Volume 1, Chapter 44 – Mass Production

“Alcohol extraction, you say?”

“That’s right. You’re the one who devised it, aren’t you? Out in the world, they’re calling it ‘Fiene Disinfectant.'”

Apparently, without my knowledge, things had progressed to that point.

“Not just medical personnel, but guards, knights, and even the nobility are all scrambling to buy up this Fiene Disinfectant, causing a severe shortage. Because of that, the Apothecary Guild has placed a massive order with our herb shop—the one that happens to employ its inventor. This task can be done with Skill Level 2 Alchemy. I’ve decided to leave it all to you, so you don’t need to mind the shop anymore.”

“Thank you so much, Shishou!”

This was a huge relief.

Having to deal with those men who looked at me with lecherous eyes while plastering on a customer service smile was quite painful.

Now then, let’s get to work right away.

In a corner of the workshop, everything needed for producing the Fiene Disinfectant was already prepared.

A huge sake barrel, a strangely shaped water pitcher-like apparatus with a large glass spout hanging down from the bottom, charcoal, and a heating stand.

Then, the bottles for the disinfectant arranged by the Apothecary Guild.

In short, this looked like a substitute for the distillation apparatus from the science experiments I did in middle school.

First, draw the sake from the barrel into the pitcher.

Then, heat this pitcher-like apparatus to separate the alcohol and collect it in the disinfectant bottles.

Alright, first, I tried following the procedure once.

This pitcher-like thing was like a combination of a flask, rubber stopper, glass tube, and rubber tube, but because there were gaps everywhere, a considerable amount of alcohol escaped.

Not only did the workshop reek of alcohol, but it was also an incredible waste.

It seems that no matter how much Alchemy skill I had, being able to Manage temperature correctly was one thing, but physically impossible things remained impossible.

“Hmm, what should I do? If we continue like this, most of it will just evaporate, which is a waste, and the workshop will become a terrible mess with the smell of alcohol.”

I want to avoid a situation where someone says the medicine we provided had alcohol mixed in.

What should I do?

I racked my insufficient brain.

First, distillation utilizes differences in boiling points.

The problem is that the evaporated alcohol leaks out through gaps in the apparatus.

Also, I have a feeling it’s leaking even at the point where it’s collected in the bottle.

Well, the solution should simply be to plug those gaps, but convenient things like rubber stoppers or glass tubes that can seal perfectly without gaps don’t exist.

Hmm, what to do? At times like this, I should look at the skills I have and see if any can be used.

“Status Open.”

I opened my status and looked over the skill list.

▽ ▽ ▽

【Name】: Fiene Argentata

【Race】: Vampire (LOL)

【Gender】: Female

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【Class】: Healer, Apothecary

【Level】: 2

【Unique Skills (13)】:

《Bloodsucking: 1》

《Mist Form: 1》

《Bat Transformation: 1》

《Shadow Manipulation: 1》

《Familiar Domination: 1》

《Blood Manipulation: 1》

《Charm: 1》

《Lightning: 1》

《Limit Break》

《Dimensional Storage: 1》

《Spirit Summoning》

《Beautiful Looks》

《Luck》

【Skills (21)】:

《Language Ability: 10》

《Mana Control: 1》

《Dark Magic: 1》

《Holy Magic: 10》

《Healing Magic: 10》

《Fire Magic: 1》

《Water Magic: 1》

《Wind Magic: 1》

《Earth Magic: 1》

《Status Resistance: 10》

《Fire-Attribute Resistance: 1》

《Water-Attribute Resistance: 1》

《Wind Resistance: 1》

《Earth Resistance: 1》

《Dark-Attribute Resistance: 10》

《Holy Absorption》

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《Curse Resistance: 10》

《Sunlight Absorption》

《Charm Resistance: 10》

《Alchemy: 2》

《Herb Appraisal: 1》

▽ ▽ ▽

“Probably the Attribute Magics, right?”

Thinking simply, it seemed like Fire Magic could be used to heat the alcohol and Water Magic to cool it.

For now, since I can Manage temperature perfectly using charcoal with the Alchemy skill, trying Water Magic seemed good.

Well, no point overthinking it. I poured in a little sake and started heating it.

Then, when it warmed up, I tried casting Water Magic on the lid at the top of the pitcher to cool it.

——Get cold~ get cold~

But nothing happened.

Huh? Could it be that ice magic isn’t within the scope of Water Magic? Or is my skill level insufficient?

I hurriedly tried to stop the heating by putting out the fire and accidentally touched the flame.

“Ow!”

I frantically cast Healing Magic to cure the burn.

Oops. That was careless.

Still, fire really is hot when you touch it, and I can actually get burned, huh? It’s so realistic it’s hard to believe this is a game.

Seriously…

Oops, that’s no good. I’m working right now.

I pulled my thoughts back from their strange tangent.

If I can’t cool it with Water Magic, that means it’s difficult to return the evaporated alcohol to liquid.

