Elador stood in front of the giant 'vats' that sat inside the large wooden structure the Lady called Distillation Plant 1. Three vats were connected in a series to continuously boil the vinegar, while also connected to a spherical stone block with a dizzying amount of etched patterns.

At the corner of the distillation plant was a giant cube, created by the Lady herself. The employees of the plant would need to insert their mana into the etched circle right in the centre of the cube to 'charge' it.

The giant cube, apparently, powered the whole heating system of the distillation plant. She called it a mana structure, but in Nulfrae, her creation would be at the level of an artifact found in dungeons and tombs.

The battery itself was modular. The Lady explained quite thoroughly as one of the others blurted out asking how it worked. Elador remembers her saying if anyone needed to add more mana structures inside the plant, she could simply add a rhombus in one of the empty spaces and assign it a number, which would then be duplicated into the new mana structure, thus, powering it.

Elador asked why couldn't it use the energy regeneration from the weather controller. The Lady words once again remained too complex for his ears. 

She had told him that downstream conversion of energy must be used right away as it was only a copy of the original energy, fractionalized for more efficient use. It would cause modularity issues ‘in the future’ she said. 

How far was she thinking ahead? Elador didn’t know nor did he dare to ask for his own sanity.

Gazing at the marvel of her technology around him, the purpose of this distillation plant was to continuously get the highest concentration of vinegar as possible to attain something she named 'Glacial Acetic Acid'. 

Elador didn't question the ‘why’. He questioned the 'how'.

There was no need to know for what purpose the Lady intended to use this acid. All he needed to know was how to make it himself. However, the Lady had said that there was no way for the current technology to be able to produce Glacial Acetic Acid without 'cheating'.

She said the use of mana structures was considered unorthodox in her home country, as it was heavily regulated by the ones she called 'the idiots behind the desks'.

Those words fell on Elador's ears. Her words were always mysterious, as if she'd come here from the world of divines where artifacts were considered commodities to be controlled.

In this world, Nulfrae, she didn't have this constraint. But to her, it was still inefficient to produce the acid from weak vinegar. What she considered 'satisfactory' was at the 30% concentration, an unheard-of strength. At that concentration, the potential for public sanitation was immense.

Then what did she intend this product to be for? A substance named 'Ethyl Acetate'.

Elador shook his head. What drew his awe was the vats connected in a series. Continuous distillation without stop. The Lady had corrected his initial assumption, acetic acid, the essence of vinegar, actually had a higher boiling point than water.

The process was a clever inversion of what he'd first imagined. The liquid in the first vat was heated, causing the water to boil first, turning to steam. This steam was siphoned off through large copper pipes curling from the top of the vat. What was left behind in the vat was a liquid richer in acetic acid.

This more concentrated liquid would then overflow through a channel set lower down the side, cascading into the second vat. The process repeated, with the second vat boiling off more of the remaining water. The ever-more-potent liquid would then flow to the third vat for a final round of purification. By the time it was drawn from the third vat, it would have a vinegar concentration of nearly 30%.

A question formed in Elador that he had asked the Lady: Why not create a 4th vat to produce an even stronger concentration?

The Lady simply said that there were diminishing returns. At a specific concentration, the acetic acid can no longer be just boiled from each other as they form what she mentioned as 'tight bonds' with each other. When you boil one, the other would boil with it.

The only input needed was at the leftmost vat. Barbarians that were hired as 'blue collar worker' would need to carry the barrels of vinegar and dump them all into the vat.

It was all too complex yet so simple. One input, one output. And the output is then piped to the spherical stone block, which was called a ‘Water Extractor’ mana structure that uses mana as fuel to extract water molecules directly. Neither the boiled water nor the extracted water went to waste, being piped into water barrels.

Elador might have walked right into the den of a being of immense and dangerous knowledge. If word got out to the Church of Frae, they'd all be branded as heretics that must be killed. Now, his job was to administer the production of weak vinegar and feed this machine his product.

So what if there was a rat somewhere in these bandit camp's walls? How would the Lady survive such a catastrophe of her heresy called out?

The questions mattered not. What mattered was: what if the process of concentrating vinegar can be applied to other substances?

This same technique was already being used for increasing the alcohol concentration of an already high alcohol concentration liquor. Fraser had that one covered, owning his own distillery plant.

Reyland Berries were the main ingredient for health potions that allow one to recover their vitality mid battle. The berries themselves produce a low concentration of vitality mana factor that, diluted by their multiple fruit content, is mainly water.

