"Translate, translate, what is a surprise?"

Dragging over a chair, Horn plopped down on it, resting his leg, which was still in a splint, on the table.

Hilov rolled her wheelchair to her usual workbench and retrieved a white hollow tube from the oak surface.

"Here!"

"Translate, translate." Horn leaned comfortably back in the chair, looking lazy and relaxed.

Hilov, rarely showing a human-like expression, rolled her eyes at Horn, "The surprise is that we've discovered the material to create bone flutes that repel giant spiders, and we can now mass produce them."

"That really is a surprise." Horn immediately sat up straight, "How did you discover it?"

"While copying a book, I suddenly found a mention of a material called shattered dragon bone, sourced from the Dragon Sleep Mountain Range."

"Shattered dragon bone? Sounds like a sword's name."

"The 'shattered' here is an adjective, not a verb. Your cultural literacy seems a bit low."

Hilov joked as she explained to Horn.

This material, named shattered dragon bone, is actually a mineral that needs to be mined from the mountains.

The flute is not carved from bone but crafted by firing the crushed shattered dragon bone.

The alchemical properties of shattered dragon bone itself are weak, thus resembling fluorite, in that it requires a very low environment for alchemical reactions.

So low that even a natural breeze can trigger an alchemical reaction, although it will consume the material's alchemical properties.

This mineral, besides being revered as sacred by the dwarves of the Dragon Worship Sect, is basically useless.

"Shattered dragon bone is a hard material; I suspect it shares properties with gray glowstone, becoming powdery through firing.

So we secretly conducted firing and found it truly workable, and the bone flutes made from it could really repel giant spiders."

Horn was taken aback: "Why do it secretly?"

"Because my old man has an opinion, according to the doctrine of the Dragon Worship Sect, shattered dragon bone is considered part of the body of the created giant dragon, 'those who burn the bones shall be scorched by the dragon's breath.'"

Haljin, standing at the workbench, drilled a small hole wider on the bone flute,

"But it's alright; as long as we don't tell him directly it's shattered dragon bone, he'll pretend not to notice."

Seeing Horn's somewhat surprised look, Haljin explained with a mischievous smile:

"Our generation of reformist dwarves is different from the traditionalist dwarves three hundred years ago.

Back then, for faith and ideals, they moved to the deep mountains and forests and lived there for three hundred years.

What did we get?

A dwindling population, beer as weak as horse urine, all the money pocketed by smugglers, living worse than bandits, who would want such a life?

After the Hundred Years' War ended, our elders tried to reconcile with the Empire. The details are lengthy; simply put, it meant begging for peace and exemption.

Yet, the Empire only opened the borders and still refused to let the dwarves of the Dragon Worship Sect congregate on flat land. Any gathering over ten dwarves would be captured as slaves."

Blowing the powder off the dragon bone flute, Haljin said plainly, "Your Holiness, I'm following you because I don't want to live like that, I just want to drink, eat meat, and sleep with women."

Taking the dragon bone flute from Haljin, Horn gave a long, deep look at this dwarf who had abandoned high ideals.

Bowing his head, he examined the dragon bone flute in his hand and asked Hilov, "According to you, shouldn't only wizards be able to use this flute? How do priests manage it?"

"That brings us to its second special property." Hilov turned her wheelchair around to face Horn, "I'm not sure whether the church discovered it or another secret faction did.

In the incense of ghostwood, the dragon bone flute unexpectedly gets triggered to produce an alchemical reaction.

Then, based on the flute notes played, it can emit peculiar sound waves to drive away giant spiders, and it lasts for half a day.

The priests of the Blue Blood Monastery initially used this method to clear the giant spiders around the orphanage."

"You mean even ordinary people can use the dragon bone flute now?" Horn asked, surprised, as he looked down at the dragon bone flute.

If that's the case, the once-daunting Spider Forest blocking the flow of people will become a clear path.

The earlier wool transportation plan from the Shattered Stone Plain could become a reality.

But this would expose this precious place that can withstand the Imperial Knights.

Or construct a fortress at the previously strategic pass after clearing out the Spider Forest?

Anyway, the current output of mortar greatly exceeds demand.

If infrastructure doesn't bring convenience to transportation, recovering the overall cost would be considerably difficult.

Hilov pointed to Haljin beside her: "No, it's more than that."

