And… even if he had demanded harsher conditions, Kyle would still have wanted to see the book with his own eyes, the book on which was recorded the essence of alchemy.
After he had thought it through, Kyle got up from his seat and bent his waist: “I’m willing to serve you, Your Royal Highness.”
“Excellent, now we have a deal,” the Prince did not seem to care about the etiquette, “Your workplace will be directly beside the Redwater River. After signing the contract, I will take you with me and have you familiarize yourself with the laboratory I will introducing you to the usage of the glassware and informing you about the workplace’s rules.”
Hearing all this, Kyle felt that there was something wrong with this situation,
However, these were all only minor details, he suppressed his doubts and asked, “Does Your Highness need me to refine something for you?”
“I do, I need a highly-concentrated acid. The higher the concentration, the better.” The Prince replied.
“Liar.” When Roland had finished his appointment with the alchemist, he returned to his office. Nightingale asked, “What kind of four-hundred and fifty year-old ancient ‘Elementary Chemistry’ book are you talking about? Isn’t it just one of the books that contain some of your memories? Sooner or later, everything in it will be taught to the citizens anyway, right?”
“It was only a white lie.” During Margaret’s visit, she had presented a package of black tea to Roland. He could could now finally do away with drinking water or ale every day.
“How could a prince who has lived his whole life in the palace know alchemy so well while having only had access to the teachings of the King’s Alchemist? But, if I were to rather give him a book so that he could study it himself, it would be more likely that he would accept the knowledge compared to if I were the one who was teaching him. After all, the one thing that humans trust the most will always be themselves.”
“Oh?” Nightingale became curious, she leaned her upper body closer to Roland and stopped herself directly in front of his face, “Then who was the one who taught you?”
“Uhh…” Roland opened his mouth, but Nightingale laid her finger on it, “If you do not want to give me an answer, just don’t say anything. I don’t want to hear a lie come from you.”
When Roland blinked with his eyes, Nightingale had taken back her hand.
“We have to make use of the fact that the duel is still five days away,” Roland took this opportunity to change the subject, “we have to get Carter and allow him to get familiar with the new weapon.”
“But a short while ago, didn’t you complain that the ammunition problem still wasn’t resolved yet?”
“The problem only affects the actual use of pyroxylin. If we only want to take care of the competition, it should still be possible for us to fire the gun. After all, during the duel we won’t have to consider the transportation or the reloading, since ten rounds of ammunition should be enough to draw a result,” Roland explained.
Of course, the lack of gun-cotton would lead to a decrease in the rate of fire, which could also play an important part in the duel, but in the end it would all end up in the hands of Carter and his God like face.
*
To the west of the City Wall.
After accepting his new assignment given to him by Roland, Carter arrived at the explosives testing area once more.
“I’m supposed to be fighting against a witch?” Carter had been startled when he heard about the duel. “Can I wear a God’s Stone of Retaliation?”
“Certainly,” Roland smiled. “But unfortunately, you will be facing off against a unique type of witch who won’t be affected by it, her method of fighting is also similar to that of a knight- she will even be using a greatsword.”
