Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 38 - For The Love Of... Bread..

Soon it was Gwen's hunting bows and once again the strength of the hunting bow had a force of at least 110 pounds. "Your bows are the finest. Those who bought them were astonished at the velocity and penetrative strength when the arrows were released and the intended target was hit. The hunters who bought them loved the hunting bows very much and I would like to contract these hunting bows for a very long time."

"My customers were glad of their purchases as they even disposed of their former bows." Marcel praised Gwen and she inadvertently blushed in embarrassment because no one had ever praised her work before,

There were 20 hunting bows that were prepared by Gwen over the duration of 2 weeks or so, and as she and Frank helped to arrange the bows on a bench, Marcel spoke up, "The same price as before laddie, 1s each and here's 20s for the hunting bows,"

Marcel handed the 20s back to me. it seems that the majority of the coins that I had used had come back to me and this was just like a barter trade. But in this kind of practice, coins were visibly being used as it gave the merchants a vote of confidence especially when coins were equal to power.

After checking with Marcel about the prices of cheese and milk, he strongly advises keeping the cheese and milk for personal consumption because the prices were too cheap and its under perishables. Besides, it may spoil and cheese would easily break off if it is not waxed. The cost and intensive labour plus meticulous process cannot par with the sale price.

"Many people keep these in stock and only use the milk sparingly. They would milk the goats or cows when they require to consume them or to make cheese, but other than that, it would be best not to stock on it. Imagine 80 pounds of cheese only costs 4s and 20c."

"I myself had stopped dealing in them." Crystal heard what was being narrated and was a bit saddened but the cheese she made could be made into a delicious chewy cheesy loaf of bread.

She knew that once Marcel had taken a bite, he would be hooked...!

"Alright, that concludes everything. Remember, I need 150 brooms, 1000 bricks, 50 rocket stoves, 50 hunting bows, 50 small mats, 50 medium and large mats. If you have more, I am willing to buy them at the same price."

"Can you kindly tell me the price of planks and do you have any dimensions?" Ben asked as he was interested to know about the prices. "I won't be able to give you an exact price but poplar, pine, apple, peach and other woods not under oak, mahogany and others would have a base price of 5c per foot."

"Which means the plank would be 1 foot wide and 5 feet long and I would be buying them at 25c per plank, "Marcel explained and Ben was apologetic since he does not deal directly with the merchants, thus was not aware of its price, as his landlord would be doing the sales negotiations instead.

"Marcel, may I ask a favour from you. Do you have a weighing scale and a measure? At least we have some tools like that to weigh and measure some stuff."

"What are you going to weigh? Yourself? Hahaha..." Marcel joked as he informed me that there was a scale inside his carriage box that would be able to weigh up to 1000 pounds.

"I may need to weigh those pigs in case we need to slaughter one and sell parts of it away. Maybe I would also sell some goats away, who knows in the future, right?" I concluded and we made sure we have everything we purchased and likewise goes with Marcel.

Before he left, he was given a garlicky bread, a milky sweet cornbread, a sweet cinnamon bread and a chewy cheesy bread to take away. He expressed his appreciation at our hospitality and promised to return in 2 weeks time as he handed the scale and folding ruler to me.

"Eh... Do I need to pay for them?" I raised my eyebrows but Marcel replied, "Take this, it would be useful for you in the long run. I had forgotten to bring some bundles of cloth and also some bleached paper that you could use instead of papyrus. Also, I would gift you a quill since both of us are learned scholars."

I was thanked Marcel at his generosity and kind thoughts as I reminded him to bring 180 pounds of both flour and grains and I used his words that he mentioned earlier, "Even if you bring 500 pounds, I would still purchase them from you."

Marcel smiled as he held the loaves of bread in his hands and can't help smelling them. He broke half and gave to his young assistant as he sat in his wagon to eat the bread. After one bit he places the bread on the bench of his wagon and ran back down and approached me.

