“Hmm? …… You apply it with this first?”
In front of the mirror, she picked up the cream that very much interested her.
“Yes, apply it to your face lightly and thoroughly. Next is this. It’s ok if you just dab the powder. Just make sure to completely cover it.”
She applied the powder earnestly on her skin, that was coarse like an egg.
“Your skin texture rejuvenated like a 5-year-old!”
“By the way, Falma, from now on, if there art any new products of Medique, thou shalt come and present it to me.”
While she was dabbing her face with loose powder, using the highest quality makeup brush, the Emperor of San Fleuve, Elizabeth II, informed and reminded him.
“Hahaaaa!”
Ah, for a 24 years old woman who can use the strongest Divine Art in the empire. The Empress, is certainly sensitive to fashion trends.
Falma understood. So he worked out some praise.
“Your Majesty, your skin is already very beautiful. I think that the whitening face powder is unnecessary.”
“Hahaha, thou praises made us uncomfortable.”
The Empress seemed to be in a good mood while looking up, she held a high-quality folding fan encrusted with jewels covering the lower half of her face.
“It is a Royal Chartered shop with an investment from the Empire. Is it not only prudent for the invention to be presented to Her Majesty first?”
“Eh!?”
That was the interaction between Falma and his father. So, he went to the Empress in a panic to pay his dues. Considering the big picture, the rare and trendy 2nd cosmetic brand store should be presented to the Empress before opening. The young page beside the Empress, Noah, moved his mouth spelling out “Idiot”. The Empress was gently stroking her cheeks cheerfully, she couldn’t take her eyes away from the mirror.
“Hmm…… This is so wonderful! We should go to the next royal ball just like this. We will be more distinguished among the women.”
Falma was apologetic because all the women had bought the product too, so there won’t be that much of a difference. He appreciated that he was permitted to do the presentation this late, because of this, he presented some more beauty products to the Empress, though she was already very beautiful to begin with. Furthermore, the ingredients were safe as well.
“This is our newest product. The medical lip gloss is gentle to the lips. Your Majesty, you will be the first to try this one.”
“Ooh, This one is sparkling.”
It was a new medical lip gloss that was jointly developed by the Apothecaries of Cosmetic Brand Medique, and was based on Falma’s original idea. The natural color shined like a pearl. It was different from the flat red paste.
“Hmm, this is good.”
It seemed she liked it.
“Your Majesty, thank you for restricting the use of lead, mercury and other toxic substances in products that are applied on the human body.”
When the presentation was over, Falma expressed his gratitude over the proclamation of this reform edict. Falma had made a list of chemicals that should be prohibited immediately, and reported it to his father. The authority of the Empress was the same as before. Ever since the divine power meter incident, as well as the pharmaceutical knowledge Falma had shown, both the Empress and Bruno began to slightly suspect that Falma was possessed by some supernatural existence beyond human intelligence. Thus they could not disregard Falma’s words anymore. Incidentally, the Empress, and even Bruno have not noticed that Falma didn’t have a shadow.
“We were surprised that those were harmful. For mercury and even lead, there are already numerous medicines that contain these ingredients available commercially.”
“It is as you said, your Majesty.”
“We will have everything that was used by the female attendants in the imperial court disposed of.”
“That sounds good.”
That was what Falma advised. Within the imperial court, not only the female attendants but also the infants had been smeared with makeup that was toxic. Thinking about their safety, they should prohibit it immediately.
“On the other hand, thou shop of cosmetic brand, Medique, seems to be promising.”
“It is because of your benevolence that it is performing well, however…”
Regarding this, there had been a bit of trouble. Due to the fact that the cosmetics the shop sold were only perfume and soaps, there wasn’t any opposition from the apothecary guild which was their main rival. However,
“Thee not need to sayeth anymore. Cosmetic stores have been appealing for deregulation almost every day. They are impassioned too.”
It was as expected for these merchants who sold traditional products to be in pandemonium. if there was a prohibition of products that contained white lead and mercury. Just by removing the harmful ingredients alone, would cause the product to become a dried fine powder that wasn’t white anymore and by extension, won’t be the product the customer wants anymore
“We will compensate the cosmetic merchants, but we does not prefer the cosmetic market to be an oligopoly. In addition, we are worried that numerous associated industries will go bankrupt. That’s why competition is desirable.”
Although the Empress was somewhat of a muscle-brain, her sense of politics was normal.
“It is as you said. Therefore, I will leave a part of the manufacturing technique to your Majesty, so please share this information. Also, I will draw up some manufacturing process of other industrial products that are using mercury and white lead. I will compile a few instructions regarding the safe handling of these ingredients.”
Falma not only promised to reveal the recipe for the soap, but also the trade secret in UV reduction technology, the face powder, and basic cosmetics. The recipe will leave out Falma’s name and will be released in the name of the Empress.
