47: Master Metallurgist

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In the Moore mansion, three figures walked across the garden guided by the light of the moon. Their aim was an old shack at the edge of the walled garden used by the servants to store the old tools.

The door was guarded by two knights who let their guard down as soon as they recognized the group.

"My Lord! My Lady!" The knights Logan and Fabian stood forward and bowed to their lord.

"Sir Logan, Sir Fabian, it seems Vivian is giving you more trouble than usual tonight." Count Julian spoke.

"I was promised a good show, my Lord. She got me all riled up." Logan replied.

"So was I. Vivian, you've brought me as well as Mr. Wybert all the way over here. It better be worth it." Count Julian turned to Vivian who was the second member of the three.

"Yes. I hope I haven't disturbed you for nothing, Father. And you too, Mr. Wybert." Vivian spoke to the count and the last member of the three.

"Not at all, young lady. To be invited to dinner with my Lord is the honor of my life." Mr Wybert, who is a thin elderly man with a bald head and an oversized mustache, replied with all ecstasy.

"Then, let's get to work, shall we?" Vivian said and Knight Fabian opened the door immediately.

Count Julian let Vivian enter first before following her inside along with Mr. Wybert. Inside, the group could see a rather comical scene.

Oliver West, Vivian's errand boy, and Jane Smith, Vivian's first employee, were wrestling a small but stout creature while attempting to pass a brush into his hair.

"I! AM! NOT! DONE! WITH! YOU!"

"HOLD HIM STILL, MISS JANE!"

"DO IT! ONE! LAST! TIME!"

"OFF! OFF! GRRR!"

"Oh boy!"

It seemed that the task of cleaning up Voros was a tiresome one as it seemed that the combined effort of both Oliver and Jane only amounted to tossing a few buckets of water over him and dressing him in some old garments.

"Ehem!" Vivian cleared her throat and looked at the tussling trio, who immediately seized action as they saw who was inside.

"I… I apologize greatly for this shameful display, Your Highness." Oliver was the first to bow his head.

"I am very sorry, my Lord." Even Jane was apologizing and standing humbly.

"Grrr!" As for Voros, he bared his fangs and showed hostility to the newcomers while taking the side of Vivian.

"Alright, you three. The fun is over." Vivian said and turned to Voros, "Mr. Voros, this here is my father. He is my Lord as well as yours if you are to continue to be my employee."

"Great… Chief?" Voros asked as he looked at Vivian.

"Yes, he is my Great Chief." Vivian replied.

Voros turned to the count and then used his first to strike his own chest.

"Respect! Great Chief!" Voros said in his wild manner.

"Goodness. I've seen Duergar but not as savage as this one." The Count couldn't help but vocalize his thoughts.

"I'm sure that with time, Mr. Voros will prove his ability to master the fine art of greeting others properly." Vivian said and turned to Oliver, "You've stayed more than your shift, boy. Return to your family before they get worried."

"Thank you, my lady. If you excuse me, your highness."

"Fine."

The count moved away from the door to let Oliver pass before looking at Vivian.

"Father, allow me to introduce Miss Jane Smith-Waters and Mr. Voros Goldheart." Vivian said and then turned to the other side, "Jane, Mr. Voros, this my father, and beside him is Mr. Wybert Waller…"

"Chief Metallurgist of the Moore Industries. It's a great honor to finally meet you, Sir." Jane was immediately fangirling over Mr. Wybert.

"Nice to meet you too, Miss Jane."

As all introductions were over, Vivian patted Voros' shoulder.

"Mr. Voros, we have gathered here today to determine your skill as a Metalworker. I spoke to you earlier but please, explain to Mr. Wybert what you do." Vivian spoke to Voros.

"Hmmm… Forge! Cast! Temper! Smelt! Engrave! Assemble! Add! Refine! Extract! Purify…"

"Alright, that is enough to know." Vivian said, "Mr. Wybert is a Metallurgist Expert and he would like to witness your metallurgy." Vivian said.

To that request, even Jane, who was here to help had a lot of doubts on her face, let alone Count Julian, who wasn't swallowing it well, and Mr. Wybert, who tried to keep an open mind with his Lord's daughter.

"Assistant?" Voros asked.

"Jane is well versed in this regard and so she will be your assistant." Vivian replied.

"Stove? Crucible? Tray?" Voros asked again.

