City Of Witches 461

Chapter 461 – #97_Perfume(2)

#460

One.
After more than a hundred wagons came and went.
A flood of roses rose in the secluded warehouse.
The coveted red roses, which seem to be weighed faster than counted, filled the empty studio.

After several hours of delivery, heaps of roses piled up on the white cloth on the floor.
Had it not been for the magic, it would have taken three days just to put the roses in.
Siu held up a beautiful flower.

“How many of these are there?”
“About 20,000 flowers per wagon.”
“Five million is just over….”

You may wonder what kind of five million roses are there in this harsh winter when roses are not in season, but….
Do.
That’s why it’s Gehenna, the city of witches.

This is because flowers have been used in countless alchemy and magic experiments as an aggregate of life force since ancient times, so they are grown in the garden of Yeongsan all year round.
Even so, I wondered if this amount would mean that the entire garden in the hillside had been ripped off.

“Will I need this much?”

Siu threw the rose, which was so full of petals that it felt heavy, into the pile of flowers.
Any way you look at it, it seems excessive.

He wondered if Amelia had made a mistake in her calculations and she had bought too much.
In fact, Amelia, her great witch and the 23rd tier, could not be weak in her calculations, but it seems that she kept taking care of her, perhaps because of the appearance she showed in the past and in the present world.

“If you extract 10,000 roses through distillation, you get a drop of essential oil.”
“One drop?”
“Yes, 1mL.”

When she heard the price of Amelia’s perfume, she was relieved of her anxiety, but she was Siwoo, who suddenly started to worry about the cost.
The ingredients Amelia used for perfume were essential oils extracted from natural sources, not synthetic fragrances commonly used.

Was Siwoo’s surprised expression funny? Or was he just glad he could explain what he knew?
Amelia smiled daintyly and pulled Siu by the hand.

“I will teach Siwoo how to extract it. It will be fun.”

Amelia led Siu in front of a large copper still.

It was a continuous still, with three cylinders much taller than Siu placed side by side, each part connected by a long tube.

All materials were made of copper, but the moving still boasts the best quality among the stills.
However, it has the downside of being very difficult to manage.

Somehow, it didn’t seem like an item suitable for Gehenna.
To put it bluntly, it is a device that would be more suited to the steampunk worldview.
Amelia stood in front of an appliance twice her height and tightened and loosened the valve to check its condition.

Then, a box placed in the corner was brought up with mental movement.
Inside was a large glass bottle that could hold dozens of liters.

“Could this be a magic number?”
“Right.”

Of course, magic power is also a fairly expensive product.
If all the boxes piled up over there were magic numbers and were used for perfume production, it was understandable that a bottle of Amelia’s perfume would be incredibly expensive.
It is a product made by beating a lot of expensive materials, so you have no choice but to pay that much.

“Yes, there are many ways to extract spices, such as cold brewing, soaking, compression, and solvent extraction, but I mainly use the distillation method.”

Having said that, Amelia poured her magic water into her first tank.
Of course, such a large tank was not completely filled with one bottle of magical water, and it was only about half full after Siu helped to fill in a total of 20 bottles of magical water.
Upon closer inspection, there were several additional magical devices inside the barrel.

Normally, magic water does not vaporize or solidify due to heat, but since the word distillation came out, it seemed that a magic circle was engraved.

What followed was the process of filling the second tank full of roses.
Shiwoo and Yeomdong thought they were very confident, but they couldn’t compare to Amelia.

Tens of thousands of roses flew in line and filled the barrel neatly.
Amelia, who filled her roses and closed her cover, continued her explanation.

“First, the magic power is vaporized through heating in the first tank. The magic water that has been turned into hot steam is connected to the second tank through a pipe.”

Amelia explained, following her finger around her coffin, which was bent in the shape of a letter.

“The connected water vapor passes through the flowers as it is sprayed into the second tank. Then, the water vapor absorbs the scent of the flowers.
At this time, the pressure is adjusted with a valve. If the pressure is set high, high-temperature steam is sprayed, leaving a sweet and soft rose scent, and when the pressure is lowered, relatively low-temperature steam is sprayed, creating a lively and splendid feeling.”
“Oh, something strange.”

“Yes? The water vapor generated while passing through the second tank collects at the top and passes to the third tank, where it is turned into liquid again as it passes through the cooling pipe.
When the solution that has turned into a liquid is separated into oil and magic water again, it becomes a fragrance. The decomposed magic power goes back to the first tank.”

It’s like a boiler device or something like a coffee machine.
As Amelia turned her valve a few times, the scent of fragrant flowers already filled the room.

“Today I will extract essential oil from a rose, tomorrow from a jasmine….”
“You must be very busy.”
“Yes, for a while.”

At least, it seems that the magic water is recycled, so it’s okay to worry about raw materials a little.

Anyway, Siu and Amelia finished setting up the still and started boiling the roses to their fullest.
Upon hearing Amelia’s explanation at first glance, she thought it was a job that only needed to be steamed like an ox bone, but in reality it doesn’t seem to be the case.

Amelia carefully adjusted the temperature and pressure, checking the needle on the instrument panel moment by moment, tightening her valves, or releasing her excess steam through a nozzle.
Siwoo’s role here was, so to speak, a conveyor belt.

