Chapter 278: Chapter 278: Do We Really Need That Much?

"Wait, no. Orders to capture them alive when possible can be issued—as long as we ensure the combat clerics’ safety. But the search speed can’t slow down. We need to bring in more combat clerics to this area. We absolutely must eliminate all these creatures if possible."

Lava General quickly realized his thinking might have been a bit off.

The iron mine was what mattered most right now.

Magic-tech industry needed tons of iron ore in so many areas.

New-style buildings and houses also needed massive amounts of iron ore.

The continent’s number one iron mine absolutely couldn’t have any risks. It had to be fully developed and produce on a large scale.

Having creatures inside the mine that posed a major threat to ordinary people was unacceptable. It was irresponsible to the miners and to future development.

If these creatures really needed to survive in this environment, if the slime they secreted could really be used to make tires, then their best option was definitely to capture them and breed them on a large scale—just like the pig farms Viscount Roster was working on right now.

Lava General quickly worked out a plan. Looking at the final version, he nodded with satisfaction. "But before heading to Foster Iron Mine, I still need to check out their smelting situation."

He already understood the iron ore output situation.

Efficiency was low, but the scale was still decent.

However, he’d been too busy to check on the smelting side these past few days. Now that he was going to be stationed at Foster Iron Mine, he figured he’d take a look at the supporting facilities first. If the situation wasn’t great, he’d need to start arranging for the establishment of an ironworks.

He believed this country’s king definitely wouldn’t be stingy about spending another chunk of money to solve the problem once and for all.

After contacting a dragon from Dragon Delivery, Lava General headed straight out the door.

Several middle-aged humans who looked somewhat imposing instantly changed their expressions the moment they saw Lava General: "General, do you have any arrangements?"

"I need to go to the ironworks." Lava General glanced at them, his brow furrowing slightly. He really didn’t like their current expressions.

He preferred their defiant look.

After all, they were lords of this area. These expressions were just... After hesitating slightly, Lava General ultimately didn’t say anything.

Whatever. Having them respect him didn’t seem like a bad thing.

At least they were seriously doing what he assigned them. At this stage, as long as they got things done, nothing else mattered.

"Right away, I’ll arrange it for you."

The lord immediately bowed and quickly started making calls.

The metallurgy area wasn’t far from the mine. The carriage moved quickly. Through the carriage window, Lava General saw houses everywhere built by the miners themselves—as crude as they could be. A slightly stronger wind might knock them down. His frown deepened.

"How’s the construction of those new-style houses I asked you to build coming along?"

"Materials are almost ready. His Majesty has dispatched some magicians here. If nothing unexpected happens, construction should begin within three days and be completed within 50 days."

The lord knew these issues like the back of his hand. After hearing the question, he responded immediately without any hesitation.

"Good, finish it as soon as possible... Don’t worry, I won’t make you give away houses for free. These houses will actually make your mine more efficient."

Lava General seemed to sense something and casually added that line.

Hearing this, the lord’s expression clearly relaxed a bit.

Though he still didn’t quite understand, someone of Lava General’s stature definitely wouldn’t lie to him, right...

"How much iron can you produce here in a year?"

Lava General had seen the magic blast furnaces in Roster’s territory in the group chat. He knew about Roster’s territory’s incredible iron ore production efficiency. Looking at the situation here, it was really kind of... unwatchable.

Everything was done by human labor.

Two people at each furnace.

Each furnace could apparently only smelt about a hundred pounds of iron ore at a time.

What kind of efficiency was that?

The supporting metallurgy area for the continent’s number one iron mine was this pathetic?

"General, we have 3,000 people engaged in smelting work here. We can produce about 2 million pounds of iron per year, absolutely one of the best on the continent..."

Talking about this, pride showed on the lord’s face. Before coming here, he’d done his homework and knew the specific situation. He’d also looked into the situations in other places on the continent.

Before, he just knew his place was really good. But after comparing, he discovered they were truly exceptional. The seventeen surrounding countries combined only produced about 1 million pounds of iron per year.

The Gray Fort Empire was indeed impressive—they could produce nearly 10 million pounds of iron annually. But that was because they were vast, with countless lords stacking up, countless cities joining forces to achieve that.

The largest single territory produced about 800,000 pounds per year—still far, far behind them.

The Dawn Kingdom’s situation was similar to Gray Fort Empire.

Aside from the legendary dwarves, there probably wasn’t any other area as strong as theirs.

However, before he could finish, Lava General shook his head slightly. "Just over 2 million pounds—that’s about 1,000 tons. Right now, Viscount Roster’s place produces about that much iron ore in ten days, and the potential hasn’t been fully activated yet."

"A thousand tons? 100 tons per day?!"

The lord’s previously proud expression instantly collapsed, his face filled with disbelief. How could such a place exist in this world?

Viscount Roster... Though he knew this Roster was the first member to join the Church of Technology and was the main area where the Church was based for reforms, wasn’t this way too exaggerated?

They had the world’s largest iron mine and such a large scale of smelting workers. How could their annual output only equal what the other guy produced in ten days?

What would anyone even use that much iron for?

"Not only have you not properly developed your mining area, but your metallurgy capabilities are also extremely primitive."

Lava General pondered briefly: "I’ll reach out to Roster’s territory later and borrow a senior manager from their metallurgy department to lead the reforms. I don’t know much about this area."

"You go report this. Of course, if your family can afford it, you can invest directly. Let’s set a small goal first—multiply iron production by 300. Produce 300,000 tons per year. That should barely be enough once the mine is fully developed."

???

Produce 300,000 tons per year?

Barely enough for mine development?!

What exactly was Lava General trying to do?

"Are you sure you didn’t get the numbers wrong?"

After a moment of silence, watching Lava General still seriously observing the surroundings, the lord carefully asked: "That much iron would be enough to equip a heavy cavalry force, even... with some left over."