We have run out of things to charge in the house. I have no idea how much stuff passed through our hands, okay mostly mine, but it was a lot.

Lilyanne and I have to stay together in order to light up any of such stones. Either one of us can do the charge but in order for us to work, we have to be with a close enough range to one another. While I've gone through quite a good number of experimental charges for Gable, Lilyanne was sleeping away her illness. When she finally awoke, it was back in a state of good health! But it was a little more troublesome to explain to her.

Good thing my sister is a very obedient young child and easily does as I say. I tried to make simple explanations for her but she doesn't quite get it. Mor does she really have to I suppose? Do the concept and basic understanding of electricity even exist here?

She does get that sometimes she has to hold her big sister's hand and push the 'funny thing' out. She can even feel that 'funny thing' fill up into a rock or object of choice. It must be the magical mana she's feeling. So lucky!

She just can't feel when to stop, guess that's my job.

So it's seemed we've powered all rocks that have been supposedly hidden and stored around our house including the jewelry items and or guards' weapons. All for free of charge!

Hey father, I know we saved money from this.

Hey hey, where's my monetary compensation? When do I start getting an allowance anyways?

I don't ever recall ever getting an official allowance the last time. Honestly, I had no need for physical money, especially after my debut into the social world. If I ever wanted anything all I had to do was demand it. No matter the cost, if I wanted it, then I got it, as long as it was purchasable. Allowance? My money purse was seemingly bottomless. The other Rosalia who spent money as if it was nothing but water really hurts my liver.

As the sort of person who hunts down supermarket sales and never buys nonnecessities without a discount, such a thought really makes me want to spit out blood. Damn rich people!

There are no such things as a sale in this world, nor do I need it because I'm one of those damn rich people now. But I can't, I really can't convert to such a wasteful lifestyle. More importantly, I still need to stockpile money for my future.

Who knows what may come? Money is my only true companion and safety net in this life. I'm not just being cheap every time I demand monetary compensation. I need my own capital here.

But no one is trusting a toddler with cold hard cash, or well coins, just yet.

How disappointing

Well, I always knew there was a lot of work to be done still. No need to be down this early on. There are other things to do besides dreaming of collecting money.

Since the matters in the kitchen have been mostly caught up on I can breathe a bit easier.

Unfortunately, there is nothing Gable can teach or currently leave me to increase the speed of curing, it's just not possible given my skills or lack of magical items. I knew such a cheat thing was too good to be true, to good to be mine.

I only have the average person's luck, not the protagonist's golden halo.

Gable will still gladly help me out while he's here though, as thanks for making the herbal soaps for him. I quickly had more batches made after receiving such news. He's only here for so long, I need as much soap ready for his speed spells, not just the ones already made. Time is money!

Oh and 'sodas' too! Gather those krackle berries people! You all get your next recipe after we finish!

Abigail's extra effort in gather supplies will not be taken in vain and the rest was easy enough to procure with my family connections.

Mass ingredients form last time, excluding bovine milk, were local and easy to procure in this land. I selected them accordingly after all.

There are no perfumeries around here though so it's just fresh local farmed and wildflowers which we will have to distill and process ourselves. If anything we can dry a few to include as decorations.

This time we have a lot of wild climbing roses, which range from pure white to half pink, and wild orchids. Sunflowers are beginning to bloom too but the oil hasn't been processed or collected yet. Requests for farmers and millers to start on that has been sent on my behalf.

The blooms I'm most excited to work with is the plentiful amount of red poppies we've gathered! Contrary to my namesake, roses bore me. Seriously, it's so generic, people ought to put in more creativity than just roses, roses, and more roses. They're not bad, just overrated.

I want to work with all sorts of things and ingredients. Poppies blossoms are very pretty but they aren't as versatile to work with.

Worry not because I'm mainly interested in the seeds, yes poppy seed!

These poppy seeds are most similar to the common dark grey edible kind that I'm used to. No drugged effects here! Shame about the lack of medicinal potential but these seeds should still be very nutritious!

High in fiber and full of other good things.

I am also excited to make some treats with these things. Lemon poppy seed cake here I come!

Honestly, I'm more excited to eat the seeds than I am to make them into skincare and soap. They taste so good toasted into bread and bagels. Though we don't have bagels here it can still be very yummy. MMmmmm.

Wait why don't we have bagels? I can make bagels?!

It's not that I just want to eat them, this works for both business and pleasure! They do make for an excellent exfoliator in skincare, Or you can grind them up and use the paste against inflammation and for moisturizing.

