The streets near the manor and talisman shop were wide enough for carriages to pass through, but they grew narrower and narrower the closer we got to our destination. A member of the delegation had told us that the road in front of the workshop was only large enough for a single small carriage to pass through. We couldn’t possibly go down the street in the carriages we were riding in, so we went as far as we could, then got out to walk the rest of the way.
I supposed you would say it looked like a traditional tradesman’s house? The workshop was located inside a long and narrow two-floor building, which was surrounded by other buildings of similar structure.
The master of the workshop and his apprentices were waiting for us at the entrance, which told me that they had been informed of our imminent arrival.
“Hello. I take it that you are the Salutanians who I received word would be visiting today?” the master greeted us in Zaideran. “Welcome.”
Unlike at the talisman shop, no one here could speak Salutanian, so I wound up having to play interpreter. This was my first real job as Yuri’s attendant.
The master was an older man with gray-streaked black hair and brown eyes. He was short but solidly built.
I greeted him and his employees on behalf of our party. While he made it sound like we were welcome, his demeanor made me feel otherwise. He gave off the vibe that our being here was a bother.
Well, I didn’t blame him. Our visit had come on short notice, and it was possible we wouldn’t even buy anything.
The apprentices were all transfixed by Yuri’s face. His natural gifts clearly worked even on people of distant lands. One of them was even blushing. It made me worry about that young man’s future.
The workshop had been informed that we wanted to learn about the components of ink and to see where it was made. After the initial greetings, the master took us straight inside to show us all kinds of things.
“These are the ingredients,” he explained in Zaideran.
“He says that these are the ingredients,” I interpreted.
“There certainly are a lot of them.”
I had no experience in simultaneous interpretation, so it took a while for us to go back and forth. However, circumstances being what they were, the master didn’t hurry me along or anything, for which I was very grateful.
The master pointed out a shelf lined with all kinds of porcelain jars. He opened them one by one to show us the contents, which proved to be a variety of colorful powders. They were ground up minerals.
I had heard of some of the minerals before. Yuri knew most of them as well, judging from how he nodded each time the master named one.
Next, the master presented us with resin and incense. The resin was made by extracting liquid from boiled animal hides, which was then hardened. It was frequently used as glue. They added the incense to mask its odor. I wondered if the resin was used to stick the mineral powders to the paper, but the master didn’t offer an explanation beyond that, so it remained a mystery.
After showing us each of the ingredients, he launched into an explanation of how they made the ink. The process involved several steps, and his apprentices divvied up the work.
First, they melted the resin by warming its vessel in hot water. One of the apprentices put the resin inside a pot, then floated that pot inside a bigger one.
The next step was mixing the ingredients. They combined powdered minerals and water with the melted resin. Once mixed, they added the incense to improve the fragrance. At that point, the ink looked like it had the texture of a lump of mochi.
Step three was the most important part of the process: kneading the mochi-like lump. They had to do this for a whole hour, and they used their long years of experience to determine when it was ready. As such, the most experienced apprentice was in charge of this step. That made sense to me as I watched them work.
The final step was molding. The kneaded substance was subdivided, then placed into a wooden mold. They then waited for the ink to dry in the mold, and once the block was polished, it was done.
“This is the finished product,” the master said. He showed us a square object that fit into the palm of his hand. They called it “ink,” and it looked just like sumi, Japanese calligraphy ink, to me—although there were more colors than black, like red and blue.
“This is the finished product,” I interpreted.
“They say this is ink, but it is quite unlike what I expected.” Yuri stared at the block with a look of surprise.
“Excuse me, is this sumi ink?” I asked out of curiosity.
It turned out that I wasn’t wrong.
“Does it look like something else?” the master asked.
“No, it’s just that when we heard you made ink, this wasn’t what we expected.”
“Are you talking about the ink found in other countries? The liquid kind?”
