Chapter 69
Astera Eneresis.
No one suspected her absence,
and everyone mistakenly believed she contacted them often,
“……”
“Damn, this is driving me crazy.”
Whenever Astera was brought up, everyone else aside, the Eneresis family became “stupid.”
After recalling that his little sister, Hermione Eneresis, was a third-year at the academy,
Akion asked Hermione where their big sister Astera was.
“Sis. Sister Hermione! You’re awake, right?”
“……”
Then, like a computer with its wires cut, Hermione simply stared blankly.
“Hey, hey.”
“Huh? Wha—eek, what are you doing to me!”
Only after Akion grabbed her and even scribbled on her face did she come to her senses.
“Just kidding.”
“Are you getting revenge because I harassed you a little?!”
“Yep. What are you going to do about it? Mad? You said you’d use my engineering in your academy thesis, so you can’t graduate without my advice, can you?”
“You little—!!”
Even those who weren’t Eneresis couldn’t remember Astera at all.
After seeing off the fuming Hermione, Akion fell into thought.
“Can this really be solved with aluminum-foil hats?”
Not because of the Outer God’s terror,
but because of the absurdity of solving it with tinfoil hats used in conspiracy theories… As an engineer, he wondered whether he should have a fit before even attempting an analysis.
*
Aluminum.
Chemical symbol Al, atomic number 13.
It was light and strong, making it one of the indispensable materials of modern engineering.
“And it’s a pain in the ass to extract.”
Of course, the problem was that producing aluminum was insanely difficult.
During extraction, aluminum was so obsessed with oxidation that it could be called an oxygen lover,
and even if you extracted it through carbon reduction like steel, it would simply oxidize again or become a carbon compound.
Its reaction was so violent that aluminum was mixed into explosives and solid fuel.
Above all, aluminum…
“At least 13,000 kilowatt-hours per ton….”
It was an energy hog that devoured 13,000 to 15,000 kWh just to produce one ton.
That was why it was a metal smelted in countries with cheap electricity.
On top of that, refining this stuff from bauxite resulted in aluminum oxide, more or less,
and when that was melted again, the absence of cryolite meant it had to be melted and refined at around 2,000°C instead of 950°C, sending the difficulty through the roof.
And the electrodes had to be made of pure carbon, without any impurities!
For this reason, Akion hurried back home.
Only the equipment at Akion Workshop, which stood at the cutting edge by medieval standards, showed any possibility of producing it.
“Workshop Master! Long time no see!”
“Sir Clad, you’ve had a hard time in the north, but we’re pressed for time. Is everything I mentioned in my letter ready?”
“Ha ha! Aren’t you working this old man too hard?”
There was no time even to enjoy reuniting with Sir Clad after so long.
Still, carbon could be obtained from the Corex furnace.
Since graphite was used here as well, there was also a graphite mine,
and if it was reprocessed and baked for several days at around 1,000°C in a kiln where no oxygen could reach it… it could at least be used as an electrode.
More importantly, this was an age when alchemy existed, so chemicals were relatively easy to obtain.
More precisely, the alchemists had facilities for producing refining chemicals.
“Of course everything’s ready! Steam cauldrons, rotating kilns, and so on… We’ve made everything the Workshop Master requested!”
“Young Master! Who do you think we are? We’re the proud veterans of Akion Workshop!”
Steaming powdered bauxite with sodium hydroxide in a pressurized vessel produced a messy mixture containing sodium aluminate.
Now, letting this settle left only the solution, and adding aluminum hydroxide crystals caused more crystals to precipitate.
And if it was fired at 1,100°C in a spinning kiln—in other words, a rotary kiln?
“Workshop Master, this is… alumina, isn’t it? How does this become something like iron?”
“Amazing, right? I thought so too when I first learned about it, Sir Clad.”
Pure white aluminum oxide—alumina—made from three oxygen atoms bonded to two aluminum atoms was completed.
It was also called alumina and was a material used in ceramics.