What about Blue Fraedium hot springs found in mountainous regions? The liquid coming from those hot springs was the base of mana potions, a hot commodity whenever the corruption in the northern wilderness extended its reach.

Recently, Elador heard that heroes were summoned and are now in training to fight off this new wave of corruption. Those poor souls were mere pawns in the grand scheme of things. They'd be sacrificed to cull the corruption just enough to force it to retreat. After a couple of decades, the corruption recovers, and the cycle repeats.

Maybe the Lady came with them from the summoning? No. It wasn't possible. She would have taken the king's offer of 200 gold per Ter. Unless she saw through the king's facade.

Again, it did not matter. Elador moved towards the exit of the distillation plant, off to his home situated just beside the town hall. What he needed to do was research. 

He still has a litre of Blue Fraedium hotspring in a jar. That was another thing... The Lady introduced them to the concept of litres when measuring liquid content. It was more accurate than his old inconsistent method of using actual cups.

"Elador! Elador!" Fraser shouted from afar as he exited the alcohol distillation plant.

"What is it?" Elador asked.

"There is trouble. I have lost a litre of ethanol. What should I do?!" Fraser shouted, grasping at his head.

"Calm down. Did you measure the tank properly that it's missing that amount?" Elador asked.

"I have! I had exactly 23 litres of ethanol last night. I really did!" Fraser put his hand over his mouth, then whispered. "This morning, it was at 22 litres."

"Maybe the measurement rod is wrong?" Elador asked. "It could be a calibration issue on the gauge."

"I calibrated it yesterday, using the lines inside the tank and the external gauge. I did no wrong, Elador," Fraser said, now trembling.

"It must be reported to the--"

"It must NOT be reported to the Lady!" Fraser shouted. "Have you not seen her might?! The dragon!?"

"What dragon?"

"Enough! You may see at the square yourself later. But this must not be reported to the Lady."

"I'm certain she'd be ok with a litre missing. If we are honest in our work, then we have done no wrong."

Fraser scowled. "My brother always punished me for missing even a single silver on the scroll sheets. I cannot risk it." He started pacing. "I must find the thief first before reporting to the Lady."

That was a sound logical conclusion, yet also inefficient. The Lady could probably catch the perpetrator in a heartbeat, but then why would she hire them as her employees if everything was to be solved by her?

Fraser was correct. Then it would also beg the question: why would the thief steal ethanol? It's too potent to drink for pleasure, and for simple cleaning, 30% concentrated vinegar was far more abundant.

An alcohol of this purity... it was the perfect menstruum, a universal solvent for tinctures. It can dissolve the resins and oils from herbs that weren't possible with water. To an alchemist like himself, a litre of this substance was highly valuable.

"Is there anyone that knows of alchemy amongst the men?" Elador asked.

"I do not know," Fraser said.

"Shall we ask Sir Grey?"

"We cannot, not until we find the thief."

"Then we are at an impasse, my friend, Fraser. We cannot interview the employees of the Path ourselves as that would cause suspicion towards us. It is best to just report it to the Lady."

"What if she reacts badly?"

"Fraser, have you seen the company lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"The employees of the company are thriving. They are not poor. We are fed well. Our water is even more pure than that of the kingdom of Pandor. Do you agree?"

"I agree... how does that relate to the Lady's reaction?"

"The smiles on everyone's faces say everything about her. I cannot even work longer than 10 hours per day without getting my monthly salary docked."

"I too have that issue. I want to work longer..."

"Trust me, Fraser. The Lady is a benevolent goddess. Do not be afraid." Elador patted him on the shoulder. "Come, my friend. Let us visit the Lady."

☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎

Well, shit. This just happened. Some little shit just stole a litre of her ethanol. Did these backwater bumpkins even know what that was for? Alex sat, slightly annoyed at the report from Fraser. Around her were Grey, Aurora, Fraser, and Elador, in an executive meeting.

She wasn't annoyed at Fraser, more so at whoever the idiot was that stole her product. Though, it was also an opportunity. What powers would be at play to try to attempt to steal her ethanol knowing full well that she had just 'hired' an orange dragon?

Before that conclusion could be confirmed, she needed to ask a few questions.

"Fraser," Alex said.

"Y-y-yes! My Lady!" Fraser replied.

"When did you notice the litre was gone?"

