"Good morning, Princess Margaret."
At nine o'clock on Friday morning, in the Tobesk University District, at the entrance of the Grand Auditorium of the Delarion Third National Mechanical College, Xia De greeted the princess, who was wearing a rabbit fur windproof cloak.
Today, Princess Margaret was scheduled to visit this college and attend several lectures.
Xia De had not originally been invited, but on Monday, Chief Anlos had given him a pass. After several days of "learning foreign languages," the princess and Xia De had become more familiar. She probably misunderstood the reason for Xia De's presence, thinking he was there to protect her. Therefore, upon seeing Xia De from a distance, she called him over to speak a few words and then arranged for him to join the accompanying tour group.
For an Outsider, a higher education institution in the Steam Age was a very novel place. The towering castle-like buildings and garden-like campus environment made the inside and outside of the college seem to belong to completely different eras.
The ancient college system followed the grandeur of the old era, except that in this era, commoners who passed the assessment were allowed to enroll.
Today, Princess Margaret was dressed in her finest attire. Because Xia De had inquired in advance, he knew her itinerary today had nothing to do with subjects like history or folklore, so he was very relieved about the safety for the day. The princess was mainly there to visit the college's basic physics, mathematics, mechanical, and architectural departments, and the reports she listened to were also related to these fields.
Accompanying personnel included members of the visiting delegation, City Hall officials, reporters, and the college's own escorts.
Everything seemed normal. Xia De, dressed in the warm formal winter attire Miss Jialinna had sent over, followed at the very end of the group, touring the dormitories of the Delarion Third National Mechanical College. He found that the living conditions for students in this era were surprisingly good. Although there was no Summer cooling system, the size of the dormitories and the usable space were much better than the schools Outsiders attended in their hometowns.
When visiting the physics college's laboratory, a bald professor, who appeared to be highly accomplished, demonstrated a simple pinhole imaging experiment. In the darkroom, he used a large steam engine to drive pulleys and levers, showcasing a rather complex gas lamp projection device. The filters used to maintain stable light source output were the most expensive part, and the mixed smell of machine oil and lubricant in the darkroom was the most unbearable odor.
In the Mechanical College's laboratory, local professors demonstrated a newly patented "vacuum cleaner." The brass-colored vacuum cleaner body was unusually large, but its effect was excellent. By utilizing filter cloth and steam pressurization (the principle of which the Outsider did not understand), the vacuum cleaner could effectively suck up most of the dirt. Princess Margaret was even invited to try it herself and posed for several photos to be published tomorrow. Although currently limited by its size, this new type of machine cannot be widely promoted, but once this problem is solved, it will be a very economically useful invention.
However, the tour also encountered some unpleasant incidents. While visiting the college's workshop to see the new milling machine, the enormous noise generated by the machine's operation caused Viscount Bourming, a 51-year-old gentleman accompanying Princess Margaret, to directly faint.
This small interlude did not cause much commotion, but it was recorded by reporters, which displeased the gentlemen from City Hall.
"The development of technology always comes with a price."
Xia De, mingling at the very back of the crowd, was watching the viscount from the southern country being carried away on a stretcher when a familiar voice reached his ears. Turning his head, he saw a lady dressed in a long dress, red on top and black on the bottom, holding a silver notebook.
Xia De paused for a moment before softly saying, "Long time no see, Miss Vitter, since the card game at Lakeview Manor."
It was actually Miss Pa Wo, the Vice President of the Truth Society. Xia De hadn't expected her to dare appear in such a place.
"Long time no see, Mr. Hamilton," the Sorceress greeted with a smile, then, like Xia De, looked at the old gentleman being carried away.
"No need to worry. This should be a heart attack triggered by the noise. I saw the servant had already given him medicine mixed with rum. There will be no danger to his life."
If he didn't know her true identity, Xia De would definitely have thought she was a learned noble lady.
Although the viscount's fainting had nothing to do with the workshop, the touring group temporarily left the area and prepared to visit the next destination, which was a model of a new type of locomotive being manufactured at the college.
Xia De didn't think of reporting this dangerous Sorceress now; if she dared to appear, she naturally had confidence in leaving, but Xia De also didn't want to walk with her. However, Miss Pa Wo seemed determined to follow Xia De, so she walked with him at the back of the crowd, following the gentlemen and ladies ahead as they continued south.
"Science is so fascinating. The miniaturized steam engine is probably the most important invention in the past thousand years."
Miss Pa Wo exclaimed. Xia De largely agreed with this but only nodded, hoping the lady would notice his coldness.
But the Sorceress didn't really care about Xia De's attitude; she was just looking for someone to chat with casually:
"The Vitter family has invested in some novel inventions. In this era, reasonable investment is essential if one wants to change their social class."
"So, what has the Vitter family invested in?" Xia De asked casually, feigning curiosity. It would be strange if he said nothing at all.