Akion put all of it into a special kiln—an electrolytic cell—whose outer walls were made from low-carbon-steel plates mixed with kaolin.
“Now, for this… how on earth did you get this ridiculously expensive cryolite?”
“Duke Volkov asked me to find out whether it had any uses. I brought back a large amount for research, and what luck! Ha ha!”
They added cryolite, which was a pain in the ass to obtain, as well.
Akion had thought procuring it would take an entire year,
but, by some truly incredible stroke of luck, it had been found in a newly opened mine in the Volkov duchy.
Now they had to keep blasting it with ultra-high-voltage electricity until it melted, but…
“Young Master, even Goldie can’t manage this.”
There were only a few people in Eneresis capable of using lightning magic,
and among them, only Goldie and one other person were exceptional.
“Tower Master.”
“Akion. Surely you aren’t going to work me to the bone without even a reward for such grueling labor?”
Tower Master Ridasid.
If she hadn’t been around—she was practically a cheat code—Akion would probably have suffered terribly while gathering mana stones to use instead.
“Of course!”
“Aisherel has been running back and forth between the north and here for your sake, yet you haven’t given her any reward, either.”
“Geh.”
The problem was that Akion had rarely given proper rewards to the girls who sacrificed themselves for him.
Trust was supposed to blossom through give and take… but all Akion had done for them was impart engineering knowledge, wasn’t it?
“Wait, isn’t a science lecture valuable to begin with?”
But if that meant rising through the mages’ hierarchy, that was another matter.
Akion realized he’d been getting played!
“Tsk, he’s getting sharper.”
“Young Master, you’ve gotten pretty quick-witted lately. This won’t work on him….”
“You people….”
Akion had almost fallen for the Tower Master and Goldie’s gaslighting.
The Outer God had made time of the essence, but since they didn’t know the circumstances, these two were leisurely asking Akion for dates!
“But Young Master, Sister Aisherel really hasn’t received anything at all.”
“Ack.”
But Aisherel really had helped without asking for any compensation,
quietly supporting Akion and Eneresis.
She polished the swordsmanship of the knights belonging to Eneresis,
handled all the administrative work on the Volkov side,
and sometimes traveled back and forth to the north to help with this and that.
“Come to think of it, I’ve hardly ever seen her face….”
“That’s why Delford seems to like Aisherel very much.”
Of course, that didn’t mean she was being entirely selfless.
The person who would ultimately decide Akion’s engagement to her was the family head, Delford,
and if she won his heart, she could surely have the engagement confirmed.
“Fawks. Fawks.”
“Mm-hmm. Right. Fawks.”
“Why is that ‘Fawks’…?”
Of course, Aisherel had only done it because she sincerely wanted to help him. Anyway.
“Well, I don’t want to give another woman a chance….”
“What chance?”
“Oh, just listen! You need to repay Aisherel in kind for all the effort she’s putting in for you.”
“Well, Goldie does think that makes sense.”
Apparently, they meant they would give Aisherel their chance to date him.
As matters were being wrapped up that way, Akion asked about what had been bothering him.
“Then why did you refuse…?”
Why had they suddenly pretended to be sulking and refused to cooperate?
“To lighten the mood?”
- Bonk!!
Akion resorted to violence against a woman for the first time in a while.
It was a forehead flick, and the Tower Master was completely unharmed. Anyway.
*
Once the electricity had melted it, drawing off the liquid aluminum and casting it into ingots was a field where trial and error would solve the problem.
Akion wasn’t strictly necessary.
Thanks to that, Akion had time to spare,
and he followed the advice of Goldie and the Tower Master….
- Knock knock knock.
“Anyone home?”
He visited Aisherel for the first time in a while.
She had apparently been going back and forth between the Eneresis estate and the Volkov duchy,
cooperating with Eneresis on newly developed mines and businesses in the Volkov duchy.
He had only heard even this secondhand through the steward….
- Knock knock knock!
