Hakai no Miko

A pale horse accompanied by one Shemr headed for a small detached house set in the corner of the Lords' residence. It's a sturdy building with heavy stone stacked foundations and thick dirt walls.

It's sturdy enough to hold important treasures, but it's not a treasure. Because what gets carried in there are things like dirt and sand, powders and liquids that I don't think are worth a lot of money or know where they came from.

For this reason, this detached house has called for various speculations since its inception.

It is also written in the literature of the famous philosopher Senes.

"From what I hear in the wind, there is a small detachment in the palace of Soma Kisaki, son of destruction.

It's a secret place. Only Dae-hyun Solon, he said, was allowed to enter there.

And the Son of Destruction and Dae-hyun pulled there again and again, and did something unknowingly. It was also said to have been a sacrificial deity worshipping Aura, the goddess of death and destruction, a ritual worshipping Genovanda, or a feast of sordid black magic, and even the daughter of that beast man, who intoxicates the Son of Destruction, was said to have made her face flatter.

As if to corroborate such rumors, some say they heard a thunderous roar from its detachment. Others say they smell a very strange odor. And some say they saw a flash of light leaking, cleaving the darkness of night through a small window.

Whenever the Son of Destruction and Dae-hyun drew there, they were frightened by fear and anxiety that things might not happen from the good.

But no one knows as one what the two of them were actually doing there ".

And there was an unusual sight spread around its detachment, as if to affirm such a creepy rumor.

Still in season, it is the early spring that retains the remnants of the winter cold. It's time for the grass to finally start sprouting, but only around the detached houses that are built in the backyard, for some reason, are tall weeds growing.

The Ethereal Horse knocks on the thick wooden door of such a detachment several times, then opens it thinly and speaks inside.

"Mr. Solon, are you there? I'm coming in!

But no reply. Soon the Ethereal Horse decided to go inside as it was.

As he enters the detachment room, Shemru covers his nose with his face. The odor, which is always full of indoors, seems tough on her with a sharp sense of smell. Even the Ethereal Horse feels tingling irritation in the mucous membrane of his nose.

Inside the dim building illuminated by the light that plunged through the window of the small lighting, it was certainly an inevitable appearance, even if rumored to be a cult sacrificial place.

It is mineral and biological specimens that are arranged neatly on the shelves provided on the walls. The tall bookshelf is tightly packed with odd books that would change the color of your eyes if you saw a bachelor in the field. And narrowly arranged on a large desk that was placed in the center of the room are oddly shaped glass and metal containers and appliances.

If modern humans had seen those instruments, they would have described them as beakers, flasks, pinsets, etc.

In future generations, this building is said to be a monstrous black magic festival. The identity was a facility for chemical experiments.

Previously, when Solon mixed trona stone with calcified lime out of curiosity, sodium hydroxide had been synthesized by chance. This soap made from sodium hydroxide was now one of the valuable exports for the acquisition of foreign currency and was also indispensable for improving the living conditions of the Ethereal Horse.

Just like then, and with the hope that it would lead to the discovery of new beneficial substances, it was this chemical laboratory that Aoima built as a facility where Solon could conduct chemical experiments as he liked.

"Mr. Solon, are you there?

Then, from the shadow of the experimental bench, the old man, with his characteristic white, long eyebrows and a white beard like a immortal, glistens his face.

"Oh! Kid. That was just great!

"Stop calling me a kid, Mr. Solon"

The Ethereal Horse protests, but it does not appear to be in his ears, either, in a solon full of joy. Solon takes the pale horse's hand and pulls it to the experimental bench.

"Okay. Look closely."

To put it that way, Solon started experimenting and showed it to me.

Start by heating the liquid inside the flask with a lamp, while adding a piece of metal there. Then, immediately, countless bubbles appeared around the metal pieces. Store that in a small cylinder with a water substitution. Where the gas has accumulated enough, Solon seals the mouth of the cylinder with his thumb before removing it from the water, bringing the liquid closer to the fire of the lamp it was heating. And at the same time Solon excepted his thumb, it sounded like a cork stopper of pompous champagne would fall out.

What do you say, the Ethereal Horse puts his neck on the solon who makes his face?

"Isn't it just a reaction between sulphuric acid and metal?

What I just did is the very experiment that I did and showed Solon before to react sulfuric acid and metal to produce hydrogen. The Ethereal Horse was perplexed not knowing the intention to show herself doing the same thing when she taught it.

To such a pale horse, Solon shows his chest up well.

