Early the next morning, after breakfast, Annie, upon Lucas's request, took Florence and the other two out of the castle to select goods at the workshop warehouses.
After boarding the carriage, they headed straight for the workshop district. It just so happened that the orders had decreased over the past two days, giving Annie some free time.
Florence was full of anticipation. Although this was her second time in Sedona City, it was her first time visiting the city's workshops.
She hadn't expected Lucas to be willing to let her visit the workshop warehouses. Generally, places like these were classified secrets and rarely open to outsiders to prevent leaks.
The fact that Lucas was letting her see them deeply moved Florence.
Lilith and Yuka were equally surprised. Their impression of Lucas had changed entirely, and they were growing increasingly curious about this human noble who was so elegant even when eating and speaking.
Clop, clop, clop...
The carriage came to a steady stop at the entrance of the workshop district.
"So this is Sedona City's workshops," Florence marveled. Looking at the rows of two-story buildings before her, they were much wider and larger compared to the buildings outside.
Lucas had built these referencing factory buildings from Earth. Over eighty percent of Sedona City's products were manufactured right here.
"Let's go," Annie led the three inside. The soldiers responsible for security saluted Annie and then turned a blind eye, allowing the group to enter the workshops.
"This is where linen is produced. The quality of linen is divided into many grades—six in total, namely: low, inferior, medium... the best linen is supreme grade," Annie explained slowly as she led Florence along the road outside the workshop.
Buzz, buzz, buzz...
"It's so loud," Florence noted, hearing the noise coming from inside the workshop.
"Because the machines are running," Annie said nonchalantly.
She didn't take Florence inside the weaving workshop to look. The new looms inside were powered by steam engines—that was one of Sedona City's top secrets.
After all, she was doing business with Mermaid Bay now. If they knew certain things, it would be harder to negotiate prices.
"Oh," Florence nodded and didn't ask to go in. She possessed at least that much social awareness.
"Let's go to the linen warehouse," Annie led the way.
"Okay," Florence quickly followed.
Tap, tap, tap...
The linen warehouse was one of the largest warehouses in Sedona City. In this era, linen, salt, and grain were the most profitable civilian goods.
"Miss Annie," The soldiers guarding the warehouse said respectfully.
"Open the doors," Annie ordered lightly.
"Yes, ma'am!"
Creaaak...
The main doors of the linen warehouse were opened. The shelves inside were piled high with densely packed rolls of linen, making it feel like stepping into a 'forest' of fabric.
This sight completely shattered the worldviews of the three merfolk. Knowing that this was also Sedona City's classified information, Florence was once again moved by Lucas's trust in her.
"Florence, what grade of linen do you want?" Annie led the slightly dazed trio to where the linen was stacked. She pulled out different qualities of linen and let Florence feel them for herself.
"It's so soft! Is this really linen?" Florence marveled. When she touched the supreme grade linen, she couldn't bear to put it down.
She did a rough calculation in her head and then stated her quantities: "I want two thousand bolts of low linen, and one thousand inferior..."
"Alright," Annie nodded, taking out her notebook to record it.
"Are there other things?" Florence asked, still wanting more. It seemed she was getting addicted to picking out goods.
"Of course there are," Annie chuckled, then led Florence and the other two straight towards another workshop.
Tap, tap, tap...
"This is where instant noodles are produced. There are several flavors; how about a little bit of each?" Annie playfully flicked her fox tail, looking at the once again stunned trio.
There was no harm in letting people see the noodle workshop. Without understanding the many intricate details, it was impossible to replicate.
Besides, Lucas also planned to eventually release some technologies, outsourcing production to others to sell to other kingdoms. Of course, that was something to be done only after unification.
"O-okay," Florence nodded blankly, curiously watching the workers bag the noodle blocks, tie them with string, and place them bundle by bundle into bamboo baskets nearby.
They then moved to the next workshop. This was where lollipops and popcorn were produced. If one were to ask what sold best in Sedona City, popcorn and lollipops would definitely be on the list. Lollipops went without saying—children in every household loved them, and even some adults couldn't resist the temptation.
Popcorn, which was developed later, was also incredibly popular, especially as a must-have snack while watching shadow puppetry. In this kind of weather, buying a wild fruit iced drink from the cold drink shop and pairing it with popcorn bought from the grand market was the absolute standard combo.
"There are many flavors of lollipops too, let's get a little of each. And some popcorn as well..." Annie said as she walked, completely used to the three astounded merfolk trailing behind her.
Inside the workshop before them, every worker held a lump of something resembling dough. They pinched off a piece, rolled it into a ball, and inserted a small wooden stick. Once it solidified, a lollipop was complete.
As for the colorful lollipops with spiral patterns, they were made by taking dough of different colors, rolling them into long strips, twisting them together, coiling them into a circle, and finally inserting a wooden stick.
"So the lollipops I love to eat are made like this. It's so magical," Florence exclaimed in awe. Her eyes were filled with wonder as she watched the workers rapidly crafting the lollipops.
However, what the three of them could see was only the shaping process. The most crucial technology—the preparation of the dough and the addition of sugar, or the mixing of ingredients—was kept out of sight.
Afterwards, Annie led the three to yet another workshop.
This was the brewery. The liquors produced here were Whispering Dawn and various fruit wines. As for bamboo tube wine, one had to go to the bamboo forest for that.
"Do you want any wine?" Annie turned and asked.
"I'll take a little," Florence nodded. Although she didn't know much about alcohol, there were actually quite a few merfolk who drank.
"Then let's go with Whispering Dawn, and some fruit wine," Annie nodded, selecting a few of the best-selling wines and noting them down in her book.
"The wine here is exceptional," Yuka couldn't help but praise, sniffing the aroma of alcohol in the air.
"The wine from our Sedona City is frantically sought after by major nobles. It's even better than what the Royal Family drinks," Annie took the opportunity to brag appropriately.
Yuka nodded in deep agreement. He had the honor of drinking wine bestowed by the Mermaid King, and it indeed didn't smell as good as this.
"Let's go, we'll go look at paper," Annie said, leading the trio towards the paper storage warehouse.
In the end, Florence chose medium-quality paper. In her words, as long as it was usable, it was fine—it was far more convenient than the parchment scrolls they used to use anyway.
Moreover, merfolk only used paper on the land of Mermaid Bay. In the sea, they used carved shells and the like to pass messages.
Later, Annie took them to the canned food warehouse. Looking at the mountains of canned goods, Florence was so shocked she could barely walk.
"With so many canned goods, can they all be sold?" Lilith marveled.
"There are several other canned food warehouses just like this one. If we fully opened up sales for this warehouse, it would sell out in less than two days," Annie waved her hand dismissively. She practically controlled all these export businesses, so she knew better than anyone whether they would sell.
Plus, in a little while, people would come to transport these cans to the port, loading them onto merchants' ships. A large portion would be cleared out very soon.
"Oh!" Florence and the others nodded thoughtfully.
"Canned fish, canned mutton, and some canned pickled vegetables. Do you want anything else?" Annie asked Florence while scribbling furiously in her notebook.
"Let's stick with this for now. Wait until these goods arrive at Mermaid Bay and the pearls are shipped over, then I'll consider what else I need," Florence shook her head. She was starting to panic a little; the amount of goods she had ordered was massive.
"Alright. Let me know a day or two in advance before you leave Sedona City, and I'll arrange for people to load everything onto the ship," Annie said, snapping her notebook shut.
"Okay," Florence agreed with a slight hesitation.
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