With all the setbacks happening one after the other the deadline was approaching fast and we had no product to show whatsoever. Up to this point we were running around like headless chickens and as if ex machina Estelle's magic shined through. If there was one word to describe the nature of her magic that would be 'alchemy', so far resembling the oriental counterpart. Now to which extent she could perform alchemy was subject to further testing but for now using her inner energy she was able to manipulate the physical state of objects. Without expanding on it she used this to turn our raw materials into the necessary oils and extracts and then combine them into the proper cosmetics we needed. At first it took her a couple of tries to get it right, some failures still here and there but with time it ended up being second nature to the point that she started expanding by attempting multiple 'transfigurations' at the same time and eventually combine them using her inner energy to move them againt gravity.

I was completely useless, outside of offering chemistry related advice and lessons my role had become absolute obsolete, still watching Estelle was enough for me to stick around and not entirely due to scientific curiosity. Witnessing her growth and the way her inner energy acted in more complex and efficient ways after each attempt, I wonder if she could see what I was seeing what would her reaction be? Would she be happy, excited, filled with curiosity and expectetions, greedy for more? I, for one, sure was all of the above for her.

So with everything within schedule myself and Eliza pressented the finished cosmetics to the princess. A vase of primer, foundation and concealer each. I also wanted to have some moisturizer on the ready as an added bonus for the princess and the girls but time did not allow. With pixie mist in full power I guided Eliza in how to best apply the makeup, sure she knew her way around other such products but what we needed was subtlety, meaning the opposite of the current culture. Sure enough when we were done the princess gasped at the sight of her face. Without missing a beat she ushered us outside of her room slamning the door behind us, I reckon she had a lot to sort through. As the two of us gained sufficient distance from her room it was time for the questions.

"So how did she looked?"

Eliza: You know that I will not tell you that.

"No, not like that, I mean her expression. Did she looked happy, satisfied, was the end result natural-looking?

Eliza: If I had to say then yes she was happy with your work. In fact I do believe it was the first time I witnessed Her highness smiling.

"OUR work. And if anything she did kicked us out before teaching her how to remove it so..."

Eliza: I doudt that will prove a problem.

"If she doens't take proper care of her skin and has it constantly under layers of makeup then it sure as fuck it will be a problem."

Eliza: Sure as... I have yet to get accustomed to your manner of speech.

"And if she does end up with a serious skin issue at best it will increase the workload of Estelle."

Eliza: And at worst?

"But death of course. A drawn-out and painful one."

Eliza: What have you made me put on Her Highness' face.

"Safer and better than market cosmetics. It's just that, like food, if you stuff your face all day long, you'll eventually die."

Eliza: I suppose so... About Her Highness, when should we inform her?

"For now let her ride the high, when she calms down we, and by that I mean you, will educate her.

Eliza: I see.

Parting ways with Eliza my next stop was Estelle. Despite the fact that we reached our goal she was still lurking in the lab working on her own projects. On top of her usual work I took the time to teach her basic chemistry, and by that I mean how to document her findings, take proper measurments and the scientific method, all things that she was already doing for the purpose of putting the concepts into perspective. From now on, if schedule allows, we shall cover the rest in due time.

Estelle: So how did it go?

"Absolute victory. I doubt we will have any problem with the princess in the future."

Estelle: And what does the future entail?

"A break. Maybe some shopping in the capital?"

Estelle: I...did not expect that.

"Hahaha. Am I Alex or not?"

Estelle: When do you plan on departing and will it be the three of us?

"I want to get princess' 'blessing' while she's still high, so as soon as possible, wrap whatever experiment you're running and get ready."

I turned around, moving to exit the room.

"Also it will only be the two of us. It's better if we keep Eliza out of this for as long as possible."

Estelle: Oh...

Later that same day I informed Eliza of my plans and as expected she wasn't particurarly thrilled about them. Nevertheless she did went to Asteria and prepared me for the next day's outing. The princess was quick to agree, only misshap was that she wanted in. An oversight in my part, I did not expected the neet princess to want to intergrate into society so soon. This did threw a wrench in my plans but oh well what have you, nothing that I couldn't work with, instead this meant that Eliza didn't had to stay behind. So the three of us were running around like someone set our hair on fire adjusting our plans to accommodate for the princess. And it sure turned into an absolute pain in the ass, originally myself and Estelle would walk the distance to the center of the capital but now 'the lady' needed proper transportation befitting her title and of course needed her hair and dress to be spotless, on top of it Eliza wasn't 'good enough' or whatever for her anymore.

