Academy (1)
That day, I made soap until evening. I'd thought about looking into other formulas, but I was so thoroughly satisfied with the soap that the idea simply lost its appeal.
Ah, sulfur might still be worth a try, though…
Had I given up too easily?
Well, I had plenty of time. I could always try tomorrow.
Looking at more than ten bars of soap laid out before me filled me with a quiet, deep contentment. From now on, I could use soap every time I washed, couldn't I?
And for laundry, too!
If I ran out, I'd just make more. Foamgrass? I could gather that while walking around. Ash powder? Easy enough to produce.
"Heh heh… heh heh heh…"
I had perfectly solved one of the miseries of this life. Washing with water alone never left me feeling truly clean. There were various methods passed around among commoners, but none of them had ever given me real satisfaction. And soap had been so expensive that I'd never been able to use it properly.
But now, I had nothing to worry about.
"Juli… you're laughing weirdly."
"Hmph. I'm going to wash up."
I gathered my underclothes, a towel, and a bar of soap, and headed for the communal shower. After paying the fee and stepping inside, I stripped down and scrubbed myself with the soap—
Soap was, without question, the greatest invention. That soft, squeaky-clean feel. That refreshing sensation! That pure, thorough cleanliness! Ah, this was it! This was what washing was supposed to feel like!
From now on, I was going to use soap freely every single time I bathed.
The next morning, after breakfast, I headed outside again—this time to make ash powder.
Yesterday's batch had all gone into making the red Attunement Agent and the soap itself. Today I planned to experiment with sulfur and oil, so I needed more ash.
Just like the day before, I dug a pit, piled it high with firewood, and set it ablaze with magic. I didn't strictly need magic for this, but a magically kindled fire was one I could snuff out with ease. Lighting it with flint?
That would mean waiting forever for the flames to die down on their own.
"Aren't you bored?"
"Pardon?"
Yesterday's events still fresh in my mind, I asked without quite managing to look the Young Master in the eye.
"Just standing around next to me with nothing to do—doesn't that get tedious?"
He didn't answer. Since I was avoiding his gaze, I couldn't read his expression, and that made me a little uneasy.
Maybe I really should have just told him to go rest somewhere comfortable.
"It's the same whether I'm alone or not, so it's fine."
Hmm. Was it?
I stared blankly up at the sky. The weather was beautifully clear again today.
"What do you plan to make today?"
"Today? Well… I was thinking of trying out that sulfur I bought."
"Ah, right. You did purchase some of that."
"Yes. Do you happen to know about gunpowder?"
Just as Sister Mary had given me knowledge about soap, the Young Master might have some useful information of his own.
"Gunpowder? Isn't that a dangerous substance?"
"It is, yes."
"Then why are you asking about it?"
"I, uh… wanted to know whether the kingdom has banned it, or if it's being used somewhere else."
"Hmm…"
Had they taught this at the Academy? Either way, he would know more about it than I did.
After a moment of deliberation, he began to speak.
"I'm not sure I should even be telling you this. If anyone ever asks where you learned such things, please keep my name out of it."
Gunpowder, he explained, had been discovered roughly two hundred years ago—by scholars researching a form of alchemy different from my own. At the time, it had been treated as little more than a powder that caught fire easily. But once mages began using it, everything changed.
"If you hit a packed clump of gunpowder with flame magic, it produces a powerful explosion, apparently."
He said he'd never seen it himself.
"Ah…"
So it had been used as a bomb.
"It made already-powerful flame magic even stronger."
Witnessing that destructive force, various nations had begun treating gunpowder as a strategic weapon.
"Well, it never proved all that effective in practice, though."
The power was immense, but distinguishing friend from foe was nearly impossible, making it a difficult tool to deploy.
"After that, people searched for other applications, and eventually the cannon was invented."
Using the explosive force of gunpowder to launch massive stones or chunks of iron—its power was enough to deal serious damage to poorly constructed walls.
"Which means…"
"Yes. Gunpowder was designated a hazardous material and placed under state control."
Of course, mages still used it in secret, and it could be obtained easily enough on the black market, so the regulation didn't mean much in practice. But if someone committed a crime with gunpowder, they would almost certainly face aggravated punishment.
"It really is a dangerous substance."
"Yes. These days, even mages rarely use it."
Misuse could easily harm the user, and with the invention of so many varied spells, there was no longer much need for gunpowder when plenty of magic already offered excellent lethality.
"Then… what would happen if I made gunpowder?"
"For personal use, there shouldn't be a problem. But if you tried to sell it, that would be another matter entirely."
And naturally, he added, using it for terrorism was absolutely out of the question.
"What kind of person do you take me for?"
"Haha. I was only joking."
"But why are you so intent on making gunpowder in the first place?"
How was I supposed to explain this…
If I had to give a reason, it would be the memories of my previous life.
