After days of travelling, they finally reached Blue Gem City. Just as Alex expected, it was a large city. Giant stone walls surrounded it and protected it from external danger.
The guards of the ice phoenix tribe stood in front of the gates welcoming all the travellers. There were no taxes or fees to enter the city. Only the people who are there to sell product needs to register and pay tax. And the security was maintained by one of the nine great tribes, the ice phoenix tribe.
So, it was a safe haven for travellers too. This further increased the booming population of the city.
Everywhere he looked, he could see people. And everyone had some kind of luggage with them. While most were pedestrians buying things for their own use. Many merchant caravans were flooding the streets to support the market.
The open market was in its beginning state. People from all over the land were coming to sell and buy things in bulk.
Alex with his group of people slowly entered the city through the north gate.
The inside of the city was just as impressive as the outside. There were giant stone buildings on either side and the further they went the larger these buildings became.
It was said that the ice phoenix clan was residing at the centre of the city. And the buildings in the centre were absolutely massive. There was even a monolithic stone shrine a couple of hundred meters wide, made to worship their spirit guardian, the ice phoenix.
But Alex didn't have time to look around just yet. They had to move towards the open market on the east side of the city and set up a stall.
Setting up the stall was not difficult.
After reporting to the open market management team, they just had to wait until they are allocated a stall. After the sale, they need to report the profit and pay the tax accordingly.
Some people tried to run away without paying taxes. But never did they have a good ending. Due to the strict management and security of the city, such people were immediately kicked out or punished.
Alex roughly understood the dos and don'ts of the blue gem city before leaving the group with his lackeys.
Dhairya and Thadi didn't mind this. This was exactly why they brought the kids along. They need to explore to learn more about the city.
So, they gave them a hundred copper coins and let them walk around. Alex didn't know the value of the copper coins. Yet, that didn't prevent him from grabbing it all from his lackeys and putting it inside his pockets.
Uli pouted seeing this. But there was nothing he could do. The hundred copper coins were for the entire group and Alex was their leader. It made sense for him to hold on to that.
Alex and the four lackeys quickly went around the market. Most of the stalls were selling food items and tools. He could occasionally see shops that sell weird trinkets.
Food items included smoked meat and preserved meat, raw vegetables and fruits, dried fruits and vegetable, salt, spices and even some live cattle and poultry.
Alex was excited to see this. In front of him was a living chicken, the best of its kind.
'It has been so long since I ate chicken.' He thought while gazing at them.
"How much does this chicken cost?" He asked promptly to the shopkeeper.
"Fifty copper coins. No more no less. These are the best chickens you can find in this city. You won't regret buying them." With some filler ads, the shopkeeper replied.
Alex had hundred copper coins in his hand and it was enough to buy two chickens. But he didn't buy them yet. He had to look around for more.
Like that, he came across a place that sells sunflower oil. Suddenly his mind sublimated in a wondrous thought.
"Mayonaise!" A word left his mouth watering.
He had a lot of ginger, lime, chillies, black pepper, garlic, cardamom, cumin and turmeric. All that was prepared on his farm to sell in the city.
After levelling up the farm, in the 100 units of farmable land. He spent most of the time farming spices and storing them up instead of selling them.
It was an obvious choice for him. Per kilogram, spices cost more than vegetables. And by selling these rare spices. He could make the most money. The farm could wait a little bit before levelling up.
'Purely genius.'
But now that he saw sunflower oil in the market, a crazy idea came to his mind.
Selling the spices would be easy, he had seen all kinds of spices being sold in the market. But, the price depended on the quality of the spices. Although the spices he had was of better quality, he had no way to prove their origin.
So, he came up with the idea to make a food stall. But, he had no idea what to sell in the food stall.
However, seeing the sunflower oil, he had the crazy idea of making mayonnaise. He just needs garlic, eggs, salt, lime or lemon and sunflower oil. If he really wants to, he could experiment with chillies and other spices. And by mixing them appropriately, he could easily make mayonnaise.
And food served with mayonnaise that no one knows how to make will be better than food without it.
This was a competitive advantage. With this as his base, he could sell his products at a premium price and make a killing.
"Ha ha ha ha … Ku Ku ku ku…" Weirdly laughing like a maniac. Alex went to the shopkeeper.
The shopkeeper warily looked at the crazy kid. Trying to understand his motive. No one would dare rob someone in the city. He thought to assure himself.
"How much is it for the oil and butter?" Alex asked.
"Sunflower oil costs about 200 copper coins for a bucket, the butter is up for 300 copper coins for half a bucket." Pointing to an iron bucket that held the items, the shopkeeper said.
'An honest merchant? He might be an artefact of the less developed civilization.' Weirdly looking at the shopkeeper, Alex thought.
From his understanding, it was a reasonable price. So, he bought the sunflower oil with the money he had. It looked like a syrup in freezing cold winter. But after tasting it, he knew that it was authentic.
He let the lackeys carry them towards their stall.
Tomorrow, Alex planned to make a fried chicken stall.
'My life as a boss of a fast food joint in another life. Should that be my autobiography?'
Nodding his head up and down, Alex walked around to explore a little more.