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Chapter 14: Sugar
🕑 Added 2024-10-04 14:14:57 +0000 UTCBack at home, Josh checked the time on his watch; it was around seven in the evening.
After a moment's thought, he summoned the system.
This time, however, Daenerys took a while to appear.
Josh waited a full fifteen minutes, and just as he was starting to get impatient, Daenerys finally appeared on the screen, dressed in a revealing outfit.
"Uh-oh, looks like I interrupted something good!" Josh said with a teasing smile, glancing at the screen where Daenerys appeared flushed and seemingly in a good mood.
Clearly, this queen from another world had just been through an intense battle. Josh guessed that Daenerys had returned to Meereen and her opponent must have been Daario Naharis, the leader of Second Sons, a sellsword company.
"Now that you know, next time choose a better time," Daenerys replied nonchalantly to Josh's teasing.
The culture of Westeros is quite liberal; Daenerys has experienced more embarrassing situations than this, so Josh's playful remarks hardly stirred her emotions.
"There is a problem, though. While business is important, it's not ideal if it interferes with our personal lives. So let's set a fixed time. If something unexpected causes us to miss it, the trade will be postponed until the next day," Josh suggested.
"That's fair. What time do you suggest?" Daenerys replied, showing no objection.
"How about 7pm system time? We'll wait ten minutes, so if one of us hasn't shown up by 7:10, we'll automatically reschedule for the next day. That way, unless there's an emergency, we don't have to worry about interrupting each other," Josh explained, glancing at the system clock.
Even though they were in different dimensions, the trading system reminded him that time flowed at the same rate in all trading realms, and synchronised with Josh's current time in Chicago.
"Sounds good!" After a moment's thought, Daenerys agreed. This time also coincided with her rest period, as the nightlife in Westeros is rather dull. She had some time on her hands and had been preoccupied with Dario, who had been particularly aggressive in battle, so she was reluctant to wrap things up.
"Now that we've settled the time, do you have any surprises for me today?" Daenerys asked after confirming their regular trading schedule.
"Sorry, I've had a bit of an unexpected situation today, so I haven't been able to stock up. To make up for it, I've prepared something else for you," Josh replied, placing two brown paper bags in the trading section of the system and initiating the trade without asking for money.
"What is it?" Daenerys asked, showing no resentment towards Josh.
While she valued firearms, she had already amassed one of the most powerful military forces in Westeros, so her need for them wasn't immediate.
However, she was looking forward to the new item Josh had brought from another world.
"Some sugar and chocolate," Josh shrugged.
As he mentioned, the two brown paper bags contained a pound of sugar and a pound of chocolate, just under a kilo each. He had bought them earlier in the day after lunch when he and Margot had gone house hunting.
Although the amount might seem small, it wasn't because Josh was stingy. Sugar was one of the most heavily regulated commodities during the American war, even more so than tires and petrol. The weekly ration of sugar (including chocolate) was only 0.25 pounds per person, or about 113 grams.
Thus, this pound of white sugar and a pound of chocolate were all the sugar vouchers that the black market dealer Mike had managed to stock up.
"I know sugar, but what is chocolate?" When Daenerys heard "sugar", she didn't think too much about it; as Queen of Meereen, she certainly wasn't deprived of it. However, she was intrigued by Josh's mention of chocolate.
"It's a sweet made from fruits unique to our world, with mood-lifting effects," Josh explained.
"Wait, that's sugar? So pure sugar?" Upon hearing Josh's explanation, Daenerys became visibly interested. But when she opened the bag of white sugar, she was astonished.
While Westeros had dragons, magic and possibly gods, its productivity was, frankly, probably inferior to that of medieval Europe. So even if there was sugar, it was probably only the coarse brown sugar lumps.
Fine white sugar was something she had never come across.
"Exactly! That's sugar. It's called white sugar because it's as fine as white gravel," Josh nodded.
"Oh my gosh, that taste - such pure sweetness!" After Josh confirmed it, Daenerys carefully used her slender little fingernail to scoop up a small pinch of white sugar and slowly brought it to her lips.
It was as if she had tasted something divine, and she closed her eyes to savour the moment.
Watching Daenerys' careful tasting and her ecstatic expression, Josh couldn't help but twitch his lips; for a moment he even doubted if what he had given her was sugar or some kind of indescribable source of pleasure.
"Sorry, I lost my composure a bit, but I've really never tasted such pure sweetness before!" After enjoying it for a while, Daenerys finally came to her senses and said to Josh.
"Don't worry, but I think you'll like chocolate even more after you've tasted it," Josh shrugged.
"Thank you! I'll savour it, but such pure sugar must be expensive, right?" Daenerys couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, it's quite expensive as it's a strictly controlled strategic commodity," Josh nodded. The two pounds of sugar and chocolate cost him $4, not including the ration coupons.
And how much does ordinary beef cost? 40 cents a pound.
That's the price, even with ration coupons.
If he bought it on the black market, it would probably cost many times more.
No doubt this price was astronomical compared to the cheap price of white sugar in later generations.
In fact, sugar prices in America were still relatively cheap.
During the Second World War, the most exaggerated price increase for sugar was actually for "sugar chickens".
At its peak, the price of sugar rose 770-fold from pre-war levels, while the price of food, petrol and other war supplies rose only about fifty-fold.
By the end of the Second World War, a US soldier could buy a sweet and caring wife with just one bar of chocolate.
When Josh mentioned that it was quite expensive, it was still relative to the cheaper prices of later generations.
However, Daenerys misunderstood him and thought that Josh had spent a considerable amount of gold.
Fans of Game of Thrones know that, as Queen, Daenerys was very generous to her supporters.
And even though Josh wasn't one of her subjects, she felt she couldn't let him suffer a loss after giving him such a precious piece of food.
So she waved her little hand in the air, and a trade request sounded from the system.
Josh was stunned.
The trading section showed an astonishing amount of gold - a thousand ounces. (~28.3495 KG)
Is this woman crazy?
Josh knew that sugar was expensive in ancient times, but in general, after the sugar shortages of medieval Europe and the "Sugar Chicken" of the Second World War, the price would at most be equal to the price of gold.
But a thousand ounces for two pounds of sugar? That's already thirty times the price of gold!
Why sell weapons when you could sell sugar instead?
Fortunately, Daenerys' next words made it clear to Josh that she hadn't lost her mind.
