Roland called Barov, the City Hall Director, to his office the second day after the relocation of the witches from Sleeping Island.
"I need you to issue a recruitment announcement." He pushed the drafts towards Barov. "10 people for one week's work. Preferably women."
Barov picked up the paper, read it carefully, and asked, "Your Highness, may I ask, what is... starch?"
"I suppose you know about wheat flour?"
The director hesitated for a moment. "Which kind of flour do you mean, the coarse flour or the refined flour? The grains can be crushed before being baked into loaves of bread or wheat cakes, and yet the bread Your Highness eats is made from the refined flour that has been sifted to remove the bran. The yield of the refined flour is only 60% of the coarse flour and the corresponding bread is softer. It has a price so high that only great nobles can afford it."
