Chapter 13: Fluvia Sponsors Olive Oil

Cosmetics were expensive in Japan, so when I became a single-mother and got disowned, that was something I had to stop buying a lot of.

At the beginning, “Fine, I’ll cut everything unnecessary out and show you guys I can make enough money to raise her on my own-!” I had those kind of thoughts, but … overdoing things never works well in the end.

That was a miserable 2 years.

Eventually I became kind of level-headed and our finances were good… enough, so although we didn’t live extravagantly, we had enough to buy some little luxuries.

That said, face masks and skin treatments were…

How much do you want for them? Thieves! Bandits!

So I did my best with ordinary household goods I had.

It’s not like I want to pamper myself or anything, but once you pass 30… haa…

Good looks influence the jobs and treatment you get, you know?

But once you start getting up there in age… eeek!

Things like lotion, face wash, makeup remover, eyeliner, mascara, foundation… well, there were a lot of stuff that I had to buy (or leech off free trial samples), but for some other simpler stuff, I used the almighty internet to find out how to make them!

So when it comes to (this world’s) Mother’s skincare and haircare, it should be a piece of cake!

… … No yogurt? No olive oil or camellia oil? No lemons? Avocado? Bananas? Coconut oil?

Not to mention the complete absence of essential oils.

E-eeeh…

M-maa, coconut oil and avocados were often out of reach for me in Japan as well, but that was because of our household budget.

To think that now that I have money, coconut oil and avocados are the ones that are missing!

I can make rose water, but it’s not the season for roses right now.

What to do…

Even if I don’t have the others, yogurt and olive oil… I really wish I had those two.

After all, yogurt is good for your digestive system when eaten, and it helps reduce wrinkles when you apply it to skin.

Un. I really wish I had yogurt… I used to make a yogurt and oatmeal mask every week, and it really helped a lo…

I mean, of course it’s for Mother, not myself! I’m only 5, you know?

I don’t have wrinkles! I really don’t!

Yogurt aside, I discovered they don’t even have butter-!

Then what do you do with the milk that’s leftover?

Ah, un, you don’t have to tell me.

What a waste…

But in this country, being wasteful is a sign of wealth.

The penny-pincher within me cringes so hard that I actually feel like spitting up blood every time I hear about that kind of wastefulness.

Fine, I’ll give up on yogurt for now.

I’m not an idiot who would risk her Mother’s face on experiments, and as a hard-working single mother in my previous life, during what spare time would I have been free enough to learn how to cultivate yogurt?

If I get some weird bacteria in there… nonono, I can’t risk anyone’s skin with half-assed knowledge!

But olive oil, I refuse to back down on!

We have olives, so why don’t we have olive oil?

Aaa, mou, I need olive oil at least. I mean, there’s nothing like lotion here!

Well, of course there wouldn’t be… but do you know what the women here use to put on their skin?

Lard! Animal fat!

Eeeeek-!

I don’t care how effective it is, or how biased I’m being with my Japanese sensibilities! When you think about rubbing that on your skin… yuck!

Of course, it would be better if we had lotion, but I’m not going to ask for too much right now.

I don’t even know where to begin with that. What’s even in lotion?

Haa… anyway, that’s why I want olive oil!

Aaaactually, when it came to making bread and cooking, I was also dissatisfied with just having lard, so a while ago… I had a fateful meeting.

The apothecaries’ apprentice, 17-year-old Mayse Kieber, was being scolded once again, the fifth time I went back to the apothecary lab.

“Again and again and again! How many times do I have to tell you, stop wasting herbs! And stop using the waste parts of them! What are you going to do if someone gets sick from our potions?!”

“I-I clean the mortar –“

“There’s always still some residue left over! Haa… Mayse, again and again and again… please, just do the work you’re given. Look, if you aren’t diligent with the little tasks we’ve given you, we can’t trust you with the bigger ones, and you’ll be let go, you know? I know you’re bright, but we can’t play around with things when peoples’ lives are on the line.”

