The Journey (17)
At the tea party with the young master, we decided to settle our upcoming schedule.
There was no real need to worry about whether just the two of us could decide without the other three. Priest Daniel and Sister Mary were my close aides, so they had to follow my will; one could fairly say they had no say in the matter.
That left my older sister, but she had never been one to express her own opinions much to begin with.
So things like the travel itinerary were decided by the young master and me alone.
What the two of us discussed and settled on was nothing particularly grand.
Simply leaving the equipment commission to the temple blacksmiths.
"Their skills might be a bit lacking, but their knowledge should be more than sufficient."
"Are you sure it'll be all right?"
"Yes. With Miss Julian's abilities, obtaining iron is easy, isn't it?"
That much was true… Combining iron wasn't difficult.
"If we leave it to them, we won't have to worry about controlling information."
Besides, we couldn't keep imposing on the temple forever. Winter was slowly drawing to a close, so the young master needed to return to his territory soon as well.
"And their skills didn't seem bad either."
The alchemy cauldron they had made was well-balanced and suited my tastes perfectly. We decided to entrust the production to the temple blacksmiths and agreed to give them the detailed specifications tomorrow.
"It will take about fifteen days from here to the territory, so we need to depart within at least a week."
When to leave was also a major concern.
"How about just placing the production order and leaving?"
Once the items were finished, the church would send them to the temple on their own, and the temple would take care of them for us.
"True, the church wouldn't embezzle them."
The young master looked at me and smiled gently as he spoke. Well, would they dare skim something the Saintess had requested? If that ever happened? I would report it straight to the main temple.
"Right?"
The young master seemed convinced. Shall we leave soon, then?
After finishing the talk of schedules, we simply chatted about what we had been doing these past few days.
"Did you go around looking for blacksmiths by yourself, Young Master?"
"Yes. This time I tried walking around as a noble."
But there had been no results, he said. If there had been any, he would have mentioned them earlier.
"That's a shame."
"No. Our family isn't a famous house, and I never expected commoners to know a small rural barony."
Is that so? Well, how many nobles would a commoner even see in their life? Only those living in the capital or the heart of a noble territory would catch occasional glimpses.
"Miss Julian, you said you read books?"
"Yes. There were many books on minerals, so I read them thinking they might be useful for alchemy."
I had gained a variety of knowledge, but I still had no clear sense of what I could actually do with it.
"Besides that, I pondered ways to artificially create that sparkling water."
"That water?"
The young master's brow furrowed slightly, as if the memory of that incident had resurfaced.
"Yes. The reason that water has such unique effects is because it contains layers of air inside. I tried to recreate that artificially."
I needed to compress air and inject it, but that was far from easy.
"Compressing air and injecting it…"
"Yes, so it wasn't easy."
Thinking I might borrow the mind of the well-educated young master, I explained various things to him.
"Compressing…"
Something seemed to have occurred to him.
"What about using wind magic on something like a small bottle?"
Wind magic on a bottle?
"If you make the mouth small and use wind magic on a bottle from which the wind cannot escape, wouldn't it mix with the water?"
Hmm…
"I did think about it…"
"Was there a problem?"
"Yes. The bottle couldn't withstand the aftermath of the magic."
The young master nodded, then smiled.
"Then what if you use a sturdy material for the bottle?"
"The bottle…?"
"Yes. How about making the bottle entirely out of black iron or silver iron? It's sturdy and conducts mana well, so magic should work through it nicely too."
Hmm…
"W-would that work?"
"We should try everything."
It wasn't as if I had never considered a sturdy bottle… I would have to try it tomorrow.
We shared many other trivial stories as well. Was it because we hadn't seen each other for a few days? The young master seemed bored and brought up all sorts of topics.
Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed conversing with him as well.
And the next day, I arrived at the forge early in the morning.
"Saintess? What brings you so early?"
The blacksmiths greeted me a little nervously. Perhaps because no one else was standing beside me…?
"W-well, I wanted to thank you for making the alchemy cauldron."
"Haha, we should be the ones thanking you for letting us work with such special iron."
"And I wanted to ask whether you could make another item for me."
I explained the iron bottle.
"So you want a bottle that can hold water inside and still withstand wind magic being used on it?"
"Yes. The mouth should be narrow, and the bottom—the body and the punt—should be wide."
When a blacksmith brought paper and pen, I roughly sketched a picture to show them.
"Almost spherical."
"Yes. That way the water will mix well inside."
The size needed to hold roughly two liters of water. Considering spare space, the total capacity would have to be larger still.
The blacksmiths gathered and discussed the bottle I had described.
"No matter how thin we make it, the weight will be considerable."
"Can't be helped."
"What kind of iron will you use?"
"Well, I'm still deliberating a bit. If possible, I'd like to use the special iron I combined myself."
At my words, the blacksmiths' eyes lit up.
