Chapter 194: The Popular Flower Soap

"Owah!"

"Owah!"

Upon returning from patrolling the territory, Liszt saw Jie La playing with Hiddleston. This lively and mischievous little sprite loved flying around both inside and outside the castle, and it had a very domineering temperament. Anyone who dared to block its path would be punched.

It also scattered seeds.

This should be considered a type of "wood" or "nature" magic, capable of rapidly sprouting seeds and then entangling people. The sprouts seemed to be fast-growing thorny vines, with large wooden spikes that could pierce someone to death—though it had never actually done so, as Liszt forbade it from scattering seeds randomly.

This magic looked terrifying, but it could only deal with ordinary people.

Knights with martial aura could easily disrupt the sprouting of the seeds.

Thus, the combat power of sprites was generally very weak—almost nonexistent. Even an ordinary person, in a fit of rage, could catch it off guard and kill it.

However, Jie La didn't think it was weak at all, and its domineering temperament never changed. Naturally, it met another temperamental creature—Hiddleston.

When Hiddleston first saw Jie La, it was very curious and wanted to lick the smooth and shiny Jie La.

Unexpectedly, this enraged Jie La, which immediately scattered seeds, shocking Hiddleston. Not knowing how to activate its own magic, it could only watch helplessly as the thorns bound it, causing it to howl in pain. But being a tough intermediate magical beast, it didn't sustain any lasting injuries after the initial pain.

After shaking off the thorns, it chased Jie La everywhere.

The small one and the big one thus formed a grudge, always fighting whenever they met, with no possibility of peaceful coexistence. After a few days, Hiddleston was the first to back down. Its magic couldn't harm Jie La, and it couldn't fly, so it could only be led around by Jie La—though it might have been letting Jie La win, knowing Jie La's close relationship with Liszt.

But Jie La didn't let it off, always teasing it whenever possible.

Scattering seeds and making them sprout, creating a binding art on Hiddleston.

When Liszt returned,

he saw Jie La once again playing with Hiddleston, covering it with thorns. The thorns quickly sprouted and grew around Hiddleston's body, turning the black dog into a green one in no time.

Hiddleston showed no reaction.

It just weakly barked at Liszt, "Woof woof."

"Jie La, stop!" Liszt glared at the thorn sprite, and it reluctantly stopped making the thorns grow, landing directly on Liszt's head.

Yawning, it planned to go to sleep.

Liszt didn't hesitate, pulling Jie La down and handing it to Thomas: "Put it in the jade box and send it to the bug room to sleep."

"Owah!"

"Owah!"

Jie La refused.

Liszt glared again, communicating telepathically to make it understand that resisting would result in punishment. Only then did the thorn sprite obediently lie in the jade box, preparing to sleep—after all, its true form was a caterpillar fungus.

Removing the thorns from its body,

Hiddleston lay on the ground, looking pitiful and seeking sympathy from Liszt.

"A mere intermediate magical beast can't even defeat a sprite, what a waste!" Liszt lightly kicked it. "Go find your wife and complain... I'll take you to the kennel first."

In the kennel, Hiddleston successfully regained its lively nature after some vigorous activity.

But Liszt felt a bit regretful.

Old Defoe, the kennel manager, shook his head and said, "Lord, it seems Hiddleston is incapable of impregnating these female wolves. According to normal mating conditions, several females are in heat and should easily conceive pups, but there's no sign of it happening."

"If not, then forget it. Take good care of them."

Ordinary low-level magical beasts usually mate with their wild counterparts, but at the intermediate level, bloodline variations increase, leading to reproductive isolation.

At least, Hiddleston seemed to have developed reproductive isolation with wolf dogs.

"At least we have Tupu," seeing Hiddleston and Tupu getting cozy together, Liszt's regret quickly turned into anticipation.

Anticipating a future army of thorny dogs: "I wonder if the offspring of Hiddleston and Tupu will be intermediate or low-level magical beasts."

Thinking about this, he suddenly remembered that since he came to Flower Town,

the town had entered breeding season—the townsfolk, now living peacefully, were increasingly choosing to have children; Tupu was pregnant, the dairy cow was pregnant, the fire dragon horse was pregnant, and the fruit-stealing monkeys were pregnant; Gort's lover Frya's belly was growing bigger, and Marcus was reportedly busy quarreling with his wife.

It seemed he was the only one still single.

Shaking his head,

Liszt stopped daydreaming and continued taming Tupu, using dried meat to make it obey his commands.

...

In the study, the crystal lamp was bright.

A few knight novels were placed on the desk, and Liszt was casually flipping through them, occasionally jotting something down on a thick piece of paper.

There was a knock on the door.

Carter walked in with a cup of milk tea: "Sir, Mrs. Mo Sen has prepared milk tea for you. I've put it on the table."

Liszt didn't look up, continuing to write: "Thank you."

"Mr. Bounie wants to report on the progress of the Flower Soap production."

"Please bring him in."

A moment later, Bounie Zhundan was led into the study by Carter. Knowing that Liszt disliked unnecessary talk, he proceeded directly after bowing: "Lord, I have completed the transformation of the Flower Soap production process and it can now be mass-produced. With the current speed of the soap workshop and sufficient raw materials, we can produce fifty Flower Soaps per day."

"Then what are we waiting for? Start full-scale production tomorrow."

After dismissing Bounie, Liszt called over Sherlock from the Thorns Caravan: "Have you tried the Flower Soap from the soap workshop?"

"Not yet, my lord."

"The effect is very good. You should try it once and summarize its benefits. I will give you a batch of Flower Soaps to freely distribute to all the nobles in North Valley City, so they can understand the benefits of Flower Soap. Afterward, you and Harpagon should work together to formulate a sales plan for the Flower Soap."

"My lord, Sherlock knows what to do."

Liszt took a sip of his second cup of milk tea, freshly brewed: "I have high hopes for the Flower Soap. I hope you can quickly open up the market and completely squeeze out ordinary scented soaps until we monopolize the soap market on Coral Island."

Sherlock hesitated, as if wanting to say something.

Liszt gestured for him to speak freely.

"My lord, the soap business has always been one of the main industries under Baron Henderson of Snake Spear City. Selling Flower Soap will inevitably impact Baron Henderson. Should we inform him?"

If Liszt remembered correctly, Baron Henderson had already gone to war with the Earl.

Even if he hadn't gone to war, Liszt had no need to worry about him. As the son of the Earl, he could conduct business legally, and no one would dare to say anything. If Baron Henderson went bankrupt because of this, it would be due to his own lack of skill in managing his territory, not Liszt's fault.

If he really did blame Liszt, Liszt wouldn't be afraid and would release Hiddleston.

Of course,

leaving no room for survival might be a bit excessive.

After all, Baron Henderson had served the Tulip Family well. Liszt thought it would be appropriate to develop him as a raw material supplier for Flower Town: "Sherlock, coordinate with Harpagon. Once the Flower Soap defeats Henderson's business and he is at his wits' end, tell him that he can specifically supply soap powder to Flower Town."