In the Capital.
On a certain day, Zenjirou was already working since the early morning on a rare occasion. He met with numerous n.o.bles in the royal palace and was pressed for etiquette.
He sat collected on the chair for the Prince Consort next to the throne while dressed up n.o.bles came to in front of him one after another, bowing their heads.
“I am Thomas, the current head and Baron of the Pantoja Family.
This year again, my humble self will be at your service together with my wife in the mansion of the Pantoja Family in the Capital. I retain my enduring loyalty to the Kingdom and the Royal Family unchanged.”
“Very well. Baron Pantoja, your loyalty is appreciated. As her proxy, I promise you to pa.s.s on your words to Her Highness Aura.”
When Zenjirou said that and nodded, the middle-aged man in front of him— Baron Thomas Pantoja deeply lowered his head once more, then slowly stepped back.
In exchange, an old man, who had waited in the back of the room, came forward to Zenjirou.
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Zenjirou-sama. My name is Bra.s.s, the previous head and knight of the Bobone Family. The family has detached my old self to serve in the Capital this year again.
I shall fulfil any duty to the utmost of my abilities when either of you two Highnesses commands it.”
“Okay, Sir Bra.s.s. I will let Her Highness Aura know about your unchanged loyalty.”
The old man bowed deeply again and retreated as well.
Next up, a young knight stepped forward.
“I am Francesc, the oldest son of the Caballero Family’s current head: Knight Conrad. Just like last year, the responsibility for serving in the Capital falls upon myself…”
Everyone was practically saying the same.
In short, they declared that they would be serving in the Capital as the representative of their family and Zenjirou acknowledged it.
A formal exchange, so to speak.
With an exceptionally powerful Royal Family, the Carpa Kingdom, a feudal state, had the unwritten rule that one person of the feudal families from each domain, either the previous, current or future head of the family, permanently stayed in the Capital.
The custom had originally started from the connotation of a “hostage” to the royal family, but nowadays, there were many merits for both the royal family and the feudal lords, so it was continued without any ill will in particular.
Like previously mentioned, the royal authority in the Carpa Kingdom was extremely distinctive. Due to that, it was quite beneficial for the n.o.bles, too, to have someone from the family with a high decision-making power, remain in the capital.
The gathering of these influential n.o.bles in the capital stimulated its economy greatly. And the richer the economy, the more common people congregated in the capital from the countryside.
Many rights and interests emerged in the capital when its population increased and the economic power improved. And the n.o.blemen didn’t want to leave the capital in order to obtain these rights and interests or not to lose them.
Each n.o.ble family had its own ulterior motives when they detached a representative of their families to the capital. Once every year, that person then announced its delegation to the Queen and got permission to stay in the capital.
Normally Queen Aura was supposed to carry out this formality, but all of those, who were scheduled to “announce their stay” today, were the same delegates from last year, so Zenjirou a.s.sumed that duty in her stead, since she was busy.
(The usual subst.i.tutions involve all kind of troublesome formalities and regulations, but otherwise it’s just simple greetings. Better let me handle these things than to bother Aura with it.)
Sitting on his chair, Zenjirou received the greeting from one n.o.ble after another with a serious expression while such thoughts crossed his mind.
Right now, Aura ought to have a difficult conference with the emissary from the Twin Kingdom of Sharrow and Jilbell in a different room of the royal palace.
Zenjirou was taking action and subst.i.tuting for her like this because he wanted to ease her burden even just a bit.
Of course he wasn’t making an unaccompanied appearance at important events, which could be interpreted as a “s.h.i.+ft of power” from the Queen to the Prince Consort, neither was he taking care of matters that required complicated decisions.
The events he a.s.sumed in her stead were only ones like this, where even a speaking plush toy would suffice as long as it had a “royal” t.i.tle.
It were hardly worthwhile jobs, but doing them “helped” Aura, which was more than enough for him.
