Ch.12 Cosmetics and Chocolate (Patreon)

It was a hot morning with humidity that made me feel like my clothing was constantly sticking to me, despite being loose. Before me was a large bowl of shea paste, which I had emulsified the night before by mixing the ground shea kernels with water and stirring.

"Now it's time to extract the butter," I said, placing a small pan into a larger one filled to a point where the first pan didn't touch the water. Naturally, the Soracans treated me like I was crazy for the bizarre spectacle.

"What are you doing?" Zenith asked, furrowing her brow. It was bothering her too!

"This is a terrible excuse for a double boiler," I replied. "We're extracting the fats, or the butter, from the shea paste. The bottom pan boils water, and the second one is heated up with the steam. It's a way to heat a pan gently."

Anyone who has tried to put chocolate in a microwave knows what type of hellish creatures can be born in a radioactive food box. The reason is that different butter fats have low melting points. That's why chocolate melts in your mouth and turns into a half-baked chimera if you heat it too fast.

However, when you use steam to heat the pan, the heat slowly rises, allowing chocolate, cheese, and other fatty foods to turn into liquid fondues.

"Just watch," I smiled. My double boiler melted the mashed-up shea paste into a brown stew within a few minutes, and then a slimy white substance started boiling to the top. Zenith's face twitched, considering whether she would subject her face to such abuse. However, her perspective changed when the Soracans panicked and spoke rapidly in Veshir.

"What are they saying?" Lyssa asked, feeling nervous.

"They're saying that they've never seen the butter rise so quickly or cleanly before," Zenith replied in a daze. "To them, this is magic."

I summed up the phenomenon with two words: trade secret.

"Please ask them for straining cloths," I requested. Zenith nodded and translated. Five minutes later, they brought linen. I used it to strain the shea butter after sneakily separating it further with Molecular Separation, making it pure. Once it was separated, I looked at the cocoa beans they gave me with a deep frown. "Can you ask them for fermented cocoa beans?"

"Dal zoka fermenta cocoa beans iro zoi beans," Zenith ordered the women helping us.

The women exchanged glances before turning back. "Sama fermenta ruga milk? Zoka no kara zoi sana beans."

"Kyan no kave zoka zoi?" Zenith's purple eyes narrowed before turning to me. "These savages don't do… whatever you're asking for."

'You shouldn't call them savages if you don't do it,' I internally asserted before speaking up. "Ask them to get wooden crates, fresh cocoa pulp, and banana leaves."

"Dure dal zoka rogga tula boxes sanis banana ruu mina sanis free cocoa. Zoka wal kriat sora!" Zenith commanded, making the women run to get them in a panic. Then she turned to me. "Can we not make it with these cocoa beans?"

"We can and will," I replied. "However, chocolate requires fermented cocoa beans like wine requires fermented grapes. It will take a couple of weeks to ferment and dry for productions. Therefore, we need to start now."

Everyone nodded, excited about the mythical dessert I kept telling them about.

"In the meantime, we'll make the makeup," I smiled, putting cocoa beans into the mortar and crushing them into a fine powder. An hour later, I extracted cocoa butter using the same process I used to make shea butter.

"Isn't this what you did with the shea?" Thea asked, cocking her head.

"One and the same," I replied. "We're extracting the cocoa butter, which will be later used to make chocolate, soft soaps, and cosmetics. However, there's something else we're getting from it right now."

After extracting the cocoa butter, I gathered the leftover brown matter and balled it in my hands. "This is cocoa cake," I explained. "We'll press, dry, and grind it into cocoa powder. Then we'll match it to Zenith's skin tone, and we'll have cosmetics. Of course, we'll add essential oils to soften the skin."

While shea and cocoa butter were legitimate methods of making cosmetics, lotions, and soaps, brand-name suppliers didn't use them beyond solid foundations because of better synthetic alternatives.

Modern makeup is big business. Brands compete to create the most advanced binders, fillers, thickeners, emollients, preservatives, fragrances, and stabilizers. Although I could extract numerous ingredients for most using my power, I couldn't produce the thickeners, primarily made from dimethicone, acrylates copolymer, styrene, polyvinylpyrrolidone, and other synthetic materials derived from natural gas.

In short, people wear plastic, and I can't access natural gas or synthesize polymers yet.

However, shea butter foundation would last from one to two years if canned and works a lot better than the pure-poison equivalent of One Night Cough Syrup.

Plus, a lower shelf life will ensure rich people would have to buy more.

Perfect.

