Exiting the store, I headed back out to the main street. The last thing I needed was a sample of soap to use as a baseline for what I was going to have the kids make.
If the quality of soap that was commonly available were of especially high quality compared to what I was capable of making, then there wasn't any point in bothering. On the other hand, if the quality was pretty dismal, then making high quality soap would in turn attract way too much negative attention, so I needed to hold back.
Well, nothing would start without having a good idea of what was currently available on the market at least.
Unlike the other stores, I didn't get any specific recomndations for where to buy any soap, only a bit of advice as to how about to go around in the noble quarters where a store that sells soap could be found.
The advice made feel a little uneasy, but it was logically sound. Soone like who covered her entire body in black looked suspicious as all hell. I only got away with it up to now because it wasn't too far off from the popular fashion trends amongst adventurers, sothing I was really thankful for.
I followed the main street until I found a wide street heading north. Here, I lowered my hood and boldly stepped through the intersection and made my way as if I owned the place.
My eyes kept flickering back and forth. The buildings had quickly grown larger, more grandiose. Fancy decorations on the walls and visible in the store windows beca more and more common. But not only that, the people walking around were better dressed. Most opted for more formal style clothes rather than the common utilitarian styles favoured elsewhere.
But more than anything else, the more I walked through this street, the more people stared at .
I really must've stood out here. I kinda wished I bothered to get clothes that would work in this area, but it would've been quite a wasted expense, as I'd never wear such a thing again. Not only that, but the clothes they wore showed off skin in ways I couldn't afford to under the sunlight.
At least as I was, my hair covered the side and back of my head and neck well, and my hat put my face into a shadow. Even then though, I had to be careful how I walked, as small mistakes were quickly rewarded with burning pain on my cheeks.
But what burned even more was those stared. Nobody really stared at so much before, and I couldn't stand it. All I could do was lower the brim of my hat even further to hide my face, but even when I did that, I knew that if anything, I looked even more suspicious, probably making the staring even worse.
My pace quickened up as my eyes flickered back and forth, looking for a store that might sell soap.
I had to go pretty far into the district to find the store I was looking for. The store had glass windows and I could see a display of perfus, makeup, and of course, soap. Each item had a small sign that gave it's na and origin, but there weren't any prices as far as I could see.
At a glance, the soaps were pretty high in quality. They were a bit off-white, but are smooth rounded blocks.
Satisfied, I opened the front door and entered the store.
"Welco! How may I have the pleasure of doing business?"
A tall man with slicked black hair and a neat handlebar moustache wearing a heavily starched suit greeted as I entered.
Inside the store, the walls were lines with intricately carved shelves, each one holding two or three items spaced out to the point that I wondered if they were suffering from so sort of shortage.
(Well, it's not like there were any duplicates. Those were probably just for display, and what was sold was behind the counter or sothing.)
Aside from myself, a portly man in a gaudy suit lined with colourful furs and embroidered with gold thread was staring at so bottles on a shelf. If he was any indication, this store really was made for so pretty rich clientele.
If this was the sort of place that soap was only available at, then I was a bit worried about how to actually sell the stuff. I hoped to find another store afterwards that was more lower end.
The little fluffballs all rushed in before the door could close, then they spread out, exploring the place, checking out everything around them. The very sight ward up, but I refrained from breaking into a smile.
Instead, I turned towards the store employee.
"Ah, umm...I was interested in your soap..."
"Ah, miss...We have so of the best selection of soap in the city, nay, in the whole country! Allow to show you what we offer."
The tall man hesitated for a second as he looked at , but it seed like he decided I was worth selling to. That glint in his eye creeped out a bit though, so I quickly lowered my gaze, even though it was a bit rude.
"My miss, these are our prided soaps. The softest, most gentle soaps in the country. The cre of the crop. You won't find any that leaves your skin feeling softer, more beautiful than these."
The soap bars I was looking certainly looked good, especially compared to what I've been making, but his claims seed to be pretty exaggerated. Not only where they not nearly as white as the soaps that could be bought at the average grocery store back on Earth, but they didn't seem to be strongly scented either. At the very least, they didn't seem to have any foul odours though.
The essential oil added to my soap would give them a huge advantage, but in turn, that might not be ideal. I needed to think about it more.
"Can I examine them?"
"Of course, of course. Please, take your ti and find the soap that pleases you most!"
Thankfully, the sun was almost directly overhead, so there was almost no direct sunlight entering the store's windows, making it safe for to expose my skin.
