Chapter 23: Iron Pots and White Sugar

"The shape is curved, with a thin layer of iron around the edges. It will be placed over a fire for cooking..."

"In short, the iron pot I'm talking about looks roughly like this." Bruno handed over a hastily drawn sketch.

The blacksmith carefully took the blueprint from Bruno's hands and studied it. "I can make it, my lord, but it will take some time..."

"Make it as soon as possible. If it's done well, you'll be rewarded."

"Thank you, my lord," the blacksmith said gratefully.

Bruno took a sip of the grape wine brought by Lister. The taste was decent, slightly dry, much like the wine from Earth.

However, Bruno had never been fond of the dry taste of grape wine—he preferred strong and rich liquor, which was much more satisfying to drink.

That thought reminded him of the sugar beet roots he had seen in the kitchen earlier.

Why not take advantage of the free time now and try making sugar?

Sugar beets weren't widely grown in Idar Territory, but there were some. People generally treated them as a regular vegetable, using them to make beet soup.

After all, even on Earth, sugar production from sugar beets appeared much later than sugar production from sugarcane.

Unlike salt, which was an essential commodity, white sugar in this world was a complete luxury, enjoyed only by the noble class.

As far as Bruno knew, in this world, sugar could only be obtained through harvesting wild honey or extracting it from sugarcane.

However, there was no sugarcane in the eastern part of the Norman Empire. In fact, as far as Bruno could remember, there wasn't a single sugarcane plantation in the entire Norman Empire.

If the great nobles wanted sugar, they had two options: send people to the wild to search for natural honey, or import it from the Norman Empire's southern neighbor, the Basel Kingdom.

The Basel Kingdom, located southeast of the Norman Empire and not far from Idar Territory, was a major producer of sugarcane and exported large amounts of sugar to the Norman Empire every year.

Because of this, sugar prices remained extremely high.

"Lister, have someone gather all the sugar beets from the kitchen... No, never mind. I'll go there myself."

The count's sudden visit made the castle's cooks nervous again, though not as much as before—they were at least no longer scrambling in panic.

When they learned that the count had come for sugar beets, they let out a sigh of relief and quickly brought out all the beets they had stored in the kitchen.

"This many?" Bruno was surprised as he looked at the large pile of sugar beets in front of him.

"My lord, sugar beets are very cheap, so we always keep a lot in stock."

"That makes things easier. Get started right away juice all these beets for me."

"Juice them?"

"Yes." Bruno nodded.

Juicing itself wasn't difficult since the kitchen already had the necessary equipment. The real challenge was juicing such a large quantity. But since it was an order from their lord, the cooks and servants threw themselves into the task, determined to finish it no matter what.

The kitchen was soon bustling with activity. Some people washed the beets, others operated the juicing machine, and before long, streams of red beet juice flowed from the equipment.

Next came the filtering and heating process. Bruno used fine cloth normally reserved for straining liquids, repeating the process several times until the beet juice became thick and syrupy.

He scooped up a small spoonful and tasted it. The flavor wasn't great, but it did have a faint sweetness.

"Try it," Bruno said, motioning to Lister.

Lister carefully scooped up a spoonful and took a sip. His eyes widened. "It's sweet! This is sweet!"

The surrounding servants also stared in shock. Was this... sugar water?

So sugar beets contained sugar after all?

Their lord's ideas were becoming more and more unpredictable...

However, what they had produced so far was just raw brown sugar. It didn't have the refined taste or appearance of white sugar.

On Earth, active carbon was commonly used to purify sugar. But in reality, charcoal or even clay could serve as substitutes.

Although it was winter, and the castle needed firewood for warmth, there was no charcoal stored in the castle—after all, burning charcoal inefficiently could release toxic gases.

If they needed charcoal, they would have to fetch some from the blacksmith's workshop. But Bruno was impatient and didn't want to wait, so he ordered someone to bring in a pile of clay and dumped it into the thick sugar syrup.

The servants exchanged puzzled glances. Why would their lord ruin perfectly good brown sugar water with dirt? It seemed like such a waste...

However, as they stirred the mixture, the deep red color of the sugar water gradually faded, becoming clearer.

Once the sediment had settled, they began filtering the liquid again, removing all the clay.

After several rounds of filtering, what remained was a clear sugar syrup.

The next step was simple—boiling it down over low heat.

But at this moment, Bruno suddenly realized a serious problem: his iron pot was still not ready!

Looking at the clear sugar syrup, Bruno felt like crying.

But... his gaze swept across the kitchen. The ceramic pot they normally used for making soup... should work as a substitute, right?

The boiling process was long and tedious. Bruno didn't stick around the whole time. Instead, he assigned Liszt to supervise it while he returned to his study to organize books on magic.

By evening, Lister finally knocked on Bruno's door.

"My lord, the white sugar is ready!"

Bruno rushed downstairs excitedly, only to find that Old Ford was already there, along with a group of servants gathered around a table, marveling at the sugar.

"My lord."

As soon as Bruno arrived, Old Ford couldn't hold back his curiosity. "This white sugar... it really came from those sugar beets?"

"Of course."

"Move aside, let me see what my own hands have created," Bruno said, pushing through the crowd of servants.

On the table, a small pile of white sugar had been gathered.

Bruno picked up a bit with his fingers and tasted it. Not bad—it was the familiar sweet taste.

"How much did we get?"

"A little over two pounds."

"That little? Did you all steal some?" Bruno asked. He distinctly remembered using an entire barrel of beet juice.

"This is quite a lot already, my lord. To get this much sugar is actually impressive," Old Ford explained, defending the nervous servants.

As they spoke, Bruno grabbed another pinch of sugar and put it in his mouth.

"My lord..."

Old Ford looked distressed and quickly wrapped the sugar in paper to protect it.

"This sugar can be exchanged for many valuable goods. You should eat less of it, my lord."

"What's there to worry about? Now that we have a method to make sugar, we won't run out in the future! In fact, while I have some free time in the next few days, I plan to personally oversee the construction of a sugar refinery."