kscans

Chapter 60 - Chapter 2: Middle Part - The Alchemist

"My name is Ricardo Vinder. This is Mia. We're from the Vinder Company, part of the Food Guild."

"What business does a merchant have with alchemy? Even if this is the Third Wing, your arrogance has its limits."

We were in a room at the far end of the small Third Wing, where we had just introduced ourselves again. This was apparently the workshop of an alchemist's apprentice named Noel. I suppose it’s impressive that even an apprentice gets her own workshop. It felt like a little hideout. I actually prefer this kind of atmosphere.

The room contained compasses, rulers, and a slanted desk, giving it the feel of a drafting room. True to her anger at being compared to a blacksmith, there were hardly any tools or signs of a forge.

The owner of the room had her face turned away. She had pulled her hood up the moment Fulsy left, so I couldn't see her expression. Shutting down communication just like that? I can't help but feel a strange kinship with her.

"That is not the proper attitude to take with us. We are acting as representatives of the Great Sage."

"Wh-what! Even with the Sage-sama's word, you commoners shouldn't get so carried away."

Mia, reliable as ever, didn't miss a beat.

"You call us commoners, but you are not a noble yourself, are you? There was no crest at the entrance."

At Mia's words, Noel looked down, her face flushed with frustration. Unlike me, Mia was sharp enough to notice such details even in a tense situation.

"I... I am from the distinguished..."

"The Jualzen family. An old viscount house from the west, wasn't it?"

Even I understood what that implied. The west most likely meant they were involved in the Fellbach Rebellion. Perhaps that was why Mia was being so harsh.

"If you hope to restore your house through magic, like the Director did, you would be wise to listen to my senpai."

"...I have no intention of restoring my house. I simply respect Fulsy-sama, who became a great mage without his family's backing."

I see. Fulsy was what you might call an upstart, having risen from being the fourth son of a baron to a court magician. At least by this world's standards.

"Um, please don't misunderstand. We also have great respect for the Director. His work might seem humble, but observational accuracy is the foundation of everything. Any improvement there contributes to all the technology built upon it."

Based on our conversation so far, she clearly thought we were on completely different wavelengths. She seemed particularly convinced I had little aptitude for magic. Come to think of it, those people from the Empire said something similar in the audience chamber.

That was why I made a point of showing that I understood the standards of her world. Noel finally turned to look at me.

"...Fine. This is a waste of my time anyway. I'll hear you out. Though I'm sure it's just some filthy talk about making money."

It was surreal to be lectured about the evils of money-making by an alchemist, but if mages were the equivalent of scientists from my old world, it wasn't entirely surprising. Fulsy wasn't the only one detached from reality.

"My senpai's time is more valuable than..."

"Of course."

I quickly cut Mia off and pulled a small pouch from my pocket. An object spilled from the bag and rolled across the table.

What I placed on the table was a metal sphere, about the size of a marble from my world. I had acquired it through Plural-senpai, from a company that deals in specialized metal goods like candy molds. To the naked eye, it looked perfectly round, but the path it traced on the table revealed a slight imperfection. The sizes were also subtly different.

"I want to make a large number of metal spheres just like this, but all perfectly uniform. Is that something you could manage with alchemy?" I asked, stating the reason we were here.

"I thought you just lacked aptitude, but you're an idiot as well. That's impossible."

Noel looked at me with genuine exasperation. I held Mia back. I had expected her to refuse at first. This was all part of gathering information.

"I'd like to hear why it's impossible."

"First, you clearly don't understand how expensive alchemical materials are. You want to make these ordinary-looking spheres from Oreikalkos? And a large quantity of them? That is utterly absurd. It's like making nails out of gold... no, it's even worse. For that, you should just go ask a blacksmith in town."

"I did ask a blacksmith, and this was the result. This requires an absurd level of precision. The sword and armor of the Third Knight Order's Captain I saw the other day were crafted with incredible precision. They're made from that Oreikalkos, aren't they?"

