Ch.120Finding Work (2)

Claude, having freed himself from paperwork, was touring various places he had previously only known through documents.

After visiting the university, he went around to factories, military academies, construction sites, and many other places. His bodyguards were developing early symptoms of PTSD from the stress of trying to keep him safe.

That was understandable. While universities might be relatively safe, factories and construction sites of this era were full of hazards. What would happen if someone of royal status visited such places? One mistake could lead to disaster.

Moreover, workers didn’t go through the same rigorous screening process as others, so the probability of someone harboring resentment against the king and causing trouble was quite high.

In fact, there had been several instances where workers forgot their training in the king’s presence, flinching or trying to speak to him first. Of course, it was usually innocent—they were just scratching an itch or asking a question out of curiosity—and none of the terrible scenarios the guards feared had materialized.

Nevertheless, the guards’ mental health was deteriorating. And not just their mental health, but their performance evaluations too.

“Whew… that smell.”

“We sincerely apologize!!! We’ll start deodorizing right away—”

“No, it’s fine. This is a gunpowder manufacturing facility, so the ammonia smell is unavoidable.”

The guards’ minds began to drift far away.

This place was far more dangerous than any factory or construction site—it was a gunpowder research laboratory.

“Your Majesty… I think it would be best if we left immediately…”

“Didn’t I say it’s fine? Even if the gunpowder explodes, with our current technology, it wouldn’t be that bad.”

“Ex-explosion…”

At the mention of an explosion, the guards’ faces turned even paler.

Even though they had never experienced gunpowder explosions, they knew very well how dangerous explosions could be. Explosions didn’t only happen with gunpowder—gas from decomposing corpses could ignite and explode, or gas concentrated in decaying animal carcasses could burst the stomach and cause an explosion.

And all of these were deadly enough to take lives if people were nearby.

The guards were seized with the urge to grab Claude and leave immediately, but his will was so firm that they eventually resigned themselves. All they could do was follow Claude and check for dangers before he encountered them.

“Explosion?! There won’t be any… such… thing.”

Meanwhile, the alchemists, hearing the word “explosion” and feeling their skills were being questioned, initially raised their voices in protest. But they quickly realized the high possibility of such an occurrence, and their voices trailed off.

There had indeed been previous incidents where mishandled gunpowder had exploded. Knowing how dangerous current gunpowder was, they couldn’t maintain their pride.

“Haha, no need to make absolute statements.”

However, Claude, the very person causing both groups such anxiety, innocently comforted the researchers and continued poking around the laboratory.

Claude was feeling nostalgic from the familiar smells and similar environment he often experienced in his past life’s laboratory, but for the researchers and guards, it was pure terror.

“Ah, this gunpowder uses sulfur instead of iron oxide. That’s dangerous.”

“Your Majesty… please…”

The researchers’ faces turned blue as they watched Claude approach the black gunpowder made with highly reactive sulfur, and seeing this, the guards read the atmosphere and turned pale as well.

In reality, Claude was handling the gunpowder safely and enjoying himself, but the researchers and guards couldn’t see that. They were just praying that nothing terrible would happen and that His Majesty would leave quickly.

………

“…Hmm.”

This is troublesome.

I thought that if we arranged for the bureaucrats to handle as much work as possible, His Majesty would spend more time with the Queen and Lady Chloe, but with no paperwork to process, he’s keeping himself busy physically instead.

If there’s any way to obtain information about Caroling in the places His Majesty visits, things could become quite complicated. Of course, all the places he’s visited so far are unlikely to have such information, but nothing in this world is absolute. Unexpected situations could arise.

‘Above all, he’s too spontaneous.’

Rather than saying [I will go to these places tomorrow, so prepare], he gives orders like [I am going to these places today, so follow me!].

If we could know His Majesty’s destination the day before, security would be much easier, and potential risks could be eliminated in advance. But no matter how capable the personnel are, it’s unreasonable to expect them to fulfill orders received suddenly on the morning of the same day.