“Sister Aisherel, are you there?”
Until then, Akion’s relationship with Aisherel had consisted of exchanging a few words over meals.
Besides, after going up to the capital, he hadn’t even written her proper letters.
Thinking of it that way, he felt even more sorry.
“Sis!!”
So he asked the steward and obtained some rather expensive wine.
He dressed properly and took care to spruce himself up,
even seeking advice from Countess Lucretia before obtaining a bouquet.
- Bang bang bang!!
He also wanted to thank Aisherel, who had continued helping him in secret from behind the scenes.
“Sis!!!”
All his effort knocking seemed about to go to waste.
Akion had definitely heard that Aisherel was staying in the guest room today.
Just in case, he had even cross-checked it with the steward and the maids….
She was said to eat her meals in the room, yet the food left outside the door remained untouched.
“Sis! Is something wrong inside? I’m coming in!”
- Click.
Not knowing whether something had happened, Akion carefully reached out and turned the doorknob.
“……”
The room was cleaner than expected.
Aisherel’s room was so orderly that it brought to mind a line from an American horror movie.
On one side was the armor she appeared to wear, along with a heavy greatsword that would have been too much for Akion to lift.
And….
- Zzz….
Aisherel was asleep facedown at her work desk, buried beneath a pile of documents.
She hadn’t even tidied her disheveled hair… she appeared to be in a very deep sleep.
“……”
Akion approached carefully so he wouldn’t wake her.
And all the documents beside her were…
<Regarding Analysis of New Minerals from Volkov and Request for Cooperation>
<Regarding Administrative Coordination for Additional Mineral Orders from Akion Workshop>
<Request for Additional Iron Ore Supply - Akion Workshop>
“Ah……”
The contents all benefited Akion and no one else.
He had no idea, thinking that the staff, Goldie, and the Tower Master handled everything on their own….
- Zzzzz….
There had been a reason Goldie and the Tower Master had separately told him to take care of her.
It was only around 6 p.m., yet Aisherel was asleep.
And judging by her dark circles… she must have worked overtime often.
“Good grief….”
Akion knew he was somewhat indifferent to the people around him.
Who was doing what, why they were doing it, and so on.
If it benefited him, he would simply brush it off with, “They’ll handle it themselves.” But…
Seeing Aisherel, he wondered whether that had gone too far.
- Click.
Not wanting to wake her, Akion carefully placed the wine on her work desk,
then took the coat hanging on her clothes rack and draped it over her shoulders.
“……Huh.”
Then his eyes met Aisherel’s.
She had been asleep when he was pounding on the door earlier, so how had she woken up now?!
“Um, I—”
Anyway, as was only proper, he had to greet her.
Akion nearly said, “Long time no see,” but swallowed the words and tried to say hello.
“It’s Akion.”
“Yes. It’s Akion.”
- Grab!
“It’s Akion.”
“Eek.”
And….
- Whoosh!!
“Ngh.”
Aisherel grabbed him by the collar and threw him onto the bed.
“Wait, wait! Sis, hold on—!”
Akion had forgotten, but Aisherel was a Swordmaster.
In terms of raw strength, she was already far ahead of Akion.
“Hehe, heh, it must be a dream anyway….”
“Wait!!!!”
Aisherel was already on top of Akion.
She even appeared to be preparing for something, judging by how she tossed off her coat.
“Sis, wait!! It’s still early evening—!!”
Akion wasn’t mentally prepared yet.
He tried somehow to stop Aisherel… but the difference in strength left him completely helpless.
- Squeeze!
Thus, Akion was held tightly by Aisherel.
‘Bye-bye, my…!’
Akion squeezed his eyes shut, thinking this was the end….
- Zzz….
Even after staying still for twenty minutes, nothing happened.
- Squeeze~!
Aisherel simply hugged him like a dakimakura and went to sleep.
“………”
What on earth was going on?
Buried in her embrace, Akion was utterly confused.