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

The Merger

"Marcel, there are 32 baskets filled with 50 loaves of plaid bread. Each of these 4 baskets is 200 of each kind and there are 8 kinds altogether. Lady Heather, could you write for us the flavours so our dear Marcel here won't be confused?" Hereford asked for a favour from Heather and she went to take a few pieces of paper and writing materials to list the flavours and stuff them inside the baskets.

The dough to make the steam buns had already been set aside with a damp cloth over it and was set to rise evenly with gluten that had been extracted from cattails.

Each dough had been made into balls earlier and it would just left to be filled with the intended ingredients and be patted down, lined on a piece of banana leaf as its base and steamed in the steamer baskets.

A small sized dough, which was formed on top of the opening of the fist when it was squeezed, will be as big as an adult fist after steaming. The gluten or yeast inside the dough will continually rise and it would be fluffy when steamed.

After 2 days, the balance of the steamed buns could either be deep-fried in a cauldron of animal fat, which became like a fried dumpling instead. Due to only 3 teaspoon of animal fat was being used in the process of the dough, even when these steamed buns were deeply fried, it does not even absorb a lot of oil and fat...!

Marcel was feeling seventh heaven when he woke up to the smell of bread that morning. When he saw the baskets of plaid bread of 8 variety of flavours, he was thinking that he earns a profit margin of 250% on the bread alone. His trip is definitely not wasted...!

He checked the sales invoice of the final figure and paid the duly amount to Heather that morning. That plaid bread alone was 18 silvers shy of a gold coin.

Breakfast was pretty brisk. The men started the fires and prepare water for the steamers. The ladies all helped to make the steamed buns, even the ladies helped to prepare them too. There were laughter and joy and it seemed that this village was always bustling with endless happiness and bliss.

Each steamer layer could hold 15 steamed buns and there are 3 layers per basket. A total of 6 rocket stoves and baskets were used and in no time, these steamed buns were ready. Kayla had prepared two varieties, one with the seasoned meat with peas while the other was seasoned potatoes, corn kernels and fish for flavour. Both had lots of onions, celery and other spices to taste and it was a joy to eat when each tray of the steaming basket was presented.

A total of 35 pounds of flour were being used to prepare the morning breakfast c*m lunch together. Even if anyone were to take extras during the day, there was no one complaining. Breakfast is crucial and is to be taken as a heavy meal to start the day and lunch would be lighter which would consist of fruits that had been gathered earlier or by the hunter-gatherers of the Irish Travellers.

Marcel was feeling extremely lucky, not only did he have a fill of those steamed buns, but he also had a share of those plaid loaves of bread too. He set aside 8 of each flavour beside him after he had loaded the baskets of bread on his wagon. There were 49 baskets altogether and was recorded in the sales invoice that it was loaned to Marcel instead to be used to transport the bread.

From the initial 11 baskets, he now had added 38 more...! Since he was not involved in the morning meeting, he bade his farewell and made his way back to Corral where his customers would be waiting for his return on the next day. As usual, 4 loaves of high fibre bread were baked for the horse as a parting gift as Sir Blackie barked and stood on his haunches as he too bade his farewell and his thanks for the roasted chicken that Marcel had brought for it every time without fail.

=*=

"Leader, if I recall what this young Lord had mentioned earlier yesterday, he offered us a place to settle down and contribute to the economy and the community."

"The livestock would have a permanent place to stay and also would be beneficial in the long run. They no longer need to roam for pastures and food for both livestock and us would be bountiful."

"This young Lord has a good foresight. He had made several farmlands based on high yield, low to medium maintenance crops that could be harvested every season even during winter."

"Old Kayla who was the chief in gathering and herbology even showed us the grains of wheat that could be germinated on the last days of fall and be cultivated throughout winter...! "

"This way their supply of crops would not dwindle much and stock would be easily bought over from that merchant...! It is simply a blessing for the settlers here. Their total amount of population nearly equals to us but their general output is really surprisingly impressive...!"

"Just today's bread alone had made a profit of 32 silvers based on a workforce of 11 people. If they work in two shifts and have a stream of merchants coming in to fetch just these bread alone, this village would have close to 2,000 silver coins a month...!"

The young man who spoke up was the head of the Macguire Household who had joined the Irish Travellers for some good years since the birth of his third son. Before that, he was a livestock herder like Crystal in a small town until desperate times made him leave and decides to take a gamble with his family to be a nomad at first.

