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 to fly 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 germinating seeds and then entangling people with them. 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 was only effective against ordinary people.

A knight with fighting spirit could easily disrupt the germination of the seeds.

Thus, sprites generally had weak combat abilities, almost negligible. Even an ordinary person, in a fit of rage, could catch it off guard and kill it.

However, Jie La did not feel weak at all, and its domineering temperament never changed. Naturally, it met another temperamental creature—Hiddleston.

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

Unexpectedly, this enraged Jie La, who immediately scattered seeds, giving Hiddleston quite a fright. Not knowing how to activate its own magic, it could only watch helplessly as the thorns bound it, causing it to yelp in pain. However, being a tough intermediate-level magical beast, it didn't sustain any lasting injuries after the thorns fell off.

Afterward, it chased Jie La everywhere.

These two, one small and one large, thus formed a grudge, always fighting whenever they met, with no possibility of peaceful coexistence. A few days later, Hiddleston was the first to back down. Its magic couldn't harm Jie La, and it couldn't fly, leaving it vulnerable to Jie La's kite tactics. It might also have been letting Jie La win, knowing about Jie La's close relationship with Liszt.

But Jie La wouldn't let it off, often teasing it for no reason.

Scattering seeds, making them sprout, and binding Hiddleston in artistic knots.

When Liszt returned,

he saw Jie La once again playing with Hiddleston, covering it with thorns that quickly sprouted and wrapped around its body, turning the black dog into a green one.

Hiddleston showed no reaction.

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

"Jie La, stop!" Liszt glared at the thorn sprite, which reluctantly ceased its actions and landed on Liszt's head.

Yawning, it planned to go to sleep.

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

"Owah!"

"Owah!"

Jie La refused.

Liszt glared again, communicating telepathically to make it understand that resistance would lead to punishment. Only then did the thorn sprite obediently lie in the jade box, ready to sleep. Sprites spent most of their time sleeping, after all, their true form being a caterpillar fungus.

Removing the thorns from its body,

Hiddleston lay on the ground, looking pitifully at Liszt.

"A mid-level magical beast can't even beat a sprite? Pathetic!" Liszt lightly kicked it. "Go find your wife and complain... I'll take you to the kennel first."

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

But Liszt felt a bit disappointed.

Old Defoe, the kennel manager, shook his head and said, "Lord, it seems Hiddleston can't impregnate 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 it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Take good care of them."

Ordinary low-level magical beasts usually mate with their wild counterparts, but at the intermediate level, bloodline variations create reproductive barriers.

At least between Hiddleston and the wolf dogs, such a barrier existed.

"At least we have Tupo." Seeing Hiddleston and Tupo affectionately together, Liszt's disappointment turned into anticipation.

Anticipating a future army of hybrid dogs: "I wonder if Hiddleston and Tupo's offspring will be intermediate or low-level magical beasts."

Thinking about this, he suddenly remembered that since he arrived in Flower Town,

the town had entered breeding season. With the townsfolk's lives stable, more were choosing to have children; Tupo 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 Tupo, using meat jerky to get it to obey his commands.

...

In the study, the crystal lamp was bright.

Several knight novels were laid out on the desk, and Liszt was casually flipping through them, occasionally jotting notes on a thick piece of paper.

There was a knock on the door.

Carter entered with a cup of milk tea: "Sir, Mrs. Mo Sen has prepared milk tea for you. I've placed 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 small talk, he proceeded directly after bowing: "Lord, I have completed the modification 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 Thorn Caravan: "Have you tried the Flower Soap from the soap workshop?"

"Not yet, my lord."

"The effect is excellent. You should try it once and summarize its benefits. I will give you a batch of Flower Soaps to distribute freely 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 develop a sales plan for Flower Soap."

"Rest assured, 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 Flower Soap. I hope you can quickly open up the market and completely push out ordinary soaps until we monopolize the soap market on Coral Island."

Sherlock hesitated, wanting to say something.

Liszt gestured for him to speak.

"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 legitimately, 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 did blame Liszt, Liszt wouldn't be afraid. He would release Hiddleston.

Of course,

leaving no room for survival might be a bit excessive.

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