Chapter 42: Chapter 39 – Soap and Kids

Without disengaging [Spirit Form], I had made my way through the maze of alleys and side streets before finally reaching the main street.

The sun had dipped past it's apex already, casting an eastern shadow on everything. I didn't think I spent that much time, but apparently I had. It was still pretty early when I first left that tailor store, but I had spent more time expected looking for the cosmetics store as well as wandering the back streets.

Not willing to just disengage my camouflage in the middle of a busy street, I went further south until I found an empty side street, only to pop out the other side back to my original form, minus the fangs and red eyes of course.

While that previous encounter left me pretty shaken, the one saving grace was that I hadn't disengaged that transformation so he probably thought I was just an elf. If he had a freak out by discovering that I was a vampire, then I had no doubt that this city would have a witch hunt...no a vampire hunt. It didn't matter what other people thought if the city's lord declared such a thing.

That guy was nothing but trouble. I had no doubt about that. I really hoped that was the last time I'd even hear from him.

With those glum thoughts circling through my head, I opened the door and entered the tailor's.

"Welcome. Oh, miss. Your order is ready."

The slightly unkempt shopkeeper greeted me with a smile and quickly retrieved my purchase from under the counter.

"Ten sheets of silk from Florian Silkmoths, all cut to size and sewn to your specifications..."

For some reason his sentence trailed off and he leaned in. Unsure why he was doing such a thing, I panicked a little and took a half-step back.

"Sorry for scaring you, but did something happen while you were out?"

"Huh?"

Not expecting something like that, I was a bit blindsided.

"You look pretty pale. Well, more than before at least. Are you feeling alright?"

"Ah, umm, well, something did, but I'm doing alright now"

"Is...that so..."

That lie was so transparent it could've been used as a window, but he let it off, thankfully.

"Anyways, here's your order. I hope to see you again soon."

The silk went into my magic bag before I moved to head out again. I turned to give the tailor a small bow of my head before opening the door and leaving.

 

I had everything I needed now, and nothing else to do for the day, so I headed straight towards the orphanage.

Rather than take the direct route, I turned into a side street and passed through the maze of shadowy alleys. I just wanted to avoid the gaze of people, real or imagined. Here in the dark alleys, people wouldn't give someone in a black hooded robe a second glance, even during the day. At night, even I'd avoid them without using [Spirit Form] after the experience I had gone through.

The journey through the winding path took much longer, but I eventually found my way to my destination.

"Scarlet!"

"It's Scarlet!"

"You came again!"

A small group of kids were playing on the street in front of the orphanage today.

"You kids been good?"

"Yup!"

"We have!"

"Heheh!"

Just the sight of their smiles was enough to make me feel better. Not everyone in this world was trash. No, those shopkeepers were actually pretty decent.

(Well, aside from one.)

No, even past those three, there was Lucy and the guild master at the adventurers' guild. And some of the others I had met along the way to this city didn't seem that bad either.

But it felt like I kept attracting the worst people. Was it because I didn't have any of this world's common sense? Or maybe it was something different?

"What were you guys doing?"

"We just came back from making money!"

"Yea!"

"We got so much!"

One of the kids pulled out a small worn pouch hidden inside of his pants and showed me the contents. There were five copper coins, as many as kids in the group.

"That's...great! You must've worked so hard!"

"Heheh! We did!"

"We carried tons of scrap wood away from a carpenter's shop!"

"Yup! We even got to keep them all to make new stuff!"

All of the kids smiled brightly as their accomplishments as my smile cramped up. They got excited about chump change that might not even be enough to feed them for a single day. One copper coin each? For what sounded like back breaking work for kids?

I knew the labour standards here were so different from Earth that they were incomparable, but just hearing them be happy about such a thing made me frustrated.

(Maybe I've been facing so much shit because there really are that many rotten people here.)

"Scarlet?"

"Are you alright?"

"Your face is scary..."

Some grasped my sleeves while others simply looked up at me with concern.

"...!"

Before I realized it, I had fallen into my previous gloom all over again. I couldn't let these kids worry when they were already enduring so much as it was.

