Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Genius of Invention

Just because I received an introduction letter from Mr. Henry, I couldn't go straight to the Royal Society.

Because early 20th-century London didn't have fast communication means like phones or email. An era when even the common wired telephone was a luxury item.

To contact, there was no choice but letters again.

I sent a letter to the Royal Society with Joe. Considering the slow administrative speed I thought a reply would take at least 2 weeks, but unexpectedly an immediate reply came.

The content was to visit this weekend right away.

The place was Burlington House on Piccadilly. A place more than about 3 miles away from Lombard Street where my restaurant is.

If walking it would take over 3 hours, and I would have to transfer the omnibus (*Omnibus, public shared carriage) several times to arrive.

"No, but... why is it so complicated?"

The omnibus routes weren't intuitive and the transfer points were all different so it was confusing. The distance between each stop was so far that just walking was better.

The moment I was thinking of just catching a passing carriage out of necessity�

Clang clang.

A metallic bell sound pierced my ears.

"You, where are you going? If the direction is the same I'll give you a ride!"

Looking back, an old gentleman with a stylish white beard was driving a car spewing pitch-black exhaust and standing.

The driver was a familiar face. A regular customer who frequently comes and goes to my restaurant.

A person who grows a chin beard enough to cover the neck and stylishly attaches a Kaiser mustache like that was rare even in London.

This grandfather clearly recognized me and stopped.

"Hello? I'm Jean-Paul Durand. Um, what is your name?"

"William Crookes. You can call me Lord Crookes."

Oh, he even has a knighthood. I really didn't know!

[ William Crookes: The chef of Chicken and Chips? / Emotion: Joy / Satisfaction: ★★★★★ ]

Seeing the star rating full, he clearly just came out of my restaurant. The name is somehow familiar, have I seen it somewhere?

By the way, a car in this era! How rich is he?

"I'm going to Piccadilly, Lord Crookes. By any chance if you're going to St. James's Street or Regent Street, can you give me a ride that far? I'm trying to go to the Royal Society."

"Hehe, why not? Get in. Since it's been a while I'll just give you a ride to Piccadilly."

"Thank you."

Bow.

I quickly climbed into the passenger seat. Riding such a vintage car was the complete first time combining previous and current life so I was excited.

But that excitement soon disappeared. Because the suspension was too bad and the road impact was transmitted directly to my butt.

I kept screaming inwardly!

"How is it? Isn't it cool? I saw it at the German exhibition last year, liked it and bought it right away. It's the Mercedes 35 HP model from Daimler! A 4-cylinder engine of a whopping 35 horsepower and the top speed is even 50 miles per hour (about 85 km)!"

"Ah, yes, yes. Ugh!"

The Ferrari I rode in my previous life was 1,000 horsepower with an 8-cylinder engine, top speed 200 miles (350 km per hour)?

"Look at this! Isn't it enormously fast? Every time it runs the wind lashes the face! But this car, the leaf spring..."

How on earth am I supposed to respond to this?

This grandfather was quite a talkative person more than I thought. It seemed he was a similar type to the Duke. A machine enthusiast.

I had no choice but to spend time listening to chatter on uninterested topics as the fare for a long time.

###

While doing that, I arrived at the Royal Society before I knew it.

I thought he would drop me off around here, but it was a free pass from the front door. The front door manager quickly made way as soon as he saw the grandfather's face.

"What?"

It was the same at the reception desk at the entrance of the building. The staff only lightly nodded, and passed us without any particular procedure.

"...Ehh?!"

While climbing the floors in a flustered state, before I knew it I had arrived at the coolest room and was drinking black tea with Lord Crookes.

"Didn't you know? I'm the president of the Royal Society, the chairman of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the president of the Academy, and the founder of the weekly journal 'Chemistry,' William Crookes."

"Uh... I really didn't know. I'm sorry, Lord Crookes."

"Hehe, it's fine. I already noticed that you didn't know me. I played a little prank. I'm also famous for first discovering thallium and making electron observation equipment! Thanks to that I even received a knighthood from Her Majesty the Queen! People must definitely remember, a great scientist like me!"

So, this rich grandfather with titles hanging all over and self-esteem piercing the sky is the most successful scientist in Britain right now?

If he didn't get the academy president title through politics, this person is clearly a tremendous inventor and a highly renowned scholar.

Such a person frequently came and went to my restaurant yet I didn't notice at all...

'Well, I wasn't interested from the start.'

Even in my previous life I lived with a wall against science. There's no way it would change in early 20th-century London Britain.

"By the way, that friend Henry is quite inconsiderate. I requested so much to set up a meeting appointment with you, but he refused and only arranged it now!"

"...Yes?!"

It's a statement I don't understand somehow?

