Headway into the Microscopic World

Translator: Cinder Translations

...

After the knock on the door, a voice from inside called out, "Please come in."

Two female advisors pushed open the door and entered Paul's office, where they found the young Earl engrossed in manipulating something strange.

He was so focused that he didn't notice their arrival, not even lifting his head.

The odd object the Earl was handling resembled a cylindrical shape, seemingly made of metal. It was fixed on a base on the desk with two supports, and its structure appeared adjustable like a cannon for elevation. The front end of the metal cylinder tapered towards a transparent glass pane.

Paul had his eye pressed against the rear end of the metal cylinder, seemingly observing something inside it carefully.

"Earl Grayman!"

Eileen voiced her displeasure, "Ignoring two ladies like this is quite impolite."

"Oh... just wait a moment, I'll be done soon. Hmm... the microorganisms from both worlds feel quite similar."

Paul spoke cryptically, leaving the two female advisors puzzled.

Soon he lifted his head, excitedly saying, "You've arrived at the perfect moment! Come and see my latest creation— the microscope."

"What strange contraption is this?"

"It's a device that magnifies objects on the glass pane in front several hundred times. Through this microscope, you can see a microscopic world you've never experienced before."

The lens maker whom Paul had spared no expense to hire had finally lived up to expectations, having finely ground lenses suitable for early microscopes.

Initially, the results were disappointing due to the roughness of the ground lenses. However, as the lens maker continued to refine his technique, assisted by a batch of apprentices who joined the experiments, the precision improved steadily. Finally, they achieved convex lenses that Paul found satisfactory.

Fortunately, glassmaking technology in this world was already quite mature; otherwise, figuring out how to manufacture high-quality glass would have been a headache.

After countless trials and tribulations, Paul and the lens makers assembled a "microscope." It remained to be seen how it compared to the early microscopes invented by Leeuwenhoek.

TL Note: Antonie van Leeuwenhoek - the Father of the Microscope.

Eileen approached the desk, mimicking Paul by peering into the rear end of the tube.

"Ugh..."

Eileen made a disgusted sound and quickly turned her head away.

Her eyes widened in shock as she glared at Paul. "Are you mocking me, Paul Grayman?"

Finally, she almost spat out Paul's name, syllable by syllable, through gritted teeth.

However, Paul just smirked mischievously at her.

"What's going on?" Ladia tugged on her friend's sleeve. Despite knowing the Earl for so long and understanding he was a generous man, addressing him in such a tone as a colleague seemed somewhat out of line.

"Take a look; he put some disgusting worms in this cylinder to scare us."

"Miss D'Arshi" said angrily.

Ladia leaned over to take a look and was also startled.

Inside, there were some small "bugs". Although their specific appearance couldn't be seen clearly due to their tiny size, they were constantly moving and wriggling, indicating that they were alive.

"Earl, sir?" She suppressed her discomfort and turned her questioning gaze towards Paul, tinged with slight reproach.

Paul immediately put on a look of innocence, shrugging. "You've got me all wrong. I didn't deliberately find bugs to scare you, and they aren't even inside this metal cylinder; they're right here."

Paul pointed to the glass slide in front of the microscope.

Both female advisors looked together, but besides a smudge of water, there was nothing on the glass slide.

"There's nothing on it!"

"Think back to what I just said. You can see a 'microscopic world' you've never experienced."

"A 'microscopic world'? Are you saying their bodies are so small that we can't see them with our eyes and need your 'microscope' to see them?"

"Miss D'Arshi" asked aloud, her scholarly curiosity overpowering her earlier anger.

"That's right. The microscope works by refracting light through two convex lenses."

"Convex lenses?"

"The telescopes you've used before also have convex lenses, and the magnifying glass we used as children to burn ants is also a type of convex lens."

"I never had such vulgar and malicious hobbies as a child."

"Oh... sorry."

They carefully examined the microscope. Indeed, besides the lens at the back, there was also a very small lens at the front end resembling a cone.

Paul explained, "The front lens, because it faces the object being observed, I call it the 'objective lens', and the lens at the back, because it faces the eye, I call it the 'ocular lens'."

Ladia asked him, "How did you get these little bugs onto this glass slide?"

"Little bugs? I think calling them 'microorganisms' is more appropriate—tiny organisms invisible to the human eye. As for how I got them onto this glass slide, I just dipped it in some water."

Because most microorganisms, including bacteria, are transparent, observing them directly with an optical microscope is not easy; it requires staining to distinguish them more clearly. However, he couldn't yet produce artificial stains like methylene blue or fuchsin, so he relied on natural dyes like gentian violet and safranin, with the help of alchemists recruited from the capital to solve this problem.

"I see." The two scholars nodded, taking turns to use the microscope to observe again.

"There are still many things in this world that we don't know!"

"Seeking diligently to explore these unknown mysteries is our duty."

The two scholars whispered to each other.

Suddenly, they realized something.

"Are you saying... this was just a drop of random water..." Ladia's usually composed face showed a hint of horror.

"This means... the water we use for washing every day..." Eileen's tongue began to tremble.

"Hehehe!" Paul smirked mischievously, "Congratulations on discovering the truth of this world."

"Ah—"

*Clang!*

With a scream echoing through the Lord's mansion, a large group of guards and Chief Secretary Bern burst in.

As soon as they entered, they demanded loudly, "Assassin! Is there an assassin?"

But all they saw were two advisors with green faces and a Earl who looked like he was enjoying a joke.

Paul waved his hand to explain, "Gentlemen, nothing has happened. I was just discussing some matters about small life with these two lady advisors."

"Matters about small life? With ladies... or with these two beautiful ladies?"

As they marveled at how the young Earl had grown up, their faces bore a knowing expression as they left the room.

"Ladies, there's nothing to worry about. As long as we don't drink raw water, these little things won't harm our bodies. Plus, I've discovered that boiling water kills them."

Seeing the two female advisors so frightened, Paul reassured them.

The fact that boiling water kills them firmly stuck in the minds of the two female advisors.

(End of the Chapter)