The shop didn't seem to sell the kind of items I needed, so I passed right by.
I wondered if those medicines were for some dangerous ritual. Or maybe they were just things like risk factors or shark cartilage. It looked like that was the only sort of inventory they carried. Well, since there was a demand for that stuff in modern Japan, it was probably even more sought after in this world. I might have considered buying some cold medicine if they had any, though I had my doubts about whether it would even work.
"I wonder what this is," I mused.
"It seems they sell condiments, Master," Roxanne replied.
The shop, located a short distance from the pharmacy, appeared to be a specialty store for seasonings. Condiments, huh? However, with only jars lined up and no labels, I couldn't tell what was inside.
"Welcome. We specialize in fish sauce here," an old woman greeted us, having apparently overheard our conversation.
"Fish sauce, is it? Do you have soy sauce—no, which one is your most popular?"
The word for soy sauce didn't convert into Brahim. It seemed the concept simply didn't exist in this world. Soy sauce was a lost cause. However, if they had fish sauce, there might be something similar.
"Hmph. Every item I stock is popular," she huffed.
No matter how good a shop’s inventory is, there’s always a ranking in sales. From the best-sellers to the shelf-warmers. There are always high-quality items that are too expensive for the average person, or things that aren't for daily use. It was impossible for everything to be equally popular. I kept my mouth shut, though; there was no point in arguing with her.
"I see."
"But here, why don't you have a taste of this?"
The old woman held out a small dish of fish sauce. I scooped a bit up with my pinky. The smell was intense. Pungent. It reminded me of rotten natto or perhaps fermented funazushi. Roxanne grimaced beside me. Her nose was sensitive, so it must have been a direct assault on her senses.
When I tasted it, the flavor was bitter and sharp. It was harsh and stinging. The sensation rushed up into my sinuses and stayed there. Even though I’d only taken a tiny bit, the aftertaste was relentless.
"...Do you have something a bit less... unique?"
"Heh-heh-heh! I suppose that was too much for you."
Why, you old... It had been a prank. The old woman brought out another small dish. This one had a much fainter smell. I wondered if this was part of her sales tactic—hitting the customer with something foul first to numb their senses.
I tasted the second sauce. Roxanne followed suit; since she hadn't touched the first one, this one must have been within her tolerance. It tasted less like fish sauce and more like a Chinese fermented paste. Sweet and spicy.
"How is it?" I asked.
"Yes, I think this is good," Roxanne nodded.
As for me, I felt like the first sauce was still haunting my nostrils. It was like someone was grilling salted, fermented fish right inside my nose. I couldn't believe how potent that first one had been.
"That one's my most popular product, no harsh kick at all. Honestly, the youth these days have no stamina," the woman grumbled.
I had plenty of retorts, but I let them slide. My patience was definitely being tested.
"How much?"
"Three hundred Nahl for that small jar. Five hundred for the large one. Same price for the first one you tried. It's the best seasoning for meat and vegetables alike."
I swallowed another retort and bought the large jar for five hundred Nahl. It was twice the size of the small one, making it the better deal. Since her job was Villager, my thirty percent discount didn't apply. I supposed I should just be glad I didn't end up buying the first sauce just for the sake of the discount.
I put the jar into Roxanne’s rucksack and let her carry it as we walked toward the Adventurer Guild.
Across the street, there was a park filled with various stalls. There were yakitori-style shops with skewered meat, pizza-style stands with toppings on baked dough, and sandwich shops. It felt like the fast food of this world, or perhaps the atmosphere of a festival's night market.
"Is there some kind of event going on?"
"I don't think so, Master."
It wasn't particularly crowded, and the atmosphere didn't quite scream "festival." There was a decent flow of people, but it seemed like these stalls were just part of the daily routine.
Among them was a stall surrounded by children. It was selling a toasted, brown-colored food. Some kind of cheap candy, perhaps?
"Do you know what they’re selling over there?"
"I'm sorry, I don't know."
"Then let's try some."
