Entering into a large showroom, the first thing that came to his mind was the word black! Every weapon being showcased here was black, some had a polished metallic gleam to them, others had a rough finish.

From throwing-knives to multi-barrelled cannons, there was a wide variety of weapons for sale.

After looking at the price tag attached to the cannon, which called for 500 gold, he decided not to bother the salesclerk of the store.

There was a catalog on a pedestal near the cannon which surprisingly contained the blueprint for the cannon.

“They published the blueprint for a weapon that expensive? Wouldn’t everyone who had the money rather produce them themselves instead of buying them?”, Robert asked himself.

The materials, needed to build one cannon, listed in the blueprint, answered his question. The insides of the cannon were lined with a material which could reflect the magic energy and the tip of the nail was a wyvern tooth. Robert couldn't imagine that the skills needed to work those materials were easy to come by. That required a lot of money to train people and to pay them afterward.

Rudo had shown him a spirit stone. It was hollow, but the shell was one of the most resilient materials known. As the tip of the nail had to be able to break a spirit stone with one strike in order to release the magic power inside explosively, it had been as hard as a diamond. And to sharpen it had to be even harder.

Although he hadn't much practical experience with weapons on earth, his memory was pretty good and he had the general idea about how different weapons works from all the TV shows he had seen and the books he had read.

The basic principle this cannon worked on was the same a cannon from earth would. A sudden explosive release of energy. But instead of hot gases from exploding gunpowder, these cannonballs were propelled by energy exploding out of spirit stones.

After looking around the shop and taking a closer look at the firearms, Robert concluded that all weapons used the power spirit stones could set free. None used any kind of chemical reactions.

“Looking to buy a cannon?”, a girl’s voice asked Robert, jokingly.

Robert turned around to find a beautiful woman in her early twenties, dressed in a black gown with frills. She had an elegant appearance, the contrast of her white skin to the soft black fabric made her beauty stand out even more. The fragrance of some luxury perfume was surrounding her. If she hadn’t been wearing a black dress like all other store employees, he would have mistaken her for princess out for a stroll. “She must be the daughter of the owner or something like that“, Robert thought.

“I can’t even afford one of its wheels !”, Robert replied grinning sheepishly.

“I thought so. But those who are interested in weapons usually only have eyes for the swords and spears, why are you looking at the cannons?”, the woman replied while pointedly looking at his clothes.

She had, correctly, deduced that Robert was not here to buy based on his clothes. How could somebody dressed like a country bumpkin possibly afford 500 gold? And even if he could afford it, why would he want it? It was something used for the defense of castle and city walls or attacking and destroying them. The only ones who bought them were large families, who had private armies, or city officials who ordered them in bulk.

It was not that she looked down on him, she, having lived most of her life in the capital city, had seen all kinds of people. Some of the most powerful men she knew, were often dressed like your run of the mill commoner.

“I am just intrigued by them, do you have chemical cannons?”, Robert asked.

The women guessed that he meant alchemy by chemical and was surprised. There was a reason for that reaction. The only alchemical weapons available she knew of were potions. Potions that made people itch, potions that made people cry, potions which exploded on impact. But the theory to use exploding potions to power cannons was still in its experimental stage. How did a country bumpkin hear about it?

“How do you know about alchemy cannons?” the women asked with a frown.

“I guessed”, Robert gave a short reply.

Guessed? How could one possibly wager a guess like that? The theory of using exploding potions for cannons was not top secret, nor were special measures taken to hide the idea, but it was still far from general information.

“We weren't able to build a functioning one as of now. The power generated by exploding potions is too low to propel the cannonballs”, the women assumed that the young man in front of her already had knowledge about exploding potions. “His background can't be as simple as it seems“, she thought.

“Can I see it?”, Robert asked curiously. He wanted to see if this exploding potion was similar to a chemical substance he knew on earth. He also wanted to confirm the nonexistence of gunpowder. “Well, there is no harm in asking. If she says no, then so be it.“ Robert thought.

But instead of a “No!“, like Robert expected, she calmly said “Follow me,” and walked to the back of the store.

Robert was momentarily stunned by the unexpected answer, but his brain caught up and he hurriedly followed her.

Passing through a door, which had a sign saying “Authorised personnel only”, they reached a hall. There were a few weapons in the hall. If not for a 4 barrelled cannon he would have guessed those weapons were damaged goods or something like that.

Passing another door they got into a room filled with many crystal apparatuses and crystal jars filled with different substances. It was not really different from a chemistry laboratory. There was an old man with a very long beard, wearing a white cloak stirring and heating something in a metal pot.

“Old man Isau, it’s been a week, any progress?”, the women asked the old man forcefully.

