Chapter 30 The Lady, The Younger Sister, And The Curious Assistants
The sudden attack by Marquis Grandchester had turned Sara, Rebecca, and the office maids' schedules upside down.
If it were just Sara and Rebecca, they could probably manage some kind of lesson, but the office maids' time was extremely valuable. Since the mansion's work had already been assigned to other maids, even if they returned, they could only help with simple tasks.
"Miss Rebecca, why don't we take a look at Paracelsus' laboratory with the maids? There might be plenty of documents, and cleaning is definitely necessary, don't you think?"
"That sounds interesting. We might even find some useful study materials. Why don't we invite the others who were scheduled to work with us? The alchemist, the pharmacist, and the blacksmith, weren't they?"
In reality, Rebecca had loved exploration since she was a child. A legendary alchemist's laboratory was the ultimate exploration destination. And Rebecca thought that having specialized knowledge would make the exploration more enjoyable, so she proposed increasing the number of participants.
"Wouldn't it be inconvenient to not be able to refuse a sudden invitation from a noble?"
"It's okay if you don't push yourself too hard."
"Though it would be nice if they have some free time in their schedule."
"Yeah, you're right."
Sara quickly wrote an invitation letter to the 3 girls they had previously talked to in the meeting and decided to send it out.
"Milady Sara, since we'll be using a room that hasn't been used in a while, it would be better to wear comfortable clothes, don't you think?" Maria suggested, and Rebecca nodded in agreement, saying she would change too, and headed back to her room. Meanwhile, the office maids began preparing for cleaning and organizing documents in empty boxes.
When Sara returned to the entrance hall wearing a simple one-piece dress with a frilly apron, Rebecca was already waiting, dressed in a simple dress and apron.
Just as they were about to leave, the butler called out to them, informing Sara that 6 people would be visiting.
"Six people? But I only invited 3..."
"It seems each of them will be accompanied by their guardians."
"I see. It's only natural to have guardians accompany you on your first castle visit, after all. So, once they arrive, please have them head to Paracelsus' laboratory, and I'll make the necessary arrangements."
"Understood."
Sara, thinking that having more people with specialized knowledge would make things more efficient, approved the 6 castle visitors.
"But still, aren't the guardians busy with work? I guess they were intimidated by the noble's summons after all."
Paracelsus' laboratory was located in a tower quite far from the main residence. The tower, with its slightly tapered square shape, stood 5 stories tall and was relatively low compared to the other towers in Grandchester Castle. However, it had a large floor area, with many small rooms inside.
The top floor was an open, wall-less area for observation, with a blowing wind. The tower seemed to have been built in a rather old era, and despite being made of brick, it had a greenish tint due to the vines covering it.
Sara and Rebecca rode a horse-drawn carriage to the tower, accompanied by maids carrying cleaning tools, empty boxes, and tea sets, among other necessities.
"I never thought we wouldn't arrive in 10 minutes even if we rode a carriage within the castle walls."
When they arrived at the tower, a maid who had received the key from Rebecca tried to open the door, but a horse-drawn carriage with a canopy suddenly appeared, rattling loudly as it entered the tower's carriage entrance.
"Oh, that's Mr. Theofrastos, isn't it? You're quite early."
The coachman was Theofrastos, the alchemist magician from the Guild, whom they had met in the conference room of the administrative building the day before. The muscular man sitting next to him was likely his blacksmith companion. As the carriage stopped behind the maids' carriage, people began to get out from the cargo area.
"Hello. Mr. Theofrastos, Mr. Alexander. May I ask the names of the others?"
Theofrastos stepped forward to introduce 3 people.
"Lady Sara, thank you so much for calling us today. This is my daughter Alicia and blacksmith Teresa. The rugged guy next to her is Teresa's cousin, Fran, who's also a blacksmith and the grandson of the creator of this distillation furnace."
"I see, so that's the connection."
Alicia and Teresa are 17 years old and childhood friends. Fran, Teresa's cousin, is 22 years old, 5 years older than them. After Teresa's father passed away, Fran started working under a different blacksmith and is desperately saving up to have his own workshop.
Next, Alexander stepped forward and introduced his disciple.
"This is Amelia, my assistant, who's 19 years old this year."
Sara bowed politely to them, saying, "Nice to meet you all. I'm Sara Grandchester. I look forward to working with you in the future."
"But I must apologize for suddenly calling you all here. I didn't think you'd come with your guardians, and I'm worried that I might have caused trouble, like a noble ordering you around."
"Don't worry about it, please. Teresa and I were waiting for your call every day, wondering when we could come."
"Yes, I was ready to come at any moment. And I said it was okay to come alone, but Fran insisted on coming along too."
"That's just like my dad. He's always saying, 'I can handle it alone,' but he's really excited to see Paracelsus's laboratory with his own eyes."
Alicia and Teresa replied, and Theofrastos and Fran started to panic beside them.
"You didn't have to say that, Alicia!"
"I was just worried about Teresa, that's all."
The girls laughed, and Alexander also replied.
"To be honest, I couldn't resist my curiosity and accompanied Amelia. After all, Paracelsus is a renowned figure in the field of pharmacy."
"I'm truly overjoyed to receive a summons from Lady Sara. In fact, Sir Alexander has even prepared a new robe for me, just in case I'm called to the castle. I'm deeply grateful for his consideration."
"It's an honor to be spoken to like that, but... what if you get the new robe dirty? We haven't used this room in years, after all."
Alexander chuckled at my words and replied, "Don't worry about it. If she gets it dirty, I'll just buy her another one."
'These 2 are really close, like a master and disciple... aren't they a bit too familiar?'
After that, Sara headed towards the tower door. Sara, who had requested that she give the tower a name due to its inconvenience, suggested "Experiment Tower" since it had a laboratory, but everyone opposed the idea, so she said, "Give me some time to think about it."
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