After staying on Autumn Dusk Island for a week and arranging the affairs here, Horn, along with the officers, prepared to return to Joan of Arc Castle.

But before that, he went to say goodbye to Hilov.

Under the gable of the Mechanical Palace, hiding behind the door, Hilov quietly listened to Horn's decision to leave.

Though Hilov didn't say anything, Horn could still sense her disappointment from her dragging tail.

"You have many friends here now," Horn crouched down, holding Hilov's hand, "Someday you'll be able to venture out on your own."

Raising her head, Hilov looked at Horn's face and moved her wheelchair forward.

Horn stepped back a few steps in confusion.

Stopping her wheelchair at the door, Hilov opened her arms towards Horn, reaching out her hands.

Horn was momentarily stunned but then walked over bravely, giving Hilov a firm hug.

However, what he didn't see was Hilov's tail and ears stand erect and her usually expressionless eyes inadvertently widen.

Releasing Hilov, Horn noticed her astonishment: "Weren't you just wanting a hug?"

"I just wanted to show you that I can extend my hands out of the door now." Hilov's human ears gradually turned red, and her beast ears drooped softly.

"Then do you want me to hug you?"

"Actually, I didn't particularly want you to hug me." Hilov turned her head away stubbornly.

"Alright, I understand, if you want another hug, you'll have to wait till next time." Horn, seeing the Child Soldiers bring the horses over, patted Hilov's hand twice, "Goodbye."

"Goodbye." Hilov reluctantly regained her previous graceful posture, ladylike waving her arm at Horn.

She leaned against the door, watching Horn's horseback figure gradually disappear from her sight.

Looking down at the marks left by the door, Hilov once again stretched her hand out from the door.

She could accurately determine, from a physiological perspective, that her hand hadn't sustained any injury.

But over a decade ago, the pain and fear of her legs being cut off by her mother once again flowed through her fingertips.

Her body trembled slightly, yet Hilov still extended her hand out the door.

"Phew—" Letting out a big sigh, Hilov, after persisting for five minutes, retracted her hand as if electrocuted.

She turned her head to look at the clock behind her, as if murmuring to herself: "Lasted one minute longer than yesterday..."

......

Due to the invention of the dragon bone flute, Horn's journey back to Joan of Arc Castle from the Wild Spider Forest was exceptionally smooth.

At every military post and guard in the Wild Spider Forest, there were people assigned to play the dragon bone flute.

This time Horn and his group traveled on horseback, making their speed significantly faster than before, reaching Mayo Town within a day and a half.

In Mayo Town, after changing horses, Horn didn't stop and set off again.

Upon reaching Gray Furnace Town, however, Horn halted his steps.

With his guards, Horn dismounted and, after exchanging greetings with the head of the local guild, headed straight to the interior of the blacksmith shop on the west side of town.

Gray Furnace Town thrived on metalworking, housing a large number of artisans, the blacksmithing industry being the largest among them.

Standing at the entrance of the large blacksmith shop, Horn peered inside.

Various tools neatly hung on the walls, including hammers, pliers, and chisels, their curved edges gleaming with metallic luster.

Beside the medicine cauldron, several blacksmith apprentices, dripping with sweat, pulled a massive bellows, stoking the furnace, making the scorching peat leap with vibrant flames.

From the flames, bubbles gurgled from the cauldron as the iron ingots in the potion gradually glowed with a milky white spot.

When the white spots evenly coated the surface of the iron material, the blacksmith master lifted it out of the cauldron.

On the anvil, the iron ingot, emitting a milky white glow, was repeatedly hammered, sparks scattering.

These hammered iron sheets eventually all converged onto a steel core and, in uninterrupted forging, gradually took the form of iron pipes.

Unlike the craftsmanship on Autumn Dusk Island, the blacksmiths here did not employ electric welding and thus could not utilize the spiral rifling technique.

But as seasoned artisans, they still had their tricks.

The technique they used involved wrapping softened thin iron around a steel core, forming an iron pipe.

The joints of the iron tubes are naturally not as secure as electric welding, so they wrapped an additional layer of iron around the inner tube.

In this way, the joints of the inner tube are enclosed by the outer tube, combined with hammering techniques, surprisingly able to create gun tubes that meet Horn's requirements.

