Chapter 81

The Palace of Yuriania is one of the most massive and majestic buildings in the city of Yuritania.

This building, which is the product of the best technology of the children of <Kikyou>, is not only quite large in terms of the area of its grounds and buildings, but is also extraordinary in terms of its vertical scale, with ten floors above ground and two floors below ground.

The reason why we need such a huge building is―――that we have private rooms for everyone in the building.

The guild [Yuri Empire] has a total of 360 members. All 359 of them are Yuri’s beloved wives, so none of them can be neglected.

Naturally, each one of them is assigned a private room of a reasonable size, and these alone occupy the seventh to tenth floors of the Yuritania Palace.

The first floor of the palace has all the necessary rooms for the governmental offices of the country.

The ‘Audience Hall’ takes up the most space, and this room, in particular, is built so high up to the ceiling that it encroaches on parts of the second and third floors.

In addition, there is the ‘office’ that Yuri uses every day, as well as other rooms on the first floor where the other children conduct political affairs concerning Yuritania and the surrounding villages.

So, what’s on the other half of the ground level the second through sixth floors? ―――There are rooms for the followers to live in.

All 360 members of the [Yuri Empire], including Yuri herself, have mastered the skill of [Summoning Followers], which allows them to summon one to five followers who are loyal to them.

Unlike [Summoning Messenger Beast], summoning a follower does not consume any magic power. If wanted to, she could have everyone in the Yuri Empire summon a follower all the time.

So, in the Yuritania Palace, there is a space prepared in advance where the children of the followers can live.

The Yuri Empire has a total of 360 members, and if all of them summoned their own followers, it would be well over 1500 people.

Yuri hasn’t calculated the specific number of people, but it probably won’t go up to 2000.

In addition, some of the demons that can be summoned with the [Summoning Cavalry] skill have the ability to humanize themselves, and the children of <Koubai> have the skill to put the spirits of the three pillars in their bodies into dolls and make them act autonomously. So, if we include all the available heads, the number will probably reach over 2,000.

Because of this, there are countless rooms on the second to sixth floors of the Yuritania Palace.

There are probably 300 rooms on each level. Although each room is a bit cramped, they are all private rooms, so there is plenty of space to live in.

At the moment, only all of <Kikyou>, <Nadeshiko>, and some of <Rindou> have summoned followers, so only the sixth floor is in use. If the Yuri Empire expands in the future, and the number of cities and villages to be managed increases, the palace may one day become fully operational.

―――The palace also has two ‘Annexes’ within its premises.

One is the Guest House, which is a lodging facility for state guests.

It’s a smaller building than the main building. It’s a luxurious annex with all the bells and whistles, and it’s a building of such refined beauty that it would not be out of place to have royalty and nobility stay there.

The other annex is the ‘Production Building’.

The other annex is the production building. This is literally a facility for production and is effectively a building occupied by the troops of the <Rindou>.

There are rooms with all the necessary equipment and devices for each production job, such as a forge, wood processing area, medicine room, and cooking room. Although the ceilings are high, the building is a one-story structure, so the area is quite large.

This time, Yuri was visiting the alchemy room, one of the production buildings.

This is the room for Rupia, who is a deputy commander of <Rindou> and has the [Class] of <Alchemist>.

The <Alchemist> is the highest level of the <Alchemy> lineage and is a profession that can draw the power of the stars from matter and use it―――but that’s not important right now.

The four items on the table in the corner of the room, made with ordinary alchemy, were the main items this time.

“Rupia, can you explain them to me?”

Yuri urged, and Rupia responded with a nod.

“Yes. What you see in front of you right now is a prototype of a cosmetic product that I have been developing and producing since Lady Yuri gave me the order.

The two items on the left from Lady Yuri’s perspective are the lotion, the next is milky lotion, and the one on the right is lip balm. The cream is in the form of a stick, though.”

“Oh, you didn’t make a ‘serum’, did you?”

“I’m sorry, but there are so many directions and methods of development that I haven’t been able to come up with something I’m satisfied with. If you could just give me a little time.”

With an apologetic look on her face, Rupia bowed her head.

The lotion is used to ‘moisturize the skin’, and milky lotion is used to ‘prevent the skin from evaporating’. Since the purpose of these two products is clear, it was probably easy for Rupia to make them.

On the other hand, the purpose of the serum itself cannot be defined in general.

In modern times, cosmetics salespeople often explain that they are to ‘nourish the skin’, but this itself is often a lie because although serums do contain nutrients, they are not absorbed by the skin in most cases.

