North Slope Mine, backyard of the kiln.
Nightingale picked up the glass wine glass placed on the table and held it above her head. The crystal clear body of the glass sparkled in the light, without a trace of impurities.
She knew that this kind of glass was called a crystal glass, and the firing process and recipe had always been top-secret information of the royal alchemical workshop. This goblet in her hand alone was worth about a gold dragon. Crystal glassware, paired with exquisite silver cutlery, had always been a favorite way for great nobles and wealthy merchants to flaunt their wealth.
But now, these crystal containers brought from the palace were soon to be turned into smelting materials.
"Your Highness, what you are burning is not a glass, but a gold dragon," Nightingale exclaimed.
"I don't have time to study how to burn sand into colorless glass, so I have to make do with this method first." Roland threw a beautifully shaped crystal pot into the furnace made of Anna's Blackfire. Nightingale still remembered that the prince used it to hold ale, and filled the glasses for the sisters at the afternoon tea in the castle garden and the celebration feast of the Months of Demons, and couldn't help but feel a pang of regret in her heart.
Under stable high temperature, the pot quickly softened and then turned into a viscous paste.
"Use sand... to burn glass?" Anna asked, "Are they the same substance?"
"Well, the main components are about the same, but sand contains a lot of impurities, and the glass that is burned is mostly brown and green, which cannot meet the requirements for use."
"So, glass is pure sand?"
Roland smiled, "You can think of it that way. When I write this part of the knowledge, you will understand how those small spheres constitute matter after you read it."
Anyway, I won't understand... Nightingale curled her lips. Besides, the different colors of glass don't affect its container function. Anyway, you are not using it as a water glass, so why do you have to use a transparent crystal glass to burn it. She walked to Anna's side and looked at the glass utensils that had been remelted.
Although they still looked colorless and transparent, their appearance was very different from the previous crystal glasses.
Some looked like tubes, with a round bottom, thin and long. Some looked like bottles, with a large bottom like a kettle, and only a thumb-thick bottleneck at the top.
The strangest thing was a tube bent into a horseshoe shape, with no seal on either side, so it couldn't even be made into a container.
"What are you planning to do with these crystal glassware?" Nightingale couldn't help but ask.
"It's not for me to use, it's for the alchemists in Border Town in the future," Roland stirred the viscous liquid in the Blackfire with a glass rod, "They can use these utensils to extract some acids and alkalis to produce the chemical products needed for my new weapons."
Acids? Alkalis? Chemical products? Nightingale blinked her eyes and found that she couldn't understand what His Highness was talking about at all, this feeling made her a little suffocated. But if she asked one by one, it would seem too ignorant, she didn't want to expose this side in front of Anna, so she focused her attention on the only noun she could understand.
"Where did the alchemists in the town come from? Even Longsong Stronghold doesn't have an alchemical workshop. You can only find alchemists in Clearwater City, and I heard that their salaries are higher than those of the lord's ministers, and it is difficult to recruit them with gold dragons alone."
"You really know a lot," Roland responded with a smile, "That's right. The people I sent are already on their way to Clearwater City, and we should get news in about two weeks. But I'm not recruiting them with gold dragons, but some alchemical secrets. As for whether I can recruit them, I'm not sure, I have to try."
The first half of Prince Roland's praise immediately dispelled Nightingale's suffocation, she returned to the center of the yard with satisfaction, picked up a piece of pastry placed on the round table and stuffed it into her mouth.
Since Roland changed the main experimental location from the backyard of the castle to the kiln on the North Slope, afternoon tea has also moved here.
The round table was filled with court snacks specially made by the prince's chefs.
For example, this snack called baozi, the outer skin is made of wheat flour, and I don't know what method was used to process it, it is incredibly soft. It is also wrapped in a ball of meat filling, chopped into fine pieces, containing juice... unlike salted meat, which is hard and difficult to swallow. As long as you take a bite, the minced meat will merge with the gravy.
Nightingale put her fingers in her mouth and sucked them one by one, leaning back on the recliner, a sense of drowsiness welled up in her heart.
It seems that she has become more and more lazy recently?
The afternoon sun shone on her body, and the water-like warmth slowly surrounded her. The rustling sound of the spring breeze blowing through the leaves made her feel extremely peaceful. She took off her shoes, curled up her legs, and lay on her side.
From this perspective, she could see the side door of the backyard leading to the huoyao workshop, with a gauze curtain hanging at the door, probably a means used by His Highness at that time to prevent her from sneaking in. Thinking of this, Nightingale felt a little funny, whether it was the partition wall of the yard or the outer wall of the workshop, they were all flat ground for her to travel freely. She had also entered the mysterious room, and quietly stayed aside to listen when His Highness was explaining the production method, but she did not take away the finished huoyao.
But the other party thought that she had done it without anyone knowing, and had no idea that he was the one who was kept in the dark.
Nightingale moved her head and looked at Anna.
She was holding a newly fired flat-bottomed cup and talking to His Highness about something, her expression looked serious and focused.
Nightingale's heart was filled with admiration for this woman who came from a common family but was a genius.
The sisters of the Mutual Aid Society were able to get rid of their wandering fate and be freed from the torment of magic backlash, largely because of Anna. If it wasn't for her changing the prince's view of witches, none of the subsequent twists and turns would have been possible.
If His Highness were to marry a witch as his wife, then Anna was almost the only person she could think of.
Although there was a trace of expectation in her heart, Nightingale chose to bury it deep in her heart. Most of the time, just being by His Highness's side made her feel content.
She closed her eyes, and a picture involuntarily appeared in her mind.
Roland was enthroned as king in the palace hall, he wore a golden crown, held a jeweled scepter, walked to the castle terrace, and accepted the admiration and cheers of the people.
Beside him, the woman in a white silk dress, walking hand in hand, was Anna. She also wore a glittering crown on her head, covered with a veil, smiling and waving to the people.
Lightning circled in the sky, scattering bright red rose petals, and in the distance, the melodious bells of the royal capital's clock tower rang.
She and the other sisters stood aside, clapping and sending their blessings.
The increasingly strong drowsiness traveled all over her body, and her consciousness gradually became blurred.
Roland turned around, lifted the woman's veil, lowered his head and kissed her on the lips.
The last scene became very blurred, and as the veil fell, Nightingale vaguely saw that the woman with her eyes closed... was herself.
She curled up the corners of her mouth and fell into a dream. (。)