Chapter 331: The Key to “Art”
‘It feels as if the Church just suddenly appeared from out of nowhere.’
The sentence kept turning in Roland’s mind as he walked back to his office.
He closed his eyes and searched the Fourth Prince’s memories the way you search a house you know is empty—methodically, not hopefully. Nothing. His understanding of the Church was no different from any other idle nobleman’s: the Fourth Prince had never thought it worth his time to learn anything useful about the occult, so that particular shelf stood bare. But if what Tilly had said was true, the Church’s propagandistic strategy was peculiar in the extreme.
Consider the religions of his former world, for example. Since the beginning of recorded history, the gods had always been there—creation myths, seven-day genesis stories, karma, reincarnation. These were narratives that explained divine power by rooting it in the foundation of the world itself. Every religion Roland could think of had one.
By comparison, the Church of this world was strangely… thin.
He shook his head and let the thought go. He had no more evidence to reason from, and dwelling on an empty question only consumed time he didn’t have. Perhaps the ruins beneath the Concealing Forest would give them answers.
He crossed to the window. The glass was cold under his fingers. In the garden below, a vast expanse of canvas lay spread across the snow—bluish-green against the white, its color strange and too bright, like something from a warmer climate that had wandered north and hadn’t yet grasped the situation.
Soraya was assembling the new air sac. The upgraded hot-air balloon would be considerably larger than its predecessor, capable of carrying more people at once. The change was deliberate insurance: if Anna couldn’t sever the entire ice coffin from the ruins and transport it intact to Border Town, they would need room to bring the woman in her crystal sleep back some other way.
They would depart in two days.
The roster had already been settled. From Sleeping Island: Tilly, Sylvie, Shavi, Ashes, and Andrea. From the Witch Alliance: Anna, Wendy, Nightingale, Nana, Lightning, and Maggie. An unprecedented coalition by any measure—attack, defense, and battlefield awareness all at their peak. Short of a God’s Stone of Retaliation in the hands of the enemy, no devil would get within striking distance.
“Your Royal Highness.” The guard’s voice came from the doorway. “Chief Alchemist Sir Kyle Sichi requests an audience.”
“Let him in.”
Kyle had not come alone. Beside him stood Chavez, the young chemist, looking rather like a student about to present to an exam board.
“Your Royal Highness,” Kyle said, “the production outline for large-scale nitric acid synthesis is complete.”
Roland blinked. Then a wave of genuine pleasure moved through him—the best news he’d heard in days. He stood and personally poured tea for them both. “Tell me how.”
“The credit belongs to Chavez,” Kyle said, with a flicker of something like pride. “I’ll let him explain.”
“Your Highness.” Chavez offered a small, slightly stiff bow. “The laboratory method described in the texts—distilling saltpeter to obtain dilute nitric acid, then purifying it with concentrated sulfuric acid—I tried combining the steps. I placed the saltpeter directly into the concentrated sulfuric acid and applied shared heating. The result was nitric acid, and at a purity high enough to produce the fuming phenomenon mentioned in Elementary Chemistry.”
“Shared heating.” Roland frowned. “But those are chemically distinct processes. Dry distillation requires a much higher temperature and produces nitrogen oxide gas, which only becomes dilute nitric acid when bubbled through water. The sulfuric acid’s role in the classical method is purely physical—its high boiling point and water-absorbing properties reduce moisture content in the product. That shouldn’t involve a reaction at all.”
“I couldn’t explain it myself,” Chavez admitted. “Mr. Sichi repeated the experiment several times, wondering whether my result was coincidental.”
“Coincidental,” Kyle confirmed with a nod. “But it wasn’t. They are not the same process, yet they produce the same outcome. My interpretation—” he paused, considering, “—is that saltpeter contains a component that reacts with the sulfuric acid and then evaporates in the heat, leaving only nitric acid. Based on the formula, it appears to be some variety of… nitrate.”
The explanation clicked into place. Before synthetic ammonia was invented, Roland recalled, the oldest industrial method for producing nitric acid was precisely this: reacting nitric acid or potassium nitrate with concentrated sulfuric acid. Saltpeter was largely composed of two varieties of nitrate, both easily obtained, both relatively easy to extract. With temperature control, the evaporated nitric acid could be captured in a continuous stream.
The method had its disadvantages—it consumed sulfuric acid in significant volume and corroded equipment aggressively, which was why it had eventually been superseded. But neither problem was insuperable here. The fertilizer and pesticide industries hadn’t been established yet, which meant all the sulfuric acid production could be directed toward nitric acid synthesis. And Soraya’s coatings would handle the corrosion.
“Well done,” Roland said, and he meant it—clapping Chavez on the shoulder with a warmth that surprised the young man. “You arrived at this by chance?”
“His luck has shown itself before,” Kyle said, raising an eyebrow. “Back at the Redwater City Alchemical Workshop, before he’d even studied chemistry properly, he stumbled onto the double-acid preparation method in his early twenties—the youngest alchemist in the workshop. The thirty- and forty-year-old apprentices didn’t take it graciously.”
