The Empire’s greatest house of alchemists.
Isaac Magnus, its Family Head, was sought by many people, befitting his title as the Empire’s greatest alchemist.
That was what it meant to have the greatest name.
However, being the Empire’s greatest alchemist also meant being the pride of the field of alchemy itself.
Someone in such a position naturally needed to carry the appropriate weight.
Therefore, Isaac himself rarely showed his face to the world. The only people he met were a very limited few, such as certain nobles of the Empire, the Emperor, Grand Mages, and the commander of the Imperial Knights.
But alchemy was in demand across many fields, including magical catalysts, new materials for weapons and armor, fashion, and magical-device manufacturing. Thus, the Magnus Family had no choice but to do its utmost in customer management as well.
Customer management required someone willing to run around personally, and the person who served as Isaac’s legs in that regard was Jeffrey, his butler and longtime closest aide.
That was also why Jeffrey had visited the Kalibore Mage Tower this time.
The Kalibore Mage Tower ranked around the lower-middle tier among the Empire’s Mage Towers.
Its research quality was not particularly good, but it produced a great deal of “interesting” research instead.
And the important point was that it produced a great deal of “interesting” research.
‘They're major customers.’
No research could begin from nothing, so interesting research required interesting materials.
And interesting materials were generally novel materials newly manufactured in alchemy workshops.
That was why the Kalibore Mage Tower frequently placed various new orders with the Magnus workshops.
On top of that.
‘This Mage Tower has plenty of money too.’
The Kalibore Family, which owned the Mage Tower, possessed many mines in its territory and therefore had stable sources of funds.
Furthermore, Ivrin Kalibore, the Mage Tower’s senior researcher, was not particularly gifted at research, but she had a talent for magic and was highly curious. She did not hesitate to spend money on that curiosity either.
Perhaps because she had so much money, she tended to provide generous deposits and did not worry too much even when results took a long time.
To sum it up.
‘They are very good customers.’
They were people who could be said to greatly help the operation of an alchemy workshop.
For those various reasons, Jeffrey regularly visited the Kalibore Mage Tower, making himself known and maintaining a smooth relationship.
If people saw a familiar face consistently, they generally found that person more trustworthy.
Even with the same product, people often trusted it more when it came recommended by an acquaintance.
That was the principle. It was why Jeffrey had come all the way to the Kalibore Mage Tower, despite its not having such an impressive standing among Mage Towers.
And yet.
“Hoh….”
This metal called aluminum that he had found in the Mage Tower.
It possessed quite an interesting quality.
‘To think they made something like this?’
Its properties were not greatly different from those of ordinary metals, but it was remarkably light.
Its strength seemed to be lower accordingly, but that had uses of its own.
Furthermore, the fact that it was a pure metal rather than an alloy was another point in its favor.
That made its magical applications clearer, and it could also be mixed with other materials and used in alloys.
In many ways.
‘It shows promise….’
He could see all sorts of possibilities.
“...In my opinion, a dish is the ideal shape for flight, but the other materials were too heavy or had poor affinity with the Lightning Element. But when I made a dish from this aluminum, it was so light that I immediately placed an additional order….”
“Senior Mage Ivrin, I have something to ask.”
“Ah, yes, Mr. Jeffrey. Are you perhaps interested in my research…?”
“Of course I am interested. Flight is one of humanity’s longstanding dreams, after all. If our Magnus workshops can help with that dream, it would be a great pleasure.”
Jeffrey spoke with a smile.
However, his narrow eyes did not show even a trace of interest.
“Setting that aside, this metal called aluminum was produced by one of our Magnus workshops. Which workshop exactly?”
“Uh, that is… I cannot remember very well…. Administrator! Which workshop was it?”
“The package came from the 43rd Workshop.”
“The 43rd….”
A faint wrinkle formed beside Jeffrey’s eyes.
‘The 43rd….’
That was where Eugene Magnus had recently taken up his post as manager.
‘This could be interesting.’
He could see a possibility that might shake the current Magnus Family.
He did not know which direction it would take.
