Nova Roma Chapter 4 - Sugar and schnapps

In a room in the governor's palace, there was a large table, there you can see a little boy sitting on a chair with cushions to match the height of the two adults in front of him.
"Father, mother, you should try this I'm sure you'll love it"
Flavio proceeded to place an open bag on the table white some white crystals
"Salt?" Their two parents said in unison as they watched the small white crystals very similar to salt.
Flavio waved his finger in denial "it's not salt, Please try it and you will see what I mean"
Flavio's parents took a pinch of the white granules and tasted it.
"This is so sweet, What is it and How did you make it? "Julia asked
"This is called Sugar. The process of making it is pretty simple, you only need a beetroot as raw material and after doing some small processes you can get sugar"
Vitelio looked at his son with a serious look "Can this sugar be produced in large quantities?"
Flavio took from his side a small raw brown beet and the placed on the table
"This is the variety of beet with which you can get sugar, we need 7 beets to get 1kg of sugar. It can be more or less, depending on the size of the beet, if they need to be produced in large quantities the quality of the sugar depends a lot on the quality of the soil in this case we are fortunate that Lusitania is in a war zone where there is no winter that kills the crops.
I also want to ask you, father, to take me to the fields that belong to us. I intend to make a reform in the agricultural process that will allow us to double the amount of harvest we have, without destroying the fertility of the soil and increasing the amount of irrigation in the fields.
For that I need you to allow me to have access to the family fortune so that I can hire craftsmen and buy materials as needed for the project, don't worry about the income as sugar is just one of the products I can make for generating income"
Flavio saw his parents with love and shouted: "Arabela bring the other goods please."
The door opened and Arabela entered holding 2 jugs of wine with their respective glasses and two people behind her holding what appeared to be bread and a glass bottle with transparent liquid, placed the products on the table and proceeded to withdraw, closing the door behind them.
Flavio stretched his hands on the table "Well dear parents Which one do you want to start with?"
Julia observed the bread and could distinguish a sweet smell coming from it and thus said "I want to taste that bread"
Flavio took the bread and pulled a small chunk and delivered to his mother
Julia took a bite "Delicious !!, It is pretty soft and sweet bread, with a very sharp flavor of butter I have never tasted anything like this in my life"
Flavio also gave a chunk of bread to his father
Vitelio took the piece of bread and first smelled it and then proceeded to squeeze it and feel the softness, took a small bite, and then eat it in just a few bites.
he thought.
"I am glad that you liked my dear parents, but I suppose that tasting the bread has made them thirsty? allow me to offer you some schnapps "
Flavio took one of the wine jugs and served his parents in their glasses a transparent liquid with strong smell "Go ahead take your drinks"
The two parents took their drinks and took a drink, Julia coughs with some effort and put their eyes in his glass
"This wine is so strong !! Do you want to kill your mother?" she said mock angrily.
Flavio looked at his mother coughing and could not contain himself from laughing "Hahaha !!, no mother this is not wine this is schnapps, it is much stronger than the wine that you normally drink but do not worry here I have a prepared another type of schnapps that I'm sure you'll like "
Flavio took his mother's cup and threw the contents on the ground, then took the other jug of wine and served again in her mother's glass "Please try this mother, this time I'm sure you'll like it"
Julia looked at her son with eyes of doubt, she took the drink and took a small sip, her eyes widened and then she drank all the content of the cup "This is too delicious, it tastes sweet but refreshing at the same time"
Flavio smiled "I'm glad you like it mother, this is also schnapps but it was lowered with apple juice and honey"

"What about you Father, Did you like the Schnapps?"
Vitelio took his glass and looked at his son and made a gesture to the maid indicating to serve more "I like it very much, it is the strongest drink I've ever tasted, It is a perfect drink for warriors"
Flavio took his father's glass and proceeded to serve more schnapps " This is a drink that can give us plenty of resources, but it also has other uses."