“B-but…”

Although I think that the male apothecary was making sound arguments, Mayse-san has a look on her face like she can’t agree.

Hm… what to do…

“Mayse, I’m sorry, but you’re prohibited from coming into the apothecary lab for a week. That will be your punishment for not getting your work done and making a mess of the lab.”

“N-no way…”

“Excuse me, if I may have a moment.”

“Y-young Lady Fluvia! Ah, please excuse us!”

The male apothecary and the young apprentice looked up, shocked and embarrassed that someone had been watching their little episode.

“If Ms. Apprentice can’t work in the apothecary lab, would it be alright if I have her work for me for a time? Of course, I’ll pay the apothecary lab for her labor.”

Well, I don’t have any money on me, but I’m sure my parents won’t refuse me – geh.

I’m beginning to think some dangerous thoughts.

A-anyway, as long as I’m careful and only use my powers for good-!

In the end, like they were happy to send a problem child away, the apothecaries sent me Mayse Kieber for as long as I needed her.

“U-um, Y-young Lady… um… making potions is kind of…”

Mm. Indeed. Not only is she an apprentice who only knows the basic of basics of potion making, potions that are to be sold have to be appraised by certified apothecaries.

It’s like you’re just asking for trouble if you plan on taking non-appraised potions.

“No need to worry. I’m not interested in having potions made for myself.”

Mayse tilted her head in confusion.

She was very nervous and stressed out from sitting at a noble’s bedside.

At that time, I was still fairly weak and remained bedridden.

“Rather, Mayse, why did you become an apothecary?”

“Eh?! Um… that… I wanted to make medicines…”

Well, yes, I figured that much out.

“Uun, but you use the discarded parts of herbs, right? Why do you do that?”

“Th-that…”

Mayse’s voice got quiet as she told me that the apothecaries here only use the leaves and roots of plants they recognized as herbs.

So she thought, couldn’t there be uses for the seeds, flowers, and stems? And for that matter, wouldn’t there be plants that are useful that we didn’t know about? And not just plants…

Mayse’s latest scolding came from grinding down dried bones.

Couldn’t these be useful…? Not that she knew what to do with the bone powder.

As I thought, my instincts weren’t wrong.

She’s young and inexperienced, but right now I highly valued the desire to try new, and even disregarded things.

Mayse is a bit bewildered as I smile and say,

“I see. It seems you and I will be able to get along. There are things I want you to make.”

Let’s start with olive oil-!

Mashing the olives, pit and all, into a paste, Mayse pressed them to extract the liquid – of course I funded the mortar and pestle, as well as money for Mayse to figure out some contraption to press them.

Well, two boards and some rocks weren’t that expensive, so…

After some trial and error, Mayse did eventually enlist a carpenter to help add a spout and make it so the liquid ran out into a bucket underneath. Not that I know the details.

When she brought the liquid to me, finally, olive oil! … is not what happened.

It was an oily liquid, certainly, but…

Of course, there was also going to be liquid from the olive fruit-!

Eh, no, I hadn’t thought of this problem… well, no, I should have known that it wouldn’t magically be olive oil once you pressed it-!

Although this olive juice-oil mixture might be usable as is, if we’ve gone this far, I want actual olive oil-!

“I don’t really get it, but you only want the oil…?”

Mayse tilted her head.

“Yes, that’s right.”

I had said, turning the small bottle around in my hands.

Mayse thought about it for a minute, then smiled broadly.

“Okay! I’ll see what I can do!”

… Is it just me or does she suddenly seem a lot more lively now that she’s separated from the apothecary lab?

This type of person was just MADE to be a mad scientist researcher, ne?

A few weeks later, she came running into my room, cheering,

“Oil floats! It floats!”

After Mary rounded on her and terrified her badly, Mayse calmed down enough to say that she had tried all sorts of things, but after leaving the bucket of liquid for some time, she noticed that the oil rose to the top, and she tried skimming it off.

Aah… there was that method, wasn’t there? Something like skimming scum off the top of a pot of stew.

