3 bar menu

Chapter 71: Narbo Town: In Search of Gunpowder Ingredients, Saltpeter

We had returned to the Barbar village.

Without wasting any time, I began working on producing gunpowder.

The components for gunpowder are charcoal, sulfur, and saltpeter.

Charcoal was already used by the Elf tribe for cooking and in medicine preparation.
It was said to be high quality, and I asked the elf chieftain Elanief to share some with me.

Next up was sulfur.
Uncle Atos and Elanief both knew of its existence.

「Uncle Atos, where can I get sulfur?」

「There’s a town in the Vaffancrow Empire that deals in it. I’ve heard they use it in laundry, makes the fabric whiter, they say.」

Apparently, they used sulfur as a kind of bleach.
So we could acquire it from a nearby town in the Vaffancrow Empire.

Elanief had a small amount on hand as well.
He said it was used in medicine.

「Elanief, what kind of medicine uses sulfur?」

「Hmm… well…」

For some reason, Elanief was being vague.
Usually he was eager to explain anything about medicine, why the hesitation now?
His reaction made me suspicious.

「Is it used in some dangerous drug!? Then we’d better be careful when handling it!」

「No, no! It’s a perfectly ordinary medicine. Used in ointments.」

「Ointments? Like wound salves?」

I pressed, and Elanief sighed before answering.

「It’s for athlete’s foot.」

「……」

Ah. That explains it.
Kind of an awkward subject.

It might actually sell surprisingly well, but 「Elven-brand Athlete’s Foot Ointment「 doesn’t exactly inspire confidence…

Anyway, I got some sulfur from Elanief.
For some reason, Uncle Atos started chatting enthusiastically with him afterward.

, Now, back to the matter of gunpowder.

The hardest component to acquire was saltpeter.
I had already checked using my skill, Sma-Ho!, but couldn’t find any locations where saltpeter occurred naturally.

From what I’d learned via Information Download, saltpeter sometimes forms in caves.
Layers of animal and bird droppings can, over time, transform into saltpeter.

However, saltpeter tends to form in dry regions.
It doesn’t do well in humid areas.

Barbar and the Vaffancrow Empire were warm and humid, ideal for people, but not for saltpeter.

No wonder the Sma-Ho! map didn’t show any.

Which meant I’d have to make it artificially.

Fortunately, the knowledge I’d downloaded included methods that were feasible in this world.

There was the 「composting method「 using silkworm droppings or grass,
the 「saltpeter mound method「 using animal waste,
and the 「seaweed method「 involving burnt seaweed.

These were all historically used in Japan, China, and Europe.

But the composting and mound methods took a long time.
The seaweed method required special facilities and chemicals.

If I wanted a quick batch,

(The Kodo-hō, the Old Soil Method!)

The Old Soil Method involves digging up soil from beneath old houses or livestock sheds and boiling it to extract saltpeter.

Old houses often shelter mice, cats, and other small animals.
Their accumulated droppings eventually form saltpeter.
Same with livestock sheds, the animal waste piles up and transforms over time.

I immediately crawled under my house and took a sample of the soil.
Set a large pot out front and started boiling it.

But no matter how long I boiled the dirt, I saw no signs of saltpeter.

(Why…? Maybe the soil doesn’t contain the right components?)

Then it hit me.
I had never seen a single mouse or cat in Barbar village.

(Could it be that there are no mice or cats around Barbar at all?)

I decided to ask Aunt Kate, Uncle Atos’s wife.
She was your classic strong, no-nonsense homemaker, neither Uncle Atos nor I could stand against her.

She was busy with housework, but still made time to talk.

「Mice? Cats? We don’t have those around here! This place is crawling with monsters! Sure, they’ve got ‘em in the Empire though.」

「I see…」

Makes sense.
Barbar’s territory is surrounded by the Demon Forest.
It’s a monster domain.

No way mice or cats would stick around with monsters prowling about.

It’s nice not having mice, for hygiene, but I needed them for saltpeter production.

That left the Empire.
Aunt Kate said they had mice and cats there.
Come to think of it, I’d seen cats when staying at inns in the Empire.