I led Roxanne to the stall. That bitter, pungent sensation was still lingering in the back of my nose, and I wanted something sweet to wash it away. Besides, the sight of a brown snack made me think of rice crackers. Maybe it was something similar.
"Ten Nahl for one," the vendor said.
"Give me two."
The stall craftsman poured a liquid into a small pot. The "rice cracker" theory vanished as soon as I saw the liquid. Maybe it was like castella? Soon, the liquid began to expand rapidly, forming a rounded mound over the pot. The watching children cheered.
"Here you go."
The craftsman plucked it from the pot and handed it over wrapped in a leaf. I paid the full price—he was a Villager, too, so no discount. I handed one to Roxanne. For the other, I broke off a bite-sized piece and gave it to the cutest little girl standing nearby.
"Want a piece?"
"Yeah!"
I felt no obligation to give any to the boys. Cute girls get the perks. I watched her run off before moving away from the stall.
"Was that alright, Master?"
"I can tell what it is just by looking."
I knew exactly what this was. Karumeyaki—honeycomb toffee. I had made it in a science experiment back in junior high. I didn't remember the taste, and I wasn't sure if this would be identical, but I did remember that I hadn't thought it was particularly delicious.
I tried a piece, and sure enough, it was mediocre. It helped a little with the fish sauce aftertaste, but that was about it.
"It's sweet and delicious!" Roxanne chirped, happily stuffing her cheeks.
Perhaps my indifference to it was a result of coming from modern Japan, where sweets were everywhere. I watched the stall from a distance as I waited for Roxanne to finish.
If I remembered correctly, honeycomb toffee expands because baking soda dissolved in the liquid releases carbon dioxide when heated. This stall's candy used the same principle. I watched as the craftsman turned around, opened a box, and took out some ingredients. He mixed water with a powder to create the base liquid.
This was my chance. I looked at the box and focused. Appraisal.
Unfortunately, the powder itself couldn't be appraised once it was out of its "item" state. If Kobold Salt was even slightly chipped, it ceased to be a discrete item and couldn't be appraised or stored in the Item Box. However, I managed to identify two items inside the box before he mixed them.
Kobold Sucrose. Shell Powder.
If I had asked the vendor, he wouldn't have told me his trade secrets. Thank god for Appraisal. I didn't actually want to make toffee; I just wanted to know the names of the ingredients. The powder he used was likely wheat flour mixed with the sucrose and the shell powder. If you mixed flour, sugar, and baking soda, you got honeycomb toffee.
Sucrose was sugar. That meant the Shell Powder was the baking soda.
Shell Powder = Baking Soda = Sodium Bicarbonate.
"Alright, let's go."
"Yes. Thank you for the treat, Master."
I led Roxanne away from the stall. "Is Kobold Sucrose something dropped by Kobolds?" I asked in a low voice once we were clear.
"I believe it is dropped by the floor bosses above the Kobolds."
So it was dropped by higher-tier Kobold species. That explained why I hadn't seen it yet. Even with the Cook job, standard Kobolds or Kobold Kämpfers wouldn't drop it.
"And do you know what Shell Powder is used for?"
"It's a fire suppressant. The powder dropped by Clamshells isn't strong enough to negate Fire Magic, but it can be used to put out spreading fires quickly. If you use Scallop Extract dropped by Scallop Shells, it can even negate Fire Magic once."
It sounded a bit different from standard baking soda, at least in its magical properties. If it was just sodium bicarbonate, it shouldn't have anything to do with magic.
"Is it ever mixed with flour for baking, or used for cleaning?"
"Shell Powder? I've never heard of such a thing."
Maybe it was different after all. "Do you ever use vinegar for cleaning?"
"I've never heard of that either."
Vinegar did exist in this world—I’d tasted it myself. Both vinegar and baking soda should be effective cleaners. If she didn't know about using vinegar for cleaning, it stood to reason she wouldn't know about baking soda's utility either.