Removing my gloves, I picked up each soap bar in turn, feeling their surface, sniffing their scent, and rubbing a little bit of them between my fingers before putting it down and wiping away the residue on an inconspicuous spot on my robes.
It seed like each soap was made at a different location with different base oils, according to the signs each of them had. None of them slled bad, but only a few had a particularly positive scent to them, and what they had was faint. Not only that, but they were even discoloured. It seed like the scented soaps added so sort of ingredient to get the scents, but the purity of the volatile chemicals were too low, so they were forced to compromise between aesthetics and strength.
At this concentration, the soaps would sll nice as they're used, but the scent wouldn't impart strongly enough to stay with the user. I supposed that it could be overco with normal perfus, but I personally liked the fact that my soaps were scented properly. Every ti I noticed the scent of my soap on my hair or skin was a reminder that I was clean.
(That reminds , I hadn't bathed for a bit now. I should fix that soon.)
"Hmm...how much do each of these cost?"
"Ah, miss..."
The man hesitated for a mont while he leaned in a bit and looked at with sharp eyes.
I quickly took a half-step back and lowered my face again in surprise.
"Ahem, I apologize. It is not a question I hear very often."
"Ah, alright. It's fine. I'm sorry."
"No no no. There is nothing for you to apologize for. I am here to answer any and all your questions. If I could not tell you what your heart desires, then what worth would I have?"
His exaggerations were pretty good at calming back down, though they made nervous for a different reason I couldn't quite place. He promptly quoted the price for each bar, making sure that I rembered them right.
The cheapest bar was selling for two silver plates. The most expensive an entire gold coin. While at a glance it was hard to tell, but a closer examination and so questions revealed why they were priced the way they were.
The cheapest looked good at first, but two things drove the price down. The first was that it was a little harsh. The mixture between oils and lye was a little off, though I wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't spent most of a year experinting making my own. The second reason was because it was a local soap, relatively speaking. It seed that it was sourced from the next city over.
Effectively, the quality and source were the two main reasons for the price as far as I could tell. The better the quality and the further away it was made, the higher the price. The gold coin soap had to be shipped on a boat from a far away country.
The scented soaps were a bit more expensive thanks to the additives despite the discolouring and traces of various particles that were missed in whatever filtration step that was used.
These scented soaps were definitely the ones I was planning on having the orphanage compete against.
Most likely, I could manage to make the soap a little bit whiter than these things, and in addition, the scent would be many tis stronger, leaving a lasting impression on the body even after it's been rinsed off.
Now I was confident that it could sell. Depending on how things went, it could sell very well.
Of course, this was an orphanage, so selling so well wasn't really the point. It only needed to do well enough to pay for the orphanage's expenses, and maybe create a surplus big enough for a rainy day.
"Could I get this one?"
In the end, I ended up going with buying one of the scented soaps as a sample. The one I chose was rose scented, probably. At least it was so sort of flower. I think.
The scent was pretty weak, and mired with the natural scent of the soap, which wasn't too great in the first place. It wasn't purely that nice, clean sll of soap that I was used to, but included noticeable traces of other things.
The colour was a light pink, and I could see little red flakes embedded inside. It was kinda nice, but I suspected that unlike on Earth, that sort of imperfection was undesired. The feel of it was good though. The ingredients and ratios seed to be pretty good, though I wouldn't be able to tell for sure until I tried it out.
"Of course, miss. Please give one mont."
The store attendant made his way behind the counter and leaned over, going through so boxes.
"Oh? What have we here?"
But as I was waiting for the employee to retrieve my purchase, soone else walked up to my side.
"You! Show your face!"
The man raised his voice. He stepped in close, too close for comfort.
"Umm...I'd rather not"
Glancing at him for a split second, I saw that the one who ca over was that gaudily dressed man I saw when I first ca in. I turned my face away from him a bit as I mumbled.
"You! You dare disobey a direct order from ?!"
(Why does this guy think he could just order random people around?)
I took another glance at him, but the indignation was palpable on his face and disquieted . Before even considering his words, I had already taken a half-step away from him.
"You! How dare you ignore ! Do you even know who I am?!"
(How could I? You're just so fancy dressed rich guy. Why should I know who you are?)
Suddenly, a hand jutted out and grabbed my chin, forcibly turning my face to the side.
"Oh? Yes, yes! It's just as I thought!"
Forced to look up at the man's face, I was made to notice how greasy his skin looked. But it wasn't just his skin. His hair as well. It was slick with oil, but he had used too much and it was seeping down from his scalp and lip rug.