"I checked last night before bed, it was 23 litres. And then this morning, I woke up and saw it was just 22 litres. I swear, that's what happened. I didn't take anything!"

Something had this man spooked, and it definitely wasn't a ghost. Alex turned to Grey, who, for some reason, was also trembling for an entirely different reason.

"Grey, who owns the house closest to the distillation plant #2?" Alex asked.

"That would be Kromer, my Lady. He's been a bandit for only a couple of months, but he is as dumb as they come," Grey said. "He fought against the barbarians with no fear, doing as he was told."

Someone didn’t have to be smart if they were following orders. They didn't need to know what ethanol was if someone else was telling them what to do, then, what kind of prerogative would induce such an action?

Turning to Fraser and Elador, Alex looked at their faces. There was no proof that the thief would understand what ethanol was. Or maybe it was herself that underestimated the knowledge of this world's people.

"Elador, have you ever seen any other kingdom produce what we're producing?" Alex asked.

"No, my Lady. Our production is completely unique, and the methodology of mass production is unheard of," Elador replied.

That lead was a dead end. Elador's answer confirmed that none of the natives of this world understood ethanol or acetic acid.

Hold on a second. How was Elador so sure? Don't other kingdoms have alchemists that are at his level?

"Aurora, you've been to other kingdoms, correct?" Alex asked.

"Correct, my lady. I've travelled far and wide to hone my knowledge of botany. From the eastern parts of the Layos continent where the kingdom of Pandor stood and towards the western continent of Mir where nomads roam," Aurora said.

"How would you compare Elador to other alchemists?"

"His name is renowned. A grand master in the guild of alchemy. However..." Aurora's eyes turned to her side to where Elador stood.

"You may tell the Lady, Aurora," Elador said.

"There were rumours of the king of Dragus' blackmail on Elador. He had slept with a woman he met in an inn. The woman in question was part of the nobles of Dragus. Trapped by the king's machinations, he was ordered to admit his wrongdoings, yet Elador did not."

"And why's that?"

Elador spoke up. "The woman I've slept with was not of noble descent. Even though I was drunk, my eyes can tell the noble who accused me was a different woman than the one I shared a bed with."

Again, this idiot king was making trouble. Should the king make a move on her company, that would be when Alex would take it personally.

The rumour did clear up a lot of things, though. Elador was smart enough for the king to try to bind him to his kingdom. There would be other kingdoms vying for his knowledge, which would mean her first suspicion was correct.

It was corporate espionage. In this case, kingdom espionage trying to steal the technology that Elador came up with. Except, ethanol wasn't Elador's; it was Fraser's.

That didn't matter though. Someone still stole from her, and she can't leave empty handed from this deal. And if no one had left the camp yet, the person who was stealing was probably waiting to steal more.

It was the perfect time to observe.

Alex smiled at her team. "You're all dismissed."

"But my Lady!" Grey yelled. "We must find the thief and take their heads off for their impudence!"

"Grey, relax, my guy," Alex said, not changing her expression one bit. "Just continue your daily lives as if nothing had happened. Do you understand what I mean?"

"I..." Grey muttered. A hand appeared on his shoulder, causing him to look back at Aurora, who had put it there. She shook her head to tell him to let it go.

Grey continued, "I understand, my Lady. We will do as you are told and continue our work as 'business as usual.'"

Alex smiled. "Good. Now move along."

One by one, Aurora, Fraser, Elador, and Grey exited the town hall. It was better for them to look like they were doing 'business as usual'. Had they tried to search for the thief, it was more likely than not that the thief would have disposed of the evidence, making it more difficult to find him.

That would've been a complete desecration of the ethanol she paid to get this intelligence.

On the other hand, allowing the thief to escape would allow Alex to know what kind of kingdom she was dealing with, what they would do with the ethanol, how big their network of corporate spies would be, and most important of all, where the central hub of operation was.

Answering these questions can lead to multiple points of reference to see how different kingdoms operate. Pandor was still an unknown, so was Lyra. It looked like the king of Pandor was at least more competent than the fat slob of Dragus.

Then there was also Lyra, who had presented her 4 gold for no reason. And the reason didn't matter. If Alex recalled correctly, the name of their princess was 'May'. From the way she did her negotiations, the kingdom wasn't in a strong military position. It would have to make up for it with something else: economy.

