Chapter 145 - Possessing Food
After they returned to the room, Laura turned and said to Green, “The quality of Sir’s nut oil is really beyond my expectations. I hope that the oil you produce in the future could again be sold to me. I don’t know if this is possible? ”
Green smiled and said, “Of course. We had such a prior agreement already. Miss Laura shouldn't be worried, the nut oil that we produce will be sold to you.”
Laura nodded her head. “That’s good. After Sir goes back, please give my thanks to Mr. Zhao Hai.”
Green faintly smiled and said, “Miss Laura is really too polite. There is also another matter that I want to talk about that includes some business..”
Laura was surprised for a moment. “Sir, please go ahead and tell me.”
Green slightly chuckled. “My master recently heard rumors that the Ica plains had been under a pest infestation, and that the Ica plains won’t be able to produce any grains this year. Do you know if that is true or false?”
Laura was surprised for a moment. She didn't think that Zhao Hai could even find out about this information. She nodded and said, “It’s true, we have also received the message. This time, the infestation happening in the Ica plains is very severe. The type of pest is not known, and it has a very strong reproductive capability. For this year, Ica plains won’t be able to produce grains.”
Hearing Laura’s words, Green relaxed. He just asked Laura to see how she would answer and felt she was unreserved. This made him feel relieved as he said, “So have the prices of food here in Casa City gone up?”
Laura forced a smile. "It will. Sir, when I received the news we immediately moved to stock up on food. This was done in order to stabilize the food prices in Casa City, but the other firms were faster than us. They had started stocking up on grains ahead of time. The price will soon increase here in Casa City and I worry about this. If we follow the the rise and increase our prices, then we can indeed earn a large money for ourselves. But as a result, a lot of people in Casa City will suffer. If we don’t raise our prices, then we won’t be able to sell more grains."
Then she eyed Green. “Why does Sir ask this?” Laura couldn’t help but feel a bit excited. She almost stood up. With shining eyes, she continued, “Does Mr. Zhao Hai have food?”
Quinn John also looked firmly at Green.
Green showed a faint smile. “We have, in our hands, some food.”
After saying that, he ordered forward two undead who had followed holding two bags.
Green picked up the two bags and opened them, exposing the corn kernels in one and the cornmeal in the other. “Miss Laura, this is the food in our possession. The continent hasn’t seen this type before. This is corn, and that is cornmeal. You can directly add water to the corn kernels and boil it like rice, while the cornmeal can be used to make bread. Master has written down the procedures to do so.” He passed Laura a piece of paper.
Laura and Quinn John looked at the corn kernels and cornmeal in the bags. They were curious about how Zhao Hai was able to produce something they hadn’t seen before.
Laura immediately recovered, took the paper Green was handing out to her, and carefully read. The corn kernel approach was simple, but also a little more difficult than bamboo rice. Cornmeal was ever more simple. Laura understood how to eat the two.
Laura placed the paper down and turned to Green to ask, “How much corn does Sir have?”
Green stretched out a finger and said, “Nearly one million kilograms, but unprocessed. Only a couple hundred thousand were processed1.”
Laura paced while muttering, “God helps me too, God helps me too.”
Quinn John was calmer than Laura at this time. He turned to Green and asked, “How much would the price of these grains be?”
Laura heard Quinn John’s question and stopped, turning around to look at Green. She was also afraid that the price might be too high, and that it couldn’t be used to help alleviating the food crisis.
Green smiled slightly while saying, “Master said he doesn’t want to see Casa City suffer and does not wish to see the people starving to death. Although the taste might not be very good, Master intends to sell it at the same price as bamboo rice. Of course, if you desire to sell it that low, we will also sell it to you at a lower price.”
After listening to what Green said, Laura bowed. She then stood up straight and said, “On behalf of the people of Casa City, I, Laura, would like to thank Mr. Zhao Hai. This time, our Higanbana stores do not want to make money, but only to sell the products of Sir, and to thank Mr. Zhao Hai for being righteous.”
Green forced a smile with a heavy heart. If they told Laura that it was them who started that insect infestation, it could be possible that Laura herself might pick up a weapon and try to kill him.
Green waved his hand. “Miss Laura is too kind. Along with this, after you sell all of the million kilograms of corn, we can provide one hundred seventy-five thousand kilograms of bamboo rice everyday, until the food crisis gets resolved.”
Laura and Quinn John were dumbfounded. They hadn’t thought that Zhao Hai would actually provide one hundred seventy-five thousand kilograms of bamboo rice per day. This was not just one hundred seventy-five. With this amount of food, the Purcell Duchy would be able to survive through the food crisis.
Looking blankly at Green, Laura asked, “Sir, you are not joking, right? One hundred seventy-five thousand kilograms a day?”