"Pfft. This guy is just like sulfuric acid, not sulfuric acid. It's still in the validation stage, but it's not the same acid as sulfuric acid."

The Ethereal Horse was surprised. When it comes to acids present in this world, where chemical technology has not yet developed, it is about vinegar, except for the sulphuric acid found by the Ethereal Horse in Maha Genovandela. From the current reaction, however, it looks like an acid that is not comparable to vinegar.

Ask him where he got such a thing, Solon tells him what he got.

"Ask and be surprised. This is a melt of gases created by putting salt in sulphuric acid in water."

I knew Solon was experimenting with various metals, wondering if the reactions might vary depending on the metal to be dissolved. But I can't believe I even used metal to experiment with salt. I'm just stunned by its ideas and behavior.

"I named it hydrochloric acid because I made it more acid than salt."

To Solon's words, the Ethereal Horse doubted his ears. When it comes to hydrochloric acid, it's something I've used many times in school chemistry experiments. But the Ethereal Horse just didn't know if this acid was really the same as the hydrochloric acid we call it in modern Japan, or if the name Solon just coincided.

But that was definitely hydrochloric acid.

When salt - sodium chloride - is reacted to concentrated sulfuric acid, a gas called hydrogen chloride occurs. This hydrogen chloride is very soluble in water and its solution exhibits strong acidity. i.e., hydrochloric acid.

Not knowing that, the Ethereal Horse looked at a bottle containing softened hydrochloric acid.

Until the application of hydrochloric acid, it is just not even in the knowledge of pale horses. But I know enough to be an integral part of a variety of chemical experiments. Then, if we continue with the research, we will find some useful use.

That's come to think of it, now I had more to worry about than that.

"By the way, did you do anything to the garden around here?

The fact that weeds are growing abnormally only around this laboratory was also of concern to the Ethereal Horse. When you asked about it, Solon, who had been in a good mood and laughing until then, began to turn hard. That's all, my eyes are swimming hard.

Ambiguous.

The Ethereal Horse and Shemr stare at Solon half-eyed. Then the perceived solon confessed.

"I don't know if you threw away the bone powder melted with hot sulphuric acid... I guess"

"Probably... In the first place, why did you melt the bones?

The Ethereal Horse asks looking back. I am letting them experiment freely here because of the expectation that they will not produce anything beneficial. Yet what do we do by dissolving the bones with sulphuric acid?

"Look, when I asked you about the use of sulphuric acid, I told you I'd melt the bones."

The Ethereal Horse remembered. When Solon asked me about sulphuric acid before. There's no way the Ethereal Horse, who was just a high school student, would know about the use of sulphuric acid, etc. Still, the answer I managed to give with a twist on my head was to use sulphuric acid to melt bones in the murder of a mystery novel. So Solon put into practice whether he could really do it.

"What else did you throw away?

Still staring at himself with suspicious eyes, Solon surrendered with his palms raised to shoulder height.

"Swear to God in heaven and earth, that's all. It's not true, it's true."

Apparently there are no lies.

A pale horse who so decided, but then another question arises. I just sprinkled bones melted with sulphuric acid and wondered why the weeds grew.

After thinking about it that much, Hufu and Aoi recall. My grandfather, who was plowing a small field, said he was going to buy out fertilizer, so that's when he attached himself to it. Among the fertilizers lining up, such as chicken manure and compost, was one with the name Calcium Sulfate, which seems very unlikely. When I asked my grandfather about it, he once told me that sulfur and calcium are fertilizers.

"With that said, Shemr. Were you having trouble disposing of the cow's bones?

To the question of the Ethereal Horse, Shemr shows outrage.

"Totally. The people of the city don't know how to thank the cows they ate. It's lamentable."

Thanks to the good spread of cattle breeding, there was an increase in carnivores in all the pioneering villages or in the city of Bornis. At the same time, however, a large number of bones emerged after dismantling and taking meat, and they were having difficulty disposing of it.

Pioneering villages are still good, but in the city of Bornis, illegally dumped cow bones piled up along the streets, making them environmental problems such as landscapes and bad smells.

The Ethereal Horse did not just dispose of it, but used it for ingredients in Zoan's crafts or as bone powder to be sprinkled as fertilizer in the field, which had already become oversaturated as well. Especially bone powder, which is supplied more overwhelmingly than the consumption spread over the fields, seems to compress the warehouse as surplus stock.

