Iron Powder and Spellcaster

In Mrs. Navarre's quiet little living room, Antonio was half lying on the sofa admiring the paintings hanging on the wall, as comfortable and comfortable as if he were at home.

Winters, on the other hand, looked at his nose with his eyes, his mouth with his nose, and his heart with his mouth, sitting upright on his chair, like a sculpture.

"Don't be so formal." Antonio happily handed the small plate with nuts to Winters: "You look like an ascetic now, and you just have to slap yourself on the back with a flail."

"Then who is to blame?" Winters was very angry when he saw that the person mainly responsible seemed to have nothing to do with him.

Antonio picked up a fig from the small table casually and peeled the fruit bit by bit: "Didn't I come with you?"

Why did Winters and Antonio come to Navarre House? This matter is somewhat tortuous.

Major Moritz only had ten steel cones, which was completely insufficient. So Winters turned to his uncle, Antonio's brother Giovanni Serbetti, for help.

The history of the Serbetti family in Hailan City is not long ago. Starting from Cavallia, the father of Antonio and Giovanni, the Serbetti family spread out in Hailan City.

Cavallia, a Venetian with a big nose and a bad temper, was forced to leave his family due to a vendetta when he was young.

His mother put two gold coins into his hand, kissed his cheek, and told him in tears: "My dear son, don't spend these two gold coins. Keep it close to you but don't spend it." It. The red traces in the lines of the gold coins are the blood of Saint Novellata. With them, Saint Novellata will protect you. I will also pray for you every moment."

His father wordlessly handed him a sharp sword.

In this way, with a sword, two gold coins and his mother's blessing, Cavalia came to Aquamarine City from Baihua City alone.

He first pawned the good sword, spent two gold coins, and lived a comfortable life. Within a few days, the money was gone, and Cavalya's new "friends" in Hailan abandoned him twice as fast as they approached him.

The helpless Kavalya lived another miserable life, and was finally taken in as an apprentice by a kind-hearted gold and silver craftsman. After surviving the arduous apprenticeship period, he became a formal member of the Precious Metal Craftsmen Guild in Aquamarine City.

By the time Cavallia's eldest son Antonio was born, he had become a well-known gold and silver craftsman in Hailan City and owned a very good workshop. And he redeemed the family sword and the two gold coins that were said to be stained with the blood of San Novellata.

Cavallia Serbetti's eldest son Antonio was admitted to the Army Academy and became a soldier. His youngest son Giovanni inherited his father's craftsmanship and inherited the workshop after Cavallia died of illness, becoming a gold and silver craftsman.

If Antonio has a father-like status in Winters' heart, then Giovanni is called uncle and is actually his brother.

Kavaliya had a difficult life, and five children died in infancy. It took many years after their eldest son to have a second son who grew up healthy. Antonio and Giovanni were fourteen years apart in age, and Giovanni was only nine years older than Winters.

Therefore, Giovanni, who is quite playful, is closer to Winters than his brother, who is fourteen years older than him. The main bad things Winters did growing up were all done by Giovanni.

If Winters sets the house on fire, he won't tell Antonio or Kesa, but he will tell Giovanni. If Giovanni killed someone, he wouldn't tell his brother, he would ask Winters to help him move the body.

Of the ten steel awls Moritz gave Winters, only five pointed steel awls could be used in actual combat, which was certainly not enough. Winters wanted to ask someone to make a batch of the same steel cones given by the major.

Since it was something related to metal, Winters immediately thought of his uncle Giovanni. Although Giovanni is a precious metal craftsman, Winters thinks that Giovanni should also know some skilled blacksmiths.

In addition to creating a batch of steel awls, Winters also had another purpose: to make a scabbard for Elizabeth's dagger.

The dagger that Elizabeth had been trying to take away from Winters had originally been returned to Sophia, but I don't know what kind of persuasion skills Elizabeth used, so Sophia actually gave the dagger to Elizabeth again.

The leather scabbard that Elizabeth had sewn herself was of no use and was soon riddled with holes from daggers. So Winters had another mission, asking Giovanni to make a silver scabbard for Elizabeth. Of course, only the outer shell of the scabbard is made of silver, and a cork lining is added inside to prevent the dagger blade from being blunted.

Winters originally thought that it would not be difficult to make hundreds of identical steel cones, but it was not until he communicated with a real blacksmith that he realized how difficult it was.

