Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 1: The Beginning

Bread Talk

"What could we be of service, My Lord." Jennings and Hereford presented themselves before us, waiting for further instructions. Seeing Marcel before them could only mean one thing, M-O-R-E  B-R-E-A-D. Hahaha.

"My Lord... A lord? This young master who supposedly says that he was a scholar is actually a Lord? Someone who has the same standing as an Earl as him?" Marcel thought about it and was in shock but he soon regained his composure and he sat there as he listened to the young man before him narrated what he actually needs.

"Sir, we think that we have the right solution for the bread that our dear merchant here would be distributing to the masses," Jennings called for one of her daughters and she came forward and brought 2 loaves of bread that were shaped like it was plaid and was a foot long.

"This is one of the shapes that Hereford and her daughter were testing out the day before. We have sugar-coated pretzels that could simply pop into the mouth and melted. And we have these that could have several fillings instead."

"One single pound of flour could be made into 8 of these plaid loaves of bread. There are 4 flavours, sugar-coated, chewy cheesy, milky flavoured and salted fish floss. These would be great for the working serfs of Corral Town."

The sight of the bread that was brought before by one of Jennings' daughter brought a droll over Marcel's mouth. "Are these for eating or for a sample to show?" he asked and I laughed and told him to eat it since this was made for the children of the Irish Travellers.

"Oh, they are here? How come I wasn't informed? You make me feel so bad you know... Hahaha. No wonder I saw there's a lot of new faces here and I thought these are your citizens...! Hahaha. Where's the leader of the Irish Travellers?"

I motioned for Heather to call the leader of the Irish Travellers to join us at the table and was warmly greeted by Marcel. He recognised the leader as he was the one that originally supplied Corral with the handicrafts some years back.

"Jennings, if we sell a half-pounder loaf of bread for 2c even 1c, would we be able to break even? This would be for the working serfs since you know, they won't be able to spend as much as a noble. What do you think?" I queried as to the best answers I could get would be from the bakers themselves.

The leader of the Irish Travellers was equally surprised when the decisions were left to be answered by his subjects rather than letting the ruler decide for them." What autonomy... What freedom...! A very wise ruler indeed..." the leader of the Irish Travellers thought to himself and smiled.

Jennings and Hereford thought for a while as they sat at the adjacent outdoor dining table and took some time to come up with a solution. Soon they were all smiles as they conferred with each other and I guess they might also contribute to the good of the village and economy.

"My Lord, may I speak on behalf of the bakers? First of all, since our dear merchant wishes to help the working serfs to buy our bread, how about we propose that our dear merchant supplies us flour instead? A pound of flour for 2 loaves of bread? The design of the crust would have a big "X" on it to represent that it would be meant for the working serfs and not the nobles."

"We could provide the fillings free of charge and a no additional cost for the working serf and these bread since its a half-pounder, could be sold for 1c or 2c according to what our dear merchant deems fit."

"There would be two flavours, the fish floss and the milky bread. A pound of flour for 2 loaves of bread and our ovens could easily make 192 loaves of bread for every foot of a shadow's length for every flavour, which means in 2 feet of a shadow's length, our bakers could churn out 384 loaves of milky bread and fish floss ones for the working serfs."

The leader of the Irish Travellers sweetly taken aback. 384 loaves of bread that could be made within 2 feet of a shadow's length per day and each day had 4 feet before and after midday respectively. Which means each cycle of a day, these bakers could make 1,536 loaves of bread from dawn to dusk.

Each loaf could be sold for 2c, which means the daily generated income towards the economy would be 3,072 coppers or 30 silvers and 72 coppers daily. In 30 days, it is going to amount more than 900 silvers or 18 gold coins...!!

"Wow... Just the bread alone could do such wonders...! This is just a bakery with 5 bakers and 4 ovens. What if the village expanded and have 2 bakeries instead?" the leader can't help to think of the possibilities and potential of this little village could have.

"That would be a good idea, my friendly bakers. It's a splendid idea in fact. Great, I will owe your young master here 50 pounds of flour to make 100 half-pounder bread for the working serfs. 2 flavours it is then, 100 loaves each...!" remarked Marcel as he slapped his thighs at the idea of the sort of engaging the bakers to churn these loaves of bread.

"However... Our dear merchant. These plaid loaves of bread that we had made would also be sold to you at 2c. Since there would be 4 flavours, these would be targeted for the nobles of course. We would be making something like 800 loaves of these plaid braids, 200 loaves of bread for each flavour."

"800 loaves? For sale? Hmm... This loaves of bread would also be a hit. Furthermore, truth to be told, I had sold off each of the fruit, vegetables and meat-filled loaves of bread for 10c each...! There's nothing to hide from you. That's where I would be able to make a profit through buying and selling."

