I laughed too much. First because of the MC logic: he's being so nice so I better potion away sorry 500,000 in two hours isn't enough; then I had a different laugh for the lil sister who thought she was keeping it real.
More like, they need to hire scholars and secretaries that would handle the paperwork, while alchemists do alchemy.
The current department seems focused on sabotaging the kingdom's alchemy progress.