Hmm, what to do? Buy ice or something? No, I haven’t even seen ice being sold in the first place.

Then what about the other Attribute Magics? How about using Earth Magic to plug the gaps?

Alright, let’s try how much I can do.

So, I touched the dirt on the workshop floor and tried using magic.

——Become a lid that perfectly fills the gaps~

Then, the dirt rose slightly and took the shape of a lid.

“Ah, did it work, maybe?”

I tried to pinch and lift the finished lid to swap it with the pitcher’s lid. Then, the lid crumbled to pieces.

It seems it was just dirt after all. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to harden dirt like stone.

Incidentally, I also tried to deform the glass lid itself, but that didn’t work either.

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It seems with Skill Level 1, I can hardly do anything.

Now, what’s left is Wind Magic.

Being able to manipulate wind means I can move air.

Ah, that means I might be able to use Wind Magic to collect the evaporated alcohol, right?

I put in a little more sake and started heating again.

Then, when it warmed up, I cast Wind Magic inside the pitcher.

——Only the evaporated alcohol, move~ move~

But nothing happened.

Huh? This doesn’t work either? Maybe Skill Level 1 isn’t enough? No, wait. Then!

——Air at the lid part of the pitcher, don’t move!

Oh, this worked! That means the bottle side too!

——Air at the mouth of the bottle, don’t move!

Nice, nice.

Now the alcohol shouldn’t leak anymore.

After that, if I just adjust the heat according to the Alchemy skill—

Pop!

With a light sound, the pitcher’s lid flew off.

Then, the smell of alcohol filled the air.

“Aaaaaah, why?”

I Managed to catch the pitcher’s lid somehow, but a fair amount of the extracted alcohol had leaked out.

“Hmm, I thought it was going well…”

As I muttered to myself, the workshop door opened.

“Hey? What’s wrong? What was that sound just now?”

“Ah, Shishou.”

“Why isn’t the lid on? That’s no good, is it?”

“Ah, well, actually—”

I explained the situation to Shishou.

Then, he told me to wait a bit and left the workshop.

After a while, Shishou returned with a large metal pot in his hand.

“Collect the alcohol in this instead of the bottle. And, keep that pot constantly cooled using water. Hot air tries to escape. That’s what causes the explosion. If you keep it cool, it won’t explode.”

“Thank you!”

Shishou immediately pointed out the problem and even taught me the solution. As expected of a veteran with 30 years as an apothecary.

I immediately got to work. I placed the pot on a metal basin, poured some well water I had drawn earlier over it to cool it slightly.

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After that, I repeated the same procedure as before.

—Air, don’t move~ don’t move~

It’s fine. This time it won’t explode.

“Shishou! It worked properly this time!”

“…That’s good. But, be careful. If it had exploded and the glass shattered, it might have been irreparable, you know?”

“I’m sorry. The tools I borrowed…”

“That’s not it! You’re a young lady too! What if you got hurt and ended up with a scar!”

“Ah… yes. I’m sorry.”

Oh. Right. I have Healing Magic, so I wasn’t particularly conscious of it, but a scar on a girl’s face is normally a big deal.

I got burned earlier too.

And, I’m making Shishou worry.

“Um, I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“…Yeah, do that.”

◇ ◇ ◇

After that, things progressed smoothly.

Happily, I also made a new discovery regarding Water Magic.

I couldn’t produce ice or cold water, but I could cool water I touched with my hand.

It seems the reason I couldn’t use ice magic was because my Water Magic level was too low.

Thanks to that, I no longer needed the task of replacing the lukewarm water.

And so, day after day, I devoted myself solely to extracting alcohol.

Perhaps because I continuously used the Alchemy skill throughout the work, its EXP accumulated at an unusually high pace of 400 to 500 per day.

And it was the same for the Herb Appraisal skill.

Appraising the alcohol accumulating in the pot gave me skill EXP.

Moreover, perhaps because new alcohol was being added, I could gain EXP even if I appraised the contents of the pot multiple times.

Thanks to that, its EXP also accumulated at an unusually high pace.

Furthermore, although only a little, because I was using Wind Magic and Water Magic for sealing and cooling, their EXP also accumulated, which was wonderful.

Moreover, it seems that with my method of distillation, there was almost no loss of alcohol, and the workshop didn’t get smelly, for which Shishou praised me.

Apparently, complaints had been sent to the Apothecary Guild from other apothecary workshops saying they couldn’t do other work because the place reeked of alcohol.

When Shishou, hearing that, introduced my method, it started circulating under the grandiose name ‘Fiene Alcohol Extraction Method,’ and it seems herb shops in the Royal Capital began hiring Wind Magic and Water Magic apprentice mages.

Since Skill Level 1 mages aren’t much use in combat, they usually end up doing odd jobs around their master’s workshop while apprenticing.

Apparently, both the masters and the apprentices were delighted to have a way to earn some spending money while training at the same time.

And then, the inevitable moment finally came.