Civilization Chronicles: Rise of the Divine Creator

Suddenly thinking of something, Lucas added, "Speaking of expectations, how is the research going into substituting imbi oil for beast drippings?"

"Quite well, actually," Rebecca replied promptly, "We’re still testing to see what the ideal ratio of imbi oil to lye is, and whether using a mix of imbi oil and beast drippings is feasible or not, but the few small test-batches we’ve produced so far are already showing quite a bit of promise."

Imbi was a type of fruit Lucas had first encountered in Iron Rock when Audrey showed him around her experimental garden. After seeing these small fruits up close, plucking one from its tree, and tasting it, the young boy immediately linked imbi with olives from his inherited memories.

At the time, Lucas was incredibly excited as he figured that if these imbi fruits really were similar to olives, then they could be used to produce a vegetable oil that was far superior in terms of scalability and sustainability for soap making than the animal fats he was currently using.

On top of that, having a readily available supply of vegetable oil would allow Lucas to create a wide variety of new, delicious food items.

Thinking so, Lucas quickly asked his guide at the time about it, and sure enough, Audrey Carlson confirmed that imbi fruits were frequently used to produce oil and as animal feed, on top of simply being eaten by people.

Unfortunately, they weren’t cultivated in the Rockwell Kingdom as they preferred slightly warmer climates.

In fact, no country in the South-Central Region grew imbi trees on a large scale. The closest nation to do that was the Kore Sovereignty, where Royal Ancestor Ariana currently resided.

Importing large quantities of imbi oil from the Sovereignty would probably be expensive, but given the huge profit-margin his soap had, Lucas figured he could probably get away with doing just that; however, if he could produce it locally, that would certainly be preferable.

The fact that an imbi tree was growing just fine in Audrey’s garden proved that it was possible for them to adapt to the local environment, and if that was the case, it would just be a matter of investing enough time and money to establish vast orchards in the Rockwell Kingdom.

Of course, that was a much more long-term goal, one that would take several years of work. In the mean time, Lucas had ordered a dozen barrels of imbi oil through Second Queen Natasha from the Vast Ocean Trading Company to start experimenting with.

Those 200 L barrels of oil arrived with Royal Ancestor Ariana almost 2 months ago, and after a significant number of tests, it seemed Rebecca, Joel, and the rest of their subordinates were close to incorporating it into the production process.

I’ll have to speed up plans to start an imbi plantation, Lucas noted to himself before nodding, "Excellent, let me know when you have the final recipe, and don’t hesitate to keep experimenting even after you’ve completed it. You may even want to set up a dedicated research team to look into creating different types of soap going forward."

Rebecca, diligent as always, immediately noted down the order from her boss and began thinking about who she should assign to this new work group.

They would have to be trustworthy, knowledgeable, and inventive, but that shouldn’t be too much trouble as right now, working in the soap factory was a highly coveted job due to its high daily wage of 80 Coppers.

Just as Rebecca was getting lost in her own thoughts, Lucas made one final announcement that took her completely by surprise, "In recognition of your excellent performance, I’m promoting you to the position of Manager and raising your salary to 3 Silvers per day."

"Wha..." Rebecca gawked before hurriedly shaking her head, "No no no, that’s not necessary, Boss! I couldn’t possibly..."

"Nonsense," Lucas waved his hand, "You’ve taken on just as much work and responsibility as Laura, and she’s been a Manager for several months now. It’s only fair that you receive a promotion as well."

"Uh... um..." Rebecca didn’t know what to say, but seeing the look on Lucas’ face, the one that said he wouldn’t take ’no’ for an answer, she eventually just nodded meekly, "Thank you, Boss."

"En, that’s what you should have said from the start," Lucas nodded.

3 Silvers per day for a commoner was an enormous sum of money. To put it into perspective, the average unskilled labourer in Misty City earned an average of 30 Coppers per day while a typical low-level craftsman might be able to earn 1 Silver a day.

Lucas insisted that no one had less than 8 days off per month, meaning the most anyone could ’officially’ work for him was 24 days per month. At 3 Silver per day, that meant Rebecca would earn over 7 Gold per month, which was more than enough to cover her expenses and allow her to splurge on food, drink, clothes, and basically whatever else she wanted.

It wasn’t anywhere close to the 100 Gold per month Lucas was paying his Head Manager, but in all fairness, Victoria Moore had significantly more experience, strength, and responsibilities than Laura or Rebecca, so it wasn’t strange for her to receive significantly more compensation.

Not getting lost in the joy of receiving a big promotion and pay raise, however, Rebecca quickly asked, "What about Joel? He was a huge help to me in setting up the factory’s supply chains."

"Exactly, he was helping you," Lucas emphasized, "Joel will also get a promotion, but only to Assistant Manager as he has mostly working under your directions rather than independently."

"He’ll have to show a little more initiative if he wants to become a full-fledged Manager," Lucas added.

Thinking it over for a moment, Rebecca nodded, "Understood, Boss."

Joel had worked hard negotiating with the butchers across Misty City, but when it came to actually putting together plans and executing them, Rebecca had been the one in charge, so her getting a bigger reward made sense.

Rebecca also wasn’t Joel would feel unfairly treated because she knew he was far more carefree than she was. More importantly, though, she knew Joel deeply respected and trusted Lucas, like all of them did.

When it came to work, pay, rewards, and punishments, Lucas had always been extremely fair, never showing the slightest bit of favouritism to anyone. If he said Joel needed to work harder to earn a promotion, Joel would undoubtedly accept it.

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