"Hahaha...sorry my dear brother. I would like to order 50 loaves of bread in assorted flavours each and I would offer you 3c each. One bite had sent me floating in the skies and then brought me back floating down. Your bread is such a miracle and I want 50 each. The more assorted flavours you have the better. Just bake them when I am here and I would wait for it." Marcel had a bit of milk at the sides of his mouth and after he had spoken, I pointed at his mouth and he locked and laughed out loud.

"Even if we have 10 kinds of bread, you would take all of them?" I have to make sure he does not get back on his word as he furiously nodded. A bread man would always be a breadman...!

I was thinking that he is willing to buy these bread at 3c each while a pound of flour only costs 2c that was able to make at least 5 to 6 loaf of bread. I guess he would spread his word around that he had found a niche of Heavenly fresh toasted bread and since he would wait to be served, a proper bakery with several ovens was required for this kind of rush job.

I guess I have to let everyone know and see whether the idea works or not. Furthermore, a bakery would just be a covered place around the oven while a countertop would suffice to display the finished products.

By evening time after we had our dinner, we all sat at the courtyard and began to relate to today's achievements and the plan of actions for the coming 2 weeks.

Suddenly, Sir Blackie gave a few excited barks and was facing the farmlands and without warning, it raced forward barking ferociously. Before I could stop Sir Blackie, it had run past and stopped at the edge of the farmlands, barking and growling.

Gwen recognised Sir Blackie's behaviour and quickly ran after Sir Blackie while she unslung her bow and nooked an arrow before she released at least 6 Arrows within a minute while calming Air Blackie at her sides.

Frank and some of us including myself ran towards Sir Blackie as I hugged its neck close to me as while I console it to remain steady. It continued to growl until Gwen had shot her 8th arrow before Sir Blackie quietens down and walked alongside Gwen.

"WE ARE GOING TO HAVE WILD BOAR TONIGHT...!!" I heard Gwen hollered just near the edge of the farmlands and saw that the darn wild boar had done slight damage as it rampaged past and trampled a few of the plants. It was already late and decided to attend to the plants but the mentioned of wild boar, the men cheered and I felt a nudge on my arm, "Can this old man request for some ale afterwards?"

I recognised the voice and I assured him approvingly. It was Jack and he too was excited on hearing wild boar feast. The men each carried the fire and hind legs and circled the farmlands and walked back to the courtyard. Out of the 8 Arrows that Gwen had let go, it struck 3 on its head, one in the snout and the rest in its side.

WILD BOAR..... YEEEESSSSS..... it was an a.d.u.l.t so most probably the young would-be motherless and would fend for itself.

"Frank, gather some people tomorrow and set up a perimeter around the farmlands. Use the reed, sharpened them and place them at an angle where it will pierce its body if any of its family members were to try and rampage against our livelihood."

"Woohoo... Its been so long since I had real meat and we could basically eat the whole boar and its fur could be of use too... " I shouted in rejoice along with the rest of the men and I congratulated Gwen in her marksmanship and also to Sir Blackie for alerting us of danger.

"For this, I will reward you with a huge slab of meat and you would definitely have some bones to gnaw too. Thank you, hero..." I rubbed Sir Blackie's head and buried my face in its fur while it sat on its haunches and placed both paws on my shoulders as if it was giving me a 'dog's hug'.

When the men were hauling the wild boar back to the courtyard, everyone who didn't participate to witness the event roared with delight upon the wondrous sight. The ladies immediately brought several pots that will be used to store the innards and internal organs.

Gwen took out her hunting knife and deftly removed the wild boar's fur to be cured and sold. After removing the fur, she made a slit from the throat right down to its belly and she removed the innards and placed them into the pot filled with water to prevent spoilage.

While she was dressing the wild boar, Sir Blackie let out a bark and it immediately circled around and stood on its hind leg and looked across the riverbanks where a wagon was being pulled and a crowd was walking in a kind of procession behind it.

"The miners' families are here...! Jack and Heather, please welcome them. Kayla, please prepare to receive the weary travellers. Thank you...!" I let out a few commands and followed Jack and Heather as we ushered the new families.

"Help... We need some help over here..."