Around the time Jin began conceptualizing a flying golem, Elsa and Saki had embarked on a new endeavor of their own: the development of "blood products."
In modern Japan, the term "blood product" serves as a collective designation for pharmaceuticals manufactured primarily from "human" blood; the blood of magical beasts would never fall under its scope.
However, since there were no magical beasts on Earth to begin with, Elsa—fully aware of its original definition—reasoned that there was no harm in using the terminology on Planet Ars.
In other words, it was simply a pharmaceutical "product" "made" from "blood" as a raw material.
"Kufu, I see. Pursuing 'blood products,' huh? Sounds fascinating."
"I thought you'd say that, Saki-nee."
With that, the two immediately commenced their experiments.
"Have you left this completely untouched so far, Elsa?"
"I did work on some magical beasts in the past."
Back then, the subjects of Elsa's research had been the "Grandragon" and the "Sea Dragon."
In the case of the Grandragon, ethenol was infused with Healing magic to create recovery medicine, which had eventually become an export good for the Nord Federation.
"However, because they couldn't be hunted regularly, maintaining a stable supply proved impossible. So it seems it was never established as a true industry."
"We do have preserved blood from the Death Sea Serpent, though."
Collecting materials and preparing specimens was another of Saki's specialties.
"We have the Death Sea Serpent, Grandragon, Sea Dragon, and the Sham Dragon."
Since the samples were stored in a mana tank, their quality remained pristine semi-permanently.
Their plan was to use these specimens to re-examine the refining process from scratch.
Saki pointed out that these bodily fluids contained common components that allowed them to be classified as "blood."
"Red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, you see," Saki said, presenting the centrifuged blood samples.
Since no anticoagulant had been added, the separated fluid could be called serum.
As a side note, blood mixed with an anticoagulant and then centrifuged is referred to as plasma.
"We just need to centrifuge this serum at subsonic speeds, right?"
"Mm, that's right."
In the very beginning, separation had been achieved simply by having Reiko swing the samples around at high velocity, but now they had a dedicated machine for the task.
It was a subsonic centrifuge that spun at 200,000 revolutions per minute.
"Centrifuging it for five minutes with this should do the trick."
"Be careful, Saki-nee."
Because the rotor spun at subsonic speeds, any sample breach or structural failure would be catastrophic.
Consequently, the centrifuge body was crafted from 64 light silver and magically Reinforced during operation.
Additionally, it featured a double-layered adamantite outer casing and was equipped with a fail-safe that prevented it from running unless both lids were securely latched.
"Yeah, I'm being careful."
In stark contrast to her casual demeanor in daily life, Saki handled the setup with meticulous, steady hands. Her movements were entirely precise and showed no sign of recklessness.
Elsa felt completely at ease leaving the work to her.
Five minutes later, the drive powered down. It took another two minutes for the centrifuge, spinning on pure inertia, to finally glide to a complete stop.
"Did it work?"
Saki gleefully popped open the lid of the subsonic centrifuge.
"Oh, it separated properly....Elsa, over to you."
The blood had separated into a reddish-brown blood clot, a yellowish serum, and a layer of clear, transparent "ethenol."
"Mm....'Analyze.'"
Elsa checked each component.
"It has separated cleanly into the clot, serum, and ethenol. All that remains is determining the grade of this ethenol."
"Ooh, so it really did produce ethenol, then."
Although the Death Sea Serpent was considered inferior to true dragons as a magical beast, successfully yielding ethenol from it was quite a stroke of good fortune.
"Now then, let's extract just this ethenol first... and there."
Saki used a dropper to carefully transfer the ethenol into a beaker.
"Now we filter this..."
She passed the ethenol through "filter paper" made of fine paper. By repeating the process three times, even the tiniest remaining impurities were stripped away.
Through this, she obtained roughly 20 milliliters of ethenol derived from the Death Sea Serpent.
They temporarily sealed it in an airtight container and stored it inside a mana tank.
Next, she processed the blood of the Sham Dragon following the identical procedure, yielding about 25 milliliters of ethenol.
Once the Grandragon-derived ethenol was extracted as well, the experiment moved into its second phase:
investigating the qualitative differences among the various types of ethenol.
"Kufu, this is getting exciting."
Saki was raring to continue, but Elsa spoke in a calm, grounding tone.
"Saki-nee, let's wash our hands and have lunch."
"Ehh... Just a little more. Just a tiny bit."
Elsa firmly shook her head.
"No. If you say that, you'll end up skipping meals entirely, Saki-nee."
Right on cue, Enju 1 arrived and announced:
"Saki-sama, Elsa-sama, your meal is ready."
"Come on, Saki-nee....'Cleanup.'"
After cleansing their bodies and clothing with magic and washing their hands, the two headed over to the dining room.
Jin and Reinhard were already seated at the table.
"Hey, Elsa, Saki."
"Rai-nii, you're back?"
"Ah, yeah, just a little while ago."
Reinhard had been traveling incognito throughout the Shouro Empire.
"Some things have changed, and others haven't changed a bit."
While sharing a meal, Reinhard relayed his observations by way of an informal report.
Having served as a diplomat 400 years ago, Reinhard had traveled extensively both domestically and abroad.
"Take Lake Wasu, where Elsa's uncle used to be lord—it has a harbor now and has become quite bustling."
"...Uncle Barrows's domain?"
Barrows Richter von Alabas. He was the younger brother of Marlene, Elsa's foster mother.
A viscount, he had once ruled the lands surrounding Lake Wasu.
Though never blessed with children of his own, he had deeply doted on Elsa despite having no blood relation to her.
Eventually, he adopted an heir to ensure the succession of his domain.
"The Richter house still governs it today, so they must have carried on peacefully without any major upheavals over all these years."
"Mm, I hope so."
Since Jin had little to add to that particular subject, he turned to Saki instead.
"So, how's the research coming along?"
"Yeah, it's going fairly well....I actually wanted to keep going just now, but Elsa insisted that I had to eat first..."
"Well, she's entirely right."
Conveniently setting his own work habits aside, Jin gave Saki a stern look.
"You always prioritize research at the expense of eating and sleeping, don't you? Not to mention your total indifference toward your clothes and appearance."
"Kufu, that stings coming from you. Though I'd say you're just as guilty on that front, Jin."
"...A-Ah, well. That's why I've been making sure to listen to Elsa and Reiko's advice lately."
"Is that really something to be proud of...?"
"Ah, haha..."
A gentle spring breeze drifted across the island, and the sea remained peaceful beneath quiet waves.
All was tranquil on Hourai Island.