He then happened to chance upon Macintosh and therefore decides to join right up to this date. He and his wife were late 30ish and have 4 children. The eldest was his daughter at the age of 14 and had been an excellent hunter-gatherer armed with a bow and the youngest was also a daughter aged 8.

He had a son, aged 10 and was third among the siblings. Even at that tender age, the boy could be resourceful in having the knowledge of comprehending plants that would be best used as a medicine, and his knowledge could be further enhanced with Kayla's supervision.

He does not have much but he had a total of 2 bulls and 6 dairy cows and at this moment, the bulls were placed in a temporary castrated mode so that the bulls would not inseminate the dairy cows when the Irish Travellers were on the move.

It had been 2 long years since the bulls had been in that mode and felt it would be soon released of its 'torture'. Just imagine an animal who would be furiously tied down there and was unable to fully satisfy its partner or any of its 6 partners for two years. Pitiful, innit?

He was the first to speak up to the leader of the Irish Travellers of his opinions and the decision for him and his family to settle down in Gracehaven. He had also discussed with the families and 5 other families out of the 14 had decided to join him too...

The leader of the Irish Travellers listened intently and agree to the conclusion made. He doesn't want to be a hard person where everyone is bent to listen and follow his instructions. The attitude and demeanour of the young Lord before him was actually giving him an example of how one would not only lead his followers but governs a kingdom to come with one single mind. The powerful mind of its citizens...!

"How many families were taken in with the decision to be settlers here in this village?" the leader questions the young Macguire.

"6 families out of the 14 including mine. They are the Murphy, Mahoney, MacDonough, Mackenzie, Macpherson and lastly me, the Maguires."

"We will bring along with us, our livestock and build our enclosures here. We have our cows and bulls, Murphy has their sheep while Mahoney would have their mountain goats. The other families do not have any wealth with them but they would be able to render their strengths to build this village." the young Macguire concluded and waited for his leader to give further instructions.

"Sigh... Guess there would be a full life ahead of the 6 families that chosen to stay here in this village. All right, gather all the families, I would make an announcement to them in our secret language so that these villagers would not know what we're discussing."

"I will meet the Lord of the village and announce to him the families that had chosen to be settlers once we are done. It would be after his ministers had delegated the job for the day. I wonder what he would be doing next." the leader has spoken to Macguire and had kept the last part of the sentence to himself.

If a true leader of the village received the family and its livestock, what would be the next course of action be? Would he take advantage of the influx of population as well as the livestock? Would the livestock put down and be food for the villagers or perhaps left to graze out in the pastures?

There were a lot of questions raised in the leader of the Irish Travellers' mind and the answers could only found when it was revealed to the young Lord as he would make the ultimatum at the end of the day.

If it turns out unfavourable for the families concerned, they could always head out downriver and meet with other groups of nomads before joining up with them. There were still 8 other families that decided to stay on with the Irish Travellers group so the situation was not that bad after all.

After discussing their decision and plans in their secret language, the leader of the Irish Travellers came up to me at the outdoor dining table and discussed the families plans and their intent to be settlers in Gracehaven.

=*=

"Sir Lord, would you have time to spare some moments for me to confide in certain matters with you? I would have Lady Heather and old Jack to be present as well." the leader of the Irish Travellers came up to be, clasped a hand to his chest before he bowed slightly and sat down on the outdoor dining table before me.

"Oh sure, let me get old Jack first so at least he could sit in and review what your wise self wishes to speak," I assured the leader as Heather went to fetch old Jack who was busy setting up his smelter and is going to smelt those worn-out weapons back into ingots or pig irons again.

After the 3 of us had sat down, Heather had already prepared the census populace journal and also the daily journal to make entries. As discussed with Heather last night, there might be a possibility of an addition of families from the nomads into the general population.

This was the feedback given to me by those at the production areas when the ladies went up to assist them and also in the building structures production area as well. These feedback from them were crucial since it gave us a heads up and also a need to readjust certain matters like the supply of grains and flour all together.

An increase in population would also mean an increase in food intake. It was unlikely for the food to grow itself in the sheds and this would be a burden if a leader has no resources to sustain the sudden influx of citizens.

Fortunately, he had gathered some wealth with the help of Eagle earlier back and he had nothing to worry at all. Furthermore, he had several plots of farmland that has yet to produce wheat, rye, barley, oats and corn that could be germinated and harvested every season.

Wheat and rye could be made into flour and food. Barley could be boiled down to make a kind of beverage and food same goes to oats that can be turned to oatmeal bread or biscuits while corn could be made into a staple diet, roasted, boiled and eaten as it is.

In the future, there won't be a short supply of food and vegetables at all.

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