My emporium in another world

During the road. . .

As soon as we started to get to mainstreet where there was almost no traffic aside from a few carts with a lot of people that they had their goods on board and were also going to the Great Forks.

As we rode across mainstreet, a few people came over to me and asked for a ride by paying from 5 copper to 15 copper coins. Since it was a celebration, I decided to take 5 copper coins per person, but it would become 15 copper it they wanted to load their cargo onto the cart.

Since the weight became evident, I was starting to fear that the cart wouldn't hold on, but fortunately, it did. But I Willy not let so ma y people on the cart. It's dangerous. I made a mental note for myself.

As soon as we got to the gate, everybody except the Holt family, Dorothy and me hopped off the cart ran inside the Great Forks.

The rest of us went to the entrance where the carts and horses were accepted.

And when we got into the main hall, it was so colorful it almost made me tear up. The light were gold and silver color. Market stands here and there and people walking around as if it was summer.

And not just JackForks people, but also some people I could categorize from Sapphire Town and others from other places which I couldn't categorize because I haven't been anywhere else in this world.

I hopped off, tied the horses on a safe pole and took two apples and gave them to them. Peanut preferred the yellow apple while Jam almost yanked an arm from me to eat the green apple. Then, while everyone got off the horse, I sat down on the floor to make a few notes.

"There were about 20 people who paid 5 copper to get on the cart + 5 people who brought some cargo of their own.

20 x 5 = 100 copper coins.

5 x 15 = 75 copper coins.

In total = 175 copper coins."

I put the book away and went quickly to check on things.

Oaken and his family quickly hopped off and helped Dorothy come down from the cart. They almost looked embarrassed, but they disimulated it very well.

The Holt family took out their whole cargo off the cart and went inside the market to start trading. Dorothy and I on the other hand, we had to pretend to be little ladies, so we took one big basket in one hand and one small basket in the other.

'Remember Dorothy. 180 for the big one, 100.25 for the other, and don't reduce the price unless there's a trade to compensate the 4.95 copper coins per reduction.' I reminded Dorothy who nodded and we went in different directions.

What's better than this and that? The moment I went to a client and offered one of my baskets, the JackForks' people went nuts!

They remembered me from the last time Dorothy and I brought this fulfilling baskets and immediately asked how much they costed, how much I was walking to sell them and for how much I was willing to reduce the prices!!

'Hold on people, if ya'll are yapping I cannot answer all your questions!' I reclaimed while covering my ears. Once they stopped talking, I relaxed and went on. 'Now let's see. As you know, Ms. Cranland has helped make the baskets while I make the food for fill them up! We have very litimited baskets, more than last time, but still limited! Therefore, the price is the same as the first time! 180 copper for the "Family size basket," 100.25 basket for the "Winter weekend," and if you guys want to reduce the price you MUST trade something to compensate!' I explained loud and clear.

Some of the other towns' people booed because the prices were a bit "too high" but some of the towns people plus other foreigners were insterested in trading with us.

So the challenge begun.

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"The trading is going great. We are having a small break back in the cart and we took out our lunch.

So far, we were able to sell 19 out of the 28 "Family sized" baskets while we were able to get rid of 17 of the 25 baskets, and we still have the jumbo basket.

But it wasn't bad.

From the 19 Family baskets:

— 10 were sold at full price. 180 x 10 = 1,800 copper in total.

— 5 were sold without the tax (175.10 x 5 = 875.5 copper) and got a bag of potatoes, two bags of vegetables, a box full of corn, and 2 big bags of sugar.

— 2 were sold by half the price (90 copper each) and got a male goat and two cats for hunting the mice that may come across the barn and the house.

—1 was sold by a third of the price (60 copper) and got 5 huge bags of flour.

— The last one was traded by a package of the same size and width that had a frozen bag of shrimp, three crabs, salt water algae and two bags of rice!

From the Family baskets we made:

1,800 + 875.5 + 90 + 60 = 1,000 + 800 + 800 + 70 + 5 + 0.50 + 90 + 60 = 1,000 + 1,600 + 220 + 5 + 0.50 = 2,000 + 600 + 200 + 20 + 5 + 0.50 = 2,825.50 copper in total!!

From the winter 17 baskets:

— 12 were sold at full price. 100.25 x 12 = 1,203 copper in total.

— 3 were solved without tax (95.30 x 3 = 285.90 copper in total) and got a small box of fruit (a bit frozen, but they are still good), a frozen bag of berries, and a duckling.

