“Oh, by the way,” He turned towards Margaret, “Last time you placed an order for the investigation balloon; I’ve already succeed to fabricate two.”
“So fast?” The latter was pleasantly surprised, “Can you take me to see it?”
“Of course, please, come with me,” Roland said and then got up to leave.
…
Arriving at the castle backyard, they saw an already completely inflated hydrogen balloon.
The balloon had a waterdrop-like shape, it was wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom. It had a diameter of five meters at the top, and in accordance with the size of the test sample, it could carry one grown man and lift off. The air sac and ropes were coated with a sky like camouflage, so if that were paired with the observer also wearing camouflage, it would reduce the chance of it being detected to the minimum.
“It doesn’t seem to be the same as the balloon we rode on last time, right?” Margaret carefully sized up the new product.
“That’s because you can use it even without witches,” Roland cleared his throat and then began to introduce how to use the investigation balloon. “At the end of the air sac is a movable valve, through which gas can enter and come out of — it is precisely this alchemical gas filling which allows the balloon rise up and fly. The inflation method is very simple, as long as the matching hose and gas tank are connected, you merely have to open the valve on both ends.” After finishing the verbal exploration, he went through the demonstration of the deflation and inflation process in front of everyone.
“How many bottles are needed to fill a balloon?” Margaret quickly caught the key point.
“Five bottles or six bottles…” This question made Roland slightly embarrassed, “Definitely no more than seven bottles.” The main reason for the variation laid in the problem, that the density of the diluted sulfuric acid — which was necessary to produce hydrogen in the bottle- is hard to control. It would be a waste of valuable human resources to first purify the sulfuric acid to 98 % only to later dilute it with water again.
“Is this alchemical gas very expensive?”
“It is indeed. It is also hard to conserve and full of dangers… That is, when it is carelessly handled,” Roland coughed twice, “Therefore, you can only store the gas tanks for a year at most, and it should neither be knocked over, disassembled or burned. Otherwise, it could have serious consequences.” He paused for a moment to let his words settle. Then continued, “Although the price is somewhat expensive, rest assured. When purchasing the investigation balloon for the first time, the first batch of gas tanks ordered from Border Town will be free of charge. In addition, you can also get an extra set of sky camouflaged investigator clothes.”
It was only after the fleet had departed that Roland could finally breathe out in relief.
A total of eight steam engines were handed over to the three merchant guilds. From those eight, three had been produced by Factory No. 2, which was set up with the assistance of the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan — Roland had to acknowledge that regarding the artisans from the Fjords, no matter, if it was their innate skills or their capacity to learn, all were far higher than that of Border Town’s miners or blacksmiths. After grasping the operating procedure of the machines, their passing rate for finished products immediately began rising. Perhaps after another two more months, the production capacity of Factory No. 2 will have caught up to that of Factory No. 1. Fortunately, according to the signed contract, the income from the sale of those machines would entirely be owned by Roland.
In addition, he has also received a new purchasing order for the hydrogen balloon from the Crescent Moon Bay Caravan, Marlan was very interested in an item like this that could increase range of vision greatly. In addition to a single person detection balloon, he also specially asked for a custom-made giant balloon with the capacity to carry three to four people, which he intended to use for the exploration of the Fjord’s new islands.
