The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 267 Evil Boss Nigel (16) - The Technician, Ballpoint Pen, and Notebook Strength is always relative. For example, a 3rd rank warrior is nothing more than a somewhat difficult target to cut down when facing 4th rank ability users who are called true powerhouses. That damned sword aura allows someone who has it to unilaterally cut down someone who doesn't, even when the same sword clashes against sword. But against those below them, such as neighborhood thugs or street bandits, a 3 rd rank can truly demonstrate peerless prowess. A beast is naturally threatening with its physical abilities alone, so how much more dangerous would a being that possesses both a beast's physical abilities and human techniques be? This applies not only to force but also to power. Even a family that does well on their home ground but isn't particularly outstanding can gain tremendous authority in a place where the level of competitors is somewhat lower. The Orsini Family that moved from the central continent to the Markanda region was exactly such a real case. Rather than be the tail of a dragon, it's better to become the head of a basilisk. With such resolve, the Orsini Family moved their residence to the Markanda region, even going as far as taking the bold step of selling their territory that was generating profits normally to other feudal lords with whom they had friendly relations. Considering that a territory is normally both the income source and history itself of a feudal lord family, this was an outrageous move that went beyond unconventional. And their gamble showed results in its own way. Since they hadn't moved as if the family had fallen and been driven out, their basic connections remained intact, and through this, the Orsini Family was able to secure the position of 'intermediary with the central region' within Markanda. While simply buying and selling goods was something even traveling merchants could do, connections with noble families was an element that couldn't be easily replicated elsewhere. The funds that had to be expended when moving the family's base were quickly replenished, and having secured a unique position, all that remained was to gradually expand their power and influence. The 'mysterious artifacts' that came through the central continent were such a powerful weapon for the Orsini Family, and this actually showed great effectiveness. At least, until just a short while ago. The Orsini Family's grand mansion. In a room decorated in the central region's distinctive style, a girl spoke. "...This is the worst." No, perhaps the expression 'spat out' would have been more fitting than 'spoke'. "It's sticky, it crackles, and the oil and powder even separate while dripping and melting in the sunlight. Are you telling me to use this trash?" At the question that even carried killing intent, Kelsos, the pharmacist, perfumer, and alchemist employed by the Orsini Family, broke out in a cold sweat. "However, Princess Rushala. That's assuming too extreme a situation. The side effects you mentioned only appear after a long time of exposure with bare skin outside, and brief exposure poses no problem at all." "Anyway, it's still inferior to whatever that sunscreen thing that woman brought out!! Weren't you supposed to be the finest technician from the central region? How can you be inferior to something produced by some rural local strongman?" The words "Is that something for you to say when you crawled into that countryside to play at being royalty?" merely circled in Kelsos's throat without coming out of his mouth. In fact, Kelsos was also in a position where he had exaggerated a bit, claiming he was the best in the central region and that he had fled because he disliked stuffy places even though the great powers had tried to recruit him. Even setting aside the difference in positions between employer and engineer, if they started poking at each other's sore spots, there would be nothing for Kelsos to gain. After listening to Rushala's complaints for a while. Colleagues approached Kelsos as he trudged back to the workshop. "What did she say?" "Hey hey, why ask? Just look at this guy's expression and you get the answer." "...Yeah, it was brutally rejected. She raged about how anyone could use such trash." At Kelsos's answer, sighs leaked out in unison from the mouths of the technicians in the workshop. It all started with the social gatherings that took place recently, where the city-state's princess and influential figures gathered together. Rushala of the Orsini Family, who extended her influence using artifacts unique to the central region as weapons. Fariza of the Baharah Family, who could be called a traditional powerhouse of Markanda. The two were rivals who constantly checked and bit at each other, but at this social gathering, an incident occurred where Fariza completely overwhelmed Rushala. 「This? It's called sunscreen. Princess Rushala has such fair skin that she's more sensitive to sunlight, isn't she? I hope this will be helpful. It's something that's hard to obtain elsewhere, but if you just say the word, Princess, I can get you as much as you want!」 No participant failed to notice that the true meaning behind the words filled with consideration and kindness on the surface was the provocation of 'You don't have anything like this, do you?' Literally seeing red, Rushala pressured Kelsos and the other technicians as soon as she returned home, and they had to literally work day and night in a frantic rush to produce results. And the evaluation of that finished product was exactly what had just happened. Kelsos and the other technicians glared resentfully at the thing called 'sunscreen' that Fariza had supposedly gifted, sitting on the workshop shelf. "...Will we be able to go home today?" "Are you crazy? The atmosphere is already murderous these days, and if you do something that stands out, your head might really fly." "The blacksmiths and metalworkers will be happy to have comrades. Those guys are also rolling around day and night trying to recreate some tumbler or something." Whether fortunately or unfortunately, they weren't the only ones on emergency alert. In the first place, the Orsini Family was able to dominate