In my past life, there had been a game featuring an alchemist I adored. The protagonists of that game had been so deeply involved with bombs that they'd earned the nickname "bomb maniacs." They crafted bombs through alchemy, used those bombs to take down powerful monsters and gather materials, then leveled up their alchemy skills to create even stronger bombs.
That was the entire loop of the game.
My desire to try making gunpowder stemmed from that. Alchemy equals bombs! A thoroughly trivial reason.
"No particular reason."
"Might I ask how you even knew of gunpowder's existence?"
There was a faintly interrogative edge to the Young Master's tone.
I may have slipped up here…
What excuse could I give?
Then a thought struck me.
"I—I heard about it from my Master. He mentioned that as a sort of shortcut, there was a way to amplify firepower…"
Heh. Even if I did say so myself, that was a perfect cover story.
"I see. Someone like him would certainly know of such things."
"R-right?"
Once the ash powder was roughly ready, I collected it cleanly just as I had the day before. With the remaining time, I also filled another pouch with fine sand.
Whether it was the poison-neutralizing agent or the soap, using a medium as an Attunement Agent seemed to be the key.
Once my sister and Sister Mary returned, we headed back into the city.
On the way to the inn, the streets around us were unusually noisy.
"Something going on?"
"Getting involved never ends well. Let's avoid it."
The Young Master didn't even seem curious—he suggested we not go near it at all.
"Come on, I'm just going to take a quick look."
This wasn't even our city, so there was no reason to interfere… and what power did we have to do anything about it anyway?
It was pure curiosity. Nothing more.
"Let's see…"
I made my way toward the crowd. The problem was that there were far too many people.
With my small stature, I couldn't see a thing past the wall of bodies. Should I force my way through?
While I was deliberating, someone suddenly grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me clean into the air.
"Hik!"
I nearly jumped out of my skin—and my side was ticklish.
"Can you see?"
"O-Older Sister…? Warn me first."
"Sorry."
She did not sound sorry in the slightest.
"Let's see…"
From my elevated vantage point, I took in the scene.
"Sister, just put me down."
"What is it?"
"No idea. Nothing to do with us."
Why had I even wanted to check?
"What was happening?"
"Uh… some kind of power trip? A noble throwing their weight around. That sort of thing."
I carefully avoided saying who. If the wrong person overheard, I could end up getting scolded for it.
Yesterday I'd seen the Academy group enter the city and take lodgings. Apparently they hadn't left right away—they'd stayed through today as well.
"Nobles, then…"
The Young Master murmured it quietly, and I nodded.
One glance was enough to know. Their clothes alone set them completely apart from commoners—luxurious fabrics, ornate decorations, jewels, and faces that practically radiated noble breeding. Standing beside them was someone who looked like an attendant, armed with a sword and radiating an intimidating presence.
"Let's not get involved. We should leave."
Having assessed the situation, the Young Master immediately urged us to withdraw. I had no desire to get tangled up in this either, so I followed him.
Even on the way back to the inn, we passed quite a few people—many of them armed, seemingly on patrol.
In particular, there was a heavy concentration of people near the high-end inn where we'd stayed on our first night.
Apparently, some very important people were lodging there.
We moved carefully and finally stepped inside our own inn.
"Whew."
Strangely, the moment I crossed the threshold, a sigh of relief escaped me.
It wasn't as though I'd done anything to feel guilty about. I had no idea why I felt that way.
"All of you, go on upstairs and rest."
"Young Master?"
Was he heading back out?
"I'm going to look into the situation outside."
Moving alone would certainly be more convenient for him than traveling with us. He could use his status freely that way, too.
"Why?"
"Because it has a bearing on what we do next."
He explained briefly. He intended to find out how long the Academy group planned to remain in the city.
Running into them would be a nuisance, so knowing their schedule would let us move more freely. If the Academy was settling in for a long stay, we'd leave a little earlier—wasteful as that felt—to avoid them. If they were departing soon, we'd linger in the city a bit longer and wait them out.
"That's the reason."
"Do we really need to go that far?"
I asked him honestly. I understood that the Academy group had a lot of nobles, which could make things troublesome.
But was there really a need to go out of our way to avoid them like this?
"That's…"
At the temple, I'd had to hide the fact that I was the Saintess. But this wasn't a temple.
No one here could possibly know I was the Saintess. So there shouldn't be any real problem…
The Young Master looked flustered. A faint flush rose in his face.
"Ahem!"
"Young Master?"
"That's… because Miss Julian is far too beautiful."
For a moment, I couldn't process what he'd just said.
I was beautiful? What was he talking about?
"W-w-what did you just say?"
"A commoner of exceptional beauty inevitably becomes a target for dissolute nobles…"
Heat surged through my body all at once. Blood rushed to my face, and my cheeks burned.
Having delivered his line, the Young Master immediately turned and left the inn.
I pressed my hands to my feverish cheeks. Whether it was shame or embarrassment, I couldn't tell—but the feeling was a strange one.