Soap (1)
The history of soap stretched back a very long time.
But a long history did not make it easy to produce.
Mass production of soap remained utterly impossible until the invention of sodium hydroxide. That was why the alchemist I was about to meet, Helen Wagner, was such an invaluable person.
She knew how to make sodium hydroxide, after all.
Its importance needed no explanation.
Helen Wagner, the alchemist who lived in the only decent two-story house among the shabby residential streets.
The fact that she possessed a family name made it obvious she was nobility. I had no idea why this rumored genius and eccentric had settled in a rural territory instead of the capital, but it worked out perfectly for me.
I didn’t need to travel far to bring her in.
“Hmm? Why don’t you come in and have some tea?”
Thanks to the letter I had sent through Ertia a few days earlier, she gladly invited us inside and was even serving tea.
“You want the sodium hydroxide recipe?”
“Yes. We are in desperate need of the sodium hydroxide Lady Helen produces.”
Ertia spoke for me, acting as my mouth.
I finally understood why Wellington kept trying to marry her off to other families instead of naming her his heir.
There had been no need to reveal how badly we required the sodium hydroxide, yet whether by slip of the tongue or sheer thoughtlessness, she had blurted out information that should have stayed hidden.
“Oh~ desperate need, is it? Hehe! Since Miss Ertia wants it so badly… I don’t feel like giving it to you.”
Helen stared at me like a predator eyeing its next meal.
Behind her stood the muscular female mercenary she had hired as a guard, sword in hand.
“However, if you meet a few conditions, I suppose it wouldn’t be impossible.”
“Thank you!”
When Ertia jumped to her feet with a loud shout and tried to salute, I grabbed her armor and pulled her back down.
“…Your attendant is remarkably rude. Those shabby clothes mark her as nothing more than a servant, yet she dares lay hands on her master. Shall I educate her properly for you?”
“Ah, n-no. Th-that’s… I-I…”
Ertia’s face turned deathly pale as she watched Helen frown at my actions. She began to stammer, completely flustered about how to introduce me.
“Pfft—! Bwahahahaha!!”
Helen exploded with laughter.
“Ahahaha… How entertaining. Well, I suppose you have reasons to hide your identity. A noble from another country, perhaps? Or even royalty? That would explain why Ertia is panicking like this.”
Helen Wagner smiled with deep satisfaction, as though she had solved the entire puzzle.
Sorry, but I was neither a foreign noble nor royalty. Still, it was better to let her keep her delusions.
“The one who actually needs the sodium hydroxide is that man, not you, correct?”
Apparently finished with pleasantries, Helen pointed back and forth between Ertia and me.
Ertia’s face showed no reaction. In other words, as the daughter of a count, Helen could treat a mere baron’s daughter however she pleased.
Since she assumed I was concealing my identity, she had calculated that this incident wouldn’t come back to bite her later.
“If you sell us the sodium hydroxide recipe, we can offer this amount of gold…”
Funnily enough, this world actually had copyright laws. They had been created after one dragon’s territory developed a recovery potion recipe that was stolen and mass-produced elsewhere, sparking fights between dragons.
Well, copyright was actually a good thing. If we secured the rights to this first-registered sodium hydroxide recipe, we could extract royalties indefinitely.
“That’s quite a lot.”
Helen’s face remained blank as she looked at the sum Ertia offered.
It was indeed a large amount. However, Ertia had already revealed how desperately we needed the sodium hydroxide.
From Helen’s perspective, the offer now looked far too small.
“I thought I had created useless trash that no one could possibly want, but if it’s absolutely necessary, then it must have some value after all. In that case, this amount seems far too little.”
“Th-that’s…”
Damn it! Stop glancing at me for every single decision!
Unable to make any choices on her own, Ertia kept sweating bullets and sneaking looks in my direction.
“Talking with Ertia clearly won’t get us anywhere. The person actually in charge should speak directly.”
“…Understood.”
“Before that, I want to know who you are. Contracting with someone you don’t know is the act of a fool.”
“I am Alpha, current Breeder of Bicken Territory and deputy director of the Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters.”
“Breeder…?”
Helen tilted her head in momentary confusion before her expression twisted into something terrifying as she glared at me.
“So you’re that bastard? The slave summoned as a breeder who arrogantly seized an important post? And you act as if you’re Ertia’s superior?”
“Since I am the department head, I am indeed her superior during working hours.”
“Ha… Hahaha!! Has Bicken Territory finally fallen into ruin? To still keep such an insolent breeder alive.”
There had been two attempts on my life, but both had failed.
She apparently hadn’t heard that part. Helen grabbed me by the collar. Now I was genuinely annoyed.
