The night breeze was slightly cool, as gentle and refreshing as running water brushing one's fingers.
The stars were densely covered in the dark blue sky, like resplendent gems embellished on velvet.
"You're leaving tomorrow morning. Don't you have anything to say to me?" Kefnie pouted to express her dissatisfaction.
Claude smiled bitterly. He knew what the girl needed, but the psychological trauma from his previous life was still there. He couldn't say those three words, but he could express it with his actions.
With a gentle hug, the girl's delicate body fell into his arms. Without saying anything, he lowered his head and covered that pouting little mouth with his lips.
The girl let out a muffled hum and her whole body began to soften. Her body heated up and her eyes blurred. Her arms automatically hugged Claude tightly.
After a long kiss, the girl gasped for breath and protested, "My lips are swollen …"
"No, they're beautiful." Claude hugged the girl and said, "Let's go sit over there."
There were a few large rocks on the hillside. Claude took the girl's hand and went over to find a clean place to sit. He took out a small, flat silver pot the size of a baby's palm from his pocket, unscrewed the lid and poured a few drops of liquid to the side.
A strong floral fragrance began to spread around the rocks.
"What is this? It smells so good." Kefnie was a little surprised.
Claude screwed the lid back on. "It's nothing. It's floral water. I made it myself. Sprinkle a few drops and there won't be any mosquitoes bothering us."
"Claude, you're really a genius. You even know how to make this mosquito repellent floral water. You'll definitely become a great herbalist in the future." The girl looked at Claude in admiration.
Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
For Kefnie, ever since Claude molested her in the office building, it was equivalent to the two of them being in a relationship.
A girl in love might think that Claude was extraordinarily handsome even if he farted.
"It's for you. You can also rub some on your skin. Mosquitoes won't come to you." Claude stuffed the small silver pot into the girl's hand.
"It must be very precious. Won't you lose it if you give it to me?" Kefnie toyed with the silver pot fondly.
"I don't need it. I made it just for you."
If it weren't for the fact that his younger brother, Booker, liked to play with the snowhound on the big lawn in front of the white villa and always got bitten by the mosquitoes, causing him to feel painful and itchy, Claude wouldn't have thought of refining the floral water to repel the mosquitoes.
His mother, sister and brother each had a small silver pot. When he thought of Kefnie, he got one for her too.
"Thank you, Claude." The girl threw herself into his arms and kissed him.
There were also perfumes and powders in this world, but most of them were used by the ladies of the rich and nobles.
Kefnie's family hadn't even used the most common of fragrances. She had always been like a hibiscus out of clear water and had never seen anyone before. Now that she received the floral water from Claude, although it was used to repel mosquitoes, she liked the fragrance very much.
"Is this floral water expensive?
If it can be made in bulk, I believe many people will buy it, "the girl asked as she looked at the small silver pot in her hand after another round of kisses.
"This …" Claude thought for a moment and said, "It should be possible to make it, but it requires a lot of steps. How should I say the price? It's not cheap to make it like I do. Just the ingredients alone cost about a thale, plus the essence and alcohol.
The essence is made by myself, and the alcohol is extracted from cabbage wine. The cost is not included.
The more this thing is made in bulk, the lower the cost. I don't know if I can sell it. I haven't tried it.
Because I don't think people with money will buy this thing. They would rather pick their own mugwort to make mosquito-repellent incense.
Maybe you're right. Maybe rich people will really like this floral water because they don't like the smell of mugwort powder and mosquito-repellent incense … "
Claude refined the floral dew on an alchemy magic rune array. He saw the recipe for the mosquito repellent potion in a pharmacology book. He tried it out and found that the potion he made smelled very bad.
So, according to the formula of the floral water in his previous life, he added mint, essence, alcohol, and everything that could be added. Finally, he concocted a potion similar to the floral water in his previous life. After experimenting with it, the mosquito repellent effect was very good, so he named it floral water.
The purpose of using the alchemical rune formation to make floral water was to give his sister a demonstration so that she could operate this alchemical rune formation on her own after being promoted to a First Ring Rune Magus in the future.
In fact, Claude himself had forgotten that making floral water didn't require magic. Although there were a lot of steps in the process of processing the ingredients, with the help of some simple processing machinery, anyone could make floral water according to the formula.
Claude was used to using the alchemical rune formation to refine potions, mainly because it was convenient. It only took him a little more than an hour to make this little bit of floral water.
In the alchemical rune formation, everything was so fast that there was no need to worry about the fusion of the essence of the ingredients and the essence of the alcohol.
Claude remembered reading a transmigration novel online in his previous life. The protagonist traveled to the Tang Dynasty and made perfume at that time. In order to fuse the essential oil of the flowers with the alcohol, he bought a few servants to hold the bottles and shake them for two to four hours.
If Kefnie hadn't asked, Claude really wouldn't have thought about the problem of making this floral water on a large scale.
Of course, it wasn't difficult to make floral water in the alchemical rune formation, but the cost would be very high. But if he went to the potion lab, even if it was more troublesome, the cost could be greatly reduced.
Perhaps this was a very good project. If it could be successful, there would be a long-term benefit for his family.
"You want to learn, right?
Kefnie?
I can teach you how to make this floral water, "Claude asked, looking into the girl's eyes.
"Well, I'm willing to learn if you teach me," the girl replied.
