Erwin's Gray Powder

Mathew had a pensive look as he watched the stonemasons dig the ground, of the ten of them who had come, only three were working on Milton's new forge, while the rest of them were repairing the mine.

He still had to buy the materials for the construction of the forge, so most of the manpower was allocated to the mine, as all materials needed could be harvested from the village.

-" Sigh... Evan will be quite busy this week." Mathew shook his head as he thought about Evan's reaction to learning that he would have to travel once again.

Mathew watched the stonemasons work for a while longer, and was about to depart when Ronald and his disciple approached him.

-" So? What do you think?" Ronald let out a smile as he saw Mathew watching the foundation of the forge being built. "The new forge will be ready in no time, well... as long as the materials don't take too long."

-" Quite impressed, I wonder if I wouldn't be able to snatch some of them to work for me." Mathew grinned and turned to face Ronald. " I guess that you guys wouldn't take that too well, right?"

-" Well I wouldn't mind it if you can convince them." Ronald looked at Mathew with a curious face. " But, Jack may not think this way, he is quite attached to the workers, especially of those who came."

-" Well, it looks like this isn't a good idea then." Mathew let out a sarcastic laugh. " I bet if I tried something like this Jack would drop all the work and go back home without a single thought."

-" We spent two days here, and it looks like you already know Jack very well." Ronald smiled as he realized that the man already knew the answer and was just playing with him. "If you want, we can recommend guilds from other cities; Jack would be delighted if the competitors lost some works."

-" That works too I guess.." Mathew was quite interested in this idea, but, he had something else more pressing in his mind. " Can I ask you some questions?"

-" Some questions?" Ronald's face grew serious, for some unknown reason, he found Mathew quite difficult to read. " Feel free to ask anything."

-" You spoke about clay mortar, but, why not use cement?' Mathew wasn't sure if cement existed in this world or not, but, as a person from another world, he was quite interested in how advanced the technology of this world was.

-" Cement? I don't think I ever heard the name of this material..." Ronald closed his eyes and pondered what this cement could be. " All the binders that I have knowledge of are clay mortar and Aclaite mortar."

-" Aclaite mortar? Is this a gray powder?" Mathew was no engineer or genius, so hadn't any idea of how cement was made, only its basic materials.

-" Gray Powder?" Ronald gave a fleeting glance to Erwin, and quickly returned his attention to Mathew."No Aclaite Moter is a white clay-like substance, unfortunately, it's quite frail so it isn't that useful as a binder, but, many nobles use it as a coating for walls."

Matthew's face fell, getting cement would make building incredibly easy, but it appeared to be impossible to get for the time being. " Sigh... It looks like I will have to settle for clay..." Mathew looked towards the river not so far away from the village and hoped that the soil there could be used.

"Please excuse me, sir." Erwin gave a fearful look towards his master, and mustered the courage to speak, he always felt disappointed that the people around him didn't see the potential of his invention, and was quite surprised when the man mentioned the gray powder. " Does this cement thing transform into a type of mud after mixing with water?"

Mathew was deep in his thoughts as the boy spoke, causing him to jolt back to reality. " What did you say?" Mathew grew agitated as he looked at the boy, who seemed to know about cement. " Does this mud substance harden after some minutes?"

-" Yes! After hardening, it gains a rough feel to it." Erwin felt confused, he thought that he was the first person to create the substance, but, it looked like the man knew about it too. " Sir... Where did you hear about it?"

Mathew's face was serious, if the boy truly had cement, he was more valuable than the entirety of the stonemason guild, and there was no way that Mathew would let him go away. " I meet a bureaucrat that was interested in history, and he read about it in an old book." Mathew quickly made up a story and grabbed the boy's hands. " How did you make it? What was the process."

-" Coff! Coff! Please, calm down." Ronald was surprised by the development of the conversation, after all, he had seen the gray powder that the man talked about, and didn't think much of it. " Why don't we sit down to talk about this?" Ronald was quite interested in where this was going and decided to take part in the conversation as Erwin's master.

The three of them headed to the prefecture building, and sat down, each of them with a different expression on their face.

Mathew was overjoyed, while Erwin was perplexed and overwhelmed; he had always thought he was the first to discover the gray powder, and the man's words stunned him; Ronald, on the other hand, was perplexed because he didn't understand the powder's application.

-" So? How did you make the powder? Do you have it? Can you show it to me?" Mathew's barrage of questions made Erwin even more nervous, but, he still took out a small pouch and opened it.

-" Near my hometown village, there was a ———" Erwin was about to reveal the secrets of his powder when Ronald suddenly raised his hand and shouted.

-" Silence! Don't be a fool!" Ronald's face grew serious, it truly looked like Mathew had knowledge about this strange powder and its uses, and there was no way that Ronald would let his disciple tell its formula so easily. " What does Erwin has to gain by revealing it to you?"

Mathew gazed at Erwin with a stern expression. "Fulfillment, Fame, Power and Money." Mathew took a deep breath as he felt it was finally time to be a little harsher. " Frankly speaking, it looks like the cement he made wasn't complete, and only with me can he perfect its formula."

-" Only with you? What makes you so sure about this?" Ronald perked up his eyebrows as he heard Mathew's words. " Can't we study it after getting back?"

-" Well, of course, you can, but, there is little to no chance of it happening." Mathew was perplexed that they had something so precious, and didn't even pay attention to it. " Until now, you must have thought that this was just some useless powder, and showed no interest in it, and this is enough for him to know that his genius is not appreciated there."

Ronald was shocked by Mathew's words, but, there was no way to rebuke it, as everything that he said was true. " So? We're not capable of perfecting the formula just because of a few mistakes, right?"

-" No... You may perfect it, but, by this time, I will already have completed it." All Mathew needed was the confirmation that cement existed, as now he could use his resources to develop it, after all, he had all his knowledge about science from earth to help him. " Join me and prosper, or compete against me and fail... These are the two choices that you have."

Ronald and Erwin were startled by Mathew's conviction, and deep down the two of them felt that cooperating with him was the better choice.

-" Master? What should we do?" Erwin was quite compelled to join the man, but, he couldn't just decide without his Master's approval.

"This is your discovery and your decision... I will stand by whatever you choose." Ronald sighed, it wasn't right for him to use his disciple like this, and while he would like to go back and study with him, he knew that the support they would have in the guild would be little.

-"What about you? And the guild?" Erwin bit his lips in confusion, completely unsure what to do.

-" Erwin... You can't be daunted by these things; if Matthew is correct, this discovery could change everything." Ronald patted his disciple's head and closed his eyes. " The Maplehill Stonemason's guild may be a small place for someone like you."

Erwin looked at the ground and mustered the courage to speak his decision. -" I can join you, but, I need two things."

-" Oh? Don't worry, I will try my best to fulfill them." Mathew was relieved that the boy accepted his cooperation request, as he had kinda bluffed about mastering the recipe before them.

-" First thing is that I want for the Maplehill Stonemason guild to have access to the cement formula..." Erwin's first request shocked not only Mathew but, Ronald himself too, who grew emotional as the boy still thought about them. "And there is someone else who deserves credit because she assisted me."