"My lord, here's the powder you asked for, along with all the perfume in the castle!" Thomas returned before long with the ambergris ground into a fine powder, as well as twenty bottles of perfume.
The perfume was among the provisions the count supplied for daily life. After all, perfume was a must-have for the nobility.
Of course, it wasn't top-of-the-line. It was an ordinary sort that cost one silver coin per bottle, affordable even to a fairly well-off family in Tulip City.
The bottles were simple porcelain containers, nothing like the perfumes that cost one or even five gold coins apiece.
The bottles used for high-end perfumes were works of art in their own right, all crafted from natural crystal and sometimes decorated with gold or silver filigree.
"My lord, what's this powder? It looks a little like flour, but why does it smell so good?"
Nalant opened the clay jar of ambergris, and an enticing musk immediately filled the room.
"Sherry, it isn't flour. It's ambergris!"
"Ambergris? My lord, is this dragon saliva? So dragon saliva can turn into a fragrant powder!" Sherry's eyes widened. She felt as if she'd just learned another strange and wonderful fact.
She had no idea that ambergris came from inside whales. She really thought it was produced by dragons. After all, scents this rich were rare in this world.
"...!" Nalant didn't explain. He couldn't very well tell them that whales ate squid, couldn't digest the squid's beak, and then it got stuck in their stomachs... and then...
Pop!
Nalant picked up a bottle of perfume and opened it.
When the cap came off, the perfume's usual rich scent didn't waft out. The smell of the ambergris had overwhelmed it.
Nalant scooped up a little ambergris powder with his fingernail and put it into the bottle. Then he capped it again and shook it vigorously.
Vivian and Sherry watched their lord at work without saying anything. They knew he was using dragon saliva to make something extraordinary.
After shaking it for about a minute, Nalant went straight out of the laboratory. He could only tell what the perfume smelled like with ambergris added once he was out in the corridor.
Pop!
He opened the bottle again. This time, the moment the cap came off, a refreshing fragrance filled the air.
"Wow! My lord, this perfume smells amazing! Even better than dragon saliva!" Sherry, standing behind Nalant, had a keen nose. She immediately caught the scent wafting from the bottle and exclaimed, her bright eyes wide.
Vivian's eyes gleamed, too, as her delicate nose drew in the surrounding fragrance.
"The effect is incredible!" This had originally been a very ordinary jasmine perfume. Nalant was used to its original scent, so he noticed the difference as soon as he opened the bottle.
Its once-faint jasmine scent was now purer, and the musk of the ambergris had blended with it to create an astonishing effect.
The perfume now smelled not only refreshing but deeply intoxicating.
Nalant was certain that even on the day the count had ennobled him at Tulip Castle, he hadn't smelled perfume this wonderful.
After all, quite a few noblewomen and young ladies from Tulip City had attended the ceremony that day.
Many of them weren't as poor as Nalant. They bought perfumes priced in gold coins without a second thought.
"Here, Vivian, Sherry. Take this and apply it to yourselves, then walk around the castle and see how it works!" Smelling the perfume in the bottle wasn't enough. They needed to try it on and see how it really performed.
"Yes, my lord!" Sherry had been eager to try it for a while. She quickly took the bottle Nalant handed her. "Sister Vivian, let me put some on you first!"
Sherry deftly applied the perfume behind Vivian's ears. Once she was done, she eagerly put some on herself as well.
When they were finished, the two girls followed Nalant's instructions and headed downstairs.
"Mmm, it works just as wonderfully on the skin!" Following Vivian and Sherry and catching the waves of fragrance drifting from them, Nalant finally smiled with satisfaction.
Nalant was confident he could sell this perfume, which had originally cost one silver coin a bottle, for at least fifty silver coins.
After all, ambergris was like a cheat code for perfume. In his previous life, perfume containing ambergris was a top-tier luxury.
Of course, with better packaging, he could even charge in gold coins. He just didn't have the means to make that kind of packaging yet.
Nalant didn't follow Vivian and Sherry downstairs. Instead, he returned to the laboratory to prepare the remaining nineteen bottles of perfume.
Vivian and Sherry began walking around the castle.
"Hm? What smells so good? It's a bit like the perfume I just brought to my lord, but surely it wasn't this good. Even the top-grade perfume at the count's castle doesn't smell this wonderful!" Butler Thomas was walking along the corridor when he suddenly caught a refreshing fragrance.
Having served as a footman at Tulip Castle for several years, he immediately recognized that this perfume was special. His judgment was far more precise than Nalant's, a country baron's second son, and his standards were far higher.
Vivian and Sherry walked down the corridor and then left the castle, heading into the front courtyard.
When they reached the wall, a faint fragrance drifted on the breeze.
The guards on duty immediately caught the scent. "Whoa! That smells incredible!"
As soon as the fragrance reached them, the guards couldn't help taking deep breaths and closing their eyes in bliss.
At last, the guards turned their attention to Sherry and Vivian.
"Captain Vivian, are you wearing perfume? You smell wonderful! Could you tell me where you bought it? I want to buy a bottle too once I get paid at the end of the month!"
The guards were afraid of Nalant, but they still dared to ask Captain Vivian directly.
Besides, the perfume was incredibly alluring. It made them feel comfortable all over, as if even their pores had opened up.
He thought that even if it cost five silver coins a bottle, he'd still buy one to take home. It would surely help him sleep soundly that night.
After all, in this world, perfume wasn't just for women.
"It's my lord's perfume. It's very expensive!" Sherry answered for Vivian first. She'd never smelled perfume like this on the children of nobles before, so it had to be too expensive for a guard to afford.
"It belongs to my lord? Then I really can't afford it!" Disappointment showed on the guards' faces. Naturally, they couldn't afford something their lord used. They looked at Vivian and Sherry with envy, too. Pretty young women always had an advantage over rough men like them.