Volume 5 Chapter 47 Interlude , Part Physics and Chemistry
After parting ways with Luke and Cecilia, Randy filled his stomach at a local diner and headed back home with his reduced entourage of watchers.
He had dinner, took a bath, and now there was nothing left to do.
Nothing left to do.
That was a lie, of course.
As a student, his studies should have no end.
Though the exams were over, his performance was nowhere near the level of Liz or Catherine.
Reviewing what he'd done and going over his mistakes would make a big difference, but Randy just couldn't bring himself to do it.
...Well, if he could, he wouldn't have struggled so much during the exams in the first place.
Anyway, bored out of his mind, Randy stared blankly at the living room ceiling.
(As for the kotatsu, I can't just change it up however I want... Maybe there's something easy I can make instead?)
Boredom led him to the idea of making something.
That kind of thought process was very much like Randy.
(That's it. I'll try making that carbonated water I've always wanted.)
Randy clapped his hands, but it wasn't something that could be made so easily.
However, Randy only had vague knowledge about it.
With a "let's just try it" attitude, he quickly got to work.
"This should do, right?"
What he prepared was a cup, water, and a straw.
Let me say it again.
A cup, water, and a straw.
Such simplistic thinking.
Carbonated water is water with dissolved carbon dioxide.
With just that knowledge, he came up with the ridiculous idea: "If I blow air with a lot of carbon dioxide into the water really hard, wouldn't that make carbonated water?"
There were all sorts of problems with this, but the biggest one was the air he was exhaling.
The gas most abundant in exhaled air is nitrogen.
But the concept of "nitrogen" was completely missing from Randy's mind.
Perhaps it was the result of too much studying and the mental strain of recent events, but in Randy's brain, the overly simple equation "inhale = oxygen, exhale = carbon dioxide" was dominating.
And sadly, there was no one around to stop him.
And so the stupid experiment for idiots began.
In the kitchen, Randy poured water into a glass, stabbed a straw into it, and made bubbling sounds with "blub, blub."
That's when Randy finally realized something.
"...Don't spill it."
No, that's not the problem.
Before worrying about spilling, if he can actually make carbonation by exhaling──
"Maybe I should do this outside."
If it's going to spill, at least put a lid on it.
If he starts doing something like that outside, he'd look like a total weirdo.
But there was nothing to stop Randy, whose brain switch was completely turned off... and so on.
And with no one to stop him, Randy stood at the front door and began bubbling water in his glass.
It was quite a surreal sight.
A towering man over 190 centimeters, bubbling water under the dark, cold sky.
After a while, Randy noticed something and lifted his face.
The surveillance that had likely been watching him was now retreating at high speed.
"Alright, alright. The fool act worked perfectly."
They never would have imagined that the smiling Randy had such a plan... "I can at least think of putting a lid on it," said Randy, standing up.
Not that a lid would have solved anything, but muttering "so cold, so cold," Randy returned to the living room.
He immediately modified the glass by attaching a lid to it.
No, he used Craft to transform the glass into a sealed container.
The only opening was a hole for the straw, and the rest was seamlessly sealed.
Randy inserted the straw and took a deep breath.
The lung capacity of a man who fights dragons shattered the glass container into pieces—water and shards flying everywhere.
Randy got soaked.
A piece of glass slipped from Randy's hand and fell with a pathetic "plink."
For a while, Randy stood frozen.
Silently, he threw the straw into the trash bin.
Without a word, Randy mopped the floor and cleaned up the glass shards.
Then he flopped onto the sofa, muttering, "I'm never doing that again."
"Seriously... it broke."
Muttering under his breath, Randy rolled over and looked up at the ceiling.
"Man, I really want a carbonated drink."
In this world, there is ale, but it only has a slight carbonation from the fermentation process, and there's no artificial carbonation added.
While items like sweets, tea, and wine──things you'd expect in an otome game──are plentiful, drinks like ale, which are commoner's beverages, are completely lacking.
The slight carbonation that gets mixed in during the manufacturing process is released by the poorly sealed containers, so by the time it reaches you, it's mostly flat.
In such a world, there's no culture of drinking carbonated drinks and going "Ahhh!"... But as someone from the modern era, it's true that Randy craves carbonation.
"You gotta pump in carbon dioxide with insane pressure, huh?"
Randy muttered, and the fact that he chose his own lung capacity for that "insane pressure" was very much like him.
"Ah, I see. Glass containers probably can't handle it."
Clapping his hands, Randy pulled out a shining silver metal from the magic bag he'd tossed on the desk──not the usual lump of iron, but mithril, the go-to fantasy metal.
Recently, his crafting skills had improved, and even with his limited magical power, he could now work with mithril, so he'd replaced the iron with it.
The reason was simple: mithril was resistant to corrosion.
Since it was a versatile material, introducing a corrosion-resistant one was inevitable.
Randy transformed a part of that lightweight yet sturdy mithril block into a container and returned to the kitchen to grab a new straw.
He filled it with water, sealed the container, and inserted the straw.
Everything was ready.
He still thought he could manage with just his lung capacity, but at least his determination was commendable.
Randy took a deep breath and blew into the container with all his might.
Pleased that the container didn't budge, he blew into it again. Over and over.
After blowing into it for a while, Randy opened the lid and poured the contents into another cup.
"Huh, it's a little fizzy... maybe?"
It was probably just his imagination.
If carbonated water could be made this easily...
"Ah, maybe it's a bit over my throat..."
...it's possible to make it, apparently.
What an absurdly high lung capacity.
No, if he calms down and think about it, it's just his silly imagination that makes him think "it's like that" and he's enjoying the fizzy sensation of soda water.
Anyway, to actually make it, there's no doubt that high-concentration carbon dioxide and stable high pressure are necessary.
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