But the Magnus Family as it stood now was like a stagnant lake slowly rotting away.
If it could be stirred up, that alone might have value.
And Eugene Magnus, who could be called the complete opposite of that stagnant water, might become a storm that overturned the lake.
‘Of course, it may stop as a tempest in a teacup.’
If Eugene lacked the necessary qualities, he might remain no more than a gentle breeze and fade away.
But that was not especially important either.
After all, the Magnus Family was a world ruled by the survival of the fittest, filled with people who did not hesitate to bare their teeth to devour one another.
Even if one stayed still, one would be devoured all the same.
In that case, it was right to lay the foundation now for Eugene Magnus to become a storm.
With a sales smile, Jeffrey spoke to Ivrin.
“The 43rd Workshop… that is an excellent choice. Every Magnus Alchemy Workshop will do its utmost to assist your research with complete sincerity. The 43rd Workshop in particular may be small, but it is filled with capable people, so we would appreciate it if you entrusted more commissions to it in the future.”
“That is truly reassuring!”
“Setting that aside… would it be all right if I took just one lump of this aluminum with me?”
Mage Towers created many new things, but they lacked the ability to create trends.
At most, they could help maintain the current situation. They lacked the ability to enlarge the field and rise to the next level.
And for Eugene, whose foundation was weak, to step onto the true battlefield, he needed to rise one level higher than he was now.
“Pardon? Ah, you are going to show it to Family Head Isaac! Then you may take it!”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Ms. Ivrin.”
Jeffrey spoke with a sales smile.
It was not a lie.
Through what Jeffrey was about to do, Isaac would eventually come to learn of this metal’s existence.
However, for now, there was someone more fitting than the continent’s greatest alchemist.
‘There are people who go mad for things that are new and rare.’
***
At the entrance of the Magnus 43 Alchemy Workshop.
Workshop Master Edgar was speaking in a subservient manner with someone who had come to the workshop.
“...Understood. Still, this is urgent. Could you not give us just a little more time?”
“I am sorry, but we cannot help it either. Orders have come down from above….”
“Even so, if you could give us more time….”
“I can stall for a day or two somehow, but anything beyond that is impossible. I do not wish to do this as a fellow businessman, but since the order came down from the main house….”
“...Understood. Then we will prepare it as quickly as possible.”
“I am sorry, Workshop Master Edgar.”
After that conversation, the visitor departed.
Edgar returned to the workshop with his shoulders hanging limply, completely drained.
“What was that conversation about just now, Workshop Master Edgar?”
Eugene, who had watched the two speak from a distance, asked him.
“Ah, that visitor was from the Magnus 35th Workshop.”
“The 35th Workshop is where we borrowed the furnace from. But why….”
“It seems that the upper management learned that they had lent a furnace to our workshop. They ordered them to take it back immediately….”
“Ah.”
Eugene’s head began to hurt.
The Magnus Family’s workshops were basically operated independently, but in reality, they were divided into factions and fought one another.
Since the 43rd Workshop where Eugene was stationed was in the process of failing, it did not belong to any such faction. But among the other workshops, the mutual suppression was intense.
And the roots of those factions were, naturally, the wives of the Magnus Family and the noble families they had come from.
Naturally, their voices were strongly reflected in the operation of the workshops.
And because Eugene, an illegitimate child, was an eyesore to them, they were acting however they pleased like this.
‘Damned bastards….’
His teeth ground together, but there was nothing he could do for now.
Other than somehow building his strength and finding a way to strike back.
“...Understood. Then let's somehow fill the order volume today and return the furnace.”
Eugene spoke.
After that, Eugene operated the electrolytic cell all day without sleeping and barely succeeded in fulfilling the Mage Tower’s additional order.
“...Here. I have made all the aluminum that was ordered, Workshop Master.”
“Th-thank you, Young Master. I will take care of the remaining work, so please rest comfortably.”
“Okaaay….”
Completely exhausted, Eugene returned to the manager’s office and went to sleep.
He had become accustomed to staying up all night conducting experiments during his graduate-school days, and his body was much healthier than it had been then, so he could manage it. Still, being tired was being tired.