After an hour of grinding the cocoa cake into powder, I pulled a scale from my spatial bag. "Okay, let's get a scale and start weighing out cocoa butter, and we'll find your skin tone," I smiled. "Then you'll have makeup."

Zenith's eyes lit up with excitement. "Please," she said eagerly.

Smiling at her uncharacteristic humility, I set to work. I weighed shea butter in even portions and added grams of cocoa powder, adjusting as I calibrated our scales for the metric system.

I had Zenith try on the different shades one by one until we found a perfect match for her skin tone. She immediately tried to cover up her burn, but I stopped her.

"I know you want to get started, but that won't hide your burn," I told her. "I'll make something for that. It'll only take an hour."

Zenith pouted but patiently waited as I pulled out green powder from my bag. "Green?!" she exclaimed. "Do you want me to look dead?!"

Chuckling, I turned to her and explained, "This is called color corrector. Mixing the green into shea butter will neutralize the red mark before you put on concealer. Once you do that, it'll be like nothing ever existed."

The same concept applies to correcting undereye circles with orange and using purple shampoo to remove bronzing from blonde hair. It's one of those strange things commonly known by women and not by men—unless you lived in a library, of course.

Once I finished preparing it, I took the various products and turned to Lyssa. "Will you help her?" I asked. "Start with the green, then cover the entire face with the lighter shade, and finally, use the darkest one over the burn. Once blended, it creates an illusion. It might take some practice, but I'm sure we can demonstrate its effects now."

Color corrector, foundation, concealer—there's a specific order for applying makeup to create the illusion of depth. Applying makeup is like an art form. I asked Lyssa for help because she was trained in applying makeup for nobles and had been my mother's helper.

"Sure thing..." Lyssa sighed, seeing Zenith's crazed expression. "Just keep in mind that I've never touched this stuff before, so it might not turn out perfect." After a glance from Zenith that could freeze the air, she quickly started her task.

An entire afternoon passed before Lyssa finally had the confidence to let Zenith look in the mirror. But as soon as she saw her reflection, Zenith's purple eyes became bloodshot, and she ran away.

"I'm dead," Lyssa chuckled, madness swirling in her eyes.

"No, you're not, dummy," Thea giggled, nudging the partially-traumatized woman. "Zenith doesn't cry. If she were angry, she'd just burn you into ashes on the spot."

"Not helping," Lyssa frowned.

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it," I said, lying on a futon. "So let's eat dinner and enjoy ourselves. We have some time before we can make coffee and chocolate. Until then, let's relax."

Thea sat next to me, slowly inching closer. It was getting uncomfortable, so I grabbed her opposite shoulder and pulled her next to me. She blushed but couldn't hide her bright smile.

I'm not entirely sure what her behavior means. It's not like I'm blind and can't see Thea's increasing physical and assertive affection. However, her devotion to me has been unhealthy since she was seven. What people would call being "smitten" cannot adequately express Thea's daily behavior in the last decade. So the only real change is her physical hugging and desire to be close.

Asking others for opinions on her behavior is like asking a social media influencer for the steps to heart surgery. And the only way to determine the truth is to ask, but I can't do that without leading to misunderstandings.

So, for now, I hope it's not romantic affection. I hope to spend the rest of my immortal life with Thea, so I'm not opposed to eventually becoming her partner. However, my body and the age differential make me feel uncomfortable. I'll wait until I'm eighteen before even considering it.

Life's flying by, and it's not like there's a rush.

In the meantime, I'm grateful that she's almost of age, so I don't feel like a creep when she expresses physical affection. It's not like I'm initiating it.

I glanced over at Thea's blushing expression and internally sighed. Then I turned away and acted as I always do around her when she tries to pamper me: like a stone wall.

We had dinner, a meal similar to Bunny Chow, a popular street food in South Africa. It consisted of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with spicy curry made from goat and beans, creating a hearty meal. We also had coffee cherry wine on the side.

It's strange to imagine, but coffee comes from cherries, and the people of Soracan ate them and fermented them into wine. They would discard the seeds or keep them for planting the next year. This allowed us to buy the seeds at a lower price.

Our night of drinking went smoothly until it was time to go to bed.

The next morning, Regma returned to us with a shocked expression. "I think that your friend… has gone… how do I say… she's acting strange. Very strange."

I looked around at our group—Thea, Lyssa, and myself—and asked, "What is Zenith doing?"

***

Following Regma through the bustling streets of Luminara, we arrived at a supply house with a scene of panic unfolding. However, it wasn't anger or fear; it was more like a feeding frenzy.

