The structure of a hot air balloon is far simpler than that of the Flying Airship; it only requires a huge gas bag and a basket, plus a burner that can emit flas, to form the entirety of a hot air balloon.
As for the fuel, Perfikot had a hole drilled into the ground and directly hand-crafted a set of devices to collect the gas leaking underground on-site, filling it into steel cylinders to serve as fuel for the hot air balloon.
Seeing Perfikot so effortlessly prepare the hot air balloon, everyone, though amazed, also felt it was only natural.
After all, given Perfikot’s reputation, it would be news if she couldn’t manage it.
And after getting everything ready, Perfikot began preparing for the aerial survey.
But she encountered an obstacle.
"No, Count," Samantha and other Imperial Guard Knights, who had co with Perfikot, stood in her way, preventing her from boarding the hot air balloon.
Though the security force by her side had been greatly enhanced because of the White Bear Knight Order ard by Perfikot, the incident where her belongings were stolen last ti still made the old butler and others feel that Perfikot’s security force was inadequate.
Especially in handling detailed matters, although Claudia claid to have experience protecting dignitaries, after she had made a mistake once, the old butler and others were not very confident in her close-guard capabilities.
Moreover, assassins are daggers hidden in the dark, while knights are the shields guarding in front.
So, after a round of debates and even contests, Perfikot’s personal security tasks were handed over to Samantha instead of Claudia.
Freed from the job of protecting Perfikot, Claudia was assigned a new task by her.
Now, as the knight protecting Perfikot, Samantha naturally had to prevent her from entering dangerous areas and attempting risky actions.
Coming to Death Valley itself was already a dangerous undertaking. If it weren’t for Perfikot insisting that only she could handle the situation here and Samantha feeling able to protect Perfikot from unexpected events, she would have stopped Perfikot long before departure.
And now, how could Perfikot herself board a hot air balloon, sothing that seed inherently unsafe?
Faced with Samantha’s hindrance, Perfikot frowned but did not persist too much, and after deliberation, she let a survey team mber skilled in cartography and a White Bear Knight take the hot air balloon to survey and draw the entire map of Death Valley.
She herself waited at the camp, considering how to proceed with the valley after they completed the survey.
Perfikot was already largely aware of the situation in Death Valley; her main interest in surveying the terrain and situation was curiosity about the valley and a desire to find the oil exposed on the surface.
However, from the current situation, there might be no natural oil gushers.
The reason why Perfikot judged there might be oil here was that she detected hydrogen sulfide in the air, a substance coincidentally one of the by-products associated with natural gas, which accompanies oil. The presence of hydrogen sulfide-containing natural gas suggests a likelihood of oil nearby.
Finding oil could be significant for the industrial developnt of the Northern Territory.
Contrary to common understanding in the original world, oil’s greatest use wasn’t simply as fuel for various nations and human civilization.
Though in most people’s impression, oil is for refining gasoline and diesel for burning.
But to think that is rely too shallow.
In fact, the greatest use of oil for human civilization is petrochemicals.
For instance, everyday synthetic fibers, plastics, synthetic resins, and synthetic rubbers—all depend on oil.
Though distilled products from oil like fuel supply 60% of its principal use for vehicles, ships, planes, the remaining 40% are more intimately linked to daily living.
Perfikot’s reason for seeking oil primarily hopes to produce lubricating oil from it.
Considering the future scenario of an icebound world, if the ocean freezes over, whaling becos impossible; you can’t expect all industrial machines to run on butter as lubricant, right?
Even in an extre cold apocalypse, she couldn’t maintain enough livestock in the Northern Territory to provide animal fats.
Compared to that, producing and using synthetic lubricating oil through the oil industry seems more reliable and appropriate.
Moreover, considering the future developnt of petrochemical industries, synthetic fibers could serve as clothing materials for ordinary people, with synthetic rubber and resins being used in industrial production, and high-performance plastics potentially substituting so tals as better cold-resistant materials in frigid weather.
It’s worth knowing that even common epoxy resin can maintain its performance at -50°C.
Thus, in this environnt, plastics and other synthetics are far more practical than steel.
As for not finding oil or the depth being too deep currently preventing extraction, Perfikot has a coal-to-oil contingency plan.
In the original world, just before she crossed over, she happened to have exposure to the related industry, possessing a certain understanding of coal-to-oil technology, which was vigorously developed after the oil crisis of the 20th century by various countries to tackle the resulting issues.
Considering the major oil-producing areas worldwide are focused in that desert, but coal is found in every country.
Thinking about this, Perfikot wasn’t rushing into Death Valley but started recalling her previously encountered petrochemical and coal chemical knowledge from deep within her mory, pondering if it could be applied to the current industrial system of the Northern Territory.
anwhile, the survey team mber and White Bear Knight flying above were nervously gazing toward the impending Death Valley.
Though they weren’t strangers to flying in the sky, that referred to piloting Flying Airships, safe and sufficiently protected flying craft, not a hot air balloon vulnerable on all sides with rely a basket underfoot.
Nonetheless, the two quickly cald their nerves and began, sowhat apprehensively, raising their binoculars to observe and map Valley of Death.
The terrain of Valley of Death isn’t complex; it’s a recessed landscape, seemingly ford by geological subsidence into such a valley.
The mouth of the valley isn’t large, but inside it’s like a pocket with a black lake at its bottom.
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