Knight and Wand

Chapter 298 Alchemy

Arriving at the manor on the mountainside, Leon did not rush to the royal city. It was already dark, and although it was not yet time for Orlandon to close the city gates, they were invited by Ines to attend a dinner, so they decided to go into the city tomorrow and meet up with the Avalon team that had arrived long ago.

The griffin was placed in a pen prepared in advance by the princess' servants.

Leon took Olivia and Corvis to the banquet after a short rest and wash.

There were not many people at the banquet, only a few close ministers around the princess, such as Agatha. Ines introduced them one by one.

When she mentioned Mr. Rotty, a big sea merchant who looked to be in his thirties, sitting at the side of the long table, Leon felt that the name sounded familiar.

It was not until he heard from the princess that the sea merchant who sponsored part of his father's funds and materials came from Dragonmaw City in Buneros County that Leon remembered what happened when he first met Goliad two years ago.

The Dragonmaw gangsters who tried to kidnap Goliath that night seemed to be following the orders of "Mr. Rotty" to take revenge on the bard.

Looking at Mr. Rotti again, Leon estimated that it was not a coincidence to have the same name. From the information he learned from the sheriff of Dragonmaw City back then, there should not be a second sea merchant with this name.

Loti also realized something and said politely with a smile: "Baron, I guess you are the Knight Pendragon of Selva who helped me send Goliad to prison two years ago? Although that unscrupulous guy still escaped from the cell, I think I still owe you a thank you."

Leon was a little surprised that the other party recognized him even though they had never met before.

But he was relieved immediately. When the three of them passed through Dragonmaw City, they did not hide their identities. That night, both the gangster thugs under Rotty and the sheriff of Dragonmaw City knew his name, so it was not surprising that Rotty knew it afterwards.

Moreover, Goliad’s two poems spread the name of “Serpent Slayer of Selva” throughout Orlando.

We have the same name and surname, and both of us have the place name prefix "Selva", so it's easy for the other party to recognize me.

Of course, Leon did not comment on the merchant's euphemisms, which were full of worldly wisdom and did not mention that he had used violence to stop his men from kidnapping.

Although we don't know the details of the mysterious Master Goliad, we can at least be sure that the great poet who selflessly helped Larian and Miss Margarina elope and saved Ms. Martha and others is obviously not a playboy who seduces married women for no reason.

Leon had no intention of delving into Rotty's family affairs. Since the mysterious Goliath had helped the other party's wife escape, he must have solved the problem. After all, the grievances and disputes had nothing to do with him.

However, as far as that incident was concerned, whether it was letting Goliad choose to take action or sending thugs to kidnap others privately, Leon did not have a good impression of this maritime merchant.

".It is indeed my fault. You don't need to thank me. I just hope that you will not use those scumbags to kidnap people again. Mr. Rotty, no matter how rich you are in Dragonmaw City, you are just a businessman and do not have the power to arrest and execute people privately."

With his current status, Leon had no need to be hypocritical and gave the other party a warning without any hesitation.

Ines at the top was a little confused, and Leon's attitude was very sharp.

"Have you ever had a conflict?" Ines asked.

"Not really, Your Highness. These are just some minor misunderstandings from the past." While explaining to Princess Ines, Lotti smiled politely without changing his expression, "Please rest assured, Lord Leon. At the beginning, I was just anxious to find out the whereabouts of my wife. I lost my sense of proportion and had to resort to some drastic measures. Now, I am an upright city councilor of Dragonmaw City and will never use those despicable methods again."

Leon nodded and said nothing more. No matter how true what the other party said was, Dragonmaw City, as a chartered autonomous city-state, had its own laws. It was not his turn to be too involved, especially since the other party was Ines's guest.

After enjoying the exquisite dinner prepared by Ines, Leon heard a "good news" from the princess before leaving.

The female bard assassin who was wanted for attempting to assassinate Lady Adelina has been captured.

The only pity is that they didn’t catch him alive, only his corpse, and were unable to torture him to find out whether the mastermind behind him was the legendary Atias Empire.

It is said that the poetess was recognized by the soldiers of Dragonmaw City when she was trying to escape from Orland by boat at the harbor of Buneros County, but she committed suicide accidentally due to the harsh torture during the siege and capture.

If Lord Elifer were still alive, he would probably be very happy to hear this good news.

Now, the only one left is the traitorous warlock Mette, who wanted to provoke a war between the Thorn Flower and the Grey Wolf families and whom Cannis now wants to kill with his own hands every day. He is still missing and no one knows where he has escaped to.

They rested very comfortably in the princess's manor. As soon as the next day dawned, only Deathclaw, who was not convenient to enter the city, was left to rest at Ines' place. Leon led Olivia and Corvis to enter the city of Orlandon.
Stepping into the bustling capital, I saw the streets crowded with people.

