Chapter 35
Drew, the genius.
On the surface, many people call her that—though usually with a hint of mockery.
She was born the second daughter of a merchant family. It was one of the leading merchant houses in Gadeland, a port city; even I knew the family's name.
She should have been a sheltered daughter, quite literally, but her interest turned not to the sons of respectable families she had yet to meet, but to one of her family's businesses: shipbuilding.
She was especially interested in mechanical work and apparently displayed extraordinary talent from a young age, making ship models from single planks and the like.
But she gave no thought whatsoever to her role as the second daughter of a major merchant family, and after arguing with her father, she ran away from home and entered the civil service.
She had been hired for her knowledge of commerce and shipbuilding, so she was initially assigned to the navy.
But Drew gradually began to run wild. She started making one strange thing after another, setting shipbuilding aside. Her interest had not been in shipbuilding, but in the act of "creating" itself.
Even when warned to stop making strange things, she did not change at all. Eventually, her superiors in the navy gave up on her and sent her back to the palace that had assigned her.
Under normal circumstances, that would have been the end of her career, but someone took notice of Drew after she returned to the royal capital: Rays-sama.
Rays-sama took an interest in the things she made, adapted them for practical use, and fielded them in battle, achieving a measure of success.
This led people to reassess her, and she is now assigned to the weapons division.
Incidentally, the weapons division has only one member—her—and she does not even spend all her time making weapons. She simply makes whatever she wants. In other words, it is a department Rays-sama created for Drew.
Though it is a department of one, she is technically its head, so she gets dragged into meetings that civil officials attend as well.
She is frighteningly quick-witted and, as the daughter of a merchant family, good with numbers. Her flexible thinking also leads her to say things far more useful than expected at meetings, so those around her have more or less left her alone as "difficult to deal with, but occasionally useful."
In other words, in this case, "genius" carries a strong connotation of "someone no one can understand."
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"So, what is it? I'm busy, you know?"
Even with Rays-sama and Wickhart, who had been the commander of the Sixth Knight Order until just the other day, present, she made no attempt to hide her displeased expression.
This was just how Drew operated.
"Don't put it that way, Drew. I think you'll get to see something interesting too," Rays-sama coaxed.
Gathered here—in the royal palace's spare kitchen, our secret laboratory for bottled goods—were the bottled-goods team, Wickhart, Drew, Rays-sama, and Lapiria-sama.
We had gathered today to unveil the bottled goods to Drew and Wickhart.
Since Drew might be able to help with improving the highways, and Wickhart had become my aide, we could not keep the project secret from them.
It took several days to obtain proper permission from King Zeurasia, and today, at long last, we had everyone gather.
"What I want Wickhart and Drew to see is this..." When I handed the bottled goods to them, Wickhart rested his on his palm with a puzzled look, while Drew held hers delicately between two fingers and peered through the bottom.
"This..." "This is probably preserved food. What's the liquid inside? How long will it last?"
Drew identified it before I could say anything.
"It's water. We're testing how long it will last right now. The one Drew is holding has been sitting untouched for a little over two months."
"Two months!? Yet the vegetables inside still look fresh..." Wickhart gazed at the jar in admiration.
"Shall we open one and taste it?"
I took the jar Wickhart was holding, peeled off the wax, and pulled out the cork. A soft pssh of escaping air followed.
"I'll test whether it's safe to eat first, so wait a moment." I poured out the water, removed the contents, checked their smell, and nibbled a tiny piece. They seemed fine.
"It would be better to cook them lightly, but go ahead and eat them as they are this time."
They each reached for the vegetables on the plate.
"Oh, they really are perfectly edible," Rays-sama said, impressed. This was the second time Rays-sama had actually eaten the contents of the bottled goods. The jar he had eaten from last time had been stored for about ten days, but the flavor should not have deteriorated that much.
The two tasting bottled goods for the first time, by contrast, were silent.
Wickhart's eyes were wide with surprise, and he stood frozen, still holding the half-eaten vegetable.
Drew's piece was already in her mouth. She chewed it with a crisp, satisfying crunch, her eyes closed and her brows drawn together.
Once she had finished chewing, she began:
"That sound just now was air, wasn't it? Air going in...? No, coming out, perhaps. Why does removing air make it possible to preserve things? For that matter, how do you remove the air?"
Questions followed one after another. To reach that point in such a short time... she really was amazing.
"You pour in boiling water, then boil the whole jar."
"With heat... the air escapes from the jar...? If removing air makes preservation possible, then pulling out even more and sealing the jar more tightly should improve its shelf life?"
Drew's understanding of the bottled goods deepened at an astonishing pace. Wickhart was overwhelmed by her momentum, remaining frozen with only his gaze turned toward her.
"I see, I see. This is interesting. This is interesting," she said, then suddenly seized both my hands.
"You said your name was Roa. This is fascinating, and it will revolutionize distribution. It's incredible," she exclaimed, shaking my hands vigorously.
"Actually, while we were transporting this, Roa suggested that we expand the highways. Drew had just proposed something similar, so I want you to consider whether the profits from the bottled goods could be put toward highway improvements."
Drew nodded repeatedly at Rays-sama's words.
"There's no need to do the math. First, sell this product widely, then sell the technology once it has become reasonably widespread. We could even lend technicians to other countries. If we send out people while keeping the technology secret, we'll earn regular profits."
Drew rattled on, then declared, "Let's go persuade them right now! Come on!" It took nearly an hour to convince her to hold off because the whole thing was still classified.