Jin and the others had come to a corner called ‘Material Science.’
“Huh, a lot seems to be happening here.”
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
“Very.”
The thirty or so alchemists were displaying various things at their individual booths. And there were also quite a few live demonstrations.
“Hmm? This smell…”
Saki sniffed at the air and then the color seemed to leave her face as she tugged on Jin’s sleeve.
“Ji-jin! This is dangerous!”
As someone who had in the past, burned sulfur during an experiment and passed out after inhaling the sulfur dioxide, the memories came back to her now.
“Huh?”
Yes, at the booth right in front of her, an alchemist was heating sulfur in what looked like a frying pan.
The sulfur inside was starting to melt, and the smell that Saki feared was starting to rise from it.
“Ah, you’re worried about the sulfur dioxide.”
Jin took out a handkerchief from his pocket and used ‘Condense’ in order to wet it through gathering the moisture from the air. And then he covered his nose with it.
“See. It will be okay if you do this.”
Sulfur dioxide melted in water, and so you could temporarily protect yourself with a wet towel when a volcano erupted. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, and so they would have to escape as soon as possible.
Jin started to wet a handkerchief for Saki. Elsa used Condense by herself and put the handkerchief to her nose.
“…Hmm. I see…”
The wet handkerchief erased the smell of the sulfur dioxide. Well, no. There was barely any smell in the first place. After all, it wasn’t being burned, but just heated.
The alchemist in front of them casually continued to heat up the sulfur until it melted completely and looked like candy.
“Now, when you put this into water…”
The alchemist grabbed the handle of the pan and poured the melted sulfur into a bucket of water.
The sticky liquid drew strings as it poured in. It was soon cooled by the water and hardened. Then the alchemist took it out of the water.
“Take a look. The once brittle sulfur can now stretch like this.”
He said as he demonstrated. It had the texture of rubber and could stretch.
“…Huh. Jin, that sure is interesting! I once saw how the smoke from burned sulfur turned the petals of flowers white, but I accidentally breathed it in and fainted. But this doesn’t seem dangerous.”
“Sister Saki, sulfur dioxide is dangerous…”
Elsa said in an exasperated voice. She too knew the dangers of it.
“But if you can make rubber from sulfur, that could be used for so many things!”
However, Jin did not agree.
“Unfortunately, Saki, that is called ‘soft sulfur,’ and it occurs when sulfur is melted and suddenly cooled down. But it will return to normal after some time has passed.”
“…Is that true? That’s too bad…”
She muttered quietly, but the alchemist seemed to have heard her, and he glared angrily at them.
Well, it was no wonder. As they were basically exposing him during his demonstration.
And so they hurriedly moved away from the spot.
The next booth that they went to had all kinds of ore lined up. It looked a little like Saki’s booth.
“Brother Jin. They’re so pretty.”
“Yes, they really are.”
Red, yellow, green, blue, purple… Ore of many colors were displayed.
“Ah, young lady. I have this golden stone right here.”
The alchemist showed them a golden stone that was the size of the tip of one’s finger. Then he took out a flat, white rocked and rubbed them together.
They assumed that the gold would rub off onto it, but instead, a black line is what remained.
“Huh? It’s not gold then?”
Saki sounded interested.
“Exactly. This is a method of finding out if something is gold or not.”
The alchemist said proudly.
Jin and Elsa whispered to each other so they wouldn’t be overheard this time.
“(…Is that a streak color?)”
“(Yes, it is. That must be fool’s gold.)”
It was an experiment that many would have seen in science class. Jin and Elsa had seen it before, but Saki was very interested and ended up talking with the alchemist for a while.
“…If you knew, you should have told me.”
“I’m sorry, Saki. But you looked like you were having so much fun, and I didn’t want to interfere.”
After Saki had returned from her long talk with the alchemist, Elsa had quietly told her about the streak color.
“I’m really sorry, sister Saki.”
Elsa seemed a little sad after being scolded by Saki.
“Bu-but I guess seeing them like this, you can tell that alchemy is likely to really expand as a field!”
Jin was desperate to change the subject.
“They research all kinds of things that can be applied to other fields, not just stuff related to magic. It’s very impressive.”
