'Til Kingdom Comes - The Banished Prince Vol 2: Here Comes The Witches

Proposal For A New Product

After dusk, as the citizens had completed their tasks earlier and were having some drinks at Gracehaven's Greasy Spoon while waiting for the wild boar to be fully roasted over the pits, we prepared benches behind the bamboo throne to address the citizens during the nightly conference.

Not one of them was lamenting about not being provided dinner since they have lots of coins jiggling inside their pockets. 5 silvers a month per person would be able to last them more than enough if they were to dine daily for dinner and supper.

Besides, an average person only earns 2 silvers a month but here in Gracehaven, it was 5 silvers instead. A number of citizens set aside 4 silvers per person and only limits themselves to spend 1 silver a month. In this way, they would be able to set aside a budget for themselves.

Besides, accumulatively, there would be an average of 4 people in a household, so the total household income would be 4 silvers and that's double of a normal person's wages in another town...!

Hearing gathering the news of the citizens who were saving up their earnings brought smiles to the rest of the pioneers and us.

Now we would like to put the citizens through a test and we would like to see how big their hearts might be after breaking the news to them.

I raised my arm and addressed the crowd before us, "Good morrow fine citizens of Gracehaven. Please lend me your ears."

The crowd quietened down and everyone sat and listened intently. "Let us kick off with the progress report from the rest of the team leaders as well as the Ministers in charge of certain projects."

The crowd clapped their hand fervently as they knew of the progress but it would be made official during that nightly conference.

First to make the report would be Old Jack as he highlighted the progress done for the drying kiln of the grains and hay. He explained about the drying process and highlighted that each drying tray would be able to load up to 9 pounds of grains.

The capacity to dry them continuously would be at a maximum of 210 trays that equals to 1,890 pounds of wheat on a single run.

"To have the drying process of the grains faster, the trays could just be loaded with just 3 pounds of grains and it would only take about 2 to 3 hours to dry per run. That's 630 pounds of grains each time." old Jack concluded and everyone applauded the good news.

Next, would be Crystal, that highlighted the grains husking process and the winnowing of the grains to cool them off before storage. "This cooling off is important so that moisture would not develop and incur damage to the grains. Besides for every harvest, 20% of the weight was lost due to the husks."

"These husks would then be turned into feed for horse bread and pig feed, so please do not throw them away." Crystal highlighted to everyone as a reminder in case the senior peers had slipped their minds on how to store these husks aside.

After the pioneers had briefed their progress report it was my turn to highlight the main events. "The commodes for all the privvy had finally been completed."

"A big round of applause for Earl and Farah for making this possible. Do not worry about flooding the privvy to take a shower because the ground underneath was lined with gravel."

"This would cause water seepage to flow faster underground. The water had been preheated at 100°F so it won't feel that cold to have a shower in the mornings and the evenings."

When the crowd listened to the improvements made to their hygiene practices, they were ecstatic and applauded and cheered wildly. After the joyous cheers simmered down, a few hands were raised as the citizens wished to project their thoughts.

"Your Majesty, would there be a possibility of a sope as being sold here as in Bishopgate on London through the sopehouses?" a citizen announced her thoughts as Heather immediately noted it down and I looked at Marcel which shrugged his shoulders.

"How does this sope look like and what does it do?" I inquired because the citizen that announced it would be able to pinpoint a location in London that sell such a thing.

"Your Majesty, a sope that is being sold in the sopehouses in Bishopgate of London was like a piece of thick, soluble piece of hardened lard."

"In fact, it looked like half a piece of clay brick that had been halved again on its side, the size of a fist."

"After one had washed the body, the piece of sope was lathered and a piece of body washcloth was used to scrub the body, leaving a thin film of sope."

"After we rinse the body, it would leave the body squeaky clean. It could also be used to wash one's face too." the citizen concluded and I whispered to Heather to get as much information for it.

"Does the sope has any distinctive smell or anything after one had taken a shower with it?" I inquired because I had distinctively detected a business opportunity that Marcel had smelled too.

Marcel was like a shark that could detect a single drop of blood miles away and right now, he was a land shark that could smell the trickling of coins heading his way...!

"No, your Majesty. It does not leave a scent at all, it just leaves the body feeling slightly light after a shower. At least it takes away the grime after toiling in the fields for a day." the citizen replied and a flurry of ideas came into my mind.

A sopehouse in Bishopgate of London, even a citizen that had been about before settling down in Gracehaven knows about it.

There wasn't any sope back in Darlington, only some scented waters that we pour when we wallow in our own filth. There's not even a facility like privvy with bath back then...!

