On his way over to the workshop, Lucas thought about what his Aunt Sasha had told him and he gradually figured out why she was having him shut down all of his business activities. Soap was too simple the make, and too profitable to ignore, so while the Roths were in town, it was dangerous to openly advertise its existence.
The prospect of easy money was too alluring for many to ignore, especially if it was in the hands of those they considered weak. Compared to the Roth Duke Family, Lucas and Redwood Town weren't just weak, they were pitifully weak.
When Lucas arrived at his soap workshop, he only found 2 of his workers present, but that wasn't a surprise. Having already sent most of his employees to help out in the fields, the young boy only had the bare minimum number of people necessary working here to keep production going.
Today, it happened to be Laura and Finn who were working on rendering fats in the workshop. These two were among the first 5 employees Lucas had hired, so they had been with him the longest.
Laura was the oldest of the original 5, having just turned 20 recently while also breaking through to the Fifth Step Body Tempering Realm. She was a strong-willed and straightforward young woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind, traits that Lucas appreciated greatly as it made her trustworthy and responsible.
As such, when Lucas wasn't around, he generally left Laura in charge of things.
So far, Laura hadn't given Lucas any reason to regret elevating her to a semi-managerial position.
"Oh, Boss Lucas, what are you doing here?" Laura called out, noticing the young boy come in when the door to the workshop opened.
"Greetings, Boss!" Finn also straightened up and gave a small bow, his serious and orderly personality on full display.
Glancing over at the big iron pots, Lucas noted that Laura and Finn were almost finished rendering the animal trimmings they were working on, probably only needing another 15 minutes to complete the process. Seeing this, the young boy couldn't help feeling a bit reluctant to stop them, but he knew what his priorities were and ordered, "Put out the fires."
Both Finn and Laura were a bit stunned by this abrupt command, but true to his nature, Finn quickly collected himself and nodded, moving to carry out Lucas' instructions.
This young man, with a rare shade of dark-green hair, was always very obedient, but he could also be a bit inflexible, which was why Lucas felt comfortable entrusting him with all kinds of complicated tasks, but not with supervising others.
To put it nicely, Finn was an excellent worker but lacking as a leader. To put it bluntly, he was unimaginative and one-track-minded. Finn tended to struggle when any kind of unexpected situation came up and there was no one there to give him guidance.
In fact, Lucas had noticed that most people around him tended to behave somewhat like Finn in that they were far better at following orders than giving them, but this was hardly shocking considering the lives commoners lived in Redwood Town.
It was those like Laura, who didn't seem to fear asking questions and challenging authority, that were the rare ones.
Speaking of Laura, when she heard Lucas' order, instead of immediately carrying it out, she furrowed her brow slightly as she asked for confirmation, "Boss, are you sure? If we stop now, the rendering won't be complete and we'll be wasting some of the materials."
Shaking his head, Lucas explained, "You misunderstand me, Laura. I don't want you to just stop the rendering process and move on to the soaking and filtering steps, I want you to stop everything and close down the workshop."
This time, both Finn, who was in the middle of dousing the stove he was working on, and Laura, who was trying to persuade her boss not to do this, froze in place, completely bewildered by Lucas' incomprehensible order.
Seeing this, Lucas realized he was being too hasty and took a deep breath to calm down, "There's a big noble about to enter town, one that we can't afford to offend in any way. If they found out what we were doing here, and how valuable our soap is, they might try to force us to hand over its production method."
"What?!" Laura heard this and immediately showed a look of indignation, "How can someone just come in and demand we give them what's ours?"
Even Finn, who always tried to avoid confrontation, looked visibly upset and angry over the scenario Lucas just described.
It would be a lie to say Lucas didn't feel the same as them, but his perspective was different from theirs as he had been exposed to a much wider world than them, even if that world wasn't the one they currently lived in.
With a sigh, Lucas simply said, "They're nobles. They have power, while we don't. If they demand things, no one will stand up for us because there's no benefit in doing so."
"But…" Laura looked like she wanted to argue, but she found herself at a loss for words. As an orphan who had lived her entire life in Redwood Town, the only nobles she had ever met before were the Newtons.
Although not all of the Newtons were as close to the common people as Charles, they were generally a kind and easy-going bunch as one would expect from a countryside Baron Family. This gave many townsfolk the false impression that nobles weren't all that different from themselves.
