TL: Rui88
“Ah, yes, Nick.”
Tennyson answered, sowhat dejected.
“How should I put this? My family… had so connection to the recent rebellion.”
“Oh!” Nick’s mouth ford an ‘O’, his face full of surprise. “You’re not in prison… So people I knew are.”
“Ah, you’re as tactless as ever.”
Tennyson knew the other man ant no harm, so he didn’t take the sowhat offensive words to heart.
He took the initiative to explain, “The Lord has asked to study the mystery of how the properties of steel change. If I succeed, he will pardon and my family.”
“Ah, that’s really fortunate.” Nick patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile, “With your talent in chemistry, I’m sure you’ll have it sorted out soon.”
Tennyson’s face was grim as he shook his head. “I’ve made a little progress, but I’ve hit a dead end.”
Nick frowned. He had never seen Tennyson so troubled. The Tennyson of the past had always been a naive, carefree fellow.
“Are you looking for sothing to eat? I was just going myself. Co on, you can tell all about it.”
In the academy’s dining hall, Tennyson told Nick about the progress of his experint and the problems he had encountered.
“You see, the problem now is that we want to isolate the elent of Phlogiston, not in its fire form, but we don’t know how to reach the required temperature.”
The food in front of Tennyson was almost untouched; he was completely absorbed in his explanation.
Nick moved his knife and fork, prodding the mashed potatoes on his plate with the tip of his fork, and listened patiently until Tennyson had finished.
“Perhaps,” he forked a mouthful of mashed potatoes into his mouth, “I can help you solve this problem.”
“Oh?” A light suddenly shone in Tennyson’s eyes. Could this classmate, who had nothing to do with chemistry or alchemy, actually help him?
“Right now…” Nick put down his fork and traced a circular path in the air before him with both hands. “I’m making a special kind of lens.”
“A lens?”
“Yes, a lens. Do you know what a magnifying glass is?”
“Ah, a magnifying glass? I know what that is.” Tennyson nodded.
“Where I’m from… I an, in my company, hehe. We usually call it a convex lens.” Nick continued, “A convex lens has a very special property. Did you know?”
“Doesn’t it just magnify images?” Tennyson was a little puzzled.
“Did you ever use one to burn ants when you were a child?”
“Oh, you an that?”
“Yes, why can a convex lens burn ants? Because it gathers the previously scattered sunlight onto a single point, and the heat of the sun is also gathered onto that single point.” �
Nick explained the properties of a convex lens to Tennyson in this way.
“You… you an to say?” Tennyson beca excited. Nick’s description gave him hope for solving his problem.
“Yes, by harnessing the power of the sun!” Nick nodded, speaking with great certainty. He pointed to the sky. “The sun provides endless heat to all things in the world every day. If we could gather even a small part of it, it would produce a terrifying amount of heat.”
“But a magnifying glass… a convex lens is so small…” Tennyson suddenly felt so doubt.
“We can try making a bigger lens!” Nick said with absolute confidence. “As long as we can keep making the lens bigger… I an in its shape, in theory, the amount of sunlight we can gather is infinite.”
Hearing Nick’s words, Tennyson’s heart surged. He looked at the other man and said, “I’m asking you to help make such a lens!”
Nick smiled. “Of course, my friend. I would be honored to participate in a cross-disciplinary research project.”
…
The sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. A mont later, the door to Paul’s office was thrown open with a bang.
“Oh, Bernard! Is there sothing urgent?”
Paul didn’t even raise his head…he was reviewing a docunt…but he could tell from the footsteps that it was his secretary. Besides, only he could open his office door without knocking.
“Lord Grayman! The expedition… the eastern expedition has returned!” Bernard answered, out of breath.
Paul shot to his feet, his heart filled with imnse joy.
“I want to see the mbers of the expedition imdiately.”
Bernard said, “I think they are already on their way to Lakeheart Town. The ssenger from Port Fran told that the expedition would send people to Lakeheart Town after a short rest in the port. I think Captain Nigel must be among them.”
Paul clasped his hands in excitent.
After waiting for more than three hours in a state of anxiousness, he finally saw the people he wanted to et. There were five of them in total: Nigel, his first mate, two other captains, and the flagship’s gunnery officer…Naval Ensign Alan.
“Lord Grayman, my n desperately needed to relax, so I took the liberty of giving them leave. I trust you won’t bla them for not coming to Lakeheart Town to see you.”
Nigel said to him with a smile. Compared to when he had set out, he looked weathered and was covered in stubble.
“Oh, of course!” Paul said. “The heroes need a good rest.”
He patted Alan’s shoulder. “You’ve grown taller, Ensign!”
Alan gave him a salute. “You’ve grown taller too, Lord Grayman.”
Hahahaha! Everyone burst into laughter.
After exchanging pleasantries with the other two captains, Paul invited them to sit down.
“Now, please tell all about your experiences in the far east.”
The five n took their seats in the lord’s reception room, and servants served them delicious wine.
Nigel, as the commander of the expedition, slowly recounted their journey.
“We sailed our ships past the Nasar Peninsula, where the Holy See was located, and continued to voyage to the far east…”
“It was a vast land. From our conversations with rchants on the shore, we learned that the Gabella Empire was not far inland. I swear, no one from Ordo has ever reached the southern side of Gabella by sea.”
“We continued to sail east and encountered a narrow isthmus…”
“An isthmus?” Paul asked.
“Yes, just like a strait that separates two landmasses, an isthmus is a narrow strip of land that separates two oceans.”
Paul asked, “Or, to put it another way, a long, narrow strip of land connecting two continents?”
“You could say that.” Nigel nodded.
He continued, “The people there called the southern land connected by the isthmus the Erald Forest. Yes, it was covered in dense forests. Do you know what lived there?”
“What?” Paul’s curiosity was piqued.
“Elves!”
“Elves?” Paul jumped up.
This was the second fantasy race, after the dwarves, that he had confird to exist in this world. Oh, he was referring to civilized races; those disgusting goblins didn’t count.
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