kscans

Chapter 136 - Chapter 7. The Black Star

Across the desk from me was the white hair of an old man, his head bowed. Scattered between us was a bundle of more than a dozen sheets of magic-sensing paper.

I sighed, looking at them. There were fifteen sheets in total, each one showing the assay results from ten petri dishes. No wonder Fulsy was exhausted after using magic over and over.

And the results were abysmal. We had only four positive signals. Four out of approximately fifty thousand. That’s a mere 0.008 percent. It seems we were just lucky to get even one signal from the first three thousand samples.

To make matters worse, the magic-inhibiting effect of those four was practically identical, barely even visible. In the worst-case scenario, all four could be the same type of bacteria. If so, we had effectively found only one.

"Considering the soil conditions in the Red Forest, this is a really low yield. I suppose the problem is that the conditions in the culture medium are different from the real environment…"

That would mean we have to culture them in a magic-rich environment. We’d either have to build a laboratory inside the Red Forest or use magic crystals. Either way, the costs and time required would skyrocket.

The only good news was that our new laboratory was finally complete. Through the window, I could see a windmill spinning on the research institute’s roof. I had wanted a waterwheel, but apparently, drawing water from the Royal Capital’s canals was far too expensive. I wonder, would it be possible if Fulsy accomplished something worthy of a countship? No, more like…

"Hey, you just gave me a strange look, didn’t you."

Noel, who had been examining a magic circle at another desk, flinched. She’s wary of me. Come to think of it, Noel did say she wasn’t interested in restoring her family’s name.

"It would be better to threaten the Chancellor. His own territory’s safety is on the line, after all…"

"Try not to say such terrifying things in front of ordinary people."

Dalgan shot me an exasperated look. Oops. My small-minded practicality must have slipped out. I’m seriously sleep-deprived.

"We were talking about wanting to change the flavor of that soup… I mean, the culture medium, right?"

Like the capable man he was, Dalgan smoothly switched the topic back to business. That was why I had asked him to come today.

"Yes, I want to investigate the conditions that encourage the growth of the tiny mucus we’re after. The most low-cost option seems to be adjusting the salt concentration. We’ll handle the adjustments here, so could you prepare a salt-free base medium for us?"

"You said we don’t need the gelatin, so it’s actually less work. How much do you need?"

"About two of these beakers… these jars’ worth."

"But how are you going to figure out which one is promising?"

"That’s the issue, isn’t it. The worst-case plan is to do a primary culture with varying salt levels, then spread them onto petri dishes to test."

We would probably need at least a thousand assays per type of medium. Of course, it would be great if the difference in the primary test-tube cultures was strong enough to register on the antenna, but I wasn’t counting on it.

"Vinder. I brought what you asked for."

Just as I finished discussing the recipe with Dalgan, I heard Vinaldira’s voice. Her blonde twintails swayed, dazzling to my sleep-deprived eyes. In her hands was a bottle containing a shockingly red liquid that was just as hard on the eyes.

"This was a lot of trouble, you know. The artisans were creeped out by the red leaves."

I had asked her to extract the pigment from the red leaves. According to Vinaldira, it wouldn’t dissolve in water, and the color vanished when she tried using oil. She had apparently succeeded using the high-concentration alcohol I had given her to try.

Knowledge from my past life, gained from researching manufacturer data on ink solvents and pigments in pursuit of the perfect ballpoint pen, has come in handy again.

"You’re a lifesaver. Of course, I’ll pay for it. I owe you one."

Needless to say, the payment would come from the Chancellor’s Office.

"...Let’s see. As thanks, you can let my family provide the fabric for your wedding."

Vinaldira thought for a moment, then a mischievous look crossed her face.

"I don’t get it. How is that a reward for me? Besides, I’m not even thinking about marriage yet. Well, I’ll keep it in mind, I guess."

"W-wait, I was just joking!"

Is she going to be okay as a merchant, being so selfless? Perhaps her noble-born mother made her a bit detached from worldly affairs.

◇◇

This is easy to understand. Before me stood a rack of sixteen test tubes arranged in a four-by-four grid. The tubes were cloudy with bacterial growth, their colors ranging from red to almost white.

I had adjusted the liquid medium Dalgan prepared to various salt concentrations, then dissolved the pigment Vinaldira had extracted into each one. The vertical rows corresponded to the salt concentration. The horizontal rows corresponded to the length of the heat shock, that is, the time they were submerged in boiling water.

I had stumbled upon this by accident, a bit of serendipity. One time, I had mistakenly left a test tube rack by the fireplace during an experiment. I noticed that the red color on the side closer to the fireplace had faded. I didn’t recall the soil in the Red Forest being particularly warm, so it was probably related to stress.

I picked up one tube in which the red color was especially faint. Its salt concentration was twenty percent higher than the medium Dalgan had first made for me. The heating time was about one turn of a five-minute hourglass.

Its color was a brownish-ochre, almost entirely the color of the medium and the bacteria themselves.

I had managed to find the conditions that encouraged the growth of the bacteria that break down the red pigment, just like in the black soil of the Red Forest. There was no guarantee that this was related to the magic-inhibiting substance, but it at least suggested that these were the right conditions for preferentially growing the same bacteria from the forest.

For what it’s worth, the bacteria I cultured from my garden soil as a control barely reduced the red pigment at all.

The rest of the process was the same as before. I would take this primary culture liquid, grow colonies on petri dishes, and test each one individually.

◇◇

"Hahaha, this is fascinating!" "Yes, the effect was outstanding."

Fulsy and I grinned at each other. A single petri dish showed three distinct black spots.

"This is all thanks to Vinaldira."

"...You’re absolutely insane. Oh, I mean that as a compliment! Your insanity is what saved Natalie, after all."

Vinaldira, who was standing behind me, shivered. There’s no way that’s a compliment. Only a scientist would be happy to be told they’re a hair’s breadth away from a madman.

"From four in fifty thousand to three in three hundred. That’s an improvement in efficiency of over a hundredfold. And the signals are much clearer now, aren’t they."

The darkness of the spots was somewhere between the one-hundred-times diluted control and the ten-times diluted one.

"So, which one shall we choose?"

"Let’s see… The first candidate is likely this one."

I pointed to a particularly wide, circular shadow.

"That one? I think this one here is more distinct," Fulsy said, pointing to another black spot. That one was also a candidate, of course, but there was another important factor.

"Please, look at this."

I placed the petri dish back on the paper. The shadow was a full size larger than its corresponding colony. Looking closely, I could see a faint greenish tinge in the medium.

"This mucus is secreting the magic-inhibiting substance outside its body."

First, the fact that it was secreted externally eliminated the possibility that the substance only worked inside the bacterium. Second, if the bacteria secreted the target substance for us, the subsequent processes should be much easier. Still, I couldn’t let my guard down. After all, even penicillin took a long time to go from discovery to practical use.

"Um, Vinder. Why are you looking at me? My part in this should be over."

"Not at all. This is where your skills truly get to shine, Vinaldira," I said. Dyes, pigments, and solvents. Dyeing fabric is a form of chemistry. I had no choice but to have high expectations for her role in the steps to come.