What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

"I watched you from behind for a long time, but you didn't notice me." Julie is a Forui with cat blood. She is Vanessa's new friend in the military camp.

"Looking at me...behind my back for a long time!" Vanessa's eyes widened.

"Hahaha! Don't worry! I don't know many words and I can't understand what you are writing at all!" Julie shook her cat tail and jumped to Vanessa's side.

"That's good..." Vanessa said, "It's nothing, actually. I'm just writing a letter to my mother. Tell her what happened here."

"That's great, you still have a mother." Julie said, "By the way, is your mother's name Beelzebub?"

"You, you, you! How did you know?" Vanessa immediately became nervous.

"Ah? I saw the name at the end of your letter." Julie stuck out her tongue and said, "That happens to be one of the words I can understand... Strange, I seem to have heard this name somewhere before."

"Ah, my mother's name is very common, it's normal that you've heard it before!" Vanessa quickly changed the subject and said, "Speaking of which, shouldn't you take a shower at this time?"

"I was going to take a shower," Julie said, "but then I thought, someone got punished by the instructor for having the same hands and feet, so I decided to come and help someone make up for it."

"The someone you are talking about is not me, right?" Vanessa said.

"Who else could it be! Go! I still want to eat chicken legs! Don't hold me back tomorrow!"

"Please spare me... I've been scolded by the instructor for more than an hour!"

Vanessa wanted to protest, but she couldn't resist the enthusiastic Catwoman, so she was dragged to a small corner and started her special training.

It must be said that Vanessa's team members were all very good. They did not indulge her because of her repeated mistakes, but helped her train during her rest time. But their competitive spirit was too strong, so Vanessa was dragged out by them one after another for extra training.

But this made things difficult for Vanessa herself. She had less time to rest than others, and now she lacked sleep, so she had to go to training every morning with dark circles under her eyes.

Fortunately, this extra training finally had an effect, and Vanessa finally stopped walking with her hands and feet together! Their team also got the chicken leg reward as they wished.

Vanessa was eating the delicious chicken leg in her mouth and almost couldn't hold back her tears.

This is really not easy!

At this moment, she has forgotten her identity as a third-level warrior and forgotten that she is a noble vampire! She has completely integrated into the military camp and become a part of this place.

Vanessa is certainly not the only one who has made progress.

After a month of training, everyone has made significant improvements.

Now their military posture is quite elegant, and their bodies have become stronger due to the improvement of food. If someone secretly observes them during training, no one would imagine that they were just a group of ordinary people who were hungry a month ago.

Fran was also very satisfied with the results of this month.

Although these people have a poor foundation and their physical fitness is not particularly good, they are down-to-earth and hardworking people, so they work particularly hard in training. Fran has seen more than once that they are still quietly training outside when they should be resting.

Their efforts are not just for the chicken leg, but also because they don't want to hold the team back.

These qualities are the reason why Fran finally recruited them.

Fran knew very well that even though these people couldn't even use basic weapons now, they would definitely become the backbone of her army in the future.

Chapter 28 Genius Inventor

The training of the soldiers was going on in an orderly manner. Since the instructors had rich experience in "military training", there was no need for Fran to intervene. Seeing that the operation of the military camp had become normal, Fran simply handed over all the affairs of the military camp to Catherine, telling her that she could teach Jane after a while.

A single combat technique.

As for Fran, she needs to go to Vienna again.

Of course, the reason why she was in such a hurry to go to Vienna was not (or simply) because she wanted to be close to Christina! It was because she had a lot of businesses in Vienna, and they were just starting out, so there were many things she needed to take care of.

The most important thing among them is the blacksmith shop.

As the craftsmen worked day and night on their research, they actually created the prototype of a musket!

This was beyond Fran's expectations.

Originally, she just wanted to give it a try and told the craftsmen about the idea of ​​the musket. After all, it took so long for it to evolve and slowly take shape. These craftsmen had to try for at least half a year to start from scratch. This was also the reason why Fran directly raised the bonus to 10,000 magic crystal coins.

But just over a month had passed and they had actually created a prototype.

Given the dwarf's character, he would never make such a boast. Just for this matter, it was worth it for Fran to make a personal trip.

Of course, in addition to the musket, Christina also has important things to do.