A few days later, Mayse showed me a small vial of olive oil.

But really, all those olives, but what remains is just this tiny bottle of oil?

If that’s the case, I feel like there was no wonder no one bothered with olive oil-!

Well, even so, the olive oil tastes a little different from what I knew in Japan, although I don’t know exactly how since I can’t compare it, and I don’t doubt that there’s at least SOME water still left in the oil…

While I was quietly trying to discern the taste of the olive oil, Mayse was going,

“Would green olives be better? Black olives? What if I tried cooling it or heating it up, would that make it separate better-?”

At least it seems like my personal apothecary herbalist hasn’t gotten tired of making olive oil yet…

Hm… if we mass-produced this, our wooden press isn’t ideal, huh?

It absorbs some liquid, after all… well, this is a prototype, so…

And the yield is rather small, so until there are some improvements, I don’t think we’ll be able to advertise it for cooking just yet.

Thinking about whether or not olive oil has a future, I think turning it into a product is certainly possible – if it’s as cosmetics, that is!

Well that’s just thoughts for the future, so I thought, but it turns out Mother needed it. And so soon-!

Although a little bit of olive oil would cause her hair to shine as well, because of the amount I had, about 7 small perfume bottles full, I’ll have to give up on it.

Not to mention, all 7 bottles were made in different manners, and Mayse is still researching the differences between them, so really, I don’t have anything like a finished product.

Even so, I ended up handing Beth the bottle with the most pleasant smelling oil that came closest to my vague memories of the olive oil in Japan.

“Just a little bit is enough after washing, and massage it into her face like this –“

I also showed Beth my secret weapon, the beauty face massage.

With this, I hope Mother will gain some self-confidence.

If only I could take some of Brother’s self-confidence and give it to Mother…

Really, I’m very grateful to Mayse. Without her, and with only my half-baked knowledge of things, not only the olive oil but the oatmeal mask would have been a disaster as well.

After all, when they brought me oatmeal… well, they didn’t know what ‘oatmeal’ was, but they brought me dried oats.

This is… a seed? Eh? Oatmeal is more… flat and wide, isn’t it?

Come to think of it, oatmeal is processed oats.

Even with that knowledge, though, I still didn’t know what to do.

Processed… how?

But while I was still confused, Mayse coarsely ground the oats and boiled it into a mash after I explained what I was after.

It… it should be the same…?

Anyway, it’s all thanks to Mayse.

When I told her how pleased Mother was with the face and hair masks, I had thought that Mayse would be extremely happy, but…

“Is that so…”

She had that kind of vague reply.

When I asked her what was wrong,

“Nn… well, I’m happy to be making things that will satisfy Lady Dellarose, but there’s only so much I can do right now…”

After I pressed her for more information – basically, she’s bored of olive oil.

Even though I think there’s more there to improve… well, Mayse is this kind of person, after all.

Although it would be good if we had a bigger supply of olive oil, after figuring out the basics, Mayse is ready to tackle the next new thing.

I don’t dislike that kind of attitude, but I wish she was a little less selfish in her whims…

If only I had a team of researchers who could pick up where Mayse leaves off… Hm? There’s an idea in there somewhere.

I file it into the back of my head for future use.

Either way, there’s one thing that I’ve learned.

I want Mayse-chan-!

However, if I head hunt her right now, she’ll go from an apothecary’s apprentice from the Capital’s House of Healing to a noble’s child’s servant.

That’s… unless I was royalty, no, even if I was royalty, as expected, even if the status would be higher as a princess’ pet, for someone who wanted to be a certified apothecary, wouldn’t it be dissatisfying?

“… Is what I’m thinking. What do you think, Healer Martin?”

To my question, Healer Martin stares at me, then at the small bottle of olive oil (trial vers 3), then sighs.

Mary is quietly laughing in the background.

“Exactly when were you doing all these things behind my back?”

He asked.

