Chapter 147 - 147 New Product Candidates
Steve was presenting ideas for new products to Nick, Cyril, and Ellie. Christina was also standing next to Steve. Since they had discussed this new product together, she knew everything about it and wasn't surprised.
"This is a product called a music box."
Saying that, he wound the mainspring, the drum rotated, the pins flicked, and sound came out, starting to play a tune. It was what you would call an organ. However, since Steve didn't have absolute pitch, it was something like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star with a vague feeling, so he wasn't sure if calling it a "tune" was appropriate.
The three of them looked at it and each gave their impressions.
"Young master, this uses quite a few molds."
Nick smiled while imagining the molds. In his head, he was taking apart the music box in front of him into individual parts, thinking about what manufacturing methods and molds would be needed to build it.
Having absolutely no interest in the tune itself was very much like Nick.
On the other hand, Cyril was looking at the mechanism.
"I know of similar mechanisms that strike bells to make sound, but I haven't seen one that uses metal pins to flick and make sound. Is the power source a spring?"
"It's a mainspring."
"A mainspring?"
The name "mainspring" (zenmai-bane) was given because it resembles the fiddlehead fern (zenmai). To Cyril, who didn't know about mainsprings, the term "mainspring" didn't quite click.
Steve noticed this and rephrased it.
"We use a spiral-shaped spring to move it."
"Can you show us the inside?"
"Alright, I'll reproduce it."
Saying that, Steve used magic to create and reproduce the mainspring. The mainspring is a spiral spring on its own, and when combined with gears, it becomes a power source.
Cyril, who was observing the mainspring intently, fell silent.
Then Ellie picked up the music box and gazed at it.
"If we're going to do this, can't we make the dolls move too? Also, I want to focus on the box design."
"If you fix the dolls to the gears, you can rotate them. Leave the design to me."
"If the dolls can move, let's move dolls that look happy or sad depending on the tune."
"In that case, we'll have to hire a composer."
"Why doesn't the president compose it himself?"
Ellie thought Steve could compose. After all, the tune played by the music box was Steve's original work, so she thought that. Steve, who had taken credit for Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in a world without Mozart, couldn't possibly compose, so that was rejected.
"I can't do it. I just happened to come up with a tune and tried making a music box, but if I have to compose many, I'll have to ask a specialist."
"Do you have a contact for a composer?"
"No. Ideally, I'd like to turn tunes used in puppet shows into music boxes and expand merchandise sales."
"There aren't any short tunes that end in one rotation, are there?"
"That's right. The longer the tune, the bigger the drum gets."
"In that case, how about incorporating this tune into a puppet show? Let's think of lyrics too."
"In that case, it seems doable."
In Steve's head, he was singing the lyrics to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
"Let's leave the music box for now; next is sugar candy."
Saying that, Steve pulled a paper bag out of his subspace. Coming out of that paper bag was a thin stick-shaped snack with a vanilla scent. It was Cigarette Ramune, as known in Japan.
The three of them and Christina took it and tried eating it. For Christina, she just wanted to eat it because it was delicious, and she had already tasted it many times.
"Young master, this is delicious."
"It's a lump of sugar, after all."
Ramune ingredients aren't just sugar; they also contain starch, so they lose to pure sugar, but even then, it's too sweet. This Ramune fully reproduced that moderate sweetness that was popular with children.
"So, how did you make this?"
"I kneaded the ingredients and pressed them with a mold called the upper pestle and lower pestle. It's a snack, but the manufacturing method looks like an industrial product, right?"
Saying that, Steve took the upper and lower pestles out of subspace and held them in his hand to move them around.
"I see. So you press them with a mold of this shape. Can we apply the mosquito coil method to kneading the sugar too?"
"It's not exactly the same, but I think it might be possible. The downside is that the purchase price of sugar is high, so the selling price will have to be set high too. In that case, it won't be a product where you sell a lot of units."
Sugar refining hadn't been industrialized yet, and due to the small production volume, sugar in the Kingdom of Cascade was quite expensive compared to Japanese standards.
Since raw material costs are passed directly to the product price, even if they made Ramune candy, it wouldn't be a price children could afford.
"Pressing sugar to solidify it is interesting. I'd like to list it as a research target. However, the priority level drops significantly in the current situation."
Cyril explained that the priority at the Royal Research Institute would be low. When asked if it was something worth researching even with the national budget, the answer was weak. That was why it could be said that House Archibalt could monopolize its production.
Steve himself wanted research done on the mass production of sugar refining and didn't think Ramune research was necessary.
Ellie was eating the Ramune in silence. At first, she was holding back out of consideration for Christina, but now that consideration was gone, and she was in a tug-of-war with Christina over the Ramune.
Steve thought this might be a bit tough for commercialization.
So, he moved on to explaining the next new product. Next, Steve pulled out a match.
He took a match out of the box and struck it to light it.
"Is this magic?"
Cyril asked excitedly while looking at the match flame.
Steve answered with a smile.
"This is also science. We are burning phosphorus."
Matches utilize the low ignition point of phosphorus. White phosphorus has a low ignition point and ignites at around 44°C, making it dangerous, but red phosphorus ignites at 260°C, so red phosphorus is used in the striking head. When lighting it, you just need to apply heat through friction to reach that temperature.
Not only in the Kingdom of Cascade, but on the continent, fire-starting meant flint. Other than that, it was only fire-starting by mages.
