Chapter 288 Teacher and Disciple
Kyle Sichi passed through Border Town into the direction of the Redwater River.
By now, Border Town had become a flourishing place; it was hard to imagine that this place had started out as nothing more than an outpost used to detect the movements of the demonic beasts. The ground beneath his feet was grayish black and solid. Both sides of the street were lined with neatly arranged single-story houses, different to the residential building in the other district. These houses weren’t used for a living; their interior was much more spacious than the other residences, and were somewhat similar to a small warehouse.
According to His Highness, these houses would be used as stores.
In front of the single-story houses was one deep gutter, which was covered with stone slates, it was like the boundary line for the black street. In addition to this, at intervals of one segment they had also planted a big tree at the roadside, sandwiched between two houses, the branches grew close to the center of the road. Not only did it offer protection from the sun and rain, but it also warmed the people’s hearts and delighted their eyes.
Kyle had no choice but to say, that in the end, it was the regularity that gave him the greatest impression.
No matter if it were the buildings, roads, sewers or trees, they were all located at the right place according to a previous plan, each was carefully selected for quality at a level not inferior to that of a Lord’s flower garden. The experience of wandering through the streets of Border Town, was equal to wandering through the Duke’s district of Redwater City – although the latter’s buildings was more concentrated and were even larger than these, the harmonious arrangement of these ordinary and mediocre houses exude their own unique sense of beauty. This kind of feeling surpassed that of individual greatness, showing a higher level of grandeur since it was part of a whole.
Just like those chemistry formulas that are adjusted to a uniform system, he thought, this is a beauty brought forth by order.
Nowadays, Kyle had a lot of reputation in Border Town. The passersby who were coming and going all greeted him with a nod and respectfully addressed him as Sage. However, compared with the title of a Sage, he still preferred the title of the Master of Chemistry. It was just a pity that His Highness had made it clear, that he had to understand “Intermediate Chemistry”, before he could receive this special glory.
Walking away from the central district, Kyle could see the Redwater River flowing along the western edge of Border Town. The laboratory that were situated at the riverside had already increased to four buildings, however because of their lack of workforce, the last two were temporarily idle.
Kyle was prepared to immediately call for his apprentice to complete His Highness’ mission but was stopped by a soldier wearing the uniform of the First Army.
“Your Excellency Sichi, a sailboat arrived at the docks with more than fifty… civilians,” the soldiers said after giving a salute, “Due to the number of people being too large and because they also aren’t merchants, a squadron of the garrison decided to stop them at the docks. Among them there was one who said that he wanted to see you, he claimed to be an alchemist from Redwater City, named -”
“Chavez!” Kyle shouted, simultaneously grabbing the soldier’s shoulder, “Take me to see him!”
…
Together with the soldier he went over to the dock district, there he saw a familiar silhouette come into his view – Chavez had indeed arrived.
“Honored Mentor!” The moment the other side saw Kyle, Chavez immediately waved his hand to get his attention.
“These are the alchemists and the alchemy apprentices I have invited,” Kyle turned toward the garrison captain and explained the situation, “Have every person you’re holding come over, I will take them to the City Hall so that they can register.”
“Yes, Your esteemed Self. But please allow me to send a squad to escort them.”
“No harm.”
In reality, the so-called escort was dispatched to control and keep a close watch over them, to avoid someone separating from the group and sneaking into Border Town’s central district. But this was also an established rule set in place by His Highness the Prince. Therefore, Kyle also didn’t have any intention of interfering with it.
“Honored Teacher, in the end, what is going on? Why would they especially dispatch someone to look after the docks in an out-of-the-way Border Town like this?” Chavez walked over the moment he was released and started complaining, sounding somewhat unhappy, “Moreover they were even stricter than the guards protecting the city walls of a major city. They asked for my name, surname, and origin. Even when I attempted to change their mind with silver royals it proved entirely useless.”
“Silver royals?” Kyle asked with interest, “How many?”
“Of course, just one,” Chavez answered, looking somewhat perplexed.
“Ha ha ha,” hearing his response, Kyle stroked his beard and started to chuckle, “It is only natural that it hadn’t worked. You have to understand, their salary is already set at fifteen silver royals each month.”
