Inspection

"Then who was the one who reported me?" James asked dejectedly.

"You'll be surprised to know that it was no one, Mr. James," Nora responded in a flat tone. "However, that doesn't mean others don't have eyes and ears. All the disciples around can see the injuries and the bad mood of your apprentices. Rumors have started to spread, and I decided to intervene before any serious problems arise."

Nora took a moment to ask some maids for tea and cookies.

"So, what will happen to me?" James asked. He was concerned that he would be expelled from the camp for being a fraud, which would dishonor his master's reputation.

"There's no need to rush into any decisions. I firmly believe that you were recruited for a reason. Could you tell me your side of the story, Mr. James?" Nora said, taking out a notebook to take notes.

James gave an honest account of the past few days.

"I find it difficult to manage my employees. In my master's workshop, it was just the two of us, and I never had to deal with handling other people," James said with a hint of resignation.

"On the contrary, Mr. James, Master Strom managed his only employee exceptionally well. You should fully follow his management system," Nora said with a touch of incredulity in her voice at James's blindness.

"What do you mean, Miss?" James responded, still not realizing.

Nora sighed and closed her notebook. "You should adopt a management system more based on your master's. Instead of overseeing every little detail of your disciples' operations, assign them tasks and evaluate the results. Make corrections if necessary and teach the differences where they exist. Take a bit more time and go slower with the training. Although the expedition is approaching, it's better to have a small understanding than a big misunderstanding."

James fell into deep thought, recalling his early days in the workshop and the assignments his master gave him. Unlike his own start, these young apprentices knew about blacksmithing, so he could give them simpler tasks. There would be magical components and objects that were more difficult to process, but he could have the three of them work in shifts on the project. That way, he could have the materials and accessories ready for his own work.

Nora gave the young man some time to think while she sipped her tea. Finally, a minute later, James looked up and said, "Thank you very much for your advice, Miss Nora. Now I know what I should do. Is there any other topic to address?" James asked, eager to return to his workshop and try other things.

Nora sighed again. The changes in the young man sometimes overwhelmed her. "Yes, Mr. James. I would like us to have a brief review of the weapons and armor prepared for the start of the expedition. Although our production contract officially begins within the realm, personally, I like to have everything checked in advance a couple of times."

"No problem, it will be a pleasure to help," James said with a genuine smile.

Nora then led James to the warehouse she intended to inspect and ordered some servants to gather some papers for them.

"By the way, Mr. James, I've heard that your master was particularly skilled at crafting runic weapons and could produce a large number of weapons monthly. Did you learn a similar method?" Nora was particularly cautious in her wording. She knew that such a deal was a form of abuse towards his master, and any expert would feel mistreated having to do that kind of work, even if it was much easier to produce a thousand basic runic weapons than an intermediate one. Any blacksmith would prefer the latter, as it would allow them to expand their skills.

James certainly felt taken advantage of when he heard about his master's situation. Although he wasn't a native, he had quickly integrated into this new world and his new identity.

"There is no such technique or skill to learn. Master was able to make more weapons simply because of his vast experience and fine control of his mana. I still have no way to match him," James responded curtly.

Although this wasn't necessarily true, the amount of mana James possessed was absurdly close to that of his master, and he was even about to surpass him. Furthermore, his innate affinity was much better than his master's. Although James fell slightly short in the two fields he mentioned, one could say he was already a mass production machine for weapons.

"I see," Nora replied. From James's expression, she knew that wasn't the direction to pursue. "Are there any other limitations, Mr. James, that you would like to communicate to me in advance?"

At first, James felt like he was being prodded on purpose, but then he remembered that he had no real experience working with armor. After all, his master only focused on making weapons.

"I have never worked on armor, neither forging nor inscribing it, so I don't think I can do anything in that area. I know some useful runes for large shields, and I might be able to inscribe breastplate armor, but anything laminar is beyond my current capabilities," James finally responded honestly, softening his expression.

"I see. Thank you for sharing this limitation in advance. It will make planning things easier. We're here now," Nora suddenly stopped in front of a warehouse. There were stacks of boxes from which various equipment samples were being extracted, as well as people around.

"I would like you to examine the boxes and tell us which runes you are familiar with and which ones you are not, as well as whether you think you can match the quality of the products we have prepared for the expedition," Nora said, preparing her clipboard to take notes on James's comments.

James began to examine the weapons. Most of the runes were simple and well made, although they had some flaws, they were good enough to serve their purpose. There were many with unnecessary strokes, indicating defective products. Some even seemed like experimental products that had been remodeled and sold after failing.

James frowned, giving him a bad feeling. The inspection had just begun, and she could already anticipate one of two scenarios: either his runic master didn't know about these runes, or the products weren't to his liking. Honestly, the latter was a better option for her.

"Miss Nora, did you buy these weapons on sale?" James finally asked, somewhat incredulous.

James remembered the situation where he had sold Jasmine information about runes. She had a bunch of senseless sketches in her possession. Now that he had more knowledge from books, he knew that they were vulgar attempts to copy runes from books without understanding the small parts of the process.

Nora immediately put on a sour face when she heard this comment. "No, Mr. James, all these weapons were purchased at full price. For some, we even had to pay extra," she responded firmly, gripping her clipboard. Then she took a deep breath and said, "What's wrong, Mr. James?"

"At least half of them are fine," James proceeded to take a dagger to show it. "As you can see, this dagger has a cutting rune on it. Although the rune isn't well traced, it is effective and contributes to the structure." He then threw the dagger to a nearby soldier who seemed to specialize in daggers judging by the ones he carried on his belt.

The soldier tested it in his hand and, at James's gesture, even tried cutting a practice dummy. It was still a good weapon.

"On the other hand, this one has many unnecessary parts. It clearly seems to be the defective product of a penetration rune," James said, throwing it to the same soldier.

The soldier tested it and clearly noticed how the blade lacked the ease of cutting through the dummy's armor.

"That's because the penetration rune is meant to increase the stabbing power, possibly breaking the softer parts of armor. Furthermore, that weapon is slightly functional as it has many unnecessary strokes to camouflage it as a cutting rune," James finished his comments and placed a shield for the soldier to make comparisons, where the almost penetration rune could penetrate slightly deeper than the other dagger.

Nora, being the intelligent woman she was, began to notice patterns, where most of their weapons had the runes they were supposed to have, and the others had unnecessary strokes. This gave her a headache, especially because the causes of the additional strokes were varied. Some runes were not what they were supposed to be, while others were so different that it was obvious they had tried to disguise them and they were not useful.

"At least there's something positive from all this waste," Nora commented with despair.

"What would that be?" James asked, confused. He couldn't see any positive side to so much loss.

"At least our runic blacksmith has extensive knowledge," Nora said while adjusting her hair.

James remained with an uncomfortable smile at the unexpected compliment. Fortunately, he didn't have to respond as a loud noise caught their attention.