— The last two were traded by a HUGE freaking turkey. I'm NOT kidding! (Planning to make a meal to eat it. Is extra meat, understand me people!!) Also 2 pairs of matching gloves, scarf and cap, adult size.

From the winter baskets we made:

1,203 + 285.90 = 1,000 + 200 + 3 + 200 + 80 +5 + 0.90 = 1,000 + 400 + 80 + 11 + 0.90 = 1,491.90 in total!

2,825.50 + 1, 491.90 = 2,000 + 800 + 20 + 5 + 0.50 + 1,000 + 400 + 90 + 1 + 0.90 = 3,000 + 1,200 + 110 + 6 + 1.40 = 4,000 + 200 + 100 + 10 + 6 + 1 + 0.40 = 4,000 + 300 + 10 + 7 + 0.40 = 4,317.40 IN TOTAL!!!

Dorothy's share:

19 big baskets➗2 hours taken to make each one = 38 hours in total x 15 copper = 570 copper.

17 small baskets ➗1.5 hours taken to make each one = 11.34 hours in total x 15 copper = 170.10

In total:

570 + 170.10 = 500+ 70 + 100 + 70 + 0.10 = 600 + 140 + 0.10 = 740.10 copper is what I give to Dorothy for now!

4, 317.40 - 740.10 = 3,577.30 copper for me!!

After lunch, we shall go back to trading, but this time I also want to buy food for the animals. Especially for the horses and sheep. The goats and pigs can eat leftovers as long as I mix them with their food supply, and the chickens eat only a handful seeds at a time; the horses on the other hand have to eat more because of their size and the sheep because there are 12 of them.

Hopefully, I can trade a few baskets to compensate the money so I don't have to pay all the money we've earned to day."

I put my diary, ink and pen away and went on to finish my lunch. 'Everybody is good today?' I asked Dorothy and the Holt family.

They all nodded agreeing to my question.

I noticed that almost over half of the stuff the Holt created to sell was sold off, I was able to notice that a lot of that stuff were the mice and animal traps and I asked them to do for me, so it felt nice that they are able to make a profit from it. After all, it was WAY cheaper to pay for traps and keep them during winter than having to train, keep and feed animals that may or may not die during winter.

And they are made of wood, so while they may be costly unlike the iron traps, they don't rust due water and because of the animals pee and blood.

'Good, it's just been a couple of hours and we had made a huge sale so far!' I exclaimed finishing my lunch getting close to them. 'Now, come closer.' I requested them to do and they did. 'Good. Now, here's the thing, since we've been able to make a good profit so far, we can now relax and see what we can buy to keep working. I want to start packing up by 3: 45 p.m to start returning home at 4:00 p.m. because it takes an hour to get from here to our side neighborhood, and you ALL know by know that the sun sets by 5 p.m.' I told them my plan. 'It's 12:30 o'clock, so how about we see what we should buy for about 2 hours, meet back here by 2:45 p.m., get to sell the last bit of our things and whether if we have sold anything or not by 3: 35, we come back here, pack up and move back home. Does that sound good?' I asked.

'Yes!' They all agreed.

'Good, let's go!' I declared taking my money pouch with me, but not before I gave Dorothy her share (which is 320.10 copper).

We all went to search what we were looking but also trying to enjoy ourselves.

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At 2:30 p.m. . .

I spent over 2,000 for the animals food supply, the farmers needed more money than food, therefore I just had to pay the price.

But afterwards, it wasn't that bad.

On one market tend, I found kid's winter clothing made out of wool and remembered Joseph. They had a promotion for "take a whole set of gloves, scarf and cap and take one half the price."

I swear I felt like the Flash as soon as I saw the promotion board and went there. 'Hello Mam! How much for each outfit?' I asked pointing to the clothings for kids.

'Oh! Looking clothing for your kids?' An elderly woman asked

'Oh no! I don't have children, but my friend does have a little boy and I thought to help her get her boy something for the winter.' I explained cheerfully.

'Oh, I see! Well then, let me show some patterns.' She went to the other side of her tend and brought up patches of different types of clothing with different color patterns. 'I have clothes for from 2 cycles old, to 12 cycles old.'

I took a look at the patterns. For the mittens or gloves, she had blue, green, white and red. For the scarfs, she had dark blue, white, green, yellow, brown and red. As for the cap, she had white, black, red, yellow, light green and blue.