However, there was no way that the n.o.blemen of this world were able to comprehend that sentiment of his. Thus, some of them used occasions like his one to approach him in various ways.
The middle-aged n.o.bleman that had just kneeled in front of Zenjirou, was of that kind.
“My name is Diego, the current head and Baron of the Duran Family. My humble self will continue to serve in the Capital for my family again this year. Still, I have got to say, it sure is hot in the capital. My domain is higher above the sea level than the capital, so I am not yet used to the heat here.
The countryside has nothing to offer when faced with the capital, but you cannot help but miss it during this season.”
Zenjirou’s look turn a little bit wary when the middle-aged n.o.ble continued the unnecessary chit-chat.
But the n.o.bleman didn’t notice the petty change in him and rattled on.
“There is hardly anything interesting in the countryside, but the beautiful landscape and clean air are something to brag about. It would be an extraordinaire honour if you ever were to retreat there for the summer, Zenjirou-sama. My family would give you the warmest welcome.”
Upon his words, Zenjirou tensed up his expression and narrowed his eyes to slits a bit.
It sounded like a simple invitation to a summer resort, but that wasn’t the only meaning behind it.
At the present time, Aura and Zenjirou were the only royalty in the Carpa Kingdom, not including their baby Carlos Zenkichi. If Zenjirou, as one of the two royalty, left the capital for a “summer resort”, then Aura, as the Queen, would naturally have to remain in the capital, since it was the hub for politics.
In other words, this middle-aged n.o.ble wanted to invite only Zenjirou himself to his domain, without being accompanied by Aura.
(Aw, I guess he also thinks that I’m discontent with my current standing?)
While getting a bit fed up inwardly, Zenjirou a.s.sessed the thoughts of the man kneeling in front of him.
In consideration of the patriarchal values in this country, his position could certainly only be seen as insufficient.
The pride of the average aristocratic male in the Carpa Kingdom would definitely not allow it that the wife took the reigns and he himself stood on the sidelines.
(Well, be it out of good-will or out of ill-will, there’ll never be an end to people, who suggest things like this. But it’s annoying how I can’t just ignore them.)
Only sighing inwardly, Zenjirou raised an affected laughter and replied.
“Oho, that sounds appealing. I certainly would like to pay a visit with my wife when Zenkichi has come of age.
I will count on you when the time comes.”
These playfulish words probably translated to something like this: “I’ve not the slightest intention to separate from Aura right now.”
“H- Hmm, that will not be any time soon. Very well, I will gladly entertain you on that occasion then.”
The true meaning must have been conveyed to him.
The middle-aged n.o.bleman looked at Zenjirou with disappointment and lowered his head deeply.
“Good. I will keep it in mind.”
Zenjirou answered, pretending not to have noticed the change in the n.o.ble of middle age at all.
* * *
The work in the royal palace lasted as long as the sun was out in order to regain a bit of the time that was lost during the nearly three hour break at noon during the hot season.
Due to that, it had gotten so dark that Zenjirou walked with unsteady steps by the time he returned to the inner palace.
Guided by a waiting maid with a metal lantern for light, he made it back to the living room in the inner palace, where he curtly thanked the maid and opened the door by himself.
“…Fuh.”
The first thing he did in the already dim living room was to switch on the LED floor lamps.
Their white light was a bit dazzling, as his eyes had been used to the darkness.
Zenjirou slowly took of his clothes in the now illuminated living room.
A thick double-bogey trousers. A tunic that was overlapping at the front like j.a.panese clothes. And a red vest worn over it.
All of them were made out of fabrics with a high air permeability, as it was customary for a southern country, but the formal dress was still hot, since it was a tight fit.
He had thrown them off in no time and stood there only in his T-s.h.i.+rt and trunks. For a moment, he looked at the freezer of the five-door refrigerator standing near the wall, but he shook off the temptation by shaking his head after a moment of consideration.
“I can’t. The ice won’t be enough for the night when I take it out now.”
