Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 55: Chemistry Laboratory

Hughes met Alexei again. The Chief Scribe had noticeably lost weight recently.

Building schools, recruiting manpower to renovate workshops, and surveying mineral resources, each of these tasks required his constant attention.

Not only was the schedule tight, but everything was happening simultaneously.

Hughes had been preoccupied with pollution issues, leaving nearly all territorial affairs in Alexei’s hands.

Although Alexei had undergone extensive training before assuming his position in Castel, he had little hands-on experience.

At first, when he began pushing projects forward, he was full of confidence, believing he had made thorough plans and that execution would be straightforward.

However, the past few days had left him utterly overwhelmed.

Constructing schools and renovating workshops were manageable.

Castel did not have a long history, but its development had never stagnated, and there were people on the island skilled in construction.

However, recruiting personnel and prospecting minerals were much trickier. Minerals? What counted as a mineral?

How was he supposed to determine if an area contained valuable resources?

The scribes under his command were all from the Empire.

Handling routine administrative tasks was no problem for them, but they lacked specialized knowledge in this field.

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Moreover, the scribes were already occupied with other responsibilities, leaving Alexei with only the local fishermen to mobilize.

With no other choice, he personally took an old blacksmith to the mines for an inspection.

After barely organizing the old mine, Alexei busied himself with setting up the school.

When he returned to report after spending several days at the construction site, he thought things were finally settling down, until Hughes spoke, making his vision go dark.

"R-road construction?"

"Yes, we need to build a road leading out of the mountains."

Hughes picked up a map.

"I checked. The northern plains, where the workshops are located, have gravel roads of decent quality."

Hughes traced the marked paths on the map with his finger, sliding it toward the southwest of Castel.

"But in this mountainous area, there’s only a narrow dirt trail, poorly maintained. It’s fine for occasional fruit picking, but transporting large quantities of goods in and out would be a nightmare."

Hughes sighed. He hadn’t expected his industrial development to be bottlenecked by road construction.

Carrying goods manually wasn’t impossible, he had done so for sweet fruit wine production, but for the new factory, it simply wouldn’t suffice.

"What exactly is this new factory producing? You previously mentioned olive oil, but that doesn’t seem to warrant building a dedicated road."

"It’s for olive oil, but the required quantity will far exceed your expectations. Relying on manual labor alone won’t be enough."

Alexei frowned. He couldn’t fathom who would buy such an enormous amount of olive oil.

Was it meant for fuel? That would be far too extravagant.

"Come with me. I’ll show you something interesting I’ve been working on." Hughes stood up and led Alexei out of the room.

As Alexei followed, he sensed something was off.

He glanced around and suddenly realized that Connor, whom he always saw upon arriving at the estate, was nowhere to be found.

Strange. Where had he gone?

"Here, take this."

Alexei accepted a small box from Hughes.

"It contains candy. You can put one in your mouth."

Alexei lifted the lid, revealing several black cubes inside.

He followed Hughes’ suggestion and placed one in his mouth.

"This helps alleviate the effects of pollution. I got it from Nora. We may not deal with much scientific knowledge, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Oh, and by the way, it doesn’t taste great."

You should have mentioned that first!

A shockingly sour taste shot straight to Alexei’s brain, instantly waking him up.

"Pollution?"

"Think of it as some complex knowledge that causes headaches when you learn it. Don’t worry, I’ve tested it. If the pollution is severe, it dissipates when it comes near me."

The two exited the house, crossed the courtyard, and arrived at a secluded building on the estate.

This area was in a remote corner of the estate, with no other buildings nearby.

Alexei glanced at the ground, which had clearly been cleared, and then noticed a large wooden crate.

Inside, the crate was divided into two sections, several buckets on the left and a box of sand on the right?

What was this for?

"That crate is a fire safety box. Every workshop will need one. Some fires can be extinguished with water, but others must be put out with dry sand, like olive oil fires."

Olive oil fires couldn’t be put out with water?

That was a novel idea. But upon thinking it through, he realized it made sense.

He knew olive oil floated on water, meaning that pouring water on a fire could spread the burning oil instead.

Hughes pulled open the door to the building but suddenly turned to Alexei.

"Have you ever come into contact with alchemy?"

"Alchemy?" Alexei was taken aback before chuckling bitterly. "How could I possibly have access to those esteemed masters?"

Alchemy masters held an exalted status in the Empire.

A renowned alchemist stood on equal footing with nobility, and even an apprentice fresh out of an alchemy workshop was a highly sought-after asset for any lord.

An alchemist willing to work long-term with the royal family would be granted a noble title immediately.

If they possessed a fully equipped alchemy workshop, they could even receive land grants.

As a seventh-rank official of orphaned origins, Alexei had never even glimpsed such enigmatic figures, let alone interacted with them.

"That’s a pity," Hughes said with a smile. "Welcome to my chemistry laboratory."

"Chemistry… laboratory?"

As the door opened, Alexei’s eyes first landed on a row of shelves filled with bottles and jars.

He recognized these objects. During previous visits to the estate, he had seen many glass and ceramic vases, which had since disappeared. So, this was where they had gone.

Beside the shelves stood a dark wooden cabinet, a table cluttered with manuscripts and various objects, and, in the center of the room, two large pots.

Pots?

Why were there pots?

"Master, here are the items you requested."

Connor entered from the back, carrying a tray filled with various items.

Alexei curiously peered over. On the tray, he saw a bundle of cotton, a small rectangular block, and an opaque dark-colored bottle.

What were these for? Was the lord planning to demonstrate alchemy? Could he actually be an alchemist?

"Let me show you a few things, starting with… this!"

Hughes handed him the block, then picked up one of the pots, motioning for Alexei to follow him outside.

"I did a test yesterday." Hughes looked excited. "Every experiment in the lab was successful, which means these chemical reactions are viable. Large-scale production can begin soon."

"Chemical reactions? Large-scale production?" Alexei glanced at both Hughes and Connor.

He noticed Connor’s expression was somewhat unusual, almost as if… he was looking forward to something.