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25.92% Marvel Plane Trader / Chapter 14: Sugar

Chapter 14: Sugar

When Josh got home, he checked the time on his watch. It was around 7 p.m.

After some thought, he summoned the trading interface.

However, this time Daenerys appeared a bit late.

Josh waited for fifteen minutes, and when he was about to give up, the scantily clad Daenerys finally appeared on the screen.

"Oops, looks like I interrupted your good time!" Josh joked with a smirk, looking at the flushed and amorous Daenerys on the screen.

The queen of this otherworldly land had just experienced a fierce battle.

It seemed that Daenerys had returned to Meereen, and her opponent in the battle was probably Dario, the second-in-command of the mercenary group.

"Since you know that, pick a better time next time," Daenerys replied calmly to Josh's teasing.

The Westeros culture is very open-minded. Daenerys has experienced even more embarrassing situations, so Josh's jokes couldn't faze her.

"But that is a problem. Although trading is important, it's not good if it interferes with our personal lives. So let's set a fixed time. If an unexpected situation causes us to miss the time, the trade will be postponed until the next day." Josh suggested.

"That's not a bad idea. So what time do you suggest?" Daenerys had no objections to the proposal.

"Let's go with 7 p.m. according to the system time. Each waiting time will be 10 minutes, so if neither of us appears by 7:10 p.m., the trade will be automatically postponed to the next day. This way, we don't have to worry about disturbing each other unless there's an emergency." Josh suggested, looking at the time on the system.

Although it was a different dimension, according to the trading system's prompt, the time flow rate of all trading interfaces would automatically synchronize with the time of Josh's dimension. The time displayed on the system was based on his current Chicago time.

"Okay!" Daenerys agreed after some thought. This time was basically her rest time, and the nightlife in Westeros was actually quite monotonous, so it was easy to find the time. She had also been missing for a while today, and Dario had been tough to deal with, so she had been delayed.

"Now that we've settled the matter of time, do you have any surprises for me today?" Daenerys asked.

"Sorry, I had a little accident today, so I couldn't prepare the goods. I've prepared something else for you to make up for it." Josh said, placing two paper bags on the trading interface and directly trading them without asking for any money.

"What is it?" Daenerys didn't complain about Josh's lack of preparation.

Although she valued firearms, she already had one of the strongest military forces in Westeros, so her short-term demand for firearms was not very urgent.

However, she was still looking forward to what new and interesting things Josh had prepared for her.

"Some sugar and chocolate." Josh shrugged.

As he said, the two paper bags contained one pound of sugar and one pound of chocolate, which is less than half a kilogram each.

He bought them from a store he passed by with Margaret before lunch when they went to look at houses.

Although the quantity seemed small, don't think that Josh was being stingy.

Indeed, sugar was one of the most strictly controlled commodities among civilian goods during the American war period, even more so than tires and gasoline. The standard weekly sugar ration (including chocolate) per person was only 0.25 pounds, about two ounces.

And this one pound of sugar and one pound of chocolate was already all the sugar coupons in possession of the black market dealer Mike.

"I know what sugar is, but what is chocolate?" When Daenerys heard it was sugar, she didn't think much of it. After all, as the Queen of Meereen, she could afford to eat sugar. However, she was very interested in the chocolate that Josh mentioned.

"It's a candy made from a fruit unique to our world, with a pleasant mood-boosting effect," Josh explained.

"Wait, this is sugar? Such pure sugar?" Daenerys was obviously very interested when she heard Josh's explanation. Still, when she opened the bag of white sugar, she was stunned.

Although Westeros had dragons, magic, and maybe even gods, in terms of productivity, it might not even compare to medieval Europe.

So even if there was sugar, it would be the kind of rough brown sugar cubes at most.

Refined white sugar was unheard of.

"Exactly, that's sugar, because it's small and looks like white sand, so it's called white granulated sugar," nodded Josie.

"Oh my, this taste is so pure and sweet," exclaimed Daenerys as she delicately picked up a small amount of white sugar using her slender little fingernail and slowly brought it to her lips.

