While the nobles of Leighton were immersed in the joy brought by the scramble for toothbrushes, inside a low-profile yet reinforced carriage at the street corner, several men with solemn expressions and thick calluses on their hands were staring dead at the Mason Office.
They were the Royal Mining Caravan from the Kingdom of Qubi.
The Kingdom of Qubi was mountainous and abundant in various rare ores, and its citizens were famous for their exquisite smelting and masonry techniques.
"Boss, what are they selling over there?"
A follower stood on tiptoe, looking toward the crowd. They discovered that the merchants of Leighton were actually also fighting over the items at that stall.
The banner of that stall was Mason.
Soon, Garcia obtained a Black Rose toothbrush from a Leighton noble at a high price.
He did not rush to study the object in his hand; instead, he returned to the carriage and took out the calipers and hardness testers used specifically by Qubi craftsmen.
"Look at this drilling."
The Qubi merchant pointed at the twenty-something tiny, deep holes on the brush head, his eyes filled with professional awe.
"Although the distribution is not completely uniform, the depth is consistent, and the cuts are clean and neat without a single trace of splintering.
This indicates that Mason possesses some kind of extremely tiny and powerful drilling tool that we have not yet mastered."
He rubbed the redwood handle with his rough fingertips, feeling the texture after that layer of beeswax polishing.
"Gentlemen, do not be deceived by this seemingly simple craftsmanship. Is what Queen Sophia sent out merely a brush? This is a miniature display of Mason's heavy industrial precision!
Look at the fixation strength of this horse tail hair; this requires excellent resilience to match. This means Mason can not only refine good iron but also refine this semi-transparent strong adhesive."
He paused, his expression grave.
"She is demonstrating to us that Mason already possesses the ability to transform rough raw materials into extremely precise items. If this technology is used on weapons..."
Garcia dared not think further; he only felt his heart become heavy at this moment.
They realized that as a major mining power, what Qubi lacked most was precisely this precision processing technology that could transform primitive ores into civilized standards. And they had heard that their own country had already reached some cooperation with Mason at this time.
But having a toothbrush with such new craftsmanship, Mason actually did not sell it directly to Qubi, but solely sent it to Leighton. Was this Queen Sophia's precaution against Qubi? Or was there some other matter?
They were merely merchants. Although they were a Royal Caravan, their sensitivity to politics was far inferior to the other ministers in the Palace, and even less so than the current King.
Therefore, they quickly made a decision.
He immediately took out a sheet of official document paper bearing the Qubi seal and wrote rapidly:
"To His Supreme Majesty the King of Qubi: This humble minister has witnessed the rise of the Kingdom of Mason at the Leighton Office.
Queen Sophia has demonstrated Mason's terrifying craftsmanship precision through a precise instrument named the toothbrush. This humble minister believes that the mining and smelting technologies we have taken pride in for so long may already appear backward in the face of Mason's alchemy.
Fortunately, Mason currently seems to be lacking in resources; otherwise, they would not be selling things in Leighton to accumulate wealth.
This humble minister suggests immediately using our nation's most abundant raw ore as a bargaining chip to request a technical interface with Queen Sophia.
This humble minister suggests that Your Majesty must welcome this Girl Tyrant, who holds the materials of the future, with the etiquette reserved for a major power of equal standing. Of course, this is merely this humble minister's small suggestion; please let Your Majesty and the ministers make the decision."
*
Meanwhile, hundreds of miles away in the Mason Bedchamber.
Sophia was facing a document submitted by Irene with a worried look.
"Your Majesty, it won't work!"
Irene grabbed her messy pink hair, looking like she wanted to cry but had no tears.
"The heat value of ordinary charcoal is too low! If we want to calcine higher quality Cement on a large scale, or perform heat treatment on musket barrels, we urgently need that black coal that burns with blue flames and has a metallic luster! If we could have coal, our greenhouses would also be more stable."
Sophia rubbed her temples, feeling a stifling sensation in her heart she had never felt before.
Having the technology but being choked by the lack of raw materials; this feeling was like having a supercar but no gasoline.
"Understood. This Queen is thinking of a way. Once the gold coins from Vasha's side return, even if This Queen has to dig three feet into the ground in the neighboring Kingdom of Qubi, I must get the coal mines back."
Sophia suddenly thought of the previous cooperation with Qubi. She had accepted forty percent of the ore from three of Qubi's mineral veins. Calculating the time, the shipment should be arriving soon. When the special envoy delivering the new ore arrives, she would probe indirectly whether Qubi had coal mines.
Although Qubi had never explicitly stated whether they had coal mines, Sophia always felt that a territory with so many minerals couldn't possibly lack coal.
