Chapter 14

While thinking about the improvements to the toilet, what came to mind was soap.

In this village, during meals, except for soups, people use knives and their hands. Although there is the option of promoting the use of forks, I think it would be difficult to spread because it is troublesome.

If that's the case, I thought of a way to keep hands clean even when eating with them.

I first made it known that thorough hand washing should be enforced, but I suspected that people would find it troublesome. However, if I gave them soap, they might take an interest in this novel item and start using it.

When trying to get people to start something troublesome, the easiest way is to pique their interest.

With such a simple idea, I decided to start making soap.

Soap is supposed to be made from oil and caustic soda.

I have confirmed that this village has cooking oil as a raw material.

The problem is the caustic soda.

I have heard that the method of using lye made from ash, which is often mentioned in stories, is not easy to get right.

Extracting lye from straw ash is as simple as soaking it in water, but I suspect that the wrong amount of water can make it too watery or too dry, preventing it from solidifying properly.

So, I started thinking about alternative materials for caustic soda.

The most notable feature of caustic soda is its strong alkalinity. The first thing that comes to mind when thinking of alkaline substances is lime.

Moreover, the houses in this village use whitewash. From my memory, the raw material for whitewash should be slaked lime.

Slaked lime is calcium hydroxide, which becomes strongly alkaline when dissolved in water. I thought this might work.

At that moment, I suddenly remembered how to make slaked lime.

(Don't you need a lime kiln to make slaked lime? Where was it?)

The question that came to mind quickly disappeared.

Then, I started to recall how to make soap. To be honest, my knowledge of soap-making is limited to what I saw on TV a long time ago. In other words, it's not an exaggeration to say I have almost no knowledge.

I only know that the oil used was plant oil, and I don't remember the important details like the amount or the time required for the lye method.

I know that caustic soda is sodium hydroxide, but I have no idea how to make it from slaked lime, which is calcium hydroxide.

(I guess I'll have to try and make it through trial and error.)

First, I needed to obtain the oil. After searching, I realized something.

This village has a relatively abundant supply of animal fats, but not much plant oil.

One possible reason is that they don't use oil as fuel for lamps.

Here, safe and low-cost magical lamps are widely used. Additionally, the cost of these magical lamps is relatively low, and the risk of fire from traditional lamps is low, so they are not used much.

Lard from pigs and tallow from cows are by-products of meat, but plant oils, such as those from walnuts, are only used as seasonings.

(If I want to get it in liters, it will be quite expensive. But I do have some leads, so I'll take my time to look for them.)

I had two "leads."

One was a yellow-flowered plant growing along the river, which I suspected might be a member of the Brassicaceae family, and the other was whether there were acorns or camellia seeds.

To solve this, I decided to talk to Sharon's father, Guy Jakes, a former adventurer who knows the forest well.

I explained about the acorns, which are the fruits of oak and chestnut trees, and the camellia flowers.

"I've never seen the flowers, but the fruits are abundant in the forest. However, there are some issues."

I've never seen camellia flowers. I remember hearing that camellias were brought from Japan to Europe.

There also seem to be issues with acorns.

"They are buried under fallen leaves and are hard to find, and there are boars and large rodent-type monsters in the forest that eat them, so it might be dangerous to collect them."

Guy, who knows the forest well, was against the idea of spending a long time and covering a wide area in the forest.

Regarding the Brassicaceae plant, as I expected, oil can be extracted from the seeds, but the amount is too small to be useful.

(I remember there were various plants that could produce oil, like sesame and grape seeds, but they don't seem to be here, or if they are, the quantities are too small. Even if I collect acorns, I don't know how much oil I can extract...)

So, I decided to rethink from the beginning.

(Is it really necessary to focus on plant oil? Can't I use lard or tallow? I'll try it and give up if it doesn't work.)

I asked my father and Nicholas, who had become my assistant, to get lard or tallow and slaked lime, which is the raw material for whitewash.

"I think it will be available soon, but what do you plan to do with it?"

"I want to make something called soap."

When I said that, both of them were surprised and asked, "Soap? Can you really make such an expensive item?"

Upon further inquiry, I learned that soap is made in the capital region of the southern part of the Frog Empire, and it is so expensive that only high-ranking nobles, such as earls and above, can afford to use it regularly.

Naturally, it is not sold in this border area.

The price in the commercial city of Aurelia is one silver coin, which is about ten C.