She savored the taste and felt like she was trying a peerless delicacy. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment.

Josh watched her careful tasting process and the enraptured look on her face. He couldn't help but curl his lips and, for a moment, even doubted whether he had given her sugar or some indescribable source of sin.

"I'm sorry, I got a little carried away, but I've never tasted such a pure sweet flavor!" After savoring it for a while, Daenerys returned to her senses and told Josh.

"It's okay, but I think you'll like chocolate even more after you try it," Josh shrugged.

"Thank you, I'll savor it carefully, but such pure sugar must be very expensive, right?" Daenerys couldn't help but ask.

"Well, it's costly. After all, it's strictly controlled as a strategic resource during the war," Jorah nodded. These two pounds of sugar and chocolate cost him $4 in addition to ration coupons.

And how much does regular beef cost? 40 cents a pound.

This is the price with ration coupons.

If you buy it with money on the black market, the price will probably be several times higher.

There is no doubt that this price, compared to the low white sugar prices in later generations, is considered sky-high.

In fact, sugar in the United States is still considered cheap.

During World War II, the most dramatic increase in sugar prices was actually for chicken feed.

During its highest price period, sugar had increased by 770 times compared to pre-war prices, while war supplies such as grain and gasoline had only increased by 50 times.

After World War II, a US soldier could buy a gentle and considerate Japanese woman with just one piece of chocolate.

However, what Josh called "quite expensive" is a low price compared to the low prices in later generations.

But Daenerys misunderstood and thought that Josh had spent a lot of gold on the sugar.

If you have watched Game of Thrones, you know that as a queen, Daenerys is very generous to her subordinates.

Although Josh is not her subordinate, he has offered such precious food, and she feels that she cannot let Josh lose out.

So she waved her hand, and the system sounded a trading prompt.

Then Josh was dumbfounded.

Because the trading column, gold was displayed prominently, 1000 ounces.

This woman must be crazy, right?

Josh knew that sugar was expensive in ancient times, but based on medieval Europe, which lacked sugar, and chicken feed during World War II, the price was at most the same as gold.

But exchanging 1000 ounces of gold for two pounds of sugar was already thirty times the price of gold.

Why sell guns when you can sell sugar?

Fortunately, what Daenerys said next made Josh understand she was not crazy.


Chapter 15: Moving

"I know this may be very difficult, but I still hope you can find a way to provide me with as much sugar as possible, oh, and this chocolate too! Half of these gold coins are a thank-you gift from me to you, and the other half is a deposit. I don't care about the actual purchase price of the sugar, but I will buy it for 5 ounces per pound. How about it?" Daenerys said with a severe expression.

She was still a queen-like figure; although young, she had already experienced many hardships, not an ignorant little flower.

Daenerys was very aware of the importance of white sugar.

If powerful firearms could help her conquer enemies by force, then white sugar was the combat power guarantee of her army and important material to attract allies.

When she returned to Westeros, if she wanted to win over a lord or noble, sending an equal weight of white sugar would be worth a hundred times more than sending an equal weight of gold.

As for the price of 5 ounces per pound, it was a number that Daenerys calculated based on the crude sugar blocks in her own world.

Undoubtedly, the price of this quality of white sugar, calculated based on the price of inferior sugars in Westeros, was still too low.

But what Daenerys could guess was that the price of white sugar in Josh's world might not be low, but definitely not as high as it was in Westeros.

This was not baseless speculation but a conclusion drawn from the firearms Josh had sold her before.

Why? Because of the metal!

During World War II, the industrial level of Earth had reached a very advanced level. The steel and special steel produced at that time were naturally incomparable to those of later generations. Still, it was like night and day compared to the medieval period.

When Josh first recommended firearms to Daenerys, she was only interested in the power of the firearms.

But after receiving the actual gun, she became interested in the gun itself and the metal used to make the gun and bullets.

When she made the first deal with Josh and got the .38 revolver, Daenerys had already tested it. The best weapons used by her warriors could only barely leave a slight scratch on the gun body without causing any damage.