At least until Aura came back, he ought to endure without the cold breeze from the ice fan.
Instead, he took out the silver jug from the refrigerator and poured its contents into a gla.s.s, emptying it in one gulp.
“Fuh…”
His whole body started to sweat, pretty much like immediately oozing out the fluid he had just taken in.
“Ah, maybe I should get into the bath without waiting for Aura?”
Tempted like that, he unconsciously directed his gaze at the shelf with the bathing goods and then remembered something.
“…Reminds me, my soap making isn’t really going well.”
A few days ago, he had started to try his hand at making soap from lye and vegetable oil, but his effort was hardly paying off for now.
The result of the first day had just been “oil mixed with ash” and the mixture got relatively better later on, but only a few trails were worth to be called “saponification”.
Did the problem lie with the lye? Or the oil? Or maybe his performance? He just didn’t know. For the time being, it definitely meant a lot of trial-and-error.
“Perhaps I ought to start with making caustic soda? Nah, making caustic soda from natural ingredients definitely sounds more difficult than making soap without it.”
There was no end to his troubles.
In the modern age, handmade soap was typically made by letting vegetable oil react with a sodium hydroxide solution (caustic soda).
Leaching ashes was a way older technique. The making of soap became so much easier by using caustic soda when available.
Technically, there was a guide on how to make caustic soda on his computer, too, but needless to say, he hadn’t actually tried that yet.
Zenjirou knew of two methods to make caustic soda.
The first one was to electrolyze salt water, but that required an “ion exchange membrane”, which was impossible to obtain here, so he could only give up on that method.
Therefore, he was considering the second one right now.
That method involved the metathesis reaction between “calcium hydroxide“ and “sodium carbonate” (a reaction between two compounds to make two different compounds), which altered them into “sodium hydroxide” (caustic soda) and “calcium carbonate”.
So it required “calcium hydroxide” and “sodium carbonate” at the beginning.
The calcium hydroxide was also called “slake lime”. It could be created by letting water react with “quick lime”, which was gained from burning sh.e.l.ls.
As for the other compound: The sodium carbonate could be obtained by heating up sodium bicarbonate aka “baking soda”.
In other words, it was theoretically possible to create “caustic soda” as long as you had “natural baking soda” and “sh.e.l.ls”.
Speaking of “sh.e.l.ls” and “natural baking soda”, these two happened to be relevant to the gla.s.s manufacture as well, so Aura already held a certain amount of them available in the royal palace for it.
The raw materials were already gathered in the royal palace. In that sense, it was understandable that Zenjirou was itching to try his hand at making “caustic soda”.
However, making “caustic soda” from “sh.e.l.ls” and “natural baking soda” naturally involved various working steps.
It shouldn’t be easy to accomplish for a complete amateur like Zenjirou without the instructions of an expert.
Even when thinking positive, he ought to be prepared that it took a couple of months to clear each step.
And even if he were to clear all steps and succeed in making “caustic soda”, the “caustic soda” was a hazardous substance that could steal your eyesight when even just a bit got into your eyes.
Moreover, the substance was difficult to handle because it could change by reacting with the carbon dioxide in the air or liquefy through absorbing water vapour.
Thinking about it carefully, it was more realistic to make the soap through leaching ashes right now instead of creating “caustic soda” for it first.
“Okay, I’ll continue with the current method for a bit longer. Its more or less emulsifying now anyway. Guess I’ll make a diagram with the lye and oil percentage on the x- and y-axe, respectively, and track its tendency.”
Bringing his brain gear into action, Zenjirou faced the computer and switched it on, opening the spreadsheet software right away.
“First I’ve to prepare various types of ashes to make lye. A couple of different vegetable oils are a must, too. Maybe I even ought to blend them? No, I’ve to gauge the general tendency first.
I feel a bit bad about it, but the maids will have to help out.”
In the end, he sat in front of his computer like that and immersed himself in drawing up a plan for the future course of action until Aura came back.
