Translator: Cinder Translations
...
Seeing the increasingly excited expression of his non-human guest, Paul waved his hand and said, "Please calm down, dear Prince."
With a sympathetic expression, Paul continued, "I fully understand your eagerness to restore your kingdom, but unfortunately, I can only offer you moral support."
"Moral support? What's that supposed to mean?"
The dwarf, still not entirely fluent in the Aldor language, took three seconds to process the statement.
"What? So you're saying no? Ah, mighty human lord, I have seen your soldiers. They are brave, resolute, well-trained, and wield weapons as powerful as thunder."
The dwarf looked incredulous.
"Think of the rewards I can offer you if I succeed. To my knowledge, no dwarven tribe in the Rocky Mountains has ever allied with humans, but you could be the first in history, becoming the ambassador of friendship between our two peoples."
Paul spread his hands, "Perhaps you've misunderstood my position? I don't have the authority—"
"Misunderstanding? Authority? Aren't you the ruler of this land? If you give the order, all your people would fight for you."
Paul smiled and said, "Prince, perhaps because you're new here, you don't fully understand our human political structure. Let me explain. I, Paul Grayman, am just one of many lords in the Kingdom of Aldor. Above me is His Majesty the King. If I sent out troops without permission to fight outside Aldor's borders, someone would surely report me to the king, and then I'd be punished."
"What? You're under someone else's rule?"
The dwarf, Imar Stonewright, widened his eyes. "Fine, then where does this king of yours live?"
"In a southern city called Crystal Glare."
"How long would it take to get there?"
"About 20 days on horseback."
"20 days? And by horse?"
Imar looked utterly disappointed.
He had mustered all his courage just to come to Aldor with the exploration team.
Going further south… he might end up as a novelty at some human lord's feast, performing tricks like a chubby 'dwarf.'
"Alright, human lord, can you at least support me with some money?"
"As a token of our newfound friendship, I'd be happy to provide you with travel expenses and cover your food and lodging while you're in my territory."
Imar: "..."
And so, Paul's meeting with the dwarf guest ended on a somewhat awkward note.
Paul called Stanford in and recounted the entire meeting with the dwarf.
Then, he asked, "Do you think I handled it properly?"
Stanford nodded. "I believe you made the right decision. We still know very little about the Rocky Mountains. And from what I can tell about Imar, he has a temper and is… not an easy person to deal with. He doesn't seem like a good choice for a personal friend."
Aside from his status as just a lord, Paul really had no interest in supporting some dwarf prince's mission to reclaim his kingdom. As Stanford said, Aldor knew almost nothing about the dwarves in the Rocky Mountains. It would be foolish to trust one side of the story.
Even if Paul had the desire, he didn't have the means. While the territory's income had been growing steadily, every penny had to be spent wisely.
Recently, Paul and the heads of the Weis Academy's chemistry lab had finalized a major plan—to embark on the road to chemical industry.
Aldor already had some rudimentary chemical processes—like extracting saltpeter from manure heaps, if that counts.
Paul's new goal was to produce sulfuric acid on a large scale.
Currently, the world's alchemists distilled alum to obtain sulfuric acid, a time-consuming and inefficient process that produced little.
Paul suggested that the alchemists adopt the lead chamber process for making sulfuric acid.
The basic idea was to build a lead chamber from lead plates that could resist sulfuric acid corrosion, then burn a mixture of sulfur and saltpeter inside. The sulfur oxides produced would be absorbed by water sprayed on the chamber walls. By continuously adding sulfur and saltpeter, sulfuric acid would be formed, which could then be extracted and heated in glass containers to concentrate it.
This was just the early version of the lead chamber process. The complete process would be much more complex, requiring catalysts and other elements. But for Aldor's budding chemical industry, Paul's method was sufficient. He couldn't roll out the full process all at once anyway, as it would complicate experiments and construction (which was the main reason). Additionally, Paul didn't want the alchemists to become mindless followers of orders. He needed to leave some room for them to think and improve on their own.
The alchemists were skeptical at first, but if they could produce sulfuric acid efficiently and in large quantities, who wouldn't want to try? After all, sulfuric acid was a crucial material for their various experiments.
Paul had two reasons for mass-producing sulfuric acid.
First, it could be sold to other alchemists—who were usually quite wealthy.
Second, sulfuric acid was an important industrial material. In Aldor's existing industries, metallurgy, tanning, papermaking, pigment production, and coke production could all use sulfuric acid. Even if they didn't use it now due to primitive techniques, they certainly would in the future—this had been proven in the history of Paul's previous life.
But what Paul hoped for the most was to use sulfuric acid to produce copper sulfate. Copper sulfate could be used in tanning, ore refining, and as an antiseptic. It could also be used to create early pesticides, like Bordeaux mixture.
TL: Bordeaux mixture—a combination of copper sulfate, lime, and water—is an effective fungicide and bactericide that has been used for decades to control diseases of fruit and nut trees, vine fruits, and ornamental plants.
With pesticides, the Northwest Bay's agriculture could develop even further, and ensuring a stable food supply was the top priority.
After several experiments, the lead chamber process had achieved preliminary success.
The alchemists were ecstatic.
However, they couldn't understand how a young man with no known background in alchemy could come up with such a brilliant method.
And then there was the saltpeter extraction method. Could it be that Paul had received divine inspiration from the God of Light in his sleep?
After going through the saltpeter and sulfuric acid processes, the last bit of pride the alchemists had in front of Paul disappeared completely. Now, they viewed Paul as someone favored by the gods.
Plans to build a chemical factory were already underway. Although the lead chamber process had been tested in the lab, there were still many engineering challenges to overcome before it could be applied to large-scale production.
Another important issue was the safety of the chemical industry. Sulfuric acid was highly corrosive, and the copper sulfate Paul hoped to produce was also toxic. Therefore, the location of the chemical factory had to be carefully considered. It couldn't be built near residential areas or the Wes Lake—who knew what strange things they might end up producing in the future?
Additionally, recruiting and training workers would be crucial. The heads of the alchemists, Hoffman and Wells, suggested using students from Weis Academy's chemistry department initially. These students already had some experience with chemistry and were aware of the dangers of various materials and reagents.
Afterward, qualified workers could be slowly selected and trained.
Paul knew that the alchemists were eager to see the chemical factory come to fruition. Of course, he also wanted to see results as soon as possible, so after repeatedly emphasizing safety protocols, he agreed to their suggestion.
(End of the Chapter)
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