“Regardless, it’s excellent news for the town,” Roland said. “Start with a small production batch to test the setup. I’ll assign a witch to cooperate with you. If it proves viable, we’ll expand.”
“As you will.”
“Good. Now—” Roland set down his cup and let the warmth drop from his voice. “I have another task. Now that reliable nitric acid is within reach, I need you to produce something considerably more dangerous. Nitroglycerin.”
Kyle’s expression didn’t change. “How dangerous?”
“The synthesis itself is straightforward in principle: let concentrated nitric acid react with glycerol, using concentrated sulfuric acid as a catalyst. But you must control the temperature rigorously throughout, and ensure adequate ventilation. The nitrification reaction generates significant heat—place the reaction vessel in iced water. Bear in mind: alternating heat and cold, vibration, impact, friction—any of these can trigger detonation.” He had no illusions about the reliability of his amateur chemistry, but the precursors were right, and the risk was worth taking. “Use only small quantities for the initial experiments. If something goes wrong, Lady Nana should still be able to help you.”
Chavez’s mouth opened. Before any words emerged, Kyle spoke. “Understood. Its power—comparable to black powder?”
“Entirely different.”
“It sounds like an interesting experiment.” Kyle’s smile had the quality of a man already beginning the mental process of ordering materials.
Nine chemists in ten, Roland thought. Explosion enthusiasts, the lot of them. Why does that never change?
Nitroglycerin was notoriously unstable—Nobel had famously stabilized it by absorbing it into diatomaceous earth, which improved safety at the cost of raw explosive power. But Roland had no intention of replicating the classical dynamite formula. Instead, he planned to introduce either nitrocellulose or nitrostarch into the nitroglycerin: the former would yield an excellent smokeless explosive; the latter, a more powerful detonation. Both would stabilize the compound while amplifying its effect.
From the name alone, the direction was obvious. Large quantities of nitric acid were the axis around which the evolution from black powder to true gunpowder would turn.
And now, at last, he had the key.
Chapter 331 The Key to “Art”
‘It feels as if the Church just suddenly has appeared from out of nowhere.’
This sentence continued echoing through Roland’s mind as he was returning to his office.
He closed his eyes and carefully looked through the memories of the 4th Prince, but he still couldn’t find any relevant information about this. His understanding of the Church was the same as that of any other ordinary nobleman. During his time at the palace the 4th Prince never bothered spending that much effort in learning anything useful, so his knowledge concerning the occult was practically a full-on blank space. But, if what Tilly had said was true, then the Church’s propaganda strategy was also rather strange.
Taking his former world of religious myths, for example, since the beginning of the world there have always been gods and the routine everyone agreed on was that the gods were the ones who created the world. Stories such as the creation in seven days, karma, reincarnation, and so on… those were legends used to describe the power of the Gods and were a standard part of every religion.
Compared to them, the Church of this world was quite… lacking.
But Roland didn’t have any more clues to consider, so he shook his head and decided to put such thoughts behind him.
Maybe their questions would be answered when they went to explore the ruins within the Concealing Forest.
He went to the window and looked towards the garden where a huge coating was laid out on the ground – in the middle of the vast expanse of white snow its bluish green appearance seemed particularly eye-catching.
Nowadays Soraya was creating a bigger air sac, the new hot air balloon’s volume would become much larger and would thus be able to transport a larger crowd of people. This was preparation in case they were unable to free the trapped woman when going to the ruins in the case that Anna wasn’t able to cut-down the whole “ice-coffin” and bring the woman and some of the transparent stones back to Border Town.
They would depart in in two days.
The people that would be going along had already been decided. Tilly, Sylvie, Shavi, Ashes and Andrea would be from the Sleeping Island witches while the Witch Alliance would send Anna, Wendy, Nightingale, Nana, Lightning, and Maggie. This line-up could be said to be unprecedentedly powerful. Its attack, defense, and battlefield awareness were of the highest level, so as long as there was no God’s Stone of Retaliation being used, the Devils wouldn’t even have a chance of approaching them.
“Your Royal Highness, Chief Alchemist Sir Kyle Sichi wishes to see you,” one of his personal guards said from the door.
“Let him in.”
Kyle wasn’t alone, this time he had come together with his colleague Chavez, “Your Royal Highness, the outline for your requested large-scale production of nitric acid has been completed.”
“Really?” Roland stared blankly but soon after a burst of happiness flooded his heart. This was probably the best piece of news he had heard within these past few days. He stood up in excitement and personally poured a cup of tea for the two chemists as he asked, “Tell me, how did you manage it?”
“The credit for this belong to Chavez,” he said laughingly, “so I will let him explain it.”
