"Okay... and I'll just leave then?"
"No, you'd better stay and leave with him."
Smail frowned again.
However, thinking of the other party's profession, and the judgment generated based on that profession... that slight possibility, he still did not show his impatience, and went out to bring Hughes in as the girl instructed.
"Oh! Miss Hitzfeld!" Hughes, holding a cowboy hat in his hand, was very nervous when he saw the three people.
This was nothing like the meeting he had imagined!
Why is Mapus Darent here too?
And that fierce-looking black-haired woman... She always reminded him of the legendary secret police. Were they going to surround him and interrogate him?
"Don't be nervous, I'm just asking you a few questions." Xia Yibing spoke up to try to comfort him.
But it had the opposite effect, the fat businessman looked even more nervous.
"Sit down." Hitzfeld asked Hughes to sit down.
Then he asked directly: "I want to find out from Mr. Hughes how the red clay market around Onsin works, as well as the sales channels of the red clay and all its special functions."
Hughes obviously trusted Hitzfeld more than anyone else. He immediately told him everything he knew, and even mentioned the names of several buyers - if he could return safely this time, he would sell the clay to them.
"You mean to say that those pottery pots only need to add a little red clay during the firing process?"
"Yes, miss! You don't need to use it all... Only those crazy people who engage in art would waste it like that. Normally, just a little is enough."
"Will this kind of jar or bottle be deformed after burning?"
"It can only be said that there is a chance, but it is so small that it can be ignored."
"The transformed image also has the appearance of a god's shadow and sacred symbols?"
"It is said that it is, but because it is so rare, I have never seen it."
"If the chances are so low, what's the point of adding red soil?"
"Because that kind of jar is very strong."
"Sturdy?"
"Yes... After adding red clay, the objects fired... can't be said to be very hard, right? They have a kind of... a little bit of... elasticity? As for elasticity... the possibility of them being broken by impact is very low, which makes them much more useful than ordinary clay pots or even wooden boxes."
"Hmm..." Hitzfeld pondered for a while, then spoke again: "Is there any exception?"
"…What special case?"
"That's right, it might be a product that failed in the firing process. It looks dark and distorted... It looks ominous."
"Ah? That's a normal failure, right?" Hughes still didn't understand. "I don't know... If there is any, it should be destroyed immediately. It's impossible to sell such things?"
He didn't understand...but the people around him, especially Smail, had their eyes shining as they listened.
Sure enough, his guess was right.
This detective...Esun Hitzfeld...
She was investigating aesthesia! And her investigation was focused on these pots!
This is indeed possible, because this is definitely the biggest common point among all patients - almost every household in Onsein has red clay pots!
He hadn't thought of such an obvious doubt for so long... I can only say that professionals are different and have completely different perspectives on things.
Thinking of this, he became even more restless.
But it was different from before - this time he was excited, and Smail couldn't wait to go back and investigate the matter further.
After all, there is an extremely huge trading market involved behind it.
It’s hard to imagine. If all the pottery jars really have problems, doesn’t that mean that all the residents around Wengsayin may be cursed?
This result is too terrible, he must handle it with caution...the slightest slackness will not be forgiven.
Over there, Hitzfeld had basically finished questioning Hughes.
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Hughes."
As she said this, the fat businessman quickly wiped the sweat off his face and almost collapsed on the sofa.
"But I have one more request."
"Just speak up!"
"I want to see the firing process of those things." said Hitzfeld.
"I want to see how they have changed so much."
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Three updates tomorrow!
Chapter 26 Kiln
Relying on the huge market, there are many earthen kilns in the city of Onsin that specialize in firing red clay. Led by Hughes, Hitzfeld and his party found one of them, and she looked up before entering.
"Jinde Fire Company." Hughes noticed her movements and took the initiative to read out the name on the plaque: "They should be the largest fire company in the living area. Even if they are not, they are among the top three."
The so-called fire trade refers to all crafts that focus on forging products, including not only pottery and porcelain products, but also the forging of horseshoes, weapons, and armor.
Standing outside the door, they could already see billowing black smoke rising from behind.
Apparently, the fire furnace had already started working, but I didn't know whether it was a forge or a kiln.
"Jinde Fire Company has a formal business license." Smail came up from behind and glanced at the girl. "Their largest orders come from the fortress, and they are responsible for processing guns and bullets for the garrison."
Hitzfeld nodded, remembering the jokes Darent had often made when they came here by airship.
As we entered the Fire Gate, servants immediately came to greet us.
They didn't know Hitzfeld, but Smail's iconic white hair was well known to everyone around him. The guest accompanying him was certainly not an ordinary person.
The arrival of this group of people directly alarmed the boss of the Fire Bank. Mark Kind ran down from upstairs and seemed to be going to receive them personally.
This was also a man like Hughes... less than meters tall, a little overweight, with two carefully trimmed mustaches on his lips and a clean-shaven chin.
"Welcome everyone!" He first hugged Hughes, then opened his arms to the others: "What would you like to see?"
"Pottery pots," Smail said. "All of them. It's best to take us directly to the firing site."
Jin De was stunned for a moment. This was completely different from what he expected.
However, he was also a thoughtful person. He did not show it on his face. He led them very obediently. He took the group along the path into the backyard and pointed to a row of clay sculptures placed against the wall and said, "Those are the ones. That's the firing site."
Those are the kilns. They are all built with red bricks. The surface is not sealed strictly, and many parts are not covered with paint, so you can still see the texture of the bricks.
