It was Saturday morning. News of Drew's regiment had spread like a wildfire. Within minutes of publication, the tabloids have already posted articles and videos all over the net. Some of them being titled: "A Genius Who Could Rival Heartman", "The New Tycoon of Kraus", "Brains and Looks, Ladies He's Single!" and other corny things which gave Drew a headache. In addition, some of these tabloids have dug into Drew's information. Well, fake information that Gerald had prepared days before and handed over to Senior Neilson just in case people came asking for it, and they did. Drew had even received some requests from wealthy customers asking if they could preorder the regiment. In any case, Drew was the hottest topic in the Orion Alliance. 

As Drew skimmed the web, after taking the regiment Senior Neilson had given him a few days before, all he could find were articles about him. To think that the groundbreaking regiment he created on accident would cause this much ruckus overnight. What a pain, not even him gaining fifty more Krasos to his Otrio nor meeting his quota extremely early could alleviate the immense headache he was having. It seems life was about to get a whole level of hectic in the upcoming days. 

"Ah I'm pissed," Elias whined in the middle of the dining hall startling Drew and the others. "That guy, Axel Snow is all over the news! All you see is his face!" 

"There's a good reason." Rider said as he pulled up a screen on his communication device, turning it to the group. Their eyes focusing on the upshot view of Drew's fake identity. "He created the first 100% confirmed breakthrough regiment even though it's only for F-Rank into E-Rank. Imagine if he created a regiment for E-Rank to D-Rank breakthrough, then he could be said to be on par with Heartman for the best Alchemist of the decade. Who knows, he could win the Creator's Award." 

>>>

The Creator's Award is an award given to a person who has made major contributions to the Alchemy circle. Think of it as the Nobel Prize of Alchemy. However, there's a catch. This award is given at the end of each decade specifically the day before the New Year of the next decade. It was currently the year 474 IE so there were about six more years before the award was to be given. So far, in the first place of this race, Heartman stood at the top. He had made so many contributions to the Alchemy circle that even the person who was in second place had no chance. In short, he was the most likely candidate to win the Award, that was until Drew stepped in as Mr. Snow and blew the whole circle away with his groundbreaking breakthrough regiment. Due to this, people were beginning to have second thoughts but some were excited to see how these next six years were going to play out. Originally, Drew had no interest in the Award, however, he might just have to reconsider that. 

>>>

"Not only is he brilliant, but he's also good looking," Brix commented observing the image, pointing to Mr. Snow's perfectly edited face. The new surely knows how to make people look good. 

"I hate to admit it but she's right," Wan said sipping a box of apple juice. 

"In my opinion, he looks like every other rich guy I've seen," Sylvia muttered under her breath. Drew hated to admit but he had to agree with that statement. Even from his perspective, he looked like every other pompous rich guy you could find in the city. 

Elias turned to Drew who was looking at the same article Rider was as he played around with the strawberries on his plate. 

"What are your thoughts, Drew?" 

"Can't say for sure," Drew shrugged putting down his fork. "A mysterious guy pops out of nowhere with some miracle regiment that astounds the universe overnight. I do agree with Rider that it's incredible to witness this history being made before our eyes but I'm not sure what else I can say. It's only been a day." 

"Fair point." Rider said closing his screen. "it's a shame that the regiment cost so much or else the general public could afford it." 

"Hey," Sylvia interrupted pointing to the door. "We should get going. We have a long day ahead of us. Also, don't forget to bring the largest suitcases you have." 

>>>

Half an hour past and the group made their way over to the Viridiana Hotel located in the heart of Ozwarth's Civic Center. During the tourist season, this seventy stories obelisk-shaped hotel would be packed with thousands of guests from all over the galaxy including prominent figures such as the Prime Minister of Earth and even the Chairman of the Orion Alliance. Drew had passed by the hotel quite a few times but never actually gone in. Now, in his almost eighteen years of living in Ozwarth, he was finally going to see the interior. 

Sylvia placed her hands on her hips, looking up to the peak of the obelisk as her eyes burned with excitement.

"Alright! Now I will explain why we're here. Drew, Elias, Wan, do you guys remember the 5000 Kalas we earned." 

"Yeah," Drew responded shoving his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "What exactly are we using them for?" 

