The World Dragon's Heir

Chapter 464: Sales Numbers

After much intense discussion, it was decided that for the sake of minimal mana use, the steam-driven turbines would remain.

A closed loop, where cooled steam would condense and return to the water tank, would be used to minimize losses, and to let them use conventional valves to control steam pressure and flow in a way that everyone who operated a steam tractor would be familiar with.

Ease of use was king for new products, and with all the necessary complexities of a huge airship, making it feel familiar to users would bypass many of the mental blocks to making the switch.

It would be the same merchants who were operating ground caravans now that they wanted to sell the airships to, and everyone preferred to feel in control when they were moving, especially when they were in the air.

The sound of laughter caught Dominic’s attention, and the turbine team all turned to see what was going on with the team on the other side of the warehouse.

The tubing extruder was finished, and the dwarves had just realized that they had a small issue. Their manual tubing bender was not powerful enough to bend the upgraded metal, even with the thinner wall materials.

They were going to have to either heat it or use a hydraulic bender to create the frames.

"Hydraulic bender is better. This stuff takes a lot of heat to soften, which is why it’s so good for ore carts. We will just bend it to shape and weld on tabs to bolt the panels to." The blacksmith in charge assured them.

"That’s excellent news. Alright, gentlemen, let’s get this put together. We can celebrate after we get Rill to approve of the cargo hold design and size."

With so many experts, the cargo hold and lower carriage area went together much faster than Dominic had expected, and while there were no controls inside, and none of the necessary furniture for a travelling merchant crew, the cargo hold was suitably cavernous.

"Alright, I will let Rill know that we’ve got an update for him to inspect, but he likely won’t be here until later in the day. If I’m not mistaken, that clock says it’s after midnight now." Dominic realized.

"Aye, we shouldn’t bother him in the middle of the night. But it’s not a rush. We will start on the first hoops for the upper structure in the morning, and then we can start placing the steam chamber and other major parts inside to check weight and balance.

You can go do Noble things, and we will send someone to come update you in a few days." Gully insisted.

"Sounds good to me. Dave will be missing me by now."

The dwarves laughed as the sounds of a snoring troll rumbled in the silence. Dave wasn’t missing anyone, all but one of the trolls who had come to guard Dominic were asleep outside the building.

Larry had brought them soup earlier, and once they had eaten, they all settled in for the night, not expecting Dominic to be going anywhere.

He hadn’t expected to be going anywhere tonight, but they were ahead of schedule, and that gave him time to go home and spend a few days while the professionals did the labour-intensive parts of the job.

They couldn’t finish without the shipments that they were waiting for, but it would take weeks to build the structure, even if they managed to recruit apprentice airship engineers from the school.

Dave quickly woke the others to escort Dominic back home, but left one troll to guard the door of the warehouse.

The dwarves were busy, and there was a chance they would make a new flavour of soup for breakfast. That was a very important consideration.

Dominic was as careful as possible as he snuck into bed so that he didn’t wake Alexis. Coming in just before dawn would not make her happy, especially when she had an early morning training session with the guards and the veiled maids.

So, he was more than a little startled when he woke up with the sun in his face and Alexis in his arms.

A burst of magic activated the curtain pulls, dimming the lights so he could get a few more minutes of rest. If she wasn’t in a hurry to get up, neither was he.

When she did eventually open her eyes, Alexis smiled at him.

"You found us a good one for the maids this time. Excellent work. How is the airship project coming?"

"Not bad. We got approval from the Guild for the specs, and they’ll call Rill over later today to check the mockup of the cargo hold and passenger compartment. It won’t be ready for a few more weeks, but if he approves, then we will have a new product in development."

Alexis mumbled happily as she shifted to lay her head on his chest.

"Wonderful. We got two caravans yesterday, they’re both taking full loads of fireplace inserts. They sold better than expected, apparently, and the repair shop is a big hit.

I have the numbers for this week ready, and they’re better than anyone had expected.

I know that we’re already doing well with all the monster cores, but we’re also solid on physical currency. Nearly an entire truckload of silver arrived with this shipment to pay for the convoys full of fireplace inserts.

According to the driver, they’re expecting to need ten thousand more of them in the next two months, though they’re not sure that they’ll be able to get enough caravans through here to fill the demand.

Chip and West Keria are expecting a colder than usual winter season, and Duke Saldock of Bostoveria has requested five thousand units to retrofit the Noble district around his Palace.

He’s become quite enamoured of magitech lately, especially when it stops the burning of coal and wood in the city.

Saldock City is near a coal mine, so almost all their stoves have traditionally been coal, and his recent trip to Cygnia really enlightened him to the benefits of magical fuel sources."

Dominic smiled down at her. "That is wonderful news. There is nothing better than finding out that we’ve got a full season worth of sales guaranteed."

But there were a million people in Saldock, five thousand units would only cover the Noble district closest to the Duke’s Palace. It would take years to fully convert the city.