Chapter 383
Chapter 383
A dozen stocky riders were approaching the largest factory in Dantes on wild boars. Nine of them had golden armor with weapons in ornately decorated scabbards and radiated a battle aura, the other three were apparently the leaders of the group. The golden-bearded stern men of about forty drew everyone’s attention. Their sculpted muscles were stronger than metal! Their arms were huge like pillars! They were wearing traditional dwarf clothes with a white and green check pattern, including the socks. Their feet were protected with crocodile leather boots.
«Is it really the capital of their empire? Any average town is more impressive back at home.» – Dorin, the third brother, said with a tinge of contempt. – «I am disappointed! It is impossible to build something good in this shit hole… There can’t be enough resources for manufacturing! Where did Gennady get the courage to suggest creating a world dwarf center here? The old man has lost his marbles…»
«I agree with you.» – Baladin, the second brother, said. – «The infrastructure in Dantes is worse than in the fifth-ranking kingdom! I might be mistaken, but my uncle’s factory is even bigger than this. My beard tells me that we are going to waste a week of our precious time.»
«Don’t forget that we are not here for fun.» – Gimli, the first brother, barked. – «The best minds of my factory had been trying to recreate the firearms for three months, but nothing worked… It takes the right gunpowder, the exact amount of energy released during combustion, the right level of gas pressure, the strength of the design, and a thousand more damned details! It’s too complicated. It will take us at least five years to recreate even a simple pistol, not to mention artillery that can break through a steel wall! To blaze with my beard! I don’t know who invented this technological miracle, but he is a real genius! I could give half of my factory to recruit this dwarf! That’s what we’re here for. A week of your time is nothing compared to this.»
«I totally agree with our eldest brother.» – Dorin replied reverently.
Although the dwarfs were close-knit, they had legally secured types of property, including intellectual property. For example, all the factories of the Rosarrio empire belonged to Gennady, Lenny, and other brothers. Gimli, Baladin, and Dorin would never share the secret technologies with the fellows from the 4th ranking empire and below. Thus, at the world dwarf assembly, Gennady kept the secrets of the firearms. No one would ever think of stealing them because it was considered as a betrayal and punishable by exile, ostracism and, above all, a shaved chin. Dwarfs would never stoop to the tall monkeys who kill each other for profit! There was the hammer and anvil justice to solve serious conflicts and an inviolable “beard contract” for everything else. It was as important as wearing a beard, raising children, and paying your duty to the factory.
«Hmm… Do you notice anything weird?» – Dorin asked, looking at the factory.
«Weird? What can be weird about an ordinary factory?» – Baladin shrugged.
Gimli frowned his bushy brows: «Smoke… There’s no smoke. Steam is coming out of the pipes! How is it even possible that there is no smoke? Are they so rich that they heat water and stoves with heat formations? Ha ha ha!»
The three brothers laughed together. It was well-known that heat formations that required spheres were many times more expensive than yellow coal. They also had certain disadvantages that affected the quality of the outcome. As for using heat benders for heating, there were many pitfalls involved. First, it was expensive because the benders were quickly exhausted as it took hours to maintain the temperature. Second, they could ruin the furnace and metal by overheating. Third, their elemental energy had a specific vibration frequency that left an indelible trace on any heated substance and impaired the penetration of a different frequency element. Weapons and armor created this way would be a burden that no one needed in battle.
…
Zosimos, the two dwarfs, and the two girls approached the main entrance.
When Gennady saw the three great brothers, he hurried to bow: «Honorable Gimli, great Baladin, esteemed Dorin! I am an unworthy dwarf named Gennady, and I am honored to welcome our noble guests at this factory!»
Lenny also hurried to bow and greet the distinguished guests.
Eve hid behind Zosimos’ back in fear. She was uncomfortable, to put it mildly, among these brutal-looking men. She wanted to sink through the ground or at least bury her head there!
Leila hiccuped and nodded regally, nearly collapsing from overwhelming feelings… or alcohol. Hard to say which.
Kyon greeted the guests dryly, showing no respect in his glance, gestures, or voice as if they were no great brothers but ordinary workers from the factory.
Gimli and Baladin furrowed their eyebrows. Dorin took a step forward to voice his elder brothers’ eloquent silence: «How dare you be disrespectful to your elders, Gennady? Shall I explain to you who we are, balding beard? We did you a favor, arriving at your pathetic factory! You’ve been warned about our arrival long in advance! And instead of greeting us at the entrance, you made us wait for three whole minutes. More than that, you brought these obnoxious people here? That’s you’re meeting us? Rotten anvil!»
Gimli put his hand on the younger brother’s shoulder: «Take it down a notch, Dorin. You’re being too harsh. Perhaps, Gennady has a solid excuse for his behavior.» – He looked expectantly at the head of the factory.
«I… Uhm… So… I mean…» – Gennady looked confused, blushing like a child who was sternly reprimanded. The guests had every right to do so. Their authority was beyond a shadow of a doubt while he was the youngest among them and had yet to prove his significance and skill!
«I don’t like him, daddy. Beat him up!» – Leila demanded, clenching her fists.
Kyon hid her behind his back, taking a step forward: «Allow me to intervene, gentlemen. My name is Zosimos. I am the very person Gennady spoke about at the world dwarf assembly. I have delayed Gennady for three minutes, which is only justified by my authority and the fact that your arrival is on short notice. You had called Gennady fifteen minutes before you arrived. As for my obnoxious attitude… I do respect your success in the field of metallurgy and engineering, but I don’t feel obliged to treat you with reverence. You probably don’t know what I mean. Well, you will have a chance to understand me better when you take a tour of this factory.»
Lovr had chosen a provocation strategy instead of defending himself. This approach had lots of benefits. For example, if he piqued the brothers’ interest in the new technologies, they would have to show him respect or at least treat him with patience and attention.