Then the Ethereal Horse thought about melting it all down and sprinkling it. It would also be more efficient to dissolve and sprinkle once than bone powder, which takes time to decompose.

The mountains surrounding the Sorbiant plains will also have volcanoes, so the sulphur content will also be sufficient for the soil. And there should be enough lime to pioneer it. Adding calcium sulfate to it might not make much sense.

I wonder if the bone powder, which is still compressing the warehouse, should be cleaned up at all.

The Ethereal Horse, who thought so, remembered in a corner of his brain that he would also make it in a facility where he would consult with Michena later to dispose of his bones.

But at this time, the Ethereal Horse had one big mistake.

Indeed, the main ingredient of the bone is calcium and there is no mistake. But more precisely, it's not just calcium, it's calcium phosphate.

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

In recent years, during excavation surveys in the Sorbiant Plains, a site was finally discovered that appeared to be the legendary "Soma's Sacrifice Ground".

This sacrificial site of Soma is the place where Soma Xaki, son of destruction, once supposedly prayed for abundance by evil black magic. There, as every day, human and animal remains were brought in, and suspicious rituals at night, he said.

As its legend suggests, a large number of bones were discovered from the site of the excavated Soma sacrifice. Unlike the legend, however, there was nothing human in the bones found there, the majority of which belonged to cattle kept as livestock at the time.

Also discovered at the same time was a large quantity of pots that seemed to have accumulated liquid. The analysis revealed that the pot was for storing sulphuric acid manufactured from sulphur compounds that had been carried locally in ancient times from a mountain called Maha Genovandela.

Lapin, a renowned agronomist who took part in excavation surveys on these, said:

"This can be described as an astonishing finding. Everything excavated indicates, as legend has it, that Soma Xaki, son of destruction, was not performing a ritual by black magic, but was manufacturing perphosphate lime made by treating bone powder with sulphuric acid.

The recent excavation also found the perphosphate lime itself among the kettles excavated, which miraculously remained sealed without crushing.

As you know, it is nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium when it comes to the three main nutrients that cannot be indispensable for plant growth.

Plant growth is suppressed by nutrients that are scarce. In other words, plants cannot grow without just one nutrient, even if it is rich in other nutrients. And it was this phosphorus that was the most lacking nutrient in ancient farming methods.

In ancient times bone powder was used as fertilizer to give this phosphorus to crops. However, the main ingredient of the bone, calcium phosphate, is difficult to dissolve in water and it takes time for the plant to absorb it as nutrient, even if it remains in the field as a bone powder.

However, when treated with sulphuric acid, this calcium phosphate becomes the first calcium phosphate that is easily soluble in water. This allows plants to quickly absorb phosphorus as a nutrient.

You will no longer call this chemical fertilizer for sure!

Surprisingly, hundreds of years ago, when compost had just begun to be utilized, chemical fertilizers existed, and yet they produced it in large quantities in such a facility.

Until now, the area governed by the Son of Destruction has been one of the mysteries of history, where crop yields have protruded more than elsewhere. Many historians considered this to be a record of false figures for the Son of Destruction to demonstrate excellence in his own area of domination.

But this discovery of perphosphate lime supports the possibility that the figures were true.

Exactly, this excavation survey overturns previous theories of ancient agricultural history - no, let's say a great discovery to destroy!

Excerpt from UNS News Commissioner's coverage article

◆ ◇ ◆ ◇ ◆

"So, what do you want from me?

Solon, who didn't want his evil to be dug up any more, has changed the subject somewhat forcefully. The Ethereal Horse, who had noticed the intention but had originally come with an important consultation, rides it.

"Actually, it seems Holmeer is trying to crusade us..."

The Ethereal Horse explained the status quo by exchanging the reward brought by Joash with his own speculation, etc. From time to time, Solon finished listening to the Ethereal Horse while hammering, one big nod.

"Hmm. Approximately. Okay. - So, what do you want to talk to me about?

"I want to do something about the fire that's tickling my butt right now."

That alone made Solon understand the concerns of the Ethereal Horse and convinced him that it would be. But Shemr, placed outside a single mosquito net, leaks dissatisfaction.

"Hey, Soma. What the hell is that fire that's tickling with that ass?

And sooner than the Ethereal Horse answered, Solon smiled disgustingly.

"Ho ho ho. Doesn't the daughter of the beast know?

It is just a tone to say that you don't even know that much about recognizing the first minister of the Ethereal Horse.