Either way this rat hunt goes, Lyra or Pandor, it would give her the layout of the map that she needs to plan for to grow her soon to be founded coffee retail franchise: Star Cubs, 'Seek the Stars, One Twinkle at a Time'.

The next move for this thief? The acetic acid, otherwise, they would've already left the bandit camp in the middle of the night.

☕︎ ☼ ☕︎ ☽ ☕︎

Kromer wasn't the brightest of the bunch in the Pandor's Glory Knight Academy. Yet, there were a couple of things the other knights couldn't beat him in: stealing and stealth.

He was quickly assigned to the Shadow Squall unit to chase after Elador in order to bring the man back to Pandor to serve the kingdom. In Kromer's eyes, it was a given that talent should only serve his king. Lyra and Dragus were mere peasant countries that deserved nothing.

It was unfortunate Kromer was caught by a bandit camp. The man named Grey had a strong eye for detail that didn't allow him to escape easily. He had to play bandit and wait for the best opportunity to leave to continue his mission for a couple of months.

But just as he was about ready to leave, something else happened. The Lady descended from the skies and took the bandit camp by force. Her prowess at a mere 20 failed to capture the monstrosity of her strength.

She could've been either an anomaly or a figure in the legends.

When she turned the brute of a pig into a paste of meat, Kromer knew he needed to be careful. He was handed 5 sheets of perfect white paper, unlike anything he'd seen.

She told them all to sign it, and their life was bound to hers.

Over the course of a couple of weeks, Kromer tested out the limits of the contract, even breaking it at times. The contract stated they had to work 10 hours a day, but he only worked 6 hours a day except for when Grey was around. And any other time after work hours was free time to do whatever they want.

It meant that the contract wasn't soul binding, or at least it was relatively loose. An expected behaviour from a benevolent leader. She cared too much about her people, which would eventually lead to her own downfall.

Fortune smiled on him when Elador entered the bandit camp as an employee. However, he needed to change plans. The Lady wouldn't possibly allow Elador to leave. The next best thing was to steal his creations.

He had already got the product they called 'ethanol' into a waterskin, the next one was something called 'acetic acid'. This one, he needed to be careful with.

That was when Kromer struck. It was already almost midnight. Most of everyone was awake, except for the Lady, who seemingly never sleeps. However, she didn't care as she stayed in the town hall doing her own work, whatever that may be.

In fact, no one even noticed that he stole a full waterskin of their alchemic substance. They were all idiots.

Kromer slowly opened the door to distillation plant #1. The things were smooth, not even a creak as it was still newly constructed. Slowly tiptoeing to the end of the production line, the pungent smell got worse and worse until he arrived at the tank.

Just like before, he searched for the spigot, finding it at the centre of the tank. Pulling out a waterskin, he twisted the valve to let the pungent substance fill it. At first, it came out too fast, spilling a bit of content. Then it steadied until the waterskin was filled to the brim.

Before it completed, his hand and face started to burn. Kromer tried to wipe off the substance on his clothes, but all it did was slightly lessen it.

Running towards the pure water tank, he opened the spigot immediately to wash his hands and face. The cold water soothed the burns, though, he could still see how red his hand had become. It would've been evidence should they figure out that he took some of their substance.

No matter. His destination now was towards the meeting point. The gamble starts the moment he starts running. Was the contract really soul binding or was it just a ruse?

He'd soon find out, but it was all worth it for Pandor. All Hail Pandor.

Putting the bottle in his bag along with the other substance, he exited the distillation plant and moved quietly towards the side door of the bandit camp's wall. Opening it slowly, it creaked slightly, causing one of the sleeping guards to stop snoring.

For a moment, he waited. Once the guard started snoring again, he moved. Kromer ran up the mountain path, heading north. He passed through multiple forks, going straight, right, straight, straight, then right, and finally he arrived down the mountain.

To his right was an old hut that had horses for rent. Knocking on the door of the hut, he shouted, "I come for a horse. How much?"

No answer.

This time, banging on the door, he shouted, "I come for a horse! How much!?"

Shifting noises could be heard from inside the hut. The creaking of the floor sounded, telling Kromer someone was coming. The door opened, and a woman came out.

"The night is late, why are you-" The woman gasped. "Sir, are you ok?"

"I come for a horse," Kromer said sternly. "How much?"

"1 silver, sir..." The woman extended her hand, palm facing up.

