Aarya and Inse stood in a spacious, empty shed that doubled as their storage area. Aarya had already looked up the prices of the items Chulond might need and shared the information with Inse to help with their decisions.
Inse had spent 1 gold Coin from the 4 Aarya gave her. She return Aarya the remaiaing 3 gold coins. Aarya turned all the gold coins into OP now he had 500 OP, enough to buy everything. He opened the internet store and began searching for the required items.
[ Wheat 5 kg = 1 OP
Barley 2 kg = 1 OP
Pick Axe 1 = 7 OP
Sickel 1 = 3 OP
Ha.... ]
Aarya spent a total of 120 OP to purchase 200 kg of wheat and 160 kg of barley. He then used 140 OP to buy 20 pickaxes and 150 OP for 50 sickles. Additionally, he spent another 30 OP to acquire extra materials and tools, making his total expenditure 440 OP. Suddenly, all the items they had just purchased appeared right in front of them.
This was Inse's first time witnessing such a magical occurrence. Previously, she had only seen gold coins materialise, but now, as she witnessed everything appearing before her eyes, any lingering doubts she had about Aarya's blessings vanished completely.
Aarya turned to his mother and said, "Mother, please check if everything is in order." Inse stepped forward and carefully inspected all the items. The wheat and barley were in excellent condition, and the farming tools were of exceptional quality.
"It's all good. Especially these farming tools; they are very well-made. I'm just concerned about anyone asking where they came from," Inse said with a sigh.
Inse locked the shed, and they both began walking away.
"Mother, if this trade is successful, we've only made 11 gold and 5 silver coins in profit. If we want to pay off the debt, we need to make plans for the future," Aarya said thoughtfully.
"Don't think of 11 gold coins as less. It's more than some people's annual salary, and we made it in just a day," Inse said, trying to emphasis the value of the 11 gold coins.
She added, "If this trade is successful, there's a possibility that Mr. Chulond will want to trade with us again. I'm thinking of proposing to Mr. Chulond that he buy wheat and barley exclusively from us at a lower price than other sellers."
Aarya pondered Inse's words and responded, "I don't think Mr. Chulond will agree to that, and even if he does, trading wheat, barley, or farming tools won't be enough to pay off the debt. We need something more profitable."
Inse looked at Aarya, contemplating his words. "Mother, what about spices? How much do they sell for, and sugar?" Aarya inquired. Aarya might not have been a historian, but he knew that spices held great value throughout history, often traded for gold.
"I don't know much about spices, as we don't use them much," Inse admitted, her thoughts racing. 'I know,' Aarya said to himself sadly. "What we do use is salt, and it is very expensive. Even the inferior quality salt sells for around 2 silver coins per kilogram, and higher quality salt goes for around 5 silver coins per kilogram. The most expensive spice I know of is black pepper. They sell for at least 5 gold coins per kilogram. As for sugar, it's not as expensive as salt or black pepper, but high-quality sugar still sells for 1 silver coin per kilogram, and lower quality sugar goes for around 5 copper coins."
Aarya couldn't help but smile after hearing these prices, as he knew that the prices of spices in his internet store were comparatively much lower. "Mother, tomorrow we must sell salt or any other spices we can to Mr. Chulond," Aarya suggested enthusiastically.
"You can even get spices using your blessing?" Inse said in surprise.
Aarya smiled and replied, "Yes, Mother, I can get anything that isn't alive and doesn't require magic."
Inse continued to look at Aarya in amazement as they walked. "How should we sell spices to Mr. Chulond?" Aarya asked.
"We can simply show him the spices, and if he wants to buy them, he will," Inse suggested.
Aarya appeared sceptical and questioned, "Do you think that will work?"
Inse smiled confidently and replied, "Yes, it will. If the quality of spices you can obtain using your blessing is as high as the farming tools or the wheat, there's no way a veteran merchant like Mr. Chulond would pass it up. And if he does, it's his loss. What I'm more worried about is if he tries to find out where we're getting these high-quality items."
In Inse's study, Inse sat at her desk, with Aarya seated across from her. On the table in front of Inse, there were three small bags containing black pepper, salt, and sugar, each weighing one kilogram. Aarya had purchased these from the internet store. 1 OP each for sugar and salt per kilogram and 2 OP for 1 kilogram black pepper.
Inse first opened the bag of salt and was pleasantly surprised when she saw its pure quality. She took a pinch and tasted it, exclaiming, "I've never tasted or seen salt this pure before," with a surprised smile.
Next, she opened the bag of black pepper and took a small black peppercorn, saying, "I've never tasted black pepper," before impulsively putting it in her mouth, ignoring Aarya's warning. As she chewed the black pepper, the bitter flavour touched her tongue. Her expression shifted to one of pain, and she began hissing in agony.
"Bitter! Bitter! Water, Aarya, water!" she cried out and spit out the pepper, but Aarya couldn't find any water nearby. Panicking, he said, "Mother, eat this," and opened the bag of sugar.
Inse, still hissing and blowing air in discomfort, her eyes welling up with tears, obediently ate the sugar. After consuming a bit more sugar, the intense bitterness finally subsided under the sweet taste of the sugar, and Aarya sighed in relief as Inse calmed down.
"Oh my gods, that was the most bitter thing I've ever put in my mouth," Inse exclaimed little embrassed, as she continued to chew on the sugar. She took more sugar and put it in her mouth to savour the sweetness.