Unexpected Gains

Ever since Katie had arrived, Friedrich's life had changed a little.

For example, the final part of his practice every night was for Katie to take a sword and slash at him for about ten minutes. He had to run and block until he was completely exhausted before she stopped. After practice, he got to eat jelly.

Katie had grown up by the sea and knew all sorts of seafood, including the seaweed used to make agar.

In inland regions, agar was mostly used to clarify beer and wine. Friedrich had never had the chance to try it, so this was his first time eating jelly.

Friedrich had the day off and planned to sleep until he woke naturally, but Katie dragged him out of bed to have breakfast.

As soon as breakfast was over, Poison Master Friedrich of Weissenburg University came to visit.

Friedrich had taken some of his meager funds and given them to him to research a roundworm medicine. He had come today to report on his progress.

In the living room, Friedrich poured a bottle of medicinal powder onto a saucer and began his report. "Headmaster, this is the roundworm medicine I've been developing. It's more or less ready."

"To minimize the medicine's side effects on people, I abandoned the old approach of poisoning the roundworms and chose to anesthetize them instead."

"This medicine can keep roundworms anesthetized for a long time, so they stop clinging to the intestinal walls. With a mild laxative, they can then be expelled."

"I tested it on cows, sheep, pigs, and dogs. After taking it for three days, they were rid of all the roundworms in their intestines."

"But there's still a problem. When people first take it, it causes severe stomach pain. I haven't solved that yet."

"The ingredients aren't expensive. A three-day course costs about as much as an ordinary person in Weissenburg spends on food in a day."

Friedrich nodded slightly. A course of treatment costing as much as a city resident's daily food wasn't expensive. Even if they doubled or tripled the price to cover packaging, labor, and profit, tenant farmers in the villages could still afford it.

The stomach pain was the problem. Surely they couldn't boil it into a liquid and administer it from the other end.

"Does it only cause stomach pain?" Katie suddenly asked.

Senior Sister was curious about what her junior was up to, so she had tagged along to see.

Now she understood: Friedrich had someone making a medicine, but it caused stomach pain when swallowed.

Friedrich replied, "The main issue is stomach pain. Once it reaches the intestines, it causes a little dizziness and drowsiness, but that's not a big problem."

"That's easy." Katie smiled confidently. "Just keep the powder separated from the stomach while it's in there. Come on, let's go to the kitchen."

Then Friedrich and Friedrich saw Katie make capsules by hand in the kitchen.

She boiled some agar in water. Since they didn't have any special tools, she dipped the handle of a table knife into it to coat it.

The agar cooled and set almost as soon as she pulled the knife out. Once she removed it, it formed a small pouch.

She spooned the medicine powder inside. There was no need to fit another half over it; she heated the backs of two table knives and pinched the capsule between them, sealing it shut.

"Yikes..." Friedrich drew in a sharp breath. "If you used this method to poison someone, you could delay the effects. It'd be hard to trace."

"Exactly," Katie said calmly. "It's usually used on death warriors."

Friedrich fell silent and decided to pretend he hadn't heard anything.

Back in the living room, Friedrich studied the capsules in his hand and pondered for a while. Then he said, "If this method can keep medicine from irritating the stomach, then plenty of other medicines could be taken orally."

"I can think of a powder for treating diarrhea, and another for treating colds."

"Headmaster, we should set up a medicine workshop."

Like everyone else at Weissenburg University, Friedrich had caught the "money comes first" bug.

Friedrich smiled. "No problem. I just don't have the time or energy for it lately."

Friedrich seemed to have anticipated that. He thumped his chest and promised to handle everything himself. The headmaster could just sit back and count the money.

Friedrich let him have his way and immediately wrote him a note, sending him to administrative officer Flick to get some land for the workshop.

As they chatted, Friedrich asked curiously, "Won't these powders irritate the intestines when you swallow them?"

He was going to meet Psyche that afternoon with Katie and Kler to discuss Papermaking. That morning, he'd been preoccupied with fibers, and it had just occurred to him that eating plant fibers without digesting them first could physically irritate the intestines.

