The ride into town was a bit tense, but Amelia soon calmed down after seeing that I wasn't going to bring up the topic of going to the capital again.

"So, is it alright if we stop at the Baron's first?" I look over my shoulder from the driver's seat to ask the three women in the carriage. "I'm sure Erick is going to want to hear about the treatment, and I need to ask Elise to round up some test subjects so I can be sure it's safe for people."

"Is it not safe?" Amelia asks, worried.

"It should be perfectly harmless, but I'm using bacteria to counter the fungus. So, I want to make sure I'm not going to trade a blight for a plague."

"Mhm, I don't know much about germs and stuff." She grumbles. "So, I'll just have to trust you and hope you're right."

"Just think of them like animals, most are harmless, beneficial even." I explain. "They can't even survive outside of the right environment. I'm only taking this precaution because so many people are going to be exposed to it, I just don't want anyone to get sick because I was lazy."

"Mhm, you can test it on me if you need to." She offers.

"Thanks, but I don't know if all the farmers are human." I send her a smile of gratitude. "I'm sure Erick has a census list somewhere, and the wider the sample size the better. Not everybody reacts the same way to the same things."

We drive up to the manor house a moment later; the same stable hand that I caught playing with Blackthorne rushes out to take care of the wagon. "Thank you." I toss him a copper wreath, mostly to show that there were no hard feelings from last time.

"Good day, Sir, Ladies." A servant whose name I don't know greets us at the door. "How can I help you."

"Hello... I'm sorry I never learned your name."

"Jared, Sir."

"Hello, Jared." I smile at the man. "I was hoping that the Baron and Elise were free, I've made some progress in counteracting the grain blight."

"Baron Pepi is free, and I'm sure he'll be interested in hearing about that." He starts guiding us to Erick’s study. "I'm afraid that Healer Elise is at her clinic though. Apparently, a summer cold is starting to make the rounds; I do believe she is planning to come back for lunch."

"Well, that should give us enough time to slip over to the alchemist guild real quick after I update the Baron." I just want to call him Erick, but I get the feeling it would be rude to use his name with one of his servants.

"I'll inform the chef to prepare four more settings." Jared says and knocks on the study door.

"Sorrel." Pepi hops up to greet with a smile. "Finally decide to work on our wardrobes? The girls have been driving me mad to ask you about it."

"Oh, uh." I pause. "Maybe I could stop by this evening. I'm actually here about the grain blight, I just spent the morning working on it and I think I've got an effective treatment."

"Now that is good news." His smile morphs into a wide grin. "I've been getting reports that it's starting to spread further from the river."

"Well, it looks like I'm just in time then." I return his grin. "I just need to do a bit of testing to make sure it's safe. It should be, but since so many people are going to be affected by it, I just want to make doubly sure."

"Tell me what you need and I'll make it happen." Erick says earnestly.

"I was hoping you or Elise could help me round up some volunteers to get sprayed with the solution." I take out one of my pump sprayers. "And, drink it, I suppose. You just know that someone is going to try drinking it, so I'd better test that as well."

"Easy enough." He nods while examining the sprayer. "And, Elise should be back for lunch. But, what is this?"

"That's how we're going to treat the blight." I grab the small mister that I've been using all morning from storage. "This is just filled with water right now." I spray a mist into the air. "But, these will let the farmers coat their fields and attack the fungus directly."

"Oh, Seymour is going to want one of these." He chuckles.

"He can have that one, and I'd be happy to make a smaller one for him." I offer. "But, I was hoping to slip over to the alchemists’ guild real quick and track down a lead that might make the treatment even more effective."

"That's fine." He nods while waving the nozzle around. "Lunch won't be ready for over an hour anyways. I'll see you when you get back; right now I want to see Seymour's reaction to this." He picks up the sprayer and leads the way back downstairs.

"We'll see you later then." I say when we split apart.

***

"I hope that head cold doesn't spread too far." I comment after turning onto the guild's street which still hasn't been swept.

"Mhm." Melanie agrees. "I saw you had me distill a lot more peppermint than anything else. Were you planning to make some of those cough drops you were talking about yesterday?"

"Amongst other things, yeah." I nod distractedly while using magic to wash the street clean, not wanting to get my new tires all dirty. "Mostly, I just wanted some mint chocolate chip ice-cream."

"Hey, when did you steal my water spell?" Amelia grumps lightheartedly. "Also, that's a big yes from me on the ice-cream."

"Just yesterday." I answer while pulling flicker to a stop in front of the guild house. "I needed to process the dandelions, and you were off counting boxes."

