ALL NOVEL Chapter 176
176. Product Confirmation Is Important, Isn’t It?
The next day, the audience with the Living God Muten Ingram was still being arranged, so we decided to proceed with whatever could be handled by the judgment of the Three Great Families for now.
The one-eyed, bearded, and mighty warrior Shingen Wilhelm was waiting for us as he always did, laughing heartily with his usual “Gahaha!”
Today’s group consists of Kyle, myself, Persia, Leafan, and Camille, with the rest of the group likely exploring the city with Nobuna’s guidance.
Persia and Camille were deemed enough as escorts for the time being.
Next to Shingen was, as usual, the tired-looking Hanbei, along with two other samurai.
One was an older man, observing us with sharp eyes.
The other was a young samurai about my age.
With his bangs pushed up, his overly fashionable attitude was noticeably different from the other samurai.
I remembered.
He was the young guy who had struggled against the Kraken (though I’m young too).
If I recall correctly, he was from one of the Three Great Families and had been desperately trying to impress Nobuna, but to no avail. Today, he was glancing at Persia and Camille.
No self-control, huh!
“Gwahahahahaha! Well done, Kyle-dono! Today, with all three great families gathered, let me introduce you!”
Shingen slapped the back of the younger samurai, causing him to stagger forward. He smiled faintly and pushed his bangs back. If it’s that much of a hassle, just cut it off already.
“I am Kagetaka O’Brien, from the O’Brien family, one of the Three Great Families! I am here today as a representative of my father, Motonari. Well, I look forward to working with you, Kingdom’s…”
“I am Kyle Golden Dawn von Elixir.”
“You’re a very young lord.”
“I have received excessive praise from His Majesty the King.”
“…Hmm. Well, fine. You’ve traveled quite a distance, so it must have been hard.”
“Thank you.”
What a pompous guy.
The other sharp-eyed samurai, who had been standing back, stepped forward of his own accord before Shingen could push him out.
“…I am Masamune, the head of the Saintclair family, one of the Three Great Families.”
“Nice to meet you.”
This samurai only exchanged the bare minimum of greetings. He seems to be observing things, huh?
At any rate, after introductions were done, Shingen suddenly shouted out. No, it’s just his loud voice.
“Now then, Kyle-dono! What will you show us today? As promised, I’ve arranged a building that’s easily accessible from the main street and perfectly defensible!”
Apparently, Kyle had been negotiating even during the banquet. Well, it was probably Hanbei who was actually handling things.
“I didn’t expect it to be ready in just one night.”
“Gwahaha! This is nothing, no big deal!”
“Then I’ll have the facilities I discussed with Hanbei-sama set up now.”
“What!? Why does Hanbei know about this and not me?”
“Well, father you got so caught up in the Kingdom’s sweets that he didn’t hear a word of it…”
When we brought some sweets as a gift (not anything extravagant), he became completely absorbed in eating them. While the food in Mizuho is better, it seems the Kingdom has a more developed sweet-making industry.
Since human living space is limited, other nations likely don’t have the resources to produce non-essential products other than their staple food. In the Kingdom, it wasn’t until Golden Dawn’s establishment that they started having such luxuries, thanks to alchemical fertilizers that allowed for rapid harvests.
The Kingdom’s prosperity must have reached Hanbei’s ears, which is why he jumped on Kyle’s proposal. As a result, today, we were setting up the facilities.
“It’ll take a little time to set up. Leafan, please.”
“Got it! Leave it to me! I’ll call you when it’s finished, Craft-kun!”
“Understood.”
Since we didn’t want Mizuho to see the setup, I retrieved the remaining supplies from the space storage and handed everything over to Leafan.
“Now then, while we wait for the setup to finish, I’d like you to take a look at this, Craft…dono. Please.”
“Yes.”
What I’m going to demonstrate is the Alchemical Hardened Rock.
I’m not sure if materials like volcanic ash are available in Mizuho, but Alchemical Hardened Rock can be mass-produced with alchemical potions, so if it can be exported, it would bring in quite a profit. Kyle explained this in advance.
I set up a simple mold using a few planks at the far end of the garden, then poured the Alchemical Hardened Rock mixture into it while explaining it to the watching samurai.
“We let it dry for a few days to remove the moisture, but since we’re short on time today, I’ll use the moisture evaporation potion.”
