Sweet, Shocking Surprise!

Chapter 137 Sweet, Shocking Surprise!

The pioneers watched in awe and knew that finally having a mechanical clock would solve the hours of the day and night. "How much do I owe you for this?" I asked Marcel but he waved his hand away and simply said, "This is a gift from me and it's a good gift since you could put it where everyone could check it's time, any time, any day. Just don't forget to wind it every 6 o'clock daily."

"You sure it's a gift? Thank you so much, my dear friend... Hear ye, citizens of Gracehaven. Marcel, our great friend and merchant had gifted us a mechanical clock, which tells the exact time of the day and night and does not have to refer to the stick anymore...!" everyone applauded and welcomed the gift as mentioned by me as a form of goodwill and a house-warming gift.

"Lady Heather will let you know how to tell the time later OK," I reassured the citizens as they all wanted to view how the mechanical clock works, especially the children who already knew how to recognise the numbers but have yet to learn telling time. Now we have a clock, it is possible right now...!

"Minister Ben, I would like to ask you if the 6,000 pounds of grains be enough to fit into the clay vat in the storage barn?"

"Yes, my Lord. We have enough capacity to store up to 12 thousand pounds of grains or wheat...! Each vat could hold a minimum of 600 pounds and we have 20 vats, my Lord." Ben answered immediately and knew he just made use of estimation for each vat of 12 cubic foot.

"Marcel the merchant, why did you bring so much and was even double from what I had ordered from you?"

"Haha... My Lord. It is because from the day after tomorrow, from midday onwards, you would be delivering... Uhh... Wait a minute while I look for my records... Oh yeah... Here it is... 250 loaves of bread for the working serfs and 2400 loaves of Golden Pillow...! And tomorrow by midday, I would like to have 2,000 bagels in 4 flavours, please, for Corral."

Marcel was chuckling when he mentioned bagels to me. I knew about bagels, it was like an anytime, any day kind of bread. It was like a breadstick but it was made into a circle with a hold in the middle. I used to play with them and placed both over my eyes and looked as if I had two monocles on both eyes. Hahaha.

"W-H-A-T...?!?!"

"2400 loaves of Golden Pillows? Are you kidding me? Here, let me take a look at the paper you are holding..." I reached my hand out and Marcel sniggered as he handed me the sheets. His handwriting was as bad as Heather and it was as if a chicken had dipped its claws in ink and had scratched the paper as if it was looking for grubs...!

On the paper, I could make out 5 names, Corral, Scarborough, Flamborough, Barmston and Beverly. Only Corral had the 250 loaves of bread for the serfs while the others were 500 golden pillows for all towns except 400 for Corral.

1,000 pretzels and 1,000 breadsticks for all towns, based on a single flavour.

125 fish or meat half-pounder loaves and 375 half-pounder loaves based on 3 flavours.

500 meat-filled plaid bread and 1500 non meat-filled plaid bread for all towns based in 3 flavours.

2,000 bagels based on 4 flavours for all 5 towns.

My hands shook as I read the paper in front of me and I slowly rose to my feet and I punched Marcel in the arm...! "Ouch... Why did you hit me for?"

"I just want to check if I am dreaming..."

"Then you should go and pinch yourself or something..."

"Heh, in that case, I would still feel pain if I pinch myself even if I'm dreaming... Hahaha. Is this paper real? Is this deal legit? When did the negotiations go down?" I asked Marcel in disbelief as I handed Heather the paper for her to read.

As she was reading it, she can't help but cupped her mouth with her hand and her eyes were very wide, not as big as saucers, but as big as a sunny side up egg yolk...!

Suddenly, a scout came over and whispered something to me and I was more surprised than Heather. Oh my...! It is like having jolts after jolts of surprise...! I nodded my head and I sat down and heaved a huge sigh of relief as I regain my composure and turned my head towards Kayla and Jack.

"My dear parents, could you assist me in welcoming 14 guests and that was picked up by Eagle from Hunton? Please have them seated and prepare their dinner first and make them as comfortable as much as possible."

Kayla and Jack responded and nodded their heads and quickly moved at the back and heads to where the wagon had stopped and quickly ushered in the guests that had travelled far with Eagle and his men.

There was a lull during the conference as the citizens saw Kayla and Jack busied themselves to bring the guests to the dining area and some women helped to bring 2 serving bowls, ladle and some bowls and spoons ready.

I let them entertain the guests as everyone welcomed the weary travellers and began to ask where they came from and how many other survivors they might have seen before et cetera.

