Magic, steel, heavy industry

Chapter 40 Cooperation

In Silver City, McKinney is visiting a strange little room in the Longkin Workshop.

The room belonged to Longin's youngest son, Miles's brother, the goggles-wearing kid, Al.

Ever since witnessing the quality of the magic powder dagger, Al had become fascinated with Anvil Collar and that magical powder. He spent almost the entire day pestering McKinney, hoping to get more information.

But McGinn's answer is always the same.

"I'm just a guard, I don't know anything about these things. If you want to know more, you'll have to see for yourself."

Hearing this answer, Al's curiosity grew even stronger. In order to demonstrate his abilities, he even dragged McGinn on a tour of his room.

"Look at these! These are all my inventions! What do you think? I'm the best mechanic in Silver City; nobody knows more about invention than me!"

Al patted his chest, his face full of confidence.

McKinney, meanwhile, was overwhelmed by the strange objects scattered all over the place.

"Are you sure these are inventions? What's this hammer for?"

McKin picked up a small hand hammer at random; it looked completely ordinary to him.

Al chuckled, snatched the hammer, and slammed it to the ground.

Immediately afterwards, a diamond-shaped nail emerged from the other end of the hammer.

"This is my hammer and nail assemblies. You put the nail in the hammer, and when you need it, you just tap the hammer head to take the nail out. It's incredibly convenient!"

Seeing Al's proud expression, McGinn instinctively wanted to complain, but then he thought that Lord Vilan's mission included finding craftsmen.

This little guy's invention may be strange, but it should meet Lord Vilan's requirements, right?

He asked, "Are you a blacksmith too?"

"I'm a mechanic! How can a blacksmith compare to me!"

"But your father and your brother are both blacksmiths."

"Hmph! They only know how to forge iron; they have no idea about the joy of invention and creation. My dream is to combine the skills of blacksmithing and watchmaking to create the greatest mechanical masterpiece!"

Looking at Al's vision of the future, McGinn couldn't understand a word, but he caught a key piece of information.

Clockmaker.

This kid knows about clocks? Then that's it, Lord Vilan needs this kind of person.

He decided that regardless of whether it would be useful or not, he would go back first before saying anything.

"Al, the Magic Powder Dagger is just the most common product in Vilan Workshop. There are many other things you've never seen before, such as a magical powder that can quickly solidify into stone."

"Deception is shameful, sir. I don't believe such a thing exists in the world," Al immediately retorted.

McGinn simply patted him on the shoulder. "Maybe you can ask your brother; he knows more than I do."

Just then, Miles' voice rang out from outside the door.

"McKin! They're here!"

Miles's voice was tense, even trembling slightly, because the person who came was a big shot he had never imagined.

McGinn, on the other hand, was much more relaxed. He glanced at Al, then turned and left the room.

He walked to the front yard of the workshop and saw three people wearing cloaks standing quietly in the corner. The one in the lead lifted his hood, revealing a charming and mature face.

Madeline the Red Scorpion, the best merchant in Silverflow City.

Upon seeing her, McKin immediately smiled gently. "Ms. Madeline, it seems I made the right bet; you are indeed interested in me."

Madeline, however, behaved completely differently from her behavior at the dinner party the day before. Ignoring McKinney's words, she bluntly asked, "That dagger, is it a work by Master Longin?"

That's right. On her way home last night, Madeline opened McKinney's gift box, which contained only a magic powder dagger.

At first, she didn't care and even thought that McGinn was provoking her.

But her greatest strength is that she never underestimates any business opportunity. So today she studied it again, and when she discovered that the magic powder dagger was far more durable and sharp than ordinary weapons, she immediately realized how much business opportunity was hidden in this dagger.

So she took her servants and went to Longjin's workshop herself.

If the dagger was Long Jin's work, she wouldn't be surprised, after all, he was a master.

But McKinney simply shook his head. "Unfortunately, that's not the case."

"Oh? Let's not keep you in suspense any longer. Since you took the initiative to come to me, it means you know the benefits of cooperating with me, but I never do business with people who are not honest enough."

Madeline crossed her arms over her chest, tilted her head slightly, and revealed her shrewdness and boldness in her eyes.

Upon hearing this, McKinney nodded and said, "Of course, my lord said that honesty is essential in business, especially when dealing with someone as wealthy as you."

"Your lord?"

"Let me introduce myself. My name is McKinney, and I am a servant of Lord Vilan of Anvil Territory. I have come here on Lord Vilan Northstone's orders to find a collaborator for the Magic Powder Weapon."

McGinn's tone suddenly turned serious, and a sense of pride automatically appeared on his face when he mentioned Vilan.

"Noston? The Stone Family?"

"Lord Vilan is indeed from the Stone Family, but for now, he only represents Anvil Territory, so you can rest assured."

"Anvil Territory... I haven't heard that name mentioned in a long time. How could such a barren frontier place forge a dagger like this?"

Madeline's expression clearly showed some doubt. The news that Vilan had sealed the Anvil Territory had not been publicized, so most people in Silverflow City were unaware of it, even Madeline, the most well-informed merchant.

But that doesn't matter. She's a pure businessman; as long as she can make gold coins, she doesn't care who the other party is.

"Tell me, how does Mr. Vilan want to cooperate?"

"I'm sorry, this isn't something I can decide. Lord Vilan's intention is for me to find capable merchants and personally conduct research in Anvil Territory. After all, empty promises are meaningless; only by showing people the product can we build trust, right?"

McKinney shrugged, revealing a helpless yet sincere expression.

Madeline didn't speak immediately; she was already thinking quickly.

Without a doubt, if this weapon could be mass-produced, it would be a huge business opportunity, capable of squeezing all the gold coins out of the pockets of all the adventurers in the kingdom.

This is just the most ordinary kind of business; the more profitable ones are those that are sold directly as weapons.

Having thought this through, Madeline had made her decision.

We must go to Anvil Territory!

But as clever as she was, she immediately saw through the current problems of the Anvil Territory.

"Mr. McKinney, Anvil Territory probably doesn't have enough blacksmiths to support such a large production of weapons, does it?"

McKinley nodded honestly. "Yes, that's why Lord Vilan wants to find a capable partner. After all, merchants are always able to bring in many artisans. If you can do that, I believe Lord Vilan will be very happy."