"What are they saying?" I asked Regma.

"Your friend, Zenith as you call her, has been buying all the shea in the village at twice the cost," Regma explained, overlooking the crowd of people clamoring to get into a storehouse, each carrying wicker baskets on their backs filled with cocoa beans and shea.

"Of course," I smiled. "Even if we don't form a partnership, this is exactly what I came here for. Regma, please translate the following: Today, I'm offering one silver per person to help me with my operation. I will buy the remaining shea and cocoa from all of you as well."

"Miva dolan silver per garsan sana to lorix mi sanis mi operak. Miva'll yuna zoi resta of zoka shea sanis cocoa as suli," Regma announced with a wide grin.

Silence fell over the area, spreading through the streets like a plague. But after a moment, a single person cheered, and the whole place erupted into a frenzy as everyone rushed home to gather their products.

"Well, this will be easy," I said, smiling.

"V" Veka kara diran agaran gagma!" a fierce voice screamed. "Miva yuna all zoi shea sanis cocoa diran kave! Come natk sana!"

The atmosphere chilled as everyone heard the chilling voice.

"It's okay, Zenith," I said. "I'm hiring these people to process it."

Before three seconds had passed, Zenith burst out of the red clay building and picked me up, unsure of what else to do with her emotions. But as soon as she saw my shocked expression, she turned bright red at the tip of her ears and put me down. "This never happened," Zenith declared.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, then turned to Lyssa. "Please help Zenith with her makeup. Feel free to use some yourself if you'd like. You'd look like a queen."

Zenith's eyes twinkled like stars, and Lyssa blinked twice before she aggressively grabbed Zenith's wrist and dragged her away. "It's rude to ask women to put on makeup!" Lyssa declared, storming off with flushed cheeks, annoyed that I managed to get under her skin with a single word.

I smirked as Lyssa stormed away. If there was one thing I enjoyed, it was teasing my helper. She wasn't attracted to me, but she secretly loved being treated and protected like a princess.

So I enjoyed watching her run off to grumble as she enthusiastically applied the new makeup.

"Okay, let's get started," I said. "Let's start preparing cocoa.

***

I bought everyone's crops and hired them for two days, paying them five gold coins. It was a splendid example of the virtues of modern and historical labor exploitation.

Within an hour, I had twenty people grinding roasted cocoa beans and shea kernels in large mortars and pestles, which they already had since shea and cocoa butter were major exports.

Others roasted and cracked shea, and I helped people with mass cocoa bean fermentation.

For those who had never seen cocoa before, it often surprised them to learn that it's the seed of a fruit called a cocoa pod, which resembles a large mango. Inside, it's filled with milky white pulp surrounding the cocoa beans, each about the size of a date.

The fruit resembles a human spinal cord, and I find it uncomfortable to look at. So I waited until the workers had cut open the pods and extracted the beans and pulp before teaching them how to ferment the cocoa beans.

Fermenting cocoa beans is crucial for transforming cocoa into chocolate as it brings out the taste and aroma. The process is simple: mix the pulp from the cocoa pod, add it to a wooden box or covered basket, create an even layer, add the cocoa beans, and wrap it in banana leaves. That's it. Periodically mix the cocoa beans to ensure the desired bacteria grow while preventing unwanted organisms.

Cocoa fermentation typically lasts 2 to 7 days, depending on the desired flavor and the temperature. In my case, I aimed for a 4-day fermentation cycle.

Once the fermentation was complete, the beans would be washed, sun-dried, and roasted. Then the cocoa butter would be extracted from the beans, the cake ground into cocoa powder, and everything mixed with milk and sugar to make chocolate.

I also acquired large iron shea pots, traditionally massive cauldron-like bowls made of aluminum or iron on Earth, and turned them into double boilers with the help of blacksmiths. Since I was selling to nobles, quality was essential.

Naturally, I taught the people, and the shea butter came out suspiciously pure. The people treated me like a god, capable of wielding magic. Half of that was true, so I didn't mind the praise.

Zora arrived as the sun set, finding fifty pounds of shea butter, one hundred pounds of cocoa butter, and fifteen pounds of cocoa powder. Regma explained that I had supplemented the entire city by buying out their stockpile, at the very least, to take back to Valeria.

The speed and efficiency of my operation made him realize what kind of partner I could be, and we resumed negotiations that night over dinner.

In a monumental victory, we secured a ten-year contract with Luminara to buy their entire supply of shea, cocoa, coffee, and sugar cane, effectively making me the lord of the land. They may not see it that way, but that's certainly how it was.

