The next morning, after Arthur woke up, drank the Elixir of Brutal Enhancement , and trained his Swordsmanship, he opened his room door to find the familiar maid standing obediently. It was clear she had heard the light noises he made during training, but thankfully, she hadn't reported anything. In the novel, she was described as kind and considerate—though sadly, her cruel fate had not been as considerate in return.
...
As soon as Octavia saw Arthur, she bowed her head and greeted him,
"Good morning, my lord Arvan."
As usual, he didn't respond and simply shot her a cold, indifferent glance—the same look that was said to have caused the unjust deaths of hundreds.
Octavia lamented her bad luck, being forced to serve someone as terrible as him, but she had accepted her fate. At least for now, she was still thanking her creator that the mad duke's son hadn't done anything unreasonable—yet.
Inwardly, she thought,
'I hope he doesn't ask for something crazy today. His previous requests were hard enough to fulfill. Who asks for fresh monster blood? Is something really wrong with him, like the rumors say?'
Arthur had no idea that the commoners and servants in the castle had begun spreading disturbing rumors about him. Some claimed he had lost his ability to perform as a man due to the shock and trauma inflicted by the bandits, and that was why he hadn't slept with any women since arriving in the barony.
'That must be why he asks for all those strange ingredients. He's probably experimenting with some recipe.'
While she was internally mocking him, Arthur's cold voice rang out:
"Go and bring me some monster fat."
Octavia was slightly stunned by the strangeness of his command. A sudden thought crossed her mind,
'Is his condition really that bad...?'
Realizing she had forgotten to respond, she quickly bowed her head.
"As you wish, my lord,"
and ran off toward the storage room.
Arthur watched her leave, his face puzzled.
'What's with her?'
"Tch. I forgot to tell her the rest of the ingredients. No matter, I'll order her when she returns."
Once Octavia returned with the monster fat, Arthur immediately sent her to gather lye, olive oil, castor oil, as well as mint, rosemary, charcoal, water, honey, and the tools and molds needed for soapmaking.
Because of the unusual number and nature of the ingredients, the entire castle was puzzled that day, and the rumors about him only grew wilder.
After she brought everything, Arthur ordered Octavia to remain in his room, which filled her with dread. Her mind began to drift, imagining she'd be his first victim now that his "horse" might be back in working order. But Arthur simply ordered her to carry everything and follow him to the blacksmith's workshop. He'd realized his room wasn't suitable for soapmaking. After dismissing the blacksmith and his assistants, he began sorting the ingredients and estimating the needed amounts based on his own judgment.
Octavia's imagination ran even wilder when she saw the dirty workshop filled with tools.
'What a lunatic... is he going to do it here? Has he lost his mind?'
She shivered involuntarily and began silently crying in fear.
But contrary to her expectations, Arthur didn't order her to strip. Instead, he coldly said,
"Melt the monster fat."
After a short moment of hesitation, Octavia carried the sticky fat and placed it in a large metal pot over the fire. Following Arthur's orders, she added the lye solution, some olive oil, and castor oil. Upon seeing the ingredients, she immediately realized she was making soap. However, she didn't understand why he added olive and castor oil—normally, soap only required fat and lye.
Still, she didn't dare to ask and simply kept stirring the mixture. Time passed slowly, and her confusion only deepened when Arthur ordered her to add other things like rosemary, mint, honey, and charcoal. After saponification was complete, he told her to add a cup of sweet almond oil.
'What is he doing, just throwing in expensive ingredients like that?'
In the end, she sighed and continued following his orders. She let the mixture cool and poured it into special molds. Unlike any soap she knew, the result was black but emitted a surprisingly pleasant scent, even though it hadn't fully cured yet.
After placing the molds somewhere clean and exposed to sunlight, she instructed a guard to keep watch as Arthur requested, then returned to find him staring at the large pot full of leftover soap, a strange and contemplative look on his face—very unlike his usual cold expression.
For the first time since his arrival, she didn't feel afraid. On the contrary, she was struck by a strong curiosity about what he was thinking, and began to suspect that perhaps he wasn't as awful as the rumors claimed.
...
Arthur stared at the leftover soap with curiosity. After a brief moment of thought, he decided to make a shampoo. Calmly, he told Octavia to bring some oils, an egg, and a bit of clay from clean farmland.
After Octavia returned with the ingredients, he told her to wait outside. Then, with quiet focus, he brought out a large wooden bowl and began preparing the shampoo in the simplest way possible. He placed a few spoonfuls of clay, added an herbal infusion, and mixed until it formed a smooth paste. He then added an egg yolk, a drop of vinegar, some olive oil, and almond oil. Before long, he had created a primitive but healthy hair cleanser, which he stored in a small clay jar.
He washed his hands and returned to his room.
While sitting and gazing at the primitive village through the window, he suddenly remembered that the soap would take several weeks to fully cure—which wasn't ideal. Then, he recalled something he had forgotten amid his many troubles. Calmly, he ordered Octavia:
"Tell the mage, Tarian Eil Stoneware, that I want to see him."
...
About half an hour later, a man arrived, dressed in a deep blue tunic and a black cloak draped over his back. He was slightly tall, with healthy skin and reddish-brown hair.
Upon entering Arthur's room, the mage Tarian gave a slight bow and greeted him:
"Greetings, Lord Arvan. How may I serve you today?"
Although the Barony of Thornsreach was isolated and lacked any real military force, it housed three D-rank mages. Tarian was the strongest among them—just a step away from reaching C-rank.
Arthur didn't respond immediately. The first thing he did was use the Plot Savant skill to examine Tarian's stats:
[Name: Tarian Eil
Stoneware]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Mage]
[Rank: D]
[Skills: Fire Control (D), Fireball (C), Flame Hand (D), Fire Barrier (D), Swordsmanship (E), Dagger Throwing (E), Horsemanship (D)]
[Carried Items: Magical Pendant (D)]
Arthur wasn't surprised by the solid stats—he already knew everything about him from the novel. That's why Tarian was important for the next step.
"The mage Tarian. I hear you're quite skilled at fire control."