Chapter 47

After all that, we arrived in front of the blacksmith's shop.

At the Rubicon River, two water wheels were spinning round and round. One was for the bellows used in blacksmithing, and the other was for generating electricity by rotating a magnet.

Without even having a chance to marvel at the water wheels, I was pushed into the blacksmith's shop by Sequoia.

Garam and the others were already inside, gathered in front of the power generation facility.

The facility, set up on the opposite side of the forge, was not a large device.

The magnet, which had been halved since Galuga brought it, was placed in the center, with coils attached on either side.

The magnet was mounted on an axis in the center and was designed to rotate using the power of the water wheel.

It seemed that the direction of the power transmission from the water wheel had been changed, as the magnet was not currently rotating.

"Here, these are the ends of the copper wire."

Garam handed me the two ends of the copper wire.

It was a good thing there was no electricity being supplied, or touching the ends would have resulted in an electric shock.

But, it couldn't be helped. They didn't know about electricity. They would have to learn about it now.

"Sequoia, the light bulb."

"Sure."

I attached the ends of the copper wire to the light bulb, completing our preparations.

I signaled to Garam with my eyes, and he nodded, giving instructions to his apprentice.

Clunk, clunk, clunk—

The gears of the water wheel groaned, and the magnet began to spin round and round.

Come on, electricity!

Before I could even think it, a faint light appeared in the filament of the light bulb.

It quickly began to shine brightly.

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!"

"Is this electricity? I see, I see."

"What a wonderful thing."

Each person expressed their amazement and gathered around the glowing light bulb.

It was striking how everyone's eyes were even more sparkling than the light bulb.

I felt a bit relieved seeing them look at the light bulb with innocent, childlike faces.

However, my mind was elsewhere.

I was wondering if the filament could withstand the heat without burning out.

"Can we observe it for a while?"

"Of course, take as long as you need. I could watch it all day."

Torre answered without taking his eyes off the light bulb.

It doesn't seem like it will burn out anytime soon. Since the material was not from Earth, I wasn't sure how it would react, but theoretically, it should work.

"Hey, Joshua. It seems to be working well. What is the material of the glowing part... the filament, right? What is it made of?"

"It's made from the hair of a thunder beast. I collected it after the thunder beast left."

"You're quite resourceful. I see. Given its resistance to electricity, it makes sense that it doesn't burn."

"I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I'm glad it worked."

I had thought it might be useful when I saw the intense lightning the thunder beast released.

I asked it to give its all and it produced a powerful lightning strike, leaving its body charged.

However, the thunder beast's hair was clean and showed no signs of burning.

I secretly collected some of its shed hair and bundled it to make the filament.

Still, it's amazing that it works. The light bulb.

It wouldn't have worked out as planned without the skilled craftsmanship of Torre and the others.

We gazed at the light bulb's glow for a while. My eyes started to blink...

Among us, Torre was the first to look away from the light bulb.

"So, Joshua. This isn't the end, is it? What will you do with 'electricity'?"

"I have a few ideas, but lighting up the town isn't urgent."

"That's true. Lanterns and torches can provide light."

"Right. I want to start with something that can replace magic stones or combustion stones and can be used immediately."

"Hmm, what will you start with? Come on, come on."

"Well, I want to experiment with electricity a bit more, and I'd like to ask for Torre and the others' help."

"Of course. We understand. The first thing we will do is... This is very interesting."

I tried to calm down the excited Torre, but it seemed to have the opposite effect.

Garam, who had been listening attentively, also leaned in.

Hmm, I'm conflicted, but it's about time.

"Let's start with the bridge construction. There are important materials on the other side. Not just glass sand, but I think there's a lot of limestone too."

"Ho ho ho. We'll wait about five more days. We'll prepare."

"Right. Housing and agriculture are the priority."

Huh?

He's managing to control himself. I was worried he might rush into things, but it seems he's doing fine.

"So, there's limestone too?"

"Y-Yes. There were a lot of snails. Their shells were made of limestone."

I was caught off guard by Torre's sudden question while I was thinking about something else.

"Hmm. Limestone is needed to form snail shells. So, there should be limestone."

"Right."

"So, Joshua. It's not even noon yet."

"Right."

"Electricity, electricity. If we can do something quickly, we can do it today. Come on, come on."

"A, yeah."

And we were back to the start.

Well, since we've managed to generate electricity, I want to try it out.

It's a good opportunity with all the craftsmen gathered here. Let's do it!

"Can you prepare some salt and water?"

As soon as I said that, Garam's apprentices left the blacksmith's shop and returned in less than five minutes.

Wow, that was quick.

They added salt to a large barrel of water to make saltwater.

Ideally, we should use the ammonia-soda process, but we'll save that for another time.

"Alright, let's start."

"Are you going to pass electricity through the saltwater?"

Sequoia showed interest in the science.

She was peering into the barrel, but it's dangerous if she gets electrocuted.

I gently pulled her away from the barrel and raised a finger.

"What we're going to do is electrolyze the saltwater."

"Ooh."

"We'll use this to make sodium carbonate."

"What's that?"

"It's just another way of saying soda ash. There's no sea nearby, so we can't collect salt plants."

"Ho ho ho. We can make soda ash with electricity."

"Yeah, let's put a lid on it."

Oh no, if we electrolyze it without a lid, the chlorine gas could knock us out.

After putting the lid on, I carefully inserted the copper wires into the barrel and passed electricity through it.

After a while, I cautiously removed the lid, but we didn't get as much sodium carbonate as I had hoped.

Hmm, maybe we needed something else.

Still, we managed to get a small amount of sodium carbonate, so let's turn it into baking soda...

"Alright, mixing baking soda and limestone will make soap."

"Making soap without magic or magic stones. Ho ho ho."

"I'll leave the mixing to Torre and the others."

"Understood. Ho ho ho. This is fascinating!"

Torre burst into our conversation with Sequoia and me.

He was very excited, breathing heavily.

Thank you always for reporting typos.

For the typo of "○○," I decided to open it.

I changed it to "even if ○○."

Thank you.