Failure Alchemist – Chapter 4

Translator: Flowingcloud  Editor: Elena

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Water

 

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁

I laid down on my bed in my room and started reading [Introduction to Alchemy: Part 1].

……Huh? It’s starting off with water?
Unpurified water is dirty, even if it seems transparent, like quality [Water].
Unpurified water may have colorless substances or creatures, such as small bacteria that cannot be seen with the naked eye, mixed in.
It seems like bad water like that should not be used when making things.

……Let’s take a quick peek at the various types of water.

First off, well water. This is drawn and left in the house’s kitchen.

[Water]

Quality: Normal
Details: Contains an extremely minuscule amount of bacteria. Boiling before use is advised.

……Wow, even though you can’t see it, there’s bacteria!

“Hey, Maria.” I tried calling out to one of the cooks in the kitchen.

“Yes, Daisy-sama, what is the matter?” Maria answered while wiping her hands with the apron tied at her waist.

“Do we just drink the well water as it is?”

Maria shook her head and responded, “For everyone to be able to drink it, we boil the water once and drink it as tea, or else we’ll drink [Boiled Water]—water we boiled then cooled down. Even if we’re cooking, we still boil the well water…”

“Hey, Maria. Do you have any [Boiled Water]?”

Maria brought me a cup of water she poured from inside the kitchen. “Here you are.”
I stared at the water in the cup she handed over to me.

[Water]

Quality: Normal
Details: The bacteria have been killed. Safe to drink.

It seems like the state of affairs in my family’s kitchen is fine.
“Thank you, Maria!”
I gulped down the water, returned the cup to Maria, and left the kitchen.

After that, I tried investigating the pond in the rose garden.

[Water]

Quality: Low
Details: Contains dirt, bacteria, and bugs. Do not drink.

I tried looking at the rainwater collected in the washbasin.

[Water]

Quality: Normal
Details: Contains pollutants accumulated in the atmosphere. Not suited for drinking as is.

Hmm, but even if you boil it, the quality of the water will only be “Normal”……

I ran to my room and opened my book again.
There was more to the [Water] section. When water is used in alchemy, fundamentally, it seems like a [Distiller] is used and [Distilled Water] is made.
I held the [Introduction to Alchemy: Part 1] to my chest and went to my detached laboratory. Using the picture drawn in the book as my basis, I searched for the corresponding tool.

The base of the starting “Flask” was round and the head narrowed into a lid with a tube attached on the top, and the lid – another glass tool – was connected to the receiving flask.
Underneath the starting flask is a magic tool, a heating apparatus, and the tube attached to its lid was also attached to a similar magic tool – a cooler.

Next, I went to the kitchen, taking the starting flask with me. I filled the flash with well water, then returned to the laboratory. Incidentally, since I was still five, unsupervised experiments were prohibited, and my parents had the rule to bring a maid along to be present.

I set the starting flask filled with water in the distiller. Then I switched on the magic tool.

Gradually, the bubbles started to form in the flask, and before long the bubbles grew larger. The water vapor started to rise and drops of water gathered at the lid, then dripped into the receiving flask.

After a while, most of the water had been transferred to the receiving flask and I turned off the magic tool’s switch.

Then, I tried comparing the water in both flasks.

The water in the receiving flask looked like this:

[Water]

Quality: Good
Details: Distilled water. Pure water.

The water left in the starting flask looked like this:

[Water]

Quality: Normal
Details: Water with impurities concentrated. Waste product.

I was able to make distilled water, the basis for experimenting!

Despite my excitement, the maid accompanying me did not seem to understand the difference at all and headed back to her original work confused.

If you are reading from a pirate or aggregator site, please read from the translator’s site: yado-inn (dot) com I have to put the link like this or else the bots will remove it, sorry 🙁