Chapter 31 Cleaning And Exploration
The front door of the tower's main entrance was rusted and wouldn't budge, even when we turned the key. It just made a scraping sound. The guys tried to push it together, but it seemed like the old wooden door would break instead, so Fran brought out a toolbox from the carriage and removed the door hinges to fix it. He said he'd repair it later too.
The spacious entrance hall was empty, without any furniture. Although it was an old building, it had glass windows and wooden shutters. The shutters might need to be replaced, but for now, there were no broken windowpanes.
"The distillation furnace is supposed to be in one of the laboratories, but there are multiple labs, so I'm not exactly sure where it is. The document room and library are on the third floor, and Paracelsus's bedroom is on the same floor. The living room and dining room are on the second floor, and the kitchen is on the first floor, I think."
Eliza the maid took out a copy of the tower's floor plan and began explaining while looking around.
"Do you think there's a servants' quarters?" Teresa asked, and Eliza checked the plan before answering, "It seems that the 4th floor and above are assigned to the servants."
Sara also peeked at the plan after hearing that.
"Ah, there's a bathroom too."
"There's one bathroom for the master on the second floor, and 2 bathrooms for the servants in the basement. They're probably separated by gender. And there are 5 guest rooms, each with a small dressing room and bathroom."
We didn't call them 5 rooms because each room has a bedroom, living room, and small rooms for maids and attendants.
"Why don't we take a look around in order?" Rebecca suggested.
"Then, we'll start cleaning. If there's a room you'd like to prioritize, please let me know," Eliza replied. Maria was also part of the cleaning team today.
The maids quickly got to work. They opened the windows with a "thud, thud" sound and started taking out cleaning tools from the carriage, scattering them around the area. The coachman and the boy sitting next to him, who had come with the maids, each carried 2 buckets and headed towards the well to draw water. It seemed they were also part of the cleaning crew.
Fran, who had stepped out of the door, called out to Teresa, "Let me know when you find the distillation furnace," and began repairing the door.
'Everyone's working so efficiently!'
While glancing at the maids' work, Sara led Rebecca, 3 new friends, and 2 guardians without Fran to start exploring the tower.
Since the tower's interior was quite vast, they decided to head to the third floor, where the document room and library were located. The maids seemed to have anticipated this, as there were more people assigned to the third floor.
The ceiling was extremely high from the first to the third floor, making it a bit of a struggle to climb the stairs. However, as they ascended the gently curved staircase, the sunlight streaming through the windows created a beautiful, sparkling line.
'Wait! This is just dust sparkling in the sunlight!'
Upon closer inspection, it was clear that the maids and footmen were busily moving around, carrying out trash, and collecting worn-out curtains and linens that had deteriorated over time.
When they arrived at the third floor, Eliza came to report.
"Milady, the library and document room are connected inside. Rather, it seems the document room is a part of the library."
"That's true, categorizing documents, data, and books can be difficult."
As they entered the document room through the door, they saw rolled-up sheepskin papers carelessly stuffed onto shelves. There were also piles of books with wooden covers and tied with strings.
Bookshelves were built into the walls, and the partition between the document room and library went all the way up to the ceiling. There were small windows here and there for taking in natural light, but they were designed to prevent direct sunlight from hitting the bookshelves. Instead of candles, magic stone lamps were placed on the walls and ceiling, likely allowing for reading and writing even at night.
The lower part of the bookshelf on the north wall was a drawer, and when Sara pulled it out, she found many unused magic stones inside. There were also many mysterious specimens and samples scattered around, but she had no idea what they were just by looking at them.
"What are these specimens like, Mr. Theofrastos, Ms. Alicia?"
"These are mineral samples. It seems like there are even meteorites mixed in," Theofrastos replied, and Alicia, who was standing next to him, said, "Father, there are fossils over here."
Teresa also chimed in, "This is adamantite. You rarely see ones this big," and was fascinated by the specimen shelf.
Even Theofrastos was sparkling with excitement, and if someone looked closely, Alexander and Amelia were also peeking at the specimen shelf, their eyes shining with interest.