Well, I didn’t do much. All I had to do was give Mayse some ideas and then give her my impressions of her ‘finished’ products.

Healer Martin eyes the little vial of olive oil, even as he gives me an exasperated look.

Finally he sighs, placing it back on my bedside table.

“Poaching an apothecary apprentice, is it?”

How rude. I’m not going to ‘poach’ her.

I’m going to give the necessary compensation to everyone involved.

“Certainly, it’s not good for an apprentice to quit her apprenticeship halfway through. Except for extenuating circumstances, quitting her apprenticeship for personal reasons, especially in such a prestigious apothecary lab, means she’d lose all future chances of ever becoming a certified herbalist.”

“Aah… as expected.”

It really wouldn’t be good to have her quit to work for me, then.

Healer Martin sighs and says,

“If I were to say it bluntly, she might not be willing to give up her future as an apothecary just to do the things you ask her to. However, if the Dellarose Earldom officially hires her for the territory, that might be another matter.”

“I see… And it won’t do to just half-heartedly get Father to hire her, am I correct? If we were to take her in, it would have to be a proper position for the Earldom.”

“You are correct.”

At Healer Martin’s affirmation, I’m a bit troubled.

It’s one thing to have Father hire Mayse and give her a stipend for researching the things I want her to, but her title absolutely cannot be ‘Lady Fluvia’s herb researcher’.

Ideally, I’d want to prepare – no, I’d want the Dellarose Earldom to prepare a research facility and make Mayse a researcher there.

I don’t want her to have to settle for following the whimsies of a noble’s daughter. I’d want her – and others like her – to be able to proudly say that they make worthy contributions to the country.

But, although I’m getting special treatment from Healer Martin, Minister Wynchestor, and Her Highness, I’m just a 5-year-old child.

I need the backing of my entire House and territory if I want my seeds of progress to sprout and be taken seriously.

I can’t just have Father’s doting; I need the support of the Dellarose Steward and the other minor nobles throughout our Earldom.

While I was deep in thought, cursing the fact that I’m only a 5-year-old child, the door flew open with a bang.

Eh? Mayse? Although I told her to avoid coming too often to keep Healer Martin from getting suspicious – well, it’s fine now, since I’ve already told him, but…

“My goodness! We’re inside the House of Healing! Do keep quiet.”

Mary scolded Mayse sternly.

Without seeming to hear Mary, Mayse stuttered,

“I-I’ll do it! Becoming known as Lady Fluvia’s pet or whatever, I don’t care!”

H-huh? Was she listening in?

I’m still stunned as Mayse approaches my bed and clasps my hands in her own.

“Lady Fluvia, I always thought I wanted to make potions for sick people, but now I understand that’s not it. What I want to make isn’t medicines. N-no, wait, I do… but… eh! That’s not what I mean. Eh? Um…”

Mayse became flustered as she clasped her blushing face in her hands.

“That… I don’t just want to sit there and make potions. I want to find out what herbs can do, what’s usable and what’s not, how the effects can differ when you boil them or freeze them or… what I mean is…”

I chuckle and some of the tension loosens from my shoulders.

“You want to cultivate and research different things from a medicinal standpoint?”

I ask.

“Yes! To tell the truth… I was already feeling it before you hired me. That I wasn’t satisfied with just making potions and medicines. Even though I knew I shouldn’t, before I realized it, I’d be trying to concoct something new. If it’s like that… the House of Healing isn’t for me…”

Mayse became quiet as she said so, watching Healer Martin’s face nervously.

Healer Martin just laughed.

“There you have it, Lady Fluvia. It seems that Apprentice Mayse is fine with no title, as long as you fund her experiments.”

Haa… even if you say so, I still want to lay the foundation so that her work will be seriously recognized across the country.

What should I do…?

—

EXTRA

Mayse Kieber’s Research Notes

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

Process for making olive oil:

Olives are washed and cleaned, twigs and leaves removed Olives are ground with mortar and pestle.

*It’s terribly difficult to grind the slippery skins and fruit with the pits by hand.