All in all we wasted an extra day before 'her highness' was ready for shipment. I mean yeah okay, she must be pretty excited to re-enter society but in the process she managed to hold back three people and saw nothing wrong in doing so. No sense complaining anymore I guess, given that we were already settling on the inn we were staying for the few days this trip was going to last. After that was when I could say that the trip officially started as the four of us split up, myself and Estelle went one direction while Eliza went to babysit the princess.

I miscalculated. I did not expected this to happen. My pain was insufferable. Unlike the backwash that is Myira there are far too many people here in the capital. So many people, so many presences constantly entering and exiting realm, I thought my brain was going to boil inside its fluids. The overload of information, of colors, of movement. All of it was too much for my mind to handle, if I didn't had pixie mist I was heading towards a stroke. I, now, had to rely on a very worried Estelle to navigate as we moved through the crowned streets of the capital.

Our first stop in this shopping spree of ours was nowhere else than a smithy. As much as I wanted to stroll around town with a sword on my hip, even if I couldn't hold it, both iron mining and forging was heavily regulated by the crown, which meant that 'actual' weapons were only acquirable by nobles and the military. While we could use the princess' name at the right shop to get our hands on some goodies that would draw unnecessary atention to her and by proxy to us. Instead today we stopped by here to 'order a custom set of kitchen knifes'. Albeit true that we needed them and we were in fact in the market for some, it could be done by messenger, the reason we needed to visit in person was different. I asked to examine some of their work before placing an order, a request not uncomming at this establishment given at how quickly the apprentice smith brough out works specifically made for display.

Naturally Estelle was the one to inspect them, as I leaned close enough so the man didn't heard us whispering.

"So how does it feel?"

Estelle: I'll have to disappoint today. I do not know about metalworking.

"Not that, the material itself. Try running your energy in it without changing it."

Estelle: Understood. I will give it my best.

Carefully she inspected each and every item. Definitely the iron work was the best this shop could produce but I wanted to see if this magic of hers could be used for inspections. Of course there were no rules or standards to go by but still if she could do it in the first place it wouldn't be difficult to 'numeralize' her results. She finally rested the last knife back on its place.

"So?"

Estelle: It was difficult to find any differencies.

"Does that mean that you found some?

Estelle: I can't quite place it. All I can say is that they are different but at the same time aren't.

"Well that great, excellent, awesome. Let's go run some more tests."

Estelle: Lets!

With the excuse of testing the market we hightailed it from the smithy, I couldn't estimate just how happy he was about us wasting his time. Afterwards we asked direction on smithy's with bad reputation from passerby servants and they were way too quick and willing to share more information than we seeked. We repeated this process a total of fourteen times, entering a smithy, touching their products and then hightailing it out of there. I was going to suggest we keep it up and act before word of our actions spread around when she beat me to it.

Estelle: Should we take a break. All this running around opens one's appetite.

"Then should we grab a bite or something?"

Estelle: Where should we go?

"Definately not in a random street vendor."

I laughted at my comedic genius. Estelle did not.

"But I would like to do just that with you one day. To start at one end of the street and not stop until we either clear it or drop from stuffing our faces to the point of no return."

She chuckled. Sounding so innocent.

"I can't wait for that day to arrive."

After catching a quick bite we dropped by a couple more smithies before Estelle chose what she believed to be the 'best' one to place our order. Given that 'best' could not exactly be put into words I left it all up to her and her feeling, if it was anything like mine when it comes to magic then it was a no brainer to trust her. Picking whatever clothes we saw first to fool the princess we made our way back to the inn. Tomorrow was going to be a new day and with it came a new schedule, one more intense than and for that we needed a good early sleep.

"From now on try what we did today on every object your hands touch. Do it so much that you don't even think about it when it happens."

Estelle: I had the same thought. Only why did you waited for this to offer this idea, why couldn't we try it back at the lab.

"Well I did get that idea back then but I wanted your first experience to be with steel."

Estelle: Why steel of all things, what makes it so special.

"In my mind I hypothesized it would be the easier to spot differencies or anomalies. As you know badly forged steel has 'flaws' that make it worse than a wooden stick but skillfully forged steel doesn't mean that it lack those 'flaws', in fact those same 'flaws' is what makes steel different than iron in the first place. You see..."

Voices cut my speech short, in front of the inn there was a loud argument. Nothing 'too' crazy but audible enough to make me want to turn back. One of the voices was none other that our very own princess and as for the other, given how openly she was antagonizing Asteria I really didn't wanted to interact with that person. Before I could come up with a good way to avoid this situation the princess called out to me.

I have a bad feeling about this.