"I agree then... 100 half pounders loaves of milky flavoured and 100 half pounders loaves of fish glossed filled ones for an exchange of 100 pounds of plain flour when I come here on the next trip."

"My good friend, please produce me with a sales invoice for that and also another sale invoice for 200 loaves of plaid bread in chewy cheese, milky, fish floss filled and sugary coated ones. I will purchase them at 2c for a total of 1600c or 16 silvers."

"Alright then, Heather please produce those two sales invoice in duplicates so Marcel here would have a copy each. We have completed our first official sales invoice and we could put it aside for our accounting purposes.".

"At least one indicates the sales and the other our purchases. With these two, it would be a control of treasury and you would be in charge to compile the data at the end of the month and announce it to our citizens." I informed Heather as she nodded her head approvingly.

"You announced the sales and purchases at the end of the month to your citizens? Why?" Marcel was bewildered as this information was normally kept secret.

"Our citizens were actually not paid to do all these works initially. What they work for is towards the economic structure and we have a goal of hitting 100 gold coins through trade alone. Once we hit that benchmark and had surpassed it for a month or so, we would be able to reimburse the citizens back."

"Ahh...even though I'm not well versed in economic reforms et cetera, I am sure your citizens are well aware of its benefits at the end of the day. Leader of the Irish Travellers, do you intend to settle yourself here in this village and help it grow?"

"This village has a lot of potentials and is not following the trend of others such as cloths, jewellery and other stuff." Marcel subconsciously marketed the idea of Gracehaven to the leader of the Irish Travellers and this put him into a harder position to decide and this position was actually leaning towards Gracehaven, rather than away from it...!

"Well... I... Uhh... Discuss them with the families here. As you can see, I am old and soon I would be surpassed by the young. The young would take my position and makes the best decision for the group. You know what I mean."

"We would be here to study the settlers so that we would give our final say at the end of our 3-day stay." the leader of the Irish Travellers related his experiences that he had discovered in the village.

It was nearly time for dinner and the ladies stopped their work as they went ahead to gather the necessary ingredients to make their dinner and supper. Tonight dinner would be simple and yet sumptuous as they decide to prepare them according to Kayla's suggestions.

One red deer that was earlier trussed up was brought down, cleaned its meat off the salt and were collected for other uses. They were going to prepare venison meat with edible roots and other plants to make a hearty broth with lots of grains in them.

Ribs and the spine were boiled down to extract its oil and other beneficial nutrients while the front and hindquarters were sliced and being made into chunks. 400-pound red deer meat would be more than enough to feed more than 100 citizens and guests. The bones with its tendons were placed into another cauldron and were boiled down for Sir Blackie.

The dog simply sat down on all fours as it watched over the cauldron of bones as if it knew that those were meant for it alone. It would stand up in its haunches once some ladies were to stir the contents and stoke firewood up the rocket stove. If Sir Blackie had a pair of hands instead of paws, it would gladly cook and care the cauldron himself...!

Kayla came and informed me that the ladies would be making steamed buns tomorrow and asked if Marcel is going to stay for the night.

"Hahaha. If he is... Furthermore, he is going to be to taste the famous steamed buns of Gracehaven tomorrow. What would you be suggesting, Kayla?"

Steamed buns were rather unheard of in most parts of England at the moment due to the scarcity of the steamer baskets. Besides Gracehaven has more than 48 rockets stoves and 48 sets of 3 layered steamer baskets that had been distributed to all houses as part of the opening ceremony and ways of welcoming the citizens.

"We would be making two kinds. Both would be flavoured. One would be the seasoned meat fillings with peas while the other would be seasoned potatoes with celery, spring onions and corn. The bakers would make the dough tonight and let it rise for tomorrow and it would be prepared by the ladies."

"Whoah...Marcel...you sure are going to be in for a treat. Hahaha. Steamed buns... Have you had them before?" I announced to Marcel and he can't help to smack his lips at the thought of those steamed buns tomorrow for breakfast.

"How many flavours of steamed buns could this village produces?" Marcel can't help but queried to Kayla.

"As mentioned those two, we would also have the green beans, red beans and broad beans steamed buns. Lightly salted and sugared. Great for breakfast. Also braised boar's meat, chicken, venison could be prepared too."

"Oh my God... I'm in paradise... 8 different type fillings of steamed buns... Oh my...I can't help to think about this...! Too bad my wagon can't carry these steamed buns or else I would like to order those too. My goodness... Gracehaven should have a subsidiary of a bakery in Corral."

"Actually, your wagon can be equipped with steamer baskets and a few rocket stoves. It's a matter of how our engineers would be able to think of it then. Alright, please proceed, Kayla, thank you for your advice."

"Jennings and Hereford, how are you going to plan for the orders tomorrow?" I asked since the ladies would not be working overnight, would they?"

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