Volume 2 Snippet 2.2 (1/2)

Volume 2 Snippet 2.2

2. Spirit Silk and et cetera.

Olt was the head of the Lamballes household, one of the three main dukes of Farlane, and at present he was awfully displeased. However, his ill humor wasn’t directed at the royal family nor had he been treated negatively within the country. His management of the recently purged noble’s territory was also going well. The kingdom’s established tariffs that had supposedly been halved were actually soaring. To put it bluntly, his circumstances were providing him quite the smooth sailing.

But why was he upset? Well that was because despite all of his success there was just one thing that wasn’t going well.

「…You made a mistake again? 」

「Yes. I’m very sorry.」

「Geez. Just what in the hell are you doing? 」

The matter that was spoiling his mood was the aftermath of the Katarina Revolt, which had resulted in the royal family acquiring a large amount of Spirit Silk, a legendary raw material.

Having said that, it wasn’t like he was devising an outrageous plan involving the Spirit Silk. No, the reason was that he sensed an impending crisis at the fact that the royal family had practically handed over enough Spirit Silk to weave a one-tenth hectare all to the Azuma workshop.

However, it wasn’t like he felt that the members of the Azuma workshop were dangerous, the fact of the matter was that he couldn’t stand how well the royal family and the Azuma workshop had gotten along. Then there was also the fact that Hiroshi was never seen processing the Spirit Silk; it only made his suspicion grow. But the main reason was that in order to no longer depend on the Azuma workshop he had been bent on experimenting with various processing methods.

However…

「The Hunter Tree weaving machine was no good huh…」

「If we keep this up soon we won’t have any Spirit Silk left to process.」

「Tch, I guess that’s to be expected of the legendary Spirit Silk huh…」

They had gaudily failed at loading the Spirit Silk into the weaving machine. Normally, if one inserted thread into a regular weaving machine it wouldn’t instantly separate and scatter like spaghetti-like strips. The texture would also become smooth and in no way would it be sharp enough to cut one’s finger at the simplest touch, as had been the case with the Spirit Silk. It was all very infuriating.

「We’ve even having difficulty cutting the thread.」

「How about the Demon Shears? Did they work? 」

「All I can say is that thread is relentless.」

So it wasn’t just the weaving machine that was having trouble. The fact that the thread couldn’t even be cut meant that the methods at hand were useless.

「Each time we try to cut it the shears’ blades are dulled. We can’t keep this up, it’s not like we have an infinite supply of blades.」

「I see. Do you have any other ideas? 」

「If we go at it again with a frontal attack we’ll just end up wasting more of Spirit Silk don’t you think? 」

「Then how about an idea that doesn’t involve a frontal attack? 」

「Well, how about having Lord Felnork or Lord Douga use the Prince’s demon iron sword to cut through the thread? 」

Lord Lamballes furrowed his brows at the craftsman’s proposal. This idea was possibly more bothersome than allowing Hiroshi to weave the thread. However, he still had no reason to think that, therefore he could do nothing but display a grave face.

「Besides, even if we did manage to complete the cloth there’s still another issue.」

「How’re we going to stitch it, right? 」

「Yes. If we could just stitch it and make it into a finished manufactured product then there wouldn’t be anything unusual about our circumstances.」

「If you can’t cut it with shears then perhaps would it be too much to hope for you to fashion up a needle out of demon iron and sever it like that? 」

「Given the current circumstances I imagine that would be impossible.」

The duke knit his brows further at the craftsman’s grim reply. He couldn’t accept anything other than triumphantly processing the Spirit Silk through his own means. If he couldn’t he wouldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept it but…

「It seems that processing the material in one go is out of the question huh? 」

「Sir, please accept my utmost apologies.」

「No, I’m not blaming you. To tell you the truth we all underestimated the legendary material. We should’ve anticipated this level of difficulty.」

「But, you won’t accept the notion that it’s impossible.」

「Obviously. That’s why we’re going to find something that possesses similar qualities to the Spirit Silk, weave it into a cloth, and start from there.」

If they continued experimenting with the genuine material they weren’t going to get anywhere. First they had to pave the way to a successful method.

「Something with similar qualities? What is there? 」

「If we’re talking about texture then there’s spider silk, if we’re talking about strength then it’s got to be metal thread right? 」

「Metal, huh. With the current technology how thin can you make it? 」

「About as thin as a leaf’s stem.」

「Then, make the metal thread as thin as you can until you’re able to weave it into a cloth. That way it will help you devise new techniques without wasting any more material. Strive to your heart’s content.」

「Understood.」

The technical officer received the duke’s order and hurried off to develop the thread. With their current tools they would not be able to succeed in processing the Spirit Silk but they could develop a wire with high tensile strength. They would succeed in enhancing the current processing technology for every fiber, from metal to typical raw materials, into the best of the world. In this world they would be remembered as the pioneers of textile development.

And yet despite all of their hard work the Duke of Lamballes still had to rely on Prince Layotte and ultimately was not able to process the spirit thread. Therefore his failed endeavor remains a secret to be contained here.