Chapter 980 - The Hope Empire Coin - Part 2
"Bring the coin molds here," Agnus shouted before heading to the ovens and checking the liquid himself. He even took some pieces out and started to hammer them hard.
But his men did a brilliant job here. All the melted Gruben ores were now purified from any dirt or impurities.
"Ready," he shouted before moving a plate from one oven. The ovens here were much smaller than his. So each one only contained a group of five plates at max.
As he took the plate out, he hurriedly poured a small amount of the hot liquid inside each space while shouting.
"Put the balls in each space I filled, hurry!"
He had workers following him while carrying the readied purple balls he made. All they had to do was to put the balls inside the semi-filled space before he returned to fill them up.
"Bring the other mold!" as he was filling the holes inside the mold, he demanded the second part.
He was supposed to put the two against each other. Arthur thought he would fill the other one before placing the two sides against each other.
But he didn't do that.
Once the mold was brought, and as he finished pouring his liquid, he asked the workers to put the two on top of each other.
At this moment Arthur realized two things he missed about the second mold.
The first thing was that the holes were made identical to the ones in the first mold. The second thing was the presence of small holes in the back of that mold.
So once the two molds were placed together, Agnus took out a small needle-like metallic tube before his blacksmiths moved to assist him.
Under the watchful gazes of Arthur, the workers took the plate back and brought another. Also few stood beside Agnus and held similar needles like him.
They all placed the needles inside the holes. Before proceeding any further, they made sure the distance of the needles was enough to not cause any problems in the final product.
"Bring the distillers!" Agnus demanded and then more blacksmiths came and took out a strange tube that was narrow at one end and very wide at the other.
"Have you calibrated it?" Agnus asked and they nodded. Arthur on the side didn't know what he was speaking about until they started pouring the liquid.
He noticed the presence of a mark over each tube. The moment the liquid reached it, those holding the plate stopped pouring any more.
"So they measured the amount needed to fill the molds before doing it… Brilliant!" Sara on his side said in pure admiration, and Arthur could only nod in agreement.
"It's really nice to have smart and capable people beside you," he muttered, "that would make many things easier."
Sara looked at him in silence while wondering if he was referring to Agnus here or to her as well.
In fact Arthur was feeling grateful for his luck. He was surrounded by an astounding group of elites. Without them he would struggle more to reach his current rank, and might even take longer to do so.
As Agnus and his men kept pouring the liquid in caution, they had to return the plate and bring another from time to time.
It was understable that the hot liquid would turn a bit solid if left in open colder air. After half an hour of doing so, they finished the task.
"We'll leave it to cool off," Agnus said before turning to Arthur, "my lord can rest a little. This will take a bit of time."
"I'm fine this way," but Arthur firmly refused the offer of his genius youth. Agnus nodded in understanding before turning to his men and issued orders.
Then he left to check over the purple ovens to make sure things were going smoothly there.
The wait for Arthur lasted for two hours. During which Sara left to check over her kids as well. Agnus kept coming and leaving, while supervising over the others when they first attempted to cast his currency.
"His confidence in his work is admirable!" Arthur said in praise. Agnus wasn't even doubting his success at all and started to act like the currency attempt was a success.
Arthur didn't try to stop him. After all he also shared the same belief and confidence.
From time to time Agnus would check over the two molds and see if the liquid solidified enough or not. After two hours he finally removed the upper mold and examined the looking solid currency.
"Holy water!" he demanded and as flasks of water came to Agnus, he poured what was inside over the entire mold.
To Arthur's surprise the currency released the same thick white hot vapor like it was taken out from the oven.
Arthur didn't know that the Gruben ore reacted with the cold purple ore and the two stored heat inside as a form of energy.
If Agnus didn't use this special water of his, the currency would take even days to cool off and might even take longer.
"Bring that mold back," after the thick clouds of white vapor were cleared away, Agnus pointed to the mold he removed earlier.
He placed it again on top of the currency before he flipped the two molds with the help of his men.
Then he removed the second mold and sprayed his water over it. The amount of vapor released wasn't as thick as the first time, but it was enough to shield vision from anyone.
"It's ready…" Agnus said but he didn't dare to take any coin out. He said these words as an invitation to Arthur to come and see for himself.
And Arthur didn't hesitate to move towards the ready currency of his empire.
"I'm coming too," Sara landed in haste as if she raced time to be here. Arthur didn't say anything and only smiled at her before he grabbed the first coin and checked it.
The coin felt cold and slightly heavy in his hand. It was big enough to fill his palm. On one surface a dragon was appearing there, and on the other a writing of his empire name was there.
"This silver and purple mixed color will be the symbol of my empire from this day onward," Arthur said while seeing the shining silver color of the currency with specks of faint purple scattered along its surface.
Anyone holding it wouldn't doubt anything. No one would ever suspect the fact that this so beautiful coin was holding a deadly bomb inside.
"It's so beautiful!" Sara said on his side while her breaths were taken away from the look of the coin in her hand. "It's even prettier than I initially thought."
"Thanks to you, we can have our currency," Arthur said in acknowledgment and Sara only smiled but said nothing.
Her sole desire was satisfied already. She wanted the kids of her empire, of the sky castle. And now she had her desire fulfilled.
She wasn't a greedy soul looking for any benefit when time was ripe. She only sought what she deemed worthy and rightful for her to own.
"And thank you also," Arthur turned to Agnus who seemed flustered by this sudden praise. "And thanks to you all, my empire will always remember this day and your contributions here."
Arthur said these words in a loud and majestic tone, a tone that suited a true emperor indeed.