Chapter 345 - 296: Idiot No. 1

"Of all these patterns, this is the only one we already have," Agatha said, waving a piece of paper at Shire, who sat across from her.

"Is that so? That means the others are all new, then?" Shire glanced at the papers on the table before looking up and scanning his surroundings.

They were in the Rune Language Material Warehouse, which had been completely converted into Agatha's workshop. She had even moved in her own bookshelf, desk, and a bed.

Not far away, Caocao and his clone, "Red Ultraman," were hauling a two-meter-long White Holy Stone into a corner. Meanwhile, Agatha's assistant, Lame Leg, was grumbling to himself in what sounded like simple Common Speech as he washed something.

"This place has completely become your workshop," Shire said with a smile. "It's so much bigger than that little cabin where we met before."

"Mmm, it was too much trouble running back and forth all the time," Agatha said, picking up the papers again and studying the patterns on them. She hadn't looked at Shire once, as if the goblin was just a means to an end. "Your draftsmanship is terrible. I can't make heads or tails of what these patterns are supposed to represent."

"Hey, it's good enough," Shire retorted, tapping the table. "You can't expect more from a goblin, especially not one who was drawing in bone-chillingly cold water."

"Fine," Agatha said, putting down the drawings. "Lame Leg should have that controller cleaned in a little while. As for the other patterns, I want to make a trip to the Frogman Race and check out the pool myself."

Hearing this, Shire shrugged. "Sure. Oreco is leading a group with the Worker Ants to deliver the first batch of supplies to the Frogmen soon anyway. You can just go with them."

Shire hadn't moved the Frogman Race into the Fortress. Even though it had an underground river, the water was too cold. He figured it would be better to eventually settle them on the shores of Darren Lake instead. For now, he had only brought a few jars of Black Mud back to the Fortress, planning to test it out first on the cabins the Centaurs were building.

He had previously suggested to Evita, the Centaur Clan Leader, that they build fireplaces in the cabins. However, after learning they would need bricks and an adhesive, Evita had temporarily rejected the idea. She felt it required too many materials, which could slow down construction and prevent all her people from getting comfortable shelter as quickly as possible.

Now that he had the Black Mud, Shire needed to familiarize himself with how to use this new building material.

"Oh, right. A letter from Uncle Musa came the day you left," Agatha suddenly recalled. She leaned over and pulled a letter from a desk drawer.

Before he left, Shire had specifically instructed Agatha to hold onto any letters from Uncle Musa and give them to him personally upon his return. The intelligence from Uncle Musa was more important than the information passed along by Mary, and leaving the letter with Agatha ensured it wouldn't get lost.

"Uncle Musa has already set off for Torch City. He's taking the Fran administrative route again this time." Shire opened the letter in front of Agatha and began to read it slowly. Agatha, however, paid him no mind, engrossed in her examination of the drawings.

"When are the Centaurs leaving?" Agatha asked, arranging the drawings on her desk and staring at the sequence of the Runes.

"Soon, as soon as Mary buys the Light Beer and smoked fish," Shire replied, refolding the letter and slipping it back into the envelope. He'd checked the wax seal when he took it—it was still intact. Agatha hadn't opened it at all.

"Then that means I need to speed things up with the Rune Cannon."

"How is the Rune Cannon coming along?" Shire asked, raising an eyebrow at Agatha's statement. He remembered seeing her working on the sights before he left, and wondered what progress she'd made since then.

"Almost done. The sight is finished, I just need to modify the base. If I'm fast, I might have a prototype ready by tomorrow." Agatha pointed to a rather small metal component on the workbench. "As you suggested, I simplified the operating procedures and the measurement scale. Now even Caocao could easily figure out how to use it."

"Oh, really?" Shire hopped off his chair and walked over to the workbench to pick up the sight. It was made of copper, its surface a gleaming yellow. It only had four markings engraved on it, each indicating a different range, making its use obvious at a glance. "This thing looks like a piece from a children's toy."

"I did borrow the idea from one," Agatha replied without turning around.

'So, you just line up the fixed pointer while adjusting the cannon's incline to control the range,' Shire mused, turning the sight over and over in his hands. It had four fixed range settings. All you had to do was determine the target range, adjust the cannon's elevation to match the corresponding mark, and fire.

'It wasn't like his past life, where a spotter would call out the range and wind speed for a gunner to rapidly calculate the elevation and firing data, then adjust the mortar to launch a shell. Still, Shire had his precision Centaur Archers. In battle, he could have the Centaurs shoot a few arrows into the ground to mark the ranges in advance. Then, as the enemy charged to those markers, he could just unleash the cannonballs.'