“Your honorable Highness,” the young Chavez bowed, seeming somewhat reserved as soon as he opened his mouth. “Your alchemical… no, the chemical reaction used in the laboratory to produce nitric acid is produced by distilling saltpeter to obtain diluted nitric acid and then it’s purified with
concentrated sulfuric acid. I tried to put the two together by placing the saltpeter directly into the concentrated sulfuric acid for shared heating. By doing so I successfully obtained nitric acid, even more, its purity was very high, so much so that it was possible to observe the phenomenon of fuming which was spoken of within “Elementary Chemistry”.
“Shared heating? But combining those two isn’t the same,” Roland said baffled, “The temperature used for dry distillation is much higher than the temperature that is used for shared heating, the gas produced by the dry distillation should be nitrogen oxide. Only by bubbling it through water it would become diluted nitric acid. Concentrated sulfuric acid is only used for purification because of its high boiling point and its strong water absorption which in turn reduces the moisture content in the nitric acid, this doesn’t involve any sort of chemical reactions.”
“I myself also don’t quite understand why it happened, but Mr. Sichi, thinking that my discovery was merely a coincidence, then went and did a couple of experiments.”
“Coincidence?” Roland stared at the Chief Alchemist.
“Indeed,” Kyle said with certainty, “The two are not the same, but they still produced the same effect. Following the chemical formula, I guess that there is a component within the saltpeter that reacts with the sulfuric acid but evaporates in the heat, leaving only nitric acid behind. According to the formula, it looks like some kind of… well, nitrate.”
It suddenly occurred to Roland that the chemistry textbook did mention that before synthetic ammonia was invented, people had used nitric acid or potassium nitrate to react with concentrated sulfuric acid to produce nitric acid, this was also the oldest manufacture method known. Because the main ingredient of saltpeter were two different kinds of nitrate, it was, easy to obtain. Furthermore, the extraction was also relatively easy. So as long as the temperature could be controlled, they would have a steady stream of evaporated nitric acid to collect.
Of course, because this method consumed a large amount of sulfuric acid, and at the same time easily led to the corrosion of the equipment, it was later
replaced by more advanced technology.
But to Roland, these two points weren’t much of a problem. After all, the fertilizer and pesticide industry hasn’t been established yet, so the produced sulfuric acid could only be used for the purification of nitric acid. While Soraya’s coatings could easily solve the problem brought from the strongly corrosive nitric acid steam.
“Well done,” Roland said while happily patting Chavez’s shoulder, “You were unexpectedly able to come up with such a method by chance.”
“You’re unaware of it, but his outstanding luck has already revealed itself within Redwater City’s Alchemic Workshop,” Kyle Sichi said as he raised an eyebrow. “Before learning chemistry, the exploration of alchemy was something which relied on luck. Within his early twenties, this kid had already discovered the double acid preparation method and had become the youngest alchemist within the workshop, that was enough to turn the eyes of the other thirty to forty years old apprentices red with envy. You can imagine how most of them will be stuck as apprentices for the rest of their lives.”
“Anyway, this is good news for the town,” Roland praised. “First, you should try to make a batch of equipment to examine it further, I will let a witch cooperate with you. If feasible, we will then expand the scale of production.”
“As you will.”
“Alright, I still have another task to give you,” Roland said, putting away his joyful expression and continuing in a solemn tone, “Now that we will have a reliable source of nitric acid, I will need you to produce something that is very dangerous – nitroglycerin.”
“How dangerous is it?” Kyle asked.
“It is actually very simple to use the raw materials, namely, letting concentrated nitric acid react with glycerol, supplemented with concentrated sulfuric acid to act as a catalysator. However, during the reaction process you must strictly control the temperature and the ventilation. Since the
nitrification produces a lot of heat, it would also be best to put the container into iced water for the experiment. Bear in mind that alteration between hot and cold, vibrations, impacts, or friction might lead to it exploding.” Roland didn’t know how reliable his amateur knowledge would be in the end, but the ingredients were undoubtedly correct, so even if there was likely to be some danger, it was still something he had to try. “During the experiment, it will be alright to merely use a small amount of ingredients, so that in case a mishap occurs Lady Nana should still be able to heal you.”
“This…” Chavez opened his mouth to answer, but even before he could say another word, Kyle had already given his promise, “I understand, and its power is something comparable to snow powder?”
“It’s entirely different.”
“It looks like an interesting experiment.” The Chief Alchemist said and laughed.
So it’s true that nine out of ten chemists are explosion maniacs… Roland thought.
Nitroglycerin is extremely unstable, Nobel especially added diatomaceous earth to it to make it blunter and this increased its safety. However, while this did, in fact, improve its safety, it also reduced its explosive power. Naturally, Roland wouldn’t be using that classical method. instead, he intended to add nitrocellulose or nitrostarch into the nitroglycerin, both of which could stabilize it while further enhance the explosive effect. The former would make an excellent smoke-free explosive, while the latter would produce a stronger explosion. From their names alone it could already be seen that a lot of nitric acids would be key in the evolution of black powder into gunpowder.
And now he was in the possession of that very key.