Chương 40: Chapter 1.40: Salt and Ash

Late summer turned into fall and the harvest continued. Each day they trained. He and Caliga were running, fighting, moving, and thinking, all while using pneuma. As they jogged around the hills near the estate, slaves walked by with mule-drawn wagons. They harvested grain, pumpkins, and vegetables. Others were plucking apples and olives. As the days blurred into one, they did their best to stay quiet and unobtrusive.

Despite all the success with their cultivation, Favius couldn't get his mind off the problem he just couldn't solve. The soap. They returned to the courtyard again. Caliga poked her stick into one pot after the other of the next batch and commented on the results. Urania noted her sister's comments down on a wax tablet. Favius nodded along with his sister's assessments. Brutus's attempts to use the soap to clean the sample rags worked ever better.

"This ratio is the best we've had so far for our lime and marsh ash mixture." Urania smiled.

"I think we're getting better." But Favius shook his head.

"Better is not good enough." He grabbed a piece of the successful soap and squeezed it in his fingers.

"It's definitely a solid block, but the surface is slimy and not pleasant to touch. And..." He groaned.

"How often was this soap boiled with fresh water?" He turned towards the slave boy carpenter who was only a few years older than him.

"Four separate times, my lord." Favius shook his head.

"We are not making progress," he murmured. And that doesn't make any sense. Fucking medieval peasants and hippies in their kitchens can make soap, so what am I missing? He smirked. Well, or maybe they just make shitty soap like I do, who knows? He gestured.

"Caliga. Take the best batch and let's split it into three parts. Maybe we'll get lucky today." His sister obliged with Brutus's help while he and Urania got the ingredients. He grabbed the bottle of vinegar and walked towards the first cauldron that was now boiling over a low flame.

"So, I think we are dealing with an alchemical problem. The atomi are not behaving quite right, and maybe we need to add another substance to make the soap hard and nice." Brutus gave a considering hum in the background. Urania studied the vinegar.

"And you think adding an acid with positive atomi might help?" Favius shrugged.

"Maybe there is something in the balance of the positive and negative atomi. Or maybe the fat needs to react first with negative atomi and then with positive ones?" He put a generous helping of vinegar into the cauldron, and they observed while taking turns stirring. After a while Caliga shook her head.

"I think this made it worse." She poked at it.

"It's getting gooey. Almost as if the soap is dissolving." Favius nodded, stroking his chin.

"It does make sense." He walked over to the next ingredient he wanted to attempt. I'm getting desperate with those Hail Marys here. I'm fairly certain it's a mixture of water and glycerin I'm dealing with, and well, the impurities from the fat and alkali we can already take care of by separating out what's left on the bottom. Favius grabbed the bottle of strong wine and shook his head. Glycerin can be turned into nitroglycerin, but apart from the fact that I think I would need nitric acid for that, which...

He scratched his head. Would require me to mess about with the lead chamber process to get sulfuric acid. He snorted. No, I can't actually see how floating my soap in a liquid explosive is going to help my situation. As Favius began pouring the wine bottle into the next container, Brutus cleared his throat.

"And what, oh wise young master, is your theory behind this one? Not that I think adding good wine can make things worse, but..." The cultivator trailed off at Favius's glare.

"I would have preferred actual alcohol. But you said it's too expensive and that only mages make pure spirit." Brutus shrugged.

"That is so." Favius shook his head. Damn strange that they haven't figured out distillation here. Well, that's another business venture I could do once I have the time for it. They observed this mixture, but Urania quickly wrinkled her nose.

"It's smelling funny and it's gone purple, but apart from that..." She looked at the small portions he'd left in the original pot.

"I think it just acts like adding new water."

"Well..." Caliga shrugged.

"At least we know we can color the soap." Favius sighed.

"We are not coloring our soap with wine." But Caliga gave him a thoughtful look.

"Why not? I mean, not necessarily with wine, but couldn't adding some color be of benefit?" Favius studied the cloudy sky. That... that isn't actually wrong, though I would need to look into what colors we are using. He looked at Urania.

"We already talked about some ideas for making the soap better by adding herbs and spices." Urania bobbed her head eagerly.

"Yeah, the Master of Provisions told me that he will have the bales of lavender, rosemary, and sage ready by tomorrow."

"What about the pine?" asked Favius, and Caliga tilted her head from side to side.