(Ten C is about 10,000 yen... I remember there were soaps in Japan that cost several thousand yen each. Indeed, they are not for everyday use. I see...)

By the way, the currency unit in this world is "Crown," and one C is a small silver coin, which is roughly equivalent to 1,000 yen based on the cost of living. The auxiliary unit is e, and 100 e make one C.

Incidentally, the coins are platinum (1,000 Crowns), large gold (500 Crowns), gold (100 Crowns), half gold (50 Crowns), silver (10 Crowns), half silver (5 Crowns), small silver (1 Crown), large copper (50 e), copper (10 e), and small copper (1 e). However, I have never seen them because I have never received an allowance.

After hearing this, I thought that if I made soap carelessly, it might cause problems.

(Such a luxury item would be thoroughly investigated if a similar product appeared on the market. The manufacturers who supply it to the imperial court and nobles have connections. If I do something wrong, it could bring disaster to this village and reveal my secret...)

When I was about to give up, I realized that there might be a way to prevent interference in the village based on its history and geographical conditions.

(Wait a minute. The distribution route here goes through the League of City-States. If I can get the League of City-States on my side, for example, by publicly releasing the soap-making method, the capital's manufacturers should be the ones to go out of business before I do. The quality difference is mainly in the fragrance, so if I give a little hint, the merchants of the League of City-States should be able to make better products...)

The League of City-States is a confederation of autonomous city-states centered around the commercial city of Aurelia.

For now, I decided to make enough soap for the village and, if it goes well, sell the manufacturing method to merchants instead of making it a specialty product.

(I don't want to make a steady profit from soap. It's better to spread it once I've made some profit... I know it's bad for the capital's manufacturers, but they'll have to sacrifice for the spread of soap.)

My father looked suspicious, perhaps sensing my lack of confidence.

"I'm not sure if it will turn out well, but I think it will be fine."

Even after I said that, my father and Nicholas still seemed skeptical.

The next day, I started making soap at Nicholas's house.

I realized that my initial plan was overly optimistic.

Making soap was much more difficult than I expected.

At first, all I could make was a suspicious, gooey substance. It has been more than a month since I started development in mid-June, but I still haven't been able to make a solid object that can be called soap. In fact, I have no idea how long it will take to solidify.

From my memory, it should solidify if left for a week to two weeks, but nothing like that is happening.

It seems to be taking a lot of time, so I decided to try different combinations, changing the amounts of lime, lye, and oil, and the heating time.

(I thought it would take about a week. Maybe my memory is wrong. Or maybe it needs to be plant oil? If so, the cost will be too high, and I'll have to take a long-term view...)

I instructed Nicholas and his wife, Kate, not to throw away anything that didn't solidify and to keep proper records.

I pretended not to see the mess in Nicholas's house, which had turned into a strange laboratory, and left.

(So, it might take a year to make soap. I'll take it easy...)

With that thought, I returned to the mansion to focus on other projects.

Another project I started alongside soap was a hand pump.

For this, I didn't want to burden Nicholas, who was already busy with the toilet and soap, so I decided to work on it with the dwarf blacksmith, Bertram.

I had already told Bertram about my true identity, as he was invited here by my grandfather and seemed to owe him something.

"Your secret will never leak from my mouth, so don't worry."

He promised, placing his hand on my head.

Now, back to the main topic: why a hand pump is part of hygiene management.

The reason lies in the wells I have seen.

Wells without pumps naturally use buckets, which have large openings and a high risk of contamination.

I can't remember where I heard this, but there is a story about an animal falling into a well and causing an epidemic.

Indeed, with a large opening and an incomplete cover, it is quite possible. Even one rat falling in could cause severe contamination.

The inside of the well is dark, making it difficult to detect if an animal has fallen in, and by the time the disease spreads, it will be too late. Removing the contamination would require a major operation to empty and clean the well.

On the other hand, a pump can lift water a few meters even if it is poorly made, so there is no need for a large opening.

Iron pipes would rust, so a copper pipe and copper cylinder for the pump would require less maintenance.

From what I have confirmed, it seems possible to process and cast copper, so I just need to provide a diagram of the structure.

The structure itself is a simple volumetric pump with two check valves, so I don't think it will be too difficult.

(Pumps are my specialty, especially volumetric pumps, which I often used in chemical plants. Well, my job was to combine parts ordered from vendors, but I should understand the principles...)

