I Am Not The Duke's Evil Son
Chapter 74: The First Step in Glassmaking

Chapter 74: The First Step in Glassmaking

"Ah."

"My head."

Albert slowly opened his eyes and groaned slightly due to the sharp pain in his head. After several moments of stillness, his clarity returned, and as the headache eased, he muttered:

"What happened? Where am I?"

He shook his head lightly, and in no time, regained full clarity. Then, he looked down at the ground illuminated by the faint moonlight, listened to the sounds of night crickets, and tried to recall what had happened. However, instead of remembering, he noticed something odd. Puzzled, he stared at the ground for a moment before realizing it was quite far beneath him.

His expression twisted, and involuntarily, he tried to move but couldn’t.

"Wait, what?"

He quickly turned his gaze toward his body and realized that he was bound. Surprised, but remaining calm, he followed the ropes with his eyes and saw that they were tied to the trunk of a very tall tree.

Suddenly, a flood of memories rushed into his mind. His brow furrowed, and he growled with anger, "Arvan, you bastard, I will kill you."

...

At the same time, on the other side of the barony, Arthur sat at his simple desk, staring at the spoils he had obtained. Unlike usual, however, he wasn’t pleased; his mood was sour.

"I believe I acted too rashly. I didn’t expect to encounter another noble this soon. Tsk. I knew I couldn’t control everything, but this is still quite vexing."

He let out a long sigh and muttered again, "I suppose what I did was the right call. I couldn’t kill that bastard, and at the same time, I couldn’t simply let him walk away. Perhaps stripping him of his clothes and hanging him on the far side of the barony will make him think twice before returning here."

Despite his words, a cold look appeared on his face as he contemplated going to where he had tied him and finishing him off. But he shook his head and dismissed the thought.

’No, that’s madness. If he dies in my territory, the Academy will send some of their people to investigate, and that’s a hundred times worse than dealing with an insignificant C-rank noble.’

’In any case, I need to figure out why he came here.’

Calmly, he began to examine the items he had taken from Albert’s bag.

[Dimensional Storage Ring (D)]

[Enhanced Radiance Ring (C)]

[Beaumont Dagger]

[Letter]

[Silver Coins]

"Quite a bit. But didn’t I see earlier that he had several magical scrolls? Are they inside the storage ring?"

He frowned in mild annoyance. This meant he wouldn’t be able to obtain the magical scrolls unless he broke the blood bond between Albert and the storage ring something he clearly wouldn’t be able to do anytime soon.

Without dwelling on it further, he turned to the letter a rolled-up parchment sealed with wax. Slowly, he picked it up.

"Let’s see what brought you here."

He broke the seal and began reading.

[To Mr. Orin Ashvele,

After reviewing your repeated requests to undergo the admission test, and after considering the recommendations provided by your regional noble and official mages, we the Shimmering Pearl Academy are pleased to announce that you have been granted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to undergo the entrance examination, which will be held on the ninth day of the second summer month. Therefore, you are requested to head to the Royal Capital to complete the remaining procedures. ]

"This..."

When Arthur finished reading, he froze in astonishment and instinctively started connecting the dots.

"Didn’t the novel mention that Orin left the barony five days after Arvan’s arrival? So this is the reason. And it seems that bastard Albert did come here in the novel, but it wasn’t mentioned since he didn’t meet any of the main characters. That’s probably why he said he wanted to avoid encountering me."

Hoo!

Suddenly, all his concerns vanished, and he felt greatly relieved. Now that he understood the situation almost completely, he was confident that the consequences wouldn’t be too severe. Most likely, Albert wouldn’t make any moves against him in the coming weeks, for two reasons: first, his fear of Novarian’s strength and the mysterious figure who attacked him, and second, his limited time he had to return to the academy soon.

’But why did the academy send him specifically for this task? And what should I do with this letter? Should I give it to Orin?’

Yawn!

Exhausted, he let out a long yawn.

’I’ll think about it later.’

Without bothering himself further, he headed to bed and fell asleep.

...

