Chapter 45: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Chapter 45: Journey Through the Middle Ages

Louisa and Maxim sat facing each other. She was seated on a long sofa against the wall, while he sat in an armchair—though people of that time might have mistaken her seat for a special type of "tensioned bed," she herself would not confuse the two. A bed is a bed, without built-in backrests or armrests, and the depth and height are not as suitable for sitting.

Whether it was initially made as a seat or as a bed but could also be used for sitting, the experience of using it was entirely different.

Maxim, feeling flattered and nervous, took a sip of the lemon water brought by the maid and placed it back on the low table in front of him. He could feel that the chair he was sitting on was very comfortable and soft, but he couldn't relax and lean back. Instead, his body tensed up even more.

Louisa, of course, noticed his nervousness, so she didn't dive right into the main topic. Instead, she started by talking about the recent production and sales at the glass workshop. These were topics Maxim knew best and took pride in. As expected, guided by Louisa, he answered these questions that required no deep thought, gradually becoming more relaxed.

"...Our window glass still has some bubbles, right? I mean, if we don't worry about the cost, can we get glass panels with fewer bubbles?" Louisa finally brought up the main topic. It was all about the glass mirror!

While window glass also required fewer bubbles—after all, too many bubbles not only ruined its appearance but also affected transparency and light transmission—it wasn't so strict as to demand zero bubbles. A few bubbles barely affected the functionality of window glass, and people wouldn't constantly fixate on minor imperfections in a piece of glass on the window.

But mirrors were different. When people used mirrors, they were close and looked carefully, making it impossible to ignore even the smallest imperfections. It was downright annoying!

For this reason, Louisa was willing to spare no cost to eliminate bubbles from the glass... Unlike window glass, mirrors in this era were top-tier luxury items. Just like the Venetian mercury mirrors in history, which remained a luxury for centuries, or even more so. After all, the era of Venetian mercury mirrors was after the Renaissance. By then, overall technology had advanced, and silver mirrors were even better than mercury mirrors.

Creating a silver mirror that met Louisa's standards would be truly groundbreaking and a game-changer.

"Of course, to eliminate those annoying bubbles in the glass, glassmakers have been striving and have made some progress," Maxim said with certainty.

Regarding bubbles in glass, they had been one of the most important issues for glassmakers since the invention of glass, and a lot of experience had been accumulated.

However, it was still impossible to completely solve the bubble problem through craftsmanship, or even to stabilize the number and size of bubbles within a certain range—people only had a vague idea of how to reduce bubbles, and these methods were not absolutely effective, with uncertain results.

Only skilled craftsmen with master-level training could produce higher-quality products more consistently.

While standardized production was impossible, which was something Louisa, who had lived in an industrial society in her previous life, found hard to get used to, she was mentally prepared for Maxim's words.

So she nodded simply: "So can you do it? If we aim to minimize bubbles and don't worry about the cost, what level can you achieve?"

For luxury goods, relying on manual labor wasn't entirely out of the question... Even in industrial societies, this was not uncommon.

Maxim described to Louisa what level they could achieve and roughly calculated the cost. Louisa found it hard to visualize, so after some thought, she had Maxim return to prepare some samples.

A few days later, Louisa saw the glass panels produced by the glass workshop at no expense. Well, what can I say? There were fewer bubbles than in the glass used for her windows, and by the standards of the time, they could be directly used as mirrors. But Louisa, looking at the scattered yet highly noticeable bubbles, still couldn't settle for this.

Perhaps it was because she had seen mirrors with no bubbles at all (she even had some in her Portable Space), so she couldn't accept this.

"Can't we do better than this?" Louisa asked with dissatisfaction, pressing Maxim.

Maxim hesitated for a few seconds: "Lady Louisa, our glass panels are made by rolling, which inherently makes them more prone to bubbles than blown glass. If we start from the crucible and strive for perfection, we might get slightly better glass. But regarding these bubbles... If you absolutely must eliminate them completely, perhaps bringing in more skilled glassmakers would help."

"What I mean is, perhaps the glassmakers from the Republic of Nice might have a way. Their craftsmanship has always been top-notch. However, I've heard that their best glassmakers rarely leave the country, and there's no need for them to—they can live quite well in the Republic of Nice."

Louisa thought for a moment: "There's always a way, isn't there? I can offer a very, very high price to bribe those glassmakers... If a glassmaker is not a free man, then bribe his master. Everyone has a price, and with enough money, most would be willing to negotiate."