"Wait, Irene."
Sophia's fingertips tapped lightly on the desktop, a trace of thought flashing through her cold eyes.
"I remember that according to the previous cooperation agreement, the Qubi people must hand over forty percent of the output of the three core mines within their territory annually, as a return for Mason providing help to prevent them from being contained by Orr, right?"
"Yes."
Irene lay prone on the table, responding listlessly.
"But all they sent was copper, iron, and some shiny associated minerals. Although they are valuable and we can use them all, the furnaces don't eat these! Those Qubi people are very shrewd; when it comes to energy-type black stones, they cover them up tightly. They haven't sent even half a piece of slag to Mason."
Sophia let out a cold snort, leaning back and sinking into the soft cushion.
"That they didn't send any doesn't mean they don't have any. As the number one mining power on the plains, Qubi definitely clutches top-quality coal veins in their hands."
Sophia said indifferently.
"Wait until next month when Qubi's ore transport convoy enters the city; This Queen will personally go to audit them."
Hearing this, Irene jerked upright, her azure eyes sparkling as she asked tentatively, "Your Majesty, are you planning to... use the share of one or two of the current three ore mountains to exchange for the production rights of one of their coal mines?"
In Irene's view, this was already an extremely equal trade. After all, raw ore was also urgently needed by Mason.
However, Sophia raised her eyebrows slightly, a trace of domineering intent unique to a Tyrant flowing in her eyes.
"Exchange? Why make such a choice that harms one's own interests?"
She extended a slender finger and pressed it in the void.
"This Queen wants them to, directly on top of the existing basis, hand over the excavation rights to forty percent of an additional top-tier coal mine. As a return, This Queen can consider prioritizing the supply of other new inventions to them."
"Hehehe, Your Majesty is indeed Your Majesty!"
Irene let out a burst of villain-like bad laughter and even rubbed her hands together.
"Directly asking for an extra one! This move is good. Since they have already witnessed Mason's power, raising the price at this time... apart from gritting their teeth and swallowing it, they still have to thank us for letting them play."
Sophia looked at Irene rubbing her hands like a fly; the helplessness in her heart increased a notch, yet she also felt it was strangely cute.
Having solved the potential source of raw materials, Irene's mood instantly turned from cloudy to sunny.
She seemed to remember something and leaned close to Sophia furtively, ingratiatingly massaging Sophia's shoulders.
"Um, my dear beautiful Majesty, since the toothbrushes can rake in a huge sum of fully five thousand gold coins annually from Leighton, then the funding for my small laboratory..."
Seeing that Sophia didn't object, she hurriedly spoke like pouring beans:
"That sticky stuff called toothpaste is indeed too hard to make; I plan to set it aside for now. I want to apply for an extra sum of funding, specifically to research 'Mint Fortified Tooth Powder'.
As long as mint essential oil, sea salt, and finely ground shell powder are mixed in a specific ratio, the effect is a hundred times better than willow twigs! And the production cycle is short, the results are fast; it can absolutely make those Leighton nobles go crazy again!"
Sophia listened to Irene's plan, full of money-making fighting spirit, and calculated the National Treasury's income in her heart.
Although it hadn't reached the point where she could spend money like dirt, supporting this kind of high-return light industrial R&D was obviously a sure profit without loss.
Thus, she waved her hand and responded somewhat languidly:
"Granted. Since toothpaste can't be made, then use tooth powder to empty out the Leighton people's gold coins."
"Long live Your Majesty!"
Irene cheered, her pink twin-tails flying up.
At this time, Daphne, who happened to push the door open to deliver snacks, saw this scene and was surprised in her heart.
Your Majesty decided the mineral trend of a country with a wave of her hand, while Miss Irene was excited about the Empire's new type of reserve food. Mint Tooth Powder... it sounds like it should be a mint-flavored powdery food? Does it taste refreshing?
Daphne was somewhat expectant.
The second day after receiving the funding, the sound of fine and rhythmic grinding came from the temporary laboratory in the side hall of the West Tower.
Sophia rarely didn't go to deal with those tedious refugee settlement reports today. Instead, wrapped in the thick black fox fur, she sank languidly onto the soft couch by the laboratory window.
Outside the window was the biting winter wind; inside the window was a scene of scientific research in full swing.
"Your Majesty, this is wild berry juice just squeezed this morning, with a little warmed dew snow water added; the taste is most sweet. It has already been added with a magic blessing. If Your Majesty drinks it for another half month or so, your body won't catch a cold so easily anymore."
Daphne was like a diligent little bee, carrying an exquisite silver tray and shuttling between the flasks and grinding bowls.