The following morning, he woke up early, followed his usual routine — training, bathing, breakfast and then ordered Octavia to summon Varek and Selene.

Once fully prepared, he took the materials he had collected from the forest the previous night and headed to the blacksmith workshop, where his followers were waiting.

With sharp eyes, he scanned everyone and appraised them using the skill "Plot Savant."

[Name: Selene Davenport]

[Race: Human]

[Level: E]

[Class: Mage]

[Skills: Fire Control (E), Fireball (E), Fire Wall (E), Horsemanship (E), Swordsmanship (E)]

..

[Name: Varek Pembroke]

[Race: Human]

[Level: E]

[Class: Mage]

[Skills: Soil Control (E), Earth Wall (E), Rock Barrage (E), Horsemanship (E), Swordsmanship (E)]

’Their stats are still very low. I need to conduct an intensive training session for them for all of the first batch of recruits, really. Due to my previous time constraints, I ended their training early.’

After a brief moment of thought, he looked at Varek and said, "Come here."

"Yes, my lord!"

Varek ran over excitedly, stood before him, and asked, "What do you need from me, my lord?"

Despite his young age, he behaved sensibly and respectfully, like a grown man. This was common in this world, where children rarely enjoyed true childhoods and were often forced into hard labor by the age of ten.

"Open your hand," Arthur ordered sternly, then calmly took a white sand grain from a bag full of sand and placed it in his palm.

Varek was surprised and stared at the tiny grain, asking, "What am I supposed to do with this, my lord?" He knew there was a purpose behind this grain.

Arthur smiled faintly. "Don’t rush. Close your eyes, feel the grain, sense it. Use your Soil Control magic to understand its composition."

Following his lord’s orders, Varek closed his eyes and began to meditate on the grain using only his magic. After ten full minutes, he opened his eyes in astonishment.

"I can feel it, my lord."

"Good."

Arthur nodded in satisfaction.

At the same time, Selene smiled happily at her companion’s success in their lord’s test, silently encouraging herself to give her best as well.

Then, rather roughly, Arthur emptied all the sandbags onto the ground and spoke with anticipation,

"Now, based on what you’ve sensed, I want you to use your Soil Control magic to separate the white sand grains from any impurities."

Varek was surprised but showed a determined look. He stepped forward, took a deep breath, closed his eyes, activated his magic to its fullest, and began the separation process.

The sand shifted oddly, separating into two distinct piles one of pure white sand, and the other of impurities: soil, minerals, clay.

Arthur observed both piles with great satisfaction.

’With mages at my disposal, who needs advanced machinery?’

After several minutes, the separation was complete. Arthur ordered Varek to take a break, then carried the pure white sand and placed it into a large ceramic vessel. He added 20% plant ash, then 20% lime, and thoroughly mixed the blend.

He placed it into a furnace specifically built for glassmaking, which he had previously commissioned. After lighting the furnace, he turned to Selene and ordered:

"Adjust the fire’s heat. Raise it as high as you can and maintain it."

"Yes, my lord."

Without delay, Selene approached the furnace and used her fire magic, raising the temperature and enhancing the furnace’s efficiency.

Arthur watched everything unfold with some relief. He knew that sand required extremely high temperatures to melt, and if he relied solely on the available technology, it would take at least 30 hours for the mixture to fully melt. But now, it might be fully melted within a few hours.

After a brief silence, he said,

"Varek, stay beside Selene and remove any impurities that surface in the mixture."

Without wasting more time, Arthur left. He didn’t need to supervise the melting process directly there were many other matters requiring his attention.

First, he toured the town, ensuring everything was running smoothly. He inspected the soap workshop, then ordered Novarian and Thorne to head into the forest for monster hunting. He had prohibited them from hunting the previous day to give the butchers a break and reduce their workload — which, fortunately, allowed Novarian to arrive quickly when Arthur had summoned him to confront Albert.

Afterward, he returned to the castle for lunch, as usual, spent some time training and strategizing, and as sunset approached, he headed back to the workshop to check on the progress of the sand melting process.