When I mixed the evaporation potion with the still-soft hardening rock, steam quickly rose, and the rock hardened almost instantly. I removed the wooden frame and showed it off.
Not only Hanbei, but also Masamune from the Saintclair family, stared at the hardened rock, wide-eyed.
“Unbelievable… The stone wall, in such a short time…”
“If you build the frame, you can shape it however you want…”
“Since you can transport it in small amounts, unlike stone walls, it can easily be used to construct at high altitudes.”
The more intellectual Hanbei and Masamune immediately recognized the benefits of the hardening rock and began discussing its uses, while Shingen and Kagetaka were more intrigued by the solidified rock itself.
“Oh! Something that looked like mud can solidify like this!”
“Hmph. It’s probably all show.”
Kagetaka pushed his bangs back, drew his Mizuho sword, and swung it at the hardening rock.
There was a sharp metallic sound as the sword hit the rock, and Kagetaka cried, “Gwah!” as he dropped his sword.
His hand was numb, and he was holding his wrist.
“Ow! My sword! My sword is chipped!”
Of course, the hardening rock also had a chip in it, but the durability was definitely conveyed.
“The first son of the O’Brien family, and yet so pathetic… The sword’s crying.”
“Let me see.”
Now Shingen crouched down and placed his hand on the sword. His stance resembled a katana-drawing stance, but it was different from what the Kingdom’s swordsmen usually do.
Clink.
The only sound I could recognize was the ringing of the guard. Just like last night. Which means…
When I pushed the hardening rock with my finger, it slipped and fell to the ground, breaking in two. The surface of the broken rock was terrifyingly smooth, like it had been polished.
“I see. If you made a castle wall with this kind of strength, it would be troublesome!”
Shingen’s praise made me lose my composure and speak out.
“No, no, no! It’s like butter! It’s splitting in half so easily!”
“Gwahahahahaha! Well, that’s because it’s me! The first son of the Three Great Families is struggling, so the strength is like a huge slab of rock! Even I wouldn’t be able to break it if it had thickness! Even Hanbei would only manage to destroy something of that size!”
Shingen laughed heartily, while Hanbei just shrugged silently.
So it can be destroyed.
Shingen may be a master, but Hanbei looks like he could match up to someone like Alphard or Persia. The top warriors in Mizuho are monstrous.
That’s probably why they’ve been able to defend this small country.
After a series of questions about the hardening rock, Kyle moved on.
“The moisture evaporation potion we used earlier can also be applied in this way.”
Kyle dropped the evaporation potion into a barrel of seawater we had prepared, and steam rapidly rose. When the smoke cleared, salt crystals had formed inside the barrel.
“Wow! To think it can turn into salt so easily!”
“Yes, I plan to keep the price of this alchemical potion low and make it available for export.”
Masamune squinted his eyes.
“I see. So, you want us to export salt at a low price in return…”
“That’s what I hope you’ll understand.”
“In just a few days, you’ve figured out Mizuho’s strengths and weaknesses, and you’re already trying to bring us into negotiations. Whether the Kingdom is not to be underestimated, or Kyle-dono isn’t to be underestimated, is something I’m still pondering.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Kyle smiled slightly, and Masamune, for the first time today, allowed his expression to soften just a little. It seems he’s earned the recognition of not just Hanbei, but also the people from the Three Great Families.
“Then, as for the salt and the hardening rock alchemical potion, the Saintclair family will handle it—”
“Wait, Masamune. That’s something my Wilhelm family will take responsibility for—”
“Isn’t Wilhelm’s specialty in swords? Let Saintclair handle the bookkeeping.”
“But—”
“No, no—”
It looks like they’re arguing over the rights to the products. Both are smiling, but their eyes are deadly serious. Scary!
“Which family handles it doesn’t concern the Kingdom. Both of you, focus on the overview for now!”
““Yes!””
At the command of Shingen, the general, the atmosphere calmed.
At that moment, Leafan peeked her head from the building’s entrance.
“Craft-kun! Time to finish up!”
“Ah!”
I rushed into the building, trying to escape.
“That got heated, didn’t it?”
“If it turns into a business deal, let’s throw it all onto the merchant guild.”
Leafan chuckled lightly and said, “That’s true.”