Free Web NovelChapter 19: Voss Estate
Soot darkened the roads paved with stones.
Tall chimneys rose beyond the fog like black pillars, bleeding smoke into the midnight sky.
Unlike the quiet noble districts, this part of the capital was still awake.
Steam hissed from the underground pipes.
Workers in heavy coats pushed carts through the streets. Factory whistles occasionally echoed in the distance.
Orange furnace light flickered behind iron-framed windows.
The deeper Vincent’s carriage went, the more the capital stopped resembling a royal city and began to resemble a living machine.
The carriage slowed before a pair of enormous iron gates.
They were heavy, riveted, and built like something meant to withstand explosions rather than visitors.
The only decoration upon them was the carving of a crest on black steel. It was a dragon wrapped around a furnace. Below it were four letters.
Voss.
Two guards held oil lamps as they approached the carriage.
A few steps closer and they saw the D’Arc House’s emblem on it.
Without questions or any delay, they went to their posts and pressed buttons.
Clank.
Hissssssss.
Steam escaped as hydraulics did their job, causing the gates to open inwardly with a metallic groan.
Vincent’s carriage moved inside through the stone pathway.
The estate was massive.
There were no flower gardens or fountains or decorative statues.
Only stone pathways wide enough for cargo transport and buildings around efficiency rather than beauty.
Long brick buildings lined both sides of the stone pathway.
Some had steam pouring from the rooftop vents.
Others glowed orange through tall windows.
Workers moved between buildings carrying blueprints, metal parts, and crates of coal despite the late hour.
Pipelines stretched overhead like iron veins, connecting different workshops together.
Every structure seemed to be built with purpose.
As the carriage stopped before the main residence, a few servants appeared to greet the guests.
Vincent walked out of his carriage.
As the butlers and maids saw the short young man in suit, they straightened their backs and immediately took on a more formal appearance.
"We greet the Young Count."
Vincent gave them a curt nod in response.
Anastasia stepped forward and said, "M’lord wishes to see his fiancée before his long departure from the capital."
The servants bowed. "Please follow us. The young lady is in her workshop."
The servants had no authority to reject and this was a Count House they were dealing with. They were mere commoners and so was their house.
If the Count asked them to jump in the middle of the night, they’d have to do it without questions asked.
Since Vincent had arrived unannounced, it was bound to cause some chaos in the Voss residence.
Before news of his arrival reached the masters of the house, Vincent had gone past the main residence.
It felt as if he had entered a new district with how bright and loud everything was.
There were a lot more workers here with orange light seeping from most of the workshops.
The overall temperature of this place was a degree or two hotter.
There were multiple small buildings placed closer to each other. The path was narrow, and looked like a maze.
If not for the servants acting as guides, Vincent would’ve gotten lost.
Moving past multiple forges, they arrived at a workshop surrounded by relatively more empty space.
Wooden tables were randomly placed with a lot of random tools upon and below them lying scattered.
Multiple carts full of coal were near a burning furnace.
A few workers were resting their backs against these carts and sleeping, finding comfort in the warmth of the furnace.
The servants of the Voss house showed signs of slight panic as they saw such an unsightly display.
"Apologies for such a mess, Young Count." One of the butlers bowed and said. "I’ll go wake them up."
The butler was about to leave but Vincent shook his hand. "It’s alright. Let them rest."
The maids and butlers stopped in their tracks and stared at Vincent, apparently quite surprised by his comment.
Vincent did not bother with their surprise. He was in a rush as his train was scheduled to leave in less than an hour so such mannerisms were unnecessary.
Staring through the workshop’s window, he could faintly see a silver-haired figure’s back.
Noticing his line of sight, the servants immediately rushed to get the door.
One of them opened it and said, "Young Count, if you may..."
Vincent nodded and walked inside.
It was hot.
Clang!
Clang!
The furnace inside was burning on full blast and a worker was rotating something inside it.
Standing by an anvil in the middle of the room, a silver-haired young lady was hammering on sheets of metal. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
Her shirt’s sleeves were rolled up, her hair was tied in a rough bun while her eyes were focusing purely on the metal sheets.
Clang!
Clang!
’After the ball, she’s not sleeping but working?’ Vincent raised his eyebrows in amusement.
He didn’t think the beauty he was supposedly marrying would be doing such crude manual labor.
He did see in her system profile that she was a blacksmith but to actually see her in action was an entirely different matter.
Vincent walked close to her but she did not look at him.
Leona was too in the zone.
Once he was two steps away from her, his shadow was cast on her metal sheets due to the overhead lamp.
"You’re blocking the light, my lord." Leona spoke without bothering to look up.
Vincent raised his eyebrows in surprise. He took a step back and thought, ’She didn’t even look at me this whole time. How does she know it’s me?’
Clang!
Clang!
Leona continued to hammer the sheets.
Vincent thought she would say something in continuation but she didn’t.
He cleared his throat and said, "We need to talk. It’s important."
"Not now, my lord." Leona responded almost instantly. "I’m in the middle of crafting."
