The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

Without saying a word, he left Granney’s workshop—he simply couldn’t understand what Granney was doing.

“Take good care of your master, especially be careful with those bottles and jars boiling on the stove, and make sure they don’t explode. Personal safety is far more important than work,” he specifically cautioned Charley before leaving.

He really feared that Granney would suddenly cause an explosion.

In magicians’ research accidents, nine out of ten times involved explosions—the forms of explosion included, but were not limited to various out-of-control violent magic.

Why are there so few magicians in this world?

One reason is that the inheritance of magic is secretive and doesn’t involve taking on many apprentices. Another reason is dying from various magical experiments and explorations. No matter how much a knight struggles with Dou Qi, at most they harm or disable themselves, but a magical explosion could kill both the master and the apprentice.

It’s no pity if a magician is killed by an explosion.

But if his Calming Sea Pearl is destroyed, that’s a severe loss.

This Calming Sea Pearl was to be equipped on the Fresh Flower Vessel, which was about to undertake its first long-distance voyage to explore Black Horse Island.

He also had another Calming Sea Pearl the size of a basketball and one the size of a washbasin; these two were reserved for future new ships.

Especially the one the size of a washbasin.

In the future, when he went to sea, this massive black pearl would be his standard equipment.

A normal small-sized black pearl could dispel the wind within a five-meter radius; the Calming Sea Pearl, according to Granney’s estimation, could disperse the wind within a hundred and fifty-meter radius.

But even if the wind is dispersed, the sea waves will continue to churn, and the ship will still be in danger, albeit to a much lesser extent.

The black pearl the size of a washbasin, if made into a Calming Sea Pearl, might be able to disperse the wind within a three hundred-meter radius. Thus, even if the waves are enormous, without the wind’s boost, the force would be greatly reduced, and the threat to ships would significantly diminish.

Leaving Granney’s workshop.

Liszt rode his horse to the town’s workshop area to inspect the three newly built workshops.

Inside the Soap Making Workshop.

Soap Maker Bunier was producing soap while training several apprentices—the apprentice system was something Liszt had enforced, prohibiting serfs from hoarding their skills and rewarding those from the castle who produced a competent apprentice. With the introduction of this system, craftsmen and workers became much more serious about training apprentices.

He had previously bought the old blacksmith’s smithy in town.

He gave the old blacksmith several Gold Coins, an amount he could never have earned in his lifetime, hoping that he would train a group of competent blacksmith apprentices. Still, after several thousand pounds of iron had been cast, not a single apprentice had learned the blacksmith’s skills.

This infuriated Liszt.

The blacksmith was a freeman, essentially only needing to pay taxes, not subject to the landlord’s personal constraints. But still, Liszt found an opportunity to give him a thorough punishment. The delightful taste of being whipped left a deep impression, and now the old blacksmith earnestly trained his apprentices, as if he was desperate to impart all his knowledge.

So.

There had to be carrots, but there also had to be sticks.

A carrot and a stick were required to implement the will of the landlord effectively.

“The production of Fresh Flower Soap is stable, while the output of regular soap is limited by the supply of pig pancreas and the waste from experimenting with formulas,” Bunier reported to Liszt, who was visiting his progress.

“Hmm, continue your research. The current soap is nearly as comfortable to use as Fresh Flower Soap.”

Soap was made from the pods of the Soap Pod Tree, mixed with flowers, and its cleansing effect was average, but it was very expensive to produce, especially on Coral Island where the Soap Pod Tree was scarce. Only the nobles could afford soap.

Soap (also known as lye soap) was made by mixing wood ash with pig pancreases, though other animal pancreases might also work. Its production cost was relatively low, and it cleaned very effectively.

However, as it stood, the quality of the soap that Bunier was developing still needed improvement.

Therefore, the current soap workshops were operating at a loss, with production capacity only able to supply the castle and a portion of officials and their families.

At this moment, Bunier suddenly said, “Lord Landlord, while I was researching the soap formula, I had an idea. What if I mixed scented soap with lye soap? Could it create a better soap? So I tried it, and found that the kneaded soap took shape quickly, and the usage was very smooth, but I don’t know if this is the soap you wanted.”

Mixing scented soap with lye soap?

Liszt felt the idea was brilliant, “Is that so? Show me the kneaded mixed soap and fetch a basin of water.”

“Yes, Lord Landlord.” Bunier quickly dispatched an apprentice, who brought out a plate of light pink mixed soap. The soap was pressed into flat oval shapes, three pieces in total, which looked rather rough.

Another apprentice came over with a basin of water.

Liszt dipped his hand in the water, then lathered up with the mixed soap and rubbed it, immediately creating lots of suds. The soap in his hand was very slippery, and it seemed to clean quite effectively. Especially after washing, his hands felt very clean and there was a faint fragrance.

Although this was not the soap he had seen before, the effect was already close to the Safeguard he remembered.

“What is the production cost of it, and what is the ratio of scented soap to lye soap?” Liszt asked.

“About one piece of scented soap can be mixed with three pieces of lye soap to make four pieces of mixed soap. However, I think it might save more to directly grind the pods of the Soap Pod Tree into powder; about one piece of mixed soap could be produced at the cost of forty copper coins.”

“The cost of scented soap is one silver coin, right?”

“It’s even more than one silver coin. The bought soap powder is too expensive.”

The cheapest scented soap costs two silver coins each, which is two hundred copper coins, with the soap powder costing one silver coin, giving a total cost of at least one hundred and ten copper coins. If the cost of the mixed soap could be compressed to forty copper coins, it could be sold at the price of two silver coins, undermining the existing scented soap market.

Even without using soap powder.

Directly buying scented soap and making it into mixed soap, increasing the cost to one silver coin, would still yield a profit.

“Bunier, you’ve done well. The mixed soap is better than I imagined. You can continue researching the lye soap slowly, but the workshop will start making mixed soap immediately… It needs a catchy name. Do you have any suggestions?” Liszt was confident in the mixed soap—the feel of it while washing and its cleaning effect were both better than that of scented soap.

Even someone as picky as he was thought it was good, and other nobles would surely be impressed. Nobles were always willing to spend money on items that improved their quality of life.

“Lord Landlord, it’s under your guidance that I was able to develop the mixed soap. It should be you who names it,” Bunier said respectfully.

People get more artistic in their speech as they age.

Liszt was very pleased with Bunier’s response: “Then let’s call it Fresh Flower Soap. I will make it a specialty of Fresh Flower Town. Bunier, and your apprentices, you must keep the formula for Fresh Flower Soap a strict secret.”

“Rest assured, Lord Landlord!”

“Do your work well. I have rewards for any invention that brings in profit. Although the lye soap hasn’t been perfected, the Fresh Flower Soap is passable. Bunier, your reward is ten silver coins, and twenty copper coins for each of your apprentices.”

“Thank you, Lord Landlord!”

Bunier and his apprentices expressed their thanks, brimming with happiness.

Liszt was also very pleased. Although he couldn’t say the Fresh Flower Soap would bring in profits comparable to the seafood business, he was confident of crushing the current scented soap market, and perhaps even exporting it to distant islands.

The most important thing was that the transition of Fresh Flower Town from agriculture to manufacturing was beginning to show results.