I don't really know what type of color Joseph likes, therefore, I might as well go for gender neutral colors. Just in case. I took note for myself. 'Can I have a pair of green gloves, scarf and cap while the other set could be of red gloves, scarf and red cap?' I asked. 'The size should be about . . .' I thought to myself. Well, winter is still long and knowing hound start getting a growth spurt at ANY moment. I noted. '6 to 7 cycles.'

The woman nodded and arrrangement very quickly by folding the pairs of gloves as if they were socks, rolled the scarfs and stuff them inside the caps as if the caps themselves were bags. 'That will cost you 34.50 copper.' She said.

I took the amount from the pouch and and easily gave it to her and then took the clothes with me. 'Have a nice day!' I said to her.

She waved at me goodbye and went on with her day.

I put the clothing in my bag and went on to walk and see around once again. There was just so much noise. Debates, small talk, discussions and friendly conversations.

A few minutes staring at the trends, I witnessed a merchandiser from somewhere else that had tea bags and whole sets of tea pots!!

I immediately went to get those.

'Hello, fair lady! How can I help you?' The merchandiser asked smiling.

I smiled back. 'Can I know about the tea pots?'

'Of course fair lady!' The merchandiser guided me to the tea pot section. 'As you can see, we have of various types and color patterns, from a tea pot set for just two people up to sixteen people! Depending on how big you want the family to be or hung is the family you have, we can even arrange it personalized by next week!' He informed me cheerfully.

So they take customized orders eh? My smile widened. 'Well, in my home, there's about 4 people, but, I tend to bring more people over every now and then, so. . . What's the biggest tea pot set?' I asked shyly.

'Well,' the merchandiser seemed unsure whether it was right to tell me or not, 'the limit would sixteen teacups and the tea pot. But by your attire, I can only assume you don't have that people of that amount on your home.' He guessed.

'Yeah.' I nodded agreeing with that. 'In that case how about, a tea set of a teapot and 8 tea cups?' I asked.

'Now that would be better for you.' He nodded agreeing. 'The whole tea set costs $685.44.' He told me smiling.

I instinctively felt a shot of murder for my pouch. 'Can I make a few costs before deciding?' I asked.

'Go ahead.' He nodded and went immediately to charm other customers.

"I had 3,577.30 copper in my hands, the I spent 2,000 in animal food, and 34.50 copper for Joseph's clothing.

3,577.30

—2,000.00

34.50

————————

1, 542.80 copper in total!

If I were to spend 685.44 copper . . .

1,542.80

— 685.44

—————-

857.44 copper!"

I saw how quick would my money go flying at this point. 'And merchandisers will always ask for money since they don't need to trade for other things.' I murmured putting my things away and went back with the Merchandiser. 'Ehem, sir? I have to apologize but it seems that the price is a bit too high for me, therefore I'm gonna have to say no.' I scratched my head a bit ashamed.

'Oh, that's okay, don't worry. Necessities for people of low income always comes first, therefore I can show you some good stuff.' The merchandiser guided me inside his jerker tend and pointed to some bed sheets and blankets. 'This winter must have been VERY frozen for my lady and your family, therefore I offer you the opportunity to have a set of 3 blankets and 2 bed sheets for 342.72 copper.' He offered.

I took out my pouch and paid the the amount. While the merchandiser employees took different types of blankets and and bed sheets on the floor for me to see.

'Here my lady, these are all the types of blankets and bed sheets that we have available.' The Merchandiser pointed to them for me.

I took a look and touch them as well. It had even had tags about what type of material they were and how to wash them, which was very good and useful. That way I could take those that are easy to wash and are good for the winter.

I settled with light plant cotton bed sheets of white and and grey color, and as for the blankets, I took a merino sheep blanket of white color, a blanket made of the pelt of brown minks, and a blanket made of wolf's pelt on one side and a fleece on the other side.

The merchandiser workers rolled them up and secure them with strings and tied them for me and them gave me my new blankets and sheets.

'Thank you, come again!' The merchandiser waved at me goodbye.

'Goodbye!' I nodded while walking back to the cart with three blankets and the two bed sheets on my face.

As I walked I turned to look at the clock. 'Eep! 2:40?! I must get back quickly!' I ran while trying not to crash on anyone and dodging any sellers.

