Regarding Evan, his sudden disappearance went unnoticed for a few days. After all, in the later stages, he was busy cultivating every day, elusive as a dragon showing its head but not its tail; however, after a long time, everyone eventually noticed he was no longer there.
Regarding this matter, Thomas found a reason for Eric and the clansmen. He didn’t reveal Evan’s true identity, only saying he had recovered his magic power and went out to travel again.
Everyone had seen Evan’s magic level. Archmages, after all, all have incomprehensible hobbies; just liking to travel everywhere is nothing strange.
Sam didn’t know the truth and even secretly prayed that Arthur would best like traveling everywhere too...
Because the purple gold ore was so precious, Eric didn’t tell the truth to Richard. He didn’t trust the other party; moreover, Richard was such a formidable knight. If it caused a threat to the Gray tribe, he wouldn’t be able to atone for his crime even if he died ten thousand times.
Joseph said next time they went to the Gray tribe, they could ask if Julia could share a little more; purple gold ore has extremely strong ductility, adding a little to armor is enough.
But it’s best not to hope for too much.
Eric only told Richard that he could let the Dwarves help look for it. Even so, Richard was very grateful; he originally didn’t place too much expectation on it either.
Eric’s milk candy and chewy yogurt were not only liked by the beastmen of the Hadu tribe, but the milk candies sent to the Halun merchant group were also treasured by Corbin like jewels. He refused to give them to anyone and even planned to buy more from Eric to bring back.
This type of candy has an ivory white color, emitting a rich aroma of milk. When put in the mouth, it is soft; the more you chew, the more you feel the sweet and fatty taste spreading through the oral cavity, with a lingering aftertaste. For people who eat dry rations and roasted meat all year round like those in the merchant group, this is truly a supreme product.
However, because there are no additives, milk candy inherently cannot be preserved for long. Anything made from milk spoils easily. Moreover, the weather is getting hotter, approaching summer. Without glutinous rice paper to wrap the outside, milk candy easily melts into a sticky lump. This thing can only be made and eaten immediately within a short time.
"Sigh, what a pity. I dare guarantee, if milk candy were sold in the Imperial Capital, it would certainly be fought over crazily." Corbin sighed with regret, his eyes reluctant to leave the small silver box that was already empty, with only a few small sugar crumbs remaining inside.
He waved his hand to call a servant to bring an exquisitely carved wooden chest. With an extremely cherishing attitude, he placed it on the table and enthusiastically pushed it in front of Eric: "You must accept this."
"What is this?" Eric asked suspiciously, looking at the chest which seemed quite heavy.
Corbin diligently opened the lid of the wooden chest, revealing that inside was stacked full of shiny small silver boxes. He opened one box; inside were pure white crystal granules, sparkling like snow—it turned out to be a whole chest of premium white sugar.
Due to low production productivity and complex refining processes, the price of sugar in this world is still very expensive. Pure white sugar like this is the top tier among them. Nobles all prefer using sweets and these types of fine white sugar to show off their wealth and status at tea parties.
This wooden chest wasn’t large, but containing so much pure white sugar meant it had no small value, perhaps even exchangeable for an expensive piece of jewelry. Eric said in astonishment: "I cannot accept this. So much sugar, the price is not cheap at all."
Corbin smiled and rubbed his hands, his eyes revealing a sincere pleading look: "You don’t need to worry. I just want to ask you to make some more milk candy. Even if it can’t be preserved for long, I can eat it on the road. Moreover, in my merchant group, there is an ice-element mage; he can maintain a low temperature to help me freeze and preserve them. To not hide anything from you, I have a little daughter at home. She likes sweets very much but is a picky eater. I think she will extremely like this soft milk candy..."
So that was it. Unexpectedly, this calculating merchant was also a father who loved his child dearly. Mentioning his daughter, his sharp eyes became much gentler. Eric smiled and teased: "So you have a ’Thousand Gold’ (precious daughter)? Parental love is truly precious. No problem, I can help."