Sylvia smirked as the group entered the Viridiana Hotel through its revolving doors, being greeted by a lavish marble lobby decorated with velvet couches sitting atop of nylon carpets. It seems the designers had gotten inspiration from the Egyptians. Stone pillars engraved with complex hieroglyphs held up the high ceiling, leading up to a reception counter where lines of guests were checking in their luggage and receiving their key codes to their rooms. Behind the reception counter, were grand stone fountains, carved into sphinxes, spewing water out their mouths which filtered down into a pond full of imported Mugil fish mixed with some colorful Koi which surrounded an island where guest could purchase drinks at the bar in the center of the island. It was incredible. 

"Simple, we are going to be purchasing bars of soap." 

"Couldn't we just purchase them from an O-Mart or something?" Rider asked. "They're pretty cheap." 

Brix nodded. "Yeah, why are we buying them from a hotel?" 

"First of all, I never said we were buying new bars of soap," Sylvia said. "Second, it's because I wanted to centralize my project around the slums." 

"Okay, but why the slums?" Wan interested in placing her finger under her chin. 

"I've noticed that most of the slum residents don't have good hygiene and the main reason behind that is because they are so focused on their survival that hygiene becomes secondary. This leads to unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions which can eventually lead to health complications. Why is that?" 

"It's because purchasing hygiene-related products cost more than what the slums can afford," Elias replied.

Sylvia snapped her fingers. 

"Bingo. That's correct Elias. That for me thinking, what if I could find a way to make hygiene products but for a reduced price so that even slum residents could afford it? The first thing that came to mind was this...purchasing leftover soap bars from hotels and recycling them to create new soap bars that can be sold at a lower price but still make a profit. This doesn't just apply to slum residents but also residents in low-income communities."   

"Why can't we just purchase all the raw materials?" Drew asked. 

"This isn't just for charity or profit, this is also for the environment." Sylvia gleamed. "Ozwarth generates 96 million tons of waste every year. Have you considered where that waste goes?"  

Everyone shook their heads. 

"If Ozwarth was located near a large body of water, it would have gone there. However, Ozwarth is located along the Foregalis Mountain Range where the main source of water comes from the mountain runoff. Thus, the trash is disposed of in the nearest place possible where no one would go to." 

"The slums," Drew muttered. 

Sylvia smiled. 

"Correct, you catch on quick Drew. The city's trash being dumped in the slums is one of the main culprits for when major epidemics break out in the city. Because most of the trash isn't processed and just left alone to rot there, it can induce many health complications due to the many kinds of bacteria and viruses in it. According to the Ozwarth Medical Facility, if this problem isn't solved in the next twenty years, we might just have another major pandemic that might wipe out half of Ozwarth's population. Although we are recycling as much as possible, it's still not enough to reduce the potential threat of a pandemic. Additionally, it's not just the pandemic that is concerning. Because Ozwarth's water supply is near the slums where all of Ozwarth's garbage is dumped, some of the garbage and the chemicals contained in them can contaminate the supply thus causing an increase need in purification which means more money spent by our government and potentially, increased taxes on the general public. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Of course, you could guess what else could happen if this issue is not solved." 

"But why soap?" Elias asked. "I get that it's for the following reasons above but how big of an impact would that make in alleviating the situation?" 

"Let me ask you, what are the ingredients in soap?" 

"Wax, lye, distilled water, essential oils, coloring..." Brix listed. 

"That's right." Sylvia nodded. "Wasted soap bars make up about two percent of the annual waste Ozwarth disposes of." 

Rider finally caught on. 

"So you are saying we start off with soap, try to recycle as much as possible, and once we acquire more funds we can target other things like plastics or metals." 

"You got that right." Sylvia clapped. "Once we get the soap, we have to get it processed and I just happen to know a few facilities that would do it cheaply for us." 

"Glass Road," Drew commented. Most of the facilities on Glass Road are seldom used but they have all the equipment that regular facilities in busier Districts of the city would possess. Due to this, as long as a customer walked into any shop on Glass Road, they wouldn't care how much a person paid as long as it wasn't too little which makes it the perfect place to have things manufactured or bought cheaply. 

"Correct. I already talked with a shop owner beforehand to discuss the price and he said he could do it for 1000 Kalas including custom packaging. I compared this price with normal facilities and according to my research, we are getting almost an eighty percent discount considering how much we are getting processed." 

"Then what are the suitcases for?" Wan asked.

"To carry the soap," Sylvia replied. "A normal suitcase with weight reduction technology can carry up to 90 kilograms and since we have eight of them, that means we can carry 720 kilograms of soap which is how much we are purchasing today. With 720 kilograms of soap, we can make about 5000 bars of soap from which we can sell for a Kala fifty Pence. After deducting the cost of material and processing, this will net us approximately 6000 in profit. "

"That's not bad for a start." Elias nodded. "How often will we do this?" 

