Chatper 9: Quick brewing lesson
After the knight’s training finished, I set off to find Marianne. It wasn’t hard. Apparently, she wanted to talk with me as well since she was waiting for me at the entrance to the dormitory.
“Do you really know how to access the archive under the library?” Marianne asked right off the bat.
“Well, I won’t know for certain until I try it. For that, I actually need to see the underground and assess the viability of my method.”
Though, based on Solange’s description, I felt quite optimistic.
“And I presume you need archnoble mana, right?” Marianne fixed me with her eyes.
Seeing her serious expression, I had probably gone overboard with that whole “pushing her mana towards the barrier” stunt.
“Correct.” I nodded. “Naturally, I do not want to impose. Both you and Lady Natalie had already supplied so much. I am ever so grateful.”
“No, I would like to help,” Marianne replied with a firm voice. “If my assumption is correct and the second barrier requires even higher status, then Lord Wilfried and Lady Rozemyne are bound to access it first. Which would put Lady Charlotte at a disadvantage.”
It seemed like my concerns had been true—she had proposed Natalie’s involvement so I wouldn’t have divulged it to the retainers of the other archduke candidates. In her eyes, doing such a thing would have put Charlotte a year behind her siblings.
“We are the ones who managed to open it for everyone. You don’t have to worry about credit,” I tried to ease her fears.
“Who will remember such a thing if the other archduke candidates make some groundbreaking discoveries? With this much security, it must be something valuable,” Marianne insisted.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one expecting some kind of treasure down there. All the barriers were kind of advertising “valuables inside” to everyone around.
“Then, we just have to be better at this,” I said jokingly.
Although, Marianne took it quite seriously. “Better than Lady Rozemyne?” She grimaced.
“It was just a jab.” I smiled. “I want to cooperate on this for a simple reason: together, we can exploit this opportunity more thoroughly, advancing Ehrenfest’s position.” I looked her in the eye. “Ask yourself this not as a retainer but as a random noble from the general public: who would you rather want as an aub—someone who amassed more credit for themselves, or someone who prioritized the development of the duchy?”
I could read, sure, but reading was Rozemyne’s superpower. She could process the whole archive in no time. That option was definitely superior to us going at it alone and failing to cover everything inside. The size of the archive in my head was changing every time I imagined it, so it was hard to get a proper grasp on how much reading material was down there.
“That’s… a fair question.” Marianne pressed her lips, her face tinged with embarrassment.
“Besides, I do plan on getting something of a head start with a sneak-peek, just a little.” I smiled innocuously.
We were putting a lot of work into this; some reward for our efforts should be in place. I liked a healthy balance between public good and me getting ahead.
“I see.” Marianne regained her noble smile.
I clapped my hands. “Alright. Since you want me to rely on you exclusively, you will have to learn some advanced brewing.”
“Oh.” Her smile tensed.
“I need your liquid mana mixed with dye,” I divulged before musing out loud, “Maybe I could make it myself? I am really good at filtering impurities… Actually, no. The way that barrier hurt my hand, I don’t want to risk crossing with my whole body under ‘close enough’ conditions.” I shook my head and met Marianne with my eyes. “You will have to make it all by yourself, so only your own mana is used at every step of the production.”
I was a bit unsure about putting such requirements on a first-year, but at the same time, Marianne had a really strong motivation.
After a few seconds of gazing somewhere into the void, she refocused and nodded with a tense smile.
“Caroline, do you remember how we talked about putting me into a mana-blocking bag?” I inquired right after returning to my room.
“Do you see any problem with your mana control?” she asked with a worried look.
“Not at all, I will just need to cover my mana somewhat for a test. So I was wondering if we actually have one big enough for me to use.”
I had gathered some quite big ingredients in the past, but not exactly me-sized. With the feybeasts I usually hunted, there hadn’t been much need to look for bigger bags yet.
Caroline sighed in relief. “We do not, but Lady Henrietta does have one in your size.”
My body froze as I stared at her. Did you talk with others about “that?”
Caroline smiled at my expression. “At the time, I mentioned a possible test you wanted to conduct.”
Thankfully, my history of weird tests had made her prodding with such justification quite inconspicuous.
“I thank you ever so much.” I exhaled in relief. “I will also need a regular bag to be dyed.”
“I see.” Caroline shook her head with a small smile, and left the room.
Shortly after, she returned with two big bags.
Wow, I could kidnap two Rozemynes with each. I smirked.
In the morning, Marianne visited my room for her first lesson on brewing. Her expression was quite tense.
“I do not have any brewing utensils,” she muttered as I led her to my cauldron.
Caroline had relocated it out of my hidden room.
Thankfully, this version of dye didn’t require any smelly ingredients, so I was allowed to conduct brewing in shared quarters. Gretia had said she was fine either way—even asked to observe—but it would still have been rude.
“You passed the schtappe fundamentals, so you can make all the utensils.” I smiled in support. “And our work will be relatively simple. You don’t have to worry about any ratios, contamination or impurities. To provide a coating of your own mana is the goal, so you just have to supply it at the expense of everything else.”
My tone must have eased her worries as she gave me a firm nod.