Almost there! I exclaimed in my head and barely made it to the cart by 2:44 p.m. 'Phew! I thought I would be late!' I exclaimed while putting my blankets and sheets on the cart.

'Tell me about it.' Dorothy's voice sounded behind me. I turned around and saw that she had shopping bags on her hands. 'I-I feel as if I went over board.' She blushed.

I thought about it. 'Well, that depends, how much did you spend?' I asked.

Dorothy looked away while getting closer. 'Well, about . . . 250?' She murmured shyly.

'Pff! That's not a lot! Oh, well, it depends on what you bought. I myself spent 342.72 copper in three blankets and two bed sheets. What about you?' I asked.

'Well, I found a notebook and pencil case offer for 8 copper for Joseph, a little blouse for 30 copper for Elizabeth, a beautiful set of baking molds of 100 copper for you, and. . .' Dorothy blushed even more. 'A barber set for. . . 128 copper?' She looked at me like looking for approval.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 'Dory, that's not spending much, that's giving yourself and others some luxury. Also, the barber thing is a great idea, let me tell you, if you actually know how to use the scissor, you could not only help me and the family with the hair put you could actually make you own salon and have customers to make their hair and beard.' I advised and informed her.

Dorothy looked at me with starts in her eyes. 'Y-You think so?' She asked.

'Sure! But, first you need to learn how to use them and inform yourself about what type of hairstyles can be done as well as how to treat hair. First educate yourself with that and then you get to ask for money.' I advised her.

Dorothy nodded excitedly.

'Changing of subject,' I took out a set of cap, gloves and scarf. 'Guess who can join us tomorrow~?'

Dorothy gasped surprised and clapped happily. 'My baby will be thrilled!!' She exclaimed.

I laughed. 'Come on, we need to keep selling the baskets as much as we can.' I encouraged her and we arranged ourselves to make sales.

. . . . .

3:35 p.m.

"Of the 9 big baskets yet to be sold, we were able to sell 4, it must be probably because there are more places with cheaper prices, but oh well, you can't get profit every day.

Although, from the 8 small baskets, we were able to sell and trade 6 which makes the effort not so in vain.

For the big baskets:

— 1 sold full price: 180 copper.

— 2 were sold half the price: 180 ➗2 = 90 copper. The rest of the price was reduced for 3 full bags of flour, and a small barrel of wine (wine itself is VERY expensive, so it was a good deal).

— 1 was completely traded for a pair of twins.

Yes, I'm being serious, a pair of twins. A boy and a girl. The couple (I'm guessing either the owners or the parents) who had them were abusing them even thought they didn't look like they had much themselves, therefore I decided to give them the last basket (even thought they didn't deserved it) in exchange for the children.

The couple didn't thought twice about it.

You should have seen Dorothy and the Holts' faces when they saw me return with not only exchanged goods, but with a pair of "new helpers."

The senior Holt said something along the lines of "either you are a foolish girl, or you just have a heart too good for this world."

I don't really know whether it was a compliment or not.

Going back to the okey business:

180 + 90 = 100 + 80 + 90 = 100 + 170 = 270 copper in total.

As for the small baskets:

— 3 were sold full price: 100.25 x 3 = 300.75 copper in total.

— 2 were sold half the price: 100.25 ➗2= 50.13 x 3 = 150.39 copper in total. The rest of the price was traded for 5 boxes of pasta, a recipe book and 2 bottles of vanilla extract.

— 1 was traded for shepherd dog fully grown.

For the trade with the dog, the farmer said he was moving to the city and just needed to sell and trade everything else. The dog wouldn't be able to live with him in the new home since he's used to live in the country and wild, so he thought might as well find someone who could take care of him. He also gave me the whole set of words of how to get him to follow orders which was nice.

Back to the money business:

300.75 + 150.39 = 300 + 0.75 + 100 + 50 + 0.39 = 400 + 50+ 1.14 = 451.14 copper in total.

In total:

270 + 451.14 = 200 + 70 + 400 + 50 + 1 + 0.14 = 600 + 120 + 1 + 0.14 = 721.14 copper in total.

As for Dorothy:

Big baskets sold: 4 x 2hrs/per basket = 8hrs in total x 15 copper/per hr = 120 copper.

Small baskets: 6 x 1.5hrs/per basket = 9hrs in total x 15 copper/per hr = 135 copper.

120 + 135 = 100 + 20 + 100 + 30 + 5 = 200 + 50 + 5= 255 copper in total for Dorothy.

