"Let's make this world clean, together."
An ambitious sales pitch, delivered with full confidence.
Selling soap might sound a bit small-time, but.
What we're truly aiming for is global hygiene improvement! Let's build a world together where showering once a day is common sense!
That was the slogan I'd presented, subtly trying to win them over.
"......How pathetic."
What came back was a stone-cold response.
......As expected, kids would rather be mages or something instead of selling cleaning products. I admit it's not exactly glamorous.
I was half-ready to give up with that thought.
"I can't stand how pathetic I've been until now."
Then, out of nowhere, came a curveball.
The child spoke with a look of reflecting on the past.
"I always thought about it. That this world is too ugly. That I couldn't understand why we had to be born into such a horrible world and suffer at the hands of horrible people. All I ever did was resent the world."
The children were visibly gaunt just by looking at them.
They'd been captured and held as slaves in a place like this, after all. Their lives must have been indescribably grueling.
"Ridiculous, isn't it? There are people like you out there fighting to change the world. Meanwhile, some of us just sat there crying because we were sad, wasting our time praying to god to please come save us."
But what shone in those eyes was not despair.
The face of someone who had wandered and wandered until they finally found purpose.
Eyes burning with resolve as they looked ahead.
"I won't beg god for miracles anymore."
The child looked up at me with dignity.
Those already-red eyes blazed even brighter, sparkling.
"I'll change my fate with my own hands. I'll mend this rotten, decaying Empire alongside you!"
That ambition was truly to my liking.
Truly to my liking, but.
There was one last thing to confirm.
"Are you sure you won't regret it? What we have to do is overturn the world's common sense."
The work ahead would be harder than they imagined.
Not an exaggeration -- truly.
Overturning common sense was that difficult.
My head was spinning, but in this world, someone who bathed once a week was considered obsessively clean.
We'd have to change the perceptions of tens of millions of people.
There was no way that would be easy, by any common sense.
"There'll be people who look down on us for trying to cleanse the world. Many will attack us."
Who the hell are you to tell us we're dirty and need to wash?!
I haven't bathed in a month but I sprayed on perfume so what's the problem?! All my friends do it this way, so why are you making a fuss?!
There would be plenty of people like that popping up.
......Not a joke -- truly.
You can't expect common sense from medieval hygiene standards.
This was something I'd actually been told a few days ago.
I carelessly offered some advice and got an earful of abuse for it.
"We'd literally be turning the world against us. I nearly died once just for speaking the truth in front of a noble. A handful of people trying to stand against the world -- it's close to impossible."
Newborn infants have vulnerable immune systems, so.
I suggested it might be better to wash your hands for hygiene's sake, and all I got was fury about who the hell was I to meddle in their business.
This damn Empire is truly beyond saving.
It would be an incredibly grueling fight.
"Are you prepared to stake your life on that impossible task?"
A nationwide hygiene improvement and purification project.
And while we're at it, selling soap to make money.
Are you prepared to throw yourself into this venture?
I looked at the child and asked with complete sincerity.
"......A road of thorns."
The child gazed into my eyes.
"A road of thorns."
I told that child nothing but the honest truth.
But what formed at the corners of the child's mouth was a smile.
As if there was no need to even think about it.
The child grinned brightly and declared with pride.
"I'll walk that road of thorns together with you."
Hired. Absolutely hired.
To think such an ambitious talent had come aboard. I was starting to get the feeling this business was going to take off in a big way.
I rode the momentum and made my own declaration.
"Then let's change this world together."
The child smiled at that.
"Yes, let's change this world together."
"We start by expanding the soap business! We build up funds and extend our influence while improving the hygiene of the Empire's people! Let's make this stench-filled world clean together!"
"Yes! First we expand the soap business......?"
But midway through speaking, the child's expression went blank.
Why was she suddenly going wide-eyed like that?
I was about to ask when the slave merchant approached. He must have figured we'd reached a conclusion by now, having given us this much space.
"So...... have you made your decision? For a customer like you, I'll even offer a special discount of up to twenty percent!"
Twenty percent off.
A slave merchant deploying some fairly aggressive marketing.
The child saw the slave merchant and muttered in startled surprise.
"Th-this is insane. Like a fool, leaking organizational information......"
"Hm? Did you have something to say, kid?"
"N-no! Soap business! We were simply discussing the soap business, just like that gentleman said."
The child broke into a cold sweat, flustered.
The slave merchant seemed to recall their earlier conversation.
"Ah, come to think of it, you did mention you sell soap. Did you make a recruitment offer to these children? They're slaves, so you could just put them to work without consent. How kind of you."
"Yes, well. I've been thinking about scaling up my business, so. I figured I'd use this chance to train some successors."
Had she been scared of the slave merchant or something?
The child had suddenly shrunk back, gone pale, and was nervously watching the situation.
But hearing me explain things to the slave merchant, she finally seemed to calm down.