"Are you saying you held the sword of the hero, Prince Craig?"

"My senpai accompanied the recent dragon subjugation," Mia interjected.

"Crafting and maintaining the Knight Order's equipment is the job of the alchemists in the Magician's Quarters, right? Could you tell me a little more about it?"

At my words, Noel's surprise faded, replaced by a defiant smile.

"...Fine. It would be a pity to send you away without letting you know just how foolish you've been. And I can't have you spreading strange rumors and embarrassing Fulsy-sama. I'll teach you from the very basics. Though I doubt you'll be able to understand even that much."

Noel placed a silvery-white cube on the desk. It looked to be about two centimeters on each side.

"This is Oreikalkos. We call this one unit."

"It's pretty heavy, as expected."

It seemed to have a specific gravity at least as high as lead.

"Don't touch it without permission. It will degrade if someone without aptitude handles it."

"It's that susceptible to corrosion? That could be a problem."

"............Oreikalkos has high hardness and viscosity. It's also resistant to heat and corrosion. This single piece is worth five gold coins. Of course, that's just its value for budgetary purposes. You can't buy it, no matter how much money you have. It's managed by the kingdom. What's more..."

"You rely on imports from the Empire."

"So you do know a thing or two. We're already short on it. Even we can't use as much as we'd like. That's why our work is mostly maintenance rather than creating new things. The people in the First Wing are even more... but that doesn't matter."

In my old world, there was a famous story about pepper being traded for its weight in gold. Here, honey had been like that until recently. This Oreikalkos was even more valuable, more than double its weight in gold. Still, the device I wanted to make would only require about a brick's worth of the material. If they could reuse the hollowed-out portions...

I mentally calculated the material cost at around eighty gold coins. At one hundred thousand yen per coin, that would be eight million yen in Japan. Considering the value of what I wanted to create, that was a bargain.

That device had been extremely expensive back in my world, after all. More importantly, from what she was saying, Oreikalkos sounded perfect for my purposes. All that was left was the processing cost.

"That's not all," Noel continued.

"It's the other side of the coin. In other words, Oreikalkos can't be processed through normal means. That's where alchemy comes in."

I was finally starting to understand. The material was expensive, and only a handful of people could work it. No wonder its applications were so limited.

"So you do have a brain in your head. That's right. Normal metals soften when heated. But Oreikalkos is completely unaffected by heat."

"That's fantastic, isn't it?"

"You fool. To process Oreikalkos, you have to channel a massive amount of magical power through it. And those magic crystals are rare. Especially..."

"Now that imports from the Empire are restricted, they are even rarer," Mia added. "If the Empire gets its way, next year's supply will be less than eighty percent of this year's."

She was right, but we could hold out for the next year.

"Hmph, I don't know the details of matters like that. How do you even know about the magic crystal trade, which is managed by the Royal Palace? Are you that kind of merchant?"

"No, our company's main product is honey."

"Honey..."

I heard Noel swallow.

"That's not it. Then why do you know these things?"

"Well, one of our investors is the Grand Duchess Bertold. And regarding the magic crystals, we should have a small surplus this year from what was collected during the last two monster exterminations, right?"

"An investor from the Grand Duchess of the West!"

Noel flinched at the mention of her name, but then she shook her head vigorously.

"No, no, that won't work. Small magic crystals from something like dire wolves are inefficient. There's a reason a magic crystal's value increases tenfold for every doubling in size. Using them piecemeal results in too much loss."

"So, for example, how much would it take to process a piece of Oreikalkos about this big?" I asked, shaping a brick with my hands.

"That obviously depends on the shape you're making. What you're saying is nonsensical in that regard too. A sphere instead of something with straight lines? Just how much more magical power do you think that would require?"

Noel's reply was curt. She was still completely convinced of my ignorance. She wasn't wrong in that assessment. But...