The role of taking out the roses that have been extracted from the second tank and putting in new flowers.

“Siw.”

Amelia gestured to me while I was frantically going to and from the distillery.
As she goes further, she sees Amelia squatting in the last tank of the still, an exposed glass tube.

“Do you want to come and see me?”

Oil made by squeezing tens of thousands of roses.

After going through the cooling process and separation process, the essential oil that finally became pure crystals was dripping drop by drop.
Siu also squatted down next to Amelia and watched the essential oils accumulate in the small bottle.

“The scent…. It’s amazing.”
“Yes?”

Amelia looks at Siwoo with a happy smile.
Indeed, every time a drop of oil fell and caused a small ripple, a thick scent spread through my nostrils as if swimming in a pile of flowers.

But it was until this point that I was able to relax.
If this was a time to craft a cute perfume, I would have been able to spend a cozy time watching the slowly forming essential oils.

However, even if you say it’s a factory, there was no such relaxed time in mass production that didn’t have a big problem.

Siwoo and Amelia, who had just finished looking around, were able to extract less than 1L of essential oil only after working all day, 24 hours a day, not as a manager.

2.
In order to extract different types of essential oils from the same still, a reset process was required in which only magic power was put into an empty still and heated for several hours.
This is because undesirable scents can get mixed in.

Just as machines need breaks, humans need breaks too.
So Siu and Amelia decided to take a break for the first time 32 hours after they started extracting rose essential oil.

The resting place for the two is a perfume shop that Sofia created in the Malkuth Gallery.

It was a four-story building located in a corner of the already developed commercial district of Malkuth Gallery, making one wonder, “Is there a family in a place like this?”

Although the width was very narrow because the horse had four floors and was sandwiched between buildings, it gave off a charming and harmonious feeling due to the nature of Gehenna, which builds buildings beautifully and well.
But once you open the door and enter, the atmosphere changes completely.

A marble floor that is smooth enough to show panties through, and a sturdy and elegant shelf made of rosewood.
A feast of gorgeously fluttering candlesticks hanging from a small but nice chandelier.

If there was the smallest palace in the world, wouldn’t it look like this? The finishing touch to the gorgeous indoor scenery is the empty bottle placed on the shelf.

The beautiful sapper bottles that were displayed on the shelf and reflected the candlelight looked worthwhile just for the empty bottle.
Apart from the beautiful glasswork like ceramics, there was no way that the precious metals or jewels that decorated the empty bottles were imitations.

I was able to see the 2nd and 3rd floors as I went up the stairs hidden behind the curtain behind the counter.
If the first floor is reminiscent of a cosmetic shop for ladies, the scenery on the second and third floors is somehow familiar.
When Amelia was at the academy, she was almost no different from her research wing.

The amount of essential oil squeezed through that hardship was about the size of a bottle of milk, and thousands of bottles containing all kinds of spices, from such large bottles to small ampoules, are lined up.
Apparently, it is the oil passed down from the master.

Finally, Siwoo reached the 4th floor, serving as a dorm.
Maybe the rest of the floor was a private space, so it wasn’t as fancy as the first floor.

Even this place, the current accommodation, was a simple one-room structure with wooden floors and walls, a bed, a bathroom, and a sofa.
Siu immediately sat down on the sofa.

“I had a lot of trouble during the day. Thank you Siu.”
“No. Amelia-sama was busier.”

In fact, what Siwoo did was close to repetitive labor.
Subtract, fill, subtract, fill.

To the extent of occasionally going to the pile of flowers in the warehouse and turning the roses underneath so they don’t get crushed?
It was a workload that would not have been possible even if it was beaten to death in the days when magic was ineffective, but now it took a little bit of boring repetitive assembly.
However, I feel like I’m mentally worn out because I’m doing too much routine work.

Amelia, on the other hand, worked tirelessly from still to still, checking her instrument panel, tightening and loosening valves and changing coolant.
What’s surprising is that Amelia’s face doesn’t look tired at all.

In fact, Amelia is no different from a master at repetitive labor and work that requires patience.
Because she had such persistence, she must have been able to study her magic alone for over 100 years.

“This was my job.”
“If it’s Amelia-sama’s job, it’s mine too.”

Although she said it for granted, Amelia seemed slightly surprised and smiled happily.
Come to think of it, she was with me all day and she couldn’t even talk properly.
Must have been so busy

“Even if it’s empty, I’m happy.”

Seeing Amelia covering his cheek and honestly saying ‘I’m happy’ hit her so hard that Siwoo lost her words for a moment.
Answer embarrassingly

“It is not an empty word.”
“Then I can be a little more happy.”

The scent of roses permeated their bodies.
The sense of smell is the most easily desensitized to stimuli.
After escaping from the studio, which was filled with the scent of roses, and moving to the lodging, the two finally realize that they are giving off the scent of grassy flowers.

“…….”
“…….”

Scent has a great influence on mood.
Two people staring at each other without saying anything in a small room filled with a lovely yet rich scent.

If there is such a thing as a natural attraction, it would be this feeling.
Realizing that Amelia’s eyes were on his lips, Siwoo narrowed the distance between the two, who had grown closer over the past few days.

Amelia lifted her heel and wrapped it around Siu’s waist.
That moment when he tried to kiss her naturally as if under some strange magic.

– Smart smart

A knock was heard.