"I've been visiting once every two or three days since your restaurant's opening. This is a bit disappointing. I'm a big fan of your Chicken and Chips. So I asked that friend Henry to definitely let me meet you."

...Mr. Henry! You deceived me! Even if I came empty-handed it was a sufficient free pass!

"Ah, was that so? I don't know where to put myself."

"By any chance can you sign here? If possible let's take a photo together too! You, by any chance aren't following that superstition that if you take a photo your soul gets sucked in, right? That's a very unscientific thought!"

"..."

Anyway, I had to clearly convey my purpose to this famous scientist too. Since I've come this far, I should get what I want and go.

A refrigerator, or something similar! As long as I can escape the icebox anything was fine!

"Cooling technology? Ah, the process of compressing gas to liquefy it and releasing heat while vaporizing? Hmm, there are those challenging it. As far as I know that friend Karl von Linde of Germany is the most ahead. I've seen it too."

"Is that so?! By any chance can I obtain that machine?!"

"The machine alone is several tens of feet and needs a large room? It's technology that cools an entire room."

...Oh. It was a cold storage warehouse, not a refrigerator.

As expected, a refrigerator was still impossible in this era.

Is there really no hope? Should I stop here? I asked Lord Crookes if there was another method.

Along with tremendous praise of British science history!

"Hmm... Then, as the president of the Royal Society I'll specially permit you to view the archive (*Archive, record storage). Originally a place only academy members can access, but seeing your passion for the latest science and technology I'll specially allow it! You can go directly and search whether there's the content you want! Here, the pass!"

"Really thank you, Lord Crookes!"

While holding Lord Crookes and diligently flapping my mouth, before I knew it I had become a fervent apostle of science from a science disbeliever.

But is it my illusion that some light seems to be coming out of this grandfather's eyes?

"By the way, you also thought that the nebulae floating in that sky are giant structures like our galaxy, right? Amazing, it's the latest theory I haven't announced yet, how on earth did you know that?!"

"Uh... Wait a moment, it's absolutely not something I'm confident about! It's just imagination!"

I was afraid that carelessly blurting out something that surpasses the scientific theories of this era might change history, so I carefully talked only about common sense I knew, but it seems I made a mistake somehow.

"What? You, looking now you're even humble! Among my disciples there was no one with that level of intuition! By any chance don't you want to look at the astronomy paper I'm writing now together and give some ideas?!"

If I talk more here it seems something really big will happen. In the end I chose the thirty-six stratagems of fleeing.

"I have a lot of work so I'll go now! Thank you really for the pass!"

"Wa-wait! I'll even share my beloved tea leaves!"

Tea is fine, please!

Black holes, relativity theory, even the Big Bang, astronomy common sense that anyone modern knows was no different from a scientific cheat key in this era. So I must be careful with my mouth. Especially here even more!

I shook off Lord Crookes's hand that was holding me and hurriedly escaped outside!

The place I arrived like that was the record storage of the Royal Society.

According to Lord Crookes's explanation, the legacies of scientists whose names alone are recognizable such as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Benjamin Franklin are living and breathing here.

But what I'm looking for is not their legacies but the journals of the recent 10 years. And if by any chance there are unpublished research records on cooling technology, that too!

Rustle rustle.

"This isn't it either, that isn't it either."

Checking wasn't that difficult. As befitting a library made by scientists, most materials had abstracts and tables of contents well organized.

"Liquefaction? No, this is also just a method of freezing ice with ammonia."

Is there really no small portable refrigerator technology that can keep contents cold for a long time?

I thought obtaining a refrigerator in 1901 Britain was like picking stars from the sky, but to be this hard!

I searched for about three more hours like that but... in the end I couldn't find anything. Really.

What remained were only various papers on thermodynamics. No one had thought of developing this into a practical refrigerator.

British bastards, they boast so much about being the world's strongest nation, yet they didn't even think of making one refrigerator?!

I looked around the materials piled like a mountain in front of me.

It seemed like important information was hidden somewhere, but I was hungry so I had no strength at all. In the end, I had no choice but to hold my empty stomach and come out of the library.

"Hm...?"

Then, the sound of people gathering and murmuring was heard from afar. All grandfathers who looked stubborn and sharp like doctors. And in their conversation, a name too familiar that I shouldn't miss entered my ears.

"Nikola Tesla is here...?"

Nikola Tesla! Somehow out of the blue, but a very welcome name!

The greatest genius inventor of America in this era that a modern person absolutely can't not know!

Could the private seminar Mr. Henry mentioned be that kind of talk of inviting Mr. Tesla from America?

Wait. If he's an inventor that smart he might give a good idea about a refrigerator!

I failed in the record storage, so this time I absolutely can't miss it!

Let's somehow flap my mouth and draw interest.

A super-large double-door refrigerator left in modern times flickered before my eyes. I quickly pushed through the people and dug in.