The First Test

After considering many factors, Sean ultimately chose to trial-produce perfume for sale to turn a profit.

The noble ladies and misses of this world typically carried sachets close to their bodies, filling them with fragrant petals to mask their natural body odor and enhance their charm. But this method was not only troublesome but also had mediocre results; most critically, in certain seasons, there were no suitable flowers available.

The custom parts Sean had previously ordered from the blacksmith and carpenter shops were prepared precisely for this purpose. He also remembered watching Hulk 2 in his past life, where Dr. Banner built a homemade centrifuge in a simple shack in Brazil. Though Sean lacked an engine here, he could operate it entirely by manpower. Moreover, perfume didn't require massive output—compared to sachets, it was simple to use, long-lasting, and unaffected by seasonal factors.

Sean only needed to custom-order some crystal bottles to sell at high prices to the limited number of nobles in Linshui City. Most importantly, perfume had low production volume and a certain technical barrier that made it hard to imitate. Even if his activities drew attention from some nobles, it remained entirely within his control—this was the real reason Sean chose to make perfume. As for the flowers and other naturally fragrant plants needed, those would be handled by the local servants he recruited.

On that day, besides Phil and Alice, four youths—Gordon, Mike, Peter, and Harry—also moved in. Gordon and Mike were sixteen, while Peter and Harry were only fifteen. These four also fell within Sean's recruitment scope, becoming his noble servants.

Sean naturally found opportunities to sense the physical attributes of each of the four. He discovered that while they were far from the extraordinary talents of Thor and Phil, they still possessed decent physiques, likely forged by their harsh lives in the slums. Sean didn't waste this—on the very night they moved in, he taught the Knight Secret Method to Phil and these four.

In the slums, Phil had over a dozen little followers, mostly orphans who had lost both parents. They had all received help from Phil to varying degrees and now followed his lead without question.

Sean assigned Phil the task of procuring plant materials. Phil completed it smoothly, making only small purchases that drew no attention from others.

In what could only be described as a crude laboratory, Sean worked for over half a month. He evaporated ale and used the centrifuge to purify it, repeating the process several times to obtain somewhat cloudy alcohol. Then, using various aromatic plants, he extracted essential oils and purified them the same way. Finally came the simple step of mixing with water—the process wasn't complicated. With the help of his perception ability, the first bottle of perfume in this other world was born.

Afterward, he used different plant materials to trial-produce five types of perfume with distinct fragrances: a crisp type in amber, a fresh type in light green—these two Sean planned to use as men's perfumes—and two subtle fragrance types in dark green and light pink, plus a rich fragrance type in light red, intended as women's perfumes. After filling special small crystal bottles, he ended up with roughly a hundred bottles across the five types.

Once the trial production succeeded, Sean used his ability to test each of the five perfumes, ensuring no noble who used them would be poisoned. If a poisoning incident actually occurred due to the perfume, it would severely damage his reputation. Not only would he fail to earn gold coins as expected, but he might even lose his footing entirely within the noble class.

Afterward, he taught the methods for evaporating ale to extract alcohol and refining plant essential oils to Phil, his sister, and the other four servants. He had them purchase raw materials while performing simple preliminary processing. The processed materials were then handed to Alice for safekeeping, while Thor naturally served as the power source for the centrifuge—the core secret. Finally, Sean himself handled the perfume blending, since extraction precision couldn't be guaranteed; only under Sean's ability's inspection could the perfume quality remain roughly consistent.

Theoretically, noble servants could never betray the nobles they served, as doing so would harm the interests of all nobles in the empire. If a noble servant were bribed by another noble or lured by other means into betraying their liege, the result would be either being hunted across the empire or silenced by the bribing noble to prove their own innocence. There was almost no suspense about it...

Since moving into the new residence, Miss Alice had been responsible for cleaning, cooking, and other household chores. After Sean successfully produced women's perfume, she also took on the roles of tester and keeper for the women's perfume line. She was genuinely delighted to experience the charm of perfume, applying it daily according to Sean's instructions and waiting for his inspection.

Once, after Sean had taken a nap in the room reserved for himself, Alice came to attend to him as usual when he woke. Whether still groggy or for some other reason, Sean suddenly pulled Alice's delicate body into his arms.

