Chapter 6 - Soap Conundrum

The next day, after school, Hannah immediately went to play with her friends in that same area hoping that Orin would come to play again. A while passed, but Orin didn't come, which disappointed her. 

However, a few minutes later, Orin came to the playground. He was wearing the same dirty clothes as yesterday and if you looked at it properly, it was dirtier than yesterday because he had just returned back from the forest after collecting the herbs.

Hannah excitedly waved at him which Orin returned back with his own then she returned back to playing with her friends. Orin also joined and started playing with them. 

Soon all of them slowly went back to their respective home and just like yesterday, Orin walked with Hannah to drop her off near her home.

"Did you use the soap I gave you yesterday?" Orin asked expectantly.

"Yeah! Thank you for the gift Orin! It worked just like you said it would and I even showed it to my sister. She told me to ask you if you had more of them. She said that she is willing to buy them at a good price" Hannah replied enthusiastically

'First fish' Orin thought. His plan was officially in motion, but now he had to be extra careful and take every next step with extreme caution. 

"Haha…welcome!" Orin chuckled,"I do have more of them. Matter of fact I have one with me right now and your sister doesn't have to pay, she is my best friends sister after all" 

Hannah's face turned red, her heart raced and her mind went blank. Not only was she Orin's best friend, he was also so kind to her, which made her like Orin even more. "T-Thank you!" She muttered which sounded almost like a squeal. 

Looking at Hannah, Orin chuckled but at the same time, he also felt a little bit bad.He was essentially manipulating a kid and if you were to take his mental age into account, it would make the situation even worse.

Orin dropped her off near her area and Hannah quickly ran back home, excited to give her sister the soap. Both the sisters then started to use the soap on a daily basis which their parents noticed.

They soon confronted their daughters after which they demonstrated the use of the soap leaving both of the parents baffled. Even with their immense experience and dealings with many goods, they had never seen such an object which could seemingly make your skin look better and prettier

"Where did you get this object called 'soap' from?" Phil was intrigued by the soap and saw the potential it holded in the market. If he could sell these to the nobles, he could earn a ton of gold and expand his business even more.

"Hannah's friend gifted it to her" Lyva quickly replied to which Hannah also nodded, which raised an eyebrow in both oof the parents. 'Somebody gifted her such a precious gift?' Phil could hardly believe it. Such an object would amount to tens of thousands of golds if sold in the market or auction, but they were gifted to her by her 'friend' ?

Even if they didn't want to believe it, the soap was right there in front of them and their daughters couldn't have potentially stolen it. 'Is it some sort of scheme from the Dwarts?' Phil thought. 

They then tried it on themselves and were very surprised by the result. Phil then asked Hannah a series of question but she refused to mention who the 'friend' was which left Phil pissed. He could have forced her to answer but since he figured it might be some scheme from their rival, he dropped the matter and soon left them alone.

Inside a spacious office, Phil was sitting on his chair contemplating. He had a table before him which had a bunch of papers on it. He kept on rubbing his chin seeminly lost in thoughts. He could not figure out who had given this soap to her daughter and why? If it was the dwarts, they would have already started selling these things instead of giving it to his daughter. He also had never seen or heard of this kind of object anywhere. 

He then soon called his attendant and asked him to hire two stealthy and experienced bodyguards. He then called one of the maids working in his house to call Hannah into his office.

"Hannah..my child. You know how much your mom cares about her skin. Can you do me a favor and ask your friend if he has some more for your mother?" Phil asked. He wasn't a bad person, but for the safety of his family and their business he had to do assort to this kind of tactic.

"She can keep half of mine. I don't need all of it," Hannah replied. She didn't want to ask Orin for the soap again because she had already asked him once and she also felt that her father's words weren't quite genuine.

"No baby, keep it to yourself. It is your gift, you shouldn't give it to anybody else, otherwise what would that friend of yours think of you" Phil said, his tone laced with worry.

Hannah bit her lips and didn't know what to do. Noticing her distress, Phil added,"Take fifty gold coins with you. If he has another soap, ask him to sell it to you, okay?"

After hearing that, Hannah felt a little bit at ease. If Orin had the soap she could give the coins to him and it would be an equal trade and not just him gifting her. Fifty gold coins was a big sum for her. She could buy thousands of candy with that kind of money, but she didn't know that the soap was alot more valuable than fifty gold coins.

"Okay..ill ask him, if I meet him again" Hannah said and left the office with 50 gold coins in her pouch.