene)
Is what Selene-san said after she made a few prototype products using the Rubrum Stones as fuel.
In the walls around us, several failed products were lined up.
The ones in the workshop were: her, me and Tobi.
Tobi was raising his hand to get my attention and I approached him. He was being quite annoying.
[Hind-dono, Hind-dono! I've been hearing the word steel being thrown around a lot, but what sort of metal is it exactly?] (Tobi)
[I have to start from there!? Even though all the weapons we've been using until now were made from steel!? ...Fine, I got it. I'll explain properly so don't go around making that face. Steels is a type of iron that...] (Hind)
While explaining, I glanced at Selene-san and sent her a wry smile as if to say [Just continue working] .
Though she would be more knowledgeable about this...oh well, if I get something wrong, let's get her to correct me.
[The important thing is the amount of carbon that you add on the iron. If we get into the small details of ir-] (Hind)
[I wouldn't understand it even if I listened to that!] (Tobi)
[I guessed as much! That's why I'll explain it in simple terms. Generally, the metal we call steel is iron with approximately 0.02%~2% of carbon in it.] (Hind)
[To be more precise, it's 0.0218%~2.14%. The ones used for weapons, usually have higher concentrations in them.] (Selene)
[So precise! S-So, with that amount, what's amazing about it?] (Tobi)
It's not a matter of if it's amazing or not.
Depending on the amount, the hardness and the plasticity of the metal will have differences.
Tobi looked puzzled.
[In simple terms, it's how flexible the metal is. If Carbon is high, the metal will harden and it will lose its flexibility, if it's low, it'll become really soft. If it's only hard and not flexible, it'll easily snap like that.] (Hind)
When I said that, I pointed at a big axe resting on the wall. It was one of the failed products.
It's durability was ten...something that wouldn't last throughout a fight.
It doesn't matter how high the attack power of the weapon was.
[Ah, so that means that the weapons had low durability until now is because...] (Tobi)
[Yup, Tobi-kun, you've started to understand. The temperature in the furnace was too high, so a big amount of carbon got into it.] (Selene)
[Because of only that reason, they won't be flexible and they'll turn into failed products once you start working on them...] (Tobi)
Selene-san exchanged words with us while feeling like the one she was working on right now was no good either.
Since this is a game, it should be pretty lax with its judgment, that time with the type where we added sand, it was as simple as adding it.
It seems like the game is judging it to be [Pig Iron] , and that's the reason it's become like that.
[It's not really all that bad. Since the fuel is from a magic stone, there are no other impurities apart from charcoal.] (Selene)
[It's just that we need to control the firepower. If we use one, it'll have less firepower than using charcoal, if we use two or more, it'll be higher than using coal. It's pretty extreme.] (Hind)
[If we use more than two, there'll be a chain reaction and the firepower will increase. Since they are magic stones, it's hard to calculate the firepower.] (Selene)
It's just that, for the axe with a Rubrum Stone attached to it, we have decided to use two of them to craft it.
Albert did say that he was giving it to us, but we decided to use two for it.
Regarding the size of a weapon with an elemental stone, as long as the elements don't conflict with each other, it's possible to equip two of them.
Obviously, it's possible to put two of the same element into it.
Though normally, the effect of the second one is reduced by half.
[That being the case, there's a converter that manipulates the air and controls the amount of carbon. If I remember correctly, I think there was one if you brought the facility level up to eight...] (Hind)
[Eh, by the way, what century is this technique from? From what I've heard, it doesn't sound like something from the middle ages...] (Tobi)
[If I remember correctly, it should be from the nineteenth century? It's pretty recent.] (Hind)
[I think that's excessively advanced for a world based in the middle ages...] (Tobi)
[Leaving that aside, let's take getting to level eight as a necessary expense. Given the circumstances, it's fine to raise it up to that level.] (Hind)
Right now, the facilities are level six, at level seven, the materials of the furnace should become more durable...in other words, we also have to take into consideration how the furnace has to endure these high temperatures.
The furnace also has durability after all...we've had to repair it a lot of times and I thought that it was quite a pain.
The cost for that was 5.000.000 G, well...it's reasonable.
Then, the capital needed for the important level eight is...
[50.000.000 G...] (Hind)
[Oh god, did I hear it wrong? Did you just sa-] (Tobi)
[So it's going to cost 55.000.000 G in total...] (Hind)
The atmosphere in the workshop froze over.