I stopped by the Adventurer Guild to pick up some Shell Powder, then bought a pot and some Koichi Fruit Bran before returning home. I bought two pots just to get the thirty percent discount. I had a feeling I was being excessive, but I figured I’d use them eventually. That discount really did encourage wasteful spending.
What was I making? My junior high experiment hadn't been about making toffee. It had been about making soap.
The fatty acids in oil react with the sodium in baking soda to become sodium fatty acid—soap. I remembered the steps clearly because I’d been excluded from the student groups and forced to perform the experiment alone in front of the teacher. A bitter memory, but a useful one.
Even without rice bran, I could substitute a vegetable oil. I decided to try Koichi Fruit Bran, which was already used as a soap substitute in this world. Rice bran had been used for the same purpose in ancient times.
Back at the mansion, I headed straight for the kitchen. I boiled half a pot of water, deciding that if this worked, I'd dedicate this pot to soap-making. Once the water reached a boil, I added the ground Shell Powder. It fizzed and bubbled. There was no doubt—Shell Powder was baking soda.
Once the bubbling subsided, I added the Koichi Fruit Bran. I didn't know the exact measurements, so I winged it, remembering we used a lot of bran in school. Even if it failed, it was a first attempt. As I stirred, a thick, brown, sludge-like liquid formed. It became so viscous it was a workout just to move the spoon.
It was going better than expected. The soap from the experiment had looked just like this.
"What is this, Master?" Roxanne asked, coming in from the garden where she’d been tending herbs.
"It's soap."
"Soap? That's incredible!"
"I don't know if it'll work yet."
"Just the fact that you thought to make it is amazing."
If I didn't already have the knowledge, I wouldn't have tried either. Soap was a luxury here. If this worked, it would be a game-changer.
"You should try using the Shell Powder for cleaning, too. It’ll take dirt right off."
"Really?"
"Absolutely."
"I had no idea. I'll try it right away!"
"Here, use the leftovers."
I handed her the extra powder. Even if the soap failed, it was cheap enough to buy more. It seemed Shell Powder had plenty of uses. I remembered a hot spring from a ski trip back in Japan that was a sodium bicarbonate spring; maybe I could even put this in the bath. That ski trip had been fun, mostly because I just skied by myself. I didn't recall being forced into any groups for that... wait, how did I handle meals? Hmm.
"Um, Master... how do I use this? Do I just scrub with it?" Roxanne asked, returning almost immediately. She didn't seem to have considered dissolving it.
"Ah, right. Dissolve it in water and use that to wipe things down."
"Master, this is incredible!" she cried a while later, her eyes sparkling. It seemed to be a success.
I took my pot off the heat. My project was looking decent, too, though I wouldn't know the final quality until it dried. I just had to wait a few days. If it hardened, it was a success. I moved the pot to a corner to let it set.
Afterward, we headed to the seventh floor of the Vale Labyrinth. I only realized I’d gained a new job when I pulled out Durandal.
Level 7 monsters couldn't be killed in one hit with Durandal anymore, so I’d been using the Warrior skill, Rush. With Rush, even a Level 7 went down in one swing. However, my usual setup was Explorer, Hero, Mage, and Monk. I didn't usually have room for Warrior. I couldn't drop Explorer because of the Item Box. I felt like dropping Hero or Mage would lower my maximum MP, and while I could use Durandal’s HP absorption, I didn't want to lose the MP buffer from the Monk job either.
So, when I wanted Rush, I had to switch to a five-job setup. While setting that fifth job, I saw the new addition.
Alchemist Lv 1 Effect: Intelligence Increase (Small), Dexterity Increase (Slight) Skill: Plating
Alchemist, huh? Since making soap was a chemical reaction, that must have triggered the unlock. Chemistry was essentially the ancestor of alchemy, after all.
I swapped Warrior for Alchemist to test it out. When I mentally triggered Plating, the system asked for a target. I almost designated Durandal but hesitated. It was my most precious weapon; if plating it made it brittle or something, I’d be devastated. Usually, plating should make things more durable, and the name suggested a defensive skill, but I couldn't rule out an offensive application.