Green nodded. “Yes, one hundred seventy-five thousand kilograms per day to help relieve the food crisis.”
Laura moved several steps forward. “This matter is very important. Before, I had an agreement with the Purcell clan that if I can find a grain source, I would immediately let them know in order to help them through this difficult time. Now that Sir is here to help, I believe that this crisis will be resolved. But I cannot take all the credit for it, so it would be better if I explained the situation to the Purcell clan.”
Green shook his head and said, “Miss Laura, please do not tell the Purcell clan about this. If you tell them, they will surely go to the Stony Mountain, and Master is not very fond of contacting others. Especially the Purcell clan.”
Laura had forgotten that before, the Purcell clan collaborated with several groups and sent an army to deal with Zhao Hai. She was aware that the best way to deal with Zhao Hai was to be frank and honest. It was unexpected that Zhao Hai would actually still wish to sell to the Purcell clan. That Zhao Hai wouldn’t like to meet the Purcell clan, however, was understandable.
Laura nodded her head and said, “Yes. Sir can rest assured, I will not let the Purcell clan disturb Mr. Zhao Hai. But this matter, I’ll still have to tell them so that they won’t find future trouble for Mr. Zhao Hai. Although Mr. Zhao Hai does not fear them, he’ll still be annoyed if he’s disturbed.”
Green nodded his head. “That’s alright then. Also, I would like to ask Miss Laura to help us prepare some sacks since, as you know, we have none. In regards to this, I ask for Miss Laura’s help.”
Laura nodded. “Don’t worry about that. My warehouse has a lot of sacks, I’ll just order for some to load onto the carriage immediately.”
Green stood up and said, “Sorry to bother Miss Laura. But rest assured, three days later you may come to get the grains.”
Laura nodded, also standing. “Then, I will not take up your time any longer. Since the city is still in this situation, I am too busy to leave. As soon as the matter gets resolved, I will immediately visit and personally thank Mr. Zhao Hai.”
Green smiled lightly. “Although Master is a black magician, he doesn’t want to see the commoners suffer. To be honest, for the food crisis this time, the impact on the nobles and the rich won’t be that big. We know that the Purcell Duchy has its own grain reserve, but because of those big firms, the price of food will inevitably rise. This will cause difficulty for the commoners, and many will become slaves. At this time, Master has used almost all the fields for planting bamboo rice, hoping that the commoners will be able to survive this difficult period.”
Laura sighed and said, "Yes. Ah, those civilians now live with the difficulties of the present. In the face of such a thing, and even harsher times, other firms will only be a machine that just know how to make money. They do not care about the life and death of those civilians."
Green looked at Laura, saying, “Miss Laura, if ever the time really comes that the commoners were willing to sell themselves and become slaves, please do pay attention to it. Find those that have skills. No matter what kind of craftsmanship, as long as they are slaves, you must leave them to their fates. Right now, Master does not have enough manpower and urgently needs such craftsmen.”
Laura didn’t think that Green would make such a request. She quickly nodded her head and agreed, “Well, that is not a problem. I will help Mr. Zhao Hai and pay attention.”
After talking, they walked out of the room. Outside, they saw Higanbana employees loading the sacks onto Green’s carriages.
As soon as the sacks were loaded, Green turned to Laura. “Miss Laura, I will now take my leave. Three days later, Miss can come get the food.”
Looking at Green’s back, Laura could not help but take a deep breath. She turned to Quinn John and said, “I did not think that Mr. Zhao Hai had such large capabilities. He can actually produce this much food which has solved our urgent matter.”
Quinn John nodded. “It looks like Mr. Zhao Hai may have a mysterious power of his own. Just like the elves, he could probably accelerate a crop’s maturity. Otherwise, it is impossible for Mr. Zhao Hai to obtain that much food. Laura, remember, this matter must not be made known by anyone. If others learned that he has such a mysterious ability, it’ll be dangerous. Even if Mr. Zhao Hai has a Rank Eight expert warrior along with him, Rank Eight does not mean invincible. In this world, Rank Nine is the strongest presence. With his method of speeding up plant maturity, it would be more than enough to make those big clans ask a Rank Nine expert to get rid of him2.”
Notes:
-This chapter was MTL'ed. Please leave a comment for constructive criticisms and advice. Thanks.
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-Please check out the Editor's footnotes, thanks.
1The raw says he raises “two” fingers and says 2 million jin. Since I converted to Metric system, it’s now just 1 finger and 1 million kilograms. ↩
2 I’ve decided to split how the power system and the space’s system are named. The space will stick with levels which makes sense since you need EXP and etc. to level up. For the power system, rankings will be used which places a greater importance on every rank and makes rank ups very rare and important. ↩