“Fif-fifteen?”
“Yes, compared to those city patrols who rely on the blackmail of merchants and traveler to make a living, the living standard of the First Army is much more comfortable. But this is also the reason why extortion, looting or accepting bribes are so strictly prohibited. Once discovered, they will immediately be expelled from the army, and at the same time they will be put into the dungeon to await trial.” Although, Kyle wasn’t an official minister of the City Hall, as the temporary substitute for the Minister of Chemistry he had still attended several conferences. Thus, he came to have a precise understanding of these upper layers of policy.
“Don’t tell me that they are really able to restrain their hands?” Chavez asked slightly suspicious.
“There still exist some who are unable to control themselves, but all of them have been sent to the mine to serve out their sentence,” Kyle twitched his lips then asked, “Didn’t you noticed any unique aspects about Border Town when you arrived?”
“Uh… there were a lot,” the young alchemist scratched his head, “For example, along the river channel there were many people who were chopping wood and repairing a road. However, they were already so far away from Border Town, in the end, where does the road they are repairing lead to? Furthermore, what purpose do those iron towers along the river shore serve? Do they store drinking water?” He paused, “Oh, that’s right! Before our arrival at the pier… I actually saw an iron bridge which was still under construction! It wasn’t made out of wood or stone, I’m sure it was made out of iron!”
“Also, didn’t the bridge seem much longer than any you have ever seen in your life before?” Chief Alchemist asked smilingly. “Therefore, since you’ve arrived here you shouldn’t keep hold of your life experience from Redwater City. This is an entirely different kind of city, of course… At present, it is only a town, but it is already amazing enough. It is the same with ‘Elementary Chemistry’, before you have seen it, you would never be able to believe that something like it would be ‘possible’.”
He didn’t know why, but as he said these words to his apprentice, he felt indescribably carefree and joyful within his heart. Unknowingly he had already came to regarded himself as a citizen of Border Town, which meant he was only taking some pleasure in showing off his new home to a visitor.
…
After the completion of the registration, the City Hall’s officials arranged the residences for the apprentice, while Kyle Sichi immediately pulled Chavez along and returned to his house.
“Though I knew that you would accept my invitation, I still didn’t expect you to come so soon.”
“I…” Chaves looking somewhat embarrassed as he bowed and confessed, “I should have agreed from the beginning.”
Hearing this, the Chief Alchemist smiled. Even though he was engrossed in alchemy, but that didn’t mean he didn’t understand a word about the affairs of life. The reason why Chavez didn’t choose to leave from the beginning, was that due to his discovery of the two acids method, he had hoped that Redwater City’s Lord would give him the position of the Chief Alchemist. Only after Kabora, who’d already held some prejudice towards him, became the new chief did he decide to leave Redwater City.
But Kyle didn’t really care about such small matters, longing for the position of the chief alchemist of the workshop had always been the ultimate goal pursued by alchemists.
“Do not cherish your previous work, alchemy is meaningless here. All your past achievements in the field of alchemy are not even worth mentioning. In this place only one thing is worth pursuing: Chemistry.”
Chavez took a deep breath and then said, “I understand.”
“Even though you may get your own house assigned to you, but sleep here for tonight… since we haven’t talked for a long time.”
Back when he had taught Chavez his alchemy skills, he had pulled his young disciple along and talked with him all through the night, and if they became too sleepy, they ended up squeezing into the same bed.
The other party apparently understood his meaning and immediately answered in an excited tone, “yes, mentor!”
After eating dinner, the two went to the study, where Kyle Sichi carefully handed Chavez the “Elementary Chemistry”.
“Is this the praised ancient book?”
Chavez solemnly opened the first page and earnestly started to read. Kyle stood to the side, he was there in case Chavez came across some points he couldn’t understand. Looking at this scene, it seemed as if they had stepped back some years, the other party was being taught by him once again.
Now with the addition of Chavez and the fifty new apprentices, I finally have more than enough people to test the large-scale production of sulfuric acid, while at the same time, the other two laboratories can also begin their work. But the most important part of this is that I have fulfilled His Highness’ task, and now it’s now up to him to fulfill his promise and to give me the book on “Intermediate Chemistry”, Kyle proudly thought.