Ma Si Ke came and went in a hurry, carrying with him a heart full of hope and bread as he embarked on his journey home once again.
The next morning, Adelaide was washing some clothes by the river in the north of the territory, and Carly was doing the same.
"Carly, is this how it is?" Adelaide rubbed the slippery soap onto her clothes spread on the stone.
Carly didn't know how to use it either, and asking her was pointless; she'd never seen soap before.
"Sister Adelaide, just use it like this! I don't know how to use it either."
"Yes, we'll use this to wash half the clothes, and then wash the other half using the usual method."
Adelaide mainly wanted to test whether this thing was any good or not; she had spent a lot of money on it. If it didn't work, she would lose a lot of money.
The two people's clothes were washed quickly, and now they just had to wait for them to dry to see the results.
The sun was still very strong at the turn of spring and summer, and their clothes were already dry by the afternoon.
The two carried the clothes into the castle hall, where it was still quite warm outside. Ed was sketching and writing in the hall, outlining the detailed construction plans for the castle walls.
"Sister Adelaide, look how useful this is! It cleans this garment so well."
Indeed, Adelaide could also see that these clothes were much cleaner than the ones they used to wash, and they were noticeably whiter.
Adelaide felt her bronze dragon coins were well spent and worthwhile.
"Yes, Carly, it's really very good."
"Master, look how useful this thing is! I feel like this outfit looks much prettier now."
Adelaide showed Ed how well the substance cleaned.
Ed put down his pen and looked up at the clothes in Adelaide's hand.
"Hehe, it's alright, but I can make this too."
Ed looked at Adelaide and laughed.
Adelaide was still somewhat skeptical. "You can make something this useful? Why didn't you make it sooner?"
"I don't believe it," Carly said before Adelaide could even speak.
She expressed her disbelief with absolute certainty, without the slightest doubt.
"Hehe, then I've made it. Can you buy it from me at your father's price?" Ed turned to look at Carly.
"No." Carly's tone remained firm.
"Heh." Ed thought Carly's distrust of him was quite firm, but it turned out she wasn't so bad after all.
"Lord Edd, how can such a precious and useful item be sold at my father's price? That's too cheap. If you can make it, I'm willing to buy it for twice the price my father paid; if you can't, you can give me twice the amount of copper dragon coins."
Carly's words surprised Ed, who looked at her confident demeanor. "Carly, if I make it, I won't sell it separately. It's a huge piece, you know? It's not much smaller than this table. You'd better think it through. If you want to buy it, you'll have to work here for free for many years."
"ah?"
Carly was starting to panic when Ed guessed her thoughts. That was exactly what she was planning. If she couldn't make it, she would get double the copper dragon coins for no reason. If she could make it, she would buy a little bit, since Lord Ed hadn't specified how much to buy.
But how come this Lord Ed always seems to know what she's thinking? It seems she'll have to use surprise tactics from now on; conventional techniques won't work.
"That's a shame, I really don't need that many. It's a pity our agreement is no longer valid." Carly waved her hand and quickly cancelled the bet; she didn't want to work for free. At the same time, she was incredibly pleased with her own cleverness.
Seeing Carly's expression, Ed laughed again. "Carly, I really can't do it. You could actually win this bet right away."
Carly: "Can I still back out?"