CHAPTER 478: CHAPTER 456 MEASURING SYSTEM AND DWARF ARTISANS

This way, there are three types of clockwork guns within the Salvation Army.

The first type is the light and heavy clockwork guns, also known as the Holy Gun or Haimodin Step Gun, which are currently the main battlefield rifles.

The second type is the shotgun and hand cannon, mainly used for security and riot suppression, which belongs to the Kanni Di gun series.

The third type is the Ampere Gun, which has not yet gone into production. Horn might use it for skirmishes or to ambush and snipe enemy High-tier Knights.

If categorized by this tactical function, then the large lifting gun can barely be considered part of this category.

After clarifying the situation about the Ampere Gun, Horn chatted briefly with several artisans.

After politely asking about "how many people are in the family, whether they eat well, and if they need the monastery’s help," Horn bid farewell to the gunsmiths and went to find the blacksmith’s forging director, Kaelgen.

In the armament research institute, Haimodin is the clockwork director, and Kaelgen is the second in rank as the forging director.

This Kaelgen is also a Dragon Worship Sect dwarf, the cousin of Brock, though not as skilled as him and had previously been running a shop in Mangde County.

But with the outbreak of war, many local Dragon Worship Sect dwarves were captured by the military and forced to forge weapons, so Kaelgen fled to Langsande County.

In doing so, he brought along a dozen or so elderly and young dwarves, who are currently forging the Mithril striker rods.

After passing the two-story office, Horn circled around before spotting the dwarf named Kaelgen in an inconspicuous corner.

Standing under a ceiling stained dark brown by smoke, amidst flowing molten iron, seven or eight dwarves wearing only aprons and pants moved through the smoke.

They wielded tongs, hammers, and rivets, coldly watching as Horn and his party approached, merely giving a faint greeting.

Upon learning that Horn and company were looking for Kaelgen, they indifferently pointed to the center of the work shed: "Over there."

Like ethereal gauze, steam wafted from beneath the red-bearded old dwarf’s hair, enveloping half of his body.

This scalding steam could blister human skin, yet the dwarf’s bronze oak-colored skin was merely reddened by it.

For dwarves who have lived in volcanic regions for years, this level of heat was nothing; Kaelgen was hammering the Mithril sheets with his iron hammer.

Seeing Horn approach, he lifted his gaze but said nothing, simply hammering the iron sheets sullenly.

"Why do you not bow upon seeing His Eminence?" Duvalon stepped out from behind Horn, righteously reprimanding Kaelgen.

Horn, however, pulled Duvalon back behind him, unfazed, and smiled as he asked Kaelgen, "Have you eaten?"

"......"

"If you haven’t eaten, I’d like to invite you for a lunch, just at the Mechanical Palace."

Kaelgen raised his head, his neck as thick as his head, bushy brows, and a beard framing eyes like red beans that fixed on Horn: "If you want me gone, just say so directly, don’t be hypocritical."

Horn hesitated for two seconds before responding: "Who told you I want you to leave?"

Kaelgen lifted his head, full of grievances: "Having learned dwarven techniques, then driving the dwarves away, isn’t this the usual human trick?"

"When did I ever say I want you to leave?" Horn was genuinely confused, "I haven’t treated you poorly, even allowing you to openly practice your Dragon Worship Sect beliefs."

"Hmph." While speaking, Kaelgen continued his hammering, speaking with his head lowered, "Then tell me, tell me, you said the parts don’t match, are you going to discuss this issue with me in a few days?"

"That doesn’t mean I want you gone."

"Parts not matching? I’m telling you, that’s impossible!" He swung his heavy iron hammer, causing those around to instinctively dodge, as Kaelgen stubbornly lifted his head.

"Though every part is handmade, they’re identical, we’ve measured every one, one by one, they’re all the same. Dwarves don’t lie!"

After hearing Kaelgen’s words, bearing a tone reminiscent of persecution complex, Horn couldn’t help but shake his head with a wry smile: "I don’t mean that, let me explain slowly."

The so-called mismatched parts weren’t those forged by the dwarves, but that parts from Gray Furnace Town and Autumn Dusk Island aren’t compatible.

Many War Monks have complained, saying spare gears are either too large or too small, sometimes the first pawl couldn’t fit, and after reshaping it with a knife, the second pawl would be too wide.

The main cause of this problem lies in the units of measurement.

Gray Furnace Town uses human measurements, while Autumn Dusk Island uses dwarf measurements, even though the blueprints and data are roughly similar, the parts manufactured differ.

The Salvation Army is managing for now, but when they scale up, it will be tough to change.

A typical example is the counter-intuitive Imperial units abandoned by their own country.

Seeing Kaelgen still in half-doubt, Horn smiled and asked: "How do you usually determine measurements?"

After staring at Horn’s earnest face for a while, he pulled an oily ruler from his crotch: "Here, this was passed down from my grandfather, we’ve used it for generations."

Looking at the greasy ruler before him, Horn took a slight step back, unsure of what to say.

In later times, the city system and the metric system often got mixed up, and that’s only between two systems, but this world has a guild or even a single workshop using its own measurements.

Why not just use standard measurements, instead of inventing all kinds of units like a cubit, a foot, or a Brok?

The goal is to establish standard measuring tools and a standard system, building technical barriers in the guild to prevent others from copying and self-learning.

At this time, most artisans rely on experience passed down, using measuring tools to build according to formulaic blueprints, memorizing, reciting, and making.

Their blueprints are designed and drawn using their own units, where a unit of a cubit could be 50 centimeters for humans, but only 30 centimeters for dwarves.

You’d get a blueprint showing a cube as 50 Brock, and a rectangular solid as 20 Harbin.

It might seem like the cube is bigger than the rectangular solid, but if "Brock" is 1 centimeter, and "Harbin" is actually 1 millimeter,

the resulting objects can’t be assembled properly, no matter what.

Even if someone learned the skills and stole the blueprints, without standard ancestral measuring tools, they still can’t produce anything.

These standard molds and measurement’s core technology are kept as familial secrets, with many guild artisans having to spend a lifetime as an apprentice to grasp them.

Even if someone did produce something, it wouldn’t be recognized by the guild, and they might even face a lawsuit from the guild.

Do you dare defy the standard system to craft things improperly?

The outcome would be like Sessi’s, licenses revoked, expelled from the Pharmacist Guild, unable to sell potions normally.

So the purpose of Horn’s visit to Kaelgen was to discuss the issue of measurements.

Does the guild not have standardized measurements?

What he wants to do is to standardize measurements across the entire Savior Pope Country!

Completely breaking the guild’s monopoly on measurement, otherwise not only will artisan skills fail to progress, but even Horn’s rational natural theology will be unable to advance.

Despite Horn’s presentation, Kaelgen remained skeptical.

Horn didn’t tell everything, only addressing the inconsistency of parts due to different units of measurement, but he always felt there was more behind it.

Humans, those scoundrels, never innovate their craft, always resorting to underhanded means to steal and deceive.

"You’re not using this method to trick us into revealing dwarven techniques, are you?"

"Of course not." Horn shook his head calmly, but once standardized measurements and mathematical methods were promoted, their techniques would merely be relics of the past.

Horn regarded their trifling tricks with disdain.

"Then swear, swear on your mother’s name."

"I swear, if I am lying, may my mother and I both face the fate of beheading."