Automatic Seal Pressing Machine
He had a sullen expression and was hunched over, but Brother Adel headed to capture slimes within the Royal Capital’s sewers.
In the underground of the Royal Capital, there is an ancient sewer system where wastewater from the city is collected and purified by slimes before being discharged into the river.
There are no specific ponds to store slimes; instead, the ends of the sewer are fenced off, allowing the slimes to move freely and purify the wastewater within.
The reason for asking Brother Adel to capture slimes was that I heard the Elfast Magic Kingdom was breeding magic insects for magic circle research.
According to Arya, magic insects are small, bug-like magic beasts, but I've never seen one nor do I know much about them.
So, I thought of using slime fluid as a substitute for magic insect fluid.
After Brother Adel left the room, Arya began drawing magic circles on parchment one after another and handed them to Emmy.
Emmy said, "I'm going to make stamps," and went back to the workshop with a smile.
While Arya and I were chatting on the sofa, a slender white hand reached from behind and hugged me tightly.
"Ian, play with me.”
Oh, I had forgotten that Orlan was sleeping on the bed.
Maybe she was considerate not to disturb us?
A week passed, and Brother Adel dove into the sewers and captured a cage full of slimes.
Now, the Royal Guards were monitoring the cage, and the castle staff were feeding the slimes and taking care of them.
Regarding the care of the slimes, Captain Lyshiria of the Royal Guards gave me a hard time, but with her gentle nature, she frowned and still helped out.
I asked the soldiers to put the slimes in small barrels and break the slime cores inside.
Then, the barrels filled with slime fluid were carried to Arya's room.
Arya used the slime fluid mixed with dye as ink.
When she chanted the activation spell over the drawn magic circle, a small flame lit up on it.
"The experiment is successful."
"Yes, this clears the first stage."
Arya and I high-fived each other in celebration.
I thought it might not work, but now it seems we can use slime fluid as a substitute for magic insect fluid.
Three days later, Emmy brought the magic circle stamps to the castle.
The four of us—me, Brother Adel, Arya, and Emmy—immediately decided to test the magic circle stamps.
Orlan, to avoid getting in the way, was eating snacks on the bed.
Emmy brought four stamps.
We applied slime fluid to each stamp and pressed them onto parchment, ensuring the patterns overlapped. Arya chanted the activation spell over the completed magic circle, but the magic didn't activate.
When we investigated why it failed, we found that the ink had smudged when the stamps were pressed.
Emmy frowned at the failed magic circle.
"No matter what, the ink always smudges a bit when pressed."
"It might be because we're using too much ink at once. Also, changing the ratio of dye to slime fluid might help."
After repeated trial and error, we successfully created a magic circle with a small flame using the layered stamps.
We all clapped in celebration of the successful result, and Emmy said, "I'll improve it and turn it into a machine," then rushed out of the room with a barrel of slime fluid.
A week later, Emmy completed an automatic seal pressing machine for drawing magic circles.
When Brother Adel and I were summoned to the workshop by Emmy, we found a machine equipped with four hammer-shaped stamps attached to a central wheel.
When parchment was set into the machine, the first stamp lowered and pressed onto the parchment.
After the printing, the column with the wheel lifted high, rotated to the next stamp, and the column descended to press the next stamp.
Watching the machine in action, I tilted my head.
"Huh? I don't see the step where the ink is applied."
"The inside of the hammer-shaped stamps is hollow, and that's where the ink is stored. When the machine operates, the pressure inside the stamp changes, causing a fixed amount of ink to ooze onto the surface."
That technique was used in printing machines in my previous life in Japan.
If Emmy thought of that system on her own, she has incredible talent.
I've always known she had many creative ideas, but Emmy never ceases to amaze me.
Brother Adel, Emmy, and I took the parchment with the machine-drawn magic circle to Arya in the castle.
When Orlan saw us enter the room, she slowly walked to the bed and lay down.
Such consideration not to interrupt our conversation is typical of Orlan.
Emmy handed the parchment with the machine-drawn magic circle to Arya and asked her to activate it.
When she did, a small flame appeared on the magic circle placed on the desk.
Seeing the flame, Brother Adel sat cross-legged on the floor and hid his face with his thick arms.
Upon closer look, he seemed to be crying.
"What's wrong? Did you get a stomachache?"
"No… after all the struggles and everyone brainstorming together to create this machine… I got overwhelmed with emotion, and the tears won't stop."
As Royalty, we can simply instruct the castle staff to get what we want.
Brother Adel has always worked hard to master martial arts, but this was his first experience with creation.
And working together with everyone to complete something must have made him very happy.
Creating something involves many failures and difficulties, but when it's completed, there's a great sense of accomplishment.
When I looked at Arya and Emmy's faces, their eyes were also moist with tears.
Oh… seeing everyone like this made me so happy that I couldn’t help but tear up too.
What do you think about this chapter?
