Michael walked over to the kitchen house, with most of the maids cooking something over the fire. They immediately greeted him with smiles once they saw him walk into the room.
"Young master, we made your favorite beef stew!"
"Would you like to eat it now, young master?"
"Young master…" Beretta walked over to Michael and noticed that he had the same mischievous grin on his face when he showed them the faucet. It was even more suspicious now since he had his hands on his back, obvious that he was hiding something.
"Hehehe…I just wanted a little bit of feedback about my new project."
The moment he said those words, the maids immediately stopped what they were doing and offered themselves to the young master.
"Oooh! What is it, young master?"
"Did it have something to do with what you bought last time?"
He nodded and finally showed them the bar of white soap behind his back.
And immediately, they smelled a pleasant smell reminiscent of flowers wafting from the strange bar in his hands.
"This is called hand soap. It is used to clean your hands, body, and everything else."
Michael walked over to the faucet and let the water run over his hands. Then, he rubbed the soap, and immediately a thick lather bubbled up, covering his entire hand.
They knew what a soap was, but the one in the young master's hands was completely different. It smelled better than perfume, and was also a lot bubblier than even the most expensive soap in the market.
Michael washed the lather off his hands and showed it to the maids.
One of the maids got too curious and took Michael's hands and smelled it herself. And once she did, she immediately fell in love with the lingering scent on his hands.
"Oh my god! Young master, this is even better than cologne! How does it smell so good even after you washed it off?"
The rest of the maids wanted a smell too, but Michael stopped them.
"If you want, you could try it for yourself," he said, giving them the bar of soap.
They immediately fought against each other to be the first ones to use the soap. But eventually, all of them got a chance to use the soap.
"This cleans my hands so fast," said one of the maids. She would have needed at least ten minutes to scrub the coal off her hands through normal means. But with the soap, it only took her less than a minute to get rid of everything. Not only that, but her hand smelled great after it too!
Seeing the maids immediately loving the soap, Michael felt satisfied. With soap and water, there was finally a standard of cleanliness in this household.
"To thank you for all your service, I prepared these for all of you," Michael said as he walked outside and brought out a big rucksack.
He then gave everyone their own bar of soap and a vial of a strange blue liquid.
As expected, the maids screamed in excitement once they received this very generous gift. They were almost so excited with the bar of soap that they almost ignored the strange liquid included with it.
"Young master, what is this?" said one of the maids, putting the vial over her eyes.
"That one's called a shampoo. Just try to put that shampoo on your hair during your shower, and you'll see the effects."
One of the maids took out the cork from the vial and smelled the 'shampoo' liquid. The scent was as, if not better, than the soap because the essential oils were much more concentrated in it.
The maids all looked at each other, with their eyes filled with a competitive fire.
After a few seconds, one of them finally had enough and shouted,
"I'll take a bath first!"
After that, the maids all rushed to say the same.
"You've taken a shower this morning!"
"No, I haven't. You're the one who uses the shower every day!"
After a lot of arguing amongst the maids, a good half of them immediately returned to their dorms to try out this new soap and shampoo that the young master gave them.
Meanwhile, the rest of the unfortunate maids were forced to continue the work in the kitchen house.
After a while, the maids returned from the dormitory, all smelling like they had just been frolicking in a field of flowers. Not only that, their skin seemed to be glistening under the light, as if all the dirt and imperfections had been scrubbed off.
Even they couldn't help but touch themselves with how smooth their skin became after using the soap to clean their body.
But perhaps the most startling difference was their hair. It became voluptuous and silky, as if they had been coated in honey. Their hair looked healthier as well, with barely any knots or strayed ends.
The other maids would have praised the soap, but they immediately went back to the dormitory to try it out themselves.
Meanwhile, the refreshed maids all turned to Michael and praised him again for his generous gift.
"Young master, if you give these to any lady, then I'm sure they'll marry you in an instant!"
"Yes, he'll be quite popular with the ladies with this."
Michael wasn't thinking about girls and romance for now. His mind was far older than his body because of his previous life.
Right now, he was focused on increasing the standard of living in this place, starting with the mansion. Now that he was done with water and proper sanitation, his next course of business was a little bit more complicated.
This world still measured time through sundials, hourglasses, and candles.
For his next project, Michael wanted to create the first mechanical clock!
Since it was purely made out of gears and metal workings, it was completely doable with his current abilities. Of course, he still needed to practice his 2-star [Metal Bend] spell to achieve the kind of precision needed for this kind of project.
— Fire and Earth element
— This magic allows the user to bend and manipulate metals telepathically. The strength of the spell depends on the material used and the mastery of the spell.