If this isn’t resolved, we’ll always be carrying risk factors. It could interfere with the plan to present Caroling’s crown to His Majesty.

I considered increasing his workload again, but the administrative reforms are already perfectly complete, leaving His Majesty with truly nothing to do. Besides, a sudden increase in workload might arouse suspicion, so I gave up on that idea early on.

If only we could know in advance, at least the day before… Huh? Gunpowder research institute?

‘…That’s it.’

After much contemplation, Leclerc saw the report stating that Claude had visited the gunpowder research institute today and came up with a solution, greatly relieved.

Inform the Queen and Lady Chloe of this fact.

After that, I won’t need to say anything more; the two of them will handle it themselves.

……….

Wow, that was fun.

I had low expectations since pre-modern research labs would lack proper measuring instruments and research equipment, but surprisingly, they had a decent setup, which got me quite excited.

‘The decimal system really is the best.’

When researchers came to report their findings to me before, they explained using a mix of quaternary, octal, decimal, duodecimal, base-24, and base-80 units, which made me tremble and hyperventilate—I thought I was going to die.

At that time, I pushed the bureaucrats to change all units in Lotaring to the decimal system, and today I thoroughly enjoyed the results.

Everything was so easy to understand—from the properly organized materials comprising the gunpowder according to their proportional composition, to the tables classifying explosive power based on the amount of gunpowder.

“Brother, I heard you went to the gunpowder research institute… is that true?”

“Yes. I’ve been poking around various places lately since I have nothing to do. Today I went to the gunpowder institute, and it was quite satisfactory.”

“…You seem to have enjoyed yourself?”

As I was lying in bed recalling the morning’s events, Chloe’s gentle voice came from the end of the room.

“Yes, it was great to see the progress with my own eyes.”

“Wow… Wasn’t it dangerous?”

“Dangerous? Well… it was dangerous. But it’s fine, with gunpowder, if you just be careful about static electricity… Huh?”

What’s this?

The atmosphere… feels a bit strange.

Chloe seemed to want to hear more about it, so I was about to tell her about what happened at the lab, but suddenly the back of my neck felt cold.

“…Brother.”

Wondering what was happening, I turned my head to the side and saw Chloe looking at me, her face partially shadowed.

The shadow cast lightly on Chloe’s smiling face created an extremely eerie atmosphere.

“Um… you don’t need to worry. The gunpowder containers were all made of wood and—”

“That’s not what I’m talking about.”

Chloe approached me gradually. She didn’t seem like she would listen to anything I had to say.

“I’m telling you it was really fine. Before touching anything, I rubbed my hands on a metal rod to remove static electricity.”

“…You touched it?”

Chloe, who had been slowly approaching me, stopped abruptly after those words.

…Oh.

“Brother…”

“No, no… I mean… Yes, I followed all safety protocols, so I was trying to say it was safe… but…”

It seems impossible to convince Chloe any further.

Her whole body was trembling, and her shadowed face began to flush red.

“What did you do?”

“Huh…?”

“What did you do after touching it? You didn’t actually set it off, did you?”

“…I didn’t.”

I did.

I mean… if there’s gunpowder, isn’t it normal to test it? I was curious about how the power had changed.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m… not lying.”

“Brother, you always tilt your head slightly to the left when you lie.”

After saying that, Chloe started moving again. Unlike before, she wasn’t taking small steps but striding purposefully.

Huh… do I do that? No, this isn’t the time to think about that.

“Chloe, please calm down for a moment. I can explain everything—”

CREEAK!!

“—oof…”

Chloe, who had been striding toward me, embraced me just as I was trying to get up from the bed and put her weight on me.

The soft bed was plush enough to prevent both of us from getting hurt, but the weight still made the four legs of the bed creak.

“Never… never do that again.”

“…I’m sorry.”

Chloe buried her face in my chest, perhaps too embarrassed to show her face.

There was just a frightened girl, terrified that something might have happened to me.