Glass Workshop

The man who came out of the workshop was a burly fellow who looked to be in his fifties. He seemed a little nervous. I wonder why?

"It's nice to meet you. My name is Leon. I look forward to working with you today."

"Yeah, uh, yes? I'm the head of this workshop. I am. I'm not good with formal speech, see."

Oh, maybe he thinks I'm a noble? I suppose if Roger got in touch with him, he'd expect someone from the ducal family to come. I may have put the poor man on edge.

"You don't have to speak formally. I'm a commoner."

"What, really? Whew, you should've said so sooner... A noble contacted me and said they were coming to the workshop. I was scared stiff, you know. Nobles don't usually come to workshops themselves."

Huh? Is that so? But if they want something that isn't sold by a trading company, wouldn't they order it from a workshop?

As I wondered about that, Roger noticed and explained.

"Leon-sama, most nobles don't want anything that isn't sold by a trading company. Even when they do, they tell a retainer roughly what they want, and only the retainer comes to the workshop. However, since you wished to visit in person, I arranged for you to come this time."

"I see. Thanks, Roger."

Roger really is incredibly capable. Lately, he even seems to understand what I'm thinking, and he'll do his work according to my wishes without me having to say a word.

I'm staying with the Duke of Townsend's family for now, so Roger is serving me, but I wonder what will happen in the future. If Roger is willing, I'd like him to keep serving me. Well, this is something I'll have to discuss with Richard-sama and Christoph-sama too.

"Anyway, I'm a commoner, so there's no need to worry about your manners or how you treat me. Just act as you normally would."

"All right, thanks! And you can drop the formal speech too, Leon, was it? It makes me uncomfortable."

"Really? In that case, I'll talk normally. So, can I place my order now?"

"Sure. Come on in first and have a seat over there."

The man said that and let us into the workshop. There was no reception room or anything like that inside. Instead, a table and some chairs had been set up in a corner of the workshop, and he led us there.

"So, you wanted a glass case, right?"

"Yeah. I want a pretty large case. Can you make one?"

"Sure. A woodworker should be able to make the frame. If you don't want wood, a blacksmith could make it instead. It'll take a little time, but it can be done."

"Really!? Then, could we put ice inside the glass case and keep the inside cold?"

"Ice? You mean that stuff you get when you leave a bucket of water outside in winter, right?"

"That's it! I want to put some inside the glass case and keep it cold in there. It'll be like winter inside the case, so we can store food in it."

When I said that, the man looked puzzled, as if he didn't quite understand.

Well, of course. Now that I think about it, he's a glassworker. He wouldn't know anything about refrigeration... I got excited and asked him without thinking.

"I don't know about that. Ice melts when winter's over, doesn't it? So you can't keep it cold forever, can you? Besides, in winter you can just leave food outside to preserve it. There's no need to make it winter inside your house, and in summer, there isn't any ice, right?"

"No. We can make ice with a magic tool."

"Is that so? You nobles sure are amazing. But even if you have ice, it'll melt in no time during summer, won't it?"

He has a point. That's the hardest part. I don't really know what to do about it either.

Still, I think cold air sinks, so it would probably be better to put the ice near the top of the box. We should also insulate it as much as possible and seal it as tightly as we can. Then, if we replace the ice regularly... would it work?

For now, I should ask the man whether we can make the glass case airtight.

"Hey, how airtight can you make a glass case?"

"Huh? What's that? Airtight?"

"Airtight... Hmm, it means the air inside the glass case won't leak out. Can you do that?"

"What do you mean, the air won't leak out?"

"Oh, right, that's not quite it. I mean, can you make it so there aren't any gaps in the glass case?"

"I get you now. If we fit the glass snugly into the frame, we should be able to leave almost no gaps."

Finally, he understood... I don't know whether this is a concept that doesn't exist in this world or if he just doesn't know the word, but explaining something to someone who doesn't understand the terminology really is difficult.

So at least we can make it sealed to some extent. Though I'm not sure how few gaps there'll actually be. Still, maybe I'll have him make one. Even if it doesn't work, I'm sure we can find another use for it someday.

We could put it in the shop and use it to display things. What would nobles enjoy looking at...? Flowers, maybe? Even if replacing them regularly would be a hassle, it could work.

Well, I'm sure we can find some use for it.

"Then, could you make it to these dimensions?"

As I said that, I handed him the blueprint I'd made based on the measurements I'd taken at the shop. Though Roger was the one who drew it.

"It's this big?"

"Yeah. Do you think you can make it?"

"Sure, no problem. It'll take about six weeks, though. Is that all right?"

"Yeah! Please do."

"You got it! Leave it to me."

And so, we placed the order for the glass case and left the workshop.

Whew, that was tiring. I'm starting to think this refrigerated glass display case isn't going to work out. I got carried away and tried to make it, but now that I think about it, it's full of problems. I need to think things through properly before I start... I'll have to be careful not to rush ahead just because I'm excited.

Whenever I get the vague idea that something seems doable, it almost always turns out it isn't. If I think it through, there's often a lack of materials, it's technically impossible, or I don't know enough.

I really wanted to make a glass display case, though.

For example, what if we put a bucket of ice inside the glass display case and replaced it regularly as it melted? Would that alone be enough to refrigerate things? Even if there are no gaps, it probably still won't be airtight. I haven't seen any rubber in this world, after all. Even the windows have glass fitted into wooden frames.

So making it airtight would be difficult. Would simply putting ice in a space like that really be enough? Also, since glass lets light through, wouldn't the inside of the case get warm? It gets pretty hot near windows, after all.

The shop has glass windows, and the curtains will probably be open all day. If sunlight comes in, I feel like the ice will melt in no time.

Besides, if the ice were melting in the same space as the food, the humidity would get incredibly high. Wouldn't that ruin the cakes? They'd end up all soggy...

Thinking about it this way, there really are problems everywhere. I want to use ice to make an efficient refrigeration system, but I don't know anything about that sort of thing... I have no idea how to make it work.

If I'd studied science in Japan, maybe some of that knowledge would have been useful. But I was a liberal arts major, and my field of study was completely useless in this world. I enjoyed studying it back in Japan, but now it's seriously no help at all. If I'd known I was going to be reincarnated, I would've definitely chosen a science major!

Well, there's no point complaining about it now. I'll think of what I can do. If I'm going to make a refrigeration system in this world, magic and magic tools are still my best bet.

Actually, they're my only option. Things would be different if I had a smartphone, but all I've got is my own brain. And I've been here for several years now, so I'm starting to forget all sorts of things.

Maybe I can figure out something using magic iron and magic stones... This is going to be a real challenge. Maybe I'll visit Marcel-san's workshop the next time I go home. I miss him, and he might be able to give me some advice about refrigeration.

Yeah. I'll put it on hold until then.