Darent stood nearby and observed for a while, and found that the workers' way of firing pottery was still relatively primitive.
They first used a cart to pull in the stacked pottery embryos - all of them were placed on neatly cut stone slabs. Each stone slab could hold 10 to 20 embryos, depending on the type of pottery embryos. Then they broke the seal of the kiln, waited for the inside to cool slightly, lifted the stone slabs with special pliers, and stuck them to the wall inside the kiln layer by layer.
"It will burn faster this way." Jin De was still waving his hand and introducing, "We can control the temperature and the space between each layer... Experiments have shown that this is the most efficient method. We can cram in up to three layers at a time."
As he was explaining, the workers had already finished loading the two furnaces at the edge. They dug out wet mud from another cart and sealed up the holes they had just made.
"Is it sealed in there?" Darent asked with interest.
"No, there is a smoke exhaust hole at the back." Jin De shook his head. "There is an ash pit below. If we need to temporarily control the temperature, we can also open the air vents. This generation of kilns is already very complete."
"Look over there." He suddenly pointed to the kiln on the far right, "Another set of jars can be produced!"
He took them around and watched the workers breaking down the mud seals and taking out the pottery jars that had been preliminarily fired.
Hitzfeld took a look...the ones at the top were indeed good products, each one had a full belly and bright colors, and the jars on each board were of the same specifications - they were just carved from the same mold.
It's just that the overall luck of this batch of jars was bad. In total, 18 out of 7 pottery jars were burned, and the yield rate was less than two-thirds.
"I guarantee this was an accident!" Jin De broke out in a cold sweat, "Normally, at most three would be burned in one furnace!"
Although he didn't know why these people had nothing better to do than to come and watch the pots being boiled, since they were guests, and among them were big shots like Knight Smail, any bad performance would be disastrous.
But what surprised him and made him confused was that Knight Smail did not look angry, but rather seemed somewhat happy?
What's the situation?
Can a low yield rate be a good thing?
"Hitzfeld." Knight Smail pointed to a burnt jar in front of him, "Would you like to take a look and see what's wrong with this thing?"
On the way, Hitzfeld had hinted that she had seen a grotesque vase that was completely charred in Port Wein.
It was a cursed item, marked as coming from the Worm Plains. It was probably a craft mixed with red clay, but I didn't know why it turned into the appearance she described.
Anyway, in Smail's impression, it is impossible for that kind of thing to be mixed in the pottery exported from the town behind.
They have very strict controls and any problematic items will be destroyed on the spot.
But he was still uneasy... Plus, he knew that Hitzfeld was a Devourer, and Devourers' perception was usually stronger, so he wanted to let the girl see it before he could feel at ease.
Hitzfeld glanced briefly at the burnt pottery jars and shook his head slightly under everyone's gaze.
"Is it okay?" Xia Yibing frowned.
She saw clearly that among the collapsed fragments, one of them had the outline of some carvings on its surface. It was undoubtedly the "lucky work of art" that Smail had mentioned.
"At least I don't feel any evil curse." Hitzfeld still shook his head.
This was indeed a bit strange. According to her prediction, if the source of the curse was red clay, then all red clay products would have problems and could spread the worm curse.
This might be the worst... If it comes true, it won't just be the Onsayin Plain that will suffer, but also most of Sara - all areas where red clay pottery has flowed into will have to be cleared out.
Of course, considering that Weng Saiyin has been doing this for more than a hundred years and nothing has gone wrong for such a long time, this possibility is actually not very high.
The other type is more conservative... Most of the red clay pottery is fine, but there are some defective ones... that is, those special ones... that have been deformed, they have problems.
But the red clay products before them now include "intact", "burned" and "burned lucky works of art".
If there is nothing wrong with them, then could the problem come from those "objects made entirely of red clay"?
"This... Sir! What are you talking about?"
Jin De asked anxiously.
He really doesn't understand.
The less he understood, the more terrified he became about what these people wanted to do.
"Don't get excited..." Hughes held him back and whispered in his ear, "It's actually about the curse..."
"Knight." Xia Yibing called Smail, "I remember you received a report on the way saying that many of those who are currently suffering from the curse are working in the Fire Element."
Smail nodded.
Otherwise he wouldn't have treated it like a formidable enemy right from the start.
"This is an obvious commonality, right? Why didn't you find it out at the beginning?"
Xia Yibing was puzzled.
"Because the specific duties are different." Smail was helpless. "If those people were furnace workers, they would be very conspicuous... But there are many types of jobs in the fire industry. There are not many furnace workers among that group of people. Instead, the majority are cleaners, accounting for a full one-third."①
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①: Those who are in the fire element are proposed first among the cursed people, and then one third is counted from this group of people, so it is not obvious.
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"The cleaner..."
"Yes, those people have touched everything. That's why it's hard to judge."
Hitzfeld, who had been pondering, heard this conversation, raised his head to look at the kiln in front of him, and stared at the rows of chimneys rising from the back of the kiln in a daze.
"What are you looking at?" Darent came closer.
"Those chimneys..." Hitzfeld ignored him and turned up the volume to call out to Kinder, "How often are those chimneys usually cleaned?"
"About a month...what happened?" Jin De opened his eyes blankly.
"One month..."
Xia Yibing glared: "The last time you cleaned it was a month ago?"
"Yes...how did you know?" Jin De asked in a surprised tone.
"Then we should be here just in time." Hitzfeld finally smiled. She raised her hand and pointed at the row of kilns: "Let's stop production first."