Alice let out a low, short gasp, then shyly pushed lightly against Sean's chest, her face flushed. Sean completely ignored her weak resistance, instead greedily inhaling the subtle fragrance at her neck.

Soon, his hand instinctively reached for one of her curves, squeezing and changing its shape. Only then did Alice plead in a trembling, anxious whisper: "Young... Young Master, please... don't... don't do this..."

Hearing her trembling voice, tinged with tears, Sean snapped back to his senses. He immediately let go of the place that had held his attention and released Alice's body from his embrace.

Sean stared blankly at Alice, whose face was flushed with shyness, his lips moving but unable to find words.

"Young Master, I'm sorry. I... I'm not ready yet..." Alice said, her voice shy and exceptionally soft, looking at Sean's dazed expression and recalling her fondness and gratitude toward him.

Sean suspected that if his strength weren't considerable, he might not have caught what Alice said at all. Steadying himself, he quickly regained his usual calm, confident smile. "It's fine. It's not your fault."

"Thank you, Young Master. I... I'll be ready someday..." Alice said happily, then shyly lowered her head.

Sean gently lifted her chin with one hand, searching for her shy, evasive gaze. He noticed that after over half a month of care, Alice, who had once been sallow and thin, now showed a healthy rosiness on her delicate face. Her fair skin glowed with vitality, making her look beautiful and moving. Though her clothes weren't fancy, they still revealed her full, alluring figure. She might not be a stunning beauty, but calling her charming and lovely was no exaggeration.

"No rush... Go on with your work," Sean said gently to Alice's shy face, releasing her chin.

Alice gave a slight bow and slowly backed out of the room. But Sean was somewhat surprised to detect a faint hint of regret in her tone as she took her leave.

He watched her leave, took a deep breath, then turned his gaze to his right hand. The scent of Alice's body still lingered on his skin. It was several minutes before he reluctantly lowered his hand and composed himself.

In that moment of clarity, Sean understood why he had acted that way. He had been carefully hiding his secrets all along, which left him feeling insecure and kept his nerves taut. He knew several ways to relieve or vent this tension: drinking—but he didn't enjoy it, and he had to avoid accidentally spilling his secrets while drunk. Women.

Women were indeed a good way to ease mental strain. But unfortunately, Sean was only fifteen. To avoid potentially affecting his progress in cultivating the Knight Secret Method, he had to hold back. His "no rush" to Alice wasn't just comfort—it also reflected his stance. Sean knew that premature loss of virginity could affect physical development, though he wasn't sure if it would impact his knight training speed. Still, he preferred to wait rather than leave room for future regret.

Finally, Sean thought of destruction. Many people feel the urge to smash things when venting anger. But that clearly contradicted his usual calm demeanor and would leave an impression of a violent temper. That would hinder Sean's future interactions with other nobles—or worse, leave an impression of brutality. If that happened, the empire's nobles would keep their distance from him.

Though his massacre of the bandits had relieved the pressure he'd been carrying, that obviously wasn't a method he could use often.

After that incident, Alice still handled the household chores. But whenever she saw Sean, she couldn't help showing a shy expression, secretly watching him with her misty, hazy big eyes. Sean usually responded with a gentle smile. Sometimes, when no one was around, he would pull Alice close, a mischievous grin curling at his lips, and explore her full, mature body under her token resistance. But Sean always held the line, refusing to indulge in lust.

Though Sean had spent the past half month blending five perfume types and producing nearly a hundred bottles in total, and had also been teasing Alice in his spare time—making him seem quite busy—he still insisted on practicing the Knight Secret Method daily.

On Thursday morning, March 25th, Sean showed his face briefly at the barracks before returning to his courtyard with Thor. By then, Phil and the others had, as usual, arranged for their little followers in the slums to purchase and transport raw materials for essential oil extraction. Since these materials were plant-based, they were harvested in the morning and delivered to Sean's courtyard before lunch.

At that time, Sean would supervise Thor, Phil, and the others in sword training and physical exercise, personally guiding them. After lunch, Phil and the others busied themselves with preliminary extraction of the newly delivered materials, while Sean took a short nap in the afternoon, then pulled Alice into his room to do things that relaxed and pleased him. Then, under Alice's shy, tear-filled gaze, he would leave the room to continuously purify the extracted essential oils and alcohol, extending their shelf life.