Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 56: A Seemingly Normal World

What should an ordinary transmigrator do when arriving in an ordinary fantasy world?

Although this world didn’t seem so ordinary, and Hughes always had a nagging feeling that something was off, he still tried to steer everything back on track.

Soap, glass, cement, gunpowder, just bringing out these things should be enough to deal with the natives.

Right?

That was what Hughes had always thought, so he reformed workshops and made samples.

But recently, the "Cognitive Barrier" and pollution made him feel uneasy, causing him to doubt the nature of this world.

Was this really just an ordinary fantasy world? Even if it had some extraordinary powers?

A shadow clouded Hughes’ eyes.

But since he had already started, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and push forward, hoping everything would go smoothly.

Yesterday, he brought Connor to take a look. As expected, his finished product was met with a series of shocked reactions.

Since there were no apparent problems for now, he decided to proceed as planned, using industry to flatten this world.

It would go smoothly.

The steam engine and chemical processes were his two most crucial paths in the industrialization and technological climb.

The production of steam engines had already involved the Sirens in research, so the chemical processes couldn’t be left behind either.

Hughes began pitching to Alexei.

"Soap. The main product of our factory for the foreseeable future is this little thing in your hand."

Hughes took a few steps back, where a servant had already prepared a water basin and a jar.

Alexei scooped some greasy sludge from the jar onto his hands and tried washing with the soap.

"What a miraculous thing," Alexei marveled. "This level of cleanliness is almost on par with the Church’s No. 9 Holy Water."

The major churches regularly sold holy water, categorized into thirteen types based on their effects. No. 9 Holy Water’s primary function was cleansing.

Holy water was highly effective but also prohibitively expensive, to the point that most minor nobles could barely afford it, even this relatively cheaper No. 9 Holy Water.

The product was good, but was it really that shocking?

Alexei glanced at the soap, which had worn down slightly.

At this rate of consumption, if the soap’s price was lower than 50 gold rums per bar, it might actually compete with No. 9 Holy Water in the market.

But since this was an alchemical product…

Alexei shook his head inwardly.

Compared to alchemical creations, even the Church’s holy water seemed cost-effective.

But why was Connor looking at him so strangely?

Did this soap have some hidden trait?

"The cost of making this soap is about 50 gold rums per ton," Hughes said with a half-smile.

Alexei sighed inwardly. As expected, trying to market an alchemical product based on cost-effectiveness was too far-fetched. He should just—

Wait!

His brain suddenly froze.

"50 gold rums per what?"

"Per ton."

Alexei was stunned. His hand slipped, and the soap dropped to the ground.

Connor had a satisfied expression.

A ton, that was an ancient unit, rarely used in the Empire. One ton was about two thousand pounds, and it took at least four or five bars of this soap to make a pound. That meant… that meant…

Alexei wasn’t great at arithmetic, but he knew one gold rum equaled one gold pound, which could be exchanged for 25 Imperial Lios. Fifty gold rums were a total of 1,250 Lio. Converting further…

"Don’t bother calculating. This stuff costs about one Lio for eight bars."

Alexei’s mouth dropped open in complete shock.

As an orphan who had clawed his way up from the bottom, he was acutely aware of market prices.

One Lio could buy six pounds of bread or one and a half pounds of meat.

In Rhine, two Lios could get you an excellent meal at a restaurant.

In his last descent, Hughes had worked as the lowest factory laborer, earning about 700 Lios a year—roughly two Lios a day.

After covering housing and basic living expenses, he could barely save any money.

A small bottle of the Church’s No. 9 Holy Water cost 30 Lios, equivalent to two weeks of Hughes’ wages.

And that bottle was only enough to clean the jewelry twice.

Now, this "soap" was priced at one Lio for eight bars?

And each bar could last dozens of times longer than holy water?

Alexei’s mind went numb from the calculations.

All he knew was that even the poorest people could now afford to wash their clothes with this soap.

"By the way, our predicted daily production capacity is about three tons. It’s a bit low, without steam engines, we’re still not quite there."

Three tons.

Alexei turned his head mechanically. He suddenly felt that his previous concerns were laughable.

If Hughes was willing to hand over this formula, the Empress would declare war on Gem Bay the same day.

"Are you saying we can supply No. 9 Holy Water almost infinitely?"

"Almost infinitely?" Hughes chuckled. "If we’re only supplying Castel, then yes, it’s practically infinite."

"But what about the entire continent?"

"The entire continent…"

Merchants would go crazy over this.

Castel was remote? There would be plenty of traders willing to take the risk to bring goods to the Storm Ocean.

A threefold profit margin was enough for merchants in the New World to establish a republic and challenge the Empire across the ocean. How much profit did this soap hold? A thousandfold?

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And this unbelievably lucrative product, three tons a day.

Just with soap alone, Hughes could harvest the entire continent.

The Empress certainly wouldn’t mind secretly supporting him, this substitute for holy water would greatly weaken the Church’s authority.

Alexei was dazed.

Looks like the soap was effective. Hughes nodded to himself.

After all, it was one of the cheat items of a transmigrator. Once his factory was built, everything would get better.

Suppressing a vague unease, Hughes gestured for Connor to continue explaining.

Connor cleared his throat. "Chief Scribe Alexei, this soap is highly durable, can be cut freely, and is incredibly easy to transport. The cost of shipping it by sea is also extremely low. Even transporting it to the Rhine would only double the cost—this is the worst-case estimate."

"Moreover, based on cost calculations, our future production expenses will only continue to decrease. If—"

Connor glanced at Hughes.

"If automation reaches a high enough level and we stay close to raw material sources, the cost of soap will become unimaginably low."

"The real constraint now is whether olive oil production can keep up."

Hearing the word "automation," Alexei felt a slight headache.

But the candy in his mouth melted, releasing a cool sensation, and the headache vanished.

"Not enough olives? Aren’t those trees everywhere?"

Hughes and Connor exchanged glances and relaxed slightly.

Looks like low-level scientific explanations didn’t cause significant cognitive pollution and would fade over time.

"That brings us back to the original problem. We need to build a road."

"…"

"Not just between the northern plains and southern mountains where the factories are located—we need roads between the factories too."

"Aren’t there already roads between the factories?"

"Not enough. Dirt roads won’t cut it—we’ll need better roads to handle our future material transportation."

"Factory transportation?"

"Yes. Olive oil undergoes saponification to make soap, but its byproduct, glycerin, is just as important."

"No, perhaps I shouldn’t call it a byproduct. It’s actually the main thing I want."

Hughes’ eyes gleamed.