"Thousand Gold?" Corbin repeated this novel term once. After understanding the meaning, he clapped his hands and laughed heartily: "Right, right, this way of calling is really good. She truly is my Thousand Gold Miss."
He reached into the chest and pointed at the neatly stacked silver boxes: "This is your remuneration, please do not refuse. Half of this sugar is for making candy, the other half is your labor fee."
In the small chest, there were twenty boxes of white sugar; half were Eric’s remuneration.
The labor fee was half of this precious sugar? Even adding the fresh milk ingredients, Corbin could be considered full of sincerity and generosity.
Eric didn’t stand on ceremony anymore and nodded in agreement. Although the method for making milk candy is simple, the process of making powdered milk by hand involved in it is not easy at all. Every day he had to spend a lot of time and concentration using fire magic to dry the milk, evaporating the water slowly without burning it. The most comforting thing was that through this meticulous process, his manipulation of magic and temperature control became much more proficient and refined.
It was just right to take this sugar back to make a large batch of milk candy for the clansmen to eat. Because the quantity of milk candy made that day was small, it was eaten up within the day. The adults only shared a little taste to know the flavor; the rest was prioritized for the mouths of the gluttonous little kids.
It was just that the quantity was too meager. The kids, tasting the sweet and fatty flavor of milk candy for the first time, craved it unbearably. They kept sucking their fingers, their round eyes looking at him expectantly. To beastman children, this milk candy, smelling of mother’s milk and sweet, was even more attractive and easier to eat than hard fruit candy.
He picked up the chest and walked out of the tent, feeling its weight in his hands. Now that the runs to the Halun merchant group’s campsite were more frequent, he would come by himself more often in the future. In the beastman territory, he still had magic to protect himself, saving Sam from always having a weird expression and worrying excessively, and also avoiding bothering others to escort him.
Today, Eric personally went into the kitchen to make mantou, flower rolls, and steamed buns in Old Jack’s kitchen tent, fully demonstrating the appeal of dishes made from fermented wheat flour.
He always heard Old Jack nagging in his ear about how steamed pastries would turn out, doubting whether steam could cook the delicious wheat flour. Yesterday he was even forced to taste Old Jack’s failed "steamed bread".
Everyone knows the aroma of bread lies in the golden, crispy crust baked with butter in the oven. As for that steamed dish of Old Jack’s, due to not knowing how to proof the dough and watch the fire, it became mushy, sticky, and heavy. Eric tasted a piece; it was truly an indescribably strange flavor.
He really couldn’t stand watching Old Jack waste wheat flour anymore, so today he decided to use the flour to make these main dishes to demonstrate, helping Old Jack stop experimenting randomly.
When the lid was opened, white steam carrying the mild fragrance of wheat wafted out intensely. The pure white, plump, and fluffy mantou sitting neatly in the steamer made Old Jack’s eyes pop out.
After all, he was a high-class chef with a very solid foundation, learning everything very quickly. Even after grasping the secret, he was more skillful than Eric. Almost as soon as he started, he knew how to knead the dough to make the mantou fluffier, and even used homemade meat and vegetable fillings to shape steamed buns into various flower and leaf shapes. When finished steaming, they were even more fragrant, sweet, and juicy than the custard buns Eric had eaten in his previous life.
These days he also learned quite a few Western-style sweet recipes from him. Old Jack was afraid he wouldn’t remember the complex formulas, so he specially found good quality white parchment paper to write down the details and ingredient ratios for him.
Reckoning it up, the Halun merchant group had been here for more than ten days. Egbert and the people of the Tiger tribe had also waited impatiently, pacing back and forth in the tribe. They still had to return to the kingdom to report their mission; they had been delayed here for a long time already.
The sorghum wine had also been brewing for more than a month. Fermentation was nearly complete; the strong aroma started to seep out of the sealed ceramic jars.
Arriving home, he stored the chest of white sugar in a dry place first, took out the prepared copper distillation tools, and went to the small square in front of the cafeteria, preparing to distill white liquor.
"Sam, bring all the sorghum wine up here."