Most of them contain multiple ingredients that can be expected to have effects such as moisturizing, whitening, improving wrinkles, preventing melasma, and anti-aging. Therefore, the specific purpose of a serum can be changed at the discretion of the maker.

This is why the development process is so difficult.

“It’s nothing to apologize for, I left the development to Rupia, and I’ll be happy enough to see it when it’s done to your satisfaction.”

“Thank you very much, Lady Yuri. You can count on me.”

“So, why are there two prototypes of the lotion?”

“Yes. First, the one on the left is the most basic lotion made with the healing root as the main ingredient. It moisturizes the skin to prevent roughness and restore some skin conditions. It can cure at least acne and pimples in one day.”

If the effects are that remarkable―――Yuri thinks that it is more of a ‘medicine’ than a lotion.

By the way, the material that Rupia mentioned, ‘healing root’, is a drop item obtained from defeating the demon ‘Alraune’.

As the name implies, the material contains healing power, so it is no wonder that the skin condition recovers remarkably after using it.

“The second item from the left is the one that has [Ray Resistance] added to it.”

“[Ray Resistance].”

“Yes. It prevents sunburn, stains, and freckles.”

“Oh…… prevent ultraviolet rays, I see.”

I wondered what was going on since she was suddenly talking about resistance.

Apparently, it is what is called a ‘whitening lotion’. It must be a kind of lotion, but in Japan, it is usually treated as a quasi-drug.

“Lady Yuri said she wanted me to develop something that would protect her from ultraviolet rays, so I prepared two types of lotion.”

“You went to a lot of trouble.”

“No, not at all.”

The reason I asked her to develop a product that would protect against ultraviolet rays was that I was planning to sell it to the people of the Holy Land of Nimun.

The capital of the Holy Land, Farrata, has a [Temperature Control Ward], but as the name suggests, this ward only has the effect of adjusting the temperature inside the ward. It doesn’t improve the humidity, and it doesn’t alleviate the harsh direct sunlight unique to the desert.

“The other two, the milky lotion and the lip balm, were made from the wool wax that Lady Yuri prepared for us, lanolin, I believe. By using it, I was able to make them quite easily.”

“Yes. It was worth the trouble of importing it from the Holy Land.”

“Lanolin itself has a luster, so I think it could be made into a good cosmetic product with little modification. However, when we tested it on the kingdom soldiers imprisoned in the basement, one of them developed red and itchy skin. If we want to sell it as a product, you might want to keep that in mind.”

“I see, I’ll be careful.”

Since lanolin is a well-known allergen, it can cause allergic symptoms in some people when applied to the skin.

It would be wise to do a patch test beforehand with the people you are selling to.

“Will mass production be possible without problems?”

“Yes. The difficulty level of the production recipe is 61 and 71 for lotion, 13 for milky lotion, and 20 for lip balm. We’ve been able to keep the difficulty of production low for all of them, so there’s no problem with mass production.”

All production workers can acquire the [Mass Production] skill, which allows them to produce a large number of items at once.

However, mass production is only possible with low-difficulty production recipes. If the recipe is less difficult than your level, you can produce up to 50 items at a time, and if it is less than half your level, you can produce up to 1000 items at a time.

Using the [Summon Squires] skill, Rupia can summon five levels 150 squires with the same [Alchemist] job class as herself.

This time, even the most difficult recipe has a difficulty level of only 71, so even a follower’s child can mass-produce 1000s at a time.

I’m sure you can mass-produce enough to meet market demand without any problems.

“Are you going to start selling it right away?”

“…… Actually, I’m a little worried about it……”

Women all over the world are always in pursuit of beauty. This is probably true even if the world has changed.

If you’ve ever done it, you know that the condition of your skin can change drastically depending on whether or not you are retaining the moisture. Even if you only use two things every day, a lotion and a milky lotion, you will definitely see a noticeable effect.

So, if you put these cosmetics on the market, word of mouth alone will spread quickly and they will sell like hotcakes in no time.

The fact that she was so sure about this made Yuri feel hesitant.

“I honestly don’t need any more income……”

“Haha, that’s the most extravagant thing I’ve ever heard.”

Hearing Yuri’s words, Rupia smiled at her.

Even at present, there is a considerable amount of income from the demon materials sold to the Rostine Trading Company alone, and a considerable amount of money has been accumulated in the national treasury.

And if you start dealing in cosmetics, a product that generates a huge amount of wealth. It is obvious that a lot of money, not just double the current amount, will roll into the national treasury.

Gold has value only when it is circulated in the market, so if it is kept in the treasury, it may be harmful, but it will not be beneficial. However, I have no idea what to do with it.

With a new vein of gold in front of her, Yuri could not stop thinking about it.