"System sign-in!" Roland opened his eyes in the morning and went through his daily routine of happy sign-in time. Although the system didn't provide much useful information at the moment, it was better than nothing.
"Successful sign-in. Congratulations to the host for obtaining a small lava forge*1."
"Lava forge? Is this thing useful to me? How can I forge magical equipment now? Wait, forge it!" Roland was originally complaining about the system when his eyes suddenly lit up.
The next second, Roland rushed out of the tent and ran towards Grandpa Radil's residence. Grandpa Radil was fiddling with the five griffin eggs at the moment. Since no one knew how to hatch griffins, they could only hand the eggs over to the wizard, the embodiment of wisdom, to take care of them.
Seeing Roland running over, the cheerful Radil was frightened and his face turned pale. He said coldly: "Your Highness, even if you are anxious, you should wait until I finish my meal. It's not even daybreak yet and you come here to urge me to go to work?" Old man Radil showed an unhappy look.
Roland scratched his head awkwardly and quickly explained, "Sir Radil, you misunderstood. I simply stumbled upon a small lava forge..."
"My Lord, please don't be so ambitious... We can't even afford magical equipment with our current wealth..." Roland was interrupted by a horrified Ladil before he could finish his words. He thought King Lagran was crazy! With the country in such dire straits, he still dreamed of magical equipment. Did he really think this was the empire's heyday?
"No, I mean, do you think it's feasible to build a blacksmith shop based on the lava forge?" Roland said with a smile.
"Puff!" Radil pointed at Roland. He had completely forgotten that this was a disrespectful act. Roland, who came from modern Blue Star, did not care about this disrespectful act in the eyes of others.
"Your Highness...are you crazy...do you know what a lava forge is used for?" Radil thought Roland didn't know what it was used for, so he asked weakly.
"I know. Isn't it just a furnace for making various magical equipment? I think since he can forge magical equipment, then forging ordinary equipment should be no problem, right?" Roland said nonchalantly.
"Do you know that every time you start a furnace, you need magic crystals or the magic power of a magician..." Radil thought Roland was simply whimsical. You use such a high-end furnace to forge ordinary equipment... Is this the "money power" of the royal family?
"The main thing is that I just remembered that a lot of the soldiers' equipment is worn out. Although we don't have the conditions to replace them with new equipment now, we can at least repair it, right?" Roland said.
"Is a treasure like the Lava Forge really suitable for forging iron?" Ladir looked at Roland with a strange expression. In his eyes, perhaps this was the case of a son selling his father's land without feeling any regret.
"But we can't let the soldiers go to the battlefield with blunt weapons and damaged armor, right? We can't always rely on dwarves... It's better to have equipment, such as the lifeline, in our own hands." Roland didn't care about the consumption of the lava forge. He was the man who killed his way through the old forest road. He harvested nearly a thousand magic crystals from the shadow giant spiders along the way. The consumption of the small lava forge was not high, so one magic ring would be enough for a long time.
"Alas..." Ladir gave up after hearing Roland's words and just sighed. He knew Roland was right. Letting soldiers carry those things into battle was simply a crime.
"Since Your Highness has already made up his mind, why are you still looking for me?" Radil looked at Roland in confusion.
"I just want you to come over and build a professional blacksmith shop..." Roland said shyly.
"..." Ladir's eyes twitched as he resisted the urge to draw his staff and strike Roland in the face. "Oh my god, an earth mage has really become a construction worker? Are mages living such a lowly life now?"
The psychological hint left by the system made Radil unconditionally loyal to Roland, even though this was really embarrassing for a war mage. Radil responded and went out to choose a location.
"Next is a series of supporting facilities... The tools can be put together, but this iron felt is a bit difficult to get... How about borrowing some from the dwarves?" Roland pondered.
"Kaslo! Go to Irebor and ask the dwarves there for some iron felt. And buy some steel too." Roland finally decided to ask the dwarves for some. Irebor had plenty of that stuff anyway, and it wasn't worth much. He then gave Kaslo a storage ring that could hold 100 cubic meters of inanimate objects. This was a system bonus for signing in. For others, a space ring was a rare find, but for Roland, it was a piece of cake. Isn't the Ring of Hell so useful?
As the sun rose, people gradually emerged from their shelters. Fifty Badaniyan archers, after a quick snack of black bread, carried their nets and set out to catch fish. The fish in the Swift River were now the lifeblood of Swift River City. The remaining archers stood guard, while the knights of the Holy Glory and the Lagrande guards prepared for a new day of construction. The residents, numbering less than a hundred, also began preparing food in their homes. Smoke curled up from their kitchens, and the town was filled with the scent of life.
"Your Highness, the blacksmith shop is finished. As long as you prepare all the tools, you can use it normally." Radil came to Roland's side in a flash, scaring Roland.
"Oh! Okay, thank you very much." Roland thanked him.
"Renault, go investigate among the residents to see if there is anyone who can forge iron. We need a blacksmith." Roland glanced at Renault.
The newly arrived guards of Lagrang were fine, but the swords and lances of the knights who had followed Roland the earliest had suffered varying degrees of wear and tear. Although the arrows of the Badaniyan archers had been replenished several times, there was still a huge gap. And their initial star silver steel armor-piercing arrows... were becoming less and less as they were used. The War of Smaug emptied out their stock, and in the end Roland sent people to retrieve them but couldn't get many back. However, the more than 400 arrows that were stuck in Smaug's body in The Lord of the Rings were preserved.
"King, this citizen used to be a blacksmith." After a while, Renault came back after a walk, bringing someone with him.
"What's your name?" Roland looked at the tattered, cowering man in front of him.
"Your Highness... My name is Ren Xiaoqiang..." the man said with his teeth chattering.
"Don't be afraid, you can forge iron, right?" Roland comforted him.
"Yes……"
"Then can you repair and forge weapons?" Roland asked the question that concerned him most. Once he could make weapons, Roland's Flood Infantry would have a place to go.
"Yes, yes, yes." Ren Xiaoqiang nodded repeatedly like a praying mantis.
"Well, that's good. When Kaslo comes back, take him to the blacksmith shop to repair the knights' equipment." Roland instructed Renault.
He turned and walked towards the blacksmith shop. He was going to place the precious lava forge. The advantage of this thing was that it did not require the addition of fuel. The hellfire lava contained inside would automatically release hellfire when it felt the stimulation of magic power. The high temperature of hellfire was enough to forge most materials.
While Roland was busy installing the forge, the archers who had been fishing came back in a hurry.