Tosra & The Auction, day 5
Borgarsandr Shopping spree
It will be a shopping spree in Borgarsandr, and we split up into several groups, to eventually meet up here at the ship when we're done. We're all going to some places, like visit a couple of shoemakers to get winter shoes.
Iselin has brought Elvira to buy household utensils, grindstones for knives, mirrors, laundry, food, rapeseedoil, spices, etc, and Gunhild protects them, and they will later meet us on the ship, and then take Ciara with them to also visit the seamstress guild. I also sent with Caecilia because there are errands for me, among other things. They will also try to get two normal tents and a large tent so we can make a tent solution like Myrun had, and be prepared for future gatherings etc. Equally good to buy it now together with some fire baskets, although I hope to build a stove in the future.
Kari, Jane and Hillevi will go to the seamstress guild first, where in addition to clothes for themselves they will also buy sets for future extra staff, two nicer matching maids dresses for each maid, check out Jane's improved bra designs, the tabards for the guards with academy logo in two different styles and colors, a few more tunics and pants for me, winter clothes for everyone, as well as fabric for a few deck chairs and draperies, oil lamps wick etc etc. They will also order some flags, banners and pennants. Then they will buy more colors, much much more paper, both for the toilets and crafts, which includes coarser paper for papier-mâché for various things like globes and so on.
While we wait on the quay, I ask Jane, in English which has become our secret language the others do not really understand, what she has talked about with Kari regarding sex, and her smile says it all.
"Oh please, don't even try to complain. But I might find some pleasure in corrupting K and making her explore her kinky side. She just gives off this impression of effortless class and elegance, and she does everything so gracefully and dignified. It's funny imagining her doing normal ungraceful things like going to the loo, or asking to be tied up. Bugger! I bet she managed to do it gracefully and looked elegant, as she begged you to ravage her."
My little snort and smile confirms that yes, she succeeded quite well now that I think about it, and annoyed Jane grumbles: "Argh!" before she sighs.
"K started probing me about Midgård women from day one. And I literally mean during that first trip in to Borgarsandr to buy underwear and dresses. Language was hard, but she didn't let that stop her, and Iselin soon joined in. We talked about cloths, hair, jewellery, piercings and behaviour, what was proper and not. I was careful and thought about not giving them too much, but I soon figured out that their agenda's was - atleast partialy - so they could be more modern Midgård women for you. And you know K became my manager to get sexy lingerie. What I didn't tell you back then, was that I've seen women get that look before. I was going to design it, so she could have it. Or we would be mortal enemies.
But K can be careful and sneaky, and it took me a couple of days before it clicked that she's trying to find out anything about Midgård sex, because we have to be more advance with that too. So I thought about that, and a lot about sex isn't really super secret science stuff, and they're probably doing it here somewhere. I also assumed that you wouldn't complain. So I started dangling some bait, and you just confirmed that she's taking it hook, line and sinker. Woe you."
I know Iselin is trying to get me to talk about Midgård and science, and she loves figuring things out and asking follow-up questions, but when Kari wants something, she seems like the kind of person who focuses on it, and either finds a way or make one, and she seems to have found something she really likes. She does not have that much else to spend time with, and most things sex related are not directly secret science from our world. Kari and Jane seem to have quickly become friends in the last two weeks, but I wonder how much is friendship because they like to hang out, instead of agendas. When they disappear towards the seamstress guild with Hillevi hurrying after, I just have to accept reality and be happy that I have a very beautiful and sexy woman who I think actually loves me, who has found a kinky side and wants to explore it with me. Jane is right; woe me.
A thought comes crashing into my mind, that sooner or later Kari or Jane will find out about the secret basement rooms, especially the most secret eastern part. I have no intention of keeping it a secret from my sambos, I just haven't gotten around to showing them yet. I have honestly forgotten that, because the mansion tours have been with people who should not know. But I'm starting to suspect what Kari might want to do with that room if Jane finds out, at least to try. Kari clearly prefers closed doors and privacy when we have sex, and she was much more restrained when, for example, Iselin was with us in bed. And it does not get much more private than a secret basement room.
The basement rooms have no real purpose, it was because it was possible and a fun idea that I just went with, and I am too weak willed when my sambos really want something that isn't a horrible idea - and they know it. Here there is no home cinema, videogames or pinball machines that I can fill it with Mancave style. A role-playing room would be fun, but I mean RPGs like the Shadowrun or Starwars, or a games room for table top miniatures, etc. Not 'role-play' ala sex.
Wait...
How the hell would I even start explaining Shadowrun to them?
The fantasy, magic and monster part is ironically the easy one; but technology, matrix and such as AR and VR? Levelbased RPGs like Dungeons and Dragon suck, but something like the old Swedish RPG classic 'Drakar och demoner' (Dragons and Demons) will be a much easier system and setting, as it isn't levelbased, and don't require a copious amount of books and rules. I just have to make some D20 and D4, D6, D8 and D10s.