The downside is the low yield; it requires multiple returns to the furnace, with only one in five meeting the standards.

Including the time for smelting iron ore in Mayo Town, an average blacksmith takes ten days to produce one finished gun tube.

Adding the trigger and other small components, each gun takes roughly 15 days to complete.

However, the head of the Gray Furnace Town's Blacksmith Guild swears by his family that this is just because the blacksmiths are inexperienced.

Given some time, he is absolutely confident that he can shorten the time to under ten days.

Horn finally decided the day before yesterday to place an order for 1000 clockwork gun tubes with these blacksmith shops.

Additionally, he issued an order for 500 clockwork gun tubes to the Electric Welding Wizards on Autumn Dusk Island.

Despite losing Jeanne, the strongest electric welding machine, the remaining five Electric Welding Wizards could still produce 2-3 gun tubes per person per day.

According to the production capacity of the Holy Gun Workshop on Autumn Dusk Island, producing 500-600 gun tubes within 50 days is no problem.

Without the help of Electric Welding Wizards in Gray Furnace Town, a blacksmith and their apprentices take about ten days to craft a single gun tube.

While their production efficiency is not high, they have sheer numbers; 200 blacksmiths creating 1000 clockwork guns in 50 days is still acceptable.

At the current progress, by the end of May, Horn should be able to gather 1200 to 1500 clockwork guns.

Based on Horn's precise calculations, each clockwork gun uses 20 pounds of iron, factoring in labor, materials, and other costs, the total price is around 25 to 30 Dinar.

The profit margin on weapon pricing in the Empire's market is 50% to 70%.

The Salvation Army purchases each gun from them at a price of 45 Dinar, totaling an expenditure of 375 gold pounds.

This price does not include the brass clockwork.

A brass clockwork box costs 90 Dinar at cost price, converting to a purchasing price close to 1 gold pound.

So actually, the total price of a clockwork gun is about 1.5 gold pounds, comparable to the price of a Knight's Sword.

With the current size of the Salvation Army Battle Group, there are only 1000 Holy Gunmen among 4500 people.

Even if the plan is to expand two more corps, that's still 5500 people.

According to the current designation, at most there will be 1200 Holy Gunmen, considering those damaged in war, there isn't a gap as large as 1500 guns.

Horn did this not only to support these blacksmith shops to prevent bankruptcy but also because he indeed has a gap of 1300 clockwork guns.

While on Autumn Dusk Island, Madlan sent a letter from Joan of Arc Castle, attached with data showing:

Within a month after the war, the extraordinary rate of the Salvation Army soldiers surged from 3% to 10%, and it continues to climb.

The divine favor rate has skyrocketed from 25% to 52%; among the active War Monks in the Salvation Army, there are already over two thousand Blessed.

Oddly, this time the symptoms of the Divine Favor disease are more severe than before, with several War Monks dying from Divine Favor.

Madlan is currently unable to determine whether these War Monks who died from the Divine Favor disease were due to weakened bodies from injuries or for other reasons.

This really puzzled Horn, "I'm not even in Joan of Arc Castle, how are you all contracting the Divine Favor disease?"

The Divine Favor disease doesn't spread between people, does it? Only Horn can transmit it!

If the Divine Favor disease could be transmitted between people, the Empire would have long been overrun by the Witch's army, wouldn't it?

With this question in mind, Horn set off again; since it couldn't be figured out, it was better not to think about it for now.

The group set off again, with Horn stopping to observe and inquire at each place they reached.

They passed by farmers weeding, learning that the land division group has pushed near Gray Furnace Town.

They passed by a Priest hung at the village entrance, learning about a few days ago when Knights and Armed Farmers conspired to assassinate the land division group, but were defeated by the Black Hat Army.

They passed by laborers carrying soil, developing water conservancy and reclaiming wasteland, learning of the official opening of the Holy Hoe and Holy Sickle Monasteries.

Nearing noon, watching the smoke rising from Joan of Arc Castle, a smile unwittingly spread across Horn's face.

"Your Highness seems to be in a good mood." Martin commented.

"Of course! The food crisis has a glimpse of being resolved, land division progresses smoothly, and the artisans are working so hard." Horn pointed towards the road winding forward into the distance, "Though we don't know where the future will lead, as long as we keep moving, our path will certainly continue to extend."

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