Not only that, but every ti I took in a breath, I was forced to sll this overpowering perfu that was like a giant garden all crushed and distilled together, including the soil and a few wild animals. Probably a skunk included sowhere.
All around us, the little spirits started to fly around. So were worried, others were fooling around, thinking it was so sort of ga. A bunch more were just watching, unsure about what was going on. I felt I could connect with that last group the best.
"You, I have never seen such a beauty before in my entire life! How much?"
"...huh?"
Everything combined together, I was completely bewildered. Each individual thing was so offensive that I wanted to yell at him, but at so point, he completely blasted past annoyance and anger, and I was just confused by the swirling mix of emotions.
"I said, how much? No, for soone of your potential, simply one night isn't enough. I will buy you out for life!"
"...huh?"
The more those jiggling lips flapped, the more creeped out I got. My eyes tried to avoid his, but all I could see was the shop attendent nervously standing to the side and the spirits as they grew more and more aggitated.
"I said, I will buy you out! Now co! Where is your owner?"
"...?"
My jaw seed to be working, but nothing ca out of my mouth anymore. My mind was starting to form a picture of what he was saying, but it seed so absurd that rather than help act, it made question my own ability to think.
"I said co! Or is there sothing wrong with your head?"
His hand let go of my chin, but as I turned to step away from him, it imdiately wrapped itself around the back of my neck as he pulled to the side.
Things were going far too fast in a direction completely outside of anything I could even imagine, leaving my mind in the dust as I tried to compute just what was going on. I was way past having enough of this as my emotions beca like a churning mix of oil and water, unable to beco sothing coherent.
My eyes started to look for the exit, but at the sa ti my brain worked to figure out how to get the man to release .
(Should I hit him? Or just pull away? Or maybe sothing else? But if he's really so important, then if I hurt him, it might bring a whole ton of trouble. Then maybe use [Spirit Form]? Should I reveal that? What if they think I'm a monster then and put a bounty on ?)
"Well, I suppose when god gives so bitch too strong of a blessing, he had to take from sowhere."
My limbs flailed around as I desperately tried to avoid falling over as he pulled around by my neck and headed towards the exit.
"My lord! Please desist!"
"Huh? Why the hell should I?"
Finally he stopped pulling, giving a mont to centre my balance properly. But my mind hadn't gotten past it's stalemate, so I quietly let myself stay in that awkward bowing position as the man held my neck.
So of the fluffballs flew under and checked on my condition. I couldn't move or say anything. The fear of making things worse by making a bad move had paralyzed .
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the rest of the spirits flying around in a frenzy.
"This young miss is a custor!"
"And so what? I'm also a custor, and I'm going to buy her!"
"My lord! She is not just so whore on the street available to be bought on the spot!"
"Of course she is! Just look at her! This stupid bitch might be covering herself with rags, but it's plain as anything that she's been sculpted by god himself! Why else is she here if not to buy sothing to help whore herself out in the back alleys? I'm just giving her the last job she'll ever need! Just look at her!"
A hand reached up and squeezed my chest.
"Hyah?!"
"Haha! I knew those things were big, but you're built like a cow! The hell are you doing covering them up? I'll definitely buy you now, you whore! You'll never even touch a top ever again!"
(Huh? Buy? Whore? Seriously?!)
The shock of his his actions left embarrased, but his words left seething. Together, I was just plain perturbed, unable to decide what to do. I tried to look at the loud, reprehensible man, but his hand was still on my neck.
(What was going inside of his head?! Maybe I should make a break for it?)
But if I forced my way out and ran, I'd create a reputation for causing trouble here. In an upscale place like this, especially by hurting soone so flagrantly rich, such a reputation would likely spread like wildfire, and it could get banned from most of the stores in an instant. Even worse, it could affect the orphanage if they found out I was connected to it.
The store attendant, the one that had been helping , was arguing for my sake. It was probably better to stay quiet and just rely on him to resolve things peacefully.
"But I'm trying to tell you, she most likely is not that! And even if she was, this is a respectable establishnt!"
"Haaa? You trying to tell what to do?"
"No my lord, but I am rely trying to give you a suggestion! It put you in a bad light to be seen dragging a custor out from a store, even more so if she is a common whore! Could you please imagine what would happen if people saw you bring a lowly whore out from an costics store such as this one? They might think that you regularly take whores around with you in public!"
"Bah! You know that I don't do that sort of crap!"
"Of course! But the public is ignorant! I know, as I myself am part of the public, and if I hadn't witnessed this event for myself, I might have thought you brought a whore into this store yourself! Can you imagine what that might do if such a reputation were to spread?"