Hummmm. I wonder if a simpler table top miniature game with Vikings and dice wouldn't be interesting for the guards to play with? Cast simpler pewter figures. Perhaps with paint to make them prettier?
Humm again. Maybe in the future I can make a simple electromechanical pinball, because as long as I ignore lamps, the rest is 'relatively simple'. The mechanically most difficult part is actually the points counter, but it is 'quite simple' as long as I stick to points on ten powers like 1-10-100, and design the playing surface to be easier to build, but still have several different elements. There will be no timer or such, but the start can reset the score counter with one arm. I have already designed most of the counter as a odometer for the carriages, and I just need to make it bigger, lighter and electromechanically operated, and at the same time each rotor needs to be able to change, not just geared from the first. It will be a hell of a job to build a pinball machine, but I can have it as a long-term work-in-progress project, and Jane will surely agree to make some nice artwork on it.
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Ciara and Alith accompany me to Craftsman Digraldi. The parts he has made for the reaction ferries will probably work fine. Durable blocks with wheels that will be attached over the steering rope and need to take all the load of the ferry in the current, and large fine bronze bells. The bronze bells he cast have a pretty nice sound, and sounds loud. He does not want to show with full force in here, because it hurts the ears, so should be loud enough.
I place ridiculously many orders. Just the order for many more oil lamps parts with reflectors, for different attachment and also the model with double burners and the newly designed and improved storm lantern is large. Then monocular parts of the straight model for it will be cheaper and easier to make, even as a telescopic tube, and gives the sharpest image. Many more candle lanterns, especially the directed and all around illuminating. The add all larger parts for manometers, safety valves, control valves and more water taps, water supply valves, shower nozzles and more water pumps. Then all parts for machines, bench tools, steam engines, central belt drives, balancing machines, simple lathes and oscillating saws. Several of each, but they are the least prioritized. I have to prioritize the central steam heating and the auction things. However, it's fun to see his and his apprentices reaction as I order more and more, page after page of drawings and sketches.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
I'm also talk him aside and tell him about my Academy plans, and if he could think of recommending someone, perhaps one of his apprentices, who can do such work exclusively for me on the Academy's island, and it will probably mostly be castings, followed by assemblies and fine work. Fixed salary from me regardless of the amount of work, and a nice house with a workshop that I lend out as long as the person works for me. I also need his help in discussing what such a workshop needs in space and equipment.
He takes me more aside and tells me he would be honored to send one of them to me, and that apprentice will very gratefully accept the position. It is difficult for apprentices to create their own lives and workshops; it costs so much, they are dependent on customers and don't want to compete with their old master. Digraldi is just a little unhappy that he will not get a lot of interesting jobs.
I come up with an idea and give Digraldi a suggestion; He will take over all sales and installation of sundials in exchange for me getting a share, and I will refer people to him for this and give him a couple of other designs on sundials, a bit spread out so clients may want one more in the future, which makes him smile, and it will probably be something other than sundial in the future. As he have noticed, I have very funny ideas and designs, and some of them may in the future become something others may be interested in buying. These are still experiments and prototypes. I sell a north arrow 'cheap' to Digraldi so sundial installations are faster and more precisely done and installation isn't that weather dependent, since it will be autumn and winter. When I start making ship and orientation compasses, north arrows will be limitied to the ones needing something compact and discrete, and I would appreciate if the sundial was spread at all. Digraldi is very happy and we quickly sign an agreement which means that I get 2/5 of the money for each installation, and with costs of less than 1/5 he also gets at least 2/5, and he instantly buys the north arrow from me for the 'lower price' of 4 ounces of gold. Not the same massive profit margin I've had before on sundials, but I avoid all the work, and the price of the sundials will drop anyway as the fashion fades. The price I recommend him to charge, is half of what sundials have already been sold for, even if I don't say so, so I suspect it will give another rush. Then it is possible to start making custom made unique and more beautiful variants.
Iselin will come and fetch him and whoever he wants to take care of installations for him, to show and train them during the next installation round. All future sundial installations will be Digraldis.
It feels good to know that I will have my own craftsman for this type of casting work etc at the beginning of the year, and I have received good directives on what needs to be built in terms of workshop space and equipment, so I think it I will call it a foundry or 'hot work' add-on building.
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We then move on to the glassmaker for glass for oil lamps, monoculars and lanterns, which is a lot. I only ordering the glass model that I now know is best for oil lamps, and add four extra. I happened to break one, and will replace the three worst preforming, even though they are not really a big problem. But they will look more the same. I ask him to make some simple 60 degree prisms as well, and some ships deckprisms. I also order some nice smaller glass plates as I intend to try to make sunglasses, all in the same size and with bevelled edges. Three colors, a darker slightly blue-green, a orange yellow that isn't actually dark, and a darker redish amber colored, eight lenses of each but as distortion-free and clear without bubbles as possible. Lack of micro bubbles are important as I can grind to limit distorsion, but can to shit to eliminate bubbles, and thats why the orange yellow was included, it just seem really clear. It might actually be good for normal glasses to correct eyesight. Yellow will help limit the spectrum to maybe a third, and dampen blue and highest red from causing focus problem, while keeping the important green-yellow-orange part in the middle. I take the opportunity to buy some larger glass plates in different sizes to just have it available for stuff that need a front glass or protection.