"I’m going to run an experiment. Roxanne, find me a single monster, but not an Escape Goat."
"Understood, Master."
It was better to test it on an enemy first. Escape Goats were too likely to run away.
"May I ask what sort of experiment this is?" Roxanne asked as we moved. I’d been doing a lot of experimenting lately. Between the soap and the combat tests, she probably thought her Master was a bit of a mad scientist.
"Do you know about Alchemy?"
"Um... the people who try to create gold?"
So it was the same in this world. If chemical reactions unlocked the job, that made sense. Alchemy's ultimate goal was transmutation.
"It’s a test for a skill related to that."
"Can you create gold?" Her eyes went wide.
"N-no. Not quite."
In a world with magic, maybe there was a skill for it, but if there were, the value of gold would have collapsed. Maybe it was a closely guarded secret. Or maybe all I could do was Plating—meaning I could plate something in brass and claim it was gold. That’s just a scam.
"There's one," Roxanne whispered.
A Cheap Sheep appeared. I cast Plating on it. It seemed to succeed, though there was no visible change. It didn't look like an offensive skill. I ran up and swung Durandal. Without the Warrior job, I couldn't use Rush. I dodged its charge and hit it again. It died.
"I see..."
"Master?"
The result was the same whether I used the skill or not. But "no change" was still an important result. It wasn't an offensive skill. If it were, it was either useless or the sheep had a specific resistance.
"Let's go to the second floor."
We moved to the weaker floor. I put away Durandal, dumped my bonus points into Intelligence until I knew I could one-shot a monster with magic, and then found a Needle Wood Lv 2. I cast Plating on it and then attacked.
It survived the first spell. It took a second to finish it off.
"It seems you've placed a restriction on your own strength, Master," Roxanne observed.
That was a polite way of saying I’d gotten weaker. In reality, the monster had gotten stronger. Plating was definitely a defensive skill. Given the name, it probably applied a protective film. The Cheap Sheep Lv 7 had died in two hits regardless of the skill, which meant the damage reduction wasn't massive—or perhaps it only worked against magic?
Wait, no. I had only used Plating once. If it was a film, maybe it shattered after one hit.
I found a Green Caterpillar. I plated it, had Roxanne hit it once with her scimitar, and then I used magic. It died in one shot. So, Plating reduced the damage of exactly one attack. I confirmed this by having her hit a plated monster and then re-plating it before my spell; it survived the spell.
Even with 99 bonus points in Intelligence, I couldn't one-shot a plated Needle Wood Lv 2. I couldn't pin down the exact percentage yet, but I’d grasped the basics:
- Plating only protects against the very next attack.
- It works against both physical and magical damage.
- It doesn't stack.
- Damage reduction is roughly fifteen percent, though it might scale with job level.
It wasn't much, but it was a rare defensive skill. I’d find a use for it.
We explored until evening, and the next day, we hit the Quratar Labyrinth before breakfast and Vale's seventh floor afterward. We were in Quratar to farm Rabbit Pelts. When the boutique owner said they wanted them in lots of a hundred, I felt a strange sense of spite. I'd show them. I'd bring two hundred, maybe three hundred. My Item Box had plenty of room now.
As for the soap, after a day, it was still quite soft. I wondered if it would ever actually harden. In my school experiment, the teacher had used a refrigerator, and we'd used the soap for play immediately, so I didn't know the actual curing time. If it took a month, I was in trouble.
After dinner, I took the substance—which was currently more like butter than soap—and put it on a hand towel. It was time to wash Roxanne.
I stood her up in the bathroom, naked. Her figure was incredible. She was tall and slender, with long, graceful limbs. Her chest was... well, let's just say it was a miracle of nature. She had a narrow waist and a lovely curve to her hips, finished off with that wagging tail.
"Um, Master... perhaps I should wash you first?"
"No. This is an experiment."
I silenced her immediately. Why did she think I’d gone to all this trouble? To wash her. That was it. I wanted her covered in suds as soon as possible. I firmly rejected her counter-offer.