"Then definitely black iron—let's go with black iron!"
"Saintess, black iron. That's the best."
Everyone clearly wanted black iron.
"Hehe. Is that helpful to you lot?"
When I pointed it out, they all showed awkward smiles.
"All right. How much do you think you'll need?"
I had them organize the required amount and bring the materials. Here, ash powder, black iron, and fossils were all available.
Then I took out a suitable pot and began combining at once. First I made the attunement agent, checked the amount of the completed agent, then added black iron, fossils, and sand according to the proportions and combined again.
While I was combining, my companions arrived at the forge and began chatting. I was curious what they were talking about, but now was the time to focus on the combination.
"Whew—combination complete!"
A bright rainbow light announced the success of the combination.
"Here's the iron."
"We'll start production right away."
Whew. I needed a rest.
"You've worked hard."
Sister Mary handed me water, so I drank it at once.
"Ahh, thank you."
Looking at what the others were doing… Priest Daniel and Young Master Maximilian were chatting with the blacksmiths.
"You've decided to have the equipment made at the temple?"
Ah, I hadn't told them yesterday…
"Yes. Sorry for not saying anything."
"It has nothing to do with me, so it's fine."
She said that, yet Sister Mary still looked displeased.
"Ahaha…"
I headed to a corner of the forge with Sister Mary.
"Winter is slowly ending, and the young master needs to return soon."
"That's true."
"So we decided to just place the order and leave first. We can receive the items at the temple in Meyer Territory."
Sister Mary quietly nodded.
"Only they get the good deal."
Sister Mary looked at the blacksmiths with slightly dissatisfied eyes.
"It's a chance for them to improve their skills."
If their skills improved, wouldn't that benefit the church as well?
"They should have improved their skills earlier, but they were lazy, no?"
Sister Mary spoke so everyone around could hear. It almost seemed as if she were giving them a pointed hint.
"Oh, you needn't worry—we'll put our whole hearts into it."
The young master, who had been explaining the requirements nearby, said with a smile.
"It's fine. No matter how good equipment is, it can't be used for a thousand or ten thousand years, and with the Saintess's power, minerals can be made anytime."
The young master's words were correct as well.
But Sister Mary's words must have greatly wounded the blacksmiths' pride… or had they?
I looked around at the blacksmiths' expressions. Rather than looking wounded, they seemed frustrated.
"Her words are right. If we had improved our skills earlier, we wouldn't have to hear such things. It's our fault for prioritizing other matters and putting off our training."
When the man who appeared to be the leader of this forge spoke those words, everyone shut their mouths tightly.
"I heard that the Saintess's techniques will one day be made public to the church."
"Yes, they will."
"Then won't the production methods for these minerals the Saintess made also be released? To handle them perfectly, we need to improve our skills starting now."
What would they make with those minerals? Of course, equipment for the church knights. So they needed to improve their skills.
"I think we need to raise the disciples' skills quickly."
The elderly blacksmith's eyes burned with determination.
Sister Mary looked at those believers and nodded with a satisfied smile.
Had she said that to boost their motivation? At any rate, she did not seem to feel any real dissatisfaction or displeasure. It was possible she simply refrained from speaking more directly because I was standing right beside her…
"Ahem. You know they're making Older Sister's sword too, right?"
"Yeah, I heard."
The young master must have explained it well.
"Yeah. Don't refuse—use a good sword."
"Miss Julian, you only need to explain Miss Julian's own sword."
Ah, right—I had decided to have a sword made as well.
"Coming."
I approached the blacksmiths and explained the form of the sword I wanted. First, for the dagger, I simply requested a kitchen-knife shape.
Some of them looked a little disappointed at that explanation.
"I'll probably use it for cutting materials and such."
"Then a kitchen-knife form is reasonable enough."
"And for the regular sword, please make it in a short saber form."
No need for fancy decorations. The blade should have a gentle curve, the pommel kept simple, and the handle of a length suitable for using not only one hand but both hands as well.
"Isn't the length a bit too short?"
"It is short. But look at my build. Even if it were longer there wouldn't be a problem using it, but I should use a sword of a length that fits my frame for my own comfort."
"Understood."
After finishing the explanation of my sword, Sister Mary, my older sister, and I left the forge.
"The young master and Daniel are still there?"
"Yes. It seems they have a great deal to explain."
Well, the young master was having two swords and a sword stopper made, and for Priest Daniel there were greaves, gauntlets, even a shield—plenty to commission.
"Well, since they'll be using them themselves, they need to explain diligently."
I walked along with a smile.
Having been in a hot place and then stepping outside, my body felt a little sweaty, and the cool winter wind made me cool down at once.
"It's too late to depart today, so we should leave tomorrow."
"I'll convey that."
I left the matter to Sister Mary and headed for the nunnery.
I should take a shower.