"..."
"How about this for an alternative my lord? You leave her be for now, but have one of your n search her out in the back alleys tonight, and have her brought to your residence. That way, nobody will be the wiser."
"Keh! Fine! I got it. I'll leave her for now. But you! You'll be mine. Don't you dare let yourself be bought by soone else first!"
With those parting words, he threw to the ground and stord off, literally kicking the door open and stomped out.
"Miss, I applogize for everything that had happened here and what I called you. Are you unhurt?"
He ca over and took my hand, helping back to my feet.
"Umm..yea..."
Physically this ordeal didn't hurt, but I felt completely ssed up on the inside. Being treated like an object like that wasn't pleasant in the slightest. And to think that soone like who could easily wipe out large groups of strong monsters in an instant was mostly powerless in front of so crazy guy.
"That guy..."
"I'm sorry about that. Ever since he took over his house, his actions had gotten wilder and wilder. It has been quite difficult to keep the peace lately."
"His house?"
"Oh, you really weren't aware of who he is? He is the lord of the city."
(That guy?!)
My gaze shot straight at the door that still had his foot print on. The hinges even seed to have been warped a little as the door stopped right before closing.
I was starting to get really worried about this place. It was probably a good idea I moved on once I got the stuff regarding the orphanage dealt with. I just hoped that they wouldn't get into trouble once I was gone, but they survived all these years before , so it probably wasn't inherently dangerous.
"Are you new in this city? I am truly sorry that you had to experience that. As compensation, I won't charge for this. I hope that he forgets all about this soon and it doesn't sour your impression of our fair city."
The attendant handed over a small box painted bright red. Removing the top, I saw the soap that I had asked for tucked inside with so cloth being used as padding.
"Umm...thanks..."
I bowed my head a bit before opening the front door and looking both ways. That lord was getting into a gaudily decorated two horse carriage. It was lined with gold all over the place like his outfit was.
There was a pair of huge, brutish looking n standing guard at the back.
One of them noticed and gave a scowl, making jump. I turned the other way and walked away as fast as I could, raising my hood up. I didn't care if people would think I was suspicious. I've had enough of my face being looked at. Or looking at people in general.
My chest felt cold and tight as quickly I turned the first corner and entered a side street, then another, and another, until I was in a dark and narrow alley with nobody in sight in any direction.
Finally away from any people, I activated [Spirit Form] and sat down, pulling my knees in and resting wrapping my arms around them.
The little spirits huddled around as I fell into contemplation.
This city. I was really starting to hate it. There were so many bad things about it. I started to reconsider my journey in general. Maybe I should avoid major settlents? Or maybe I should just go back ho and hole myself up.
I had everything I ever wanted there. All the food I could eat, an infinite supply of materials to make whatever I needed. Even if it took a long ti to get things done, I didn't have any shortage of it. I didn't need to sleep, and most likely I couldn't die from old age. This country was stuck sowhere in the middle ages. I could hole up until it reached a respectable civilization level. Or maybe barricade myself and completely shut the outside world out?
My magic was pretty powerful. I could probably put up huge walls and do in the entire mountain and claim it for myself. I'd have the dungeon all to myself, and enough space outside of it to play with the spirits whenever I wanted.
(That sounds pretty good actually)
My mind was made up. I was going to abandon all of this and just go ho. I didn't want any part of a world that treated people so badly. To be treated like a re object for others enjoynt. It was true that I could resist people like that and easily beat them up, but if I did, everyone will be scared of . If that happened...
(If that happened, it would tear apart. I wouldn't have anywhere to be anymore, and I'd be stuck shutting myself in again)
It was better to just run away and leave it all behind before I could be hurt any further.
This world, it wasn't really any better than Earth. I thought it was a paradise, but it was cold and cruel. The only paradise I had was back ho, where nobody could hurt .
"Sorry for making you guys worry again. I'm feeling better now."
The little fluffballs started rubbing their bodies against mine while I was deep in thought.
"Let's leave this terrible place and go ho."
I made to stand up, but heard a small, soft object resound.
It was the bar of soap I had bought. It had bumped around and gotten loose inside the box.
Just that. Just that one sight made hesitate.
"Dammit, why do I have to do anything for this terrible place?"
It wasn't my responsibility. I had nothing to do with it. I didn't owe this world anything. It was just the place I ended up. It wasn't even what brought here or gave a second life.
But even still...
"After this. I'll fix just this, then go ho."
With those shaking words, I looked up and took my first, hesitant step back into the fold.
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