Ed examined the two pieces of iron that Smith had brought him. The iron that had been hammered and smelted had some pores and a rough surface, while the iron that had cooled was much smoother.
"Smith, take a look at this piece of iron, and then hammer it." Ed handed the rough-surfaced piece of iron to Smith.
With the loud clanging of Smith's hammer, the iron blocks obtained through forging were otherwise unchanged except for the surface being flattened.
"Smith, take another look at this piece, and then hammer it." Ed handed the smooth-surfaced iron to Smith.
With another powerful strike from Smith, the iron block, formed by cooling molten iron, broke into two pieces.
"My lord, what's going on?" Smith asked Ed, puzzled. One of the two similar pieces of iron had broken.
Ed was not surprised by the result; he picked up the iron that Smith had broken.
"The iron that has been cooled by molten iron is pig iron. It is very brittle and will break if you hit it hard. It can only be cast and cannot be forged. It needs to be transformed into wrought iron that can be forged through other methods, which is the iron you used to refine by hammering."
"My lord, what is casting?" Smith immediately heard something he didn't know.
"Casting is about making a shape that resembles what you need, then pouring molten iron into it, and once it cools, you get what you want. For example, if I want a hammer like yours, I just need to make a shape out of clay and then pour molten iron into it. I'll explain the detailed method to you later; you can look at it yourself." Ed didn't want to waste time teaching this now.
"Ah!" Smith felt his mind go blank; this was truly a crazy idea. He had painstakingly forged a hoe for days, and the lord had done it in a few strokes. Although it might be prone to breaking now, the lord had said there were ways to solve that. He felt that his blacksmithing skills were inferior to the lord's...
Well, there's no comparison.
Ed didn't know what Smith was thinking, but he figured that casting technology definitely existed outside, but the territory was too small and many things were kept out of reach. So it was normal that Smith didn't know.
Otherwise, where did the silver coins come from? Were they stamped? But that's also possible, and Ed isn't entirely sure.
"Smith, Smith, take a look at this method to turn pig iron into wrought iron." Ed called out twice to wake Smith up.
"Ah! Yes, my lord, let me see." He said, taking the rolled-up paper from Ed's hand.
"Huh?" As soon as Smith got his hands on the paper, he could feel the difference. The paper was very soft and much lighter than parchment. He could hardly feel its weight in his hand.
"My lord, what kind of paper is this?"
"This is some new paper I made. What do you think?"
Smith unfolded the paper, and a pleasant smell wafted out—not the smell of ink, but the smell of paper. Smith took a greedy breath. Then he began to carefully read the contents of the paper.
"My lord, could you give me some of this paper?"
Instead of asking about the iron on the paper, Smith asked Ed for the paper.
Ed was taken aback. He couldn't tell from any of this fat guy that he was a studious person. It would be good enough if he could recognize a few words.
What brings you here?
"I need some writing."
"You're always busy forging iron, how do you find time to write?"