«Stop pulling my beard!» – Dorin yelled furiously. – «A miserable human cannot be the creator of a firearm! I have seen thousands of smart guys like you trying to earn our trust with their dirty tricks! What a nerve!»
«Ha ha ha!» – Meanwhile, Baladin clutched at his stomach with laughter. – «Thor, strike me! A human is the creator of a firearm? It’s the funniest joke ever!»
Gimli was the only one who remained calm: «I have met only three humans worthy of wearing a beard, but their skills weren’t good enough even for an apprentice dwarf. And now some upstart claims that he invented the firearm? It’s pure nonsense! Humans are only interested in power and women! You never use your head! Out with it. Are you a Russell? Did you press on Gennady to earn our trust?»
«I will press on your liver for insulting my daddy!» – Leila was all fired up, rolling up her sleeves for the upcoming battle. She wanted to appease uncle Gennady, ideally becoming his favorite. Eve had to be taken down a notch…
Kyon had already regretted letting her drink mead. Who knew that her mental age would influence her unbreakable body and magically decide not to process alcohol to the full extent! It would take a special drink or a strong-willed order, Drink or Die, for a powerful practitioner like her to get drunk.
Lovr grabbed the drunk girl by the hand and said with a confident smile: «I do not care who you have met before, but don’t you dare to give me a label a “stupid primitive human.” In fact, you’re unworthy to tie my shoes!»
The third brother turned purple with anger.
The second brother rolled on the floor with laughter again.
The first brother snorted with contempt: «Your arrogance has no limits, which is only expected from a human. Well, you’ve made your point. Now I want to set you straight and kick you into the dung heap!»
«Excuse my ignorance, but how are you going to do this? Mind you, I’m not going to compare the size of our jars. But I could compare the size of our brain… Why not?»
«Ha ha! I will take you down with three questions, giant zit!» – Gimli accepted the challenge.
Meanwhile, Gennady and Lenny tucked their heads into their shoulders, feeling like minnows in the battle of water dragons. They respected the three brothers, but they had pinned the hope of their entire race on Zosimos. However, it didn’t allow them to take sides. Zosimos was a clever guy, he could handle it!
«See if you can.» – Kyon grinned wryly.
«What will fall faster in the vacuum furnace: a kilo of feathers or a dumbbell?»
The second and the third brothers grinned. Vacuum furnaces were extremely difficult to manufacture. They required at least an emperor phaser and a good formacist who would know how to impose a barrier to pump out air. Someone from Rosarrio couldn’t possibly know the answer to this tricky question!
«They would fall at the same speed.» – Lovr replied and explained. – «In the absence of air resistance, objects of different mass would be falling with the same rate of acceleration under the sole influence of gravity.»
The smiles disappeared from the second and the third brothers’ faces as if by magic.
Gimli snorted: «Not bad. However, you could think it through logically. My second question is: what is the melting temperature of dedrithium?»
The second and third brothers flashed sarcastic smiles.
Lovr enquire: «What class of dedrithium? Any impurities?»
«Second class. One percent.» – Gimli said, raising a brow.
«Six thousand seven hundred fifty one degrees. It also requires a powder alloy composed of seventy percent osmium, twenty-nine percent pure quenched ice quartz enchanted for compatibility of the highest grade, and one percent of emperor phase spheres serving as an alloying agent.» – Kyon replied at once.
The second and third brothers gasped, impressed by his profound knowledge of alloys! It would take them some time to answer such a complicated question, and he gave an instant reply! Gennady and Lenny did not know the answer at all.
Gimli frowned. His two questions failed to turn this man down. It was humiliating! He said angrily: «I see, you have learned the alloys by heart. Did you get ready for my arrival? Anyway, it does not matter. Here is my third question that very few people can answer!» – {I mean, only I can!} – The gold-bearded dwarf grinned unkindly and asked. – «How to dissolve insoluble glass?»
Gennady and Lenny studied chemistry. Their eyes sparkled with excitement. They didn’t know the answer, but they really wanted to hear what their savior would say!
The second and the third brothers had no idea what the answer might be. It was one thing to melt glass and quite another thing to dissolve it! The pot-bellied man was going to screw up! It was mean of their eldest brother to ask the miserable human such difficult questions. Anyway, they totally approved of his behavior.
Kyon looked surprised: «Oh, you have made an impressive discovery! You will make a great chemist. We could use a man like you. To begin with, there are thousands of types of chemically resistant glass. If we take, for example, the most common type that for some reason everyone calls insoluble, there are hundreds of advanced acids that dissolve it in no time. As for the simple acids, only hydrofluoric acid can do it. To put it simply, you need to dissolve fluorite in aqua regia or hellish liquid in your language. The by-product will dissolve insoluble glass. The effect depends on the acid concentrate.»
The second and the third brothers looked at the pot-bellied man as if he were a complete idiot, but as soon as they looked at the first brother, the look on their faces changed completely. They had never seen Gimli so shocked before! He seemed to have seen his grandfather rising from the grave!
«What’s the matter, Gimli? Are you alright?» – Dorin asked anxiously.
«How do you know that? How?» – Gimli grabbed the pot-bellied man by his collar. – «I discovered this acid by accident, trying to find a new weapon dye! It can’t be that you invented it before me!»
Hydrofluoric acid was manufactured by heating purified fluorspar that came in a wide range of colors. Gimli wanted to dissolve it to create a new dye when he suddenly noticed that the sides of the insoluble glass had turned dull. That’s how he discovered an unknown acid.
«Hands off my daddy!» – Leila shouted indignantly, pushing the dwarf. She couldn’t understand why the little bearded man flew off a dozen meters like a fluff!