Upon hearing Mie's explanation with regards to the ores present in her shop, Misaki took a few moments to consider what the shopkeeper's words meant with regards to what information she had to bargain with. The furnaces she had seen thus were far from able to create the temperatures necessary for steel production, and that process was inherently slow as it was... But 'some time' by these standards could take anywhere from days to week. That part, she couldn't quite change—not unless a high enough temperature could be sustained and kept constant for hours on end. The presence of steel, though, meant that Chagawa had at least accomplished some form of small-scale manufacturing process. Even so, the sale of low-quality iron ore meant that they might have at least enough excess iron in the first place to be in a position to do so.

"Hm... Maybe...? No, but that doesn't solve the issue of speed..." she mused quietly to herself, taking note of Mie's general attitude as various images from textbooks periodically flashed through her mind. Luckily, the foxgirl had some more time to herself to consider the possibilities as the shopkeeper seemed to go check on whatever commotion was going on outside (which, in all likelihood, probably involved them [i]anyways[/i]).

Once Mie returned to her seat, though, Misaki had come to at least something resembling a suggestion in hand. Whether or not it would be enough would be up for debate, of course, but given that their ultimate role in this world was to try and get everything to be a bit less ancient...

Well, maybe there was some leniency to be had on her end.

"If we're speaking in regards to time efficiency, then what comes to mind for me is that the production of iron is in... Well, batches, so to speak, rather than being continuous," she began, gesturing slightly towards Mie before continuing. "There are ways to automate some of the processes—for example, heating the metal to the point of melting, then using ways to drain both the metal and the runoff—but again, I would recommend someone more versed in metallurgy to confirm my thoughts. With that said, provided my ideas are sound, I could offer test schematics for a smaller-scale version. That aside, I also have basic ideas for pulling iron from certain types of sand, but I assume that such processes are already available. I haven't actually spent much time looking into these things until a few years back, truth be told, and it is not as if I was able to visit forges as a child, but compared to what I have seen here..."

There were, admittedly, bits and pieces of the truth scattered about in her closing statement to Mie; hopefully, that excuse would be enough to excuse her lack of knowledge on how technologically advanced Chagawa as a whole actually [i]was[/i]. But if a proper blacksmith was on hand, then the only real loss would be the time spent to make the furnace in question and all the fuel burnt in the process... Provided she wasn't shut out completely in the process, of course.

[@Rune_Alchemist]