I Was Reincarnated as a Poor Farmer in a Different World, so I Decided to Make Bricks to Build a Cas

Chapter 97 - Use of Glass

 

"Hey, kid, we're out of glass. Can you get me some more?"

"Not again. You've been asking for it a lot."

"It can't be helped. All the buildings you've built in the castle town use glass. Besides, some of the merchants are buying it too."

"What? Merchants? I thought the glass was hard to sell."

"Well, now they are just buying it because of curiosity. But there might be a demand for it later."

"Why is that? What you're selling now is flat glass for windows, right?　I don't think there are any buildings in Fontana City that have windows..."

"It's because you built this city. They probably saw buildings with windows and thought they could use them. There are plenty of bricks for sale in the city, and they can use them to build new buildings."

　The old man who was looking after the finances of Barcania came over and placed an order for more glass.

　But it was something I hadn't thought of.

　He told me that there were merchants who were buying glass that had not sold at all before.

　The number was still small, but there was a possibility that it might increase in the future.

　According to the story, the castle town's buildings I had built seemed to serve as a model.

　It was the intuition of the old man who used to peddle, so I couldn't just ignore it.

　I've been making glass with magic for many years now, but I've never been able to sell any of it.

　I still think that if it had sold a little more, I could have made a little more money.

　But now I can make a lot of glass that sells.

　It was after I built the castle town.

　When I built the castle town, I thought it would be better to have as much uniformity as possible, so I used magic to build a lot of buildings with the same shape.

　I was using more of the glass that had not sold well.

　These buildings used as few bricks as possible, but also used a lot of arched windows and doors to make the space bigger and the building stronger.

　In other words, the more the buildings were built, the more glass was needed.

　The amount of plate glass that I had originally been making rather pointlessly was dwindling rapidly.

　I hurriedly made more to fill the shortage.

***

"Hmm, I don't know what to do."

"What's wrong, Ars-dono?"

"Gran? No, if the demand for glass increases in the future, I thought it would be better to make a glass-making spell."

"...... magic, desu?"

"Hmm? Is there something you want to tell me?"

"No, it's nothing much, but because I'm a craftsman, I don't like to mass produce anything with magic."

"Is that so? Bricks are convenient and helpful, but..."

"Well, yes, but there is a difference between bricks and glass, desu."

"What do you mean? What's the difference?"

"The Hardened Bricks that Ars-dono makes are very easy to use, and from the standpoint of materials, they are suitable for mass production with magic, that they are. However, what about glass? Apart from windows, glass has been used to make dishes, glasses, and other tableware in various forms. Don't tell me you're going to turn them all into spells?"

"No, for now, just the window glass."

"No, that you can't, Ars-dono. You should not make things with such feelings, that you should not! As a craftsman, you must always have a desire to improve, that you must. If it becomes a spell, there is no development from there, that there isn't! It is better to make glass by hand, desu."

　No, I don't need to be told that.

　I'm not a craftsman like Gran, but maybe he's right about that, too.

　Window glass is a pain in the ass to prepare a lot of, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble of making it a spell so that everyone with the Barca surname can make it.

　If you have materials such as sand and lime, you can make it without using magic.

　However, the window glass I make is based on my memories of my previous life, so I think it's pretty advanced and ahead of its time.

　However, there is a possibility that if I make a glass-making a spell, no one in Barca will ever want to try making glass again.

　In terms of the development of technology, there may be some negative effects of giving the spell a name.

"If you say so, Gran, why don't you make something out of glass?"

"Well, what would you like, Ars-dono?"

"A lens. A lens made of glass. I wonder if you can do it, Gran."

　This is how I suddenly asked Gran to make something for me.

***

　"Hmm..."

"Phew phew. It's finally finished, that it is, Ars-dono. This is the finished product, desu."

"As usual, you're amazing when it comes to making things. Didn't you work almost all the time without sleeping?"

"It's all right, desu. I have the family name Barca, so I can use [Meditation]. I don't need to sleep, desu."

　No, no, no, [Meditation] is a spell to suppress the unnecessary outflow of mana and speed up recovery from fatigue.

　It's a spell that you can use before going to bed to recover all of your energy while you sleep.

　However, Gran stayed awake and worked using the [Meditation] spell.

　I guess I was surprised that it was relatively effective.

"I'm not sure if it's worth mentioning to you now. Well, now that you mention it, let's have a look at it right away, shall we?"

　What I received from Gran.

　It used five different types of glass lenses.

　To be precise, it was made of two sets of five different types of glass, so I guess it was made of ten pieces of glass.

"Wow, I can see so far. The accuracy is amazing, Gran."

　I climbed to the top of the outer tower and tried to use it.

　I used it to look through my eyes.

　What Gran made for me was a pair of binoculars.

　I vaguely remembered the structure of binoculars.

　Basically, it is a system that allows you to magnify distant objects by using multiple glass lenses.

　However, it is not possible to make them simply by preparing glass lenses.

　Five different types of lenses must be placed in order inside the tube to refract light at the appropriate angle and make the image of the object appear larger.

　With my vague memories of my previous life, I could not reproduce it even with magic.

　But Gran had created it using only a blueprint of the binoculars that I had dug up from my hazy memory on a piece of paper.

　I knew this guy was incredibly talented.

　As I looked over the Barca Knight's Domain from the top of the tower, I was once again thankful for Gran's existence.

CadmarLegend As you should, Ars. As you should... is it just me or does anyone think Gran is someone with a remarkable background? Oh, and so many chapters translated today...