"Young Septimus, my daughter has already explained to me how you saved her from those thugs," Cornelia said, smiling at Septimus.
At first, she had thought Septimus was just a young man trying to seduce her daughter and take advantage of her family's situation. Cornelia did not mind if her daughter had a lover outside the home, but it would be very different if she brought that lover into the house without keeping up appearances, as a young noble lady should.
Now, knowing that this young man had saved her daughter, her favor toward Septimus increased.
"You are welcome to stay and rest in my home until Atilia's father returns and rewards you," Cornelia said, grabbing Septimus by the arm and pulling him toward her chest as she led him inside the house.
Septimus did not refuse. With a faint smile on his face, he accepted and entered the house along with his two clones.
"Tell me, young Septimus, to which noble house do you belong?" Cornelia asked. Seeing that two servants had been ready to fight a dozen armed guards, she assumed Septimus belonged to a well-known house in Capua, which was why she behaved kindly toward him.
"I am just a Roman citizen who trades in Capua, beautiful lady," Septimus replied calmly.
Cornelia frowned slightly but continued guiding Septimus.
"I'm going to change and I'll be back," Atilia said as she entered the house.
Septimus was treated courteously by the household slaves while Cornelia rambled on about the family history of her husband's name, Marcus Atilius Severus.
Atilia returned wearing a beautiful dress and sat on a Roman couch near Septimus, pouring herself some wine as she joined her mother in chatting about the trivial matters of Capua.
Suddenly, a slave interrupted.
"Domina, the master has arrived," the slave said humbly to Cornelia.
Footsteps followed.
A middle-aged man entered.
"What happened? I heard Atilia had some trouble," the man said.
Atilia stood up from the couch and ran to 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's good that no tragedy occurred. The slaves have already informed me of what happened," the man said, sighing with relief.
He had been informed of the incident as soon as he arrived home and had gone straight to see Atilia, without knowing all the details.
"My name is Marcus Atilius Severus. Thank you for saving my daughter. Rest assured, you will be generously rewarded," Marcus Atilius said.
Septimus introduced himself and exchanged a few polite words while, together with Atilia, they recounted 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 take his leave of the noble Roman family, managing to depart despite the reluctance of the young Atilia.
"What do you think of that young man?" Marcus Atilius remarked thoughtfully.
"I know what you're 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 currying favor with us, he shows that he is not an opportunist," Marcus Atilius replied, gazing in the direction Septimus had gone.
"That only proves he is a young man without ambition. If Atilia is to marry, 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 can see, Atilia likes him. And with the current situation in Rome, a high-status marriage could be dangerous if you're not on the right side," Marcus Severus said thoughtfully.
Although Cinna and Marius controlled Rome and constantly persecuted Sulla's supporters, Sulla's influence should not be underestimated. If he were to land in Rome with his legions, a civil war would erupt, with no way of knowing who would ultimately win.
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 a bit of money and no solid backing.
Cornelia frowned but merely nodded; she knew her husband was right.
While they were considering arranging a marriage between Atilia and Septimus, the latter had already arrived home.
Septimus was somewhat pleased 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 two million denarii—his small fortune was not enough.
It was time to produce and sell sugar.
Sugar, in this period when the nobility lived in extravagance, was an inexhaustible source of wealth—enough for Septimus to fulfill his ambitions.
Upon arriving home, Septimus dispatched two clones to buy a small warehouse and another two clones to purchase beets at the market.
After two days, Septimus acquired a small warehouse with two rooms, which cost him 3,500 denarii, using another 500 denarii to buy as many beets as he could at the market.
Another week passed, and Septimus used the ten clones he had generated to staff the warehouse. He planned to produce white sugar. As a history professor, he had basic knowledge of the history, origin, and production of white sugar.
Making sugar was not complicated knowledge.
Septimus's clones grated the beets and soaked them in water so the sugar molecules could fully infuse, thus obtaining sugar water.
Then they added an excess of Ca(OH)₂ to the sugar water to dissolve non-sugar molecules in a strongly alkaline environment and improve the stability of the sucrose molecules.
They repeatedly introduced excess CO₂ and Ca(OH)₂ so they would react, producing a CaCO₃ precipitate.
They used calcium carbonate, which has a strong adsorption effect on non-sugar molecules, causing them to precipitate together (a very simple chemical reaction equation).
As a result, Septimus obtained relatively pure sugar water.
Septimus's clones spent the entire week producing white sugar. Septimus currently had twenty clones distributed among the bakery, the blacksmith shop, and the warehouse, which also served to generate new clones. He planned to create twenty more clones and send them to Naples to trade sugar.
Naples was a busy port for Rome, hosting large quantities of grain, slaves, iron goods, and jewelry arriving daily from Egypt, Africa, Gaul, Spain, and Sicily, satisfying Roman needs.
With twenty clones acting as guards and merchants, Septimus could feel more at ease selling white sugar in Naples.
While Septimus was planning his future commercial expansion, the noble Marcus Atilius was listening to a slave report the results of the investigation into Septimus's background.
He felt somewhat disappointed to learn 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 wealth had to exceed 100,000 denarii.
Although Marcus Atilius felt disappointed, he quickly abandoned the idea of marrying his beautiful daughter to Septimus.
Meanwhile, Septimus was planning his new commercial objectives, unaware that he had nearly been forced into marrying a young Roman noble woman.