Banished Prince Charming

Chapter 88 - Expect The Unexpected

"My Gosh... I guess I had never eaten so much bread at one go before. Hahaha. I'm so shameful to admit but 'GraceHaven's Freshly Baked — True To Its Goodness' is really worth fighting for. In other words, GraceHaven's Bread conquers all. Hahaha."

Marcel was simply delighted on finally able to satiate his cravings that he had been withholding for two weeks. No wonder he whacked those slices of plain wheat bread that the nobles normally eat.

"Hahaha. You are really like a pregnant woman who craves for salty or savoury treats, Marcel. Why don't you set up your distribution point here and get your other merchants to come and get their supply here every 3 days."

"In this way, you would not only have varieties of bread but also could help to spread the name of GraceHaven as well. It's just a passing thought though since you do play an important role in merchandising in your Association." I suggested to Marcel but thought it would not be ideal as both parties may lose out on a lot of opportunities.

"Ah... How I would wish that Gracehaven is just across the riverbanks of Corral. At least, I could just walk over, even in my nightwear and grab any bread I wished in the night. I would be spoilt for choices and I am sure the rest of Corral's community too."

"It is weird just to take a look at it in a different angle, you have what I wished for in Corral and you have what you wished for in GraceHaven but these two cannot be joined or even interchange since we both would lose out on the benefits. Hahaha. I guess we both are inseparable at the waist like twins."

"Hahaha. Is that true? Well, we both need each other to collaborate on the business so let's start now. I have prepared the list that I intend to buy from you at a price that was fixed before so all I need is to fill in the quantity and then we're off."

I informed Marcel as Heather took a piece of papyrus that had all the listed items that I wish to buy. At least this time I would know how much budget I had to set on the things that had been purchased and how far it would last in a weekly or fortnightly basis.

The purchasing list of mine had composed of the supposedly planned items to buy while Ben and Frank were on standby near the mill and would render their assistance when needed.

There were 5 items on that list of mine while the rest was left empty as there would be more items to be added along the way. Seeing there's no livestock on board the wagons, at least the budget set in the coin pouch would suffice.

The rest was left blank as it would be filled as the items were added. At least with this list, I would be able to control some finances and see if the items sold back to Marcel would either be break-even, loss or a profit to us.

"You really got the preparations ready and set in ink. I like that, a man prepared his tools before he goes to the farm to toil. Alright, hand me this while I complete your purchasing list."

Marcel took my purchasing list before me and updated as he hummed a tune and made some adjustments. It seems he was finding it hard to write on a reed pen and he then asked for his assistant to get his quill pen underneath the seat of the wagon instead.

"Hahaha. A man should have the right tools too, my friend. I will present you the quill pen so you would do away with your reed since its a little bit to write on papyrus. There's also a stack of paper that was made from wood pulp and bleached white. You may have those too."

Marcel recommended his quill and a stack of bleached white paper made of wood pulp which I readily receive and gotten Heather to set those aside inside the house. It would be good to make the entries in the journal and it's clearer too.

Marcel was continued humming a tune as he wrote the quantity and the assorted spices, condiments, vegetables and fruit seeds that he is selling to me.

Horse and Carriage 10s (paid)

Grains 2c per lb @ 450lb eq. 900c

Flour 2c per lb @ 450 lb eq. 900c

Spices 5c per one-eighth lb (1lb)

*6 varieties @ 5 lb ea. eq. @ 1200c

Condiments 3c per one-eighth lb (1lb)

*4 varieties @ 10 lb ea. eq. 960c

Ale 9c per keg @ 50 kegs @ 450c

Beer 12c per keg @ 50 kegs @ 600c

Vegetables seed 2c per one-eighth lb

*30 varieties @ 1 lb ea eq. 480c

Fruit seeds 3c per one-eighth lb

*10 varieties @ 1 lb ea. eq. 240c

Total 5190 coppers or eq. 1g 1s 90c

I let him write on the papyrus as he does the calculations as he hummed his tune. Once he had completed he gave a last look and made sure he doesn't miss a thing and asked his assistant to double confirm the items.

"Aha...all this work really made me hungry once again... Wait... What's that mouth-watering scent wafting through from the bakery...? No wonder I can't keep my mind on the calculations, hope I never get it shortchanged though. Haha." Marcel sniffed the air as he saw rows of woven baskets lined in the counter of the bakery.

"The ladies of the weaving production area had thought of a nice carrier basket for you to transport the loaves of bread instead of letting those baskets rolling on the ground and not knowing which bread belongs to which."

"Go take a look and let me know what do you think about it." I urged Marcel to take a look at the basket and he finds that each basket would be able to carry more than 15 bread altogether.

