Chapter 48 - Ambition and Crisis
Radishes made more money than oil fruits. There was no comparison. A single batch of radishes could be sold for eight thousand gold coins, but every single oil fruit that he could grow in a month would only get him two thousand seven hundred gold coins.
But even if the Markey Company was one of the largest firms on the Continent, at most they would only be able to sell about four hundred thousand catty of radishes per month. After all, radishes cost one silver per catty, and many people couldn't afford that.
As long as Zhao grew five batches of radishes per month, he could make enough for them to sell. All together, it would only take forty hours, which was less than two days.
Then what could he grow the rest of the time? The common vegetables from the Continent? Those vegetable seeds would disappear as soon as it entered the spatial farm.
So he decided to grow oil fruits. Oil was in high demand. Cooking oil was needed on the Continent. Plus, some commoners who engage in heavy physical labor would consume oil as nutrients, because they generally couldn't afford to eat meat. The amount of oil used on the Continent per day was astronomical, resulting in a sustaining oil industry. Although radishes would get a higher profit, it would still make most of the nobility jealous.
And do not forget that two thousand seven hundred gold coins per month was an alarming figure. Even a small principality wouldn't get that much in monthly tax. Gold still has a lot of purchasing power on the Continent.
A gold coin could be changed to ten silver coins. A silver coin could be changed to a hundred copper coins. And a copper coin could buy you a catty of fruit, or half a catty of oil.
Rice and oil on the Continent was inexpensive, because oil was a high yield fruit, and rice was just eaten by slaves and a few commoners.
Zhao had over a hundred people living with him, and it didn't take much to feed them. A hundred gold coins per month should be enough, leaving them with two thousand six hundred.
And if it wasn't enough, they could also sell the five batches of radishes. Even if they couldn't sell them at eight thousand gold coins, they could still try selling them at six thousand, which would result in an extra thirty thousand gold coins per month.
But Green knew, after discussing with Zhao about the characteristics of this farm, that Zhao wanted to grow things that would also help them raise fish, rabbits, and other creatures.
They could obtain radish leaves from radishes and use it to feed the blue-eyed rabbits, but eating radish leaves alone wouldn't be enough. Sometimes they would need other kinds of nutrition. Once the oil was extracted from the fruit, it becomes one of the best feeds. Not only blue-eyed rabbits, they could also use it to raise a number of other spirit beasts. The most common ones on the Continent were horses and cattle.
For example, feeding oil to the horses would make them very strong. As long as they were fed oil, generally you could yield a good horse.
In addition, this type of feed could also be fed to some water type spirit beasts. Some of these spirit beasts liked to eat this oil, so it could be used for fish farming. These were the additional benefits that oil fruits could provide.
It was because of these ideas that Green got so excited. He took a deep breath, and was suddenly laughing.
The reason why he was laughing was because he had held it in too long. Before Zhao woke up, it was Green who was forced to feel the pressure of their decline. He thought that the Buda clan would slowly die out, and it was with this in mind that he desperately bought supplies to keep them alive. Although Zhao later changed for the better, Green was still unhappy because the Buda clan didn't have a source of stable income. It was their fatal weakness.
But after understanding this space, all of Green's concerns had vanished. Suddenly there was a shining sun sweeping away the hazy darkness in his heart.
Zhao didn't stop Green, knowing that he needed to vent because he was so happy.
After a moment, Green finally calmed down. "Master, after we go out, we can use the money from the magic radish sales to buy some things that we will need. Even if we harvest the oil fruit, we still need to buy a machine to extract the oil."
Zhao nodded. "I know, but Grandpa Green, we still have a bigger problem we need to solve. Outside, there are spirit beasts from the carrion swamp. Even if our future plans are good, we can't do anything if we hide in this space forever. We still need to go out there and develop our territory. So how are we supposed to face the attacks from all those spirit beasts?"
Green frowned. He knew that Zhao was right. Their plans might as well be empty air foam disappearing in the wind if they couldn't think of a way out of the spirit beast attacks.
But the question was how could they solve it? There was no simple solution. Although Green was confident in their skills, he understood that it was impossible to conquer the carrion swamp. There was a reason why it was one of the five forbidden areas, and that even the Continent's strongest couldn't conquer it.
Going over it a few times, Green couldn't think of a good way. He sighed and sat down at the table, his ambitions just disappearing without a trace.
Zhao also didn't have a solution about this situation. They were now too weak and small to resist against those spirit beast attacks.
Looking at Green's low mood, Zhao suggested, "Grandpa Green, we could still take a look outside, just in case." He pulled up the screen, but Zhao's eyes couldn't help but shrink, because he could clearly see that there were green dots on the three-dimensional map.
Zhao immediately stood up. Green noticed his actions as he carefully counted the green dots on the screen. There weren't that many, only about dozen, but they hadn't been there the last time he had checked.
Meirin's eyes were also firmly fixed on the screen. And Meg asked, "How come there are more of those things?"
Green spoke up. "When I came to the castle, there weren't any undead spirit beasts, but there were a few wandering around the Black Waste. Perhaps they had chased after me."
Zhao nodded, and pressed one of the green dots. The screen switched to the castle square where he saw several undead spirit beasts.
"This is nothing strange, Master," Meirin said. "Undead spirit beasts have a frenzied desire for fresh flesh. They could smell and feel the presense of living creatures. When Green came to the castle from the Black Waste, these undead would naturally follow him."
Zhao knew she was right. He switched the screen to the living room where there was another undead wandering around. This undead spirit beast was crocodile-shaped, but it was only a skeleton made of glowing green bones.
Translator Notes: This chapter was edited from an MTL. Please leave a comment if you've spotted anything that looks wrong.