“…Do you really think so?”
While she was still sulking, she looked just a little bit happier.
“Yes, I do. It’s unfortunate that it hasn’t been organized yet.”
“Organized, huh… Indeed. Within alchemy, there is magic theory and magic study, but material science has only just begun.”
Material science was the study of the properties of materials and finding ways to use them without relying on magic. In other words, it was more scientific, and had only just gotten started. And so it was no wonder that it hadn’t been systemized yet.
“I hope I can learn from you two.”
“Of course, you will.”
“Ehe. I’m looking forward to it.”
As the three of them continued to look around, a young male alchemist got up on the stage and raised some kind of liquid into the air.
The purple colored water was in a crystal-like bottle.
“This juice is from the purple ganlan.”
Purple ganlan was a vegetable that looked a lot like cabbage, and was purple. So, it was basically purple cabbage.
“If you pour vinegar into it…”
Gasps rose from the audience. The purple liquid had turned into a vibrant red.
“And then I will pour the top layer of the harshness into it…”
And then the red liquid turned purple, and then blue, and then green. And in the end, it settled to a yellow color.
“No magic was used here. It is still in the testing phase, but I think that it could eventually be used as dye. That is all.”
A great applause erupted from the spectators.
Apparently, the demonstration was finished.
“And with that, all of today’s demonstrations are finished.”
Came the announcement from the executive committee. And the audience around the stage began to leave.
“Ah, that was interesting.”
“Jin. I’m going to go back to my booth now.”
“Yes, me too.”
Jin left Saki and returned to his booth. But there was a great crowd around it.
“Ah! Lord Jin!”
“Huh? Lord Jin?”
“Lord Jin! Please tell us about the Mini Smith!”
As the demonstrations had finished, those who had been taken in by the Mini Smith had pushed their way to his booth.
Jin had to deal with them all day, and he was very tired when it was over.
And like that, the first day of the exposition came to an end.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Phew. I’m exhausted.”
Jin was leaning on the soda in his hotel room. It was tiring when you did things that you weren’t used to.
“Father. Here’s some pelshika juice.”
Reiko said as she handed him the special juice. It was a very stimulating recovery drink that gave you plenty of energy.
“…Ah, it smells great.”
Just then, Elsa came out of the shower room and immediately noticed the sweet smell of the pelshika juice.
“Do you want some too?”
“Yes.”
Drinking cold juice was the best after taking a hot shower. She didn’t put her hand on her hip…but instead, drank it in a refined way.
“…Thank you. It was delicious.”
“Alright, I’m going to take a shower now.”
Jin said as he got up. And so Mine handed him a bath towel.
“Lord Jin, here.”
“Ah, thank you.”
And so Jin took a shower as well. Reiko prepared a change of clothes for him.
When Jin returned to the living room feeling refreshed, Saki came to visit him. Ehr was with her.
“Good evening, Jin.”
“Ah, Saki. What’s the matter?”
“Yes, I just found it very boring being alone. But I didn’t want to bother Reinhardt and Berthie, so I came here.”
“Haha. I see.”
Jin laughed agreeably and then asked Reiko to serve them some pelshika juice as well.
“Oh, thank you, Reiko.”
Saki said as she drank the juice. Her motions were definitely less refined than Elsa’s.
“Saki, you should drink it more gracefully.”
Mine advised. But Saki pretended not to hear her.
“I heard a little bit about it from Reinhardt, but it seems like Elsa and Mine will be able to return to their country just fine?”
“Yes, his Imperial Majesty accepted it this afternoon. The only thing left to do is persuade Elsa’s father…and the marquis.”
“Indeed. Those two will be a problem. But…”
Saki said with a laugh, before turning to Elsa and Mine with a serious expression.
“Elsa. Mina. I’m happy for you.”
“Sister Saki, thank you.”
“Thank you so much, Miss Saki.”
And then Saki immediately returned to her old self.
“Oh, yes. Jin. I was too busy with my writing and submitting my paper on the alchemists, so I was unable to see your demonstration. But I’m sure I’ll catch it tomorrow.”
Jin grinned.
“Yes, you should look forward to it.”
He said confidently.