Chapter 340: Chapter 337: Alchemy Performance

In the far East, there exists a rather theatrical method of cultivation—meditating beneath a waterfall to train oneself.

Rorschach was feeling something similar. But this was the Town Mage Tower, and there was no waterfall. Instead, Magic Power washed over his body from above. Now, under the guidance of the Magic Array, his Soul once again grew light and ethereal, as if it were about to leave his body.

From Rorschach’s perspective, his physical senses had vanished, but his perception of Magic Power remained. He felt himself ascending and expanding within a warm, ambient field...

Yes, expanding. His Soul was already twice the size of a normal person’s, so once freed from the shackles of his frail, mortal body and infused with Magic Power, it began to unfurl naturally.

However, he also felt his Soul had "thinned." The evidence was his weakening control over Magic Power; it was as if he could be swayed at will by the winds of Magic.

Master Humboldt had warned in his instructions that if one chose meditation instead of being guided by strong emotions, one must be wary of the Soul’s ascension. There had been cases where an entire Soul had left its "container" and never returned.

After that Casting accident, the Tower of Forest gained a new resident in a vegetative state. His Soul was lost, and no one knew if it had become some sort of specter or had simply dissipated.

Rorschach decided to stop here. After all, he hadn’t prepared a second Magic Array and calculation core. He tried to rein in his Spirit Body but was met with a terrible experience—memories of an Ancient Mage, carried within the impurities, began to resurface. Rorschach quickly aborted the attempt.

"Ow! The headache is twice as bad after it’s over." Rorschach collapsed into the bathtub. He adjusted his position, ready to sleep. He had a negotiation to attend tomorrow.

...

「The next morning, at the royal estate in Wertzburg.」

Angerhorn savored the Valois-style pastries, enjoying the professional service of the Royal Family’s servants. He felt a little self-conscious, and a sense of unreality washed over him.

Six months ago, his factory was being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by the Dyeing and Weaving Guild; now, he was an honored guest of the Bayern Royal Family.

In reality, everything at the Basif factory was business as usual, apart from the change in beneficial ownership and a steady stream of orders. Then, two days ago, he received a notice to head to Wertzburg with Mr. Hasse "at top speed."

In addition, per his patron Rorschach’s request, he had also brought several bottles of raw materials for dye production.

"Sir, we can look after your luggage for you." The butler once again reminded Mr. Horn that he didn’t need to keep clutching his leather case. An inspection had revealed only a few bottles of oily liquid. The butler had even smelled them; one had an alcoholic scent. Still, Horn’s insistence on carrying it himself was unusual and represented a security risk.

"I’ve already told you, these are Alchemy Materials specified by Lord Rorschach..." Only by name-dropping Rorschach could Horn get the bothersome butler to leave.

Sitting diagonally across from Horn was Prince Otto, his attention focused entirely on Rorschach. This young man had come to the Kingdom, thoroughly shaken up the trade guilds, and then vanished for a time. ’What will he bring now that he’s back?’ It now seemed the boy was about to put on some kind of performance for him.

"Your Highness, please watch." Rorschach asked Mr. Horn to be his assistant, as the merchant was likely the only other person in the room with a decent understanding of chemistry.

Elegant glass goblets took the place of laboratory equipment. First, two cups of oil of vitriol, followed by a measure of nitric acid in a cup of the same size, all mixed together in a larger decanter.

"Are you mixing a cocktail?"

"If you were to drink this all at once, I’m afraid it would be quite difficult to find a Mage or Priest who could stop you from reuniting with your ancestors," Rorschach replied as he worked. He then added some degreased short fibers. They came from a local Bayern fiber crop that was on the verge of being phased out because it couldn’t compete with the cotton from the south and from Istani.

Finding the short fibers still not fine enough, Rorschach asked Mr. Horn to cut them up further.

Next, he placed the cup of whitish, semi-translucent paste into a warm water bath, stirring it carefully and slowly.

A quarter of an hour later, the nitration of the fibers was complete. Rorschach used Mage’s Hand to lift the fibers, dropped them into purified alcohol, and then added paraffin oil.