Louisa's perspective was something Maxim agreed with, but it was something she could say, not him. Because the price paid would be extremely high, and Louisa was certain that the resulting benefits would outweigh the costs—even if she wasn't sure, it didn't matter, as she was the one who could make the final decision.

Although Maxim managed the glass workshop, this matter was already beyond the scope of daily management.

Under Louisa's decision, they split into two paths. On one side, Maxim used his years of industry connections and experience to search for higher-skilled glassmakers, preferably from the Republic of Nice, in Troyes and its surrounding areas. On the other side, Louisa found merchants from the Republic of Nice who had significant business in Troyes and asked them to help search for some glassmakers.

When in Troyes, one had to bow to the circumstances. Those merchants from the Republic of Nice, whether willing or not, had to help. Moreover, Louisa didn't ask for much—one or two would suffice, and she was paying—the glass industry in the Republic of Nice was highly developed, with many practitioners. While they might restrict the outflow of high-level craftsmen to maintain technological leadership, it was impossible to completely restrict them.

Given this, such a thing was simply the way things had to be.

Louisa figured that success on either path would be fine, and success on both would be even better. After all, glassmakers are highly skilled professionals, and having one more could generate greater profits. Who would complain about having too many?

While waiting for more skilled glassmakers to appear, Louisa didn't remain idle. She instructed the glass workshop to continue producing window glass while also trying to make some glass panels with fewer bubbles. These were for her and Helena to use in silver mirror reaction experiments, aiming to refine the process, reduce costs, and stabilize production.

Before bringing in Maxim, Louisa had already, with the help of Helena and even Anthony (Helena's father and Louisa's mentor, also an 'alchemist'), barely managed to complete the silver mirror reaction. However, the success rate was too low, likely due to the limited number of silver ammonia and glucose solutions that met the standards.

This was unavoidable. The fact that Louisa could even figure out the methods for making silver ammonia and glucose solutions was impressive! Given the experimental conditions and raw material purification levels of the time, the low success rate was predictable—what else could be expected? Even in modern laboratories, students often rely on luck when first repeating the simplest experiments from textbooks!

Louisa and Helena could only continue their repeated experiments, hoping to develop a process with a higher and more stable success rate.

Through such diligence, Louisa and Helena managed to produce a few pieces that, in Louisa's eyes, were barely passable—a rectangular silver mirror about 20 centimeters wide and 30 centimeters long. For the time, this size was quite substantial for a metal mirror, and for a glass mirror, it was considered large.

There were larger silver mirror products, but none were as perfect as this one. Either the glass quality was inferior, or the silver mirror reaction wasn't complete enough...

Louisa used this as a sample to show to Count Balzac... mainly because, although glass mirrors were luxury items, if they could be produced exclusively, they could become a significant source of wealth. This would be a huge financial resource, and it would also support many artisans—something that couldn't be compared to the production of window glass.

Or rather, it was precisely because glass mirrors were luxury items that they had this advantage over window glass. Given the transportation costs and conditions of the time, transporting window glass, which wasn't particularly expensive but was very troublesome, was something people avoided. But what about luxury glass mirrors? Although delicate and troublesome, the potential profits made the problems seem insignificant.

Because it involved a significant financial resource, Louisa had to inform Count Balzac, as this was the 'respect' an heir should show to the ruling predecessor. Otherwise, history had shown that it could be very dangerous.

Additionally, with such substantial interests at stake, Louisa needed Count Balzac's support to expand and protect her venture.

When Louisa went to see Count Balzac, the Count was enjoying ice cream... Although ice cream was something Louisa had created to satisfy her own summer cravings, it had quickly become a favorite of almost everyone, with the Count being particularly enthusiastic.

Indeed, in the heat of summer, everyone enjoys a cold treat. Historically, the real ice cream became wildly popular in the West for a reason—their tastes favored it. True ice cream appeared relatively late, at least by the late Renaissance. Before that, there were similar summer ice treats like shaved ice, but they were not the same as real ice cream.

Initially, the ice cream people ate was entirely hand-churned. A container with milk, sugar, and other ingredients was placed in an ice basin, and a handheld stirring tool was used to vigorously stir the mixture. During the stirring process, the 'scraper' on the stirrer would continuously scrape off a layer of crystallized ice from the container walls, and 'accumulating bit by bit' resulted in ice cream.

At that time, every ice cream maker must have had an incredibly strong arm!

