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I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 454 - Part 1
🕑 Added 2024-02-19 23:40:21 +0000 UTCChapter 454: Lynn: Have you ever heard of magic bread? - Part 1
In the morning of the capital city, just as the sky was getting light, Susan woke up from her sleep, completed her usual household chores, and then went out to buy groceries for the next few days.
The streets were bustling with activity, with caravans coming and going continuously. Strong camels pulled wooden carts loaded with various goods along the widened cement roads. A few wealthy merchants who were visiting the capital for the first time were discussing the huge waterwheel in the distance, and occasional exclamations could be heard.
With a slightly piercing whistle, a beautifully decorated alchemy car swiftly passed by, billowing steam gushing out of the chimney at the front of the car, attracting the envious glances of the townsfolk and merchants.
This steam car, which could move on its own without horses or camels, cost hundreds of imperial gold coins, and only those with real status could own one. It was the new fashion for wealthy merchants and nobles in the capital...
As for the grand wizards, they rode in iron boxes that did not need to spew steam and ran even faster, said to require witchcraft and magic to operate.
Susan was thinking when an oval-shaped shadow suddenly fell. It was a huge and majestic airship flying overhead, casting a shadow over the lively sun above.
On the street, groups of children were stepping on the shadows cast by the airship, happily chasing and playing...
All these bizarre scenes, although Susan saw them every day, still made her somewhat uncomfortable.
For the past year, she felt as if she were living in a dream.
First, there was the propaganda from the church about evil wizards occupying the capital, cruelly killing King Bazeel, and destroying the sacred church, with many devout believers being arrested. The people of the capital were in panic, fearing that the minions of evil would target them.
However, what happened next was unexpected. The wizards did not hold evil human sacrifices or raid their homes for money. Instead, they began repairing houses and roads, and even opened many magic workshops, recruiting workers at high prices for iron smelting, glassmaking, and firearm production.
At first, no one dared to join the workshops, and there were even rumors that the wizards were deceiving them. The magic workshops appeared to be recruiting laborers, but in reality, they were conducting various evil experiments on humans, extracting souls and corrupting bodies into skeletons, which were then thrown into the abyss!
But since bold Haydon joined the wizards' workshop and began living a more prosperous life, even being assigned new housing, such rumors naturally fell apart.
Susan was very fortunate that she and her husband were among the first to join the workshop labor.
It should be noted that even though the magic workshops expanded several times later on, the number of recruited laborers was still limited.
Those poor people who woke up too late could only go to repair roads and mine - although the wages were not low, it was much harder work than in the workshops.
Now, together with her husband, they could earn twenty silver coins a month in the firearms workshop, which was unimaginable just a year ago!
Susan also learned for the first time that there was a day off every week.
This was simply the paradise described in the Bible, except it was built by the wizards...
As Susan was thinking, she soon arrived at the busiest street in the capital. Her gaze couldn't help but turn to a newly opened clothing store. Behind the glass wall were colorful dresses, made of fabrics and colors even more luxurious than those worn by noble ladies in the past.
The prices were not expensive either, around ten to fifteen silver coins. Susan counted the coins in her pocket, but thinking about the expenses of preparing for her two children to enter the wizard school, she reluctantly walked to the nearby bakery.
"Let's stick to the usual, three bags of white bread and two portions of beans," Susan took out a small bag of copper coins from her pocket and handed it over.
The bakery owner, Com, shook his head. "That'll be one silver and ninety copper..."
"How come it's so expensive?" Susan widened her eyes, looking incredulously at the owner.
She remembered that just a week ago, a bag of white bread cost only around fifteen copper coins, and a portion of beans was only sold for ten copper.
"You probably don't know, the price of wheat has soared recently, so naturally, the bread had to increase in price," Com grumbled. In just a few days, the price of wheat had nearly tripled, and what he was selling was already considered cheap.
"As for the reason... it's probably because of the war."
There were rumors in the capital that the wizards had already penetrated into the empire's territory, and the people in the newly acquired territories could also enter the workshops like them and live a life of eating white bread every day.
But where would so much bread come from? Although Com had heard from merchants from afar that the wizards had created an alchemical creature that could automatically cultivate land, it probably couldn't supply food for millions of people in the kingdom.
What's more unfortunate was that several territories in the northeast of the kingdom seemed to be experiencing a famine, so now there were rumors in the capital that there wasn't enough food to eat.
Many savvy merchants had already begun hoarding wheat, and Com was no exception. He then reminded Susan that she should buy more today; who knew if the price would be even higher tomorrow!
Susan looked at the high price, feeling a bit hesitant. But thinking that the price of bread might continue to rise, she still counted out the coins, sighed, and said.
"Give me five bags of black bread as well."
"Five bags of black bread, sixty copper in total!" Com grinned from ear to ear. After tasting the delicious white bread, not many people would be willing to eat the hard and tough black bread again.
Now was a good opportunity to clear out the inventory.
After reluctantly paying three silver coins, Susan took the purchased groceries and couldn't help but frown. Not only had the price of bread increased several times, but it was also visibly smaller. A standard loaf of bread used to be about four fingers thick, but now it had shrunk to about three fingers thick.
Susan couldn't help but feel a little worried. Since the wizards took control of the capital, famine seemed to have become a thing of the past, but now with the consecutive increase in grain prices, Susan was quite concerned.
Even though she could barely afford it now, what about a week or even a month later?
Clutching the last few silver coins in her hand, Susan hesitated whether to buy more?
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