It was a lucrative deal. After finalizing the agreement, Zora informed me that I could stay and continue producing coffee, chocolate, and cosmetics in bulk to take back home.

"My father says you have a deal," Regma said, curiously eyeing me. "And if Rorak comes by, send him to my father. He'll fight on your behalf."

I furrowed my brows. "Who's Rorak?"

"Rorak is the second in line to become chieftain," she replied. "Leadership here is determined through tests of strength, and Rorak lost to my father by a narrow margin. He's been waiting until next month for another chance. If Rorak causes trouble for you here, you can send him to my father. Not that you need to."

I smirked, and she giggled at my expression.

Zora immediately insisted that we follow Soracan tradition and drink the night away. I'm unsure if that's a real tradition or an excuse, but I didn't mind—I was definitely old enough to drink.

Thea wasn't; she spent the whole night hugging me and rubbing her ears on my face with flushed cheeks. I stared into dead space but didn't stop her. After all, she's still the most important person in my life, so I want to make her happy.

The next morning, we all woke up with hangovers and ate a Soracan version of menudo, a Mexican soup made from the stomach lining of cows.

If that sounds disgusting—trust me, it is. However, it's a Sunday specialty in Mexico because it does something well: it soaks up alcohol.

That rough hangover kicked off a week where Thea, Lyssa, Zenith, and I spent most of our time creating cosmetics by mixing the cocoa powder in various amounts to create pigments. We created an entire line for people of different skin colors and complexions.

The largest challenge was finding containers to put all the cosmetics into, so I had potters working around the clock. However, we managed to stack over a thousand kits during that time. We would soon make a killing.

Once we were done, I looked at Zenith. "Head back to Elderthorn and get Peggy, four talented journeymen, five strong guards, and two ice mages," I requested. "The faster they get here, the faster we can get real talent to make the Zenith Cosmetics line from the Everwood Company."

Zenith grumbled at the thought of carrying eleven people over the ocean. However, her eyes lit up like stars when she heard my last statement. "T-That's my name."

"This is your cosmetic line," I smiled. "We're putting a wyvern logo on the packaging and everything."

Her eyes became moist, and her breathing became shallow. However, her eyes sharpened, and she turned around. "Fine."

BOOOM!

To everyone's shock, she hit the wall next to the door, making it explode and sending clay brick chunks shooting across the street as sunlight poured into the room we were working in. Without a second's pause, she jumped onto the nearest roof and dashed toward the woods, where she transformed.

My eyebrow twitched. "That woman needs to learn how to control her emotions," I said, intentionally glossing over the irony.

***

The next morning, we took to the field as our cocoa fermentation and bean drying had completed, giving the beans a sweet aroma that drew a large audience.

"Can you get the workers, Regma?" I requested. Regma had been following me around more and more, which was convenient and less deadly than having Zenith as my translator. "We need to start the drying process."

"Of course, I'll be right back," Regma smiled, leaving with grace.

"I hope they don't try to arrange another marriage," I frowned.

Thea nodded definitively. "Princesses need to leave you alone."

"I suppose she is kind of like a princess here, isn't she?" I sighed. "What a pain."

As we talked, a thundering voice boomed from behind Thea and me. "Chi miva vriti abomis?!"

I closed my eyes, looked at the sky, and took a deep breath. "Of course, some idiot would start something after Regma left," I chuckled. "I suppose I should just be grateful that Zenith wasn't here."

Thea nodded twice. "That would've been bad."

The villagers stuttered as the man showed up. Like Zora and the other men, he was shirtless, six feet tall, and unbelievably muscular. That's a feat, as people's caloric intake was lower on this side of the world, so he must've eaten wild game daily and worked out in his free time.

His dreadlocks were also imposing, wound with green bands that revealed his vicious gaze.

"Kan in haldor? Ronka mi to zoi ontik!" the man barked.

With unsteady gaits and fear, the people pointed their fingers at me. "Kan lana diran rigma soma Luminara? Miva nara!"

'This guy's going to be a pain,' I silently thought. Then I met his gaze and spoke. "Zora sanis mi niha serka lava."

I didn't know what he said, but I'd place money translated to a mixture of, "I hate you," "I'm better than you," and "leave." Therefore, I used a premade phrase to say I had a deal with Zora and then asked him to leave.

The man's face heated up, and he lifted his foot. "Stop jibaris, tikto garson!" He yelled, pushing-kicked his foot forward to send me flying.