I was initially confident.

However, it didn't go well when I started making it.

First, it was difficult to make the pump body and cylinder from copper, and the strength was insufficient.

Copper ingots are quite expensive, and I couldn't use a large amount, so I tried to make them thin, but to spread it, I needed to make it cheaper. I was trying to find the optimal thickness through trial and error.

When I was stuck, Bertram asked me a question.

"Why are you so focused on copper? Iron would be stronger and cheaper."

"I wanted to use copper for easier maintenance. The pipes will be in water, and they would rust and become unusable if not made of copper."

"Well, that might be true."

"Also, if copper and iron are in contact for a long time, the iron will deteriorate quickly. That's why I wanted to use the same material for the pipes and cylinder."

"Is that so? But you don't have to touch them directly. Why not use wood in between?"

I was taken aback by his words.

(That's right. I was so focused on not having a joint that I didn't consider using wood. If the wood deteriorates, it can be replaced. I must be getting too rigid in my thinking. I'm only four years old, so my mind should be more flexible...)

Unlike copper, I would have to cast the parts from iron at a higher temperature.

The precision of the parts was a concern, but as expected of a dwarf, he made them almost exactly as I ordered.

We made a cylinder with an inner diameter of ten centimeters and attached a lever to the crank part. We also attached a rod and check valve to the bucket and another check valve inside the cylinder.

The most challenging part was sealing the outer circumference of the bucket and the operation and sealing of the check valves.

The seal for the outer circumference could be achieved with sufficient manufacturing precision, and the check valves worked without issues after a few adjustments.

We made the copper pipes by hammering copper blocks and created flanges to connect them in five-meter sections.

(It's going well. I didn't expect to have to make each screw by hand, but dwarves are truly skilled.)

On June 28, about a month after starting the development of the pump, we assembled and tested the completed pump in the workshop.

We placed a bucket of water under the pump to test its pumping ability.

Since I was too small to operate the lever, Bertram did it for me.

"Is this the lever I need to move up and down?"

I nodded and smiled at the dwarf standing on the platform, saying, "It shouldn't require much force, so please move it gently." He immediately started moving the lever.

The bucket was only about two meters away, and after a few up-and-down movements, water started to spout out.

"Is this it? Did it work?"

Bertram's excited voice came from above.

"It's a great success! I didn't expect it to work so well..."

Seeing the water spout from the discharge port, I was moved.

(Finally, it worked. Unlike the soap, which didn't go well at all...)

As I was feeling emotional, Bertram picked me up and put me on his shoulder.

"Alright, partner! How many of these do we need to make? We'll start making them in full force from tomorrow!"

That day, I reported the completion of the pump to my grandfather and father, and it was decided that the next day, we would install it at the well in the northern part of the village on the eastern hill.

The next day, under the watchful eyes of my grandfather and father, we installed the pump at the well. To test its capacity, we first tried it at a well with a slightly lower water level, and it turned out to have a suction capability of about five to six meters.

Theoretically, it should be ten meters, but I expected it to be around seven to eight meters due to manufacturing precision. I'm not sure if it's due to a lack of knowledge, the limit of the check valves, or the altitude, but the capacity was slightly lower than expected. However, since the water level in wells in the plains is usually about three meters below ground, I was relieved to see that it was sufficient.

When we started installing the pump in the wells, the villagers gathered and watched with interest. When Bertram demonstrated by pumping water, they became even more interested and took turns operating the lever.

Both adults and children found it fun and repeatedly pumped water, scooping it up with their hands and enjoying it.

"Don't overdo it, or the water will get cloudy or stop coming out. Don't get carried away."

When Bertram said this, the adults scratched their heads in embarrassment, and the children, who were stopped by the adults, looked a bit disappointed.

(Indeed, it is fun. I'm only worried about the maintenance method, but the structure is simple, so it should be manageable...)

The first success of the Rasmore Village Reform Plan was the hand pump.

(It will reduce labor, but it's quite different from the original purpose. Since everyone is happy, I'll take it as a success...)

I asked my grandfather and father to thank Bertram and scooped water from the well with my hands.

I wanted to place this part a bit later, but it ended up being mostly about internal affairs due to the awkward flow.

By the way, I have never made soap or a hand pump.

I have seen the inside of a real hand pump before, and I thought it would be easy to make with check valves, so I completed it quickly.