[Thinking about it, starting from level eight, it would be a facility for guilds that focus on crafting...?] (Selene)
[If you had such a facility, you would be able to craft a good weapon just by having a template. It's designed to craft in big quantities.] (Hind)
[Am I the only one that thinks if you are not hitting stuff with a hammer it doesn't look very blacksmith-ish?] (Tobi)
[[I(I) also thought that.] ] (Hind and Selene)
If we talk about middle ages blacksmithing, it has to be forging.
The strong point of crafting something from just a mold is that the quality is the same all the time, but if we talk about the individuality of each product...
[The big sword Albert-san wants is definitely not that kind of weapon.] (Selene)
[You are right. In that case, should we use one Rubrum Stone and supplement it with charcoal?] (Hind)
[Sounds good. Doing it that way, we'll also save on fuel. Impurities will also decrease.] (Selene)
[Instead of doing that, how about we just smash a Rubrum Stone in pieces? If we do it precisely, we can just adjust it however we want! Just kidding!] (Tobi)
When we heard those words from Tobi, which he tried to dress up as a joke, I exchanged looks with Selene as our mouths were wide open.
[What's wrong, you two? Did I say something weird-] (Tobi)
[Selene-san. For both of us to not be able to reach such a simple conclusion, it means we are really stupid right?] (Hind)
[Uuh, you are right. I might have thought too hard about it. Why didn't I realize...?] (Selene)
For some reason, we were too into the idea that this was an [Item that you can't adjust] .
I see, even if we smashed them, it would be fine as long as they still retained the ability to produce heat...
I covered it in cloth so that the fragments wouldn't fly around and looked at Selene-san for a final confirmation.
[It might lose its properties as an elemental stone regardless if we succeed or not. You don't mind, right?] (Hind)
[Yup, give it a try. If it doesn't work, let's think of another way.] (Selene)
[Eh? Eh? You two, aren't you guys deciding too soon? Are you really fine with making use of such a thoughtless remark I made!?] (Tobi)
[Wai-] (Tobi)
With a vigorous dull sound, I felt in my hand that something had been smashed.
Then I kept hitting it over and over until they were of a suitable size.
It seems like elemental stones inserted in weapons will definitely not break, but as expected, it's different when they are still materials.
I slowly removed the cloth and took a small piece of Rubrum Stone.
[Try grabbing one.] (Hind)
[Ah, me too, me too!] (Tobi)
I placed a small piece of the stone slowly so as to not drop them on top of Selene-san and Tobi's hand.
Tobi made a face as if he had found a bug on the other side of the stone but Selene-san was smiling.
[What's with this number of windows...?] (Tobi)
[It's quite inconvenient when it treats every small piece as an individual piece right? However, if these windows are popping up, it means that they still have the ability to produce heat.] (Hind)
[When we are going to use these, do we have to press "yes" on all of them!?] (Tobi)
[No, I said that they produce a chain reaction before, right? If there's another stone close by when they are being used, the others will activate on their own. There won't be any problems as long as we activate one and throw the rest in.] (Hind)
[...In that case, let's try a small one as an experiment, if it looks fine, let's pick up the stone from the furnace and break it into pieces. This looks like it'll work out! Thank you, Tobi-kun!] (Selene)
[Thanks, Tobi. Having you here helped us.] (Hind)
[No problem. I'm just glad to have been able to help for a chang-] (Tobi)
After that, it took us a while to get the hang of it...
After about two hours, we finally managed to set the furnace in the condition we wanted.
All that was left was to think how we would forge it properly.
VRMMO no Shien Shokunin ～Top Player no Shikakenin～
ＶＲＭＭＯの支援職人　～トッププレイヤーの仕掛人～
https://www.novelupdates.com/series/vrmmo-no-shien-shokunin-%ef%bd%9etop-player-no-shikakenin%ef%bd%9e/
Action Adventure Comedy Fantasy Harem Slice of Life
Adventurers Beautiful Female Lead Blacksmith Brother Complex Calm Protagonist Childhood Friends Clan Building Cooking Crafting Curious Protagonist Dense Protagonist Elemental Magic Fantasy Creatures Game Ranking System Gamers Hard-Working Protagonist Healers Level System Love Interest Falls in Love First Love Rivals Male Protagonist Misunderstandings MMORPG Ninjas Possessive Characters Priests Siblings Siblings Not Related by Blood Sword And Magic Virtual Reality Younger Love Interests Younger Sisters
https://ncode.syosetu.com/n4014ds/
二階堂風都