Lucas, however, knew that most nobles weren't so easy to get along with.
Even in the other world, where there was no such thing as nobles and commoners, those with enormous amounts of money and power tended to lord above those who didn't.
As for this world, nobles not only had wealth, they also had high cultivation and personal strength, so the law of the jungle was far more commonly applied. The kingdom had its own laws, but those laws almost always favoured the powerful, so common folk had almost no ability to resist if they were pressured by the nobility.
Shaking off these depressing thoughts, Lucas firmly ordered, "Shut it all down, lock up the workshop, and then head home. From now until our 'guests' leave, do your best to avoid those nobles. It would be best if you took work in the far farm fields, even if you have to do so for free."
Frowning deeply, Laura seemed dissatisfied still, but she eventually nodded and began helping Finn clean up and shutter their soap-making operation.
Lucas wanted to help, but he had another place to visit now, so he quickly said goodbye before heading towards his other big business in town.
…..
On paper, the Redwood Town Bathhouse was owned by the Town Lord's Manor and run as a public facility, but in reality, the one who had contributed the most to its construction and who was responsible for its day-to-day operations was Lucas.
This couldn't be helped, really, as none of the townsfolk knew the first thing about building or running a bathhouse, so Lucas naturally just ended up in charge; which made sense seeing how it was his idea in the first place.
Upon entering the bathhouse, Lucas was immediately greeted by the staff on duty, which today happened to be Grandpa Tate and Grandma Elise, an old married couple.
These two belonged to the oldest living generation in Redwood Town, if Farah wasn't counted of course, with both of them already more than 80 years old, so while they were still mobile and able-minded, it was impossible for them to do heavy work in the farm fields.
Grandpa Tate and Grandma Elise had many children, who also had children of their own; thus, there were many mouths to feed in their family. When Lucas approached them about working as receptionists at the bathhouse, the old man and woman had practically leapt at the opportunity; after all, no one would say no to job where they could earn 50 Coppers a day just by sitting and greeting people.
Things like scrubbing the reservoirs, cleaning the filters, and transporting firewood were all done by younger staff members at the bathhouse, but welcoming people, accepting payment, and handing out basins, soap, and cloths was easy enough that Lucas felt even members of the elderly generation could be hired to do it.
This move was extremely well received by not just the 10 senior citizens of Redwood Town Lucas had employed, but also by their families and the community as a whole. It gave these old folks something to do that was both productive and profitable, while also keeping them engaged and active, rather than just sitting at home feeling like a burden.
"Little Lucas, why are you in such a rush?" Grandma Elise called out from behind the front desk upon seeing the boy half-walk, half-run through the bathhouse's doors.
"Oh, uh," Lucas hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out what to say, but eventually, he decided to just go with the truth, "We have some unexpected guests in town today, powerful nobles at that, so Aunt Sasha said we should shut down the bathhouse for now."
Slight frowns appeared on the old couple's faces when they heard this.
Unlike Laura and Finn, Tate and Elise had lived long enough to have seen the more unscrupulous side of the kingdom's nobility, so they quickly understood what Lucas meant.
"Haa… if only all the nobles could be as good natured as young Charles and Sasha," Grandpa Tate muttered under his breath as he shook his head.
"Forget it, old man," Grandpa Elise snorted, "Our Charles and Sasha were raised right, those others clearly weren't."
After a bit of grumbling, the old couple turned to Lucas and nodded, with Elise saying, "Don't worry, this old geezer and I will take care of it."
Nodding in appreciation, Lucas thanked them before adding, "If anyone asks, just tell them that we found a leak and need to do some repairs before we re-open."
"Oh, that's a good idea," Grandpa Tate grinned, "You're a clever one, boy."
*Whack*
"Ouch! What was that for, old woman?" Tate complained after Elise smacked his hand.
"Don't praise young children for being good liars! It's bad for their upbringing!" Grandma Elise spat before turning to Lucas and smiling, "There's no need for you to make up stories, Lucas. We'll figure something out on our end."
Scratching his head awkwardly, Lucas decided to pretend he hadn't seen anything, or heard Grandpa Tate grumbling about the unfairness of life. In any case, he had accomplished what he had set out to do, so now all that was left was for him to find Senior Farah and wait out the coming storm.
With any luck, whoever it was from the Roth Family that had come to Redwood Town wouldn't stay long and he could get back to his regular life soon.