"I only have this one night to teach you, but I'll write down all the steps.
Of course, you can't go back tonight. I don't know if your sister will find the wood … "Claude said with a smile.
"No, she knows I'll go to the wood to find you at night, and, and I said, maybe, maybe I won't go back tonight …" The girl shyly buried her head in Claude's arms.
Understanding, Claude smiled bitterly. Kefnie was obviously planning to give him her most precious first time before they parted, but he didn't want to take away her first time before he left.
In this new world, he didn't want to be an old driver, enlist in the army, and set foot on the battlefield. When his future was uncertain, he didn't want to willfully hurt the girl who loved him.
"Let's go, I'll call Anna over too. The two of you will learn to make this floral water with me.
If you're not happy in the company, the two of you can work together to start a floral water workshop. I can invest in it for you … "
It was very cumbersome to make the floral water without the alchemy magic array. Fortunately, the medicinal herbs in the pharmaceutical laboratory had already been processed. Otherwise, the few medicinal herbs in the mosquito repellent potion formula still needed to be washed and dried. It would take at least two or three days.
The herbs were chopped up, boiled into a medicinal liquid, filtered, clarified, and concentrated. Then, borneol, peppermint juice, essence, and alcohol were added to the separator and quickly spun for half an hour so that these things could be fused together. After that, the floral water was filtered again.
Thanks to the various pharmaceutical refining equipment in Madam Maria's potion lab, Claude was busy until around three in the morning before he finally made a large pot of floral water with Kefnie and his sister Anna.
"It's fine to put it in a sealed pot now. It won't leak air and reduce the smell.
I suggest you order a batch of glass bottles in the next two days, such as this … "Claude drew a bottle of floral water from his previous life." Then, put the floral water in it and test it out to see if anyone buys it.
If there's a market for it, then set up your own floral water workshop. I believe you'll all make a fortune. "
Anna yawned and said, "Hurry up and clean up. I'll go to bed after I'm done. I still have to send you off in the morning.
As for this floral water, I'll discuss it with Sister Kefnie after you leave. "
Claude stroked his sister's hair. "Alright, go back to sleep first. Let me clean up here.
It's so late and Kefnie can't go back. We'll just spend the night here. "
"Alright then, I won't disturb you two. I wish you a romantic night." His sister ran out with a smile and closed the door.
Kefnie's face turned red and she was at a loss.
Even though they were mentally prepared before coming to the wood, the two of them were still nervous now that they were alone.
"What are you thinking about? Why are you so shy? Come here, we'll just make do with this sofa," Claude said.
The large sofa in the outermost room of the apothecary was specially made by Maria. That way, when she was tired from doing experiments there and was too lazy to go back to her room to rest, she could just lie on the large sofa and sleep.
There were blankets and mats. Claude quickly made the sofa and sprinkled some floral water around it.
Kefnie moved slowly towards the sofa. Claude went over and picked her up, walked to the sofa and lay down. He waved his hand to extinguish the oil lamp, and the laboratory was immediately plunged into darkness.
The girl nervously burrowed into Claude's arms.
"What are you doing? You're like a loach."
Claude grabbed the girl, hugged her tightly, and kissed her gently on the cheek. "Don't be afraid, I won't touch you. If I were to touch you, I wouldn't do it on such a simple sofa.
That will be our most beautiful moment. I will decorate a very luxurious bed with golden angels and clouds carved on it. Then, the two of us will make love on the bed, and we won't even think of getting out of bed for three days … "
"Pfft, you're the one who won't get out of bed for three days …" The girl was shy and punched Claude.
"Stop fooling around. Let's just hug and talk like this."
Even as he said that, his hand slipped into the girl's clothes in a practiced manner. Soon, he grabbed her protruding breasts and felt a smooth and supple sensation in his palm.
Claude breathed a long sigh of satisfaction.
Kefnie moaned but didn't struggle. She just grabbed the wrist that was reaching into her clothes.
"By the way, when are your sister and Gerrard getting married?" Claude asked softly.
"H-they'll be getting married in about half a year."
The girl endured the stimulation brought about by Claude's hand on her chest. "Gerrard brought around forty members of Shark to join the navy. It's said that he's highly appreciated by the commanding officer of the B Squadron, Captain Pravet.
He's currently undergoing military training for three months. When he's done, he'll likely be appointed as the captain of a supply ship. "
"By the way, your two-storey house and yard have been expropriated. Will your sister and Gerrard's wedding be held at Mermaid Tavern?"
"No, now my sister has also moved out of the Mermaid Tavern and lives with me in the house that Uncle Thomas rented for us. Since Gerrard is already a member of the navy and has been awarded the rank of Navy Reserve Lieutenant, he is qualified to buy property in the military community of the base that we are building.
He's already settled on one and will marry my sister after it's done. "
Damn it, that's the difference between the navy and the army.
Gerrard joined the navy and offered up Shark's property and shares in the public docks to help the navy save a lot of money. That was how he became a reserve lieutenant and became a captain after his training.
Even though he wasn't a warship captain, he was an official officer of the navy.
Claude went to Bluefeather for officer training. It would take him another three years to become an official officer of the kingdom's army.
Sometimes, Claude felt that he might as well join the navy. However, he only had a thousand crowns on him and he probably wouldn't be able to get a good position, so he gave up on the idea.