I was about to leaving the kitchen when a guard coming in the kitchen. It seems he looking for me.
"Young master Henry, finally I found you here"
"Oh? What's up? Why do you looking for me?"
"Carriage from the beach is already arriving in the castle town. They are now heading to the castle"
"Really? Let's see them then"
I following that guard and walk to the front yard of the castle. In the front yard, my father also already waits there. Maybe because they need to search for me first, I have arrived a little bit late than my father.
Not waiting for too long, the carriage from the beach already enter the castle gate. It's not just one carriage but two carriages who return from the beach. I see my uncle Jason also among the people that escort the carriage, also Joe as driver one of the carriage. I also see Craig and Charles get down from the carriage. Wow! This is an unexpected reinforcement for my welcoming party.
"Uncle! You also return? Who handles the operation on the beach?"
"Relax Henry, I let Claude handle the operation in there, besides I have matter to do here, related with next batch of people who will send to the beach"
"Joe! Craig! Charles, you come at the right time. I need your help"
"it's an honor for us if we can help young master Henry"
"First of all, why you also come with this carriage?"
"To buy more equipment and supplies for the camp, young master"
"Oh, right…I need you for the welcoming party. You can't return to the camp too soon. Uncle, I need to borrow your men for a while"
"Hahaha…we will stay here for couple days Henry. Don't worry, it's not we going to return tomorrow"
Meanwhile, my father also greets my uncle.
"Brother, you look healthy"
"Hahaha…good food, good weather. I must say you should go also to our settlement in the beach, John. Sometimes changing the air is good for you"
"I'll consider that, brother. What do you bring from there?"
"Salt of course, with Henry's thing that still left there. Call people to unload the goods and take to the storage"
My father calls the castle servant to help my uncle to unload the cargo and bring them to the storage. He looks interested with the seaweed that is unloaded from the cart
"Henry, what is that brownish green thing?"
"Weeds father, seaweed to be precise"
"What are you going to do with those weeds?"
"Make it as food, of course"
My father looks dumbfounded when he hear I want to make that seaweed as food
"Food….do you want us to eat weeds?"
"It's edible and healthy for body…of course, not just us, I also want to serve this seaweed for Earl Stamfort too"
"Is that weed can really be eaten? Are you sure?"
"Relax father, before I serve that for Earl Stamfort, I will make the sample for you to taste"
"Oh…alright. I hope that really taste good and edible as you said"
My father eyes turn into wooden barrels that were unloaded from the cart
"And what is that? Those barrels are not containing salt, right?"
"Haha…we just start producing salt father, of course, we still not capable to produce that much. There're ingredients for the welcoming party"
"May I take a look?"
"Sure, go ahead father"
My father takes a look for the content of the barrel. After he opens the lid of the barrel, he seems surprised after looking at the content
"Henry…What is this? Is this edible? It looks horrible with that big clamp"
It seems my father open the barrel that contains the lobster.
"Of course. It will be a delicious dish after being cooked. Unfortunately, the number is limited, I can't make a sample for that dish"
"Oh, as long as you can make it to a delicious dish, it doesn't matter"
The servants still unload the cargo from the carriage. This time they carry the barrel contain living fish.
"You also make a dish from fish Henry?"
"Yes, I see that Earl Stamfort territory doesn't adjacent to sea so this sea fish surely give them a new taste. Something that they can't enjoy every day"
"Hmm…make sense"
Another cargo is my barrel that I use to make alkali solution. Well, I must move it to watchtower later to make another batch of soap for people in the castle. I also need to get some ashes from the castle kitchen too.
The last cargo that unloaded from the carriage is salt jars, it also the salt from the second batch of cooked salt water. My father rubbing his hands when seeing this salt jars. A wide grin appears in his face.
"This really came this much…. I can see a bright future is waiting for us"
"This is just the beginning father, once the salt pond starts producing salt, there will be more to come. We better start to think about the regulation and distribution of this salt for the future thou"
"You right Henry. This salt is the important commodity of our territory, we can't let outsiders mess up with our salt"
"I leave that to you, father, right now I must go to the kitchen and told the cooks there how to handle these ingredients properly"
"Ah yes, you can go"
I follow the servants that carry ingredients from the salt camp to the storage. I must make sure they put the ingredients in the right place. After that go to the kitchen again and take some cooks, tell them how to deal with these ingredients before teaching them how to cook these ingredients tomorrow. Then I must see Joe, Craig, and Charles because I need them to make something for me.