The Evil Emperor's Fragile Heart

After a night of rest at the inn in Red Brick Town, the group resumed their journey the next morning after breakfast.

The people at the inn were very pleased to receive the general payments from the group of foreign dignitaries, and they were also sad to see them go, even though it had only been one evening. How often did they come across such generous patrons, and besides, if the group had stayed longer, they could have had a chance to impress them with their work and tried to get some work in the Emerald Kingdom or at least get a few connections to the Emerald Kingdom that could open up a path to immigration for them – but unfortunately, one measly evening was never going to be enough for them to be able to build that kind of a rapport with the royals or at least the other people who were close to the royals or had the ear of the royals.

However, they hadn't counted on the fact that there were two young girls within the group with impeccable business instincts – Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom and Lady Vanilla of the Emerald Kingdom, originally of the Pearl Kingdom!

Mana and Vanilla had a quick discussion early in the morning – both of them had noticed the intent of the staff members of the inn, and the two of them had already identified a couple of things that would be quite useful for them in their business, and with some mild enquiry in the form of harmless little questions, they had been able to ascertain that it would be rather beneficial for them to set up a supply chain for these two things from the Amber Kingdom.

So, just before they were due to leave – Mana and Vanilla, accompanied by Raven, went to speak to the inn keeper and the two waiters who had given them the information that they needed about sourcing the two items that they had found. One was a different kind of basil leaf that Vanilla had identified from the curry they had eaten last night – it was different from the basil leaves they had back in the Emerald Kingdom, and the flavour was not only slightly different, but also more concentrated. Mana had also noticed it, and she was quite pleased with Vanilla's observation on this as well. The second was dates. Mana had seen a few date palm trees during their journey yesterday, and she had asked the inn keeper about those. It turned out that dates were considered to be poor people's food in the Amber Kingdom and only people in the desert and the low class commoners ate those. Some of the staff members were quite scandalised when a foreign princess and a foreign prince and a titled foreign noble lady asked about it and wanted to taste it! However, since they were all eager to establish a collaboration or at least open up a business channel with these people – and everyone knew that Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom were the real brains behind the booming business of this group of youngsters – their shock and dismay and worries were short lived. In the interests of their future, they decided to think to themselves that foreign royals were unconventional and they had strange tastes and even wanted to try poor people's food – and since there was a chance of making profits here, what was the harm in letting them try this stuff? It was cheap as dirt anyway!

Thus, in front of Mana's eager and glowing eyes, a plate of dried dates was brought in, and she almost squealed in delight. These were premium quality dates and they were quite expensive in her previous world! And when she heard the prices of these dates here, she froze in shock.

"We can sell it for cheaper, of course, if the quantities are larger," the inn keeper said hastily, thinking secretly that Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom was indeed a very astute businesswoman already, even though she was such a small child. He had only added twenty percent to the actual cost of the dates, but she had even caught on to that! No matter all the businesses she touched had become so profitable – she seemed to have a natural born talent for things like this!

The guy had no idea that Mana's shock was entirely because of the dirt cheap price quoted by the man instead of the other way round.

"How much do you produce in a month?" Mana asked.

"About three hundred kilograms," the inn keeper said. "A lot of it goes to waste, actually – and sometimes we have to return them to the people of the desert, even though we feel bad about it. It's already so cheap, and it is also the only way they have to earn money, but then, there is also a limit to how much we can eat ourselves and sell on their behalf…" He decided to try a sympathetic angle to woo these royals. No matter how astute at business they may be, everyone knew that King Jaren was a very, very decent person, and he must have educated his children in the same way, right? Besides, everyone had heard of the good deeds of Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom – so, since they were decent people, they should have some sympathy for the poor people of the desert, shouldn't they? And it really would be helpful for the people of the desert if Princess Mana actually bought a large quantity of these cheap and useless deserts.

Mana frowned. "That's all? Can more be grown?" she asked.

The inn keeper did a double take. Then he bit his lip and spoke nervously with a good amount of hesitation. "Princess Mana, I think I may have heard it wrong. Did you just ask whether more dates can be grown?" he murmured.

Mana nodded. "It can only be grown in the desert, isn't it?" she asked. "I need a lot of these dates, and I am willing to offer a higher price than what you quoted, but I need assured supply of large quantities. How long do you think it would take you to start growing more? Say, around nine hundred to one thousand kilo grams a month? Is it possible to grow that much? Do you have enough labour?"

The inn keeper and his assistants – all of them stared at Mana, their jaws hitting the floor in shock.

After a few moments of silence, the inn keeper nodded enthusiastically and said, "Princess Mana, we will ask the people of the desert to start growing more right away. Princess Mana, I can't even begin to tell you how much the lives of the people of the desert and of our people in the Red Brick Town would improve if you really mean what you say. We would be able to grow something that is native to this land and grows easily and exchange it for money, which is sorely needed here, and when we have money, we can, perhaps even build a hospital in our Red Brick Town. At the moment, the nearest healer lives two days away, and is also very expensive, so many of our people die every year during the seasonal changes when infections spread, and…"

Mana held up a hand. "What are your local laws about selling land to people outside of the Amber Kingdom?" she asked.

The inn keeper blinked slowly, not understanding.

Raven smiled slightly. "What Mana wants to ask is – are you or your desert people allowed to sell any of the lands around here to us?" he explained slowly.

The inn keeper was even more shocked. "Prince Raven, Princess Mana – you, you even want to buy these desert wastelands?!" he asked.

Mana nodded. "I would like to," she said. "If the laws permit, of course."

The inn keeper practically pushed one of his assistants out of the door the next moment. "Run! Get the Mayor here right now! Immediately!" he urged. "Tell him that Princess Mana of the Emerald Kingdom and Prince Raven of the Obsidian Kingdom want to buy some of our desert wastelands and they also want to buy large quantities of our cheap dried dates at a higher price than what they are normally sold for!"

The assistant took to his heels – and if all of them hadn't known that the native magic element of the Amber Kingdom was fire, they would have thought that the assistant used wind magic on his feet to propel himself out of the door!

The Mayor of Red Brick Town, who had dropped in for a very brief five minutes the previous evening to greet the distinguished guests they had the privilege of hosting, came back with the assistant almost the next instant.

Mana had never seen people move so fast, to be honest! She had to admit that she was a little impressed.