"Ah! I have bought a set of Metallurgist toolkits that nobody uses. It is a bit old but you'll find most of what you need. The Pen, the knives, and the needles, some protective gear, and a stone tray." Mr. Wybert was the one to reply.

"I have prepared a stove and a crucible as well as the scrap." Jane followed up.

On a table in the middle of the room, Mr. Wybert and Jane brought everything and organized it neatly. Voros looked at Vivian who nodded at him and he walked towards the table while running his eyes across the things in front of him.

Vivian approached Jane's side and spoke quietly.

"I've never seen metallurgy being performed before. Is it as good as I've heard of it?"

"It's true magic, Miss Vivian. A talent only a select few were blessed with and when I found I have no talent for it, I wept for days."

"That much?"

"If Voros is half as good as you believe he is, I am sure you won't be able to sleep tonight."

"Now I'm excited."

Vivian and the other three individuals kept watching Voros as he went through the tools provided to him by Mr. Wyberd and for some reason, the expression on his face was… clueless.

"Useless!"

Voros held the pair of protective gloves and goggles and threw them aside. The others watched and their eyes had a lot of conflicting reflections.

"Oh… a Duergar's head is usually larger than a human's due to the horns. Their hands as well." Vivian immediately justified Voros' actions.

"Oh!" Mr. Wyberd was still stunned but what was coming made him close his eyes in disappointment.

"Hm?"

Voros held up an object that was shaped like two tubes, one large with an open lid and the other like a handle with a pointy end, and the two were connected with small tubes. He seemed clueless about that.

"Mr. Voros… that's a metallurgy pen, you know it, right?" Jane asked while trying to hide her disappointment.

"Useless!"

Voros immediately threw it away and Jane jumped after it like a dog chasing a stick.

"God!" Vivian hid her face out of embarrassment and couldn't come up with an excuse this time.

Voros even walked away from the table and went to the cloth sack that he put his metal bars in and started to disassemble one of them before taking out a back object from inside. He then returned with what seemed to be his other horn which was broken.

"Girl! Stove!" He then called for Jane to come to him and held his horn in his right hand and a needle at his left.

He used the needle to clean the inside of his horn from both ends as it seemed that the tip of his horn was hollowed like its base.

Jane returned to the table with the metallurgy pen and put it back while solemnly looking at Voros with hidden anger. She fired up the small portable stove, which was powered with a magic crystal, and put some powdered iron in the crucible before putting it inside the stove.

It didn't take a few minutes as the crucible turned red and the iron inside liquified. Voros checked it with his nose rather than looking at it and then hit Jane on the hand.

"Wake up!" He said and aimed his horn's tip at the dark stone tray.

Jane held a pair of tongs and extracted the crucible from the stove before positioning herself against Voros.

"For your sake, I hope you know what you're doing." Jane said before slowly pouring the liquid iron into the horn.

The liquid iron was slow and thick like honey in cold winter but as soon as Voros raised his hand for Jane to stop pouring, he started using the needles and the knives to manipulate the liquid iron inside the horn he was holding and soon his right hand started to move.

The way the horn moved was very steady, incredibly steady, in fact, it can be described as extreme finesse.

And then Voros started to draw a circle with the horn before the thin thread of liquified iron descended from the tip of his horn.

Voros' hand started to repeat the same movement and his speed was rising steadily to allow the liquid iron strand to cover many parts without thickening the amount in a certain spot more than the other and then it started to appear to Vivian.

"Holy sh…" Vivian couldn't help but widen her eyes and open her mouth agape from what she saw.

This dwarf… those metallurgists… the fuck is that? Vivian thought.

There was no mistake about it. Something that Nadia, who came from a modern world, couldn't believe she was seeing done by hand.

What Voros was doing was practically 3D Printing.

The absurdity Vivian witnessed was a type of additive manufacturing that —when done by certain machinery— is called 3D Printing. This manufacturing technique can create almost anything from any material that can be smelted.

But why and how can it be done by hand? Vivian couldn't get over that no matter how she pinched herself.

As for the others, Jane was in awe of how Voros transformed from a raging savage to such an accurate and precise Metallurgist. He knew when to smelt, when to halt, when to pour, and when to pause.

He even used the small and slender metal sticks as support for his model's overhung parts inside and outside before using spatula-like tools to carefully keep the thin layer of metal from bending.

And if one was to look inside his model, they'd find that he even printed some internal support pieces into it.

"His hands are way too fast. It's very reckless." Count Julian said but to his surprise…

"Shush!" Mr. Wybert shushed the count without even noticing who he was shushing.