"Your Holiness, haven't you noticed, the clothing I'm wearing is quite special?" Haljin cheekily displayed his attire, even spinning once in front of Horn.

Brock, who became a senior executive in the Autumn Dusk Island industrial district, arranged a job as a textiles manager for Harbin to keep his son in check.

This is also the reason why Harbin is here.

Horn reached out and touched Harbin's sleeve.

A soft and comfortable texture brushed against his fingertips, a feel that seemed like silk yet resembled cotton.

Rougher than silk, softer than linen, it felt quite peculiar, akin to the texture of cotton.

"What is this?"

Without keeping Horn in suspense, Harbin directly said, "When I was managing the textile workshop, I thought, spider silk is silk, flax is silk, then why can't spider silk be woven?

So, I sought out the alchemist Robert from the White Mountain Hermitage, and indeed we managed to develop it.

We first experimented with jumping spider silk and found it to be very fine but with very low yield.

The jumping spider is very aggressive; even when playing flute music, it fiercely retaliates or might even die from stress if touched.

The cow spider is much more docile, fleeing when flute music is played and rarely shows aggressive behavior.

Though cow spider silk is not as tough as jumping spider silk, it is more abundant and thicker.

A cow spider can produce a pound of silk daily, with about half a pound being usable, similar in thickness to the finest combed golden wool.

But compared to wool, this spider silk is more lightweight and soft, with much higher strength and elasticity."

Horn immediately widened his eyes: "Have you mastered the method to tame giant spiders?"

Harbin showed a troubled expression, grinning awkwardly as he said, "Not yet. Both cow spiders and jumping spiders are too fierce to control.

The methods used to train livestock are ineffective; we caught three cow spiders and two jumping spiders, and all of them died in captivity...

But if we find a suitable method, this fabric will certainly make huge profits!

This spider cloth is lightweight and warm, extremely durable, and is great for wiping feet, mouths, or making clothes.

Aside from silk, this is the best fabric I've ever seen."

Looking at Harbin and then at Hilov sitting beside him, Horn suddenly realized: "You've come to ask for research funding, haven't you?"

Hilov did not hide: "Yes, this is the first project of our Pope Country's Royal Theological College, hoping for support from His Holiness the Pope."

Horn slowly exhaled, rubbing his swollen temples: "Alright, write a project proposal and submit samples; I estimate you can receive 200-300 gold pounds in research funding."

"Then this project is considered..."

"Filed under, uh, filed under the Senate name, considered semi-private." Saying this, Horn suddenly felt a bit dazed.

Now there are mortar workshops, mountain copper workshops, furniture workshops, etc.

Currently, under his command, the production side achieves above-average production efficiency through alchemical industry, assembly lines, and scientific management.

But the exuberant and rapid development of the production side has led to an unexpected problem for Horn: insufficient consumption.

Put simply, there is no market, it can't be sold.

After the floods, famine struck everywhere, and grain prices soared.

Most people spent on essentials (food and cheap clothing), causing the market for household items to shrink.

This year, Joan of Arc Castle's workshop stockpiled a large number of unsold goods, leading to bankruptcy for this reason.

Thus, Horn even suspended production in the Autumn Dusk Island textile workshop.

He handed over orders for Salvation Army uniforms and spears to the local workshops in Joan of Arc Castle.

Because their production efficiency is lower, they employ more workers and can provide more jobs to maintain the stable order in Joan of Arc Castle.

But this market prosperity maintained by military orders is an abnormal prosperity.

With the domestic consumption market in Langsande County shrinking, the best solution is to export.

But the problem is that although North County to the east of Joan of Arc Castle is an ally, it's incredibly poor.

Even if you want to traverse North County to reach Norn, the small plateau terrain of North County has extremely high transportation costs.

To the south is Ibe Knight of Jinhe Town, belonging to the Church faction, who has now sealed all roads, refusing any merchants in or out.

The west side of Lower Reif County and the Ibe Knights are also part of the Church faction, making it impossible for Horn to negotiate.

Only the southwest in Kasha County, which suffered the least disaster and borders the Falan Kingdom and Black Snake Bay.

It seems whether it's grain or Langsande County's economy, they must rely on Kasha County as a stepping stone.

In a couple of days, need to talk with Martin.

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