Vincent looked at the metal sheets. He couldn’t guess what was being made from the hammering.
He looked around.
Parchments were scattered on the ground. There were a lot more on the long wooden table at the side of the forge.
Parchments covered the table in chaotic layers.
Taking a look at them, Vincent saw precisely drawn diagrams and an elegant cursive handwriting at the margins.
The diagrams were a cross-section of furnace chambers.
They contained airflow maps and calculations which Vincent couldn’t properly understand.
Another parchment had a diagram showing smoke being redirected through narrow secondary tunnels before exiting through rooftop pipes. Sort of like chimneys.
Then there were multiple parchments violently crossed out in black ink.
Besides these parchments were half-melted metal plates, cracked valves, and cylindrical prototypes darkened by soot.
Taking a look at the crossed out parchments, Vincent saw rushed notes.
"Heat loss excessive."
"Pressure unstable after twelve minutes."
"Iron shell warps under prolonged output."
"Coal consumption still too high."
Vincent stared at the parchments and thought, ’Oh wow. I understood almost nothing. High school sure made me intelligent.’
Vincent shook his head and went to Leona’s side.
Clang!
Leona didn’t look up.
He cleared his throat.
"I think I understand what you’re doing now."
Clang!
Leona’s hammer went up and her eyes glanced at Vincent.
Vincent stared at her and pointed at her anvil. "You’re just making metal sheets, aren’t you?"
Leona took a deep breath and continued hammering.
"My lord, I would rather you not disturb me."
Vincent raised his hands. "I don’t mean to interrupt. Just tell me what you’re doing so I can understand and leave you alone."
"I am testing a furnace that burns without smoke." Leona answered instantly. "It’s currently failing due to material limits."
Vincent rubbed his chin, somewhat understanding what Leona was saying.
Leona purposely did not say complex things in hopes that Vincent would understand and leave her alone.
Though, this only made him ask further in response, "It’s failing due to material limits? Are you not able to get the shapes for your designs right?"
Vincent made a correlation with the complex diagrams on the parchment. They seemed difficult to hammer into shape.
Leona’s hammer went up and she looked at him. For a solid second, she didn’t speak as hundreds of thoughts went inside her head, all trying to come up with a solution to say something that would make Vincent leave.
If it wasn’t for the fact that he was really high in status and also her fiancé, she wouldn’t have entertained him so much.
After another second, Leona’s hammer went down as she replied, "The shape isn’t the problem. The metal is melting under high heat."
"Oh." Vincent finally understood the gist of the situation. "If metal is melting, then why use it?"
Leona’s hammer stayed on the metal sheets as her brows knitted in annoyance.
Vincent could tell he just hit a nerve and immediately said, "I mean, why not use something that doesn’t melt?"
He tried to salvage the situation to the best of his abilities.
"Like what?" Leona said sharply while looking at him. Her gaze clearly read: ’Do you think I haven’t thought of it before, genius?’
"Like, uh..." Vincent looked around, trying to think of something.
His gaze fell on the furnace nearby.
A worker was half asleep while rotating something inside it. He didn’t even notice Leona and Vincent having a conversation.
Staring at the furnace for a few seconds, Vincent turned back to Leona.
"Maybe use stones? Stones don’t melt at high heat, right?"
Leona was about to snap.
But something clicked in her mind.
She knitted her brows and went quiet as her gaze lowered onto the metal sheets.
Her eyes blinked and stared at the sheets absentmindedly.
Vincent didn’t interrupt her. He didn’t wish to unnecessarily poke at a sleeping tiger.
A few seconds later, Leona’s eyes slowly glanced in Vincent’s direction.
She left her hammer on the anvil and took out a clean cloth from her apron pockets, wiping the sweat off her face.
"What did you wish to talk about, my lord?"
Vincent raised an eyebrow. ’Did I actually solve her problem?’
’Wait, if I did, why isn’t she praising me or jumping in joy and hugging like how it happens in anime?’
Vincent shook his head and thought, ’Tch. Tch. I think she might just be a tsundere and bad at expressing emotions.’
Leona looked at him shaking his head and said, "You don’t have anything to talk about?"
"Huh?" Vincent looked at her. Then found her staring at him and realized he was just shaking his head.
"No. I mean, yes, I have something important to talk about. Is your problem finally solved so that you can talk?"
Vincent wanted a clarification on their previous conversation.
Leona nodded lightly. "Material constraints were the final hurdle at what I planned to design. Since I’ll be using stones now, I don’t need to create a special alloy."
"Oh wow..."
Vincent’s accidental answer actually helped!
No wonder Leona seemed to be in a mood to peacefully talk and not shut him off.
Vincent nodded and said, "Since my answer helped, shouldn’t you reward me now?"
Leona stared at him with a neutral expression. "My lord, your stature may be short but you aren’t a child. Please refrain from unnecessary remarks."
Vincent’s expression stiffened.
[Ding!]
[Entanglement updated.]
[Subject: Leona Voss.]
Vincent: "..."