Kromer quickly dropped 1 silver piece in her hand and took the first horse he saw, a silver maned one. Lifting himself up to the horse, he slapped its butt and went off into the distance. It would take at least 3 days to reach the hub at the border of Lyra and Pandor, or 10 days if he was unlucky.

If he managed to live until dawn, it would confirm that the contract was not soul binding and almighty. It would be a ruse for the Lady to control her subjects, yet he also had to admit that it was a benevolent ruse.

A slight regret built up in his heart. Maybe in another life, he would've served the Lady. Not this life, though. His loyalty was set to Pandor.

Once the sun peeked through the horizon, Kromer closed his eyes to brace for impact. This would be the time to start work. Yet nothing came to him. No pain nor any kind of spell that would cause him to die.

Kromer smirked. He was free of her clutches, and the rest of the way went smoothly. When the horse got tired, he got off the horse and expended his mana to continue his run.

For 3 days and 3 nights, he ran and ran until he saw the town where the hub was. It was a border town inside of Pandor and only a couple of meters from Lyra's border.

He was lucky no beasts nor monsters came up against him. It was the first time he had such a smooth travel. The meeting area of the Shadow Squall unit was at the corner house closest to the Lyra border.

Turning left, he saw it immediately. A small house that seemed insignificant to anyone. The grass was unkempt, and a few horses had been stationed around it. At the side of the wall, the two letters 'SS' were carved into the wall. The letters held no meaning except for those in the Shadow Squall unit.

Walking to the front of the house, he knocked twice fast, twice slow, and one loud knock. Footsteps came from the other side, and the door opened.

But what greeted him wasn't the face of a man who had welcomed back a brother. The man, Peylet, looked at him with an expression of horror and fear.

"Peylet, brother, I've come back from the mission and gathered these two waterskins of Elador's substance," Kromer, opened the bag to show the waterskin.

"Kromer, have you seen yourself? What happened to you?" Peylet asked.

"What do you mean?"

Peylet unsheathed his sword and allowed Kromer to see his reflection. What he saw was someone he didn't recognize. It was as if his skin had melted and burned in places.

Kromer shouted, "WAAAH. What happened to me?!"

"The healer. We must go to the healer!"

Touching his face, it was true. His figure had been distorted. Was this the curse of the contract?! Was his assumption of the Lady's benevolence untrue?! It meant that instead of a soul binding contract, the paper they all signed was a curse. That was the only logical solution.

Kromer kept screaming, dropping the bag of two waterskins on the floor. Peylet picked him up, dragging him, exiting the house towards the centre of the town. 

The screaming of the man could still be heard from the house as Alex stood just inside the house where the waterskins fell. This kingdom called Pandor had some tricks up its sleeves, and as she thought, they were after Elador.

Kingdoms like these were common even back on Earth. Companies would fight for top talent to monopolize them, spy on other companies for their internal documents and tech. And other heinous things that Alex completely agreed with.

It wasn't like she didn't send her own spies to Europe or Asia. But now, she knew what kind of company she was dealing with. It was one that Alex liked fighting against. One that actually used their brains instead of sitting on their throne everyday.

Now, she found the closest network hub of their spies. Feeding them false information and knowing how fast information travelled was now an absolute competitive advantage for the Path.

The idiot, Kromer, took around 3 days and 3 nights to travel to this place. Had Alex not dealt with all the numerous beasts that got in his way, it would've taken him almost a fortnight to cross the same distance.

Exiting the house and moving towards the dirt path of this small town, Alex looked for the nearest citizen. Conveniently enough, a wide, burly man was just on his way.

Turning off her invisibility, the man jumped back in surprise. "Who?!"

"How long does it take to get to the capital from here?" Alex asked.

"Why should I tell you?" The man looked Alex up and down. A small smile appeared on his face.

But before he could even talk, Alex put a hand on the man's shoulder, forcing him to kneel. "How long? Answer."

The man winced at the pressure. Looking up at her, he grunted out an answer. "It takes 90 days by horse!"

"Good. Good." Alex laughed. That was plenty of time. There was no internet to transmit rumours or movements instantly. It would take 90 days for information to travel to the capital of Pandor. By the time Pandor’s reply comes in another 90 days, the whole board they’d be replying to would’ve completely changed.

Same goes for any kingdom that acts against her, Lyra and Dragus. Without instant communication, the O.O.D.A loop was in her complete control. 

Alex would do whatever the fuck she needs to get to world economic domination. This would come in handy much once Star Cubs was fully established.