Chapter 129

For some reason, it was decided that a Classics study group would be held on Saturday afternoon. Surprisingly, the location is the Earl of Northcote’s estate! When I mentioned it to Samuel, Aunt Liliana sent a letter saying we should hold it at their house. I brought it up during Music Club on Thursday, and by Friday, Samuel arrived with the letter in hand. Talk about speed!

“Are you sure it won’t be a bother?” I asked just in case.

“Mother is floating on cloud nine after hearing that Prince Keith is coming, so you don’t need to worry about a thing, Patience.”

Ah, I can already picture the huge fuss she’s making.

“Please make sure to firmly remind Aunt Liliana that this is strictly a study group,” I said.

Samuel replied that he would at least mention it to her.

More importantly, I need to figure out a fun way to learn the Dane language. Yep, in times like this, it’s best to ask an expert. I visit Mr. Morse in the staff room.

“Oh, is that you, Patience? Do you have a question?”

Mr. Morse is quite chatty, making him easy to talk to.

“My cousin is terribly bad at Classics. He practically runs away at the mere mention of it, which is quite troublesome. However, he has a wonderful ear for music, so I thought learning Dane songs might get rid of his rejection towards Classics.”

Mr. Morse laughs, amused.

“It is true that the Dane language strangely retains much of the old Imperial language. Since other languages like Emperado have changed much more, the kingdom of Dane on the northern border might actually be closer to the original Imperial tongue. Very well! There are plenty of Dane songs. By all means, teach them to your cousin.”

He kindly lent me books containing collections of Dane songs and interesting folk tales.

“Thank you very much, Mr. Morse.”

When I thank him, he smiles and waves his hand.

“Not at all. I must admit I have a ulterior motive—hoping this will increase the number of students taking my Dane classes! So please don’t worry about it. There should be more songbooks in the library, too.”

I borrow more songbooks from the library. I hope this cures Samuel’s and Prince Keith’s hatred for Classics.

Now that the preparations for Saturday are complete, I can spend Friday afternoon making hot water bottles at the Alchemy Club! I count on my fingers how many to make: Me, Nacius, Henry, Father, Mary, Eva, Wyatt, George, and Matthew!

“I wonder if making nine is too many? I should ask President Caesar. Ah, I should make one for Princess Margaret, too.”

The dorms are warm, and the royal palace is probably warm too, but a hot water bottle might be nice for Princess Margaret, who isn’t a morning person.

“Would making ten be too greedy?”

Since I want to make hot water bottles today, I also drew a slightly more detailed diagram of the washing machine. While President Caesar and the others are looking over it, I’ll make the hot water bottles.

Before I could even say “Good day,” Benjamin called out, “You’re late!” Well, I did stop by the staff room and the library, after all.

“I had a few errands to run…” That said, regular club activities are after school, and it’s currently third period right now. I’m not actually late!

“Here is a detailed diagram of the washing machine. May I make some hot water bottles?”

Benjamin quickly snatches the diagram and looks over it with President Caesar.

“President Caesar, is it alright if I make ten of them?”

Mindlessly focused on the drawing, he casually granted permission: “Ah, do whatever you like.” Yay!

First, I’ll try making one. After all, if hot water leaks, it could cause burns. The threads on the spout and the screw cap must fit together perfectly.

“Become a hot water bottle!” I picture a hot water bottle from my past life in my mind and recite the chant in front of the kiln. Oval-shaped, flat on the bottom, with several ridges on the surface, a slightly protruding opening for pouring hot water, and screw threads on it.

“Become a cap for the hot water bottle!” The cap plops right out.

“It’ll be great if this tightens properly.”

I try screwing the cap onto the spout of the hot water bottle.

“Yep, it tightens properly! Now I just need to test if hot water leaks out.”

First, I pour in cold water and shake the hot water bottle.

“Great, no water is leaking!”

Since it is a hot water bottle, I want to test it with hot water, too.

“President Caesar, may I boil some water?” I ask for permission just in case, but he just gives a half-hearted reply.

“Now then, let’s pour in the hot water.”

I pour boiling water from the kettle into the spout, glug by glug. Then I tighten the cap.

“Ouch, it’s hot! I need to put it in the cover.” Once inside the cover, it feels nicely warm. The Alchemy Club has a kiln, so it isn’t cold, but I seem to be more sensitive to the cold than the people of the Kingdom of Laurence. Maybe the cold I felt when I was reincarnated turned into a trauma.

I sit on a chair and relax while hugging the hot water bottle against my stomach. Warmth really is wonderful.

“Ah, Patience, did you finish it?”

Finally, President Caesar and Benjamin notice that I’ve been making something.

“Yes, I think this works well, so now I just need to make a bunch of them.”

He reaches out, saying, “Let me see it for a moment,” so I stand up from my chair and hand the hot water bottle to President Caesar.

“Hmm, it’s warm. Can I take off the cover?”