Thus Solon had a bad habit of teasing Shemr after he realized he hated him. Solon says with a mean grin to Shemru, who makes his teeth crunch with his advice and remorse.

"Forces behind us when confronted positively with the Holmeer State. - I mean Jeboa."

The Ethereal Horse also nods to prove that Solon's reasoning was correct.

If you're talking about Jeboa, which is southwest of the city of Bornis, Shemr knows it too. Benes, a country that thrives through maritime trade using the Inland Sea.

"The buying beating of wheat by Jeboa, which began five years before the kid took control of this city, is still going on. Exactly the kind of fire that keeps tickling, even if it doesn't burn."

To Solon's explanation, Shemr questions.

"But I hear there's nothing like an attack on another country by a bunch of people named Jebor?

In the last five years, Shemr was also learning about the neighbouring countries. According to that, the Merchant Guild, which holds real power over Jeboa, has as its primary purpose the protection of freedom of commerce and has no ambition to invade other countries.

"Me too, I think. - But I can't say enough that you're not intervening in any way."

What Ethereal Horse fears is indirect intervention by the immense wealth of the Merchant Guild over direct military intervention. For example, sending mercenaries hired in the name of prostitutes, providing assistance with military funds to Holmea, or interfering with the importation of these munitions could be more troublesome than direct intervention.

Against Jeboa, neither did the Ethereal Horse have done anything in the last five years. Through Joash, he was looking to improve his relationship with Jeboah. However, it is the truth that not much absurd results have been achieved.

The Ethereal Horse added at the end that Mr. Joash is doing his best.

"Don't trust him too much."

Solon stabbed a nail at a pale horse defending Joash.

"He's the merchant of the roots of Jeboa. Personally, even if I put my shoulder in a kid, I'd take Jebor more than a kid if I had to."

From what Solon sees, Joash takes light-hearted words and deeds, but his roots are Jeboa merchants who love freedom and business. For Joash, the Ethereal Horse is nothing more than an important business partner.

"Nevertheless, it's not like the Joash guy is deliberately stalling his relationship with Jeboah. Problem is, it's in Jeboa's system."

Though Jeboa receives the king, the king himself has no substantive authority. What holds the real power of the country is the Merchant Guild, the luxury merchants called the Ten-Member Commissioners who move it. The Merchant Guild is run by a deliberation by these ten members, but Solon pointed out that there is a problem there.

"The ten-member committee has no final decision-makers and has a system of deliberation by ten like-minded luxuries. It sounds good to set the guild's policy by discussing it without just concentrating on one person, but at the same time it lacks instant power and has the disadvantage of wasting time on wasted consultation"

The Ten Merchants are never a single rock. They say it's normal to tie together against threats from outside, but usually even among the ten commissioners to pull each other's legs.

This was also the case when we resolved to buy and beat the wheat against the Ethereal Horses, which is still ongoing. At the time, even retaliatory measures against the Ethereal Horses, which were only seen as a group of Zoan and slaves who had once rebelled, said that two of the ten Commissioners voted against them.

Much different from five years ago, when we just dropped the city of Bornis, the Ethereal Horse is now one force that cannot be pushed or pushed. Furthermore, it would definitely be beneficial for Jebor, a thriving commercial player, to become more intimate with Aoima, who produces numerous things using modern Japanese knowledge and the like.

But even if some merchants thought so, Solon guessed that each of the ten commissioners had another thought, which would hardly lead them to make a decision as a guild.

"But the ten-member committee is a surprisingly good organization. If someone tries to protrude, the others work together to pull their legs. That's why Jebor didn't have a major coup d 'état or any other confusion, and let's just say he's stable."

It may be good for a country called Jeboa, but it is a big problem for pale horses today.

"But in order to actually cross blades with Holmea from now on, I'd like to get rid of the back worry as soon as possible."

The city of Bornis has grown rapidly in the last five years, but it is undeniably disadvantaged to fight against a Holmeer country nonetheless. Not to mention out of the question, such as fighting while worrying about Jeboa in the rear. In order to fight Holmea with all our might, I would ask you, if possible, to confirm the promise of inviolability or, if that is not possible, non-intervention in the fight as a merchant guild.

Solon strokes his long, white beard and wonders what's going on.

"Gebor, who is stable for better or worse, is like a big rock. If you want to move this, you only have to add a strong blow and crush it. Besides, if it works, you might get water to quench the dull fire..."

After leaking a bump and solitude for a while, Solon pounded his hand.

"All right! It's Soma. Go ahead and punch Jebor in the face."