During this time, Margaret had already worked out the details of the attack on Orila City and invited Christina to discuss it in detail. Christina thought about it and decided that it would be better to let Fran, the city lord, be with her instead of being the middleman.

It was Christina who came up with the idea of ​​bringing the head of the person Margaret wanted most to meet her.

But Fran really wanted to meet this unique queen. And she heard that this queen was very beautiful and could kill men and women, but that was not the point.

It was still early when they arrived in Vienna, so Fran decided to go to the blacksmith shop first.

The blacksmith shop was already in operation, and the sound of iron forging could be heard everywhere. A large number of armor blanks were piled up in the corner of the warehouse, and the walls were filled with finished products. Just by looking at the quality, you could tell that these weapons were definitely not shoddy junk.

"Boss, please come over here." Seeing Fran coming, the dwarf Balam and other key craftsmen immediately surrounded her, "We have specially prepared a place for experiments in the backyard."

A few people walked to the backyard and saw a black iron lump placed in the most conspicuous place.

"Is this the finished musket?" Fran picked up the lump of iron.

The thick, black, hard and strong barrel is connected to a buttstock with a simple wrench on it.

Judging from the appearance alone, it does resemble the prototype of a musket, but it is quite ugly.

"How can we demonstrate this?" Fran asked.

"Let me do it." Balam said as he picked up the rifle. He skillfully broke the connection between the barrel and the buttstock, then stuffed a bullet into it, and finally poured a little black powder.

This is actually a breech-loading rifle? Fran was a little surprised.

After doing this, Balam closed the rifle again, then raised it up, aimed it at a piece of cowhide five meters ahead, and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang, and immediately a burst of green smoke appeared from the muzzle of the musket.

What the hell! This is actually a flintlock? Fran was stunned. She didn't see Balam make any move to light the fire.

But...it seems like it didn't hit?

The cowhide was still hanging in front, motionless.

For a moment, the scene was very awkward.

"Sorry, my aim is still a little off." Balam said a little embarrassedly, "But if I hit it, it will be no problem to penetrate this leather. Please let me try again."

"No need. Since the bullet can make such a big crack in the bricks on the wall, it will definitely be no problem to penetrate a piece of cowhide." Fran waved her hand and said, "To be honest, your progress has exceeded my expectations! Of course, I keep my word! Since you have made the prototype! The 10,000 magic crystal coins are

It's yours."

After hearing this, the craftsmen below immediately showed joy.

Except Balam.

"What? Are you not satisfied with the amount of the bonus?" Fran looked at Balam with some curiosity.

"No, no, no! The amount of the prize money is already terrifying!" Balam said, "But we are a little ashamed."

"Are you still worried about the accuracy issue?" Fran said with a smile, "It's okay. We can improve it slowly."

"It has nothing to do with this. In fact... the reason why we were able to make the musket in a short period of time was not because of our superb skills, but because of a friend we had before.

"A friend?"

"Yes." Balam said, "He is a true genius! Before you, he had already conceived the idea of ​​using expanding gas to shoot out projectiles to kill the enemy. It's just that he couldn't invent such a powerful black powder like you, so the effect was not good."

As he spoke, Balam took out another musket. This musket was even rougher and had scratches all over it, and it was obvious that it had gone through a lot of experiments.

"This is the prototype he made before." Balam said, "We scoffed at his idea at the time. If it weren't for the reward you offered this time, we would have almost forgotten about it."

Fran took the rifle with surprise.

She had never thought that there were people in this world who were also researching muskets. If she could recruit all these people to her side, wouldn't she be able to avoid many detours?

"Where is that friend you mentioned now?" Fran asked.

"He left a long time ago," Balam said, "because he had too many fantastic ideas. As a result, one time when he was experimenting, the boiler exploded, and the previous owner fired him in anger."

The boiler blew up! He is really a technology geek. Fran asked, "Do you know where he went?"

"I don't know." Balam said, "After being fired, he left without even saying hello to us. But he left some drawings behind. If the shopkeeper is interested, you can take a look at them."

"Okay! Let me have a look."

After Fran took over a pile of drawings, she began to flip through them.

Most of these drawings are fantastic ideas, including wings to assist flying, rockets that can soar into the sky, and many perpetual motion machines that he designed himself!

However, one of the drawings caught Fran's attention.

