The Defeated Dragon Chapter 169

Chapter 169 – Flower Town's Flower Soap

He watched quietly for a moment.

Liszt then left Mr. Glanny's studio without saying a word — he couldn't understand what Mr. Glanny was doing.

Before he left, he told Charlie, "”Take good care of your teacher, pay utmost attention to the bottles and cans that are cooked on the stove.  Nothing must blow up. Your personal safety is far more important than your work."

He was anxious that Glanny might cause some explosion.

Nine out of ten of magical research accidents were explosions – explosive forms, including but not limited to violent magic that became fires.

Why did you think mages were so scarce?

One reason is that the mages are secretive and don't bring in a lot of apprentices. Another reason is that most of them die in various magical experiments. Knights get involved in fights and kill themselves in the process, while mages die out of an explosion accident, perhaps including their apprentice.

It would be a shame if the mage was killed.

Liszt's pearl would be blown up, and it would be a heavy loss.

The Calm Pearl will be assigned to the Flower, which would have its first round of voyage to explore Black Horse Island.

He also has another black pearl the size of a basketball, and a black pearl the size of a washbasin. Both were reserved for his new ships in the future.

Especially the basin-sized black pearls.

In the future, he will go to sea himself. This huge black pearl will be his entourage.

Ordinary small black pearls can disperse the wind within five meters; The Calm Pearl, according to Glanny's estimates, can disperse the wind within 150 meters.

But when the wind is dispersed, the waves would still continue to flow.  The ship would remain in danger, but not as much.

If the black pearl the size of the basin was to be made into a pearl of the sea, it could dispel the wind within 300 meters. Therefore, even if the waves were large and there is no wind to boost, the output will still be greatly reduced, and the threat to ships will diminish as well.

Liszt left Glanny's studio.

He headed to the town's workshop area, where he was preparing to inspect the three new workshops.

He proceeded to the soap workshop first.

The soapmaker, Burnell, produced several apprentices with him – the apprenticeship was imposed by Liszt. It prevented serfs from taking pride and monopolizing their craft, for their techniques would be passed on to a qualified apprentice who would receive a certain reward from the castle. The introduction of this system of craftsmen and workers with apprentices was seriously imposed.

He had previously bought the town's old blacksmith's shop.

Liszt gave the old blacksmith a few gold coins that blacksmith never would have earned in his lifetime, hoping that the veteran blacksmith would bring out a number of qualified blacksmith apprentices. This would have resulted in thousands of pounds of cast iron products, but not a single apprentice learned the blacksmith craft.

This made Liszt very angry.

Blacksmiths are free people and their lives are not bounded by their Lord, that is, as long as they pay taxes. However, Liszt was still looking for a chance and he gave the blacksmith a good meal. The memory was deep. The old blacksmith now carries an apprentice and the apprentice was very eager to learn.

What will it be?

Carrots and sticks.

Carrots and sticks can effectively implement the lord's will. [1]

“The production of soap is stable, soap is limited by the pig's pancreas. However, coupled with the waste from experimenting on a new formula, the yield is not much. ” Burnell reported on his progress to Liszt during the visit.

"Well, continue your research until the soap feels good on the skin."

Soap was made from the pods of the acacia tree and some mixed flowers. The cleaning effect is average, but the production cost is very expensive, especially because Coral Island has a serious lack of acacia trees. These soaps can only be used by nobles.

Pancreas soap was made by mixing grass ash and pig pancreas. Pancreas of other animals may be used. The manufacturing cost is relatively low, and the cleaning effect is very good.

But for now, Mr. Burnell's soap still needed to be improved.

Thus, the soap workshops were still at a loss, and the soap that were produced were only available to those who lived in the castle and some officials and their families.

Burnell suddenly said, “Sir, when I was studying soap formulations, I had the idea that if I would mix soap with soap, would it make better soap? So I tried it, and I found that the resulting soap was very good, very lubricating, but I didn't know if that was the soap you wanted.”

Soap mixed with soap?

Liszt thought the idea was a bit innovative, “Really? Show me the prepared mixed soap and bring another basin of water.”

“Yes, Lord. ” Burnell quickly sent an apprentice and brought out a plate of pale pink mixed soap. The soap was pinched into a flat oval shape. There were three pieces all in all and it looked a little rough.

Another apprentice came with a basin of water.

Liszt took the water with his hand, then put on the mixed soap, and suddenly there was a lot of foam. His hands were getting slippery and he could feel that it had a good cleaning effect. After washing, he felt his hands were clean and it even left a light fragrance.

He had never seen this kind of soap, but it feels close to what he had felt on his skin before.

"How much did it take to produce? What is the ratio between soaps?"

"I believe it was a three to four soap ratio, Sir. However, I think that the direct grinding of the saplings into soap powder may be more economical. Mixed soap can reduce the cost to forty copper coins. “

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

“More than a silver coin, the soap is too expensive. “

The cheapest soap is two silver coins, that is, two hundred copper coins.  Soap powder costs a silver coin, the total cost of at least 110 copper coins. If the cost of mixing soap is compressed to forty copper coins and sold at the price of two silver coins, one could own the soap industry in the world.

If one doesn't use soap powder, there is another way.

Buy soaps directly and make it into mixed soap. The cost is increased by a silver coin and you would've made a profit.

“Burnell, you are doing a good job. The mixed soap is better than I expected. You will study this mixed soap deeper. The workshop will immediately begin to make this mixed soap … Can you give a good name for the product, what do you suggest? I am very confident about the mixed soap. The hand feel and cleaning effect it has are higher than that of regular soap."

Liszt was picky and he still liked the product. With that, it was definite that the other nobles would like it as well. The nobles were very willing to pay for items that improved their quality of life.

“Master, under your guidance, I can develop a mixed soap, and you should give it a name.” Burnell said respectfully.

This person was getting older, and speaking well was an art he had acquired over the years.

Liszt was very satisfied with Burnell's response. “Then, let's call it Flower Soap. I will make it a specialty of Flower Town. Burnell, you and your apprentices must strictly keep the formula of the Flower Soap a secret. “

“Please rest assured, Sir Lord!”

“You do things well. I have rewards for any invention that can bring benefits to our town. Although the soap has not been fully developed, the Flower Soap is already qualified. Burnell, I reward you ten silver coins, your apprentices, twenty copper coins per person.”

"Thank you, Sir!"

Burnell and his apprentices were thankful.

Liszt was also very happy. Though it was uncertain whether the Flower Soap would bring much profit like the seafood business, it was still a sure hit in the soap market. Also, it can be easily be exported to the other islands.

Most importantly, the transformation of Flower Town from agriculture to processing has begun to show results.

[1] The phrase "Carrot and Stick" means a system in which you are rewarded for some actions and threatened with punishment for others.

Chapter end