Chapter 547: Tell Me Everything

That being said, the Head Treasurer still felt she needed to do her due-diligence on such matters, so she immediately pulled out a rather large notebook from her Space Bag and flipped it open.

This set of records was something Quinn had her subordinates had specifically prepared for today. Since this meeting was being held in Torren Ridge, she had assumed it was related to the mining industry and had thus pulled all the relevant information about the subject that she could from the family’s archives.

With the latest records of iron inventories and production in front of her, Quinn declared, "Currently, we have around 8,000 tons of Mortal Grade iron and 500 tons of Mortal Grade steel in our stockpiles. Production wise, we extract an average of about 3,000 tons of iron a year from our mines, with over 80% coming from Torren Ridge itself."

"Oh? That’s more than I had estimated," Lucas mused, asking a follow up, "I assume somewhere between 5 and 10% of all the nation’s iron reserves and mining activity take place in the Balfour March, yes?"

Looking up from her notebook, Quinn nodded, "I don’t have exact figures for the rest of the kingdom, but that sounds about right."

"So, 30,000 to 35,000 tons of usable iron is produced each year, the overwhelming majority of it being the most basic Mid-Rank Mortal Grade Tier 1 metal," Lucas quickly calculated before shaking his head, "That’s nowhere near enough."

"Really?" Quinn tilted her head slightly, "I know Misty City has recently been consuming quite a bit of iron and steel, but how much more do you expect demand to rise?"

If Lucas was anticipating another 10 or 20% increase in consumption compared to previous years, Quinn felt that increasing production at their mines wasn’t a top priority. Tweaking existing systems to improve efficiency was naturally a good thing, but large-scale upgrades were always expensive, especially when they needed to be done quickly.

In Quinn’s opinion, rather that dedicating massive amounts of money to such upgrades, increasing imports from other parts of the nation, or even from friendly neighbouring countries like the Zilon Kingdom, would be a better option for a short-term spike in consumption.

As for upgrading the mines, that could still be done but at a more gradual pace which would cost less and cause less disruption.

"10 or 20 times over the next 2 to 3 years," Lucas replied casually in the next instant, seemingly having long ago prepared the number.

"In that cas..." Quinn began, before abruptly halting, her eyes bulging as she stuttered, "I’m sorry... did you say, 10 or 20 times? Like, not 10 or 20 percent, but 10 or 20 times?"

"En, 10 or 20 times," Lucas nodded, his expression completely serious.

"That’s... impossible!" Quinn leapt up from her chair, "I know the forges in Misty City have been far busier than normal ever since the beginning of the year, but how could that alone increase the Balfour March’s consumption of iron 20-fold in just the next 3 years?!"

"Oh, no no no, you misunderstand me," Lucas chuckled.

Hearing this Quinn was about to breath a sigh of relief, when the boy followed up by saying, "I meant the Rockwell Kingdom’s consumption of iron is going to increase by 20 times over the next 3 years, conservatively."

This time, Head Treasurer Oxley’s jaw just dropped open and stayed there, her brain temporarily shutting down after failing to process this outrageous statement.

It was only after a good half-a-minute that Quinn rebooted, but unexpectedly, she didn’t shout again, nor did she make any kind of fuss, she simply sat back down with a calm expression and asked, "How and why?"

Lucas was again impressed, understanding more and more why this ’young’ woman had been given such a prestigious and important position in the Balfour Family; her ability to adapt was truly impressive.

Still, the more competent the one handling the Balfour Family’s money was, the more effort Lucas knew he would have to put in to extract funding from her.

Fortunately, this time, that wouldn’t be a problem.

Pulling out a notebook of his own, Lucas opened it to a large illustration and then turned it to face Quinn, explaining as he did so, "This is the LBM Mark 1 Steam Engine, a first-of-its kind machine capable of replacing the labour of dozens of people or 5 to 10 draft animals. It is similar to a waterwheel or windmill, but runs by burning wood or charcoal to boil water, so it can be installed anywhere there is a sufficient supply of both."

Studying the well-annotated diagram, Quinn was able to get the basic gist of how this machine was supposed to function. She didn’t understand the principles behind it, but if it really did what Lucas said it did, it would bring about an enormous change to numerous industries not just the Balfour March, but the Rockwell Kingdom as a whole.

"Truthfully, almost all of the increased consumption of iron in Misty City these past 6 months has been a direct result of our research into this steam engine," Lucas continued, "It’s taken quite a few failures, but Old Brax... but Head Blacksmith Levitt and I believe we have reached a point where we can start integrating the LBM 1 into certain specific industries; mining, ore processing, and smithing being chief among them."

"You might understand it better if I say this is the end result of Project Revolution," Allina added from the side.

This additional bit of information did clear up a number of questions Quinn had, but it also created several more, first among which was who came up with such an innovative concept and what that person’s true objective was; however, she understood that such curiosities weren’t important right now.

Glancing at a table labeled ’Bill of Materials’, Quinn read just how much iron and other raw materials were required to build one of these ’steam engines’ and instantly understood how Lucas had come up with the idea that metal consumption was about to experience an unprecedented spike.

Tearing her eyes away from the diagram, Quinn Oxley stared hard across the table at Lucas for a time before practically demanding, "Tell me everything."