Chapter 6 – Producing Sugar
"Young Septimus, my daughter has already explained to me how you saved her from those thugs," Cornelia said, smiling at Septimus.
At first, she thought Septimus was just a young man trying to seduce her daughter and take advantage of her family's position. Cornelia did not care if her daughter had a lover outside the house. But it would be very different if she brought that lover home, without keeping up the appearances expected of a young noble lady.
Now, knowing that this young man had saved her daughter, her favorability toward Septimus increased.
"You are welcome to stay and rest in my house until Atilia's father returns and rewards you," Cornelia said, taking Septimus by the arm and pressing him against her breasts as she pulled him inside the house.
Without refusing, and with a slight smile on his face, Septimus accepted and entered the house together with his two clones.
"Tell me, young Septimus, to which noble house do you belong?" Cornelia asked. Seeing two servants willing to fight against a dozen armed guards, she assumed Septimus belonged to a recognized house in Capua, which was why she behaved kindly.
"I am only a Roman citizen who trades in Capua, beautiful lady," Septimus said calmly to Cornelia.
Cornelia frowned slightly but continued guiding Septimus.
"I will go change and return," Atilia said upon entering the house.
Septimus was treated courteously by the household slaves while Cornelia rambled about the family history of her husband's surname, Marcus Atilius Severus.
Atilia came out wearing a beautiful dress and sat on a Roman couch near Septimus, pouring herself wine as she joined her mother and chatted about the trivialities of Capua.
Suddenly, a slave interrupted.
"Domina, the master has already arrived," the slave said humbly to Cornelia.
Accompanied by footsteps, a middle-aged man entered.
"What has happened? I heard that Atilia had a problem," the man said.
Atilia stood up from the couch and ran toward him, hugging him.
"Father, I was attacked by some thugs, and that young man saved me," Atilia said in the man's arms.
"It's all right. By the gods, it is good that no misfortune occurred. The slaves have already informed me of what happened," the man said, sighing in relief.
He had been informed of the incident as soon as he arrived home and had headed directly to see Atilia, but he did not know all the details of the matter.
"My name is Marcus Atilius Severus. Thank you for saving my daughter. Rest assured that you will be generously rewarded," Marcus Atilius said.
Septimus introduced himself and spoke a few polite words while, together with Atilia, he recounted the story of the incident.
Relieved, Marcus Atilius gave Septimus a generous reward of 10,000 denarii, slightly impressing Septimus with the wealth of the Roman nobility.
Having received the money, Septimus proceeded to bid farewell to the noble Roman family, managing to leave despite the reluctance of a young Atilia.
"What do you think of that young man?" Marcus Atilius commented thoughtfully.
"I know what you are thinking, but he is not of noble birth," Cornelia said, frowning.
"Even if he is not a noble, he knows his limits, and by not being overly proactive in trying to ingratiate himself with us, he shows that he is not an opportunist," Marcus Atilius replied, contemplating the direction in which Septimus had gone.
"That only shows that he is a young man without ambition. If Atilia marries, it must be a noble or an ambitious elite," Cornelia said, frowning.
Although she had a good impression of Septimus, she did not want her beautiful daughter to marry someone of inferior status.
"From what I see, Atilia likes him. Now, with the situation in Rome, a high-status marriage can be dangerous if you are not on the correct side," Marcus Severus said thoughtfully.
Although Cinna and Marius controlled Rome and constantly persecuted the supporters of Sulla, one must not underestimate Sulla's influence. If he were to land in Rome with his legions, a civil war would break out, and no one would know who would win in the end.
For Marcus Atilius, having his beloved daughter marry a simple merchant could keep her safe while the storm passed. And if Atilia did not like that young man, they could divorce. After all, she was the daughter of a member of the Concilium of Capua, and Septimus was only a Roman citizen with some money but no foundation.
Cornelia frowned but simply nodded. She knew her husband was right.
While they were thinking about arranging a marriage between Atilia and Septimus, the latter had already arrived home.
Septimus was somewhat happy with that amount of money. He could implement some of his plans. Although 10,000 denarii seemed like a lot, by comparison forming a legion cost more than 2 million denarii. His small amount of money was not enough.
It was time to produce and sell sugar.
Sugar in this period of time, when the nobility lived in extravagance, was an inexhaustible source of wealth, enough for Septimus to fulfill his ambitions.
Upon arriving home, Septimus mobilized two clones to purchase a small warehouse and two other clones to buy beets in the market.
After two days, Septimus acquired a small two-room warehouse that cost him 3,500 denarii, using another 500 denarii to buy as many beets as he could in the market.
Another week passed, and Septimus used the 10 clones he generated to keep them in the warehouse. He planned to manufacture white sugar. As a history teacher, he had basic knowledge about the history, origin, and production of white sugar.
Producing sugar is not complicated knowledge.
Septimus' clones grated the beets and soaked them in water so that the sugar molecules would fully infuse, thus obtaining sugar water.
Then, they added an excess of Ca(OH)₂ to the sugar water to dissolve the non-sugar molecules in a strongly alkaline environment and improve the stability of the sucrose molecules.
They repeatedly introduced an excess of CO₂ and Ca(OH)₂ to make them react, producing a precipitate of CaCO₃.
They used calcium carbonate, which has a strong adsorption effect on non-sugar molecules, causing their joint precipitation (a very simple chemical reaction equation).
As a result, Septimus obtained relatively pure sugar water.
Septimus' clones took advantage of the entire week to manufacture white sugar. Septimus currently had 20 clones distributed between the bakery, the forge, and the warehouse, who also served to generate new clones. He planned to generate 20 clones and send them to Naples to trade sugar.
Naples is a busy port for Rome, housing large quantities of grain, slaves, iron goods, and jewelry that arrived daily from Egypt, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Sicily, and satisfied Roman needs.
With 20 clones as guards and merchants, Septimus could feel more at ease selling white sugar in Naples.
While Septimus planned his future commercial expansion, the noble Marcus Atilius was listening to a slave report the results of the investigation into Septimus' background.
He felt somewhat disappointed upon learning that the calm young man who had saved his beautiful daughter possessed assets of less than 20,000 denarii. It should be noted that to be considered a Roman elite, one's assets had to exceed 100,000 denarii.
Although Marcus Atilius felt disappointed, he quickly abandoned the idea of marrying his beautiful daughter to Septimus.
On the other hand, Septimus was planning his new commercial objectives without knowing that he had almost been forced to marry a young Roman noblewoman.