“How are you going to use the Iron Bamboo?” Xenophon began speaking to Angel as soon as they left the chief’s office. “Even for you, processing that stuff should be hard.”
“Harvesting it must have been tough, too.”
Simply pruning it ruined multiple knives, so cutting down a stem must have been nearly impossible. Before they could start thinking about how to use it, they first needed tools and facilities to process Iron Bamboo.
“Why don’t we forget about processing it and just sell it to the Corps raw? It’d probably be way more useful to them than the blades they carry.”
“Like a bamboo sword?” asked Xenophon.
“It’d affect our reputation as craftsmen, though.”
“The situation might change once we’re in the factory city.”
Xenophon’s eyes gleamed in apparent excitement. His breathing grew wild, and words were pouring from his mouth. “You’re interested in the factory city, too, aren’t you?”
“I am a craftsman, after all.”
Angel’s excitement was natural. Not only did he have Iron Bamboo, a new material, to work with, the factory city was about to become operational. He normally had a contentious relationship with Xenophon, but this was enough to put that aside for now. Xenophon may have been a thorn in his side, and it was true that they didn’t get along, but the man was truly skilled as a craftsman. Angel could at least trust him on that point.
“Should we start by looking at ways to use it as a weapon?”
“Something that hard is just asking to be used as one.”
“Very true.”
“It may even be able to injure the Titans.”
Unlike human skin, Titan skin was difficult to penetrate. Just as Angel’s short sword had no effect on the Iron Bamboo, blades could barely touch Titan skin. Even if they did injure a Titan, the monsters possessed extraordinary recuperative powers and healed within minutes. This was one of the reasons Titans were said to be unkillable.
But I don’t know if I really buy that.
Unless they were using magic, healing a wound in moments was impossible.
That, or they truly are monsters…
Either way, Angel couldn’t dispel his doubts until he saw the Titans for himself.
“It seems like Iron Bamboo leaves could be worth using, too.”
“If we can even cook that goose.”
“And that’s going to be up to us.”
“Let’s at least try to come up with something better than bamboo swords.” Angel looked to the sky. “Why don’t we make it our homework for until we head to the factory city? We have such an interesting material on our hands.”
Xenophon threw a hand up and walked off mumbling, “Development geek.”
Angel chuckled, then began to amble, considering different ideas for the Iron Bamboo.
✦ ✦ ✦
With the first cockcrow, the violet eastern sky gradually began to grow white, signaling that dawn had come. Before long, the morning sun would come out into view. The air outside was cold enough to make one’s flesh and bones feel frozen over and to turn every breath steaming white. A cloak wasn’t enough to stave off shivers.
“I understand that the factory city is a secret, but do we really have to leave this early in the morning?”
Angel stretched out as he yawned. He had been too excited to sleep, going the entire night without much rest. The shockingly cold air helped dispel some of his drowsiness, but it still took all his focus to keep from dozing off.
On the other hand, Xenophon, his companion, was the very image of excitement, though his eyes were bloodshot. Perhaps it was not so much that he, too, hadn’t gotten enough sleep, but rather that he’d simply given up on getting any shut-eye at all.
“The city’s construction may be an open secret, but I guess they can’t just put it out in public.”
“Do people already know about the factory city?” Corina remarked insouciantly. She had been allowed to come on the trip as Angel’s assistant.
“No matter how much you try to control information, you can’t sew people’s mouths shut. The anti-establishment groups probably know about it, at least.”
“Politicians might have leaked the information, too. It seems like something you could use as a bargaining chip.”
“It’s a money tree. People must be making all kinds of moves we don’t know about.”
“It’s of no concern to craftsmen like us, though.”
Angel shrugged his shoulders. Even if something political was happening within the royal government, it wasn’t something he, Angel, could do anything about. He didn’t have any interest in politics, either. A craftsman’s job was to develop the best arms possible.
We’re completely prepared. It’s up to whatever ideas we have, now.
Their backpacks were full of all the tools needed to manufacture arms, and they had also brought Iron Bamboo with them as material to work with. They had somehow managed to prune the Iron Bamboo and cut it into one-meter-long pieces. It was the bare minimum of preparation, yet it had taken more labor and ruined tools to complete these minimal steps than to create one of the cannons now sitting on the Wall.
I can’t come back with nothing better than a bamboo sword.
If that were to happen, it would mean more than just a scolding from Caspar. Then again, even if they did manage to create a revolutionary new weapon, whether it would be used or not would be up to how the government officials felt. The political situation would come into play, too. There was even the ridiculous yet real possibility that their creation would be passed on because it was too effective.
I bet it’d be inconvenient for some people if we started defeating Titans…
An external enemy was needed in order to maintain the walled cities. It went without saying that the Titans were being used by some as political leverage.
So in the end, we’re still the ones on the short end of the stick.
As Angel sighed and scratched his head, he noticed Corina looking at him.
“Something wrong?”
“Your collar is twisted.”
Corina reached out and fixed his turned collar.
“You should pay more attention to your appearance.”
“Stop sounding like Maria…”
“I think she would be much stricter than I’m being.”
Corina grinned, then nodded, satisfied with Angel’s appearance.
“What a waste of a master inventor.”
“Shut up,” Angel scowled.
It seemed to be just moments before sunrise. The east sky was growing brighter.
“It looks like our ride is here,” Corina said, pointing down the dim avenue. When Angel’s eyes followed her gesture, he saw a wagon and four mounted soldiers approaching.
“Must be our famous navigators.”
They knew that soldiers were supposed to be leading them to the factory city, but the security was so heavy it seemed as though the troops were there to guard VIPs.
“Were you waiting long?”
An unexpected man held the reins of the wagon on the driver’s seat.
“Solm? When’d you quit your job to work as a coachman?”
“I’d consider it if the money was good, but I’m happy with where I am for the time being.”
Solm stopped the coach in front of Angel and the others, then pointed at the cart.
“I can’t make any guarantees about how comfortable the ride will be, but I promise you’ll get there safely.”
The cart had a canopy top, so it was protected from the elements, but it had no suspension, which meant they would be feeling every bump on the road. In other words, they were in for a rough ride.
“I should probably take something for travel sickness,” Angel sighed as he threw his backpack into the cart.