Marcus said there was a monster in the lake, but Ed didn't believe it; he thought it was just a big fish at most.
This is also a good opportunity to catch some big fish and let everyone know that there are no monsters in the lake.
In the following days, Gray Fortress was bustling with activity. Women were diligently weaving fishing nets, chatting in small groups as they worked.
The children weren't idle either; they were helping to make hemp rope. Making hemp rope is quite simple, and the children could easily do it themselves.
The guard also hunted several deer and some other small game. The success of this hunt was largely due to the use of bows and arrows.
With the increased range of bows and arrows, it is possible to wound or even kill prey without getting very close.
This greatly reduces the risk of prey being startled and fleeing due to getting too close, thus increasing the success rate of the hunt.
Therefore, archery has become increasingly important in the guards, and now everyone is practicing archery.
And everyone is becoming increasingly interested in the super-powerful bow that Ed mentioned last time.
"My lord, when will your bow and arrows be made?" Andrew asked, unable to contain himself.
Andrew glanced at the prey on the ground but did not answer him immediately.
While compound bows are powerful, they are also very difficult to make, requiring a lot of materials.
We need wood (yew is available), deer sinew (already available), animal horns (not available), glue (not available), hemp rope, etc. (Available)
The materials are basically all available now. For glue, we'll use fish glue when we catch fish.
However, compound bows are also very complicated to make; even if you draw them out, Roderick might not be able to make them. Furthermore, they are recurve bows, requiring the wood to be bent.
Ed still planned to make one himself first, and then have Roderick make one based on the same design. However, Ed himself wasn't confident that he could make it perfectly on the first try.
"Andrew, this bow can't be made in a short time. I'll think of a way slowly."
Andrew was a little disappointed.
"By the way, how's Red Iron Village doing?" Ed renamed the temporary camp Red Iron Village, believing that the place would develop sooner or later.
In the future, this place will be a prosperous town with a complete industrial chain, encompassing iron ore mining, ore smelting, and ironware manufacturing. However, it's not even a village yet.
To build Red Iron Village, we need to cut down all the surrounding trees first, otherwise it will be difficult to build if there are too many trees.
However, this posed another problem for Ed, as there were simply no extra people in the territory to cut down trees.
They could only build while cutting down trees; Ed planned to clear out all the forests surrounding Red Iron Village.
Half of the land will be cultivated as farmland, and the other half will be used for the future infrastructure construction of the town.
The inferior trees will be used for charcoal production, while the better ones will be transported to the village. All the mud houses in the village will be replaced with wooden houses.
"My lord, the cedars and the others are doing a great job. They're taking excellent care of the rabbits, and there should be baby rabbits soon." Andrew had been hunting there these past few days, so he was quite familiar with the situation.
"Okay, once we have the little rabbits, let Sugi and the others move to the rabbit hutch in the village."
Rabbits reproduce very quickly, and their territory should be able to solve part of the food problem in the future.
"By the way, where's Smith? What's he doing? I haven't seen him for the past few days."
"He spends all his time in his house in Chitie Village studying those ores."
Andrew looked at Ed and continued, "He said he's going to move his workshop to Red Iron Village."
This requires Ed's consent.
"Well, let him decide for himself!" Ed had no objections; he had originally planned to build Red Iron Village anyway.
"Andrew, process these game. Have Marcus, the butler, make some clothes out of the fur, and smoke all the meat."
After finishing these tasks, Ed planned to visit the rabbit hutch.
"I wonder if Roderick is finished yet?"