This drawing shows a huge hammer, one end of which is connected to a huge device, and next to the device is a huge water tank. The steam from the burning water tank drives the device, which in turn drives the hammer to swing left and right.

This, this, he actually realized the power of steam. One step further, that is the steam engine.

Of course, Fran knew what kind of changes a practical steam engine would bring to the world. Its role was even far greater than that of a musket!

Fran's hands were shaking with excitement. Although she didn't know whether the craftsman had made the steam engine, she would go to great lengths to find the craftsman and bring him under her command.

"What's wrong, boss?" Balam asked curiously when he saw Fran's strange look.

"What's the craftsman's name? What are his characteristics? Are you still in touch? How can we find him now?"

Fran asked many questions in succession, which confused the craftsmen present.

They looked at each other and shook their heads helplessly.

Finally, it was Balam who said, "His name is Kreltz."

Kreltz? Fran had a bad feeling about the style of this name.

As expected, Balam continued, "His race is somewhat, uh... unexpected. He is a goblin."

Chapter 29 The Imperial Palace

"What? Goblin!!"

Fran never imagined that a craftsman who designed a prototype of a musket, studied steam engines, and tried to create a perpetual motion machine would be a goblin!

Even if Balam said he was a green-skinned orc, Fran would not be so surprised.

You have to know that in the eyes of the public, goblins have always been dirty, inferior creatures with no civilization at all! They set up camps in groups in the wilderness, jungle or grass, stealing and robbing caravans along the way. Wherever there is unrest, they will be there. It can be said that they are like rats crossing the street.

In contrast, the orcs at least have their own country and have preserved their writing and history.

But the Goblins...

Some scholars do not even believe that goblins have a systematic language and writing system. After all, they only use orcs to express any emotion! If a few goblins who speak the common language appear occasionally, they can be regarded as the great prophets of the entire tribe.

How could such a race produce such a genius?

Fran was so surprised that her mouth was wide open.

However, apart from his name and race, Balam and his friends had no idea about Krelz. According to Balam, Krelz had a very strange personality and it was difficult for ordinary people to get along with him. In addition, he was a goblin, so he had almost no friends, and no one knew where he lived.

After being fired, Krelz left without even returning to collect the drawings and samples. No one knew where he would go next.

This made Fran very frustrated. But she thought that a goblin who knew blacksmithing skills and could design machinery should be very conspicuous. She could look for clues in other blacksmith shops around. After all, no matter how talented he was, he still had to make a living.

Of course, he definitely wouldn't go looking for him by himself! If the citizens knew that there was a man walking around the streets looking for a goblin who could forge iron, not only would people laugh at him, but it would also likely attract the covetousness of others.

So Fran handed the matter over to Vanti and asked the people from the Inquisition to look around the blacksmith shop in Vienna. If they couldn't find it, they could look around! With the transportation capacity of this world, Kreltz shouldn't be able to go far.

I hope Kreltz can be found alive by Fran! After all, the goblin race is full of hatred, and their own combat power is very average. It is possible that they will be captured by mercenaries as monsters and their heads will be taken as a bounty.

As for the blacksmith shop, although Balam modestly said that the greatest credit for making the musket should belong to Krelz, Fran still gave Balam 10,000 magic crystal coins and asked him to distribute them according to the actual situation.

At the same time, Fran also asked Balam to form a research and development team, bringing together craftsmen who are good at innovation and design, and recruit from outside if there are not enough people.

The newly formed R&D team has two things to do!

The first is to continue to modify the musket to make it more powerful and more accurate! Then, after finalizing a model, start mass production.

The second was to try to make the steam engine designed by Kreltz and find a way to use steam to drive the machine.

In order to fully mobilize the enthusiasm, Fran once again used money to pave the way! She specially approved 10,000 magic crystal coins to Balam to allow him to expand the research and development team! In short, at all costs, get these two things done in the shortest time.

Of course, Fran also reminded Balam with her own experience, asking him to try carving a spiral line into the barrel. This way, the bullet would get a rotation speed the moment it leaves the gun, making it more stable during flight.

Balam was indeed an experienced craftsman, and he understood what Fran meant immediately. He praised Fran as a genius! This made Fran feel a little embarrassed.

By the time the work in the blacksmith shop was arranged, it was already late.

She then remembered that she had an appointment with Christina and hurried to her house.