"For example, the new type of locomotive head we are about to visit, a unique steelmaking method, a very interesting single-person two-wheeled mobile tool that moves by human pedaling, oh, and also a four-wheeled motor vehicle driven by a small steam engine. I am very optimistic about the fourth one, but unfortunately, it is currently only in the theoretical drawing stage."
Miss Pa Wo said regretfully. Xia De tried his best to control his expression and the urge to comment on the inventions mentioned above.
"Mr. Hamilton, I know your main profession is a Detective. Have you considered investing your savings in new inventions?" she asked Xia De again. The group was currently passing through a high bridge between towering buildings, which was a landmark of this school, with at least 300 years of history.
"Investing in inventions?"
With the idea of saying less to make fewer mistakes, Xia De spoke casually. Somehow, he thought of what he had seen in Fifth Epoch 5177, so he said,
"I've considered investing in the chemical field. The clothes we wear today are all biological products made of biological fibers, such as silk, cotton, linen, animal fur, and so on. Although improvements in textile machines have led to great development in the textile industry based on biological products, I'm thinking, perhaps we could try to synthesize and manufacture artificial fibers through the chemical industry."
"Chemically synthesized artificial fibers?" Miss Pa Wo raised an eyebrow and turned left with Xia De, stepping onto the stone path leading to the back of the college. The two carson rick gentlemen in front were commenting on the college's scenery, their local carson rick accent criticizing the loss of noble glory here.
"I have never heard of artificial synthesis of textile fibers, and I haven't even thought of such an idea." Miss Pa Wo became interested. She smiled and said, "Knight, you have great ideas. Although this sounds incredible, once successful, you can use artificial fibers to challenge the monopoly of biological fibers. If you can reduce the cost of chemically synthesized fibers to—"
"No, no, no." Xia De immediately shook his head. He brought up this topic not to make Miss Pa Wo admire his wisdom, but to make her think he was a hopeless person. The last adventure of the time key in Fifth Epoch 5177 had given him inspiration:
"I didn't think that much. It's like this: the elasticity of current fabrics is too poor." He pulled at his black coat and then tugged at his scarf: "For example, initially, stockings were only worn by men. At that time, stockings were hand-knitted and required special materials and high manual labor costs. Later, ladies discovered the charm of stockings, and we invented efficient knitting machines a few decades ago, allowing most of the pretty girls in the city to wear a pair of pretty stockings."
Xia De nodded, and Miss Pa Wo pursed her lips, looking at him suspiciously.
"But this is still not enough. Even if efficient knitting machines reduced the cost of stockings, the elasticity and transparency of the stockings themselves are still insufficient."
"Hmm, transparency?" Miss Pa Wo was not an Outsider, nor had she truly witnessed the extravagance of the Witch Emperor of the fifth epoch, so she temporarily couldn't understand Xia De's words. Her lady's long boots stepped on the stone path, and she subconsciously recalled what she wore under her thick long skirt.
"Yes, besides transparency, there's also elasticity. Because of insufficient elasticity, ladies' stockings still need garters to hold them in place to prevent them from slipping down while walking. But if the elasticity is sufficient, not only would extra garters not be needed, but even for the surface of the stockings, just a gentle tug—cough, cough."
Xia De paused, then added, "Of course, I admit garters themselves are very nice, but I think, since we can't find a thin, elastic material in biological materials, then perhaps we can use chemical means to synthesize an artificial fiber material that meets the requirements to show the beauty of ladies' legs—"
At this point, he seemed to have just realized what he was saying and shook his head with a smile: "Sorry, these words are a bit indecent. Miss Vitter, just pretend I didn't say anything."
Xia De wanted to end the conversation like this, and the Sorceress indeed did not continue talking. Although the values of Ring術士 are somewhat different from ordinary people, in such a public place, discussing ladies' legs with a strange man is something no one would do.
"Chemistry is indeed magical," Miss Pa Wo said, her enthusiasm for talking with Xia De seemingly having decreased a bit.
"Synthesizing substances that never existed before, this was unimaginable to people in the past."
"Perhaps it's not that they never existed, just that they haven't been discovered yet," Xia De said in a relaxed tone. Miss Pa Wo nodded.
"I once thought, if chemistry can synthesize all things from basic materials, then can it synthesize the components of the human body?" She was very good at leading the conversation in a dangerous direction.
"This belongs to the legendary alchemy," Xia De said with a smile. "This is not a problem in the field of chemistry. Alchemists who study ancient alchemy also claim that they can refine coal into gold."
"Yes, the legendary philosopher's stone." Miss Pa Wo also laughed. The "philosopher's stone" has a great reputation even among ordinary people, and both true and false occult books always like to include terms like "philosopher's stone."
After all, turning stone into gold and eternal life represent humanity's most fundamental desire.