"It’s turned cloudy... so what’s it for?" the Prince asked, waiting patiently for Rorschach to finish. However, the young man simply requested a large dinner plate, poured the paste onto it, and spread it flat.

"Normally, we’d have to wait for it to dry, but we can speed up the process." Rorschach, of course, wasn’t about to use heat and detonate the fibers prematurely. He began Casting. Everyone in the hall felt a fierce wind begin to blow, the air growing progressively drier.

Rorschach chose to use his own ambient field. First, he controlled the air in the space, causing it to circulate rapidly with him at the center. He then cast "Energy Deprivation" near himself to cool the wind, causing water vapor to condense. On the other side of the loop, he heated the air back up, effectively turning the entire estate’s main hall into a drying chamber.

The now-dulled fibers quickly lost their ethanol solvent, forming a gray, cracked layer of solid on the plate.

"To be honest, you are all standing a bit too close. Your Royal Highness, to demonstrate the results of my alchemy, please step outside." They had come this far, and although the process had zero entertainment value, Otto was still curious about what the other man was up to. He complied with Rorschach’s request and summoned two soldiers armed with hunting rifles.

One loaded a small paper cartridge of black powder and a round ball. The other, under Rorschach’s guidance, used a small, gray flake to replace the traditional powder.

"No, cut the charge in half, unless you want the barrel to explode." Aware of its power, Rorschach stopped the soldier’s reckless action and had him put less powder in the gun.

The gun with the traditional powder was fired first. With a loud BANG and a plume of smoke, it hit a fence in the distance.

Next, the flake Rorschach had made was ignited. A sharp CRACK, like a whip snapping right next to everyone’s ears. More importantly, almost no smoke came from this gun’s barrel.

The Prince’s eyes went wide. His previous air of distraction vanished, replaced by keen interest. Hasse, Horn, and the others, including their introducer Bart and the representative from the Balderom Chamber of Commerce, all realized the demonstration was complete and began to applaud.

"This is the Alchemy Product I wish to offer the Kingdom—smokeless powder, Your Highness. Not only is it smokeless, as the name implies, but it is also more powerful, meaning a projectile’s effective range can be much longer. It’s not a Casting Material, and this soldier here isn’t a Caster, is he?"

"And the factory you mentioned... it produces this?"

’Who is he looking down on?’ Rorschach then began to paint a grand picture for the Prince. "This is just one product. There are also new types of explosives. A charge the size of a standard wine barrel can rival the power of a Blast Fireball Technique—and that’s a Seven Ring Spell!"

The words "Seven Ring Spell... Seventh Ring..." echoed in Otto’s mind as he clenched his fists.

Rorschach enjoyed watching the Prince’s expression change so drastically. The shift from unconcealed impatience to a fanaticism he desperately tried, but failed, to hide was fascinating to watch, right down to the twitching of his facial muscles.

"Can it be mass-produced?"

"That depends on whether you are willing to invest money and provide support—for example, by approving our purchase of forests and fields for a factory site."

Otto hated hearing words like that. If Rorschach were merely a crooked merchant, he would have had his guards intimidate the man until he revealed his true intentions in a panic. Unfortunately, Rorschach was not. Otto could only ask through gritted teeth, "If we wanted to equip two Firearms battalions to current standards, how much time and money would it take?"

"Starting with the basic infrastructure, twenty thousand Golden Eagle Coins. The first installment must be at least half of that. The more money, the faster the product gets made. If you can pay in full, I wouldn’t mind putting in some extra effort for the Kingdom and personally overseeing the factory’s construction."

"That’s robbery!"

"When the Royal Family spent ten thousand gold to sponsor the theater last year, were they being robbed by the troupe? And the castle that has been under construction for nearly ten years, with an annual expenditure of at least thirty thousand gold, were they being robbed by the artisans? How can you accuse a Mage, who wishes to serve the Kingdom in this time before a war, of robbery?" Rorschach put on a shocked and innocent expression, leaving Otto completely speechless.