"If everything goes according to plan, twice a month for a whole day. Think of it as community service hours for Star." 

"This counts?" Drew exclaimed. 

Sylvia clicked her tongue. 

"Of course. If you have enough community service hours, you can reduce the time you serve in Mandatory Military Service. It's one of the loopholes I learned from my grandparents and it still stands today. You can verify it in Star's Student Handbook." 

Rider laughed. 

"You mean the book the size of a dictionary? No one reads that!" 

Sylvia flipped her crimson hair. 

"Well, I suggest you should. There are some pretty handy things you can get out of it. Enough of the chit chat, we should get going. We don't have all day." 

>>>

A few minutes later a receptionist guided the group to the back room of the hotel. There, the hundreds of washers and dryers had towels and bedsheets tumbling in them like a merry-go-round. Steam emitted from the irons that smoothed out the wrinkles on satin bathrooms as the worker folded them into a neat square and stacked them on top of a cart where another worker would deliver them to a room. Other workers, sitting at long tables, were assembling bath kits for each room complimented with two bars of soap, lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and other miscellaneous items. It was a sweatshop but this is what goes on in the Viridiana behind the scenes to bring you their five-star service. 

"This way." The receptionist instructed pointing over to a man standing by two large yellow bins of white solids, all of different shapes and sizes. 

"Princess!" He greeted, gesturing with his hand over to the bins before shaking Sylvia's. "Your order as you requested." 

"Thank you, Mr. Evans. I'm sorry to trouble you like this." Sylvia apologized firmly shaking his hand. 

"Not at all," He replied in his refined English accent. "Rather, you are doing us a favor. After hearing your proposal, I'm glad to see these leftovers serve a purpose. As a philanthropist, I fully support this idea would you mind if I become your first investor?" 

"Much appreciated," Sylvia replied waving to the rest of the group to help pack up the leftovers into the suitcase. "How much would you like to invest?"

"I won't be investing with money." Mr. Evans chuckled fiddling with his fabulous Pr*ngle's man mustache. "These soap bars are my investment. I am also willing to give you a discount for this. 300 Kalas." 

"A big help," Sylvia commented agreeing to Mr. Evans's offer. "Would you also like to purchase our soap once completed? You will be saving yourself about twenty billion Kalas a year considering how many other hotels you own, Mr. Evans."  

Mr. Evans sighed. "This is a tempting offer. No other place has given me this. My main concern is the quality of your products. Will you be able to guarantee the same or better?" 

"Of course," Sylvia replied glancing over at Drew who was busy putting soap chunks in his suitcase. "We do have an Alchemist with us but I'll have to do a bit of consulting with him,  after we finish our initial tests, to see what improvements we can make. If that goes well, I can guarantee that we will be able to produce a cheaper and higher quality product."

Mr. Evans snapped his fingers.

"Is that so? Then I'll take the gamble and accept. This is a small investment for me as I have nothing to lose." 

"Then it seems we both benefit." Sylvia laughed. "I'm glad to be working with you." 

"It's my pleasure. Now, when can I see the results of your work?" Mr. Evan's asked. 

"Please wait a month. We will be selling the prototype of our product to slum residents. Once we gather enough data, we will start offering our products to the general public." 

"Very well, I have the patience. More importantly, I'm quite excited to see how you will impact this War of Royals, 39th Princess." 

"I hope you won't be disappointed." Sylvia let out a warm smile. 

"I don't think I will." Mr. Evans replied with confidence. Sealing the deal with a handshake. "Also, the next time you come here, I don't mind having our staff help you pack this. Although, you might have to pay a little more." 

"You're rather generous, Mr. Evans. I'll have to take you up on that offer. I'm quite limited on resources so anything at this stage would be a massive contribution." 

Mr. Evan's shoved his hands in the pockets of his dress pants. "I would be happy to supply them." 

Meanwhile, Drew and the others had finished stuffing the soap into the suitcases lined with large garbage bags provided by the staff. 

"Sylvia," Drew called, shutting his suitcase. "We're finished over here!" 

Tilting her head back she gives the group a thumbs up. 

"Okay. We're just about to finish up." She hollered before turning back to Mr. Evans bowing in thanks. "Thank you so much!" 

"You don't have to thank me. I'm just doing this for a greater cause. Some advice for you, have some more confidence, the kind that you displayed in front of me today. If you can do that, I have no doubts that you can make it to the top in the War of Royals." 