The master knew what I was talking about, which meant we were using the word that Prince Ten’yuu had chosen to translate it as when explaining this ink to Yuri.
Which also meant that this ink was the kind you used when writing calligraphy—like when you wet an inkstone and rub the ink block against it. The master gave me an odd look when I asked if that was how it was done here, but he told me I was correct.
I explained to everyone else, as they couldn’t understand, and I received a variety of reactions, including some impressed looks.
Now that our tour was complete, it was time for questions. Yuri was in his element, and he had all kinds of queries for the master. The master had seemed unfriendly at first, but once he realized that Yuri’s questions were all technical, he gradually opened up and became friendlier.
I feel like I’ve seen this exact thing happen before… The face of the master potion-maker of Klausner’s Domain popped into my mind.
As I frantically did my best to interpret their exchanges, the next thing I knew, Yuri was rolling up his sleeves. I was so focused on interpreting that I hadn’t really processed what I was actually saying.
Huh? What’s going on? What’s happening? Wait, did he just say that he wanted to try kneading the sumi ink?
Just as I registered the last thing I’d said, Yuri and the master were heading over to the station for the third step of the process: kneading the inky mochi lump.
I quickly followed after them. The master brought out rusty red lumps that were small enough to hold in one hand, then placed them on the tables in front of Yuri and me. Then he started kneading his own lump while explaining what to do.
After watching the master’s movements, Yuri spread his mochi in his hand and started kneading his own.
“Channel your magic into the sumi ink as you knead,” the master told us.
He hadn’t mentioned the enchanting part initially. Yuri’s wealth of knowledge must have softened the man’s stony heart, because now we were getting a far more detailed explanation of the process.
“I see. So this is the enchanting step, then. Hmm… Do we channel pure fire magic into it, then?” Yuri was able to figure out this part with pure observation. He just watched and imitated without any need for my interpretation.
“Whaddya know! You’ve got a knack for this,” the master praised him with a smile on his face.
According to him, hardly anyone had the knack for this step of the process the first time they tried it. However, enchantments were the grand magus’s forte. He was the most skilled enchanter in our kingdom.
“I think it should be about ready,” the master said.
“It’s done,” Yuri declared at the same time.
They beamed at one another.
The grand magus had indeed done a satisfactory job, judging by the master’s nod as he examined Yuri’s kneaded sumi ink.
“Could I take a closer look at yours?” Yuri asked as he scrutinized his own, so I interpreted for him.
A puzzled frown crossed the master’s face. “Sure, I don’t mind…”
Once I told Yuri he had permission, the grand magus cast a spell. “Appraise.”
The rest of us had anticipated that this was what Yuri was after, but the master was startled. When he saw Yuri cast a spell, he yelped, “What the—?!”
The master had never seen Appraisal magic before, so he was even more astonished after hearing my explanation of it. When I asked him why he was so shocked, I learned something rather shocking in itself.
Only a very few people could use Appraisal magic in Salutania, but they were even rarer in Zaidera. In fact, the only people who could use that kind of magic lived in the imperial palace.
Really?!
Albert was surprised to hear this as well. “I’ve heard that even Salutanian companies employ people who can cast that magic, though—albeit larger ones.”
“Perhaps it’s less that fewer people are capable of casting those kinds of spells and more that a number of them are hiding their ability so that they need not be at the beck and call of the imperial palace,” Zara suggested.
She had a point.
“Ah, yes. That would make sense.”
Even in Salutania, it was apparently commonplace for companies to hide the fact that they had incredibly skilled alchemists in their employ.
Meanwhile, Yuri wasn’t the least bit surprised. He nodded as if he completely understood. He must have noticed something that we had missed.
In any case, the master was so excited by the fact that Yuri was capable of Appraisal magic that he asked the grand magus to cast it on all the ingredients in the workshop.
Aside from that, nothing else of particular note happened during our visit, and once the grand magus was fully satisfied, we took our leave.