A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 339 Creating Life and Death

Otto suspended his meeting with Rorschach, citing the need to consult his father. Rorschach, meanwhile, confidently enjoyed the scenery and tea at the estate.

The prince also took some samples with him, but Rorschach advised him not to carry them himself, as even nitrocellulose passivated with paraffin could not guarantee that such laboratory products would bring any "surprises".

While waiting, Mr. Hassai asked Rorschach with concern, "If the royal family can really provide such a large sum of money, what about the equity structure of the new factory?"

"It's all on me. Whether it's 20,000 or more, it's just a deposit provided by the kingdom to us," Rorschach said, sipping his tea.

"Huh?" Hase was shocked. There are people who can do business like this?

Rorschach was somewhat dissatisfied with his manager's attitude: "Mr. Hassai, is such a great alchemical invention worthless? You should look at Istani. I went there myself and saw how far superior their level of intellectual property protection is."

Hasai could only nod in agreement.

Horn wanted to say something to Rorschach, but didn't find an opportunity. He watched as Prince Otto reappeared, bringing blank documents and a bank voucher.

"As His Majesty Albert commands, Mage Rorschach, you will receive ample funds, but initially you will only receive an investment of six thousand gold eagle coins from the Ludwig family, along with a land grant. Next, the kingdom will issue a special bond, a portion of which will be used for the construction of the factory."

"Creditors have the right to monitor where the funds go, so the royal family and creditors should both have the right to know about the factory's construction progress, procurement, personnel and other matters."

The prince pushed the document in front of Rorschach: "Sign it."

"Your Highness, I think there are two fallacies in what you just said." Rorschach shook his head: "The factory belongs to Bassef, so all contracts, agreements and other documents should be signed by Mr. Angelhorn, the legal representative of the company."

"Secondly, you said the kingdom will issue bonds. Shouldn't the kingdom be responsible to its creditors? How can we be expected to bear this responsibility? I demand that you place absolute trust in us and refrain from interfering in anything concerning the factory. Otherwise..."

Rorschach set down his cup expressionlessly. "I can't guarantee in what form smokeless powder will reappear in Byrne. Your Highness, you wouldn't want it used on enemy guns, would you?"

Mages are all scoundrels with no honor! The prince wanted to curse them out, but he still agreed to Rorschach's request.

His Majesty Albert set only one bottom line—the relevant technology must not appear outside of Bain. As for money, the Ludwig family has always been generous in sponsoring the arts; the art of war is art too!

The artist kneels and punches the royal family, begging for money; Rorschach holds a 40-meter-long sword to Otto's neck and shouts: "Will you pay or not? Pay up and I'll sell you this precious sword, no cheating!"

Otto added: "Young man, you're so fair! I'll buy it, I'll pay in cash."

Rorschach wasn't a professional, so after setting the tone, he left the specific negotiations to the businessmen and chatted with the astonished Bart: "When do you think those watchmakers will finish? If those gentlemen don't deliver, I'll be forced to continue occupying your bathtub."

Bart really wanted to roll his eyes at Rosace in front of his brother-in-law: "If you like it that much, then I might as well give you the bathtub! Anyway, I don't live there now."

The robbery ended with Mr. Horn's hand aching from signing so many papers, and he felt dizzy and almost lost his balance.

At Horn's insistence, he finally got the chance to be alone with Rorschach.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Rorschach didn't want Bassf's manager to break down at this critical juncture.

"No! Alas, I should have told you sooner," Horn said dejectedly, as if he were back in his miserable days on the verge of bankruptcy, which only fueled Rorschach's curiosity. He stammered, "..."

"It's all my fault. I should have told your mage, Rorschach, sooner. Since last month, Istani has stopped exporting saltpeter to us! I've calculated that to equip two battalions with the new gunpowder, we'd need at least ten tons of saltpeter. And given the current situation, it's a scarce resource. I'm afraid even if we scour the entire market, we still wouldn't be able to meet the demand."

Horn was a man of action; he considered the raw material issue that others were unaware of. Currently, nitric acid was refined from nitrates and Luvan oil, resulting in a low yield. For this demonstration, he spent an entire night just refining and purifying the ferrous sulfate oil and nitric acid.

From this perspective, mass production like gunpowder was simply impossible in Horn's eyes.

"Actually, this is just for demonstration purposes. I plan to produce nitric acid by collecting raw materials from the air without using any old processes."

Horn wanted to say it was impossible, but since the other person was a mage, he obediently shut up and waited for Rorschach to finish speaking: "About 20% of the air is phlogiston, and most of the remaining components can be used as raw materials for the production of nitric acid."

"The new factory will be able to liquefy air and extract what I call 'nitrogen.' It can not only produce nitric acid, but also synthesize ammonia and manufacture synthetic fertilizers."

Horn was captivated by Rorschach's words: "If what you say is true and achievable, then you are a saint who can turn air into food!" But then he remembered that the new factory was being built under the guise of producing high-performance gunpowder and explosives, and added, "But this technology will also bring more, more efficient death."

Rorschach patted the businessman on the shoulder: "Life and death are always intertwined." He thought of Maxim's original intention in inventing the machine gun: "If the power of weapons is so great that the enemy fears war, wouldn't casualties be reduced?"

Is this even possible? Horn was bewildered: "Huh? Really?"

Rorschach nodded firmly: "If it doesn't work, then the weapon isn't powerful enough."

The Byrne royal family believed that good things should be enjoyed quietly within the palace, especially when its relationship with the Empire was delicate. There was no need to tell His Majesty the Emperor, who was busy with state affairs and in poor health, that he might be upgrading his equipment. What if he angered him to the point of having angina?

Rorschach really wanted to say, "I also have a miracle drug that cures angina, but it also explodes."

In short, the construction of the factory was required to be carried out discreetly, and the factory site was still in Lanster as requested by Rorschach. So it was named "Fonda Phase II Project" and claimed to produce an "explosive carbonated beverage" with more carbonation.

"The dwarven engineering team you specified is on its way. However, airship regulations are becoming increasingly strict, so they will be delayed on their journey," Bart explained to Rorschach in the bathtub.

He noticed that his friend had been spending more and more time in the bathtub these past few days. Apart from arranging factory construction work and drawing blueprints that he couldn't understand, he spent the rest of his time in the bathtub, either meditating or humming and rubbing his head.

Moreover, the magic he controlled seemed to be increasing. As a spellcaster, Bart could sense the magic in the environment flowing towards the tower even when he was still a street away. When he used Arcane Vision to investigate, he was immediately startled: there were virtual magic loops on the cobblestones of the street.

Without a doubt, it was Rorschach's masterpiece; half the city's magic was being driven toward the core of the magic circle.

As for the bathroom itself, in the approximately two-square-meter area above the bathtub, the magic was so concentrated that mysterious crystals appeared, slowly falling like snowflakes.

Clad in "snow," Rorschach muttered, "If Mr. Bors doesn't finish the computational core soon, you're going to lose a friend. I feel like banging my head against the wall right now!"

Fragments of the ancient mage's memories are invading his dreams and even reality. Although he can gain some knowledge such as spellcasting skills, more often than not, the pain makes Rorschach lose the ability to think and learn.

It was the last day agreed upon with the watchmakers, and Rorschach felt he could no longer maintain his condition; the soul separation had to proceed as soon as possible.

Acknowledgments will be merged into tomorrow's post. Thank you for reading!

(End of this chapter)