It wasn’t even an exaggeration. The various dyes had their own purposes, and as such each required a specific mixture, which would have been way too hard for a novice. However, with our version, Marianne only needed to stir the pot and supply her mana, and that was about it.
We began with the basics of brewing: cutting, measuring, supplying and mixing. Step by step, I led her through each stage until eventually, she ended up with the final product.
“Congratulations, your first rejuvenation potion. You managed it on your very first try,” I said cheerily.
“This recipe was a rejuvenation potion?” Marianne frowned.
“I won’t just push a random complex recipe at a complete novice. You have to gain a solid baseline through experience so you will have a steady hand with the advanced work.”
Had she really expected me to just let her make the dye during her very first brewing? Without any prior experience? Really?
“No, I mean, I have already studied the recipe in preparation for my next year's classes. This brew has a different formula and more ingredients.” A confused expression showed on Marianne’s face.
“Oh, this is a rejuvenation potion for archnobles. I figured it would be more useful to you than the version taught in the second year. But if you want, we can brew the basic version as well.” I shrugged.
Marianne gave me an exasperated look.
What? As long as I checked her measurements and told her the exact timings, there was no way for her to mess up. She knew how to supply mana to the mixing tool. Heck, after her dyeing that key for the whole yesterday, supplying mana for a few minutes should be outright easy.
We resumed the lesson and produced two more potions, which were both a success. With that feat achieved, I let Marianne rest for today.
“You did great,” I praised her with a positive smile. “Tomorrow, we will try the dye; the day after, liquid mana; and if everything goes well, by the end of the week you might gather the ingredients yourself and make everything from scratch.”
Yesterday, when she had insisted on helping me, I had feared it would have delayed everything.
If she had stumbled or struggled with any part of brewing, this could have potentially taken weeks, but that didn’t seem to be the case. Archnoble students are really easy to teach.
“You are praising me so much. I just followed your instructions.” Marianne grimaced.
“I am genuinely happy that you are managing this challenge. Thanks to you, I will be able to proceed with this plan.” I kept my smile.
Sure, following instructions wasn’t equal to being able to do it alone, but it didn’t matter to me right now. This wasn’t a cramming session before an exam; I merely needed a dyed bag. We had years ahead to put together some proper brewing lessons.
After the morning session, Marianne departed for the Library while I left for Hirschur’s lab. For the first time, no one opened.
This is weird. Maybe her brewing got prolonged? If that was the case, there was no point sending an ordonnanz.
I stood there at the door for a while, wondering whether to come later.
After roughly twenty minutes, Hirschur showed up on the other side of the corridor. Apparently, I had waited in front of an empty lab.
“Professor Hirschur, weren’t you supposed to be brewing inside?” I wondered.
“Yes. Annoyingly, I was disrupted. The whole brew is no doubt completely ruined,” Hirschur grumbled as she opened the door.
“By whom?” It was hard to imagine someone could possibly have enough sway to achieve that.
“We were called by the royalty for questioning about a certain phenomenon in the north,” she replied vaguely.
“North?” I reiterated.
“Classified, of course.” Hirschur smirked.
“Oh.” I smiled nonchalantly.
“Honestly, it was such a bother,” Hirschur kept complaining as she began cleaning the brewing table. “Back at the time, I was lured by the prospect of studying a magic circle or even a tool, but we didn’t find anything. It was a complete waste of time.”
I nodded along while retrieving various vials to put away those half-processed ingredients that could still be salvaged.
“And now, after all this time, they decided to call us for a report at once and ruin all my preparations,” she continued fuming.
“It must have been tough,” I replied absentmindedly.
A phenomenon in the north? Could it be…? Well, it was classified. Even if it was that location with a bit of spring, if they didn’t want to share it publicly, then there was no news. And no news meant no reports back home, so I just shrugged it off.
We finished with all the preparations for the next round of brewing, and I resumed my research of Ferdinand’s tools.
“You are really focused on those,” Hirschur noted from behind her table.
I need to be done with these before Ferdinand finds out. It wasn’t any secret that I visited Hirschur’s lab, and by the sound of it during our meeting, Ferdinand was being updated on my actions in the Academy. It was only a matter of time before that particular fact reached his ears.
In the story, when he had found out about Raimund’s presence, he had taken everything. It seemed prudent to learn all that I could from a source that could disappear at any moment. As such, I was slowly copying the notes and testing the tools.
“Without proper schematics, it is a big hurdle. When it comes to anything else, I can always rely on your knowledge.” I shrugged.
It was a deflection, but truthful nonetheless.
“True.” Hirschur grimaced. “With these tools of his, even a simple repair takes more effort than designing an equivalent tool from scratch. You already figured that out with your *camera* tool.”
“Was brewing mine a better choice?” I asked cautiously, remembering that my design was also unorthodox. “The image gets a bit distorted with various distances,” I added with a frown.
“Much better. I don’t know from what distances you were testing it, but in my lab it works fine. Especially since you upgraded it for use under normal lighting conditions. It saves a lot of time,” Hirschur praised me.
My lips curved into a big smile. It was nice hearing that the tool was useful to her.
“Although, if anything ever happens to the lenses, I do not plan on reenacting your brewing method.” Hirschur gave me a teasing smile.
“Fair.” I shrugged.