With the location ready, Axel wasted no time returning to the central area.

There, the girls were already awake, chatting lightly. Not only Arianne's group, but even the refugees were included, slowly integrating into the "community."

"Ah..."

But as soon as Axel arrived, everyone blushed and averted their gazes.

Of course, it's not like he couldn't figure out why. The reason was obviously because of the one who's still missing at the moment.

"Where's Maria?" Axel asked Cherry, who was usually with her.

Albeit showing an embarrassed expression, she tried to reply as accurately as possible. "That, she said she couldn't leave the bed for today. Due to some... circumstances..."

"Is that so..."

Axel nodded, playing it off as if he was clueless about the reason.

Of course, it was his fault! He was way too rough with her last night, enough that even the bed cracked. If not for his repair, that bed would have definitely been up for replacement instead!

"Then, this is everyone, right?" he continued, scanning the faces of everyone. "Come with me, as I have a new task for all of you."

"...?"

Everyone looked confused, but still followed after him. They did notice him and the bandits working toward the south and making a building, but paid not much attention other than that.

After a while, they arrived at the site. The newly established warehouse-cum-workshop!

Axel moved further, to a raised platform near the entrance, and began another speech. He noticed that even Teruria, who was unrelated to the matter, was present.

"Right now, this camp is basically supported by me alone. Do you all think the same?"

"..."

The girls nodded without arguing.

After all, the most they could do was help defend the place. But the food, the water, the place to stay, even their weapons—everything was prepared by Axel himself. In fact, if one day he left them behind, Axel would surely thrive nonetheless, but the girls and the bandits would no doubt struggle to live night after night.

When the pause was long enough to give them time to think, Axel continued.

"And I'm sure you wouldn't want that to continue, right? You wouldn't want to just rely on me to survive, without doing anything but open your mouths when hungry, correct?"

He then spread his arms wide, presenting the workshop to them.

"Thus, I made this place to hire you all!" he revealed. "And your job is simple. You just need to help me manufacture items, and I'll be paying you for all the manual labor!"

"Ohh...!"

Instantly, they were hooked!

All of them believed that, to survive, they should do something themselves. They can't rely on Axel all the time. The same stays true even for Arianne and the rest.

But at that moment, someone raised their hand in question—Teruria.

"And... what is that item they're gonna make?"

Although she asked as such, she already had a guess. Voodoo Dolls! Although she wasn't sure how Axel would "charge" the dolls with power, outlining the doll's shape manually should be possible.

'Is this his secret of making all those dolls so fast?' she pondered.

However, her guess was dashed instantly the next moment.

"Nope. I'll be letting you girls make soap."

His earliest attempt at making soap was clumsy at best. But even with that low quality, there was still a demand for them. Thus, he could turn it into money quite easily. However, this time, he's planning to hit a much larger market. No more playing around!

"Soap...! That thing that nobles use?""I've heard of it before... So we'll make those?""Wouldn't it be hard...? I heard soap is hard to make..."

After learning what they'll be making, commotion began. Worry, excitement, and anticipation were mixed into one as the girls chatted idly.

"Of course, this is just the beginning," Axel continued, his voice silencing the crowd. "Later on, I'm planning to let you make shampoo, conditioner, perfume, lotion, and simple cosmetics, so be prepared!"

"Perfume!""Did I hear lotion?!""Cosmetics! This is...!"

All of a sudden, the drive of the women changed. Their earlier wishy-washy attitude shifted, and now, they were surging with great fighting spirit. Enough that Axel himself felt a little intimidated by their silent pressure.

'As expected, women don't change no matter the world or their situation...'

A small grin crept to his face, seeing them all gain extreme motivation to work.

He quickly raised a hand, shouting out loud to raise their morale even further. "Alright then, are you ready to work?!"

"YES!"

"Then let's begin!"

As he did, he prepared the basic equipment that they'd need for it. Of course, nothing too astounding, as it wouldn't fit his budget if he tried buying industrial-level machinery.

He got them a few mixing vats, two heating plates with a fire magic stone included, thermometers, measuring tools, and metal molds. There was also protective equipment like gloves, gas masks, aprons, and boots for everyone to wear.

He even bought the raw materials for the soap in large quantities. Large barrels of oil, sacks of caustic soda, and many other additives like flowers, colorants, stabilizers, and such. This way, they could even experiment a little with mixtures and create multiple types of soaps.

Summing up, he spent roughly 10 million Colts on everything. A big investment, but definitely worth it in the long run.

"And this is the instruction manual..."

Of course, he didn't wing the process either. Axel directly bought a book on soap making and planned to use it as a reference while teaching the girls.

"Let me read it for a bit, darling."

Beatrix hugged Axel from behind before casually plucking the book from his grasp. And while he was still flabbergasted and enjoying the twin mountains pressed on his back, she quickly flipped through the book.

It didn't take her a few seconds before she returned it and nodded.

"This book is nice. It covers everything. Now, I know the process and can lead them in making it."

"...Huh?"

Axel was shocked. He knew that there were people who could read so fast, but he didn't imagine there was someone like that among the girls!

"You must be busy, right?" Beatrix smiled, like a loving mother talking to her favorite child. "Don't worry, and leave everything here to me. I'll make sure nothing goes wrong. Right, girls~?"

"Yes! Please leave this to us, Sir Axel!""Right! I'm sure we can do this!"

Seeing them all pumped up, Axel couldn't really bring himself to act as supervisor again. He shrugged, postponing the discussion of their pay, and went away.

"Then, I'll be coming here again before noon to check. Try it among yourselves until then."

Axel did know that the book was quite detailed, and even had pictured instructions, but still, the measuring tools were quite modern. He guessed they would have a hard time adjusting to it at first... At least, that was what he thought.

After leaving the workshop, Axel continued further south.

This time, he moved literally next to the wall to the south. As far from the center as possible. After all, what he's going to make next is quite "dangerous" in a sense.

"Alright!" He pumped his fists lightly. "It's time to make the Lab!"

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