However, Thea shot forward, grabbing his calf with her left hand and hammering the man's kneecap with her right elbow.

CRAaaaACKkkKk!

I winced, seeing the man's massive leg folded at a 30-degree angle at the kneecap—in the opposite direction. Then I looked at Thea, my vicious kitty maid princess, and gave her a thumbs up. After all, it was impressive.

My mocking gesture triggered the man's pain signals. "Chi kara diran just to mi?! Mi solan!"

"Rorak!" Regma screamed, running into the area with one of our workers who fetched her. "Don't cause them…." She stopped and looked at the horrifying scene in front of her.

When Rorak saw the horror in her eyes, he finally processed how bad it was. How bad? Permanent. "Miva'll morth diran!" he screamed. "Miva'll morth diran!"

"Tell me how to say this," I said to Regma before outlining the statement I wanted to say. She translated, and I spoke up.

"Halt diran gramble, diran untuth swinor!" I roared, silencing him. "Diran's too dweib to fight mi thrall, yet diran wish to clash mi? Hah! Miva'll morth diran! Diran's ana nurata."

As he twisted in shock, I silent-cast a fireball in my hand and stared him down. "Diran veris?"

Rorak shook his head in horror, witnessing my demonic gaze.

"Take him away," I said to Regma. "Tell him that I'll kill him if he shows his face near me again."

Once multiple people hauled the screaming man away, the crowd around me burst into overwhelming applause for Thea.

"That's right," I chuckled, "these people are all about power. I suppose you're the real princess here after all."

Thea turned bright red to the tip of her ears, and she fidgeted with her thumbs while smiling.

I rubbed her ears while everyone cheered us on. After that moment, I clapped my hands. "Natk to sarbis. Silver."

The word "silver" set the area ablaze, and everyone returned to work as if nothing had ever happened.

After cleaning the cocoa beans and tidying up, we returned to our room. Unsurprisingly, Zora was there, half-drunk on cherry wine, roaring with laughter.

After all, as long as we didn't enter the competition next month, we had just won him the equivalent of an extra presidential term. So he wanted to celebrate.

One meal, ten gourds of cherry wine, and one hangover later, the next day rolled around, and I ensured the drying process was working well.

Once that was over, I walked around Luminara while Thea giggled in a yellow sundress, which was unusual as she usually insisted on dressing like a maid. However, I told her the day was special, so she acquiesced and put it on as we explored the town, trying various foods and drinks. It was a nice day.

After that, Regma took Lyssa and me to a desert-like area searching for limestone. Luckily, it was plentiful and very close, as it was abundant in hot environments.

"A rock?" Lyssa remarked, turning to me.

"Not just any rock," I replied. "This is limestone. We will bake these rocks to obtain a special ingredient for sugar cane syrup. Then we can make our coffee and leave."

Everyone nodded and set to work, picking up the whitish rocks that I revealed to everyone.

***

After collecting dozens of rocks and returning to our area, I bought fifty gallons of sugar cane juice by crushing and extracting it. Now, we would purify it and turn it into syrup to make chocolate.

Regma led us to a pottery operation similar to a guild. There, we had her translate what we wanted to the workers, who looked offended afterward. "They want to know if you're insulting them by saying you'd rather have baked rocks than pottery," she translated.

The corner of my mouth twitched, and I shook my head. "I just need you to bake them for a few hours until they turn white. That's it." They tried to protest, but I pulled out a silver, and they immediately set to work, grumbling about rich people and mental health problems.

"What are you making?" Thea asked.

"We'll call it Calcium Oxide as a trade secret," I replied. "It's a very useful substance."

Limestone is calcium carbonate, and when heated in a kiln, it releases carbon dioxide, creating calcium oxide, known as "quicklime." Despite its simplicity, quicklime is used for creating cement, flux for creating steel, treating water, deacidifying soil, and making sugar.

We couldn't make granulated sugar due to the lack of centrifuges and vacuum pans. However, we could make syrup, standardizing the sugar-making process and making the chocolate rich and creamy.

Six hours later, I returned and collected the white bricks with a big grin that reinforced their belief I was insane. However, when I announced that I was ordering 200 chocolate bar molds and pulled out ten gold coins, they started calling me the most intelligent man alive.

After returning to our abode, I ground my quicklime in a mortar and pestle. While I knew how to do these things from my knowledge, I hadn't actually done them, so I enjoyed the process.

***

The next day, I poured fifty gallons of sugar cane juice into a shea pot and heated it gently. I gradually added the weighed-out quicklime.