Markanda's social circles thanks to the various new technologies and strange artifacts that flowed in through the central region. The wealthy of the Markanda region, who had enjoyed all manner of luxury to the point of being sick of it, were always hungry for something new, and the Orsini Family could perfectly satisfy their demands. But now the situation had changed. The various items that Fariza of the Baharah Family casually tossed around as if they were nothing captured the wealthy's interest in an instant, and in inverse proportion to that interest, the Orsini Family's influence was whittled away. The Orsini side was grinding their teeth, determined to somehow catch up or create something better, so in the end, only technicians like Kelsos suffered. "Phew, but what can we do? When those above tell us to work, we have no choice but to work. Let's start by making the powder finer." "The last one was already filtered dozens of times using levigation to get only the finest powder, and you want us to make it even finer?" "If dozens of times doesn't work, we'll have to try hundreds of times. Look for new emulsifiers too. There might be something useful besides egg yolk and soapwort root." It's easy for superiors to babble "Make something this damn awesome! How to make it? That's for you to figure out!", but actually implementing this with technology requires countless trials and errors. Change the materials, change the process, control the variables. As Kelsos was recording, [Mixing in milk or honey might improve the scent, but it will soon rot], he suddenly recalled a certain fact and gave a bitter smile. 'Come to think of it, this ballpoint pen and notebook are also items sold by that Nigel trading company.' A pen with a white body and black tip, where pressing the end extends the pen point - a pen with a seemingly very simple structure at first glance. When this item was first introduced, it garnered considerable attention as 'a pen that can be used without having to prepare individual ink bottles', but those who actually used the item poured out harsh criticism. This was because when used on parchment or papyrus mainly used in the Markanda region, the writing feel was very poor, and the ink didn't soak in properly, often skimming over the surface of the paper. When used on the paper bundles called notebooks that were spread later, the writing was somewhat better, but it wasn't easy to restore an image that had already fallen so far. Moreover, there was already a perception of ballpoint pens as 'defective products that are merely curious' since they broke easily to begin with. However, even though the field was somewhat different, as a technician, Kelsos could discern how excellent these items were. 'They put ink with higher viscosity than commonly used inside the pen, eliminating the need to prepare separate ink bottles. Most of all, this metal ball that serves as the pen tip. This is truly remarkable.' If the metal ball is too large, it would get stuck tight and not roll properly, but if it's too small, the ink inside would leak out. If the sunscreen was an item whose manufacturing method was unknowable, this ballpoint pen was the type where the structure was understandable but attempting to replicate it was daunting. Ordinary metal processing techniques wouldn't even be able to imitate it. 'The reason there are so many defective ballpoint pens circulating in the market is probably because sand and dust get stuck in this ball part. If it were in a non-desert region, it would have received higher evaluation than this.' 'I heard there's something similar to this notebook over in the republic, so perhaps the ballpoint pen is also technology that flowed in from there?' It was fortunate that the upper echelons of the Orsini Family had little interest in these two items. While the core of ballpoint pens - metal processing - would be the specialist's job anyway, ink manufacturing might have been dumped on Kelsos with the reasoning that it's similar to pharmaceuticals anyway. After continuing to record various experimental results in his notebook, Kelsos roughly wrapped himself in a blanket in a nearby room and fell asleep. And the next day. "Sorry, Kelsos. I was flustered and made this mistake...!!" "Ah, well, it's fine. These things happen." To his colleague who kept bowing his head and didn't know what to do, Kelsos waved his hand dismissively despite feeling uncomfortable. A colleague who had been repeating experiments with all sorts of materials trying to recreate sunscreen had spilled one of those failed attempts onto Kelsos's notebook. 'Did he say it was too sticky to apply to skin? Just drying it doesn't seem like it would solve the problem.' While most of the content was in Kelsos's head, in experiments like this where even minor variables could change the results, nothing was more dangerous than that 'most of it'. Sometimes a method that was dismissed as a failure might actually turn out to be the shortcut to success. Hoping to somehow salvage the contents, Kelsos carefully opened the notebook, then soon tilted his head with a "Huh?" "...It's definitely sticky. But at this level, couldn't I just peel it off?" "Really? Thank goodness!! I couldn't even touch it in case it might tear." "Hmm." Stuck it on, peeled it off. After repeating the same motion several times, Kelsos soon tore out a blank page from the notebook and stuck it to the wall. The paper that easily stuck with a *thwack* remained perfectly in place even after he let go, but when he applied force to peel it off again, it came off cleanly without the paper getting damaged or leaving any stuck residue on the wall. "What are you doing?" "...This is useful?" "What?" "Wait a moment. We might have made a great invention." "???" Kelsos immediately went straight to Rushala and emphasized the commercial potential of this 'adhesive that can be easily stuck on and peeled off', but unfortunately, he only received harsh criticism telling him not to waste effort on useless things and to properly make what he was supposed to be making. About half a year later. The story of Kelsos and his colleagues, who fled from the Orsini Family and crossed over to another country to prosper as businessmen, is another tale entirely.