‘Haah… at least I've got my own room inside the workshop here….’
In his previous life, after staying up all night conducting experiments, he would fall asleep on the folding bed in a corner of the laboratory. Compared to that, being able to sleep in a proper bed now was far better.
‘...Is it really better? In the end, I still cannot go home, can I?’
The question did come to mind, but he was too tired to think about it any more deeply.
After sleeping for a while and waking up, Eugene looked around the workshop again.
They had earned a substantial amount from the additional aluminum order, so even after repaying their debts, they had funds left to expand the workshop’s facilities. He was looking around to fill what they lacked.
‘...It seems like there are a lot of things we are lacking….’
But he had no idea where to begin.
Eugene had studied alchemy, but he had almost no practical experience.
He had never expected to become a manager in the first place. How could he know about such things?
Ultimately, Eugene’s task was simple.
“Workshop Master Edgar. What facilities do you think our workshop should add?”
He would make the person directly below him do the work.
Eugene was the highest-ranking person in the workshop, after all.
“Ah, what we are lacking? Hmm… there is a great deal.”
Edgar answered.
“First, our mana cauldrons are quite old. The temperature of a mana cauldron must be precise for potion manufacturing, but ours are so old that they malfunction. As a result, the quality of our potions has suffered.”
Fulfilling commissions was important, but the usual way alchemists made money was by manufacturing and selling various kinds of potions.
They formed supply contracts with nearby potion shops, created steady income, and used those earnings to operate the workshop and conduct research.
That was how ordinary alchemy workshops operated, but the Magnus 43rd Workshop’s facilities were so old that its potion quality had declined, and its contracts appeared to have been cut off.
“And I believe we need to buy new equipment for enchanting as well. The kinds of enchantments we can perform with our current equipment are rather limited, so customers do not visit often.”
Enchanting was the act of granting mana to various pieces of equipment to produce specific effects, and it was another task alchemists commonly performed.
For example, one could grant a sword the enchantment of ‘Sharpness’ to improve its cutting performance, or grant armor the enchantment of ‘Hardness’ to improve its defensive performance.
Because these enchantments reinforced or supplemented a piece of equipment’s properties through mana, they were not permanent. To maintain their performance, customers had to return to the workshop periodically, which made them a typical source of income for alchemists.
“And we would need to replenish materials for that as well….”
Edgar continued speaking, but Eugene did not like what he heard.
‘It does not seem like our workshop can survive by following such an ordinary path.’
That was what he thought.
Eugene’s skill in alchemy was not poor, but it was difficult to say that he held any exceptional advantage over his other damned blood relatives.
More than anything, potion manufacturing and enchanting were little more than reproducing existing recipes. They were, quite literally, the work of producing consumables.
When it came to making consumables, larger places inevitably held the advantage.
The larger the operation, the faster it could manufacture consumables. And if mass production was possible, it inevitably held an edge in price competition.
For the 43rd Workshop, practically the weakest among the Magnus workshops, to survive, it needed to find another strategy.
‘What method is there…?’
As Eugene pondered, the electrolytic cell suddenly entered his view.
‘...No, that was a foolish concern.’
Eugene gave a quiet laugh.
He had just created aluminum, a metal no one else in this world knew about. Why was he looking far away for something to differentiate himself?
Alchemy was primitive chemistry, and the flower of chemistry was novel materials.
Having come from the cutting edge and being ahead of anyone else, Eugene had no need to step far back and compete there.
‘I will win with metal.’
Having made his decision, Eugene spoke to Edgar.
“Workshop Master Edgar.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“First, obtain one large furnace, and prepare materials so we can increase the scale of the electrolytic cell.”
“Ah… understood.”
“And obtain an ore crusher as well.”
“...An ore crusher?”
Edgar was startled by the unexpected request.
‘Is that not something blacksmiths use?’
Ore crushers were used by blacksmiths when refining iron ore or copper. They were not items alchemists normally used.
However.
“Yes, that will become our workshop’s future.”
Eugene was certain of it.