“Ah, Madam, I am still trying to increase the explosive power of the potion and I am getting better and better results each time I just produced a new batch”, he walked to a shelf and took out a crystal beaker. It was filled with a transparent liquid and in the center was a tube filled with a white powder, at the top sat a mechanism to break the inner tube.

“You have been saying that for months, show me.”, her voice betraying anger.

Isau took a large tube out of the shelf which was constructed similarly to the crystal beaker. The outer tube was filled with a transparent liquid and the inside tube was filled with white powder. He put it into a cannon which stood in a corner of the room. He loaded a cannonball, with difficulty as it was too heavy for him, and hit the nail which was on top with his hand.

After some time a sound like water boiling could be heard. Then, with a *Pop*, the cannonball was pushed up the tube to the edge of the exit but it didn’t even fall out. The cannonball rolled back down the tube and a milky solution oozed throughout of the cannon.

“See? The cannonball moved a feet more than last week !”, this Isau sure was an optimist Robert thought.

The loud yelling of the women in answer to Isau's optimism rang through the hall, but Robert was too distracted to catch the meaning of her words. An earthly smell started to waft through the hall. Although he was not a chemistry expert, he had solid foundations. Something white reacts with a water-like liquid explosively and resulting in a milky solution at the end with an earthy smell. He had already deduced what it was, but he had to ascertain his assumptions. He took a drop of it on his index finger and rubbed it with his thumb before tasting it with the tip of his tongue. It tasted bitter, like an alkali. It was slaked lime! The white powder had to be Quicklime!

He heard the shouts still ringing in the background.

“I’ve given you this lab and a hefty salary every month! You even keep the ingredients of the potion secret !” , the girl continued to shout.

“Secret? What secret? When Quicklime reacts with water it creates heat and slaked lime. The heat boils the water and builds up pressure causing the outer tube to explode.“ Robert thought, whipping himself in an angry mental frenzy. “Is he trying to launch cannonballs with that reaction? What a joke! Even normal people would be able to understand that that reaction did not possess enough explosive power after experimenting with it for a while. And this man! Calling himself an alchemist without even being able to observe this!“ A sudden thought struck him. “Wait a minute. He is scamming her! That must be it. The salary of alchemists has to be quite high. He found a reaction which builds pressure and he is scamming out as much money for her as possible.“

„Hey, how much is his salary?”, Robert asked her and interrupted the scolding.

“100 Gold a month, a house, and his meals”, she took the opportunity to scold him even more.

“If I give you the “secret recipe” of this potion, how much money will you give me?”,Robert asked

She was stunned for a moment, then said,

“Well… 500 Gold! And I’ll give you this idiots job.”, She pointed at Isau when she said “this idiot”.

She was sure that the young man couldn’t possibly give her the secret recipe and just wanted to use the question to scold Isau once more.

“Its quicklime”, Robert said.

Hearing the young man in front of her talk, she paused her scolding.

“Continue,” The women said to Robert. She was still unsure if he really knew what he was talking about.

“You know about limestone?”, Robert wanted to make sure that this world had limestone in it.

“You think you can fool madam with your gibberish? What a joke!”, burst out of Isau after hearing the word limestone.

“Yes I know, ignore this idiot, go on”, The girl replied.

“When you heat limestone in a kiln you will get quicklime. That is the white powder inside the tube and when you mix it with water you will get a reaction. Water will boil, increasing the pressure and pushing the cannonball!”,Robert explained

“How.....how do you know about this? It took me 2 years to find this reaction!”, Isau was fuming with anger.

“That, I’m afraid, I can't tell,” Robert said. “This is basic chemistry you fool!“ Robert wanted to shout but somehow managed to refrain.

“What’s your name?”, the girl asked Robert.

“Robert. My name is Robert Riley”, as he was still uncertain about his name, he decided to add Riley as the last name to Robert.

The girl took a moment to think. Her “alchemist” had already spilled the beans and appraised that what the young man said was true. If he can deduce an alchemical reaction from just the outward appearance of it, his background was certainly not something to look down upon.

“I am a woman of my word. Robert, if I give you this job, can you make the quicklime cannon work?”, The women asked.

“No, it is impossible to make a cannon work with this formula. But I do have a recipe which would work !”, Robert explained.

“Really?”

“Yes”

“Then you can come work for me tomorrow and live where this guy was living until now. Isau you are fired!”

She thought that Robert must have a deep understanding of this art and wanted to give him a chance.

Robert was amazed by the speed of things happening to him just now. Did he just get a job, netting him 100 gold per month? Free lodging? Free food? Robert was still mentally reeling and failed to notice the angry eyes of Isau glaring at him.