Wait, if I make both lemon poppy seed cake and soap will people get confused and try eating the soap? I'm worried, I've seen modern people from the other world accidentally eat soap all the time...Well that will just have to be a risk we shall have to take.

Okay everyone, gather all the supplies, gear up the safety equipment and commence for Rosalia's Skin-lab round #2!

-----

Success!

This time went much smoother and easier than the first time we tried creating soap at the capital. Experience is the best teacher!

With Gable's magical help everything looks as if they've been cured for many months. Even the long wait time milk-based ones!
They're essentially ready to go, though I do need to figure out how to keep bubbles from forming or the colors from gelling. Not cosmetically appealing enough to be market ready just yet, not if I'm aiming to sell these things for an absurd amount to some other damn rich people.

Oh well, it's a work in progress.

I'm so happy at the sped up results, I even used some of my precious poppy seeds reserved for eating into a curd paste cream for George! Here here my little acne-prone test subject, I have more good things for you!

There's so much soap made that, of course, everyone who was involved, aka slave labored by me, gets some as a reward. I'm not dumb enough to not leave some reward and incentive to my employees. Stick and carrot, or something like that.
A good portion of it will go just to the official household use. They're not up to standards to sell yet but it's fine to use at home. The kitchen and the stables need them the most as well as the washing staff. Everyone would more than appreciate these additions.

There's still so much left over though and I already have supplies coming in for round 3. What to do...

So I asked to see if I could hit 3 birds with one stone. To the training camps!

"Grampa, could Lilyanne and I go to the Garrison with you?"

"What's that Rosa, do you miss seeing your grampa that much?!"

"Just Gable."

"Oh...well that's fair."

Even if grampa is gone and running around doing who knows what for Gable, he still tries to make dinners with us at the mansion, if not then breakfast. While I knew I could probably get such a request approved easily I still buttered him up with some good food at dinner, mmm poppy seed onion bread was also a success. I should inquire about layering it baked with cheese though. The bread yeast research is getting there.

"But Gable visits you two at home too, why do you want to go hmmmm?" hums grampa in an exaggerated manner. But then again all of him is really rather exaggerated.

"You're still testing out our powers right, or well Lilyanne's power. I know you have a lot more stuff that can be charged at the camp, it would be easier to just take us there and let Lilyanne go wild."

It's reasonable enough request that benefits everyone, but grampa and his troops even more so. I know they're worried about Lilyanne's condition but Gable is a curious man, how far can she go? What is her power limit and how does it work?

"We'll see how your sister feels in the morning. But I think it should be A-ok."

"Thank you grampa."

"But you have to be the one to tell your mother."

"Ack! Gramps, wait no."

I don't feel anything from the charges, I'm not the power source here. I figure at most I'm the converter that gets whatever's going on in Lilyanne into a useable state for them to use. Thus I feel no side effects. It's Lilyanne everyone has to consider.

But the next morning she's in fine health and I had a whole evening to pack and prepare. A little wobbly from near two weeks of fever and bed rest but giddy to be up and going out.

"Field twip field twip!"

"Right Lily, we're going on a field trip!

"We go wit gwamp!"

"Yes, grampa is taking us so we're nice and safe. Say thank you to mother for letting us go."

"Yay grampy! Go now?!"

"Lilyanne, say bye-bye and thank you to 'mama'"

"Mama! Mama tank youuuu! Mama I wuv you!"

Against Lilyane's innocent unbridled joy and my very reasonable explanations, mother caves and allows for us to go. Honestly, she should just get used to it seeing as how I plan on coming and going from there quite a lot.

I should do something to improve the travel in between though. Grampa's not always here and I'm not allowed to horseback ride on my own yet, still being far too small. But carriage rides are inconvenient and makes me sick while the early morning shipments are too early for me to wake up. Better roads? A shuttle wagon schedule?

I mull over it on the hour ride over, forcefully settling myself between grampa and his steed. I don't care if he makes fun of me endlessly for being needy. No motion sick carriages for me, not if I can help it.

Behind the first gate, Uncle Geoff waits for us, as reliable as ever.

"Good morning Uncle Geoff, Lillyane say hello."

"Hewo!"

"My it feels like it's been so long since I last saw you girls, you've gotten so big. And Rosalia what a dashing little hair cut you have now."

Now this is a genuine well-spoken gentleman! Ah, more men need to take a note from you uncle Geoff.

