CHAPTER 26: THE ARRIVAL OF THE CROWN PRINCE

Subsequently, Tristan led James and his group to the production house, where the villagers extracted the fragrance from freshly gathered flowers to make essential oils.

Inside, the air was thick with the mingled scents of rose, jasmine, and lavender. Rows of copper alembics hissed faintly as pale steam coiled from their spouts. People moved methodically, pouring cooled liquid into jars, the faint aroma of burned petals lingering in the air.

James quietly observed the process, his brows furrowing at the scene in front of him. They were still using the old method with an alembic setup, primitive and inefficient by modern standards.

’So they’re still relying on this...’ he mused inwardly, studying the heat-blackened pipes and uneven distillation vessels. ’Looks like I still have a few more things to improve.’

Already, ideas were forming in his mind—blueprints of a proper steam distillation system like the ones modern perfumers used. With it, he could extract purer, stronger oils without losing the delicate fragrance of each flower.

With the proper steam distillation and the cow dung, James was confident that he would be able to make a better quality perfume that would definitely make another huge commotion among the nobles.

The reason for that was because James had the knowledge about something that could cover the only weakness. Roselune’s perfume could only be said to be above decent. It was purely because their perfume doesn’t contain any fixatives, making the smell fade rapidly after only an hour or two.

James even thought about finding a way to make scents that could last for a long time and have the effect of not wearing down instantly when they fight. Because no matter how good the perfume was, it would immediately vaporize instantly, as it couldn’t handle the strong power emanating from the knights and magicians.

Can you imagine if James managed to find something that would be able to make the perfume stay on even when people fight? It would definitely make a huge commotion because nobles would definitely fight each other to get their hands on it, as they really value their images.

At this time when James was still thinking about these things, the token on his waist trembled.

’Hmmm?’ James raised an eyebrow, as he was curious who had contacted him even though he told everyone to not contact him unless it was extremely important.

However, when he read the news, he instantly frowned deeply and was lost in his thoughts for a few moments.

Halden informed him that the crown prince of the Grimwald Kingdom would go to the Steelhearts in two or three days at most. The crown prince didn’t inform them of the reason, but James had a guess or two based on the current circumstances and the memory he has.

The first guess was probably because of him killing the old man from the Wolfsblade Family. Because of that, the situation at the border that the Wolfsblade Family protected must have been restless.

The second guess was because the crown prince wanted to recruit the Steelheart Family under his wing and support him. In his memory, the crown prince had gone to the Steelheart Family once and asked about that but was rejected directly by his grandfather.

James predicted that he might even use this incident to force the Steelhearts to support him.

"Brother, what happened?" Elara tugged on his coat softly when she noticed the ugly expression on his brother from time to time.

"Elara, I’m afraid that we need to go back home after this." James said apologetically as he petted her hair softly.

"No, Elara doesn’t want to!" Elara pouted angrily.

"But—"

Before he could even explain, Elara immediately became angry and bit James’s forearm cutely.

After a while, James managed to calm Elara down. Though, he had promised Elara that she could go with him again and they would spend a lot of time doing everything she wanted the next time he went out somewhere.

Unbeknownst to Elara, James had already decided to focus on increasing his strength once he came back home and would only go out again after he was satisfied with the result. He predicted that he would finish his training in three months or so if things went smoothly.

At that time he also planned to go out and experience a lot of things in between, such as fighting geniuses, exploring the world, tasting the best delicacies and wine, and most importantly, attending an auction.

One thing that he wanted to experience the most was actually attending an auction and bidding on something. In his previous life, whenever James read novels, the moment he enjoyed the most was when the main character attended an auction.

Subsequently, James and the others instantly departed right away, as he planned to awaken his physique as soon as possible before the crown prince arrived.

James was confident that after the crown prince’s visit to the Steelhearts, the Royal Family would definitely pay close attention to the Steelhearts’ every movement.

At that time, it would be risky to awaken his physique in case it would create a huge disturbance and attract the attention of the Royal Family. If the Royal Family decided to explore the Blackfang Mountain at this time, there’s a chance that they would discover the treasure ground that the Steelhearts had been hiding.

James knew that at this kind of time, what his family needed the most was just a peaceful time, at least until his father reached the Transcendent Rank so that they could somewhat stand on the same ground with the Royal Family.

...

Two hours later, they arrived at Edmund’s manor once again. James noticed that there were multiple carriages, and in front of them, there were a few people that James was familiar with.

"Uncle Edmund, I’m sorry for changing the time abruptly." James smiled bitterly as he scratched his head with an apologetic expression.

Edmund laughed and waved his hand casually. "It’s fine, I understand your worries. Besides, who would’ve expected that the crown prince would go to the Steelhearts?"

"Thank you for your understanding, let’s go right away then." James smiled and shook Edmund’s hand before greeting his family.

After a short greeting, they departed without wasting any more time.