A few days later in the castle, Ed and his two companions were preparing materials to make soap.
In fact, soap-making is almost an essential skill, so Ed knew a little about it.
He doesn't need to go through the trouble of searching for seashells; he has lime water readily available. Adding some wood ash makes it a strong alkali.
Actually, it's fine not to add it, but the reaction might not be very complete. However, for the sake of quality, he decided to strive for perfection.
Now the question is how to add the spices. Ed doesn't have any spices, only flower petals. He has decided to use two methods: one is to crush the flower petals and add them directly to the soap, and the other is to use the water from boiling the flower petals to prepare lye.
Ed didn't know which method was best either, as it was his first time making soap and he could only learn and improve as he went.
"Lord Ed, what delicious food is this? This rose petal water smells so good."
Carly was poking at the irises in the jar with a stick, but her eyes were fixed on the rose water that Adelaide was brewing.
Ed smelled it too, and it really did smell nice. He hoped the soap would smell the same when it was made.
"Carly, do you want to know?"
Carly nodded.
"It's still a secret for now, you'll find out soon enough."
Hearing this, Carly was furious, but she had no choice but to vent her anger on the flower petals.
Soon all the preparations were completed, and all that was left was to wait for the oak resin.
Oak finally arrived, much to the delight of the three who had been eagerly awaiting its arrival.
"Oak, what's in these jars?" Adelaide and Carly were both curious.
The two of them still think they were making something delicious.
"Miss Adelaide, this contains the fat rendered from discarded rabbit offal."
Oak answered Adelaide's question as he unloaded the jars from the cart.
Adelaide recognized those things; she'd used them for fishing before, but mostly thrown them away. She wondered what her master wanted them for.
Ed wasn't going to answer her question because he was starting to prepare to make soap. "Adelaide, pour the water into this oil jar. Carly, you're in charge of stirring."
Soon the mixture in the jar slowly turned into a white paste. Ed then added iris petals and had Carly continue stirring.
Ed placed the soap mold in place and then poured the paste mixed with flower petals from the jar into the mold.
To make it easier to handle Ed's soap mold, a square shape was chosen.
By now, Adelaide had a vague idea of what Ed was doing; it was too similar to the thing she had bought at a high price.
"Master, is this the thing I use for washing clothes?"
"Hehe, Adelaide, yes, I named it Soap, what do you think?"
Adelaide was stunned for a moment upon hearing this. I could tell it was a bad sign; she felt she had suffered a huge loss, as none of the ingredients used to make this soap were valuable.
The thing she bought at a high price was so worthless. She only used it once, yet she kept it in her room like a treasure.
Adelaide glanced at Carly, who was also dumbfounded. She couldn't believe that the thing her father had bought at such a high price was so simple and worthless.
But she immediately cheered up. Such a worthless thing was so expensive over there. Wouldn't she make a fortune if she transported it there?
"Lord Edd, I'll buy them all."
The clever Carly quickly expressed her strong desire to buy.
"Hehe, Carly, one per person."
"All right!"
Ed was just joking. Of course, although the raw materials for this soap are not very valuable, he doesn't plan to sell it cheaply for the time being.
The three continued to make soap with the remaining materials. They were making soap with crushed flower petals, because the petal lye water still needed to be filtered and settled, and they could only make that kind of soap tomorrow.
Ed also printed the rabbit logo on the partially solidified soap, and the soap making was now complete.
next day
Ed also finished making another type of soap, and Adelaide and Carly had already noticed its difference while it was being made.
It has a faint rose scent, and the color hasn't changed much; all the soaps are white.
The soap-making process is now complete; all that's left is for it to air dry.