“It’ll be hot if you take off the cover. I put boiling water inside, after all.”

After my warning, President Caesar pulls it out halfway from the cover and starts muttering to himself.

“I see. You pour in hot water before going to sleep at night and place it under the blanket to sleep comfortably in the warmth. And then you use that same water to wash your face in the morning? It doesn’t require a magic stone, so it’d be very convenient for commoners. This looks like a product my father would love.”

That’s right, hot water bottles are truly revolutionary!

“Patience, is this made of iron? Iron rusts easily, you know.”

I hadn’t thought that far ahead. If I remember correctly, copper ones were expensive, weren’t they?

“If possible, copper would be best, but if that’s too expensive, plating it would work too.”

It seems plating exists in this parallel world, too.

“If we’re going to copper-plate it, we need to melt copper.”

He sets a new pot over an open kiln. Wasn’t plating usually done through electrolysis? But this is a parallel world. Besides, we have alchemy, which can do anything!

I empty the water from the hot water bottle, place it into the pot of copper, and say, “Apply copper plating!” and it’s done. Having a copper plating is much more hygienic for washing your face than plain iron. It’s resistant to rust, too.

“President Caesar, may I make some for my family, too?”

In my younger brothers’ room, the fire in the fireplace is put out before bedtime. It’s warmer than last year, but it still gets quite chilly toward the morning.

“Ah, you can do as you like for that much, but say, do you want to sell this hot water bottle through my father’s merchant guild?”

“Eh? You mean I should make and sell them?”

While I appreciate side jobs, it wouldn’t be right to have the Alchemy Club cover the material costs, would it?

President Caesar seems to realize what I’m thinking and bursts out laughing.

“No, that’s not it! I mean providing the manufacturing method for this hot water bottle to the Barnes Merchant Guild and receiving a percentage of the sales. Well, a simplified product registration instead of a full patent should be fine.”

Since it’s such a simple item, it probably doesn’t warrant a full patent. Besides, a similar item might already exist somewhere else in this world.

“I don’t really understand what product registration is, but I’ll trust President Caesar and leave it to you.”

When I said that, Benjamin looked at me in disbelief.

“Patience, wouldn’t it be better to consult your father? This sounds like something that could make real money, you know. How about leaving it to your family’s lawyer or accountant?”

Rather than consulting my father, I’d ask Wyatt. Besides, we don’t have a lawyer or an accountant, nor do we have the money to hire them. And if someone tried to cheat us, Duke Barnes—who is rumored to be a formidable businessman—could probably trick us no matter what we did.

“No, I trust President Caesar and will leave it to him.”

In times like this, trusting him is my only option.

“All right then, I’ll make time to meet with my father soon. Now go ahead and make your hot water bottles. Once that’s done, we’ll make the washing machine!”

By the time fourth period ended, I had made 11 hot water bottles. I hand the very first one to President Caesar.

“I’ll show this to my father. Now then, let’s make the washing machine!”

Arthur and Bryce arrived as well, so the five of us noisily fussed around and somehow managed to make a prototype of the wash tub.

“Fill it with water, spin it, and drain it. If we place these magic circles in their respective spots, it should work!”

We place the water-filling magic circle on the upper part of the large metal box, the spinning magic circle on the propeller at the bottom, and the draining magic circle at the base of the box. Once we place the magic stones, the prototype washing machine should be complete, but things don’t go as easily as planned.

“Patience, it’s already gotten dark outside.”

Startled by Bryce’s words, I look out the window. Even though I thought to be careful, it’s pitch black outside.

“I’ll walk you back, Patience. Besides, you have a lot of luggage.”

That’s because I got greedy and made 11 hot water bottles!

“Bryce, I’ll walk her back too. She has quite a lot of things.”

Benjamin carried the hot water bottles I was holding.

“Thank you very much. I intended to return to the dorms before it got dark, but I accidentally lost track of time.”

The two of them laughed.

“Patience, you really are an Alchemy Club member down to your very bones now, aren’t you?”

Ah, Benjamin, I wish you wouldn’t say that! Don’t you know the Alchemy Club has a reputation for being a gathering of eccentrics?

“I’d love to recruit new club members during the Aoba Festival.”

At Bryce’s words, I suddenly remembered that the club had barely avoided being disbanded.

“Exhibiting a washing machine might not attract much interest from the students. We might need to create and display a magic item that really draws a crowd.”

Benjamin shouted “Exactly!” right next to me, startling me. Lion-man, please keep that wild style to your hair only! Don’t roar at me!

“Patience, do you happen to have any good ideas?”

Wait, are you dumping this entirely on me? Ah, what about that thing? But aren’t eggs really expensive here?

“It looks like you’ve thought of something!”

Even Bryce, the sensible one of the Alchemy Club, corners me.

“Well, I’ll think about it a bit more before telling you.”

While Benjamin scratched his hair wildly shouting, “Tell us now!”, we arrived at the dorms. Dear me, what a handful!