"Sorry. I was just thinking about something. I'm alright."

I gave them the best smile I could manage as they circled around me.

"Really?"

"If you say so."

"Umm, umm...okay..."

They kids quickly grew gloomy as well, so easily seeing through my transparent lie. I had to fix this. This was entirely my fault.

"...Well, the truth is, I've been feeling pretty lonely since leaving yesterday. I wanted to play with everyone more, but I've been so busy."

"You were lonely?"

"You wanted to play?"

"Then, if you're here, you can play now, right?"

"Huh? Well, I didn't have any plans for the rest of the day..."

(Well, not any elsewhere at least.)

"Then we can play right now!"

"Yea! Let's play!"

"Yay! We can play together again!"

"Oh? Sounds like a good idea. Let's all go at it then!"

"""Yay!"""

I grabbed the hands of two of the kids who were hanging on to my sleeves and lead them inside.

"Tch!"

Or meant to.

The boy on my right winced in pain as I tugged on him.

"You...let me see your arm!"

Before he could respond, I pulled up his thin, ragged sleeve. There was a large bruise all across his shoulder and upper arm. While I couldn't see it, I suspected the bruise went past just his arm as well.

"How did this happen?!"

"I, I, umm..."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Could you tell me what happened?"

The little boy looked like he might cry for a moment, so I quickly tried to diffuse my mistake while getting the information I needed.

"A pile of scrap fell on him as we were taking it apart. His arm's hurt pretty bad!"

"It's not that bad! I was able to finish the work!"

"Yea, but you looked like it hurt so much!"

I ground my molars at this information. This was the entire reason why health and safety laws existed. No, it was why they existed on Earth. No such thing existed here most likely. Even the idea was probably little more than a glimmer on the horizon.

"Here, I'll fix it."

I put my hand on the purple skin and mumbled the healing magic cant.

"Oh yea! You can use healing magic!"

"You're going to be better now Joey!"

"I, I don't need it! You don't have to!"

But I had a firm grip on his wrist, so any movement he made only made his shoulder throb, preventing him from escaping.

Besides. My spell quickly finished and with a rapidly fading green mist, the purple skin returned to it's natural colour.

"There. You're all better."

"...You didn't have to do that."

"Maybe, but I wanted to."

"See? You didn't have to be so stubborn about it!"

"Yea! You're being mean about it!"

"Wha?! I, uh..."

"Now now. I'm sure he had his reasons right?"

Even here, things went way outside of my predictions.

"Ah, umm..."

But without giving an answer, the boy ran ahead back inside, leaving me bewildered.

"What was that?"

"Geez. That wasn't nice. Just because you're so pretty."

"Huh? What?"

I stared at the girl who made that comment.

"You're pretty. Real pretty. It's kinda hard to see cuz you wear that hood, but everybody knows that you're really pretty Scarlet!"

She just kept throwing around words that sounded so alien while giving me a bright smile.

"Right? Scarlet's really pretty, isn't she?"

"Yea! Prettiest in the world!"

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"..."

The only other girl quickly agreed with the first, but the other two boys just looked away.

(This...wait, seriously?)

Now that I thought about it, the only time I had ever seen my face was when I used that river three years ago to have a look. But it wasn't like river water, no matter how calm it was, could be used as an effective faux mirror. I only got the general outline, but even then I thought I looked good.

(How good would I looked if I had used an actual mirror?)

"Scarlet?"

"You said you wanted to play?"

"Ah, right. Let's go get everyone."

In reality, it probably wasn't a big issue. Even if I looked as good as a supermodel, so what? What would that mean for me? It wasn't like I had any plans on going on any dates. Frankly, the very thought of going out with a guy was still pretty repulsive, and it was hard to imagine being able to find a lady's bar or something to find women who would be willing to go beyond friendship.

Or rather, I was entirely unsure if my sexual orientation had changed or not thanks to my new body. Or even if I was capable of being sexually attracted. I was born fully mature in a forest. Just because my body resembled that of a woman's didn't mean that it was the same as one.

As I was pondering the mating habits of my own race, the kids pulled me inside of the orphanage.

