A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 196 I struck gold

"Thank you so much!" Hase could feel the air suddenly become fresh; Rorschach's spell was very effective.

Rorschach observed the workshops. Like the glass town, many similar buildings were clustered together. With the coordination of the guild, each family could live in peace, concentrated on both sides of the stream.

The two men found the dye shop owner and explained their purpose: to visit on behalf of the Baldorom Merchant Guild. The first workshop owner was an old man with a red nose. Although he didn't understand why people from the logistics guild would come here, he still received them.

Upon entering the building, the workers were busy, stepping on heavy dye vats and dragging heavy bolts of cloth into the colorful water to wash them. The vats contained hot water, as dyeing fabrics requires temperature, and the rising steam, carrying with it the ammonia, sulfides, and acids that Hassa and Rorschach had initially smelled, filled the entire room.

The water that had been bleached and dyed was brought together, but instead of a colorful display, it turned into a grayish-brown wastewater, which was then dumped directly into the stream.

"Is this how you pollute the water?" Mr. Hassai asked, clearly surprised.

The old workshop owner, unfazed, rubbed his nose and said, "Who do you think you are, sir? We've paid our taxes!"

Rorschach declined to comment, instead observing the pigments being added to the dye vat: indigo, red, yellow, and lead green. In short, what he saw were mainly mineral dyes.

"Boss, you're using mineral dyes?"

"Yes. If you look for manufacturers, they are upstream."

Rorschach wasn't looking for that. He continued, "Are there any workshops that produce purple, or that can make color from coal?"

Hasai was baffled. Wasn't coal supposed to be pitch black? How could it possibly turn into another color? But it really could. The dye shop owner was still rubbing his nose, and Hasai noticed that the large hands were still an unhealthy purplish-red: "Go on, the smelliest one upstream is it! Please hurry, young masters and masters, or you won't be able to find it!"

As the two left the dye house, Hasai pondered the meaning of the old man's last words. Upstream were the dye-making workshops, which imported ores, crushed and purified them, and then produced mineral dyes.

However, there was one exception. In order to find the "stinkiest" one, Rorschach deactivated his air filter and sure enough, there was a strong ammonia smell. The closer he got to a grand red-brick factory building, the stronger the smell became.

"Bain Aniline Soda Factory," Hassa read aloud as Rorschach stopped in front of the factory, reciting the brass sign hanging on the gate.

"This should be it." Rorschach let out a long breath, trying to expel all the stale air from his lungs and reapply the filter.

Unlike other workshops, nothing came out of its chimney. The factory gate was tightly closed, and you could see coal carts parked in the open space in front of the factory, with carts carrying large wooden barrels behind them.

The wooden barrel's spout wasn't closed, and a thick, black liquid dripped out. It wasn't oil; it must be coal tar. Although it was a desolate scene, Rorschach grew to like it more and more the more he looked at it.

"Has it gone out of business?" Hassai observed the situation for a while; there was no movement or equipment noise. Rorschach decided to knock on the door first.

No one answered, but Rorschach didn't give up and knocked again.

The metal door finally opened a crack, and sure enough, someone was inside—a haggard-looking middle-aged man. He seemed nervous and vulnerable: "Please give me a little more time." But upon recognizing the person, his eyes widened: "It's you!"

At the same time, Hasai made the same sound.

"You two know each other?" Before Rorschach could figure out what was going on, the young man opened the door and eagerly pulled the two guests into the factory. Rorschach saw many familiar-looking pieces of equipment, and he could even roughly guess their function, but they were all very new, except for one set that showed traces of coal tar hanging on it.

"Mr. Hasai, save me!"

The young man, Angelhorn, started as a goldsmith and later partnered with someone to open a gas company. After being ruthlessly squeezed out by the mining guild, he was forced to change careers. However, his career change wasn't entirely complete; he set his sights on synthesizing aniline dye from coal tar, once again angering the mining guild—they were the ones who supplied the raw materials for the dye!

Rorschach saw the purple flag in Würzburg; the dye was supplied by him, which is how he met Mr. Haasey. This unlucky and blindly ambitious young man, after receiving the final payment, felt he could expand his business. Building on his past profits, he borrowed more money to expand his small workshop, and then...

"You still want to grow bigger and stronger?" The mining association came to the door again, but it did not violate the law. It just instructed all dye shops not to buy the company's magenta, aniline dyes and the alkali used for coloring, namely "soda" in the company's name.

And so the money chain happily broke! Angelhorn once considered Rorschach and Hassai as the people who were chasing him for debts.

Luo Xia surveyed the entire factory, but there wasn't a single worker in sight. He then inquired about the current situation.

"I didn't fire them, but I can't pay them their wages either. They need to find other jobs on their own." The young man scratched his hair in frustration: "It's all over!"

Luo Xia couldn't understand why this gentleman had switched from goldsmithing to the fledgling organic chemical industry. The young man recalled, "Back then, when Munnik installed gas streetlights, I thought the gas would sell like hotcakes, so I partnered with a friend. Later, nobody wanted coal tar, and I learned from the university in Munnik that someone in Istani had developed a method to make pigments from coal tar."

At this moment, a young man with a keen business sense and a love of learning, just like himself, had neglected the guild of disgusting people and ended up here. Rorschach and Hassai couldn't help but smile and nod at the same time.

"Are you laughing at me? Then laugh all you want." The young man said with a mournful face.

Luo Xia quickly pulled out his notebook, in which he had written a brief introduction to the process of chlorophyll copper sodium salt, and showed it to the other party: "Actually, we want to continue the business. Do you think this is possible?"

Angelhorn, taking the notebook, quickly widened his eyes. This was a perfect business opportunity: low raw material costs and simple processes. "If the process is correct," he said, "of course!"

"But now you're all alone." Hassa didn't understand why he would hand over the business to a factory that was actually bankrupt so quickly. He didn't dare to directly refute Luo Xia, so he questioned the young man instead.

"Sure, sure! You only need to pay a small deposit, and I can get it up and running with just one more guy. Trust me, give me a chance, considering our pleasant collaboration last time!"

"Please allow me to discuss this with my partner." Hassa still felt uneasy; the factory could be shut down at any time. He pulled Rorschach aside for a quiet meeting: "Why did you so easily hand it over to a bankrupt factory? We can look at other manufacturers."

Rorschach used the [Telecommunications] spell directly, and even with the spell going through it, the joy in his voice was still evident: "You're right, a factory that's about to go bankrupt isn't worth cooperating with. I was wrong."

Just as Hassai was about to nod, he heard Rorschach continue, "But wouldn't it be perfect for an acquisition? We need someone like Mr. Angelhorn! We need to inject capital quickly so the boss can bring back all the skilled workers before he finds another job."

Talented? Hasai only thought he was a genius at doing business.

However, Rorschach was very optimistic about the factory that reeked of ammonia: "Bain Aniline Soda Factory, that name is too hard to pronounce. After the acquisition, we'll just take the first character of each word and call it 'Bassfu'."

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(End of this chapter)