Made purely by hand, it is difficult to ensure consistency in shape and weight. The steel cone that Major Moritz gave Winters was a cylinder. You cannot make a cylinder by hand forging. You can only forge it into a prism, then use a file to file off the edges bit by bit, and then polish it smooth. If you still need to use steel, filing will be even more time-consuming and laborious.

At the same time, it is necessary to ensure that the weight of each piece is consistent, and the difficulty of production will be doubled again.

Even Giovanni's most sophisticated scale, used for weighing gold, could not verify the weight difference between the ten steel cones that Major Moritz gave Winters.

These ten steel awls amazed Giovanni's blacksmith friend, who said frankly that he did not have the ability, and even if he put great effort into making them, the price of each steel awl would be more than one silver coin.

According to Giovanni: "The material of this thing is not expensive, but the effort spent by the craftsmen far exceeds the value of the material itself. The value of the craftsman's labor is seriously underestimated, so few people will spend so much effort on base metal. This A few little things are like carving patterns on the iron.”

Only then did Winters somewhat understand why Major Moritz used silver coins as casting materials—the cost of this special steel cone was actually more expensive than a silver coin.

It would be better to just use silver coins as arrows. At least the silver coins are uniformly struck by the Veneta Mint and are readily available materials of equal weight and similar shape.

Compared with the difficulties encountered in customizing a steel awl, making a scabbard for Elizabeth is much easier.

Winters brought the dagger with him. Giovanni took the measurements and poured the wax mold. Elizabeth only had to wait at home for Uncle Giovanni to deliver the scabbard to her.

"By the way, little girl, did you say what pattern you want to decorate the scabbard with?" Giovanni asked casually as he returned the dagger to Winters.

Winters was stunned. He didn't dare to make the decision for Elizabeth without permission. I had no choice but to take the trouble to get on my horse and run home to ask Elizabeth herself.

Elizabeth did not reply to Winters immediately, but gave Winters two paintings after a visit to the studio.

These two paintings are different from common religious-style paintings. They prefer freehand paintings and do not pay attention to the principle of perspective. They use delicate and exquisite brushstrokes to outline a picture of clusters of flowers. At the same time, it is not too complicated and makes good use of the white space technique.

When Giovanni saw these two paintings, he was so shocked that he sent the finished scabbard the next day. The design provided by Elizabeth was reproduced on the scabbard by Giovanni using the relief method.

The embossing method uses a small chisel to knock out a chirally symmetrical pattern on the back of a metal sheet, so that a shallow relief pattern can be obtained on the front of the metal sheet. The details are then carved by hand to increase the clarity of the relief lines. Finally, you can get a beautiful pattern embossed on the metal surface.

This kind of relief on the scabbard can not only play a decorative role, but also make the scabbard stronger to a certain extent.

After Elizabeth got the scabbard, she couldn't put it down and excitedly showed it off to Kesa and Antonio.

But Giovanni actually came to see his nephew for another reason. Giovanni laughed and hooked Winters' neck with force: "Where did those two pictures come from? Are there more pictures?"

It turned out that Giovanni showed these two drawings to another wealthy businessman's wife, and immediately got an order for two silver salt boxes.

The skills of precious metal craftsmen are valued higher than those of base metal craftsmen. No matter how much effort is spent, it is difficult for iron to be sold at the price of silver. However, after careful craftsmanship by precious metal craftsmen, the price of gold and silver artifacts can be much higher than the value of the material itself.

Therefore, compared to base metal craftsmen who pursue mass production, precious metal craftsmen have embarked on another path: putting more effort into making money on a small number of high-quality gold and silver artifacts.

Giovanni, who had a keen sense of smell, found that wealthy female patrons liked this pattern very much. This new style of pattern was like a new mine for Giovanni, and he was eager to get more patterns.

Winters explained: "Ella gave me the drawing. Doesn't she always go to Mrs. Anguizola's studio? She should have painted it herself."

Giovanni heard this and said regretfully: "This little girl, Ella, if I ask her for it, she will definitely take the opportunity to blackmail me."

"Then there's nothing we can do." Winters spread his hands.

"But hasn't Ella listened to you since she was a child?" Giovanni seemed to have a clue: "How about you help me take care of her and ask for a few more drawings, and then help you solve the problem of the steel cone?"