She handed a glass of purple-red translucent juice to Sophia, but her gaze unconsciously fell on Irene, who was not far away, so busy her feet didn't touch the ground.
Sophia took the cup, her fingertips rubbing the warm cup wall, her pale golden pupils reflecting Irene's busy figure.
At this moment, Irene had completely entered a madman state.
She had a dust-covered apron tied around her waist, her pink twin-tails messily coiled behind her head, and her hand was clutching a heavy stone pestle, outputting frantically against a bowl of dried mint leaves.
"Ratio... the ratio is key."
Irene muttered, her brows knitted into a twist.
She first took the snow-white shells collected the previous day, crushed them, and placed them into a special stone mill for repeated crushing.
Sophia watched her small arms trembling slightly from the exertion, sweat sliding down her forehead. After grinding for a while, Irene would use a fine silk cloth to sift it once, leaving only the shell powder that was as fine as flour, with almost no grainy sensation felt by the fingertips.
Subsequently, Irene dissolved large grains of sea salt in boiling water, then performed rapid crystallization through the weak fire element magic provided by Daphne. The salt crystals obtained this way were purer and no longer carried the bitter fishy smell of seawater.
Daphne's presence also solved many of Irene's worries; without magic, perhaps the probability of failure would be a bit higher.
The most critical step arrived.
Irene took out a jar of mint essential oil distilled overnight last night; that was the essence concentrated from hundreds of catties of mint leaves. She carefully dipped a slender tube to take a single drop, suspending it above the powder.
Sophia rested her chin on her hand, looking at Irene's expression at this moment.
That small face, which usually only knew how to act spoiled and ask for rewards, was now written full of a seriousness bordering on piety. Irene held her breath, the tip of her tongue slightly pressing against her upper lip, as if the landing point of this single drop of essential oil decided the rise and fall of the Empire.
"One, two... three! Drop!"
Irene gave a soft shout.
However, the instant the essential oil fell, perhaps due to being too nervous, Irene suddenly felt her nose itch. A sneeze had already reached her throat.
"A—Achoo!"
A powerful airflow instantly impacted the bowl filled with fine shell powder.
Bang!
A cloud of white powder exploded in front of Irene.
Sophia's hand holding the cup shook slightly as she watched helplessly while that white cloud swallowed Irene whole.
When the smoke and dust dispersed, Sophia couldn't help but laugh out loud, though her facial expression showed no obvious change.
The originally lively pink-haired girl was now plastered with a layer of white powder from head to toe. On Irene's eyelashes, on the tip of her nose, and even on the edges of those azure eyes hung white ash; she looked exactly like a pink-and-white little kitten that had rolled in a flour pile.
"Wu... Cough, cough, cough!"
Irene spat out a mouthful of white smoke and aggrievedly wiped her face, but ended up smearing the powder even more evenly, revealing only a pair of round, large eyes.
"There's a pig."
Sophia put down the wild berry juice, the corner of her mouth rising in an extremely small arc.
This unadulterated sense of vitality gave this cold laboratory color in an instant.
After repeated tossing about, and after Irene washed her face clean for the third time, the first portion of pale blue tooth powder carrying a biting clear fragrance finally took shape.
Irene carefully scooped up a little with a small wooden spoon and presented it before Sophia, her eyes shimmering with the light of begging for praise:
"Your Majesty, smell it! This refreshing scent, I dare guarantee that the Queen of Leighton would be willing to exchange her necklace for it after smelling it! If we can receive more pearls later, we can also use pearl powder to make a 'Queen's Special Edition'!"
Sophia leaned in and smelled it; that coolness, sweet with a trace of slight pungency, was indeed gladdening to the heart.
"Go find a trial user."
Sophia ordered.
"I'll do it! I'll do it!"
Irene couldn't wait to find an outsider. She took out a new toothbrush herself, dipped it in the tooth powder, and poked it into her mouth.
A moment later, an earth-shattering cheer from Irene rang out in the side hall:
"Success! Your Majesty! My tongue seems to be dancing on an ice plain! My teeth really became brighter! And it's very refreshing; I feel this can directly serve as the Special Edition!"
Irene excitedly threw herself to Sophia's side. Disregarding the residual powder still on her body, she grabbed Sophia's cuff and shook it:
"We can sell it! We are going to be rich, Your Majesty! Mason is going to have coal mines!"
Sophia looked at the young girl before her, whose face was full of flushed excitement and whose eyes hid stars. She extended her hand and gently patted away a little powder residue on the tip of her ear, her voice unconsciously becoming a few degrees softer:
"Mn.
Hard work, my Inventor."
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