Friedrich asked in confusion, "Why would they irritate the intestines?"

Friedrich replied, "The plant powders go into the intestines without being digested. They'll irritate them."

Friedrich understood. "Don't worry. These powders are made by dehydrating medicinal liquids prepared by boiling the ingredients. That makes them easier to store, and they dissolve in water."

Friedrich blinked, then his eyes widened.

He immediately put a little powder in his teacup, poured in some tea, and stirred. The powder dissolved quickly.

"Is this method of drying medicine difficult?" he asked excitedly.

"Not at all. You just need a Water Repulsion Spell." Friedrich grew excited too. "What, do you think it could make money?"

"Of course!" Friedrich said happily. "If you dry milk into a powder, it can be stored for a long time. When you want to drink it, you just add water..."

He suddenly saw Friedrich and Katie shaking their heads together. His heart sank, and he asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem with what I said?"

Katie patted him on the head and spoke in the soothing tone one might use with a child. "It's a good idea, but you don't need to go to all that trouble just to drink milk."

Friedrich blinked, realizing he might have gotten something wrong.

He had, in fact, misjudged milk's place in this world.

Since fresh milk was difficult to preserve, people preferred processed dairy products that kept well, such as cheese and butter.

Besides, nobles didn't like drinking milk. They only used it in cooking.

Friedrich was the odd one out. He had a special place below the castle where they kept and rotated dairy cows, just so he could drink fresh milk every day. Everyone thought it was just one of his quirks.

It was the farmers in the villages who drank fresh milk, but even they mostly drank the whey and skimmed milk left over from making cheese and butter.

Cheese and butter were an important source of income for farmers. Rather than drink the milk themselves, they processed it to sell. Only the fresh milk they didn't have time to process was drunk as it was.

Seeing Friedrich's disappointment, Katie comforted him. "It's all right. Merchants and sailors might like it."

Friedrich sighed. Selling powdered milk really wouldn't work in this pastoral age. The market would only develop once cities grew.

But then he thought of another possibility and asked Friedrich, "What about meat broth? Could we dehydrate the broth and the vegetables in it, then add hot water when we want to drink it?"

Friedrich asked, sounding a little amused, "Is there any need for that?"

"There is," Friedrich said firmly. "For example, the best soup in town. If you want some, you have to go to that restaurant."

"If it could be dried and stored, you could just take it out and pour hot water over it whenever you wanted some at home."

Friedrich paused, thought for a while, then said, "I think it's worth a try."

So they went back to the kitchen, where there was a pot of lentil soup made with lentils, onions, carrots, garlic, thyme, and other ingredients.

Friedrich had the cook ladle a bowl of soup onto the table. Friedrich asked her to set another empty bowl beside it, then began casting a spell.

As Friedrich chanted, a blue Magic Array appeared at the bottom of the soup bowl. A moment later, Water Element burst through the bowl like a fountain and slowly gathered above it.

In less than a minute, the Water Element had carried off all the water in the soup bowl, and Friedrich directed it into the empty bowl.

All that remained in the soup bowl was shriveled vegetables and some greasy residue. The water in the other bowl was perfectly clear.

Friedrich said, "This spell has many uses. For example, drying wood, extracting clean drinking water from dirty water, and turning low-proof alcohol into high-proof liquor."

Katie added, "And killing people."

Friedrich pinched the bridge of his nose. From now on, the washing machine would have to include this spell.

Now came the most important moment.

There was hot water in the kitchen. They ladled a spoonful into the bowl and stirred. Soon, a steaming bowl of lentil soup had appeared.

Everyone took a spoonful, then tasted the original lentil soup from the pot. In the end, they reached a verdict.

"It tastes about ninety percent as good as the original," Friedrich said.

Katie chewed thoughtfully. "The lentils and carrots have a slightly different texture, but it's still good enough."

Friedrich nodded, thinking that all the preliminary technology for Instant Noodles needed now was the packaging.