The old man's senses were heightened to another realm of perception and his emotions were elevated to ecstasy and bliss.

"Amazing! Truly magnificent! A Master at work! A Master I say!"

Seeing what was happening in front of him, Mr. Wybert was in awe. Behind him, Count Julian couldn't believe what he was hearing. He is a man who spent a lifetime between engineers and technicians, he has seen a lot of metallurgists working before too, and managed to recruit most of them under his wing.

However, a Master Metallurgist is a completely different animal altogether. Given the right materials and enough time to work, their hands would shape metal scrap into artifacts of great power.

The reason why Count Julian could never acquire a Master Metallurgist under his wing is that when they appear, they can easily get titles of nobility if they were to offer their services for the Royal Houses of Albion, such a thing Count Julian can never provide despite him being richer than the King.

As for Voros, he kept working and working until he finished the model. Most people could already tell what he was doing by the time he was done and Vivian understood.

It was a bust, a depiction of someone's shoulders, neck, and head.

The details were so perfect to the point where Vivian could even see some of the skin details if she got closer to the face.

"Marvelous! Unbelievable! Maddening!" On the other hand, Mr. Wybert was at his wit's end, "I don't have words to describe how I feel. Sir, your hands are blessed by Saint Hermes! My heart can't stop pounding. My Lord, this man is a Master at his craft! There is no mistake about it! A MASTER!"

"It seems… so…"

Count Julian kept looking between the monstrous Duergar and the beautiful bust he created and found no words to say. He looked at Vivian, who was also in awe of what she saw and had a deep feeling reflected in his eyes.

Those who can surround themselves with talents and know how to lead them are bound to be the kings of the new age. These words are some of the most important tenets Lord Julian lived by and a valuable lesson that he learned from his father. It is a goal that he strived all his life to be good at despite lacking the talent.

But here she is, Vivian, his daughter which he had great expectations of, surpassed his expectations one more time.

But still, even though she brought home not some random metalworker, but a Master Metallurgist, will she be able to lead those who follow her into greatness? Will she really impress him?

As for Vivian, her thoughts were on a different track than her father's. She looked at the bust and was filled with warmth, she was touched by the deep love Voros has for that woman.

"Is that her? Anastasia?" She asked Voros.

She looked at the Duergar, who was looking with a lot of emotion at the bust he made. For a moment there, Vivian saw that the dwarven madman had a sense of reason coming back to his eyes but as soon he sniffed the sadness out and returned to his erratic messy self, he looked at her with firm eyes.

"Alright, Voros. I promise you to turn every stone I can turn until I find her." Vivian said.

Voros nodded and cleaned up his horn before returning to his tools which he keeps in the hallowed bars and started packing his things together while being bothered by the talkative Mr. Wybert.

"Congratulations." Count Julian approached his daughter and patted her shoulder.

"Thank you, Father." Vivian smiled back at him.

"As promised, finders keepers, though I think a Master Metallurgist should be given more than just a shack at the edge of our garden."

"I understand, Father. I will see to his accommodation to the best of my ability."

"He can use the guest house for now. Keep your knights watching him, we don't want the Blackguards to know about him just yet."

"Of course."

"You have done well. Goodnight.'

"Goodnight to you too, Father."

As they parted, the two of them had warm smiles even though they didn't face each other.

Vivian immediately arranged everything for Voros' accommodation and held onto the bust he created. If she fulfills her promise to him and finds his lover, Voros will be loyal to her for the rest of his life.

"So, how was it, my lady? Isn't Metallurgy just impressive?" Jane approached Vivian's side and asked.

"Girl, you don't say! The things we can do with Voros by our side are just limitless." Vivian said with full excitement.

"I know, right? Your imagination, my knowledge, his metallurgy, your guns are only the beginning."

"Yes, this fills me with hope. This metallurgy blew my mind."

"I dare say you never forget the night your metallurgy cherry got popped!" Jane whispered.

"Jane!" Vivian had an appalled face, "How dare you talk to your lady that way?"

"Oh… I'm… I got… sorry…" Jane panicked, realizing how her loose tongue got the best of her yet again.

"Just… make sure it's just the two of us next time." Vivian poked Jane with a wink and walked off after playing a trick on her.

"Phew! Alright, wait for me!"

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Please show some Love ❤️, Comment 💬, and Review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

You can also read the early chapters on P🅰️treon & Join Discord! 🔗 https://linktr.ee/donovel