Truly, citizens of Gracehaven were indeed privileged at the moment.

"Your Majesty, would towels and body washcloths be available in Gracehaven's General Store or the  Gracehaven's First Tailor and Loom?" another citizen asked excitedly as the thought of showering occurred after it was announced.

"Yes, my dear citizen. Innes the Tailor, please do listen up. 1 yard of linen with hemmed edges to be sold accordingly to the price. Plus 3 feet make a yard and that would be enough to produce 3 body washcloth, innit?"

"So you could sell them accordingly to a yard and also make the cloth available in the Gracehaven's General Store too. The citizens here would be able to sew the hems themselves, don't you?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, the linen cloth is white with blue, yellow, red, green, black and purple edges. I would set out to work accordingly and turn them into 1 yard."

"For those who had bought the yard length, you may come over to my shop to turn them into a foot of body washcloth too. Thank you...!"

Innes the Tailor announced to the crowd and they found that spending 2c for a yard of cloth to turn into towel and body washcloth is a small amount.

Eagle and Marcel smiled at the sides as more revenue would be generated through the sale of these linen cloths that would be turned into towels and body washcloths. Definitely, just for a family of four, they would end up buying at least 8 yards of cloth for bath towels and another 4 yards to make 12 body washcloths.

"Heather, help me search for some books on sope making, will you? I guess we need to make some research on this. Hope the books that were brought back by Marcel would have had some information on this."

Heather looked at me with sparkling eyes since she knew that we would be having a new project soon and things would be moving forward once again for Gracehaven.

Ever since the majority of the weaving production areas had been closed down and moved to other departments, the cumulative sales for both Gracehaven and Marcel had dropped significantly.

"Thank you so much for sharing about the sope that you had mentioned earlier. I hope that a research team would be established soon so we would be able to discuss and do something about it."

"Besides, if one idea is being brought up, this would be beneficial for everyone here in Gracehaven, don't you think so?" I lauded the citizen for bringing up the idea thus giving us an opportunity to move ahead.

Fortunately, our clay bricks had been ongoing and the space intended to produce had also been expanded. Previously there was only a space of 30 lots to dry these clay bricks but now it had been increased to 45 lots.

Each day, close to 700+ clay bricks had been produced and every morning it would be stacked in a circular manner to be fired without the use of a kiln.

A weekly guaranteed sales amount of 1 gold and 20 silvers would be generated on the clay bricks alone. And now there's another project that would be researched — sope...!

=*=

After going through the formalities of explaining the developments, I raised the most important part of the issue right now — welfare benefits for the underprivileged.

"Citizens of Gracehaven, please lend me your ears. I would like to highlight something very important to you and I sincerely hope that you would give us your fullest support."

Everyone that was excited on learning about the developments of Gracehaven earlier had now piped down and everyone listened intently as to what their Majesty was about to announce.

"Right now we have 350 citizens living here in Gracehaven and as you know everyone here is well and about. Very soon, we would be having an induction of 20 more citizens and we hope that they would feel welcomed here in this town."

'As you can see, the only elderly people here are Old Jack, Old Kayla and Firestone. Even with Firestone and his current condition, he still managed to help out within the community."

"Now, within the latest inductees, there are about 8 of them that had been set aside by the militia for being injured while on duty, serving the King."

"They received a month's compensation and that's it, they don't have any more funds whatsoever to lighten their burden."

"We understand that the citizens of Gracehaven are now being sufficiently reimbursed for their contributions monthly and we do not impose any tax on any of you."

"However, from today onwards, we would like to propose something — to reach out to your kind hearts to help the underprivileged. What do you think about it?"

I voiced out and the crowd looked at each other. They realised that they were enjoying a 5 silver a month remuneration since we had hit a generated gross income of 500 gold per month (in fact it was more since 35 gold per town were being issued to us directly for the supply of bread, thus making us earn 490 gold coins monthly beside the side income for the biscuits et cetera) and tax was not imposed on them.

Moreover, they don't mind the high priced goods being sold in Gracehaven as it was considered as affordable to them. Unlike visiting guests, they would groan if they stayed in Gracehaven and discovered that a single piece of pan-fried flatbread costs as much as a local loaf of a half-pounder unflavoured bread elsewhere.

"There are men who served the battlefronts to keep our borders and country safe from the invading Frenchmen but once they got injured they are being discarded aside. So you think it is fair?!" I riled up the emotions of the crowd and everyone pumped their fists in the air and announced their displeasure.

"Now... Do you think half a day's wage would put a dent on you and your savings?!" the moment I heard that the crowd was replying it with positive notes, I smiled inwardly.

"In that case, allow me to introduce you to..."