"Hey, I like it very much. Do I need to buy the baskets?" Marcel inquired as he would only think of those baskets to be meant as a safe and hygienic way to transport the bread. "Don't have to buy those baskets, but you need to bring them back here on your next purchase, remember that OK? I will use the paper that you gave me earlier so I would label them accordingly."

"Aahh... Thank you for your thoughtfulness, my friend. You do really think of everything. It is so systematic. If you are not a young master in GraceHaven, I would have invited you to be my right-hand man in the Merchant's Association. Hahaha." Marcel commended me for being able to think ahead of things.

"Alright, here's your payment for all the goods from your wagons. Those are all for GraceHaven, innit? I was thinking of just exchange wagons but then our wagons had taken some slight modifications. It now has 2 wheels instead of 4."

"What do you mean by having only 2 wheels? Won't it overturn and upended?" Marcel was curious and asked me how it works. I called for one engineer to push out one of the wagons that had its axle and wheels set dead centre of the wagon.

'Weird modification, what kind of specials does it have? You know, having 2 wheels means the weight might not be even and also the load would be halved." Marcel remarked and as he watched the demonstrations by one of the engineers, he finally realised at its methodology and its functions.

"By Golly... Why didn't I think of it? The wagon is able to traverse more effectively and also since it was pulled by a draught horse, it won't gallop away like a warhorse if spooked. You know horses, if they saw something weird on the ground, it gets easily spooked and this results in the death of the user and also loss of merchandise."

"I like your designs, my good man. I won't mind taking the 2 wheeler wagon back with me. So tell me, young man, how do you load something like grains and such? At least my assistants know what to do the next time." Marcel inquired to the young engineer who brought the dray and he explained.

"The load should first and foremost start here and the part where you tether the horse could be placed on an 'X' brace but can directly be hooked up with the horse...."

The young engineer explained the matter thoroughly and questions and answers were thrown back between the assistants as well as Marcel since the wagons need to be loaded sometimes from the docks. After getting the answers that they were looking for, the assistants agreed to exchange the 4 wheeled wagons to the dray from GraceHaven.

"Alright, if that's the case, you can unhook your horse and hook one of the drays or 2 wheeler onto it. You may try out the dray and see what you think of it and also I will exchange one 4 wheeled wagons to you. Leave those 2 laden wagons and it would be settled once and for all by my citizens. Don't forget any items under the seats, though."

"Now is the part where you would purchase our items so that you could resell them and earn a bit of pocket change... Hahaha. If it is a small profit and cheap, once you could clear off those within a day or two, it would be a tidy profit at the end of the day. Am I right my good friend?"

Just then, Jennings came over and carried 4 loaves of bread that had been air-cooled earlier and from its fibrous outlook, those were meant for horses. "Sir, these are the loaves of bread to treat our visitor's horses."

She placed the bread on the table and the freshly baked smell that had been mixed and filled with vegetables, fruits wafted to Marcel's nostril and he thought it was for him to try. "Haha. No silly... These bread are with crushed wheat hulls and food scraps and rotten fruits. These are not for human consumption but for your horses instead."

"But...But...Horses eat freshly baked bread too?" Marcel stammered as he held the half-pounder bread in his hands and was wondering what kind of life would these horses had in GraceHaven.

"We made special bread for horses, fowls and goat while the pigs would be a little bit different where it contained animal fat and non-edible meats, crushed bones et cetera with edible plants too that was made prepared into a kind of boiled feed mix. This is much healthier and less messy and doesn't attract flies and other whatnot."

"Get your assistants to break half loaf and feed to your horses first. You will see that they would like that bread very much. Unlike trenchers, these bread are a much healthier choice. Furthermore, dragans worked hard so basically, these bread would be a boost for them."

"Oh, alright then. I'm a bit curious about how they would perceive this new food because they only eat that wheat, barley, rye and oats. But you feed them too quality wheat bread... Why with the crushed hulls? Don't you have anyone to winnow the flour for you?"

"These crushed hulls are full of fibre and horses needs them a lot. The wheat that we harvest is mainly meant for the livestock. This time we didn't exchange any wheat for flour or grains, remember? We have some sacks of wheat that had ergot infection and would be sieved to separate those infected ones."

"Oh...hey...these horses like them already...! Guess you really do have a very wide vision and foresight. God bless you, my friend. Haha."

"Thank you, Marcel, so we can get down to our business. Get ready to make some exchange with your silvers and coppers." I chided him as I received a piece of bleached paper made from wood pulp that was given by Marcel earlier and I wrote down the items one at a time.