Now for the subtracting:

451.14

— 255.00

—————

196.14 copper for me.

1200.08 + 196.14= 1,000 + 200 + 0.08 + 100 + 90 + 6 + 0.14 = 1,000 + 300 + 90 + 6 + 0.22 = 1,396.22 copper left."

I gave the money Dorothy deserved and we started to pack up with the help of the twins.

The Holt family started to to do the same, but it wasn't when we heard a voice getting our attention.

'Hey, Everyone! There's going to be a BIG auction right now at the other side, come one!!' The young man ran around calling for us.

The Holt family and Dorothy looked at me seeking approval. I just blinked. 'Go.' I nodded.

They all went running like their lives depended on it.

'Well, there goes our punctuality.' I scratched my head while turning to look at the twins.

The twins' clothes were ragged but at the same time they looked clean enough. They had bags on their bags and they eyes looked tired and broken.

I took a bed sheet and wrapped them with it. The shepherd dog standed in front of the cart while making sure the animals I traded my food for didn't ran away.

'Look I'm going to the auction with the others, you guys stay here and don't move, unless you have to go to the bathroom. Understood?' I asked them.

They nodded at the same time.

'Good. Now, it's not much. . .' I took out a bag of emergency oatmeal cookies and gave them the bag. 'But it will help you eat for now. Small bites, don't choke when there's no one around to help you.' I told them then ran to where everyone had ran off to.

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At night. . .

"I didn't spent much, just 100 copper for a box of about 500 candles that came with 100 boxes of matches, which is very good; 80 copper for giant but beautiful mirror for my bedroom; 250 for a wonderful spinning wheel for Elizabeth; & 20 copper for an art set.

In total, I spent 450 copper and still had 846.22 copper for myself.

But then, before we left I decided to pay for 3 small coats, and 2 more sets of cap, scarf and gloves for the twins. Of course, the third coat was for Joseph a long the two sets I bought home before, but once I bought before we left were for the twins.

In total: I spent over 80.50 copper for the last things I brought.

846.22

— 80.50

——————

765.72 copper left.

The last copper will be left for a future non-emergency use (which I'm pretty sure I will soon use for the twins).

I gave the boy a blue coat, black gloves, black scarf and blue cap; I gave the girl a red coat, yellow gloves, and white cap; the both of them cried of happiness when I gave them the clothing and once I wrapped them up in one of the blankets as we went home, they even fell asleep for the most part.

As soon as we got home, Elizabeth took the kids under her wing and helped me prepare them the blanket and something to sleep. Little Joseph practically was overjoyed to have new "older siblings," and squealed once I gave him his new winter sets.

The things I brought were:

— 8 bags of flour

— 1 bag of potatoes.

— 1 box of corn.

— 2 big bags of sugar.

— 1 Male goat.

— 2 hunter cats.

— 1 frozen bag of shrimp.

— 3 crabs.

— 2 bags of rice.

— 1 small box of fruit.

— 1 frozen berry bag.

— 1 duckling.

— 1 GIANT Turkey.

— 2 Adult sets of scarf, gloves & cap (I have one to Elizabeth).

— 3 blankets & 2 bed sheets.

— 1 Small barrel of wine.

— 5 boxes of pasta.

— 1 recipe book.

— 2 bottles of vanilla extract.

— 1 fully grown and trained shepherd dog.

— 1 pair of twins.

I'm pretty sure it was a wonderful day, but, unless I don't know them, Elizabeth and Joseph will want to come and I don't have the heart to leave the other two kids alone, therefore, I will ask Marianne to take care of the farm tomorrow.

The male goat got settle right in with the other two female goats and the not so small baby goat. The duckling is taking a space with the twins, the shepherd dog took the other three puppies to live with him at the barn (thank goodness) while one cat stayed at the barn, the other sleep around the kitchen and living room due to their hunting nature.

The twins must have names, for they actually said they are called "twin 1" and "twin 2." This is obviously not good, but I'll think what to call them with the pillow.

We will finally have a good night of sleep thanks to the blankets I bought. It was money well spent."

I closed the book and noticed something. 'Hmm, I start looking for another book, there's just so many pages left.' I yawned and blowed the candle out and went to sleep with Elizabeth and the twins in the small bed. We were curshing each other, but thanks to the blankets and the bodies, we were warm we than before.

It was a good day after all.