– use millstone? Mash is pressed.

*two boards +weights does not seem to be ideal – mash and oil goes everywhere

-NEEDS REVISION.

End here today. Must revise pressing mechanics

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(1 day later)

The box attempt: Built up four-sides on the bottom wood panel to make a box with a small hole on the bottom of one side.

– Result: failure – mash went out the seams and up the sides, and pulp and mash came out the hole.

Attempted to put mash in muslin bag before pressing.

– Result: Moderate success. Only oil came out of the hole.

– * Did not fix the problem of oil coming out the seams and up the sides.

– * A large amount of oil seems to remain in the mash – dissatisfying success

*** Problem: press design. I don’t know how to fix this.

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(3 days later)

Olive press(temp name) redone with help from Herman Woodwright. (How did Lady Fluvia get the Capital’s leading carpenter’s help on something like this?)

* Design is a round basin from a hollowed out stump, well-aged, for the bottom. A slanted spout is also carved in.

– Top is not a tight fit as before: a few circles smaller than the basin.

Result: Success!

*Yield is 2-3xs more than before. Still dissatisfied with amount of oil remaining in mash, but this is good enough for research.

*Herman cautions that wood will soak up some of the oil

– Press design is fine, but material is not optimal. – it’s just a prototype, it’s fine for my purposes

The oil is murky. I have some concerns that this isn’t pure oil, and not what Lady Fluvia was looking for.

* As I expected, this isn’t the oil Lady Fluvia wanted.

*Next is to separate the oil from the juice. Just how am I supposed to do that?

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(1 day later)

Today, when I looked at the bucket of olive liquid, the oil seems to have started to float on top of the other liquid.

Why?

Regardless,

Texture – indeed, it’s oil. Stickier than liquid. Although I had my doubts, this is properly olive “oil” Smell – a plant-based smell. Very pleasant. Much more so than animal oils. Taste – a very clean taste. Compared to animal fats and oils, I can see why Lady Fluvia said it was less “heavy”, although I don’t know the differences in weight between the two.

It’s enough to fill a perfume bottle.

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(1 day later)

I watched the bucket carefully this time.

It took around 2-3 hours for the oil to separate fully.

The taste seems to have degraded a little due to sitting to wait to separate the oil.

*Even if it’s not very noticeable, my sensitive taste can detect the difference.

*I did not think fermentation could happen in such a short time.

*Need to reduce the time it takes to separate the oil from liquid

* – Lady Fluvia said something about boiling it to skim the oils off the surface. Should I try it?

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(1 day later)

As I boil it, is the oil also disappearing with the water? I can’t tell.

The taste of the oil is still different from being fresh-made.

*Boiling seems to change the taste of the oil

*Should I try freezing it instead?

—

xx Day, Second Quarter of Spring, xxx Year

(1 day later)

Because my magic power isn’t enough, Apothecary Simon was kind enough to help me freeze my next mixture.

A very strange thing occurred:

* The liquid froze, the oil did not

* The oil is at the bottom -???

After scooping out the oil, certainly the taste is better…

*In the end, Lady Fluvia couldn’t really tell the difference. – Is the extra effort worth it?

Other things to try:

*Sorting out the bad olives – should have done that anyway

*Green vs black olives

*Using water to help wash out the oils when pressing?

*Using more muslin to filter the oil

*Does the oil freeze?

*Will the oil light on fire?

Other things to consider:

*Press design – materials and increasing force.

*Press and mill can only be used for olive oil

– Even the stone mill refuses to stop smelling like olives after washing

*What other plants give off oil?

Although I know [Flame] and [Ice], I will try to learn [Freeze] and [Heat]. They seem more useful for experiments, since [Flame] and [Ice] use external fire and ice to change the temperatures of things, but [Freeze] and [Heat] directly change the temperatures.

* No one else seems to have realized this? How strange.

—

End of Excerpt

—

It seems the day that centrifuges, titration, and distillation emerge in this world is still a ways off into the future.