Chapter 26: Banshees, Study Chemistry

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While Alexei was rushing from one construction site to another, Hughes was busy tinkering away in his laboratory.

Incidentally, a few days earlier he had officially named the place the Chemical Laboratory and drawn up a whole set of rules: servants were forbidden to approach without reason, and there were procedures for dealing with fires and explosions.

Old Connor’s eyelids twitched repeatedly as he listened. He had tried several times to persuade Hughes to abandon such a dangerous place, but whenever he remembered that this was an alchemist’s workshop, he ultimately kept his mouth shut.

Connor knew little about alchemists. He knew only the most important thing: they made an extraordinary amount of money.

Every lord treated alchemists the same way—with the utmost indulgence.

Even the royal family treated alchemists no less favorably than the nobility; if anything, their regard was greater. After all, the Empress had punished the grand nobles on numerous occasions, yet she had never shown the slightest intention of dealing with the alchemists.

It was easy enough to find replacements when nobles died. But every alchemist, without exception, was a priceless treasure.

Thus, Connor’s advice had changed from, “Don’t work with such dangerous things,” to, “Couldn’t someone else handle the dangerous parts?”

As for the answer—

“Of course not. In fact, the most dangerous thing in a chemical laboratory is letting someone who knows nothing enter it.”

Even so, Hughes was still somewhat tempted by the idea.

Training someone with sufficient knowledge of chemistry would take an extremely long time. That meant such a person would need exceptional loyalty—and chemical experiments were extraordinarily dangerous.

When all these conditions were considered together, Hughes suddenly realized that he might have an excellent choice.

The banshees.

The banshees were intensely loyal to him and fearless in the face of danger. Better still, they were extraordinarily powerful in their own right. Hughes had conducted several basic experiments with Ash, and the physical strength of these banshees had astonished him.

Impacts that would kill a human being merely reached the point of causing minor injuries to a banshee.

It made sense. Such enormous bodies necessarily required far greater physical prowess to support them. Though they stood only somewhat taller than humans, their strength increased exponentially—and strength also meant agility and bodily durability.

Hughes guessed that a banshee’s bones must be considerably denser than a human’s.

No wonder that, despite their small numbers, they had been able to force the merfolk clans into retreat when fighting with their lives on the line.

There was another consideration behind teaching the banshees chemistry.

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His connection with the banshees was not actually all that close. Apart from Ash, who could not travel too far away because of their symbiotic contract, the others lived in the deep sea and had little chance to interact with him.

As time passed, they would eventually drift away from Castel’s center—unless he found a way to move human settlers beneath the sea.

Besides, there was no way to conduct chemical experiments under the ocean. Ash might well be his only student.

Hughes shook his head. All of that was still too far off.

“Connor, since there’s a volcano on the island, get some sulfur ore. It’s practically always found near volcanoes. We won’t need much; I only intend to use it for experiments.”

Sulfur?

Connor had some vague recollection of it. A small quantity ought to be purchasable, so he nodded.

“I also need a batch of bottles and jars for experiments. I’ll draw some designs for you later. See if you can find craftsmen who can make them. It’s fine if they cost a little more.”

After thinking for a moment, Hughes added, “I remember there are quite a few vases in the manor. If necessary, we can make do with those. I think I still have a few glass cups as well…”

He let out a soft sigh.

“Melt them down.”

“I—I’ll ask the craftsmen whether they can do it.” Connor’s expression grew complicated. All those objects could be considered works of art, and now they were going to be used as raw materials?

Very well. It was a sacrifice for the alchemical workshop…

“How is the olive oil factory coming along?”

“Everything is going smoothly. We already have a batch of finished olive oil.”

Hughes nodded. Just as expected. Olive oil used an entirely old-fashioned process, and there was not much to improve upon in the first place. The olives were simply crushed beneath a millstone until the oil was extracted.

As for changing the source of power—

Without a foundation in materials science, there was no way to build a steam engine…

This was actually one of the main difficulties he faced at present. His mind held countless designs, yet he could not turn them into reality in this world.

Take the steam engine, for example. How was he supposed to solve the problem of tolerances?

With mechanical structures, one small flaw could affect the entire system. If the workmanship was not precise enough, forcing the machine into existence would only lead to disaster.

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It was not impossible to build a steam engine by hand. It simply required producing a vast number of parts, then searching through them for pieces that fit together perfectly, assembling the entire machine bit by bit.

His homeland on Earth had once used this method while developing its industry, but it required a considerable industrial workforce.

In other words, he had only one or two blacksmiths at his disposal. Attempting such a method was nothing more than a pipe dream.

“The road ahead is long, and the burden is heavy.”

“But now that I think of it, construction of the school cannot be delayed either. Alexei has been busy building factories, hasn’t he? I’ll have to remind him later.”

The school was actually the part Hughes valued most. The current olive oil factory was little more than a modest experiment. For industry to truly begin exerting its power, relying on this current batch of illiterate craftsmen would never be enough.

Moreover, the school could not be limited to training competent workers. Engineers and researchers were equally indispensable. If any link in the chain was missing, future development would grind to a halt. From that perspective, the most important task at present was to lay the foundation.

“There really isn’t enough time.”

The pirates expected him to produce something next month. Olive oil was certainly out of the question. Although Hughes had made his plans long ago, time was still painfully tight. Now that the olive oil factory was up and running, soap remained confined to his laboratory.

Laboratory preparation and production on an industrial assembly line were entirely different matters. His next step was to teach the craftsmen how to operate the process themselves and make certain that every stage functioned properly before he could begin constructing a factory.

Unlike olive oil, which already had an established industry, this was an entirely new technology.

He had never intended to use soap to fight the pirates. It was merely a transitional product, but it was still important—for he was attempting to establish an industrial production line.

There was always an immeasurable gulf between a small workshop and industrialization. Even if one could painstakingly craft the most precise clock, the empire still could not be called an industrial nation.

Industrialization and standardization—those were the things that gave Hughes his greatest confidence in facing this world.

And the soap factory was merely the first step toward putting them into practice.

Once he succeeded in establishing an assembly line and standardizing the procedures, everything that followed would become much smoother.

“Buy the sulfur as quickly as possible. Next will be nitric acid and sulfuric acid. The wheels of the chemical industry are about to begin turning, slowly but surely—and they will start here, in this crude little laboratory.”

Hughes’s eyes shone with anticipation.