Only when the 14 guests had settled down and began to eat, the citizens then returned back to the seat. Eagle reported back to me and I congratulated him as he briefly told me about masking their codenames, and also about the books, maps, armour and weapon kit.

"My Lord, Could you excuse Ben for a while I need his help over something." Eagle flashed me his pearly whites and I nodded as Eagle went over to Ben and pulled the latter together towards the wagon.

After talking excitedly with Ben, they both came back to the courtyard and Eagle clasped the shoulders of Marcel and said, "Your name and your fame is like a flame that spreads through a bushfire... Wild, fierce and uncontrollable."

"Eh... Why is it so?" queried Marcel in surprise and was immediately answered by Eagle as he said, "When a tiger dies, it leaves behind its stripes, while a virtuous man, would always leave his name behind. Those families over there knew you and were from Hunton and Bedale. You visited their village and had dealings with them before you hand over to your merchants. So it's not even a week and you are here once again with what... 6 horse-drawn wagons?"

"Hahaha... Well, I'm here for that and also for this." Marcel tapped the mechanical clock before him and also tapped the piece of paper for the orders of bread. Then he also tapped the bulge of the leather carry-all case and smiled.

Eagle took a glance and saw the orders written for Gracehaven and can't help exclaiming, "If you do good in life, Heavens above would repay you with good tidings. My Lord, you had gained another 14 new citizens who would pledge their allegiance with you and now you had gained another 4 towns ordering bread from GraceHaven?"

"My Lord... Have you calculated how much we had earned from all the figures written on this paper? Every single day a few thousand pieces of bread would travel from GraceHaven... Oh my goodness... How much is all that...?" Eagle was equally shocked and felt elated at the same time and the moment Marcel opened up his mouth, we were all blown away by the truth...!

"My Lord, you have received full payment for a 30 day period for a total of 120 gold coins...! The ones for Corral had not been calculated yet but I can say its close to 30 gold coins too. My Lord, could I pay you after the 30 days period? You may take the 120 gold coins paid by the 4 towns and I also would like to settle the cost of our bread and the merchandise that I had taken on the previous transaction."

I smiled and I raised my arm as I catch the attention of the crowd. "My dear citizens, Marcel came today, not only to bring this mechanical clock, or to deliver the 6 wagons full of grains and flour, but also delivers a very important message that our famed bread had now reached as far as Scarborough, Flamborough, Barmston and Beverley."

"Bakers, you would need to prepare 500 bagels in 4 flavours and 250 loaves of bread for the working serf to Corral and delivery would be from midday onwards. From then on, please take note that the following day, you would need to prepare 2400 golden pillows, make them ready before midday and be pushed out for delivery to Barton Hill."

"Citizens of Gracehaven, we had managed to spread the goodness of our bread over 5 towns now...! This would only spell one thing... R-E-I-M-B-U-R-S-E-M-E-N-T...!"

"That's right, reimbursement after the successful one month trial period by the 4 towns. If we got the deal and signs the contract, you all would be properly reimbursed on the second month onwards...!"

When I announced this, everyone was excited and everyone cheered and somehow they managed to chant something like, " Glory, Glory, Grace-haven...! " numerous of times and I have to raise my hand once again to simmer it down. We are not afraid to alert the enemies but we were afraid that the wild beasts would shy away from our barricades and underwater ones too. Hahaha.

Heather pointed to the leather carry-all case and told her to wait a while as we would discuss it later at the conference hall in the domain.

"My Lord, so tomorrow's order would be 250 loaves of bread for the working serfs and 500 bagels in 4 flavours which means it would be 125 each then," Jennings asked me for confirmation and I nodded my head. Taking it as a yes she moved back and I told her the flavours would be given to her tonight at the bakery.

"We need to tighten up somethings first so we would get back to you later. Ben, Frank... Could you assist Kayla and Jack to settle these new inductions? Have them to meet me tomorrow after the morning meeting. Thank you so much..."

Ben and Frank nodded and went ahead and we have to cut short the conference as we have matters to settle and I dismissed the crowd. There was no introduction by me for the new inductees and would be settled tomorrow morning.

Tonight we need to settle the things at hand and get the ball rolling. "My Lord, how about the load on the wagon?" asked Ben as it was normal for me to settle the payment and then to offload it.

"Don't worry, give me about an hour and we will get back to you. I need to settle this matter as soon as we could." I replied and Crystal was there as she explained to her husband what is an hour like.

Ben smiled sheepishly and went to help out Kayla and Jack while Heather, Marcel and I headed back inside the domain to settle the payment matters.