"There were some bags and barrels too." Apricot adds with a laugh while hopping down from the carriage. "And, that's another yes from me for the ice-cream."

"I'll make plenty for everybody." It's not like I wasn't going to anyway. "Alright Melanie, you know these people. Who do we need to talk to?"

"Eliot's always a good choice, but we should probably go straight to Delainey, the guild leader." She looks a bit nervous now. "But, you may need to demonstrate the spell."

I nod, and open the door. Fortunately, Eliot is manning the front desk. "Hello, Melanie, Sorrel." He greets us with a wide smile. "How can I help you today?"

"Hopefully you can get us in to see Delainey." Melanie says.

"Nnh, he's kinda busy today." He shrugs.

"Tell him that I'm working with the baron to stop the grain blight, and need his help to find one of the ingredients." I speak up. "And, that I've discovered a spell that can be used to separate any single component from a liquid."

"Well, I think that ought to be enough to get him to clear his schedule." He laughs nervously before ducking into the back.

"Is that true?" An older man approaches us, but several others are looking on from nearby. "Does that spell really work how you say?"

"Hi, Lemmy." Melanie is clearly familiar with him. "Yes, it's true. I've used it myself to separate vinegar and alcohol and I watched Sorrel collect a single component of pig fat."

"Show me... Please." He only adds that last bit after a moment.

"Alright." I fight back a sigh. "I was going to turn the rest into soap anyways, so I might as well break the last of it apart."

The reception area quickly fills with the smell of melted pig fat as I draw out the palmitic and oleic acids. I'm just starting in on the trace fatty acids and leftover glycerol when Eliot returns with a distinguished older man.

"I was going to ask why my guild smells like a kitchen." He starts. "But, I'd say that's a pretty damned effective demonstration. Eliot says you need to find an ingredient and, after seeing that, I'm more than willing to help you find it."

"Thank you." I give him a slight bow. "I'm looking for leaveners like baking soda, but made from ammonia or potash."

"Hartshorn salt." Delainey speaks up immediately. "Made from antlers and hair it smells strongly of ammonia, also known as baking ammonia but hasn't been used for baking in ages. As for the other one... it sounds familiar, but I'd have to look through the records."

"No need." Lemmy has a wide grin on his face. "That one's mine. I was boiling some pearl ash in water, and afterward noticed that some of the crystals had changed."

"Oh, yes." Delainey snaps his fingers. "I remember now. You were never able to increase the yield though, so it got dropped."

"Pearl ash is just kiln-fired potash, right?" They all nod. I close my eyes and start mumbling while trying to work it out. "Let's see. Firing the potash probably burns off everything but the potassium chloride, so it must be reacting to the trace amounts of co2 dissolved in the water. You just need to pump more carbon dioxide through the boiling pearl ash."

"Great." Melanie says with a laugh. "Now could you repeat that in Varecian?"

"Collect the gasses released by fermenting alcohol and bubble that through the solution." I say with a sigh. "I'm really getting sick of this language difference. Hmm? I wonder if I can pull it straight from the air with my new spell."

I start trying to do just that and quickly find my mana siphoning away. 'It must not be cold enough.' I think to myself. 'Maybe if I take this part from that spell Elise taught me to help patients breathe?'

I set about modifying my already modified spell. It takes me a couple minutes to mesh them, and I feel like I've almost got it when Apricot brings my attention to one part of the spell. Now that she's pointed it out, I can see that it's gotten tangled.

"Hah! Thank you Apricot." I give her a quick kiss after fixing that part to find that the spell works as intended. "Good news, I've got a spell that now works on gasses."

"Just like that?" Eliot practically shouts. "You close your eyes for a minute and mumble yourself into a new spell?"

"Welcome to my life." Melanie titters. "It took him all of twenty minutes to figure out the first one, and that's probably just because Apricot wasn't there to help."

"Alright." I grin. "I'm happy to teach the spells, but we're having lunch at the Baron's to discuss the blight treatment. So, if I could purchase a quantity of pearl ash; that would be helpful." I say hopefully.

"It's on the guild." Delainey says. "Eliot, go get him the largest jar we have in stock." The younger man runs off to do his bidding.

"Okay, now." I start walking everyone through the spells. "The spell itself isn't that difficult, but you need to have a very clear picture in your mind of just what it is you're trying to extract."

Delainey and Lemmy as the oldest, and most experienced, are able to pick up the spells fairly quickly. But, Apricot ends up stepping in to help the others out, telling them that they can repay her in sweets.

...

"Okay!" Amelia says after we leave.

"Huh?" I just look at her in confusion.

