Monarch of Solitude: Daily Quest System

Chapter 76 - Toad Fat Soap

As the morning approached, Rino decided to get down and dirty to speed the dismantling process up. He did not know much about animal anatomy so he asked the hunters for directions and assisted in cutting where they needed to separate the bones from the flesh. It was quite a pity that Rino could not summon this king toad as a living corpse because of how mutilated it was. However, he believed that such a monster would add no value to his budding community, so it was no loss.

The dismantled king toad flesh, fats, bones and skin were stored in Rino's shadow sack. He knew that it would not last for too long even in the shadow realm, so he quickly returned to his farmhouse just before dawn broke.

In the farmhouse, Rino summoned all the village womenfolk he could and asked if they knew how to make soap.

Sure enough, the womenfolk knew what to do, and Rino left them the heap of toad fats, wood ash and charcoal he collected from the kiln. The back of his farmhouse was shady, and they were not affected by the sunlight. By now, Rino noticed how more than sixty percent of his shadow army were wearing clothes. The wisps and fairies worked hard to weave enough for his army, and Rino felt bad how he did not have enough time to enchant those clothes for them. It provided the bare protection from deadly sun rays, but it was still very draining for the undead to be moving about under sunlight.

The large toad skin was dumped into a spare section of the reservoir that Rino reserved for dying and set up a barrier so that the clean water from the opposite side would not be contaminated by whatever the toad skin had.

"I need a copious amount of soap to clean this skin. The skin is fragile so, please treat it with care during the wash," he told the ladies.

Of the ladies present, he saw the talent manager and singled her out.

"You, come with me."

Heeding his command, the lady followed Rino into his farmhouse while the other ladies got to making soap as Rino filled the dye tub with water to soak the newly dismantled toad skin.

Once inside, Rino cast a sound barrier and turned to the lady.

"From today onwards, your name will be Erika. Your job is to ensure the smooth running of this provincial production village and periodically report the situation to me. Today, we begin your education to become my secretary."

The moment Rino gave her a name, he felt a strong surge in mana within his farmhouse. Erika was taking on a lot more mana from him to evolve compared to Mutt and Fronzo.

Was this due to her status and position as the overall area manager? Rino did not know how the hierarchy within his shadow army worked, but he was deeply impressed by just how much Erika was continuing to demand mana from him. Even if it hardly placed a dent in his mana reserves, it was still a considerable amount of mana for a regular magician.

The skeleton started growing skin, and Rino saw his first human-like undead. Her skin might be a little on the greyish side, but that was minor compared to the number of details he was looking at, from her nails to her hair. She could pass off as a human with this appearance if she touched up her skin colour to look less pallid.

Erika was a young lady in her twenties with copper hair. If she was still alive, she would have freckles on her sin with her light hazel eyes pulling men in left and right. However, as an undead, those eyes were dull and black as night. Her youthful skin was dry and grey despite her pristine white teeth and solid nails.

Rino took a look at this new evolution and tried to determine what kind of monster he created. Skeletons were a common kind of undead. Surely this was not a zombie because Erika moved with grace and dexterity, almost like the living.

"Do you feel thirst or hunger?" Rino asked, and Erika blinked.

"I feel hunger, my lord. There is an insatiable hunger and craving for raw meat."

Ah, so that was what she became after evolution. Erika wasn't that powerful as an undead despite her upgraded appearance. He initially thought she became a vampire, but as it turned out, she was only a level above zombies. She was now a ghoul, and while they had more intelligence than those mindless minions, Erika needed to eat from time to time to prevent physical deterioration.

"Will toad meat work for you?" he asked and withdrew some from his shadow sack. Thankfully, they were already cut into manageable sizes by the hunters.

Seized by hunger, Erika pounced onto the raw flesh and ate messily, dirtying her dress and face. Now, Rino could see clearly why ghouls were considered a threat that required a group of adventurers to kill in his previous world.

Despite looking so demure, Erika's nails were as strong as metal. She tore at the meat and ate without reservations as if possessed by instinct to inhale flesh. The more she ate, the better her skin complexion became. By the time she finished the messy meal, Rino didn't think that she looked like an undead.

"Go clean yourself at the sink before we begin. Wash those clothes as well."

Erika did not fuss and undressed on the spot, not caring if Rino looked at her naked body. The undead had no sense of modesty, and thankfully, Rino was not interested in the pleasures of the flesh.

Once Erika was clean again, and the clothes were washed, Rino dried them using magic so she could wear them. Then, the lessons began.

"Tell me what you know about accounting and numbers. Are you literate?"

Erika nodded slowly and recited what she knew as a village chief's daughter. Rino soon found out that there were no actual written languages in this world, and each village created symbols of their own. The concept of counting also came from looking at physical objects. Every unit of measurement was different, and the villagers often used the length of someone's forearm to measure things.

Hearing this, Rino groaned silently. There was no way he could assign her any major roles without teaching her everything from the start. Thankfully, Rino had no communication or language barriers in this world with his shadow army. Things were understood instinctively with the bond they shared, and for that, Rino was grateful.

"Let's start with the basics, shall we?" Rino went to Noir's litter box that he cleaned dutifully daily, not that the cat used it.

He used his finger to write the first character and told Erika to repeat after him. From here, Rino found himself spending many hours teaching Erika the fundamentals of reading and counting.