"Is it really that interesting?"
Sara, who didn't have any specialized knowledge, couldn't quite follow their enthusiasm and decided to leave them behind, heading towards the library with Rebecca.
"Wow, this is...!"
Because the bookshelves were built into the walls separating the library and the data room, when she walked around to the other side, she was greeted by an breathtaking view.
The library was an open space that spanned from the second to the third floor, with many bookshelves reaching from the floor to the ceiling. On the second floor, she could see several doors. It was on a completely different scale from a normal library.
"Miss Rebecca, don't you think this is more like a library than a library room?"
"Yes, I think so too. It's even bigger than the library at our mansion."
"It's ridiculous to keep a place like this closed off."
The decorative pillars and built-in bookshelves had a rich, glossy finish from years of aging.
"What kind of wood do you think they used to make such beautiful pillars?"
When Sara touched them, they felt smooth to the touch, but since they hadn't been cleaned yet, her hand got dirty. She couldn't touch the books like this. She made a slight face, and a nearby maid promptly offered her a water jug and a washbasin.
"Milady Sara, please wash your hands here. We have handkerchiefs and gloves prepared for you as well."
"Thank you."
As they went down to the second floor and opened one of the doors, it seemed to be a laboratory. A large wooden workbench was placed in the center of the room, with experimental equipment on top. There was also a writing desk against the wall, with a bookshelf beside it, but there were no documents left.
"Maybe Paracelsus' documents weren't hidden, but just nobody bothered to organize them."
There were about 3 more rooms that looked like laboratories, and 2 of them had distillation furnaces. One of them looked like a simple distillation furnace, similar to a pot still, from Sarasa's world. It was about 2 meters tall (� 6.6 feet), but Sara couldn't tell what they were distilling. The other one looked like a small, complex steam distillation apparatus. Both of them seemed to be made of copper-like metal, but it would be better to have an expert take a look.
For now, Sara went back to the wide, open room and loudly announced to everyone, "I found a distillation furnace!"
Then, the 5 people from the document room moved to the library, looking around in surprise like Sara and Rebecca had earlier.
"This is amazing!" Alicia exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement. Amelia's eyes were also moist with emotion, saying "It's wonderful!" The 2 silent guardians also looked impressed, their breathing a bit rough.
However, Teresa was not only surprised by the library but also concerned about the distillation furnace. She wanted to tell her brother about it, so she shouted even louder than Sara, "Hey, Fran!!!! It seems they have a distillation furnace!"
There was a response, "I'm coming. What floor is it?"
Luckily, there was an exit on the second floor, so Sara opened the door and called out, "Mr. Fran, please come in from here. It's on the second floor."
These maids, having witnessed the exchange, seemed to have changed the priority order to the library and laboratory, and adjusted the personnel allocation. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that people who weren't usually in the office, including a manservant who wasn't there earlier, had been mixed in, and it was likely that they had called for help without anyone noticing.
Fran, who had arrived, gazed at the distillation furnace and said, "This needs maintenance, doesn't it? I'll disassemble it, take it back to the workshop, and clean and prepare it."
However, Teresa strongly opposed this.
"Just a minute, Fran. I'm the one Lady Sara entrusted with the distillation furnace job. Don't try to take it away from me!"
"This was made by my grandfather."
"That's irrelevant. Besides, Fran is my attendant, isn't he?"
'Ah, things are getting complicated.'
"Please, both of you, calm down. Since I originally entrusted the job to Teresa, I'll leave the distillation furnace work to her. Besides, don't you have other jobs, Mr. Fran?"
"See..."
"But Ms. Teresa, I think it's also important to hear the opinions of knowledgeable seniors. Why don't we take it to your father's workshop, and have Fran supervise your work?"
"I don't care! As long as I can see what happens to this distillation furnace with my own eyes, I'll be satisfied. And of course, I won't charge a fee."
"Of course, we'll pay Mr. Fran a supervision fee as well. Grandchester isn't stingy when it comes to rewarding craftsmen."
'There should be fair compensation for work, after all!'
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