Are You Going to Break off the Engagement and Expel Me at the Same Time? ~I’m an Alchemist Who’s End

Chapter 31: Humble research

“Why is it so messy?”

“Ugh…”

That was Iru-chan’s response as she entered the lab.

On the table were piles of papers and documents.

Some of them collapsed and fell on the floor.

There were also papers on which I had noted the progress of my work, lying in pieces on the chair.

The wooden boxes containing the materials stood in a corner of the room like a tower in danger of collapsing.

“Sister Lia, you’ve been here less than a month, right?”

“W-Well… I guess it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“But still, it’s too messy. Do you clean up properly?”

“N-no, I don’t…”

I couldn’t lie.

Because it’s a mess.

You wouldn’t believe me if I said I did, would you?

Because I’m not…

“Well, let’s start cleaning up first.”

“What, but my research…”

“You want to do it in this mess?”

“…Let’s clean up.”

I gave in to Iru-chan’s pressure.

She is a cute girl, but she is not just a cute maid.

Later, Iru-chan asked me to clean up.

“Separate what you need from what you don’t need!”

“Y-yes.”

“Put the things you need in a place where you can reach them easily! It would be hard to work otherwise!”

“Yes, I understand!”

These precise instructions move me left and right.

That’s funny… I thought I should be the one telling her what to do, guiding her in her research.

The reality is harsh.

Two hours later…

“Okay! I think we’re done here!”

“Y-yeah, I think so…”

I stand in front of the tidy room, sweating and breathing heavily.

Iru-chan, who has been cleaning the room with me, looks quite unconcerned.

We both drank a heat-resistant potion.

If there is a difference, it is only a matter of physical strength…

I am tired.

Maybe I’m more tired than I’ve been in a long time.

That’s how hard I’ve been working.

“How does it feel? Doesn’t it feel good to be clean?”

“I feel it. I feel so refreshed.”

“Right~ Sister Lia, you have to clean yourself properly from now on.”

“Y-yes… I’ll do my best.”

I’m not sure if I can do that.

“I’ll check periodically to see if you’ve done it.”

“U-um, please.”

She’ll get mad if I don’t clean up properly.

Being told what to do by a girl younger than you is usually unbearable.

“Actually, I’d like to do it for you! My Lord is a bit eccentric and his motto is, ‘What you can do, you should do yourself.’

“That sounds like something Thomas would say.”

“Right? He’s a strange Lord. He doesn’t seem aristocratic at all.”

“Hmm. That’s the good thing about Thomas.”

“That’s true! It’s easy for me to work with him.”

Iru-chan smiles happily.

She must have developed her smile because of this free environment.

If she had worked for a noble in the capital, she wouldn’t have been able to smile like that.

If that’s the case, then this really is the best place to be.

“Well! Now that we’ve cleaned up, let’s get to work!”

“Right.”

“What should we do first?”

“Well… Normally I’d start by gathering materials, but I have everything I need from my study, so I’ll just try out some alchemy patterns.”

I have an idea of what I want to make.

A substance that continues to emit cold air.

It can be made out of anything.

It can be a mineral or a liquid.

Minerals are better in this case, aren’t they?

Liquids are more likely to spoil if they come in contact with air, and children might accidentally drink them.

“Thomas left us some ice, so we should use that up first.”

“Yes. Let me know and I’ll prepare the ingredients.”

“Thanks. And that herb over there…”

I give the instructions and Iru-chan helps me.

Finally, the scene I had been expecting occurred.

We tried different patterns of configurations and tried to refine them.

When you try to smell something completely new, it’s not always possible to get exactly what you want.

Most of the time we fail and the material is lost.

The only thing that happens is that an unintended substance is created.

Sister Lia, does this ice smell sour?

volume is 80%volume is gedempt

“It is a failure. Let’s destroy it.”

“Can we just throw it away? It makes a sizzling sound…”

Don’t worry about it. The original material is safe. Maybe…”

Sometimes, very rarely, there is something that doesn’t make sense.

Such discoveries are important, but mostly useless and meaningless.

“There’s not enough… I’ll go to the warehouse and try something else.”

“Yes!”

I take Iru-chan with me to the warehouse.

I take the minerals, plants, and dried materials that I haven’t tried yet and go back to the lab.

And the thought of untried patterns.

“Hmm… Subtle? There’s something missing…”

“Sister Lia, it’s been turning into a liquid sludge for a while…”

“It’s a failure, that’s all. Let’s go to the study and investigate.

“You have the data, don’t you?”

“Not enough, I think. I need to see if there are other materials I can use.”

So we go into the study.

I look at the material on plants and minerals.

The properties of the materials used in alchemy also depend on the properties of the materials from which they are made.

What is needed to add the element of continuity to the emission of cold air?

We research, we try, we fail, we find out what we are missing.

And repeat.

“Sister Lia.”

“What?”

“Research is not as easy as I thought.”

“Yes. Yes it is.”

Behind every great success are hundreds of failures.

To achieve spectacular results, you have to constantly strive to accumulate failures.

It’s a small thing, but it’s important, you see.