Due to the stable high temperature, the glass inside the pot soon began to melt, turning into a sticky paste.
“Do you get glass… by burning sand?” Anna asked. “Are they made out of the same substances?”
“Well, the main ingredients are similar, but in the sand, there are a lot of impurities. The glass created by burning natural sand is partially brown or green most of the time, which doesn’t meet the required standards.”
“So with other words, crystal clear glass is created out of pure sand?”
Hearing this question, Roland had to smile. “You can think of it like that. I already put this knowledge in the book, so you will see it again later. Those small balls decide what matter looks like.”
Although they were still transparent and crystal clear, their new appearance and their former form of cups were completely different.
Some looked like a tube, with a round bottom and a thin and long body. The other ones looked like bottles with the body of a kettle, but the bottleneck was only thumb-sized.
The strangest thing was a tube that was bent like a horseshoe but with no seals on either side of it.
Not understanding their function, Nightingale asked, “What are you going to do with these crystal glasswares?”
“I won’t use them. They are for the alchemist who will later come to Border Town,” Roland used a rod to stir within the melted glass.” They can use these vessels to extract acids and alkali chemicals; I need those chemicals to produce new weapons.”
Acids? Alkali Chemicals? Nightingale blinked confusedly with her eyes, completely unable to understand what he was talking about. This kind of feeling made her depressed. But if she asked one question after another, she would seem to be ignorant, and Nightingale really didn’t want to expose this side of herself to Anna, so she tried to focus on their conversation. This was the only way she could understand what they were talking about.
“How do you want to lure alchemists to Border Town? Even Longsong Stronghold has no Alchemy Workshop. You have to go to Redwater City to find some alchemist, and I also heard that their pay is even higher than that of ministers. It will be hard to recruit them with gold royals alone.”
“You actually know a lot,” Roland replied with a smile, “That’s right. I have already sent people on their way to Redwater City; I’m awaiting their answer in around two weeks. But I don’t try to recruit them with the help of gold royals. Instead, I offered to reveal some secrets of alchemy to them. As for if I am able to recruit them or not, we will see, but at least I tried it.”
The praise in the first part of His Royal Highness’ explanation immediately dispelled Nightingale’s depressed mood, so she happily went to the center of the yard and picked up one of the pastries placed on a round table and stuffed it into her mouth.
Since Roland would now spent most of his time staying at the experimental site during the afternoon, the tea session had also moved from the castle backyard to the Northern Mountain Slope.
On the round table there were the special snacks the chef had created under Roland’s instructions.
For example, this is called steamed stuffed bun- its crust was made out of wheat flour, but she didn’t know the kind of method they had used to make it so incomparably soft. It was wrapped around a meatball, and when she bit into it, her mouth was filled with juice… in that way, it wasn’t like bacon, which was hard to swallow. As long as one bit into it, it was the perfect fusion of minced meat and meat stock.
After happily eating it, Nightingale put one finger after another into her mouth and sucked them clean. While sitting on the couch with a full stomach and a worry-free heart, Nightingale was suddenly overcome with a tired feeling.
Her body was sprinkled by the afternoon sun, surrounding her with warmth just like water. The rustling sound of leaves created by the spring breeze calmed her heart. She took off her shoes, rolled her legs under her body and laid down sideways.