"It's foaming!" Thea exclaimed, seeing white froth boiling to the top. "What's happening?"

"It's separating the impurities in it, leaving nothing but the sweet juice in the center while the impurities froth to the surface and sink to the bottom," I replied, taking a spoon and skimming off the top layer, leaving a clear, yellowish liquid below. "This process is called 'clarification.'"

When the quicklime touched the water, it created calcium hydroxide, neutralizing the citric acid and malic acid, creating salts that made impurities float to the top. Additionally, calcium hydroxide is positively charged and attracts organic matter and proteins, which bind them into larger particles that sink. This phenomenon is known as agglomeration.

Simply put, adding the right amount of quicklime clears out the impurities. Some float to the top, others sink to the bottom, leaving pure sugar cane juice in the center.

"Alright, let's pour it out," I said, helping transfer the liquid into a cask while leaving the salts at the bottom of the shea pot. "Step two, we'll clean the pot and pour it back in."

After scrubbing the residue from the pan, we poured and heated the purified juice.

"Okay, now we'll have our people heat and skim this for a few hours until it becomes a syrup and collect it in jugs," I said, stretching my arms. "Once they're done, we'll make chocolate. So I'm going to take a nap."

Everyone thought I was joking, but I left and napped in our cozy abode on a futon. When I awoke, I saw Thea looking at me with large teal eyes. "Is there something wrong?"

-

-

Thea's eyes widened, and she touched her face to check her temperature before turning bright red and waving her hands. "No!" she cried. "Nothing like that. I was just… you know… watching over you. As your… maid."

"You know that you're free to be a normal girl, right?" I gently smiled. "I released you from your contract years ago, and—as you can see—I didn't go anywhere. There's no need to be anxious."

Before I left for Elderthorn, I bought Thea and her mom out of their long-term contracts using the money I obtained from soap sales. She burst into tears, thinking I'd abandon her. However, the next day she put on her maid outfit and showed up nervously, and nothing had changed. Servants make money, too, so there was literally no difference.

So she's been free of the contract for years and no longer needs to treat me as her master, but she still insists on wearing the maid outfit and spoiling me.

"I know I am normal, and that you didn't leave," Thea said, twisting her teal hair around her finger with a flushed expression. "And I know I'm just your servant, it's just that… I want to be here. Is that… okay?"

"Lord Everwood!" Regma called out. "Zora wants to see you."

"Hello, Regma," I said, rubbing Thea's ears to ease her anxiety. "What does Zora want?"

"Chieftain Zora wants to discuss the trade routes," Regma announced.

"Okay, Thea and I will be there in a moment," I replied, watching her leave. Then I turned to Thea. "Thea."

Thea gulped, and her eyes trembled. "What?"

"You've never been just a servant to me," I declared. "I said you were special the moment I saw you, remember?" Thea's eyes teared up as she nodded. "And you're even more special now," I said with a warm smile.

I didn't hold back. I may not be able to reciprocate romantic feelings, but I refuse to ignore Thea's if she has them. If she confesses, I'll kindly decline and then spoil her silly until her eyes sparkle and it's impossible to feel sad. I'll do anything to make this woman happy—except lie.

One day, I may love her romantically. However, as far as I was concerned, that was irrelevant. If I had to choose between saving Thea or Solstice—this world would burn.

"So stop asking silly questions and stand up," I requested, offering my hand with a smile. "Zora is waiting for us. Please continue to stay by my side."

Thea wiped away her anxious tears, and her smile beamed as she accepted my hand. "Okay!"

***

After leaving, we met with Zora, who discussed trade and shipping routes to transport the cocoa, shea, coffee, and sugar cane goods from Luminara—where we were—to Leeshmar, the main port with ships that would take our goods to our continent, Valeria.

"Zora warns you that there are bandits and corrupt officials," Regma translated. "So you'll need to be prepared to lose a third of your cargo and offer a bribe. Then you'll need to do the same at the port. So you'll have to include that charge as a transportation fee."

My eyebrow twitched as I heard her words. "Excuse me, what?"

"I said—" she tried to explain, but I cut her off.

"I understood what you said, but that won't do," I replied. "Once we finish making our chocolate next week, I'll go on the first voyage. By the time I reach Valeria, crime and corruption won't hinder our supply chains. So I won't give you a single silver extra."

With those words, I picked up my cup of tea and drank it as if it were only natural.

Zora and Regma looked at me in horror, trying to find diplomatic ways to make me reconsider. However, I simply ignored them and left, preparing to make chocolate and embark on my leisurely trip home.