"......To have foreseen even this situation and prepared an excuse in advance! And to slip out of it so naturally without a shred of panic."
The kid was muttering something quietly to herself.
The slave merchant glanced at her.
Talks to herself. Strange remarks with no discernible context. In other words, defective merchandise. Need to offload this fast -- that was the progression of his thoughts.
"If you buy the set right now, I'll knock off thirty percent."
The man urgently offered me a new price.
Well, if he was offering a discount, I certainly welcomed it.
I'd been planning to buy them anyway, so there was no reason to hesitate.
I quickly completed the transaction with the imperially certified slave merchant.
"Please come again, valued customer!"
A slave merchant endorsed and protected by the state.
A head-spinning existence, but. Precisely because of that, they played fewer games than other slave merchants and stuck to their own rules, at least.
The transaction concluded peacefully and without incident.
I removed the chains that had been binding the children.
Then, one of them whispered cautiously into my ear.
"......There won't be any more incidents like this. All we're doing is selling simple cleaning products. Fully understood."
"Uh...... that so? Glad you got it."
I'd even told her outright that we were selling soap, so I had no idea why she was only now saying she understood.
On the way back home with the two children.
The older sister kept acting like some kind of secret agent, repeatedly scanning the area and staying on guard.
The younger brother made up code phrases and shared them with his sister as they walked along.
......These kids had some seriously quirky personalities.
I'd have to take good care of them, one way or another.
***
The twins' names were Rang and Ren.
The older sister was Rang, and the younger brother was Ren.
The one who'd been doing all the talking with me was the sister.
Unlike the blunt and assertive older sister, the younger brother was the timid and meek type. The siblings' personalities were polar opposites.
'......Both of them were born in the wrong era.'
They'd been in a grimy state, unable to wash properly.
But once my special modern-recipe soap and the best toiletries I could assemble worked their magic, everything changed.
Completely fresh and clean children.
It wasn't just that they could be celebrities.
Their looks were at the level where not being celebrities would be a crime.
'If this were the modern world, they'd have done great as child actors or idols or whatever. And yet kids like this nearly became slaves for stealing bread because they were starving. What kind of impossible world is this?'
As expected, I hate this Empire.
A world where even children with talent and potential had to worry about mere survival instead of pursuing their dreams was horrific.
Someone really needs to tear this country apart.
"Boss, why is your expression so dark?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking that a world where children can't live like children has to be wrong. Got a bit melancholic about it."
"......As expected of you, Boss. To be lost in such deep thoughts even at a time like this. You're always immersed in contemplation about how to change the world into a better place!"
No, I was just literally lost in idle thoughts.
And here was Rang, making it sound like contemplation or whatever.
Her evaluation of me was excessively high. Then again, I did save her from being a slave, so it was only natural, I supposed.
"More importantly, why do you keep calling me Boss?"
"Uh...... well, aren't we comrades who are going to cleanse this world together? You showed us a dream and guided us down the path to follow. Of course you're our Boss."
The kid was way too attached to me.
Eyes sparkling with admiration.
My thinking had been pretty casual -- people stink so I wish folks in the Empire would wash more, and let's spread some soap around to make some money while we're at it.
"Let's overthrow this Empire together."
Yet it seemed my words had left a deeper impression than expected, given how eagerly she was looking forward to it.
......Better to live up to her expectations here.
The kid's got her eyes shining like that -- I can't let her down.
I smiled and indulged in a small bit of bravado.
"Sure, but don't narrow your sights too much. We're not just aiming at the Empire -- we plan to reach the entire world."
"The entire world in our hands......!"
"That's right, I've been thinking about chain stores too."
"Chain stores?"
I flinched mid-sentence.
This was a bad habit of reincarnators. Modern terms that didn't fit the medieval setting would occasionally slip out like a regional accent.
"Don't worry about it, it's a word from my hometown. Nobody uses it anymore, and I just can't shake the habit."
At my words, Rang's expression briefly turned complicated.
I found something to change the subject.
"That aside. Now that you two are on board, it's probably about time we officially got things moving."
At my words, Rang and Ren's eyes lit up.
They were brimming with motivation.
A sight that warmed the heart of any business owner.
"If we're starting operations, does that mean...... you plan to scatter manifestos declaring our ambitions across the Empire?"
But they were still kids, after all.
They didn't know much about how business worked.
Well, I just had to teach them. No big deal.
"Handing out flyers is important work too, but it's premature. Let's start with the small tasks first."
Distributing flyers before even opening the shop.
I appreciated the eagerness to get started, but shouldn't we finish the groundwork properly before anything else?
"Small tasks?"
"Right, there's something I've had in mind for a while."
Two pairs of eyes looked up at me.
I declared proudly before the children.
"We're going to mass-produce the weapon that will cleanse this Empire. To annihilate every filthy thing eating away at this nation, until not a trace remains."