After careful observation, it was discovered that the so-called scratches were just scraping off an unknown coating on the surface of the gun body... This gun is nickel-plated.

Such strong steel could be no worse than the legendary Valyrian steel.

In Westeros, this level of steel is even more expensive than gold, several times over. Like the legendary swords from martial arts novels, The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, they simply can't be bought with just money.

And how much does a .38 caliber weigh? Something over a kilogram.

Even if you exclude the non-metallic parts and convert them to ounces in the imperial system, it won't be less than 30 ounces.

The price that Josh sold it to her, along with a complimentary copy of The Prince, was only 10 ounces of gold.

And let's not even talk about the later M1917 rifles, which weigh a total of 8 kilograms, with the wooden handle removed still weighing no less than 2 kilograms, and also come with a hundred rounds of bullets.

And all of the bullets, both for the .38 and the M1917, are made of high-quality copper.

So even though the price has tripled, Daenerys is not at a loss, not even close.

And even if Josh stops selling her bullets, these guns won't become useless firewood, as just by recycling the steel and the shells left by the bullets, Daenerys can make up for all the losses and even make a big profit.

And there's no situation where recycled steel can't be used.

Steel production indeed requires high productivity, but if it's just for reforge, the difficulty is much lower.

Just like Valyrian steel, the people of Westeros cannot produce it. Still, it is not difficult to reforge weapons made of Valyrian steel.

So Josh had always thought he had taken a big advantage. But in reality, he was only on the third layer, while Daenerys had already reached the atmosphere.

This is one of the greatest advantages of dimensional trading.

And now, using this information asymmetry, Daenerys has given her estimate of the price of white sugar.

Faced with Daenerys's offer, Josh's heart was undoubtedly moved.

Is white sugar expensive? Of course, for $2 per pound.

And suppose you want to trade in large quantities. In that case, it is simply impossible at this price, because it is difficult to obtain ration coupons.

So you can only buy it on the black market.

And the price of sugar on the black market is at least $5 per pound.

However, this price is still incredibly low compared to Daenerys's offer of 5 ounces of gold (80% purity), which is $250 per pound.

A profit margin of 50 times, compared to his previous sales of the M1917 rifle, which was only a margin of barely 25 times.

This business is worth doing!

"I can try my best but can't guarantee the quantity." Josh thought for a moment and immediately agreed. Still, he didn't want to make any promises since it was the most strictly controlled commodity.

"It's okay. Just do your best." Daenerys also knew that this wasn't an easy task.

After discussing what they needed to do, the two said their goodbyes and ended the communication.

After ending the communication, Josh looked at the hundred gold bars in his system warehouse and felt excited again.

Although he had been seeing gold daily for the past few days, the wealth he gained from each transaction was more than the previous one.

The feeling was wonderful.

If everything was in gold, he could even take out a hundred-dollar bill and show off like Brother Mark smoking a cigarette.

Of course, this was just a thought. Firstly, Josh didn't smoke. Secondly, although it looked cool for Brother Mark to light his cigarette with money, he originally printed counterfeit money and used that to light his cigarette.

Soon, the night passed.

On the second day, Josh woke up very late and changed his plans once again.

Originally, he planned to go to gun stores in the morning to buy more guns. After all, if he paid off the rent, he wouldn't have much money left, so he had to stock up. He planned to buy some guns in the morning and then meet with Daenerys for a transaction at noon.

But because of the sugar situation, he had received a thousand ounces of gold out of nowhere, so he didn't need to be in such a rush.

What? Half of it is a deposit?

Don't be ridiculous. Once it's in Josh's pocket, he won't be returning it. It was just a hundred pounds of sugar, and even if he bought out the entire black market, he would still collect it all.

After nibbling on some bread and milk from his inventory to fill his stomach, he began to pack his things.

There wasn't much to pack since most of the important things had already been stored in his system warehouse, so he threw some clothes into his bag.

He also prepared a small wooden box and put fifty gold bars in it.

All that was left was to wait for Margaret's arrival.


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