031 Let’s talk about magic 3
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Is it easy to earn money as a priest respectively a healing magician? That makes a lot of sense, all you have to do is to find wealthy people as customers. And would also explain why Paula said that priests are the most common magicians.

Of course, you also have the advantage of being able to heal yourself as well. I also have healing magic but haven't been able to try it yet. I strongly suspect that I have it because of the dungeon skill Create Life. But to actually use it for healing, I am missing some information, and of course, wounded people.

What happens when I heal a wound? Is it just to speed up the natural healing process? What about possible impurities in the wound? Are they also removed from the injury? Or would I just lock them up inside the body? In the worst case, gangrene will occur afterwards.

I will probably refrain from using it for the time being. At least until I could talk to a real healer about it. My only conversation with a priest so far, unfortunately, has been with this conceited high priest in Border Town. Who I hope to avoid dealing with again any time soon.

But actually, I have strayed from the original subject.

"Thanks for the insight. Will there actually be anything else you need to run the forge?"

Since she answers my question directly, I seem to have forgotten something rather important.

"A pair of blacksmithing pliers. The iron gets quite hot in a forge after a while, Your Highness."

I'm just making a facepalm. Obviously, next to the hammer, that's probably the most essential tool to a blacksmith. And I forgot about it. Fortunately, it is something I can make out of stone as well. Although it's probably better not to drop it, to keep the heat out it works very well.

So I am creating a classic plier made of stone. Two long handles, which have a flat shape at the tip. And connected with a simple bolt so that you can use them. And then I make two smaller versions of it, it is probably not always practical to use the biggest one.

Next, I take care of the bellows. But not one of those small ones you know to inflate an air mattress. The family in my last life run a metalworking company, and this one had a history of several centuries as a blacksmith shop. The original blacksmith's shop is still there, along with the bellows. And it has a length of about two and a half meters and a width of one meter.

I start by forming two wooden boards into a triangular shape. I round off the two back corners so that the skin can later adapt to the form better. Vanadis is watching me quite intently during this process. Is she impressed because I get the size right, or because I know how a bellows is constructed?

"Is that life magic, Your Highness? I've never seen anyone use it for such a purpose."

Life magic? I actually thought that was part of earth magic, too. Even though it doesn't really make sense that you can affect anything organic with it. Does that mean I can affect living plants? Too bad I am not an elf. Otherwise, I would build a treehouse now. Well, actually I'm doing the same thing as a dwarf, but with stone...

"Uh, yes. It's proven so far to be extremely useful for creating things out of wood without the necessary tools. Although I imagine a priest doesn't normally stoop to making things out of wood."

Next, I form a funnel to focus the airflow. And this one gets a little extra built-in, too. A check valve. Although it'll probably also ignite the embers if you suck the air back in at the tip. But I would just get the bellows dirty. The non-return valve is just a small wooden flap. Which opens in the direction of the tip.

When you suck in air, the flap blocks the airflow. And when you blow it out, the air can just flow through. And then another one of those non-return valves goes to one of the two wooden boards. This would ensure that it works properly.

Besides, I have used half of my mana already. It seems to me that I need much more mana for smaller things than for something big. Probably because I have to work in more detail? Maybe it at least counts as training, and I raise my level with it.

Now only the most essential thing is missing. The skin, this one gets a conical shape. I'm not sure if this is how it's typically done, but mine is.

I can use magic to alter the hide as well, which then probably falls under life magic just like with wood? But here I don't have to do much. I only use magic to connect several pieces of skin together. The cutting out I simply do with a knife.

But the more difficult part is still to come. I have to do all the sealing and connecting. And unfortunately, I cannot weld wood and skin together, not even with magic. Which is why I borrow some glue from the carpenters who are just about to make the first shields.

Additionally, I form a long strip of wood, about three centimetres wide and a few millimetres thin. Usually, you would probably make it out of metal, but no smithy without bellows.

So I coat the first wooden board on the side with glue. Then I put the skin on it and then the wood strip. And because that obviously won't be enough, I nail it next. In the whole process, both Vanadis and Isgard have to help me.

And by the time I've finished bonding both wooden planks to the skin, two-thirds of our one hundred nails had been used up. I actually thought they would be useful on the construction site, but it looks like I found another use for them. Vanadis will probably have to make more, though. Otherwise, the carpenters won't be able to attach the handles to the shields.

The last thing I'm going to do is connect it to the funnel. Also made of skin, so the whole thing can move. And a pipe made of stone to channel the air into the forge.

After a short functional test, the bellows is finally installed. For this purpose, the upper side is fixed so that the bellows open again and again under its own weight. And with a long lever made of wood, the air can be blown through with one hand.

"Here you are, a halfway working smithy. As ordered."

Vanadis is just rolling her eyes at my comment.

"Thank you, Your Highness. The only things I need now are some grindstones of varying roughness. But I will need these only after I have made the first spearheads. Although an assistant could be quite helpful as well."

Would that be a task for one of the children? I can try asking them. Or is that too soon? After all, they've only been here one day...

"I will see what I can do about that. But at the moment I can't promise anything."

But it's getting late, so I'm heading back to the main cave. Where I also find Siegward and his group. They have delivered ten more gnoll corpses in total, leaving only five to go. Driving through the forest by ox cart is probably not the fastest way to travel.

"Siegward, have you found out anything new?"

"Not really, Your Highness. The village is completely deserted. The attackers' tracks lead north, but they seem to have left it yesterday."

"Any sign of survivors?"

Siegward only shakes his head, which directly damps the children's hopes. Who are also present. It's really time for more rooms. When everyone is always in one big room, everyone can hear everything all the time.

"Nothing, Your Highness. They may have fled towards the town. There was also no trace of the dead. There are traces of blood and battle, but it seems the gnolls took the bodies with him. They also burned most of the village. But we were able to find some supplies that survived the fire. I plan to start the salvage tomorrow."

"Make it so, Siegward."

If we get additional resources, we'll probably have to take an inventory of everything. Otherwise, I'll soon lose track. Perhaps it would be time to create an adjutant?

Since our numbers are only going to increase in the near future, I should probably really do that. It's always helpful if someone else can do these things for me. Whether it's inventory or other bureaucracy.

But first I will increase the number of Imperial Guardsmen to four. So the adjutant will have to wait until tomorrow morning.

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