Capítulo 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.
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