Chapter Three Hundred and Thirty-Two: All Prepared
“This is about the only place I made corrections.”
Karen handed the notebook back to Harald when he came to the kitchen. It was the notebook she had borrowed from Harald. Inside were notes Harald had taken on everything Karen had explained.
Harald received it with a reverent gesture and bowed apologetically.
“I’m sorry. Were there errors?”
“About rain. Saying rain is the goddess’s blessing isn’t exactly wrong, but…”
Karen said as much, though she had made corrections in the notebook all the same.
“Basically, I’d like you to teach the children scientific knowledge rather than concepts. Water on the ground evaporates and becomes water vapor, rises high into the sky, cools, and the tiny droplets that collect and float in the air become clouds—and when the droplets inside those clouds grow large and heavy enough to fall, that’s rain. Please teach them that.”
“Understood, Lady Karen.”
Karen was currently working with Harald on creating textbooks for the children.
Her regular work consisted of making potions and conducting research. On top of that, there were the children to think about. She had been able to leave their day-to-day care in Harald and Lily’s hands, so Karen’s direct responsibility was roughly limited to creating teaching materials for them—but that alone turned out to be a fairly time-consuming undertaking.
In order for the children to truly understand the knowledge Karen had to offer, she had to write out everything she knew. That was more than she could manage on her own. So she had Harald—who possessed an exceptionally rare memory—write out her explanations, which she then reviewed and corrected.
Harald transcribed her words with an accuracy that surprised even Karen. That said, there were places where her explanations had become muddled from over-simplification, and occasionally Harald’s own knowledge had crept in.
“Lady Karen, is water vapor the smallest form of water you mentioned before?”
“Oh—did I say that? The smallest state of water is actually much smaller than water vapor. I’m sorry, I may have said something incorrect.”
Seeing Karen put her head in her hands, Harald hurriedly spoke up:
“No—I only assumed as much myself. Please don’t trouble yourself over it.”
“Ah, you assumed? That’s a relief.”
Karen let out a breath and wrote "H₂O" in the corner of the notebook. The chemical formula for water. Surprisingly, she still remembered it. Even so, she had forgotten most other chemical formulas. To begin with, Karen’s knowledge only extended to about the middle and high school level.
“This might be too advanced for the children yet, so I’ll just explain it to you for now—water in its smallest form is structured with one substance bonded to two identical separate substances.”
“So that smallest state is what water truly is at its core, and if you separate that one substance from the two others, it is no longer water?”
“As expected of you, Harald. You catch on quickly.”
If how rain forms was elementary school knowledge, then the chemical formula for water was middle school level. About right for Harald.
“I would appreciate it if Ms. Lily could also assist in teaching the children, and so I was wondering if you might be able to write out what you just explained in a way she could easily understand? Though you praised me, I can’t honestly say I’ve fully grasped it myself yet.”
“Is that so? Well, if you say so, I’ll add some illustrations too.”
She drew pictures of updrafts, cold air, warm air, mountains, and clouds. Things often became surprisingly easy to understand when accompanied by diagrams.
“I’m sorry to trouble you when you’re so busy developing potions for Mister Thor and his party.”
“I was actually just looking for a change of pace, so don’t worry about it.”
Karen said it half sincerely, half with a wry smile, and laughed.
Karen owned an alchemy workshop in the royal capital, but there was no alchemy workshop at the earl’s residence in Ehlertt territory. So the Ehlertt household had cleared out one of the kitchens and lent it to her as a temporary workshop.
That alone was more than enough to be grateful for, but it was still less efficient than a proper alchemy workshop. She had brought most of what she needed from the capital, but the space itself simply wasn’t suited to alchemy.
Even using her orichalcum alchemical cauldron and World Tree ladle, she could feel a faint seepage of magical power from the cauldron when she made potions. Faint as it was, she also sensed an increased magical resistance arising from working in an unsuitable environment.
The alchemy workshop in the capital that Helfried and Alise had given her had been a building optimized, in its very structure, for alchemists. It had truly been more than Karen—an E-rank alchemist at the time—had deserved.
But now, she wanted that kind of environment as a matter of course. If she were only selling products through her workshop in the royal capital, a slight drop in quality would simply mean charging a lower price. But Karen wanted to prepare the finest possible potions for Thor and his party.
“I may have no choice but to go back to the capital workshop…”
Karen murmured to herself, and at that moment, there was a knock at the door.
“May I come in?”
“Julius? Please do.”
When Karen let him in, Julius entered the kitchen with a modest smile.
“I’m sorry to interrupt your work, Karen. Could I borrow you for a little while?”
She sometimes prioritized her work over even Julius, and he knew it well. At his considerate request, Karen stood up from her chair with a smile.
“Of course! …Did something happen?”
Julius quickly shook his head before Karen could start to worry.
“Nothing is wrong, so please don’t be concerned. There’s actually something I’d like you to come and see.”
“Something you’d like me to see?”
Julius said it as though it were nothing remarkable. Karen tilted her head and began putting away her alchemy tools.
“It won’t take long—just come along without thinking too much of it.”
“Okaaay.”
At the light tone of it, Karen thought perhaps there was an unusually shaped cloud in the sky, and nodded without a second thought before walking out of the kitchen alongside Julius.
“As an engagement gift, I built an alchemy workshop for you, Karen…”
Julius said it with a shy smile, and behind him stood an impossibly grand building.
“Isn’t that as big as the annex!?”
“I kept wanting to add more features so you’d have everything you needed, and it ended up like this.”
Karen had known that something was being built behind the west wing of the manor. But there had been so many ongoing works—seasonal changes to the garden, replacement of the gazebo, and the like—that she hadn’t paid it any particular attention. She had never imagined it could possibly be an alchemy workshop built just for her.
“I got carried away with the details, and the work took longer than expected. I’m sorry I couldn’t give it to you sooner.”
Julius looked down at Karen, who had followed along in perfect innocence and was now standing there dumbstruck, and his smile deepened.
“Thank you for agreeing to be engaged to me, Karen.”
Karen, still unable to find words, looked up at Julius, then at the building, then back up at Julius.
“Do you think we could take the whole building with us to the Himmel territory?!”
Julius burst out laughing at her words.
“Ahaha! That would be rather difficult, I’m afraid.”
Karen threw her arms around him as he laughed.
“Thank you… Julius.”
Julius understood her work, supported it, and backed her up more than she could have asked for.
“I’ll support what you want to do too, Julius. I’ll be there for you.”
“What I want is to be with you, Karen.”
Julius stopped laughing and held her back, gently but with real strength. When Karen looked up at him from within those warm arms, he was looking down at her with an expression so earnest it was almost frightening.
Karen swallowed the words that had been on the tip of her tongue, that’s not quite what I meant. But that was exactly what mattered. At least, it was for Julius.
“Then I’ll work hard so we can stay together.”
She stopped hugging him with childlike innocence and instead embraced him as though she could shield him from any danger.
At that, the arms holding her seemed to tighten.
No comments:
Post a Comment