Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 55 Chemistry Laboratory

Hughes met Alexi again. The clerical manager had obviously lost a lot of weight recently.

Building schools, recruiting people to renovate workshops, and exploring for minerals, he had to keep an eye on each of these things. Not only was the deadline tight, but they all had to be carried out simultaneously.

Xius has been busy with pollution, and almost all the affairs in the territory have been left to him.

Although he received a long period of training before coming to Castel to take up the position of chief clerk, he had not been exposed to much practical work.

When he first started to promote the project, he was full of confidence, thinking that he had planned it in great detail and just needed to execute it step by step. However, the busyness of the past few days made him exhausted.

The architecture school and renovation workshop are not so difficult to deal with. Castres’ history is not too long, and its development has never stagnated. There are people on the island who specialize in architecture.

But recruiting people to explore for minerals is a bit of a hassle. Minerals? What are minerals? How can you tell if there are any?

The few clerks under him were brought from the empire. They had no problem handling daily affairs, but they were not good enough for this kind of professional knowledge.

Besides, the clerks had nothing to do, so the only people he could organize were the local fishermen.

There was no other way, so he finally took an old blacksmith to the mine to check it out himself.

After barely sorting out the old mine, Alexei was busy building the school again. After staying at the construction site for a few days, he came back to report. He thought he should be almost done, but as soon as Hughes opened his mouth, he felt dizzy.

"Repair, repair the road?"

"Yes, we need to build a road out of the mountain." Hughes took a map.

"I checked and found that this part of the northern plains, where the workshop is located, has gravel roads, and the quality is pretty good."

Hughes' finger followed the path marked on the map, all the way to the southwest of Castel.

"There's only one dirt road in this part of the mountainous area, and it's not well maintained. It's okay to go in occasionally to pick fruit, but it's very troublesome to get large quantities of goods in and out."

Xius sighed. He didn't expect that his industrial development would be stuck in road construction.

It is not impossible to carry it on people's shoulders or by hand, as was done before when sweet fruit wine was brewed, but it is not enough for the new factory.

"What will our new factory be used for? The olive oil you mentioned earlier doesn't need to be used to build a road, right?"

“It’s olive oil, but the amount needed is far greater than you can imagine. It’s definitely not enough to just carry it by hand.”

Alexei frowned. He couldn't imagine who he could sell so much olive oil to. Could he use it to make fire? That would be too extravagant.

"Come with me and I'll show you what I've researched." Hughes got up from his chair and walked out of the room with Alexei.

Alexei followed for a while and felt something was wrong. He looked around and found that Connor, whom he always saw when he came to the manor, was not there today.

Strange, where did he go?
"this is for you."

Alexi took a box from Hughes.

"It has sugar in it, you can hold a piece in your mouth."

Alexei opened the lid and saw several black cubes inside. He put one in his mouth as he was told.

"This can alleviate the effects of pollution. I asked Nora for it. Although we don't have much scientific knowledge involved, it's worth having just in case. Oh, and it doesn't taste very good." You should have said this beforehand! Alexi felt a sour smell rushing up his spine, and he instantly became much more alert.

"pollute?"

"Just think of it as some complicated knowledge that might give you a headache. Don't worry, I've tried it, and any slightly more serious pollution that comes near me will be dispelled."

The two walked out of the house, crossed the courtyard, and went to a separate cottage on the estate.

This place is located in a remote corner of the manor, with no other buildings around. Alexi glanced at the ground around him that had obviously been cleared, and finally his eyes fell on a huge wooden box.

The wooden box is divided into two parts, with several buckets on the left and a box of sand on the right?
What is this used for?
"That box is a fire prevention box. From now on, it must be prepared next to each workshop. Some fires can be put out with water, while others must be put out with dry sand, such as olive oil."

Can't use water to put out olive oil fire?

This was a rather novel idea, but it made sense if you thought about it carefully. He knew that olive oil floated on water, and it was not difficult to deduce that pouring water might cause the burning olive oil to flow everywhere.

Xius opened the door and was about to go in when he suddenly turned around and looked at Alexei:
"Have you ever been exposed to alchemy?"

"Alchemy?" Alexei was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly. "How could I possibly get in touch with those distinguished masters?"

Alchemists have a very high status in the empire. The status of famous alchemists is no less than that of nobles. Even apprentices who have just graduated from alchemy workshops are treasures that lords are vying for.

If an alchemist is willing to cooperate with the royal family for a long time, he can be granted a title on the spot. If he also has his own complete alchemy workshop, then a fiefdom is not a problem.

He was just an orphan and a seventh-level civil servant. He could not even meet those mysterious bigwigs, let alone contact them.

"That's a pity." Hughes smiled. "Welcome to my chemistry lab."

"Chemistry. Lab?"

When he opened the door, the first thing Alexey saw was a row of shelves filled with bottles and jars.

He recognized the things on the shelf. When he came to the manor before, there were many glass or ceramic vases, but he hadn't seen them recently. It turned out that they were placed here.

Next to the shelf is a dark wooden cabinet and a table with various manuscripts and items on it. In the middle of the room are two pots.

pot?
Why is there a pot?
"Master, here's what you want."

Connor came over from behind, holding a tray with quite a few things on it.

Alexei looked over with some curiosity. It was a ball of cotton, a square object, and an opaque dark bottle.

What's this for? Is the lord planning to perform a live alchemy demonstration? Is he really an alchemist?

"I'll show you a few things. First, this!"

Hughes handed him the cube, picked up the pot, and motioned him to walk out of the room and come to the open space in front of the door.

"I tried it yesterday," Hughes said excitedly. "All the lab preparations were successful, which means these chemical reactions are at least usable. Large-scale preparations can be put on the agenda."

"Chemical reaction? Mass production?" Alexi glanced at the two of them. He noticed that Connor's expression was a little strange, as if he was expecting something.

(End of this chapter)