"I-I understand."
Technically, this was a human experiment since I didn't know if the soap was safe. The alkali might be too strong. I didn't want her ending up with skin irritation. I had to be careful.
I wet the hand towel and worked up a lather. I tested it on my own hand first. The foaming was actually pretty good. It wasn't as bubbly as modern body wash, but it worked. My hand didn't sting, either. It seemed I’d made a decent batch.
"It seems safe. Here, give me your hand."
I took her supple left hand and covered it in foam. I slid my fingers between hers, moving them back and forth. It felt strangely intimate. Moist and soft.
"It's the first time we're using this, so if anything feels wrong, tell me immediately."
"I will, Master."
I moved from her palm to her arm, enjoying the softness of her skin. Then I moved to her armpit, scrubbing gently. I used the towel only to generate more foam; the actual washing was done with my bare hands. From the armpit, I moved to the base of those violent mountains.
Fast as the wind.
The peaks stood silent and still.
Quiet as the forest.
I coated them in white foam like snow on a summit.
Raiding like fire.
Was it my imagination, or were they trembling under my touch? No, it wasn't my imagination. As I washed them, I gave them a little jiggle.
Immovable as the mountain.
I washed her thoroughly and slowly. I covered her stomach and throat in foam, then moved to her back.
"I'll do your back, head, and tail today since it's the first test, but we won't do it every day."
"Oh? Why not?"
"I've heard soap isn't great for fur. Probably."
I seemed to recall hearing that somewhere. Since we had specialized shampoos for hair, it made sense. I lathered up the fur on her back, kneading it with both hands. Then I moved to her tail, gently massaging the soap through the soft, silky hair. It felt wonderful.
Then, I washed her lower body. With my own hands, of course.
Once she was a pillar of white foam, I moved to her head. I worked the lather into her hair, scrubbing vigorously. I paid special attention to her dog ears, washing them with genuine gratitude for how much I enjoyed touching them. I made sure to get the front, the back, and the little folds at the base.
The movement caused foam to drip down her face, and Roxanne closed her eyes. With her eyes shut, I took a moment to truly appreciate her form. I finished by washing her forehead and cheeks.
She was a complete bubble-woman. The white foam clung to her like a suggestive garment. It was sexy because of the way her skin peeked through—like a set of torn, lacy clothes. And since it was only foam, there was nothing between my hands and her skin.
"Um... Master?"
I couldn't help it; I hugged her. It was an act of God.
"By doing this, we can wash more efficiently with less soap. It's a traditional ritual from my homeland, performed between men and women who are very close."
I piled on the lies. Since I was already here, I might as well enjoy the sensation. The combination of her moist skin and the slippery soap was incredible.
"Is that so?"
"It is," I affirmed with total conviction. My conscience pricked me a little for tricking her, but I couldn't stop. First impressions are everything. If I’d tried this later, she would have thought I was a pervert. But if I established this as "normal" from the start, she’d accept it without resistance forever.
"T-then, I shall wash your body as well, Master."
Roxanne tentatively wrapped her arms around my back. See? First impressions. I let her take over. Those mountain masses rampaged against me through the foam. To think she could weaponize such a biological advantage... truly fearsome.
"Thanks, Roxanne. This feels great."
"If you're happy with this, Master..."
I let her wash me for a long time. My hair, my back... everything.
"Alright, let's rinse off."
I scooped warm water and poured it over her head, slowly washing away the suds. We took turns pouring water until we were both clean.
"My skin feels so smooth and wonderful!" Roxanne chirped, stroking her own arm. She looked genuinely delighted.
"No irritation?"
"None at all! I feel like I've been reborn."
"Well, you were beautiful to start with, so I don't think you've changed that much."
"Th-thank you, Master!"
Wait. Was that a missed opportunity? Should I have said she was beautiful before but even more beautiful now? Well, I’m a man of facts. She was beautiful then, and she’s beautiful now. That’s plenty.