“After that, please find a way to raise the price of thee cosmetics. Although it’s good that thee are selling it at a bargain price, however other merchants will die this way.”
It was not different from dumping, well not really at that level, but a person on the same line of business selling at a higher price would go bankrupt. A noble must be a strong person, but they must not trample the commoners who are weak, was what the Empress taught him.
“I fully understand. I will establish a ranking for cosmetics and price accordingly.”
Since it was expected that competitors would be on the verge of bankruptcy, a part of the profit from Medique (Other World Pharmacy’s cosmetic brand) would be used as a relief fund for the cosmetic merchants.
Will they survive? Will they retreat?
Each merchant will need to start developing new face powder to survive, the apothecaries from Medique, who were the pioneers, would guide them. The merchants would then start manufacturing powdered and liquid foundations. They won’t be able to compete with the quality of the CC cream and loose powder from Medique, but each customer still had their own preference for brand, cosmetic ingredients, and fragrances. Thus many varieties of face powders began popping up. Merchants that sold cheaper than Medique had started to appear. Each merchant had their own combination of beauty ingredients, you could differentiate it by their ingenious way of combining herbs. There were also many conservative nobles who liked the non-translucent and flat finish.
On the other hand, there were some merchants who had withdrawn from manufacturing basic cosmetics and focused on producing perfumes.
Thus, a situation where Medique monopolized the market was more or less avoided. Furthermore, it allowed an expansion of the market since commoners were now able to afford cosmetics.
Now then, regarding the lead and mercury that had nowhere to go now. The Empress gave instruction, that she received, to develop it as a colorant for oil painting with the condition that they had to wash their hands if they made contact with it.
As for the other toxic substances, they were taught that they were limited only to industrial use.
Recently the Empress employed a sage as an adviser, although it wasn’t clear the real reason why though, the sage seemed to give the Empress various pieces of advice. And so rumors began to spread.
However, they weren’t able to guess who this sage was.
Who would think that the young store owner of the Other World Pharmacy would be able to establish himself into the important sections of politics, nobody would think of this. They still seemed to think that the young store owner only commercialized and sold his father’s knowledge. In due to the common knowledge that his father was a famous Royal Court Apothecary who invented things. Those who had received Falma’s prescriptions even just once,thought “Perhaps, it’s him” but…
One day after Falma examined the Empress as always, he examined Imperial Prince Louis. Activating his Diagnosis Eye, he saw spots of blue light illuminating inside the prince’s mouth.
AH……, Falma’s face became complicated. He nervously murmured silently.
“Tooth Decay”
The blue lights went out. A problem that Falma had been dragging his foot on.
Cavity, it’s tooth decay.
Sugar was expensive in this world, there were few commoners who suffered tooth decay caused by sugar. However, a noble had many opportunities to eat sweet cakes. In a manner of speaking, the cavity was declared as a status among the nobles. Due to the fact that Falma was brushing his teeth every day, he never developed any cavities, however there were many nobles who didn’t know the importance of brushing their teeth.
Incidentally, Simon the steward was suffering from tooth decay, it reached the point that the tooth was pulled out because of nerve pain. Falma was helpless as the cavity had spread too much.
“The crowned prince liked sweets, and disliked brushing his teeth.”
Noah had a troubled expression. The silver lining was that the teeth that had cavities were milk teeth. The prince was only 6 years old, he was at the age where his milk teeth would begin to fall out.
Falma pretended to entertain Louis by playing billiards, he then broached the subject.
“Your Highness, when you were eating food and bite with your teeth, do you feel any toothache?”
“No, not really.”
Only that much? Seems to be light, Falma estimated. After playing billiards, Falma stopped the Prince who was about to leave to eat candy. Fruit flavored candy was the Prince’s favorite.
“Your Highness, would you please open your mouth wide?”
At Falma’s words, the Prince was on guard.
“You may have cavities.”
“Stooooooooooop!”
The Prince doesn’t want to hear it and ran away while panicking.
“Seize the crowned Prince!”
Noah chased after the imperial prince who dashed with all his might, furthermore, the courtier gave chase too. It was a lively experience like it was the best time of their life. “Pursue the Imperial Prince! It’s for the treatment of his cavity!” said Noah, as his yell whipped the courtiers into action. It was so much like a comedy sketch that Falma was astonished. It seems like this was happening every day.
And the manhunt began inside the Imperial Court. The prince was desperately resisting his tooth being pulled out.
“There you are!” “You’re not going anywhere!” “He’s trying to escape to the courtyard!”
He hid behind the fountain, pretended to be a sculpture, and tried hiding behind shrubbery. The exhausted Louis finally tripped and fell down. it was Falma who tripped him.
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