 

"Bwahahahaha! I've got you now, weak people! I'll feast and drink every last drop of your blood! Not one of you will be spared!"

"Kyaa!"

"Run away!"

"Oh noes!"

"It's useless! You can't run from the Demon Lord! Bwahahahaha!"

"Stop, vile fiend!"

"You won't harm the villagers!"

"We'll protect everyone!"

"Damn you, heroes! You've come to get in my way once again?!"

"This is the last time, Demon Lord!"

"This time we'll beat you for sure!"

"You won't get away from us!"

"We'll see about that! Black Death Ball!"

"Guah!"

"Keh!"

"Eep!"

"Bwahahaha! How was that, heroes? Terrified of my powers?"

"No way! We're not scared!"

"That's right! We won't lose!"

"We're stronger than ever! Take this!"

"""Haaaa!!!"""

"Guah! No! Not the sword of light! And three of them! Ahhh...."

*plop*

"We've done it!"

"The Demon Lord's finally dead!"

"She's gone forever!"

"""Yay!"""

(Haaa, this is it. This really is it!)

Despite lying face down and having three kids with a foot each on my back as they swung around imaginary swords, my face was plastered with a grin so wide that my cheeks hurt.

It was a stupid imaginary game for kids, yet it was so much fun. It was like everything bad was being cut down along with the 'Demon Lord' the kids vanquished. I needed more of this. A lot more.

No, well, this was the fourth time playing 'Hero and Demon Lord' today. We did it three times, then I made dinner, then we played it again. Of course, it wasn't the only thing we had played. Tag, hide and seek, and a few more local games.

I was so glad I came early today. I really needed this.

"I think it's ready Miss Scarlet."

But like a parent out to ruin their kids' fun by reminding them about things that needed to be done, the director called out to us in the yard.

A scowl appeared on my face, but I quickly wiped it off.

"Ah, thanks. Let me have a look."

"Of course."

"Sorry everyone. Play time's over for now."

"""Awww..."""

All the kids looked disappointed as I brushed off dirt after laying prone on the back yard ground. They weren't the only ones disappointed, but it was for their sake, so I couldn't skimp on this work.

(Even though I made Philia do most of it so far.)

I went back inside with a large concert of kids towed behind, and they ended up crowding the doors to the kitchen where the director and a few of the oldest kids were working.

Though I called it working, they were only maintaining a low fire and slowly stirring a pot, taking turns so that nobody would get tired. I had enlisted their help when they volunteered after I mentioned that I was thinking of getting the orphanage to make soap to sell.

Their eagerness surprised me quite a bit. It was an odd feeling having kids be so willing to work, but I brushed it off, as many of them were already working, and this would be far safer and more profitable if it worked out.

There was a chair placed beside the wood-burning stove and one of those kids was standing on it, staring at the contents of the pot as he slowly stirred with a flat stick.

"Hmmm...looks good. Alright, I'll take over for this step."

The pot was filled with a white liquid, and little yellow things were floating around inside.

Giving me a nod, the boy hopped down and gave me space to work.

"This next step, I'll do it by myself this time, but in the future, make sure you get the director's help, and you don't do it on your own. Alright?"

"""Okay Scarlet!"""

Satisfied with their words, I turned back to the pot. I removed an ingot from my magic bag and worked it into a pot and a wire mesh filter using magic, then put them beside the hot pot with the mesh filter covering the new pot's mouth.

I could feel the kids staring intently at my every action as I picked up the hot pot with my gloved hands. Unlike how being stared elsewhere made me nervous and unsteady, the stares here instead felt good, and made me want to show off.

But this wasn't the place to do such a thing. Even worse, if the kids tried to copy whatever fancy things I tried. Or if I messed up and got one of them hurt. That would be the worst case for sure.

No, instead, I just went the plebeian route and simply poured the contents through the filter slowly, collected the hardened yellow bits and extracted the milky white liquid. Once I shook the filter to extract every drop from the refuse, I put it aside and showed the contents to everyone.

"So this is what's left once you cook it properly. See how white it is? Almost like milk?"

Everyone curiously looked inside of the pot.