>>>

Saying their goodbyes, the group made their way to Glass Road. For Drew, Elias, Wan, and Sylvia, the place felt like home but to Rider and Brix, the place looked miserable. The run-down buildings and suspicious-looking people outside did not make their impression any better.  

"So this is the infamous Glass Road..." Rider said pushing up his glasses as the group trudged through the thick powder. "It's more dilapidated than I thought it would be." 

"Um guys," Brix shivered. "Why are you so calm?" 

"I guess you're not aware but the 39th Princess rules this District." Rider replied. 

"That doesn't answer the question. I mean there are so many sketchy people here, why is everyone else so calm?" 

Elias laughed. "We didn't tell you guys?!" 

Wan chuckled at Elias's reaction. "It seems so. Truth is, Sylvia, Elias, Drew, and myself are residents of Glass Road. These people who you are calling 'sketchy' are the nicest people you will ever meet. Yeah, we have a few druggies and ex-convicts and all but they couldn't even harm a fly even if they wanted too! Don't sweat the details. No one is going to get mugged or attacked." 

Brix let out a sigh of relief. Her breath was visible in the chilly air. 

"That's good to hear coming from you, Wan." 

Rider agreed. 

"Now that you bring it up, I feel safer." 

"Appearances sure are deceiving here," Elias commented as he pulled the suitcase begins him, gathering a massive mound of powder as he did. 

Drew chuckled lifting his suitcase out of the thick snow.

"He has a good point." 

"Hey, Sylv," Wan called to Sylvia. "How far are we?" 

"We're almost there," Sylvia replied swinging her suitcase around her body. "Right about now!" 

As soon as Sylvia finished speaking, the group had found themselves in front of a two-story cement building, covered in a mountain of powder, with a garage door as the entrance and a broken wooden sign that wrote: "Ariam Miscellaneous Products and Processing".  

Trudging over the garage door entrance, Sylvia buzzed the doorbell embedded in the side of the cement wall. Silence.

"Is this the right place?" Brix asked questioning Sylvia's sense of direction. 

"I'm certain of it," Sylvia replied as she presumed to buzz the doorbell again.

Waiting a couple of moments, the garage door pulled opened revealing a full blow workshop with state of the art equipment including a metal furnace that could reach thousands of degrees Celcius, long workbenches, various steel molds, wooden hammers, anything that one could think of could be found in this garage workshop.  Leaning against one of the workbenches was a man who looked like a real-life version of K*ntucky Fried Ch*cken's C*lonel Sanders. Especially, with those round spectacles and red and white-stripped apron. All he needed was a bucket of freshly fried chicken.  

"Welcome to Ariam Miscellaneous Products and Processing! How may I help you?" 

Oh Jesus, he even sounded like a call center operator. 

"I scheduled an appointment to get some things processed," Sylvia replied showing the C*lonel Sanders her appointment confirmation. Scanning it for a couple of seconds, the C*lonel Sanders finally responded. 

"Of course, Princess. I've been expecting you. Tell me what have you brought our humble workshop to work with?" 

"I've informed you earlier. I have some soap that I want to recycle into bars. Can you do that?" 

"Indeed I can!" He replied stroking his goatee. "It's currently the weekend so I won't have your order done until my employees are here. I assume by next week they'll be ready."

"Wonderful. So how much?"  

"1000 Kalas, as promised." C*lonel Sanders chimed as Sylvia sent 1000 Kalas over to C*lonel Sanders via her communication device. 

With the sound of a bell, the transaction was complete as C*lonel Sanders took the heavy bags of soap into his shop. 

"Thank you for your, patronage! We hope to see you soon." C*lonel Sanders waved as he shut the garage door. 

"So we're done?" Drew asked. 

"Yup. That's it and we managed to save two hundred Kalas more than I anticipated." Sylvia said. "I'll treat you guys out for dinner, hotpot. Think of it as a thank you for assisting me today. What do you think?" 

"I'm down for it." Drew shrugged. He didn't have anything else to do for the day so he might as well spend his time doing something fun after the chaotic week he has had. 

"I'm coming. You're paying, after all." 

"Same here." 

"Sure."

Sylvia laced her hands on her hips. 

"Okay, I guess everyone wants to come so let's leave now. The place opens in half an hour. If we take the air train now, we might just get first seating." 

"Which place is it?" Elias asked. 

"Jihmian Hotpot," Sylvia replied. 

Brix panicked.

"What are we waiting for? We have to go! The line might be out the door!"