569 An Unexpected Offer
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Once things were settled we came back to Aquamarine to report her our job was done. I told her I would be inspecting every 24/7 using Undead and Phantom Familiars, and that the first crops should begin emerging in a week from now. With this information, Aquamarine, the old lady, was finally able to relax, quickly telling the news to Ruby as the gorgeous red-headed dwarf lady came running here at the same time as Helga and the rest of our guild decided to come to visit us as well.
“So things have wrapped up quite nicely. A week from now is a very short time, are you sure you want to tell the nobles this?” Asked Ruby. “They’ll take it for granted, if you don’t do it they’ll begin complaining again. Some are a bit crazy so they might even try to take over your dungeon and that’ll only make more disputes… I wish our father could do something about it, but he’s sure a lazy old man.”
“Don’t worry, I can feel the crops and their vitality, they’ll be ready to harvest in six days, actually, but giving them an extra week would be better.” Emeraldine said.
“H-How much will we get from all of it?” Aquamarine wondered.
“Probably over a thousand crops?” I asked. “I know it is small, but we can probably harvest three or four times a month.”
“T-That means three thousand crops a month?!” Asked Ruby. “And a year… 36 thousand?! Wait, how many crops of what vegetables?”
“Well…” Emeraldine began thinking. “A single crop of potatoes is a large set of several potatoes stuck together, usually a dozen. Tomatoes single crop is over twenty fresh tomatoes, corns too, and like that…”
“So that’s… 360 thousand, maybe even half a million a year vegetables, fruits, and tubers all at once…” Said Aquamarine.
“T-That’s…” Ruby muttered.
“Is it bad? I guess it is… There’s still a lot more space in the first and second floor, we are expanding there too. I think we might be able to multiply the yields up to four to five times once the expansion is completely finished.” I nodded. “Also the third floor has mining fields where elemental spirits and even rainbow crystals grow naturally every few days or weeks, so we can keep mining them endlessly as long as we wait for them to regenerate naturally.”
I knew that it wasn’t going to be enough, half a million crops is completely garbage as a number for a country with over a million inhabitants. We need to hasten the production even more. but even if we multiply it… people usually eat vegetables every day, we might not even be able to supply everyone even then. I would hate if my vegetables became something only nobles can enjoy. I have to try to give it to the poorest of commoners as well.
“I know it is not enough, okay? I can’t do much about it…” I sighed.
Remember back then in Earth, there was probably billions a year to feed a single country, or even trillions, so compared to what people on Earth can do, I am completely and utterly pathetic, yep.
“Not enough…?” Aquamarine asked with a trembling voice.
“M-Maria, do you understand what you’re even talking about?” Ruby wondered.
Oof, both got angry. Did they seriously expected to get a billion crops a year?
“Listen I can’t just give you a billion crops okay? It is not something realistically possibly right now. Maybe if we conquer the second dungeon…” I said while thinking.
“Maria snap out of it! They’re surprised because it is a ridiculous amount!” Helga reprimanded me.
“Eh?! It is?” I asked while raising an eyebrow. “I am fairly sure it cannot feed everyone every day though, right?”
“Girl, we don’t need to eat vegetables every damn day…” Sighed Aquamarine.
“Maria the amount you’re offering was already ridiculous and then you multiplied it even more…” Ruby sighed. “With this amount our country could even export it and sell it to other countries. In fact, through transactions we could even open opportunities for peace with the human nations!”
“Peace is always better than ambiguously being enemies.” Sighed Aquamarine. “Money always talks better than words most of the time in this world.”
“Nonetheless, this is incredible. Maria, thank you so much for offering all of us this opportunity. We’ll make sure to pay you well- in fact, how about increasing the amount we pay you? With the amount you’ll be providing and all…” Ruby seemed too excited.
“Yeah, sure, I guess. I am still keeping a big part for myself. I’ve got people to take care of and also want to build my own big capital, doing transactions with other places will eventually be a thing. Iceland Kingdom seems like the closest for that so I might as well aim at them.” I said with a nod.
“Sure thing! But I feel this is just not enough… Ah, I’ve seen you have wives and husbands, would you be interested in taking my hand? I will be a good wife. It is the least I can do to repay you! If you marry me you could even become a noble yourself!” Ruby suddenly and out of nowhere offered her hand to me, looking at me with her bright eyes.
“Huh?”
I was still processing what she just said, while everyone else behind me was just as flabbergasted.
“EEEEHHHH?!”
It was as if everyone joined together for a chorus, their reaction was to be expected, I had also joined them in such a thing.
“W-Wait a second there!” Lucifer quickly tried to stop her.
“We never talked about this!” Emeraldine angrily said.
“You’re overdoing it!” Partner was angry as well.
“E-Eh? I was?” Ruby was confused. “I apologize I just… it feels like the right thing, right? Political marriages are a logical step!”
p AndD nOve1.cO,m
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