Chapter 8

Well, now that I have the money, what should I do? I've already prepared the bath, so next is the 'soap'.

"So, I'm thinking of making soap today. But I don't have any materials. Hey, Quinn, do you know about the camellia flower? You can extract oil from its seeds."

Shake, shake!!

"Oh, you know it! That's great. Animal fat always ends up smelling bad."

The place Quinn led me to had plenty of camellia trees, so I decided to plant some near the fields so I could always have a supply of soap.

It's said that you need about 2-3 kg of seeds to make 1 liter of oil, so a considerable amount is required. With Quinn's help, I collected the seeds bit by bit.

It took about two hours. I managed to collect enough seeds to make about 2 liters of camellia oil, but if I keep doing this, the camellia trees will soon be depleted. I need to plant more urgently.

For now, securing the oil shouldn't be a problem. Next, I need to prepare a strong alkali.

To make soap, you need to create a strong alkali, specifically potassium hydroxide. Potassium hydroxide can be made by mixing calcium hydroxide and potassium carbonate. Potassium carbonate can be made from ash. By burning some weeds and mixing the ash with water and stirring, the ash will settle in about 10 minutes.

If I take only the clear liquid, I should be able to extract potassium carbonate, assuming my memory is correct.

Next is calcium hydroxide. I remember that calcium hydroxide is made by adding water to quicklime. I had Lebrant buy some quicklime for me, so I'm good.

Once I mix the strong alkali with the oil, the soap will be complete. Since I'm using camellia oil, the soap will have a pleasant scent. It won't be as good as the soaps on Earth, but it will be far superior to the soaps available here.

"Phew, all that's left is to let it solidify. Hey, why not try to make it in different shapes?"

I decided to process some wood to make the soap in the shape of flowers, gems, and other common soap shapes. It turned out pretty well.

That night, I tried using it, and it felt great. I thought I could sell it for a decent price. While I was enjoying a leisurely bath with the camellia soap, my mother found me and I recommended the soap to her.

"Oh, this is different from the usual soap. What's this?"

"The usual soap didn't clean very well, so I thought I'd try making my own."

"Really? The lather is great, and it doesn't smell like animal fat. It has a nice floral scent! Good job, Owl!"

After the bath, my mother looked even more beautiful, and the floral scent made her even more radiant, I thought.

The next day, my mother looked even more radiant, while my father looked exhausted. I wonder what happened.

As I spent these fulfilling days, the season when snow started to fall arrived.

"Owl, I'm really grateful. The cookies and soap you make are quite popular. They sell out quickly in the capital."

In fact, Owl's cookies and soap were secretly becoming popular in the capital, and some nobles and wealthy merchants were starting to investigate. However, they haven't found out yet, thanks to Lebrant's efforts to sell in various places and carefully selecting trusted guards.

The miscalculation was that the nobles and wealthy merchants started moving faster than expected. Still, I didn't want to cause trouble for Owl, so I took various precautions.

"Thanks, Owl. Here's the payment for this time."

I received the usual heavy leather bag. I haven't checked the contents in a while, but it must be around 2000 gold coins by now. Of course, I haven't told my parents. I've made quite a bit of money thanks to Lebrant.

"Lebrant, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm fine. Is something wrong?"

"No, I was just thinking that the nobles and other merchants might be starting to look into the source and production methods of these products."

"Wh-What!?"

(As I thought...)

"Lebrant, I think we should stop selling for a while. Winter is coming, and I'll think of something new during that time!"

"Haha, you really are something, Owl. Are you really only 6 years old?"

"Looks like it, Lebrant. Look forward to next spring. I'll have something that will surprise you."

With that, Lebrant waved and headed back to the capital. I need to work hard too.

Still, there's plenty of time until spring, about 4 months. In the future, there's a possibility that nobles and greedy wealthy merchants might come here.

I need more power to resist any unjust authority. Enough to keep anything at bay!!

...But that sounds like a lot of trouble. I'm not usually this dramatic. Still, I need to be strong enough to handle things casually.

When winter comes, hibernating monsters will appear. Hunting hibernating monsters will probably level me up. Maybe I should go to the winter mountains, where monsters are slower.

In any case, there's a lot to do.

Winter is a slow time for farmers. The only real task is snow removal. I go to the elderly's homes to help clear the snow, or I do snow removal on the roads.

My father goes out to shovel snow, and my mother makes grass sandals and baskets inside, so I have nothing to do.

So, I'm out playing in the snow, heading to the forest or the foot of the mountain. If my mother finds out, she'll be angry, but I can't afford to worry about that. We only have dried meat, and my mother mentioned that Mirei's family is short on meat. I want to share some if I can.

By the way, Quinn is apparently a very dangerous monster called a Genocide Bee. I wonder why it made its nest so close to the village.

I search the forest with my detection ability, but there are no moving monsters. Even small animals are hiding in their burrows to survive the cold.

...Oh, there's one with a decent presence in this forest. Hunting this one should level me up a bit. I should also hunt some forest boars.

I also need to practice magic. I only developed one powerful technique, the Railgun... I need to think of something for wide-area destruction.

...Troublesome. I've been training to amplify my magic power, so I have plenty of it. Maybe I should try a pseudo-meteor... but that's too dangerous.

Well, here we are. The opponent is more dangerous than I thought... I might need to use all the spells I've never used before. Using underhanded tactics would be easy, but that won't help me grow...

'Body Enhancement, Sensory Enhancement, Vision Enhancement, Presence Concealment, Delayed Spell, Spell Standby, Magic Shield'

"Let's go!"

Inside the cave, countless monster bones are scattered, showing that this one is a predator.

(Oh, is that it...? I've seen it before. A Stealth Bear...? And it's even bigger than the last one. Even though it's hibernating, it's still a Stealth Bear.)

Phew... Alright.

"Hey, bear! Come at me! Wind Cutter!!"

Guaa!? GURaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!

"Damn! That didn't work! But it's more effective than last time! Thunder Spear!"

Thunder Spear is a larger and faster lightning attack than Thunder Ray, but even this didn't work. This one is much stronger than the last one.

"Whoa! For a bear, you're pretty fast!"

The bear moves incredibly fast and can cut off its presence, making it easy to be attacked from blind spots...

We continued a tense battle, but I lacked a decisive move. Developing a strong magic spell is urgent.

Damn!... Still too far.

I aimed and fired the iron coin.

A moment of silence...

...Thud.

There lay a silent bear, its head cleanly gone.

"Damn... I need to get stronger."

After feeling the frustration, I finished the bloodletting when I heard an unpleasant sound from the cave.

"Wh-What? Ahhhhhh!"

I barely avoided the cave collapse. It seems the Railgun was too powerful.

I sensed that some hibernating monsters were becoming active due to the commotion, so I hunted them to secure meat. I hunted 6 forest boars, 1 tree deer, and 3 horn rabbits before heading back.

At that time, Owl didn't realize that the bear he had just killed was an evolved monster called an Assassin Bear, a B to A-rank monster. He would realize this later.

By the way, when I brought the meat to Mirei's house, she cried with joy. Mirei kissed my cheek, and her parents teased us, but it was all in good fun.

I'll update bit by bit.

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