"I said okay." She reiterates. "We can go to the Capital. I want to be able to do what you just did in there. Mom is going to freak out with me leaving again so soon, but I really, really want that."

"Alright." I put my arm around her shoulder. "Like I said before, it'll take a couple weeks before we can leave. But, a Sorrel powered carriage should more than makeup for that in travel time."

"Yay, road trip!" Apricot dances over and joins the hug.

"Soon." I correct her. "We, or at least I, have a lot of work to do first. Even discounting the blight and the promises to the Rialtas about chocolate. I just started a business with Melanie here and I'm not going to leave her hanging."

"Thank you for that." She bows her head to me.

"Thank me by working hard and making it successful." I nod back before climbing into the driver's seat. "I'll make sure you have everything you need before we leave, but running the business is going to fall onto your shoulders. So, start making lists of anything you think you might need."

"Well, first off." She raises a finger. "I need to know more about how rubber is used. You've mentioned a few things, but I've only seen tires and those flexible pipes. I'm just not sure how big the market for those will be."

"Don't discount tires or hoses just yet." I say over my shoulder. "The whole city is going to learn about the sprayers, and bicycle tires are what made rubber truly popular. But, you're right, more products means a larger market. And, wipe that silly grin off your face Amelia, I may not be a merchant, but I'm not entirely clueless about economics."

"I didn't say anything." Her grin morphs into a smirk.

"Uh-huh." I just roll my eyes and continue. "I was planning to go over the basics when we got back to the shop, but off the top of my head. Pencil rubbers are the obvious first choice, that's where it got the name from after all. There's plenty of uses in clothing, both protective and regular. Though, we might need to partner with a seamstress or weaver to make some of those if I'm not around."

"Don't forget about that most important piece of protection." Apricot adds with an evil grin. "What did you call them, condys or something like that? The rubber sheepskins."

"Condoms." I correct her, refusing to be embarrassed. "And, yes contraceptives could be a huge market. But I was thinking more along the line of gloves aimed at cleaners, hip waders for fishers, and rubber boots for farmers. The stuff also makes for a good shoe sole; it's nice and soft and doesn't make a noise with every step."

"Uh..." Melanie and Amelia are both blushing right now. "Let's uh stick with the clothing for now."

"That's fine." I nod, ignoring the pouting pixie behind me. "And, since rubber is waterproof and moldable into almost any shape, it's perfect for seals and gaskets. Basically, anything oiled leather is used for now."

"Does that mean my sink won't drip anymore?" She asks hopefully.

"Amongst other things, yes." I nod as we pull up to the barons. "This is just scratching the surface really, there's a lot more that rubber can do. We just need to find out what people need, even if they don't know they need it yet. And, don't just think about rubber either, you're an alchemist and I can grow as much as you want of any plant I have a sample of."

The same stable hand comes to take the wagon again and we all troop inside while Melanie looks deep in thought. It looks like we're just in time for lunch as the dining room is starting to fill.

"Sorrel. How did it go at the guild?" Erick beckons us closer. "Seymour is very interested in your treatment, almost as interested as he is in that sprayer of yours."

"Good. Very good." I smile at the ebullient baron. "One is made from antlers, but the other, which is the one I was hoping to find, just needs pearl ash."

"And, a spell you invented on the spot." Melanie adds.

"It doesn't need the spell." I rebut. "Like I said in the guild, you can just collect the gas from the fermentation process. But, speaking of spells." I turn to Elise who is just joining us. "Please tell me you know a spell to let me see really small things. I've been working with bacteria and it's kinda driving me nuts having to just work by feel."

"What?" She blinks at me, clearly not expecting the question.

"Heheh" Erick chuckles. "Sorrel has found a way to fight the grain blight. And, speaking of tiny things causing big problems. What's the word on this cold that's been going around?"

"Good news there." She answers with a relieved sigh. "The workers who were affected are already feeling better, so it doesn't look to be anything like that one we had a few years ago. But, as for the spell, I'm sorry, but I don't know it, or even anyone who might."

"Nnh." I grumble for a second before a thought strikes me. "What about a far sight spell? I know the principals well enough that I might be able to modify that to do what I want."

"Hollen has several scouts that are proficient in far sight." Erick answers. "I can have him bring one of them over tonight. You are still coming over, yes?" He asks with a nervous look at his daughters.

"I've got a busy afternoon ahead of me, but as long as it's alright with Amelia and Apricot." The girls nod. "Then yes, I'd be happy to stop by again later."

"Excellent." He claps his hands. "Now, let's sit down and eat before Granville gets angry, and then you can tell us all how this treatment of your works."

***