"That's what milk looks like?"

"Really?"

"..."

The responses really weren't what I had expected. Milk was such a childhood staple on Earth, I never even considered that the kids here didn't drink it, let alone had never seen it before.

"Huh, I never knew..."

My eyes went wide as I looked at Philia.

(Even her?!)

"...ahem! Anyways, so this is what we're trying to get at this step. We'll take this rendered fat, and mix it together with the lye we made earlier, as well as my secret ingredient. I'll show you how to make that later. Now..."

I quickly examined the concentration of the lye water. There was a bucket of it that had was being extracted from a pile of kitchen ashes, but that took time, and I wanted a sample of soap to be finished as soon as possible. I opted to use a leftover lye solution I had prepared back at home, but never got to use. There was probably enough to make a few dozen bars of soap, but since making it was more of a pain than anything. My magic bag hadn't reached it's capacity, and things put inside were preserved as if time didn't move, so there was no harm in making a giant batch to slowly use over time.

That said, I needed to filter the contents, and so the silk cloth came to use already. The thing worked remarkably well. It was an insult to even compare it to the poorly woven silk I used for my own batches, as the filtered lye water didn't even have any visible impurities.

I was thoroughly impressed by it's performance, and hoped that it would last a long time. To ensure that, I also made sure to properly rinse the cloth immediately. Lye was pretty caustic, so it would eat into the silk pretty quickly if not washed off soon.

Confirming it's strength to be was it was supposed to be, I estimated the proper ratio and added it into the pot.

Finally, I dug into my bag and took out a small jar, then poured a small amount of it into the pot. The scent of lavender almost exploded in my face as the volatile oil made contact with the air and immediately started to disperse.

"Alright. Now then, the next step is to stir it all until everything's been perfectly blended together."

Handing it off to the group of kids that had been helping out, they quickly got to work, one kid holding the pot while another took the stick from the still-warm pot on the stove and started to stir diligently.

"So you won't get tired, just like last time, make sure you take turns stirring, alright?"

"""Okay Scarlet!"""

The group properly called out, but didn't look away as the soap mixture was being made.

While they were working, I started to work on making the next and final piece of equipment that they would need: the moulds.

Removing another ingot from my bag, I quickly processed it into the mould. But rather than just any old fixed mould, I made it in two parts. The first was a square U shaped long container with a series of indentations, and the other a series of plates at equal distances making the separators as well as end plates that fit perfectly into the indentations. The separators were all held together with some braces along with handles to make it easy to separate from the container.

"Oh right. These are edible as well."

Once I finished the mould., I remembered about the leftover fried chunks, so I brought them over to the watching kids. They looked at the small pile I made on a plate curiously. One of them fearlessly grabbed a piece and plopped it into his mouth.

*crunch crunch crunch*

Even with his mouth closed, the hard leftovers made distinct sounds as he chewed.

"It's kinda weird, but it's also kinda good."

Even though his review wasn't very glowing, the other kids quickly grabbed pieces and tried them out. As they ate, small smiles floated onto their faces. I'd never had these things before, and they just smelt burnt and disgusting to me, so I had no idea how normal people would find them. Thankfully pretty decently.

As the kids ate their little snack, I went back to the working group.

"Hmmm. I think that's good enough."

After a little while longer, I stopped the group. They ended up not having to swap places. I was a bit amazed at their strength and endurance and wondered if that was normal for kids their age in middle ages-like society.

(Then again, maybe it's got to do with stats?)

It wasn't really that important, so I didn't bother intruding on their privacy by using [Scan] to find out.

"Now, pour the contents into this mould"

I presented the newly made mould to the kids, and they quickly worked together to pour the contents in, pushing it around, then even levelling the contents using that flat stick without me needing to prompt them.

"Alright, that looks good. All we gotta do now is clean up and leave this mould so the soap can set."

"How long do we have to wait?"

"Well, the longer the better, but for this batch, two or three days should be good enough. For now..."

"How about we clean up then get ready for bed? It's getting quite late."

The director gave her unwanted opinion.

I was thinking of going for another game to play with the kids, but what the director said was technically true.

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