Kays Translations

Chapter 265: Liquid Detergent

Before Rosalia completes the dishwasher-dryer, I should make detergent that can also be used for washing dishes.

With that thought, I moved straight on to liquid detergent after finishing the three automatic dried-fruit-making magic tools.

It had been a while since I last entered the compounding room. At last, I felt as though I had come home—even though I was supposedly a magic pharmacist by profession.

“Right, let’s begin.”

“You seem very enthusiastic.”

“Oh, can you tell? I am a magic pharmacist, you know.”

“Yes, I am well aware.”

Nero chuckled. I had probably seemed unusually lively. That could not be helped; lately, I had done almost nothing but make magic tools.

Now, I wanted to begin the liquid detergent immediately, but I lacked several of the necessary ingredients. I would have to prepare those first.

There were three principal ingredients. The main one was naturally soap, which I could borrow from the mansion or the territorial knights’ quarters without difficulty. The other two were soda solution and blue-slime water.

“I’ll start with the soda solution.”

“Um, may I watch?”

“Of course. You can try making it yourself if you’re interested.”

“I don’t think I need to go that far…”

Nero was already busy training as my attendant and learning proper etiquette. Soon he would begin formal lessons with a tutor as well. Once that happened, he would be extremely busy.

Had I done something terrible to Nero? If I had not employed him, perhaps he could have found a more respectable workplace. The more I considered it, the more this job seemed closer to a black company than a wholesome one.

“Nero, tell me whenever you have a complaint.”

“Er…”

Nero tilted his head, looking perplexed. Oh well. He would understand eventually. I should concentrate on the work.

I placed rock salt—the base ingredient of the soda solution—in a pot, added distilled water, heated it and stirred while infusing it with mana. There: the soda solution was complete.

It had apparently forced the sodium chloride in the rock salt to combine with carbon dioxide from the air and form sodium carbonate. Anything was possible in a game-like world.

Once the soda solution was ready, I ground silica sand into powder in a mortar and mixed in blue-slime mucus. The result was a thick, dough-like mass.

“Lord Julius, what is that…?”

Nero grimaced. The suspiciously vivid blue substance certainly looked poisonous.

“Dissolve this in distilled water and it becomes blue-slime water. Mix that with finely crushed soap and the soda solution we just made, and the basic liquid detergent is complete.”

“I see…”

Additional ingredients could alter its cleaning properties. For laundry, I would add Shine Lemon juice to improve its ability to remove grime from fabric.

For dishes, I would add powdered blue slime so that the detergent rinsed away completely even with only a small amount of water.

I mixed the three basic ingredients in a large pot and stirred vigorously until they formed a pale-blue liquid. Now I only needed to add the ingredient suited to each purpose.

First came the Shine Lemon juice. The liquid immediately turned turquoise.

Liquid Detergent: High quality. Highly effective against oil stains. Softens fibres. Effectiveness: High.

Oh, this was excellent. It even included a fabric-softening effect, so there was no need to create a separate softener. How convenient.

“Excellent, excellent, excellent! It turned out better than expected. This will make superb laundry detergent.”

“Congratulations!”

Nero joined my celebration. Encouraged, I added powdered blue slime to another portion of the basic detergent. This time, the liquid turned deep blue.

Liquid Detergent: High quality. Highly effective against oil stains. Rinses away easily. Effectiveness: High.

Hmm. This one had also succeeded. Sharing the same name might be inconvenient, however; appraisers could struggle to distinguish between them. Still, they were fundamentally the same substance, so that could not be helped.

“That should do it.”

“They are similar, but their colours are completely different.”

“True, and that makes them easy to tell apart. Now we only need to test them in actual use.”

Carrying the laundry detergent, I headed straight for the territorial knights’ quarters. There were washing-machine magic tools there and no shortage of dirty clothing. Although I appeared without warning, the knights welcomed me warmly.

They were probably accustomed to my sudden visits by now.

“I brought something wonderful for everyone! Ta-da-da-dah! Liquid detergent!”

In the silent room, only the washing-machine magic tool rumbled and played its melody.

This was rather embarrassing. Would a little applause have hurt?

“Um, Lord Julius, what is liquid detergent?”

“It is like soap for washing clothes, except that it is already liquid. Dissolving powdered soap in water every time is troublesome, isn’t it? With this, you only need to pour it in. It should remove even stubborn stains. Probably.”

Everyone wore expressions that combined anticipation with unease. Actions would be more convincing than words, so it would be quicker to let them use it.

“Why don’t you test it now? Use the dirtiest clothes you have, if possible. That will make the difference easier to see.”

“Understood. Then we will begin with these.”

Apparently, they had intended to pre-rinse the clothing before washing it. The basket was full of heavily soiled garments. Training hard enough to become this filthy was truly admirable.

After confirming the instructions, they began the test at once. I was counting on you, liquid detergent. Show them what you could do!

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