For the custom-made steel cone Winters wanted, Giovanni's solution was this: the cylindrical shape would require too many manual hours to be considered; so simply use a triangular prism, which can be forged directly on an anvil with a V-groove. After the blacksmith prepares a roughly equal weight blank, he sends it to Giovanni's workshop, and then uses the precious metal processing technology of "precision grinding" for secondary processing; although it cannot be like the ten pieces in Winters' hand. The steel cone is exactly the same, but it can also ensure the consistency of shape and weight to the greatest extent.

More importantly, the cost is acceptable to Winters.

Winters couldn't refuse this offer, but Winters didn't expect that his uncle had changed and wanted to make a deal with him in this way.

Seeing the resentful look in Winters' eyes, Giovanni had no choice but to agree to make another silver saddle as a reward for the design. And whether Winters can get more drawings or not, it will help Winters solve the problem of steel cones.

However, to Winters and Giovanni's surprise, Elizabeth told Winters that she had not drawn the drawings.

She gave the name Winters least wanted to hear right now: Ana Navarre.

Elizabeth not only knew Anna, but had a close relationship with her. Anna, Elizabeth and several other female friends studied together in Mrs. Anguizola's studio. Those two drawings were drawn by Elizabeth at her request.

Self-esteem is a very subtle thing that drives people to perform noble actions and sometimes prevents communication between people.

Because of his pride, Major General Leighton fulfilled his first promise to join the gang, and Winters rushed into the enemy's cabin regardless of the knife wound on his arm;

Also because of his pride, Winters was too lazy to explain to Miss Navarre, let alone meet her again. After all, that involuntary slap still hurt.

But Elizabeth smiled evilly and refused to agree to help Winters go to Anna to get the pattern no matter what. Apparently she already knew about Winters being slapped by Anna through her own channels. This was probably something rare in her ordinary life. Some fun will never be let go easily.

"That friend of yours has a particularly bad impression of me. I can't see him without him. Do you really want to see another slap in the face?" Winters grabbed Elizabeth and prevented her from running away.

"Winters, I'm doing this all for your own good." Elizabeth said with her own crooked reasoning, pretending to be serious: "You almost made Anna mad to death, and now my female companions all regard you as a very bad person." A man of good conduct...you apologize to Anna and she will forgive you."

"Why should I apologize?" Winters couldn't laugh or cry. He had already seen through Elizabeth's thoughts: "You are happy to see me get slapped again, aren't you?"

Elizabeth couldn't hold it in any longer and burst into laughter. It happened that Antonio had just returned home, and Elizabeth quickly asked her father for help.

Antonio's attitude was very open-minded: "I originally thought that these little girls were just going to Mrs. Anguizola's studio to have fun. Did it turn out that they were very good at painting? Since Jonny needs to ask Miss Navarre for help, I I’ll take you to Navarre House.”

"Then why don't you go find Madame Navarre yourself and ask her to get some paintings of her daughter?"

"Johnny is asking you for help, not me. You should have gone by yourself. I went to Navarre's house to apologize to Miss Navarre for my offensive behavior." Antonio's smile was exactly the same as Elizabeth's, Winters once again confirmed that Ella's prank-loving personality was definitely inherited from Antonio.

Returning to Mrs. Navarre's small drawing room, Antonio and Winters waited for the Navarre mother and daughter.

Antonio and Mrs. Navarre were old friends. He explained his purpose of coming in a few words, hoping to ask for some of Miss Navarre's works for his brother Giovanni. Before Anna could speak, Mrs. Navarre agreed on behalf of her daughter.

Then Antonio cheerfully talked to Anna first in the Old Tongue, and then switched to the Ancient Tongue.

Anna answered fluently, and Mrs. Navarre was left alone at a loss.

Winters could understand it, but Antonio and Anna were just chatting with each other on a daily basis, and there was no real content in the conversation.

After confirming that Anna was indeed able to use Old Tongue and Ancient Tongue, Antonio stood up, bowed solemnly to Anna, and said sincerely: "[Old Tongue] Miss Anna, I have offended you many times before. I have been wrong." Treat you as an ordinary woman, please accept my apology."

Anna, Madame Navarre, and Winters were all frightened.

In any case, the status of men in this era was much higher than that of women; not to mention that even if Anna was a man, the social status of Army Major General Antonio Serbetti, commander of the Standing Corps, was much higher than her.

It is very rare for a person of high status to admit his mistake and apologize to a person of low status in any era or country. Even if most high-status people should apologize, they will just pretend that nothing happened.

Seeing this situation, Winters began to admire his uncle's magnanimity, because Antonio did not have any reluctance and sincerely apologized to Anna for his behavior.