The hand-cranked ice cream maker wasn't invented until the mid-19th century... Louisa, wanting to eat ice cream, had someone create this hand-cranked machine.

The hand-cranked ice cream maker mainly consists of a mixing barrel and an ice barrel. The inner metal mixing barrel is filled with milk, sugar, fruit juice, etc., while the outer wooden ice barrel contains ice (with coarse salt sprinkled on it to accelerate cooling). Then, you just grab the handle on the side connected to the mixing barrel and crank it. The handle rotates in circles, driving the stirring rack inside the mixing barrel.

In addition to churning the ingredients, the scraper continuously scrapes ice crystals from the walls of the mixing barrel. Compared to hand-churning, it's much less labor-intensive and faster, and the results are much better—hand-churned ice cream often takes a long time to prepare, and the resulting ice cream is often more like yogurt, difficult to solidify.

Louisa arrived carrying a box containing the mirror, and Count Balzac invited her to have some ice cream.

"Come, have some, I've prepared several kinds of jam, my dear, which one do you like?" Count Balzac asked Louisa.

The ice cream he was eating was probably made from just milk and sugar, and to add flavor, one had to add jam, nuts, etc., oneself.

This was one of the advantages of hand-cranked ice cream. With hand-churning, you could only make a little at a time; if you made too much, it would melt before it could solidify. With the hand-cranked machine, you could churn out a whole barrel at once—the mixing barrel could hold about half a barrel of ingredients, resulting in about two pounds of ice cream, which could be scooped into about 15 ice cream balls.

So each time it was made, it could be shared among many people.

If several hand-cranked ice cream makers were operated simultaneously, it could supply the entire court for dessert. In fact, that's exactly what was happening now. And because ice cream was so popular, the kitchen at the Brudo court, which originally served ice cream as dessert twice a week (always after the most important dinners), had increased it to four times a week!

What limited everyone's ice cream consumption wasn't the sugar or milk, but the 'ice'!

The ice Louisa had stored in the ice well last winter was rarely used to preserve food or cool rooms; most of it was used to make ice cream. Fortunately, if made continuously, the ice in the ice barrel didn't need to be replaced every time; a barrel of ice could help cool several batches of ice cream. Otherwise, it couldn't have sustained the demand for ice cream, even with restrictions.

Of course, others might have restrictions, but Count Balzac had no such limits. It was available around the clock, and whenever he wanted some, a barrel of ice would be used to its fullest, producing quite a lot of ice cream at once, enough for everyone around him to enjoy.

"Oh, please add some mulberry jam for me," Louisa said without hesitation to the attendant responsible for scooping ice cream balls and pouring jam. Then she turned to Count Balzac: "Father, I have a very interesting gift for you, and I guarantee you'll like it very much."

Count Balzac looked at the box Louisa placed on the table, swallowed half an ice cream ball, and laughed heartily: "Yes, an interesting gift, right? I don't doubt that I'll like it very much; you've always been a very good daughter, so thoughtful!"

Without hesitation, Count Balzac didn't let the attendant beside him do it but stood up himself and opened the box. Then he let out an "oh" and was momentarily speechless—

"..."

"Is this a glass mirror? Yes, I've seen one in Countess Balzac's room, but they are quite different, aren't they?"

Although Balzac didn't pay much attention to the decorations in his wife's room, the Countess's mirror was placed in a prominent enough spot that it was hard to miss—just like most glass mirrors of the time, its main purpose wasn’t practicality but to showcase wealth and refined taste.

Recalling that glass mirror and looking at the one in the box now, the latter seemed much more 'simple' in comparison. It didn't have a grand frame adorned with gold, carvings, or gemstones, but was simply encased in a plain wooden frame for protection. Yet, even so, its extraordinary quality was evident without any need for embellishment.

A truly good item carries immense value on its own, without requiring any adornment... and this mirror was just that!

Count Balzac never imagined that one day he could see his own reflection so clearly. Unlike other mirrors, which inevitably caused some distortion or color change, this mirror showed the people and objects around him exactly as they appeared to his eyes.

When he looked into the mirror, he saw himself more 'real' than ever before.

"Yes, it's quite different. The biggest difference is that it's much better," Louisa replied with a smile, scooping a small spoonful of ice cream.

"This is truly a treasure of immense value!" Count Balzac exclaimed.

It was a pure exclamation, as he hadn’t realized that this mirror was something Louisa had commissioned to be made. He assumed it was a rare item acquired by a merchant and sold to Louisa at court—this was the most plausible explanation he could think of.

