Edmund recognized the voice immediately.
Eliza appeared at the end of the hallway, still holding a book in her hands. She looked first at Annie, who was still laughing, and then at Ellaria. Eliza ignored her brother and approached Ellaria with much more restrained curiosity than Annie.
“Eliza Lusignan, at your service.”
Ellaria seemed amused by the formal introduction, and Annie took on the role of summarizing the conversation, with the three of them seeming perfectly comfortable continuing to tease Edmund.
“So you’re the elf Edmund wouldn’t stop talking about in his letters.”
Edmund opened his mouth, but decided not to intervene in the conversation any further as he waited for the preparations for lunch to be ready.
Ellaria watched the scene with an amused smile. She had seen Edmund face creatures much larger than himself, negotiate with merchants, and enter places where any sensible person would have turned around. Yet here, he seemed completely incapable of winning an argument against his sisters.
“The table is ready.”
A new voice came from the stairs.
His mother slowly descended the last few steps, accompanied by Barov, who was carrying several documents under his arm.
Lady Lusignan observed Ellaria for a few moments before turning her gaze toward her son, but Edmund made no move to introduce them.
“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Lusignan.” Ellaria was the one who stepped forward, trying to ease the situation.
“There’s no need for such formality. From what I managed to hear, if you were Edmund’s companion for so long, then you’re part of the family.”
Edmund could almost see the gears turning in his mother’s head as she considered the potential benefits of forming a relationship with an elf.
Annie approached her mother.
“Ellaria was telling us stories about Edmund.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes. She says my brother was a great adventurer in the Empire and that she has plenty of stories to tell us from when they were companions.”
Lady Lusignan’s expression changed slightly. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Then I hope you can entertain us during lunch with some of them,” Camille said, guiding everyone toward their seats and taking the head of the table.
“I’m not much of a storyteller, but I’ll make sure to do my best,” Ellaria replied.
“Come on, try joining these two iron plates,” Edmund said.
Ellaria pressed her finger against the iron joints. A flame shot from her fingertip, melting the surface and fusing the pieces together as she altered reality.
“Good. Try to maintain the temperature and make two weld points on both sides.”
Ellaria nodded and did it once again. The two iron plates were firmly welded together at a ninety-degree angle.
Edmund carefully examined the structure and confirmed that the result was exactly as he had imagined: a perfect weld without defects. With a little polishing, the remnants of molten iron could be removed. There was almost no difference compared to a modern welding method.
“Very good, Ellaria. Simply excellent!” Edmund exclaimed enthusiastically. “Now we should weld these two panels together.”
“Remind me why we’re doing this.”
“We’re going to build a steam engine,” Edmund replied. “Remember that parade in the capital a few years ago, where there was a metal carriage that moved on its own?”
“Oh, yes. I remember. You said it was like a giant kettle.”
“Yes. The cylinder can be filled with steam,” Edmund said, pointing toward another square piece of iron. “See the small hole on top? The steam can enter the cylinder through that hole and push the piston. And because the piston’s diameter is slightly smaller than the cylinder’s, it can move freely inside it.”
Even with the explanation, Ellaria could not understand what he meant. Faced with so many unfamiliar words, she practically had question marks floating over her head. But she had helped Edmund with his experiments many times in the past and had benefited from them herself. Her crossbow and dagger had both been made by him.
It was a schematic diagram that every mechanical engineer was familiar with; in simple terms, it was a larger version of a kettle. After the water boiled, the resulting steam entered the cylinder. There, it pushed a piston connected to a shaft. In this way, thermal energy was converted into mechanical energy.
The principle was very simple, but that did not mean manufacturing it would be easy. The difficulty lay in sealing the cylinder and piston, as well as producing the steam conduit. Without the proper metallurgical techniques and relying solely on manual forging, manufacturing a functional cylinder would be nothing more than a pipe dream.
However, with the help of Edmund’s Chamon magic and Ellaria’s natural affinity for Aqshy magic, they could make it possible.
After meticulous planning, Edmund designed a structure using four iron plates of the same size, like this one, which would then be shaped accordingly. Ellaria would weld the plates together at ninety-degree angles. This would create a highly rigid square cylinder. Read this novel at NovelPing for the best experience.
First, they created a tubular drilling machine and later used it to manufacture a cylindrical one. The other large components could also be divided into smaller pieces and welded together. This made it possible to produce them even in a small workshop. In this way, they managed to manufacture all the components necessary for the steam engine, something that took the Imperial School of Engineers months to accomplish.
In fact, Edmund had discovered that one reason for this was that, although they possessed the ability to do it, their magical creativity was limited by the knowledge they possessed. They used rivets and bolts instead of welding their joints.
After three days of work, Edmund finally had the steam engine installed in the backyard of his home.
“Is this the powerful machine you were talking about?” Ellaria frowned as she examined the strange machine, but she had personally confirmed that it had nothing to do with magic. He had personally shaped each of the iron plates, and to her, it still looked like nothing more than a sealed furnace.
She still did not fully understand what she was helping to build and had given up asking for further explanations about what it would accomplish, but she trusted Edmund’s abilities.
To Edmund, however, this seemingly simple machine radiated the beauty of modern industry. Standing on the shoulders of giants, he did not need to reinvent Newcomen’s steam engine or Watt’s; instead, he had built an improved steam engine. His first prototype was already a high-pressure steam engine with a double connecting rod and a slide valve. To surpass most of the steam engines currently used in the Empire, the key lay in several more recent innovations.
“You’ll understand soon. It’ll be like watching the forces of nature in action.”
Edmund poured a bucket of water into the steam boiler and told Jhon, who stood beside him, to light the firewood.
Ten minutes later, the water was boiling violently. Soon, a creaking sound came from the cylinder. Edmund knew it was the sound of the cylinder undergoing thermal expansion. The expansion of the thin iron piston was much greater than that of the cylinder and would eventually cause it to press firmly against the cylinder wall.
“Isn’t this a water boiler? I didn’t think it really was a furnace,” Jhon muttered.
When the cylinder filled with steam, an exciting scene unfolded. The piston rod began pushing outward, and when the movement reached its maximum point, another rod operated the slide valves, allowing the steam to push the piston inward again. The wheel connected to the two rods began spinning rapidly from this movement, and as the power increased, its speed quickly reached its maximum.
The machine emitted a deafening hum and expelled white steam, creating an unstoppable and imposing aura.
“You call that… the hidden forces of nature?” Ellaria asked, stunned.
“It has enough power to replace the strength of sixty men and move carts twenty times faster.” Edmund ignored the lack of support as he finished connecting the machine to a bladed crank. “Soon, Graymont will be able to produce more with less labor and at lower costs.”
The older knight’s face reflected pure astonishment. The large iron wheel, whose installation had required tremendous effort, now spun with the lightness of a feather. Standing beside the wheel, he could even feel a cool breeze, demonstrating the astonishing power of the steam engine.