Then,

(Alright. Let’s collect dirt from the Vaffancrow Empire!)

I began planning how to gather soil from the Empire and chose my companions.

, Three days later.

I arrived in the Empire’s town of Narbo with five others from Barbar.

Our group consisted of me, Uncle Atos, Rosso of the Giant Lizard tribe, and three Blumenthal tribe men who could speak Imperial language relatively well and were good with people.

Though their speech was a bit clumsy, they knew enough words to communicate.

Narbo is situated on the Empire’s western edge,
to the north lies the Demon Forest and Barbar territory,
to the west, a narrow coastal road leading to the Kingdom of Ring.

From the Empire’s perspective, Narbo is both a military stronghold guarding against northern barbarians and western foreigners, and a trading hub thanks to its seaside location.

Its long history as a trade town made it a promising spot to find 「soil containing saltpeter.」

We came dressed in rags, pulling carts loaded with clean dirt.

Once inside Narbo, Uncle Atos led us to a large merchant house.
One of his old contacts.

「Well, well! If it isn’t Barbar! What do you want?」

A stout, middle-aged man with a big gut, clearly the owner, ran his hand through curly blond hair and addressed Uncle Atos.

「Good day, sir! I have a small request…」

「Barbar shouldn’t be loitering in front. Go around back.」

We were forced to take the back entrance.

It had been a while since I’d experienced such blatant disdain from Imperials.

He didn’t even call Uncle Atos by name.
Probably didn’t remember it.

But if we wanted to accomplish our goal, we had to swallow our pride.

Uncle Atos smiled politely, remarkably composed.

Once around back, he made our pitch.

「Sir, how about having your underfloor cleaned out?」

「Underfloor?」

「Yes, sir! Crawlspaces often house rats and bugs, filthy places. Can cause illness, I hear! We Barbar can haul out that dirty soil and replace it with clean dirt!」

Uncle Atos gestured to us.
Each of our carts was piled with clean dirt.

The merchant looked at the dirt and rubbed his chin.

「Come to think of it, my daughter’s been coughing lately… Hmm. Worth a try. Do it.」

「Thank you kindly! Now, if you don’t mind, the payment?」

「Hah! Barbar’s new line of work, huh? Cleaning under houses? Filthy job, you lot sure are something!」

He spoke mockingly, clearly looking down on us.
I was fuming, but kept it in.

He tossed a silver coin to Uncle Atos and gave him his home address.

Once he was gone, Uncle Atos put an arm around my shoulder.

「There you go! How was that?」

「Impressive as ever!」

Uncle Atos beamed with pride.
He made the Imperials feel superior while reaping the benefits.
That kind of cunning, I couldn’t replicate it.

He turned to the three Blumenthal men.

「You’re probably angry, but remember how we did that. It’s easy, right?」

Uncle Atos is basically the chancellor of Barbar.
He can’t be everywhere at once.
If we can train others, we should.
That’s why I brought these three along.

The men nodded.

「We’re good. We remember exactly what to say.」

「Smile, bow, take the money, ha! That’s my specialty!」

「If the three of us bring along five helpers, we can split into three teams. We could make a tidy profit just from this town.」

If we can form three teams, we can gather a lot of soil.
That would be a huge help.

「Thanks, all of you! But first, let’s finish this job. The merchant’s house, under the floor.」

「「「「「You got it!」」」」」

We successfully collected filthy soil from under the merchant’s house.

On the way back, Rosso pulled his cart and asked, totally puzzled:

「Hey, Gaia. What are we gonna do with this nasty dirt?」

I grinned and answered,

「I’ve got something I want to try.」

「Huh. I’m starving.」

「We’ll eat once we get back.」

I hadn’t told anyone about the gunpowder yet.

Uncle Atos only knew I was trying a new kind of business.

Rosso had no clue, but Uncle Atos seemed curious about what I was up to.
Once I had working gunpowder, I’d show him.

***

The next day, I boiled the soil we’d gathered from Narbo and successfully extracted saltpeter.