The ancient wide streets are paved with flat stone slabs, which have been polished by the years and have a warm luster. On both sides of the streets, where carriages and people are bustling, are lined with various buildings and shops, with different styles but complementing each other.

As the date of the knight tournament hosted by the king approached, the bustle in the royal city reached its peak. People from all over the kingdom and even from neighboring countries poured into the city, making the bustling streets somewhat crowded.

I heard from Ines last night that there are more than a thousand knights participating in the competition. It will take the officials organizing the competition a lot of time just to register the knights before the game.

It was not only because the scope of Ledwin III's call this time was so great and there were many knights participating, but also because the Knights' Tournament must be participated by those with the title of knight. In order to prevent someone from impersonating a knight, the Royal Heraldry of Orlandon City had to send people to verify the coat of arms and family lineage of each participating knight one by one. As for knights who were not from the Kingdom of Orland, they needed at least three nobles to endorse their identity and title in order for it to count.

The heralds and royal knights appointed by the royal family as referees also need to carefully check whether the armor and competitive weapons brought by each knight meet the standards, whether anyone has tampered with them to try to cheat, or whether they do not meet the standards and are too dangerous.

Going deeper into the city, Leon and others were able to meet up with Lohak, who had arrived in the royal city for some days, at the city's base near the Orlando Arena.

After confirming that the instrument for detecting magical talent was functioning properly, he did not rush to register or go to the palace to meet the king. Instead, he first went to the Alchemy Guild in the Royal Capital that he had been longing for.

The Alchemy Guild was located in a marginal city area far away from the center of the royal city. Royal guards patrolled the periphery, so ordinary civilians could not approach. However, with Ines' handwritten identity document and coat of arms proof, Leon was easily allowed to pass.

The guild building was built with dark grey boulders, and the gate was made of heavy bronze, engraved with words that seemed mysterious and ancient to ordinary people. Leon could understand them, they were all maxims of ancient sages written in Lorelit.

Stepping into it, the hall is very spacious, with statues of outstanding alchemists from past dynasties lined up in an orderly manner on both sides, and a solemn atmosphere everywhere. The alchemy studied by the Orland people is essentially no different from the early chemical research on Earth in the past. Both are processes in which ordinary people use experiments, observations, and the experience of their predecessors to explore the transformation of matter and the essence of elements with wisdom.

However, the alchemy on Earth does not have the energy elements and special substances such as magic elements in the natural world of this alien world, so the heights it can reach are very limited. On the other hand, the achievements of the alchemists in this alien world are much greater than those of their counterparts on Earth in a similar era in the previous life.

In many places in the Northern Kingdom, even ordinary citizens in the cities can enjoy daily cleaning products invented by alchemy.

Although those things are not cheap and difficult for ordinary people to afford, the various cleaning products invented by alchemists have generated huge revenues and have at least greatly enriched the quality of life of the wealthy class. This is also the reason why the upper-class people in this world, the ladies and young ladies, can all stay fragrant and clean instead of being as smelly as in ancient Europe on Earth in the previous life.

When he married Olivia last year, among the large number of gifts sent by Princess Ines, there was also a box of alchemical daily necessities similar to high-end soap produced in the distant Seralil Empire. Leon checked it in the wizard tower and confirmed that there was no "human content" in it and it was just a synthesis of minerals and herbal materials. He then distributed it to everyone for use. Olivia, Elena, Lina and other women in the family were all obsessed with the fragrant bath soap.

It's not just the abundance of daily necessities; alchemical potions have also greatly improved medical standards. Although the level of doctors in the Western Continent at this time is like a lottery, with abstraction and rationality mixed in the abstraction coexisting, there are many medicines invented by alchemy.

After studying the knowledge in Lorelit's ancient books and analyzing the local potions he purchased from Orland, Corvis selected several medicines that had practical effects and could be made with the help of the Mage Tower workshop last year. Those potions for treating infections, colds, and parasitic diseases have greatly improved the medical level of the Barony. Thanks to this, Miss Milena, the chief medical officer of the territory, is being mistakenly regarded by the people as a little miracle doctor.

However, compared to the real and useful improvements in life brought by alchemy, he also discovered that this world did not have the alchemical achievements that had a profound impact on human social history on Earth in the previous life.

In other words, it is the result of alchemy.

There is no "gunpowder" here.

Since the day he became Lord of Selva, Leon has been collecting materials for making gunpowder from his previous life and conducting experiments.

However, there was no progress.

The gunpowder formula that was so familiar to him in his previous life was completely useless here, which made Leon wonder if he had made a mistake with the materials in his hands.

There is no doubt that charcoal, which is the most easily available, is the right choice.

It is also true that saltpeter was collected from manure pits and stables throughout the territory.

