Our Crystal

Author: Iwashi-zukushi
Raw: https://ncode.syosetu.com/n3388fm/30/
Translator: Lilia v4
Editor: Yuriko AYA

The tool I had brought out was almost the same shape as the tub just now.
I set it up the same way, taking a ground and so on.
But there was one difference… it could be partitioned down the middle.
And first, with the partition plate down, on one side tap water and a very little sodium chloride.
On the other, tap water and the remaining sodium chloride, to make a saturated solution.

“Come to think of it, I was wondering… why does only this one have a partition?”
“As expected of you, Nora, to notice that!
The truth is, what I want to make is different, and this one needs this.”

Ah, no good, I was getting worked up too. My voice was getting loud on its own.
But but, to think we could make this—of course I’d get worked up.

“And, Gerda. Please imbue this with lightning magic!”
“A-ah, understood.”

On the panel with fine cloth fitted that I held out, Gerda imbued magic.
Extremely weak, specialized only in duration of maintenance.
I fitted it into the center of the tub. …Yes, a little electricity was leaking, but the enchantment was holding.
After confirming, I raised the partition plate and called to Gerda.

“Gerda, lightning in the same way as just now, please!”
“Understood!”

Ah, rare. Gerda is a little excited.
I could understand, a little.
And lightning was sent through as before, and bubbles began as before.

“…I don’t see the difference.”

Nora’s question was fair.
By look alone, it did not differ from the experiment just now.

But if the cloth Gerda had imbued worked as hoped, the result ought to change.

“Fufufu~. Well, just watch.”

I said it looking proud. No, I had not even confirmed it was working yet; it was not the stage to look proud.
But I could not hold down the excitement.

While we were at that, the bubbling stopped.
With this, the reaction ought to be complete.

“Gerda, that’s enough lightning, thank you.”
“Ah. That is the end? The result—how is it?”

Ah, she’s really concerned. Yes, yes, I understand, I understand.
At any rate, the moment the lightning ended I dropped the partition again.
I nodded, small, at Gerda’s gaze, scooped a little of the liquid on the partitioned side—the copper rod Gerda had been gripping—and diluted it with water.
Then I put a finger in… yes, this slimy feel, no mistake.
Once I had confirmed, I immediately washed my finger in a great deal of water.
Gerda and the others stared, eyes round, at me washing at a tremendous rate, daba daba.

“A-Asha, are you all right?”
“I’m fine, I’m sorry, it’s a liquid that’s dangerous if you handle it wrong.”
“I-it was dangerous!?”

When I smiled, limp, Kira raised a voice like a scream.
Ah, right, that’s how it would sound!?

“Sorry, Kira, if you handle it properly it’s fine! It’s only dangerous if you leave it; if you wash it off it’s all right!”
“Really? You’re all right?”

Aaaah, the pressure of Kira’s wet eyes stabbed my chest.
But really, with this much rinsing it ought to be all right.

“If you say so, I suppose it is… so what was made?”

Gerda asked, looking worried and yet unable to hold down her curiosity.
Nora was terribly concerned as well.

“Ehehe~… actually, even this isn’t finished yet.
But with this, we can do all sorts of things!”

Answering the question, I threw out my chest.
Yes. With this, all sorts of things could be made.

What we had made was a sodium hydroxide solution.
A liquid valued in all sorts of industry had been made.

There is a method called the ion-exchange membrane process.
The major method of producing sodium hydroxide in modern Japan.

“What we made just now was something we could make because everything was mixed, but this time, with this panel’s cloth, we were able to sort what was inside.”
“With this panel’s cloth? If it’s something in the water, it seems it would slip through regardless…”
“Yes, ordinarily that’s right.
But thanks to Gerda imbuing it with magic, we were able to separate it.”

Fine cloth or not, of course ionized things would ordinarily slip through.
But chloride ions, likewise negatively charged, cannot cross cloth that has been negatively charged by an imbue of lightning magic.
Negatives repel each other.

That being so, on the left hydrogen leaps out by electrolysis, and what remains is only the hydroxide ions that have lost their partners, and the positively charged sodium ions that have come from the right, drawn by the flowing current.
They’re drawn by the exchange membrane’s negative as well, but the current is stronger, so they flow that way.
And thus, happily, a sodium hydroxide solution is complete.

Incidentally, the water on the right ought to be well dissolved with chlorine.
In other words, a considerably dangerous liquid.
But this ought to have its uses as well… and so for now I put this side in a glass bottle and put a lid on it.

In previous-life Japan they used a negatively charged resin membrane, so in terms of precision I thought we probably lost.
Instead, the magic-imbued cloth ought to be bouncing negative ions with a stronger charge than an ion-exchange membrane, so it should not be that bad.

Now then, what to do with this sodium hydroxide… as I thought, first it would be that.

First I transferred this as well to a glass bottle.

“Kira, um… I’d like you to use ‘Desiccate’… does the lid have to be off?”
“Ah, yes, that would be better, I think.”

I see. In principle, perhaps it was not sending the water to another dimension or the like, but forcing it to evaporate.
And even mixed with alcohol, the alcohol stayed as it was.
…Wait, that’s going too far for a cheat, isn’t it!?
Could this perhaps have scientific uses I don’t know as well.
Well, that aside… for now, what I ought to do.

And so, by Kira’s ‘Desiccate,’ sodium hydroxide powder appeared.

I measured an amount and added it to water little by little. Yes, it had gotten hot enough for steam to rise from the heat of reaction.

“You only dissolved something like salt, why is there steam?”

Nora was staring, puzzled.
Um… how was I supposed to explain heat of reaction.

“Unlike salt, it’s a powder with that sort of nature.”

In the end, I ran. She accepted it as I see, that’s how it is.

Now then, the next stage.
I heated olive oil in a kettle, and when it was warm I added the sodium hydroxide solution.

“And please stir this, guri guri. Please.”
“Understood. Leave the heavy work to me.”
“If you get tired I’ll take over partway.”

Gerda and Nora took it on gladly.
The two of them stirred, guri guri, with admirable strength.

“…It’s gotten cloudy?”

Kira, watching from the side, muttered that. This was proof the reaction was proceeding as planned.
A little more stirring… about now, perhaps.

“Please stop your hands a moment. I’ll put this in… and stir just a little more.”

I put sodium chloride into the kettle. With this, I would have them stir a little more…
I had them stop.

“Yes, thank you.
Leave this for a while now.
Quite a bit of time has passed; let’s have tea and rest.”

I had the fire stopped and the stirring stopped, and told the two of them that.
I showed Nora to the dining area as well, served tea and things to nibble, and waited quite a while.

“About time? Then let’s do the finishing.”

When I called, everyone stood in a hurry.
…They seemed quite concerned about what would be made.
And we returned to the kettle, and looking inside…

“All right, it’s separating nicely.
Then I’ll skim the top off…”

What the reaction so far had made did not dissolve easily in salt water and the like.
So I had added salt and separated the wanted component from the rest. This was called salting out, I was fairly sure.
The wanted component is light in specific gravity, so it was the supernatant.
I poured that, quite viscous, into a mold… truly, from here more time would be needed, but.

“Lastly, Kira, ‘Desiccate’ on this, please!”
“Y-yes!”

Hearing lastly, Kira put force into it, and ‘Desiccate’ activated.
And what was finished was…
Yes. A feel I remembered well.

“We did it… we really did it…”

This would not solve everything, but it ought to exert considerable power.

“Asha, did you make something that moving?”

At Gerda’s voice I nodded hard.
Yes. I had made it. And I had made a path to mass production.

I looked, with a rush of feeling, at what lay in the mold.
The “soap” we had made.