"He told me he's gonna send a few slaves up into the forest to cut some branches." Favius hummed.

"Seems reasonable. Just providing soap might not be enough. I want to sell it as a luxury good. It needs to feel and smell great." Brutus handed him the materials for the next experiment. One by one he broke open the eggs. They are noticeably smaller than the ones back from Earth, but then again, laying hens were probably bred heavily. Urania observed him skeptically as he cracked open the eggs. The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"And now we are making an omelette?" she ventured, but Favius sniffed.

"Well, it's my final idea." After all, making soap is just kitchen chemistry, and eggs are readily available. They contain protein and I know that some painters use them for paints. I think I heard that in a documentary about Leonardo da Vinci. Though I could be wrong. He added internally before sighing. Let's be real here. This is a desperate Hail Mary. He put it in and, as expected, the egg solidified, turning into a particularly nasty version of poached egg.

Urania looked at him while poking a stick around the pot.

"I don't know if it does anything, but I definitely can't see how we are going to unmix it from the soap." Favius shook his head.

"Another failure. Well, let me think about it." He addressed the slaves that were assisting them.

"Keep the pots boiling and make more of the soap."

"You sure?" asked Brutus, looking skeptically at their resources.

"The majordomo is positively inclined towards you, but he will not tolerate an endless wasting of ingredients." Favius ground his teeth.

"We don't really have a choice. This boiling takes time and whatever the step we are missing is, we can store the soap in the current state." Brutus nodded, and Favius gave a few instructions before heading for the library, for one of the lessons Marcus had ordered him to take. Tiro was already waiting for him and had laid out a spread of various foods.

Well, he isn't the greatest teacher, but plying his young noble student with delicacies while explaining etiquette is not the worst teaching method I've ever encountered. He smiled and bowed slightly.

"I greet the honored tutor." The man's face remained stern, yet his eyes sparkled for a moment. He really does enjoy whenever we roleplay social situations. A good actor was lost on this man. They discussed various situations and conventions while Favius slowly chewed on cheese and olives.

"Therefore," said Tiro, "no matter how many titles one has earned, only the one that is most appropriate and meritorious is ever used in any situation." Favius nodded along and absentmindedly grabbed a piece of a small fish. He studied and nibbled it. Salty. He slowly chewed on it, then froze. Salt. Favius slumped in his chair and let his head fall into his hands.

"No, no, no. It can't be that stupid."

"Young master?" Tiro inquired.

"I'm sorry, Tiro. We need to cut today's lessons short. I... I think I just understood something." Favius ran across the estate and collected the others, grinning all the while. Yet internally, part of him was screaming. This cannot possibly be this dumb. On his way out he raided the kitchens for a pot of salt. Brutus looked at him skeptically.

"Salt? All this hubbub and your idea is to throw salt into the mix? I thought we weren't supposed to eat the soap." Favius ignored his bodyguard. But as they started back into the workshop's courtyard, the startled slaves tending the pots looked confused at his excitement. But Favius was undeterred. He threw several handfuls of salt into one pot that was in the third round of purification. The chunky, almost molten layer of soap had a white-gray color. While they waited, Urania pointed at the salt.

"Explain why you think that's gonna work. I... I just don't understand it." Favius chuckled.

"Me neither." He trailed off before frowning. The truth is, I can't really explain either of my two theories. Well, that's not quite true. The first one is that the salt somehow interacts with the glycerin, but I don't have the chemical structure and I don't know what the interaction would look like.

"Well," he said out loud, "salt and fresh water have different densities, as we discussed when we went over the units. So I'm thinking maybe the salt changes the density of this contaminated water so the soap separates out better." No, that's not quite right. He studied his sister's faces.

"We'll talk about this at some point in the future." Urania hummed, but then nodded. And as the soup continued to boil, the two girls got more excited while Favius was sitting down, focusing on his vital breath and cultivation alongside Brutus. Yet Urania cried out after almost an hour.

"Favius! Favius, look!" She had skewered a piece of soap and held it up, and Favius instantly realized that something had changed. Its surface was no longer textured like molten wax. It was surprisingly solid.

"Did we manage it?" He got up, and Brutus dutifully took the piece of soap and put it into water. The cultivator's broad smile told him everything he needed to know.

"It feels nice. Soft on the skin. The stinging burn is nearly gone, and the texture is..." He turned it slightly.