“Listen well. It seems that old fool Wellington has grown too soft to deal with vermin like you… If you keep acting arrogant in front of nobles, you won’t live to see your natural death. Understand? A breeder should behave like livestock. Act like the animal you are.”
“…So, what about the contract?”
“Contract? Ha! What could a breeder lower than a commoner possibly offer that would be worthwhile? Tsk. I thought I might at least squeeze more money out of this, but it was a complete waste of time.”
Helen released my collar, returned to her seat, and fanned herself with her hand.
“Ah~! How irritating! There is one condition.”
A condition?
What was this bitch babbling about? I had already shown remarkable restraint by allowing her to grab my collar, and now she wanted to add conditions?
“Lick it. Then I’ll sign the contract and won’t breathe a word of today’s events to big brother Alex. You know him, right? Alex Bicken, the Highest Rank Sword Expert knight. The reason this tiny territory hasn’t been swallowed by another noble house is thanks to the Sword Master knight commander and Highest Rank Expert brother Alex.”
Helen arrogantly propped her feet on the tea table and pointed imperiously with her finger.
“Hey. Where are you looking? That’s another offense~?”
She wore a short skirt. By lifting her leg, she had completely exposed her panties. Helen sneered at me for looking.
Name: Helen Wagner
Traits: Swordsmanship LV2, Detection LV9, Dance LV4, Administration LV12, Alchemy LV27, Magic LV5, Mana LV12, Mana Manipulation LV6
It had been my mistake to treat her even slightly as a scholar rather than a female after seeing her exceptional talent in alchemy.
Females required an education befitting females.
I flipped the table over without hesitation.
Unlike at the lord’s castle, there was no one here I needed to watch my behavior around.
*
Helen Wagner.
She was a genius and an eccentric.
Though not a noble of this territory, she was the brilliant daughter of Count Wagner, whose family had served as ministers at the king’s side for generations.
While she possessed no talent for administration, she had achieved greatness in alchemy and had, for some strange reason, chosen to settle in Bicken Territory.
Her talent in alchemy was genuine genius, but the Wagner family’s true strength lay in administrative ability, where she was merely average. Thus she could not become the family head.
Her resulting inferiority complex expressed itself in a different form.
She took pleasure in making the nobles who came seeking her countless medicines suffer through every possible hardship.
In that sense, Bicken Territory had been perfect.
The neighboring dragons were on bad terms, so the relationship between Kerens Territory and Bicken Territory was naturally hostile.
Frequent territorial wars meant the roads were poorly maintained and the journey arduous.
Moreover, the residential district where her small house stood was filled with every kind of filth, unlike the areas where nobles lived.
Helen soothed her inferiority complex by watching nobles older or higher-ranking than herself endure all those ordeals before finally begging her.
Today should have gone the same way.
At first, when Ertia sent a letter asking to buy something as useless as sodium hydroxide, Helen had assumed it was simply Bicken Territory’s pathetic attempt to curry favor.
She had expected the whole affair to be rather boring.
But after observing Ertia’s expression and eyes, she realized the truth.
The girl was constantly watching the reactions of the man in shabby clothes who nevertheless possessed striking features. He was clearly a high-ranking noble.
Helen didn’t know what he planned to use sodium hydroxide for, but the fact that a noble important enough to make Ertia so anxious and desperate to conceal his identity had gone through such trouble to meet her sent a thrill through her body.
That thrill lasted only a moment. When she heard he was the Breeder and deputy head of the absurdly named Black Death and Pregnancy Countermeasures Headquarters, fury surged inside her.
But even that lasted only a moment.
After calming her excitement slightly, Helen placed her leg on the desk and hurled an insult at her visitor.
“Lick it. Then I’ll sign the contract and won’t tell big brother Alex about what happened today. You know him, right? Alex Bicken, the Highest Rank Sword Expert knight. The reason this small territory hasn’t been taken over by other nobles is thanks to the Sword Master knight commander and Highest Rank Expert brother Alex.”
Claiming she wouldn’t tell Alex was a lie.
From what she had heard, the current Bicken Territory had forced Melania to overexert herself summoning otherworldly beings. If she punished them herself, the dragon Melania might become enraged.
So for now she would simply humiliate him to this degree and send a letter to Alex detailing the incident.
Then that bastard would soon realize exactly who he had tried to deceive… Yes, that was how it should have gone…
“Ohoooock-❤︎❤︎ Heuk… Sowwy—! Sowwy!!”
“Who the fuck told a bitch like you to act up while carrying a sword?”
“Ahnk❤︎❤︎ I’m sooo sowwy…!!”
Why on earth was she forced to watch completely naked as the mid-rank Expert guard who was supposed to protect her was mercilessly getting her cunt pounded right before her eyes?