We go on to the leathermaker who made straps and covers for the monoculars last time so he can make more.
The copper guild has done a really good job with the copper wire, and I pick up the kilometer they made, wound up on five large rolls. It is difficult to make long fine metal wire by hand, as they don't have modern machines for this. Basically you start by forming a rod, which is tapped and pulled through dies making it thinner and thinner, and it gets longer and longer. The process requires the metal to be soft and pliable enough, like gold, silver or copper. In this case, the guild's craftsmen have also fused the ends of already drawn wire so that they become longer and rolled them up on rolls. I am grateful that I do not have to spend time on it, and I am happy to pay for the job. And it is really the job that is the biggest part of the cost.
When I order two thousand fathoms more, about 3km with 1km in the finest diameter, the man who runs the guild just looks at me before accepting, and in the background I see a couple of craftsmen just going speechless, but they are happy for the order. For them its almost absurd, because what can so much copper wire be used for? But I put copper on a roof, and have ordered so many weird things in copper already, and they are happy to do the job if I give them the silver, and as usual I seem to get a nice discount due to the amount. Any future tests with telegraph or telephone will require a lot of copper wire, so it will not be the last order they get from me. When I ask them to dip the wire in that paint type that sticks best to the surface, and do it twice, they will of course do it, but their thoughts are more 'what is this maniac using it for?'. I finish my ordering with more copper pipes, radiators, etc, and the man in charge just accept it with nods and change the total.
We visit the potter and order five hundred insulators of a few different types. If I use an insulator per two meters of wire, 1500 insulators will be needed. The potter is definitely happy that she can make them via simple molds. She also thinks my smaller battery vessel is interesting, and will be made with the lessons learned from the vessels made so far by both her and me. There are many projects that require a smaller battery, so the only practical one is a small multi-cell vessel. It's a bit like a small 12V motorbike battery and will have a small capacity, and I guess it won't be not much better than a rechargable 9V battery, just higher voltage. By making the connection of the cells in the vessel in different ways, it is possible to make it a 2V, 4V, 6V or 12V battery. Charging will be tricky, but it's the way it is. Finally, she accepts an order that is unexpectedly 'normal', of 16 larger 10 liter vessels with lids and strong handles on the side. They should be as red-orange as she can make them, with a self-explanatory image pressed into the clay between the handles. The vessel used to send water against flames. These will be primitive fire extinguishers, and are a priority. She quickly understands and like the idea.
The window maker am very delighted when I get there, and happily accept more orders on all the windows for the small houses, the barn, four craft houses and the inn. I also place orders for the greenhouse's 42 square meters, and the interior windows for all the mansions windows that should have it as well, because they are many. None of the new orders should have iron lattice reinforcements so its cheaper to manufacture and faster, especially since the greenhouse windows have far less demands in quality and he can use the inferior glass panes when making those. The thing that most distinguishes interior windows from, for example, greenhouse windows, is the frame they sit in and the mounting. A little selfishly, I ask him to prioritize 17 interior windows, so that all bedrooms and my study quickly get double glazing, and to try if it is possible to polish the best glass tiles for less distortion and group them in a diamond pattern in the middle, which is a new idea for him.
I have the silver, and will sooner or later install it anyway, so I might as well do it as early as possible to get the most benefit from it. Winter is comming. More windows have been finished, including some mosaic windows like to the guard's attic room, and also some basement windows, so instead of waiting until more windows are finished, I tell him to deliver them to my ship today.
I visit several carpenters. He who made the parts for the first wind turbine can make two more with improved screwed blades that provide slightly more even charging and more efficient use of the wind. He also gets to make many more wooden boards for Jane to paint on, as she has proven her skills more than enough, and everything takes time to make. The cost of a pile of wooden boards for her to use is almost like taking a piss in a river compared to the outflow of silver for everything else.
Another carpenter gets to make more deck chairs, interior doors and more furniture. A third to make additional furniture, beds, etc. There are more houses to equip, and there will be a few more built, but I choose cheaper simpler furniture without much carving for them for the most part. Some furniture have already been made, so I buy what fits and ask them to deliver to my ship. I ask the last carpenter to shape a template for an inner shape of a large hemisphere with a diameter of 80cm, and he looks a little funny at that weird and diffcult job, but is of course willing to do so as cash is king, and I ask him to also construct three stands with arches to hold up the finished globes with 10mm hole for shafts. I intend to make a papier-mâché solution to create a paper globe inside the mold. Two halves will assemble into a globe.
A blacksmith is commissioned to make a simpler steam boiler, and he is very happy to do some iron work for me, and not in the least surprised that it is something new. I definitely have a reputation.
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