"Not quite slimy, but slippery once I wet it." He washed the pieces of cloth, and both oil, dirt, and blood were cleaned away easily.

"Yes, finally!" he called out, and both his sisters hugged him while they celebrated. The evening until sunset continued in a fever pitch of work. They used salt to purify all the soap they had produced with the good recipe so far. At some point they got an entire new crate of salt from the Master of Provisions, and as the sun was setting, both Serran Vale and Doroth Cerul joined them in the courtyard.

"Young master," said the majordomo, "I've been told your project had a breakthrough." Before Favius could do anything, Urania ran up to him excitedly and pressed a piece of soap into the man's hand.

"Look!" She waved the off-white bar under the man's face before putting it into his hand. Serran ran his hand over it.

"Feels somewhat waxy, but—" Favius gestured at a bowl and the dirty pieces of cloth.

"Try washing this piece of cloth." Serran and his subordinate walked up to the bowl with uncertain expressions. Yet the majordomo's eyes widened while he washed the piece of cloth.

"How... how did it get so clean so quickly? Normally it takes ash and scrubbing to remove such dirt." He wiped his hands dry on his robes, then ran his thumb over his palms before brushing the hands against each other.

"And my hands, they feel soft." He sniffed them.

"What? How does this work? Has the young master learned magic?" Favius chuckled.

"No magic. Just good craftsmanship. And a product that could be very useful to the estate." Serran nodded eagerly.

"First the bees and now this. Truly, the young master is blessed with insight." Favius couldn't help but grin. You have no idea how true that is, old man. As fall drew to a close, the activity in the workshop redoubled. Soap was being produced in large batches, but one last obstacle remained. At first Favius and Urania tried to boil the herbs in hot oil, but the smell didn't survive that. After slaves stamped the lavender, the sage, and the rosemary in large mortars, they let them stew in oil for a few days.

Once the smell had been extracted, they reheated previous batches of soap. The first batch was scented with lavender. They filtered their oil and mixed it into the soap until everyone was happy with the smell of the mixture. Urania was focused on pouring soap into the shallow box. As it cooled, they sprinkled freshly cut lavender on top of it. While it continued to solidify, the young woodworking slave walked up to them.

"Young master, you mentioned that presentation matters a great deal with such products." Favius turned and looked up at the boy.

"Yes?"

"So I thought I'd make these." He grabbed several blocks of wood from a nearby table, and Favius studied the intricate carvings on their undersides with raised eyebrows: a lavender flower, leaves of sage and rosemary, and a pine cone on a small branch.

"Those..." He ran his hand over the smooth wood.

"Are impressively detailed works."

"Thank you, young master. I thought we could press them into the bars of soap you talked about to make them look better." His voice trailed off somewhere between excitement, hope, and worry. Favius smiled broadly.

"That's a great idea. Urania, what do you think?" She tilted her head to the side, gave the boy an unreadable look, but then nodded.

"They seem useful, I guess." And so they continued creating their first set of lavender soap bars, cutting it apart with a knife and packaging them up in cloth bags. Sage and thyme worked similarly well. However, the extraction of the essential oils from pine needles failed. They tried for a few days, but Favius could only shake his head at the results. I can smell it, but the scent is so weak.

"We could try it, but I don't think it would make good soap," he lamented, and Urania nodded.

"I don't understand why it isn't working. Why can we extract the smell from all the other herbs but not from pine?" Favius shook his head.

"I think it's because pine is a much tougher material." Brutus walked up to them.

"Say, boy, does it need to be an oil to hold the smell?"

"Well, it needs to be mixed into the soap."

"Have you considered using pine tar?"

"Pine tar?" asked Urania and Favius in unison, and Brutus nodded, holding up a small urn filled with the stuff. He opened the top and the intense scent hit Favius. He took a deep breath. It's a surprisingly nice smell. I would have expected the tar to stink. Brutus chuckled.

"You kept going on about how we need pine-scented soap because it would be a good smell for men, whereas women would prefer lavender." Caliga snorted.

"I still like sage best." Favius shrugged and studied the black tar.

"Well, let's set up a small dose and try it out." It worked perfectly. Finally, the last category of soap, darker gray and sprinkled with cut pine needles, was prepared and stamped. A few more days flew by. But as the second week of fall ended, Brutus approached Favius with a serious expression.

"The inquiries I sent to the senators have been returned. I know how we can gain the upper hand against Hesnia."