While he leads us to where Gable has set up his temporary lab office I can't help but say hello or talk a bit to the familiar faces we passed by. I even see the grumpy cat - uh I mean Yuna has survived his odd butterfly bite with no side effects. Except maybe complaints, which is understandable. I'd be too if a butterfly vampire bit me out of commission like a bad drunk.

Along the way, I note for people to send Tamera or Vincent my way if they run into them.

Until then we head down, unsurprisingly, underground. Gable sure likes to burrow himself hidden huh, but I also think that if there were power stones running this place they would be hidden where no one could see.

Since uncle Geoff is guiding us down with grampa, it's safe to say he's in on this too. Nice to count another safe person.

In a deep basement chamber that was surprisingly easy to access, stood Gable with levitating notes ready to be scribbled. Even more shocking was how large and wide the chamber was. The only thing was that there were no rocks like I was expecting.

"Oh it's here Rosalia, can't you see them?"

No, I really can't. It's just a large empty hallway, supported with many tall stone columns, Which on closer inspection seem to be made of different materials. Oh I see! It's like someone mined a mountain and built this.

"The columns! They've been built into the support beams and foundations!"

"Good job, ingenious isn't it? But terribly impossible to move. They're all interconnected and hold incomparably more than power stones we've been working with before. Don't worry about exploding these, I expect you'll reach your limits here."

He was right.

While I don't feel any effects, it's tiring to just stand around doing nothing while acting as a battery converter. I half lean with my face squishing the cool rock as I wait for Lilyanne to tire out, emptying her mana pools far faster than her little body could restore it. She already charged so much these past few days too.
Lilyanne was told to focus on pushing but for over an hour I felt like we were just standing around.

But hey I'm the one who can't feel the magic here.

---

Back on the surface again I run into Amar and Lukas before I do Tamera and Vincent For why Lilyanne and I separate, well she's getting coddled by grampa somewhere for being tired and I got bored.

In this space that is grampa's domain, don't I essentially have free rein to roam where I please? There's not a soul here who doesn't recognize the Lord commander's precious grandchildren.

Still, it takes a lot of guts or foolishness to ambush me the way these two have.

"Is it true?!"

"What is Lukas? And get off of me already!"

"Hi Rosalia! Sorry, Rosalia.

"Hi to you too Amar. Now, will you guys get off me?"

Today it is not a Rosalia sandwich but a dogpile, with me at the bottom. I sense no other children around, though I know they exist. These two must have sought me out specifically.

"The good thing!"

"The what now?"

"What Lukas wants to say is that the kitchens are talking about this amazing thing. It's called something like 'pizza' -"

"Word is that it can only be made not by your house but by you. Is that true? Is it even better than a soda?! Oh do you still have any more of that too?"

"Pizza? The kitchens are talking about it to the troops?"

"Nah, Marcus hears it Grendada who heard from Shurine who talked to Old Tonka who works deliveries."

"...You heard from who?"

Is Lukas a little boy or a gossipy middle-aged woman?

"But Dana confirms it too because she's worked both the cafeteria and your home's kitchens."

"Ah that makes more sense, thank you Amar."

"So? Is it amazingly delicious?"

"It's not even ready yet, but I like it a lot. That's why I'm trying to make it just right"

"Sounds good enough for me, right Amar?" grins Lukas.

"Tasty things are tasty." the other boy nods along.

It's interesting how news gets around but it makes sense if my kitchen staff and the cafeteria here work hand in hand. I mean the ovens here are much larger and we get the bread rolls delivered ...wait a minute.

The ovens here are better for making bread....hmm.

"So Rosalia, when will they be ready?! Everyone talks about this 'pizza' like it's a legend or something. I have to try it before I leave, please please please."

Lukas begs, puppy eyes on full force. I should call it a piggy eye but I can't blame him. I also got always got excited when hearing about new restaurant openings or food trends. Internet foodporn videos did not help. Amar pats his friend's back in support.

"We're really glad Lukas gets to go apprentice with Gable but since everyone is talking about this pizza-"

"Please please please let me try it before I go."

This gives me another idea actually.

"And everyone's heard about it?"

"Uh yeah, did I not say it enough before?"

"No no no you said plenty Lukas. But do you think people would be willing to help?"

"Of course, duh. Why wouldn't they?!"

"Bartering, favors, and work are traded more than money around here Rosalia. But I see people gamble with money a lot? A lot of things work."

Yes, work and barter. A lot like school or prison. I can work with this.

"Well then listen up! Follow my instructions carefully and I promise you all the pizza you can possibly eat."

After all, what kind of going away party is better than a pizza party?

---