Anna became a little panicked when she saw Antonio bowing deeply to her. She quickly stood up and hurriedly returned a curtsey.

Antonio didn't say anything more, turned his head to Mrs. Navarre, and said with a smile: "Then please ask Miss Navarre to make some paintings."

Mrs. Navarre was confused. She had no idea what happened. She didn't understand a word of the conversation between Antonio and Anna just now.

Finally, Antonio began to speak the common language again, and Mrs. Navarre leaned gracefully on the chaise longue and replied: "Let the two children go together. You and I have a lot to say."

Winters followed Anna, and the two of them walked straight to Anna's studio in silence.

There are several stands in the studio, and the table is covered with canvases and drawing paper. Many panels were covered with white cloth and leaned against the wall, appearing to be completed works. There are also many white sheets of paper with line drawings thrown carelessly on the ground.

"Hmph." Anna stood in front of the table with her back to Winters, rummaging around, and spoke angrily: "Mr. Serbetti still looks down on women from the bottom of his heart, 'I once mistakenly regarded you as an ordinary woman,' and treats ordinary women Can a woman be so frivolous?"

Winters was speechless.

The more Anna thought about it, the angrier she became. She asked Winters angrily: "What do you think? Mr. Montagne."

Winters thought for a moment and said slowly: "My idea is that as a guest, I shouldn't be treated like this."

Two rolls of drawing paper were thrown towards Winters, but the throwing party was not strong and the drawing paper was not a javelin, so it was easily caught by Winters.

"Can the customer ask for my works after humiliating me?" Anna came over holding several large rolls of drawing paper and stuffed them all into Winters' hands: "Here they are all for you!"

"Others cannot speak for me. I have never had any frivolous thoughts towards you. On the contrary, you have been very rude to me." Winters replied in an unassuming manner: "If you don't want to give the painting to me, I can also buy it. . But to be honest, compared to before, I don’t respect you that much now.”

Anna is really going crazy now.

"How about you slap me again?" Winters asked quietly.

This sentence was so sarcastic that Anna was completely driven crazy, and then she...she cried.

Yes, Anna was so angry that she cried.

Squatting on the ground and crying loudly.

Winters was dumbfounded.

He was stunned and at a loss.

"Eh? Why are you crying?"

"You're not pretending to cry, are you?"

The other person cried louder.

"What kind of thing is this? I'm innocent."

"If your servants hear it, I won't be able to clean it up...and you won't be able to clean it up either."

Still no effect.

Winters also squatted on the ground and asked tentatively: "How about... I slap you too and we can even out?"

"You fight!" Anna raised her head, sobbing, weak, helpless, and fierce.

It finally worked.

"I don't hit...ladies." Winters originally wanted to say that he wouldn't hit women, but he thought of Sofia, and there were also ferocious assassins like Sofia among the women, so he changed the woman to a lady.

Anna stopped crying, her eyes were red, and she sniffed in an unladylike manner and asked Winters: "You said you wanted to buy my painting, right?"

"I can buy it, you name it."

"This is not a big deal," Winters thought to himself, "I still have to ask Uncle Giovanni for reimbursement."

"You will know the price." Anna glared at Winters and pushed him out of the studio.

——————

On the way home, Antonio said to Winters with emotion: "Miss Navarre is indeed very powerful. I think she would have done more if she were not a woman."

"Didn't you just tell me a few days ago that the widow held up half a Veneta?" Winters retorted.

"Yes, I'm talking about the widow." Antonio said with a smile, "If Miss Navarre becomes a widow, she will be able to do more."

——————

In the Navarre Manor, Anna buried her head in Mrs. Navarre's arms. Her face showed that she had cried just now.

"Are you familiar with that young man named Winters?" Mrs. Navarre asked casually.

"No, we only met for the second time today." Anna replied absently.

"What do you think of him?"

"not good!"

Mrs. Navarre said to Anna seriously: "I know his mother and met his father. He has northern blood. Our family will not marry northerners. Do you understand?"

"Oh! Mom, what are you talking about! I'm not Catherine. I just want to get married all day long!"

Thank you book friend 20170726153222839 for your recommendation vote, thank you book friend 20181013204343295 for your recommendation vote, thank you book friend Yanyunsan for your recommendation vote, thank you book friend for the recommendation vote of shrimp pond, and thank my friends who have voted for me before. thank you all. The changes in the property rights of widows in history and the process by which widows are gradually regarded as persons with full civil capacity are very interesting.