Chapter 398 (1/2)

Toa Eschenbach, the head of the Eschenbach family, was an alchemist. His daughter, Saki Eschenbach, could be said to have learned enough through observation to call herself an alchemist too.

Alchemy was the study of creating precious metals such as gold from base metals such as lead. Put more generally, it was the practice of determining the essence of a substance and creating a new substance from it.

However, as time passed, its scope broadened, and it came to be a discipline of learning surrounding the study matter and its manipulation.

There were still some alchemists focused on forging gold or creating androids but mainstream alchemy was not all that different from the “chemistry” of our world.

The only real difference being that magic was still employed in alchemy.

“Saki, it’s time for your meal,” Lawton, a servant of the Eschenbach family, called from outside the lab.

“…………”

But there was no answer. The servant decided to open the laboratory door.

“……! ”

He was met with a strange odor.

A steel plate full of yellow powder sat in the center of the lab. A fire was burning underneath it. Saki could be seen toppled over on the floor beside it.

“Saki!”

Lawton held his breath and jumped into the room. He carried Saki outside, and closed the door.

“Hah, hah, hah,” Saki’s breathing was heavy. She was still conscious though.

Waiting for her breathing to return to normal, Lawton watched her for about five minutes before speaking. “Lady Saki! What were you thinking?!”

He loudly voiced his criticism. Her carelessness could have ended up costing her life.

“Oh, yeah, I’m sorry, Lawton. …… I was enjoying how the smoke from the burning sulfur bleached the color out of flower pedals, and it just kind of happened. ”

Sulphur dioxide gas….. Its reductive action could be harnessed to take the color out of things, but that same gas was toxic to breathe. At worst, it could even cause respiratory failure, leading to death.

The lab, which looked to be full of poison gas, had to have its windows broken open so it could be ventilated for two days before it was safe to use again.

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“Hey Ms. Esse, I’ve got something unusual.”

A farmer with a bucket knocked on the door.

Esse was an abbreviation of the Eschenbach family name everyone in the neighborhood used.

“Hm? What is it?” Saki opened the door and peaked her face out.

The farmer had placed his bucket down near the door. “Here, it’s this unusual stone that came from the lake. ”

It was a nearly transparent stone. It looked as if it had been crushed slightly and it was cuboid in shape. There were several similar shaped transparent stones in the bucket.

“This was one rock originally. When I spit it apart, it broke into chunks, that all shared the exact same shape. ”

“Wow, that’s interesting. I’d like to buy them. ” Saying this, Saki offered three silver coins from her pockets. The farmer received the payment with great pleasure and left his bucket with the broken rock pieces.

“Hmm, hmm, if I break it like this … Oh, it really broke off in the same shape! This is neat. ”

Saki casually put the small piece of the stone she’d broken off on top of an open book. The book was written by Saki’s father, Toa Eschenbach, and was called Introduction to Alchemy. It was the bestseller in alchemy, and part of its sales continued to go to the Eschenbach family. In fact, the silver coins Saki had pulled out earlier were from these very book sales.

Looking at the stone she had placed on the book, Saki suddenly jumped up from her chair in astonishment.

This was because the letters below the nearly transparent rock were visible through it, only they were doubled.

“Wha, what is this !? No way, does this stone duplicate things or something!?”

A day later, Saki had forgotten to sleep and worked on the study of stone without break. Even so, she couldn’t understand anything about it.

“Miss!”

Garth, a different servant, noticed Saki’s state and rushed to her side.

“Hmm, I’m sleepy … and hungry … I want to eat something …” Saki mumbled.

Garth sighed. “Did you want to sleep or eat? Please make up your mind …”

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“My name’s Rona. It’s nice to meet you.”