"Second, you're asking us to start work now, but that's really difficult—those Rebel Highlanders have dismantled the Elemental Crystals and the raw materials for the Alchemy Furnace. We're left with only the most basic metal materials. Even if we start now... I really don't know what to start on," he said.
These two issues were indeed the most practical and immediate concerns.
Ian, of course, wouldn't get angry because reality did not accommodate his orders or blame the craftsmen for their inefficiency—he was a technician himself and was certainly no stranger to the principle that engineering tasks must be rooted in reality.