"Young master, does this mean you can easily light a fire even without magic?"
"Yes. Want to try? Hold the stick, press the swollen head part against the brown part of the box, and rub it hard."
Nick did as he was told, and the striking head ignited.
"Oh, it caught fire. Moreover, the wood is burning slowly. I thought it would burn all at once."
"Wood is easy to burn, but the burning speed is fixed."
Wood is often thought to be easy to burn and turn to charcoal quickly, but actually, the burning speed isn't that fast. Depending on the moisture content, it's about 0.6mm per minute. If it burns too quickly, the striking head will fall off immediately, increasing the risk of causing a fire.
Just as the flame reached the stick, before Nick could hold it any longer, Steve created water and extinguished it.
Cyril grabbed Steve's shoulders and shook him violently back and forth.
"When this is mass-produced, our lives will change completely."
"Fire is the root of life, just like water."
Even while dizzy from the violently shaking view, Steve answered that.
"For now, I'm the only one who knows how to create red phosphorus, but I think if we research it, we'll be able to make it in a factory."
"Please tell us the ingredients of this medicine. I think the budget will be approved immediately at the Royal Research Institute."
"It will be our monopoly until the research bears fruit."
"That's right. Once they know this, the military won't stay silent. Before supplying to civilians, the military will place a large order to secure the numbers."
"That's likely. It takes time to make automated machines, so maybe we should do business with the military first, even at a certain high price."
Since they couldn't automate match production like in modern Japan, the daily production number was limited. Since the unit price was determined by the daily production number, it was difficult to provide matches at a price commoners could afford.
However, if it was the military, they could purchase it as long as a budget was set. Even weighing convenience against cost, convenience won for matches.
"So, these are the three products. Which one do you think should be commercialized?"
When Steve asked, Nick chose Ramune, Cyril chose Matches, and Ellie chose the Music Box; their opinions were divided.
The reason Nick chose Ramune was because it was delicious. The reason Ellie didn't choose Ramune was because she didn't want to make others eat it. Despite having the same impression of "delicious," the difference in feeling resulted in this outcome.
Cyril had no choice but Matches. Regarding other products, he knew what could be done through his past dealings with Steve, and they weren't particularly research targets, but Matches offered new research material.
This was definitely a case that should be reported to the Royal Research Institute.
Regarding Matches, JIS Standards stipulate safety matches, with detailed regulations on stick dimensions, box dimensions, and inspection methods. Steve didn't know this.
With the three opinions divided, Christina proposed a solution.
"In that case, let's prioritize commercializing Matches first, have Ellie design the Music Box which Steve-sama will create with magic, and sell it as a high-priced product to nobles. For Ramune, how about Nick making molds as a stress reliever and selling it only to employees?"
Christina's proposal was accepted by everyone. Only Ellie opposed the sale of Ramune. Steve had thought about providing it at a loss as part of employee welfare, but Christina, being on the management side, intended to eat the Ramune she made without buying it.
Thus, the policy was decided.
Cyril would immediately create a report on the Matches. Nick would start staffing the Match production line and creating standard work sheets. Ellie would handle the Music Box design.
And Steve decided to teleport to the Kingdom of Merda with Christina. The Kingdom of Merda was famous as a production area for vanilla used in Ramune. Although samples were using items circulating within the Kingdom of Cascade, buying a consolidated amount directly from the Kingdom of Merda would be cheaper. However, since he still intended to sell only within his own territory, he had no intention of buying such a large quantity.
He came to visit his older sister and brother-in-law to negotiate this. Even though they were the King and Queen, a visit without an appointment could end in a wasted trip. But if it was a wasted trip, he had the mindset that he could just buy vanilla sold at the market and return. Since he could use teleportation magic, visiting foreign countries was casual.
Today, he was lucky enough to meet his older sister and brother-in-law. This was because Steve's visits often benefited his country's interests, so Sherry prioritized meeting Steve over other schedules.
"Hello, Your Majesty. And older sister."
"It's a sudden visit, but what's wrong?"
Sherry asked Steve, hiding her feelings of expectation.
"Actually, I want to regularly purchase vanilla pods."
"How much? And what will you use them for?"
"I plan to use them for flavoring snacks. I don't know yet how big of a business it will be, but in the future, I want to sell it on a large scale domestically."
Sherry did a fist pump in her heart. If Steve was planning to do business, she thought they should try it too.
"Understood. It's a request from my cute younger brother, so I'll secure a consolidated amount here. But as a return for cooperating, I should be allowed to taste what it is, right?"
"Of course."
Saying that, Steve took out Cigarette Ramune from subspace.
Since it was something Steve produced, Sherry ate it without going through a poison taster. The sweetness of sugar and the scent of vanilla spread in her mouth.
"It's quite sweet."
"We use a lot of sugar in the raw materials."
"Sugar? It's quite hard though. How did you solidify it?"
"We used a press machine to apply pressure. Ah, please rest assured that we didn't use machine oil."
"Do you intend to sell this?"
"That's right. I thought about targeting children, but since sugar is expensive, I don't think it will become a business yet. It's a bit lacking for targeting adults. It's delicious, though. So, I was thinking of selling it to the citizens within my territory. It will be a deficit, though."
Hearing that, Sherry was disappointed. Indeed, it didn't seem profitable. It was delicious, but the appearance was weak as a product. The cost was high for that. So, she decided to handle it by leaving a lot of Ramune there.
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