Chương 23: The Scent of the Hunt

Karath continued making soap whenever he found spare time over the next several days. His duty as caretaker for the tribe's underage orcs had left him with little free time before, but recently, he had managed to create some breathing room. After repeating the same exercises for several months, the children had become skilled enough to continue training without his constant supervision. He still could not leave them completely unattended, so he could spare no more than one or two hours each day.

Even so, Karath used every available moment to produce more soap. He had initially expected the process to be simple enough that he could complete it without difficulty. Since he wanted to make the best product possible, however, he repeated the process several times while searching for the ideal mixture.

"Heh heh heh." Karath caressed the finished gray block and released a greedy laugh. Anyone watching him might have thought he was holding drugs rather than soap. The gray powder rubbing off onto his palm only made the sight more suspicious. At that moment, however, Karath did not care how he looked. In a sense, the soap truly was no different from a drug to him. He had once lived in the clean and hygienic surroundings of modern America.

After spending nine years in this world without being able to wash himself properly, he finally possessed soap again.

"My precious!" After living in such miserable conditions for nine years, Karath could no longer smell the stench that had overwhelmed him as an infant. The odor had not disappeared. His nose had simply grown accustomed to constantly breathing it. That only made him miss soap even more. In his memories, his former clean life had been polished by nostalgia until it resembled something from a fantasy novel. The soap was not only for his own benefit.

The hygiene and sanitation of a primitive society were naturally poor. The settlement had not reached the level of pollution found in the industrial districts of some developing nations, but it remained deeply unsanitary. Because of those conditions, two out of every three newborns died before reaching the age of five. Many orc mothers also died from childbed fever. Soap could become a magical item capable of improving that environment. Simply producing it, however, would not solve every problem.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. The important part was convincing the orcs to use it. Even on Earth, people had ignored the importance of hygiene and sanitation before the existence of germs could be proven. As late as the nineteenth century, doctors frequently delivered children without disinfecting anything or even washing their hands with soap, killing mothers and newborns together.

Explaining the concept of hygiene in this primitive society and proving its importance to the orcs would be nearly impossible. Karath needed another approach. He had spent nine years thinking about making soap. Naturally, he had already devised a different method long ago.

"Uncle, are you about to leave for the hunt?" It was early in the morning. As the monsters' cries awakened the settlement, the orcs began emerging one after another from their earthen houses. Karath casually approached Uncle Galon, one of the males assigned to hunt that day.

"That is right. Is there something you want us to bring back, Karath? Krahahaha!" Galon laughed heartily as he answered. Perhaps because of everything Karath had accomplished, the uncles smiled whenever they saw him. The only problem was that their smiles exposed terrifying tusks.

"No. I actually made something that might help with hunting."

"Hmm? What kind of object?" Galon immediately showed interest. Had another child said something similar, the adults would probably have dismissed it as a ridiculous toy invented by someone who knew nothing about the dangers of hunting. Karath's words, however, were worth hearing at least once.

"Animals are sensitive to smells, right?"

"That is true. When hunting, you must always read the direction of the wind and approach from downwind. If the wind blows from behind you, your scent will reach the prey." The moment Karath introduced the subject, Galon began reciting his hunting knowledge. Most orcs in the primitive tribe lacked even basic information about many subjects. Strangely, however, their knowledge of hunting and combat was remarkably thorough.

"That is why I made something that can remove smells."

"Something that removes smells?"

"It is called soap. It gets rid of odor." Karath held out the square gray block of primitive soap.

"Soap? It removes smells?" Galon looked back and forth between the soap and Karath with a peculiar expression. His face made his thoughts obvious. Could such a thing truly exist? Still, if Karath claimed it worked, perhaps it was worth believing.

"Hmm. How do you use it?" Galon finally asked. Karath smiled like a businessman who had successfully hooked a customer.

"Would you come to the well with me first?" He remembered the years when he had managed a small game company and traveled from place to place seeking investments. Drawing upon those memories, Karath led Galon toward the well. Splash.

"First, rinse your body with water. While your skin is still wet, rub the soap over it." Splash.

"Then rinse yourself with water again. Here, would you smell this?" Sniff. Sniff. Galon lowered his nose to Karath's freshly washed forearm.

"Hmm? It smells somewhat like flowers."

"Exactly! Instead of smelling like an orc from our tribe, it smells like flowers. Would that not make it harder for prey to notice us approaching?"

"That is possible." Galon considered the idea for a moment. Eventually, he muttered that trying it once could do no harm, then poured water over his body.

"Galon! We need to leave for the hunt. What are you doing?" The other hunters approached with confused expressions after noticing him washing himself.

"I actually made something called soap!" Karath did not let the opportunity escape. He immediately began another sales pitch. By the time the hunters departed that day, every one of them had fallen for Karath's salesmanship and washed his entire body with soap. If hygiene had been the immediate goal, they should have washed after returning from the hunt rather than before leaving. Their bodies would inevitably become covered in dust, sweat, their prey's blood, and their own blood while hunting.

The orcs knew nothing about sanitation, however, so that did not matter to them. Such filth was part of their ordinary lives. Creating the first change was more important. Someone accustomed to smelling terrible could no longer notice it, but a clean person became highly sensitive to unpleasant odors. People who showered every day could rarely endure the smell of someone filthy. The harsh environment might have given orcs an even stronger sense of smell than modern humans.

After washing with soap several times, they would probably begin disliking the odor of their own bodies. That discomfort would gradually encourage them to use soap more frequently. It would be like adding tiny amounts of poison to a well until everyone became addicted without realizing what had happened. Karath immediately corrected himself. Poisoning the well was unacceptable. They had worked far too hard to build it.