It was a normal business transaction, after all, as there were very few who could afford such an item and were willing to pay such a high price. It was also a gesture of goodwill, otherwise why wouldn't it have been offered to someone else? For instance, wasn't there Countess Balzac, the rightful lady of the court, in Brundo?

"My dear, how much did you spend on this?" Count Balzac asked Louisa.

He was offering to help Louisa financially, as he assumed the mirror must have been extremely expensive—so expensive that Louisa might have had to sell her jewelry or deplete her savings to afford it.

Louisa shook her head. "No, you misunderstand. I can't say exactly how much this mirror cost because it wasn't exactly bought—my team and I created it ourselves. However, it took many attempts to succeed, so the cost was quite high, perhaps not much less than buying one directly."

"That is, if such mirrors were available for purchase."

"With further production, it will become much cheaper, and as the craftsmanship improves, it should get even more affordable," Louisa explained, as Count Balzac quickly grasped the situation, his eyes filled with surprise and delight.

"So, Brundo now has the technology to produce glass mirrors, and it's ahead of any other region, including—" Here, Count Balzac hesitated, as he didn't pay much attention to 'glass mirrors,' which were a niche product at the time (being both expensive and impractical, they had a limited market).

A nearby servant, observant, interjected, "My lord, the best glass mirrors are currently produced only in the Republic of Nice and Nuremberg... My sword scabbard is inlaid with a small piece of their mirror, almost like a gemstone, and it wasn't cheap at all. Here, take a look."

The servant carried a small sword, more decorative than functional. The scabbard was particularly ornate, with a small mirror embedded near the top.

"A mirror of this size is probably more expensive than countless small mirrors combined," the servant remarked, looking at the large mirror in the Count’s hands in awe.

Producing a glass mirror and cutting it into usable, less flawed smaller pieces was relatively easier. Therefore, the larger the glass mirror, the more expensive it would be per unit area, with no chance of a 'bulk discount' as the size increased.

This was somewhat similar to pearl necklaces in earlier times, when there was no pearl farming technology. Creating a necklace with pearls of similar size, luster, and shape was challenging. Thus, a fine pearl necklace, when calculated per pearl, was often more expensive than buying a single pearl of similar quality.

Count Balzac examined the small mirror on the servant's scabbard more closely and said happily, "The mirror Louisa brought is of better quality!"

He was delighted because he now considered glass mirrors to be a Brundo industry—or more accurately, a Balzac family industry! If it was better than the best glass mirrors available now, this was undoubtedly an excellent business opportunity... The Republic of Nice couldn’t produce small mirrors as fine as the large one Louisa had created, so the gap wasn't just minor!

This was a technological leap, not something that could be caught up with simply by having more skilled craftsmen or increasing production costs.

Count Balzac, who hadn't cared much about mirrors before, now couldn't put it down—the mirror itself wasn't what mattered, but the real gold and silver it represented!

"So, Louisa, producing such a mirror now is very difficult, isn't it?" Count Balzac asked.

Of course, he wasn't concerned about the high costs or low production efficiency that the difficulty implied—for something that could clearly be sold as a luxury item, the more difficult it was to produce, the better!

For those who could already produce it, a higher barrier to entry would deter competitors, which was even more satisfying! Otherwise, simply keeping the technology secret would be quite challenging.

What Count Balzac was thinking was whether Louisa needed some assistance.

"Yes, Father... Making mirrors requires a lot of preparation, so we need to arrange some reliable personnel to work in some secret locations. Additionally, it would be great if we could get more glass craftsmen. It's also very difficult to obtain glass of such high quality as the one used in this mirror nowadays. Our glass workshop hasn't effectively solved the bubble issue."

Louisa already had some ideas in mind about how to keep the mirror-making technology confidential. The simplest way was to separate the production processes.

Hydrochloric acid would be produced in one location, starch in another, and the raw materials for glucose and silver-ammonia solution in yet different locations... As long as it doesn't affect the preservation of the finished raw materials, producing them separately in different places without mutual knowledge can effectively maintain secrecy given the current level of information acquisition.

"...I have already sent people to look for glass craftsmen, but my words certainly aren't as influential as yours," Louisa concluded. This was both the truth and a subtle way to butter up Count Balzac.

Although the technical content was slightly lacking, Count Balzac was receptive to this. After agreeing to help Louisa, he immediately burst into laughter—maybe just picturing the 'cash cow' that the glass mirror could become.