Flavio handed the cup to his father "Generally when you get cut after some time the wound gives off a bad smell and can even cause death, I'm sure you've seen many comrades in arms die because of this during the campaigns you did with grandfather"
Vitelio thought of the words his son said and remembered the cruelty of the battlefield, corpses floating in the water, desperate cries of poor warriors who jumped into the water to drown themselves to end their suffering due to pain of their wounds, and the smell of burned flesh that permeated the environment due to mounting pile of corpses of warriors enemies and friends alike being burned to avoid a epidemic.
The fear that permeated throughout the battlefield that at any moment you could lose your life, but the worst part was not the battle itself but what happened after the battle, many people who fortunately just ended up wounded simply lost their limbs because of small cuts, some others did not even get lucky enough, they just suffered high fevers for a few nights and died after a period of intense suffering.
Vitelio had his eyes looking far away into the distance as if he was looking into the past and with a melancholy voice, he said "As you said in war Many of my friends and colleagues died because of injuries after the war, but why are you asking me about that? "
Flavio grabbed the glass bottle
"The processes to produce schnapps also make it possible to obtain another product called alcohol. I guess it is more correct to say that alcohol is the reason schnapps and wines have their effects.
The wine that is commonly consumed contains approximately 13.5% of alcohol.
When you distill any drink like the wine the degrees of alcohol goes up, Thus it is possible to obtain liquor such as the first one I served which contains between 40% to 50% alcohol and the one that I gave the mother contains between 30 to 35% only as its concentration was reduced with other ingredients to give it a lighter and sweeter flavor, thus making it pleasant to the females palate.
This is another glass bottle, in this, there is an alcohol with a concentration of more than 80%, which is perfect for cleaning wounds and can be used as a starter and emergency fuel for lighters which is a device similar to a candle that only needs alcohol and a small wick to be able to work "
Vitelio looked at the bottle" And what is this function of cleaning wounds? "
Flavio nodded at the question of his father" Remember that I asked father about the bad smell of the wounds, you see in the environment there are beings called microorganisms, among them, there is a large number of species called bacteria.
When one suffers a cut or injury these small invisible beings enter our body through it causing the wound to get infected. This alcohol allows bacteria to be killed in the wound, preventing in most cases from the wound becoming infected, it can also be used by doctors to sterilize their hands or tools used in surgery and can prevent them from contaminating the wound. "
Vitelio was surprised by the response of his son, small organisms, bacteria, he simply refused to think that these things existed but he knew that the person who said these words was his beloved son, therefore he ended up sending his doubts to the depths of his heart, he looked at his wife and then looked back to his son.
"These materials are amazing, sugar can be used for making bread or get sweet drinks, while schnapps is a drink that I am sure many men will buy, as well as alcohol, can save thousands of people and soldiers on the battlefield," said Vitelio.
Flavio smiled at his father "It's the true father that these materials have many functions but we must remember that a human is envious by nature and even more so are the merchants.
We have to safeguard the production process for these resources, I have researched about this a lot and concluded that the best we can do is build a fortress that covers the islands of the Guadiana River, we have the advantage that the river is in our capital Emerita Augusta and that area can be declared as a military zone.
Anyone who tries to enter it would be simply breaking the law, the family of workers (slaves) who are responsible for making our products can live in the fortress, that way there will be no leaks, these are most basic protection measures, I do not think there is a need to take more drastic measures, unless there is someone who is a big enough idiot as to attack the interests of the family of the August emperor "
Vitelio placed his hand on his chin and thought about what his son had said
"I agree with your idea son, tomorrow I will declare the nearby islands of the Guadiana River as a military zone and begin with the construction work of the fortress, in terms of your request to go to the field, tomorrow I will organize a guard to accompany you and your mother "
"Thank you, father, for your support" Flavio smiled
"I think it's time for me to retire although it may not seem like it we've been having a good time talking and the night is already here" Flavio yawned and got up from his chair with sleepy eyes.
Vitellius observed his little son as he retired and asked "Son, is there any special name you want for the fort?"
Flavio who was opening the door said "I think it sounds very strong so we should name it Dovahkiin"
Edit by: Chroniclemale