As for sulfur, the stuff bought from alchemists and pharmacists in Farolis and other cities, which can treat skin diseases and preserve wine, comes from volcanic areas, looks like sulfur, feels like sulfur, and smells like sulfur. It must be sulfur, and it doesn't seem to be a mistake.

It was not until he acquired Castle Avalon and after a series of fruitless efforts that Leon consulted the alchemy knowledge recorded in the ancient books of Lorelit that he realized that this world was not Earth after all.
Just like the horses in his own stable and pasture, which looked exactly like horses but were much stronger than the horses on Earth, Leon regretted that he did not understand animal anatomy in his previous life, otherwise he suspected that the biological structure and internal organs of these horses might be fundamentally different from those of the horses on Earth in his previous life.

The reason for his suspicion was that, although he did not discover it at first, he later saw many corpses on the battlefield and caused them with his own hands. Even if he did not understand human anatomy, he noticed that even the internal organs of humans in this world were different from those of Earthlings.

Later, he looked through the ancient books in the Mage Tower and verified that in those anatomical illustrations, not only were the positions of some organs slightly different, but some of the organs marked on them were definitely not possessed by humans on Earth, which proved his suspicion. In the anthropological knowledge of the Lorelites, there was never even a mention that humans in this world evolved from "apes". He didn't know whether the ancient civilization had not conducted research to that extent, or whether the origin of humans in this world had another source.

In any case, the moment he understood the structure of the human body in this world, Leon touched his chest and eight-pack abs, and clearly realized that he was actually an "alien" who looked very similar to an earthling.

In this world where creatures can split mountains and rocks and stir up energy through training, everything contains special elements. How could the creatures evolved and reproduced in such an environment be the same as on Earth in everything? It can even be said that the fact that many things here are similar to those on Earth may be a miracle and coincidence caused by probability in the endless void realms as the Lorelites said.

But even though they look similar, everything here is somewhat different from the Earth in the previous life. At least in this plane, blindly copying the chemical experience of the previous life cannot be said to be completely useless, but it is really impossible to expect that every experience can match.

After learning magic and understanding the ancient Lorelit civilization's understanding of the world, Leon even began to doubt whether the time and space he was in now was still in the same universe as the Earth.

After giving up on the hopeless Earth gunpowder, Leon turned his attention to local alchemy.

With the help of the ancient books in the library, the effect was remarkable. With the help of the wizard workshop left by Ms. Afros, he and Corvis successfully synthesized some crystal explosives obtained by magical technology at the end of last year.

However, when the initial ecstasy faded, Leon discovered the cruel reality.

Due to the limitations of material extraction and technical means in the current era, it is impossible to mass-produce such expensive explosives. This thing is of no use except being carried on the body as a unique hidden weapon.

Ancient civilizations did not seem to put much effort into the technological development and utilization of this explosive.

If you think about it carefully, this is understandable. Even basic magic can produce much greater explosive effects, both in terms of power limit and controllability, than this thing. It does not require much effort to synthesize. The casters can manipulate the ever-changing spells by hand a hundred times more efficiently. Ancient magicians really had no need to study this kind of useless product. Or, even if someone did study it, at least there were no in-depth books on that subject in the library of Aphrodite.

After temporarily putting aside the exploration of native crystal gunpowder, Leon turned to another alternative.

That is the explosive of the dwarves of Heraen.

During the Battle of Kilmerton, Leon was deeply impressed by the "bombs" dropped by the Dwarven Lion Scorpion Cavalry. Both in terms of power and quantity, the Dwarven technology was much more mature than the crystal gunpowder he had been working on in the Avalon Castle workshop.

Unfortunately, after communicating with the dwarves of the Edel Chamber of Commerce, these short uncles kept their mouths shut about the manufacturing technology of those bombs. No matter how exaggerated the price he offered, the other party was unwilling to disclose the technology, and was even unwilling to export the finished "bombs".

Leon did not want to force these close comrades who helped him fight against the undead and demons, either morally or personally. For the time being, he could only hope that if the gate to the realm requested by Kamoz, the King of the Wild Mountains, was successfully activated, he might be able to start with the boss of the short uncles and let the stubborn dwarves give in.

I hope that the ancient creation similar to the plane portal recorded in the ancient book can be successfully activated. The book inexplicably burned itself after he and Corvis read it once. If something goes wrong, he can't find the second instruction manual now.

Entering the Alchemy Guild Hall, Leon was received by a senior alchemist.

"Lord Pendragon, is there anything we can help you with? Is it an alchemical commission or a potion? But I must remind you first, His Majesty's competition will be held soon. If you are interested in participating, then no matter what the reason, the alchemical potion you drink will probably affect your reputation and eligibility to participate." The alchemist reminded expressionlessly.

Perhaps it was an illusion? Leon felt that the other party's formulaic tone and attitude seemed to be somewhat resentful towards him.

(End of this chapter)