Chapter 191. Will you accept? [BONUS]

Chapter 191: 191. Will you accept? [BONUS]

Carlos stopped with his hand on the contribution record.

"The kitchen’s upgrade, sir?"

"Send me its next upgrade requirements when you return. I will provide the materials. In exchange, I want a permanent supply agreement recorded between our territories. Six portions every day, for as long as both our territories stand. And I will keep wanting to get more portions as you grow and I want them fast so your development works wonders for me."

Carlos looked at Cosmic before answering. His friend was already leaning forward.

"The food is still paid for at the agreed rate?" Cosmic asked Dorian.

"Of course. The upgrade gets me a supplier I can keep relying on. I am not asking him to feed my troops for free."

Cosmic turned to Carlos without waiting for them to be alone.

"Take it, bro. You need the upgrade anyway, and he is paying for the same six portions we came here to sell. We won’t have to look for another buyer every three days."

Carlos thought about Mira working between the ordinary pots and the Blackstone Cooking Slab. He had been putting off improving the kitchen while buying almost everything else.

"Only six a day?" he asked Dorian. "I don’t want to promise more than Mira has agreed to."

"Six. If I need more later, we discuss it. You can sell your remaining food to whoever you like."

Cosmic tapped the contribution list beside Carlos’s hand.

"As agreed before, will the ingredients come before the delivery too?"

"Yes, that clause still stays," Dorian said.

’This is a level of richness I want to get to one day. If he can offer me 2 million for a talented troop, he can do this.’

Carlos nodded, then looked at his friend again. Cosmic gave him a small nod back.

Dorian smiled as he watched them.

"You trust his judgment quite a lot."

"He has been helping me since the first day, sir. I wouldn’t have half the things I do without him."

Cosmic looked down at the sheet for a moment before straightening it. Dorian waited while Carlos turned back to him.

"Then I will accept, sir. Thank you for offering the upgrade. We need it."

"Good." Dorian drew the record closer. "Let us put the amounts in properly."

"Six covers the specialists. I will continue their ordinary food separately. What do you want for the daily batch?"

"The sample rate," Cosmic said. "75 Iron and 150 Copper per portion. Six portions are 450 Iron, 900 Copper. The agreed meat, pepper and binding-seasoning contribution arrives before cooking."

They discussed those ingredients longer than the price. Dorian wanted to know why the quantities were doubled, and Cosmic explained the retained contribution arrangement Carlos required.

Dorian checked the actual amount on the list before accepting. Buying the raw ingredients had never been the part he struggled with.

Carlos kept the Crownroot growing stock outside the agreement. The buyer was purchasing finished portions, with no right to inspect Ironroot’s fields or demand the recipe.

The first delivery would be tomorrow, with six portions due every day afterward while both territories stood. Dorian would continue paying for each accepted batch and providing the agreed ingredients before preparation.

Each batch would be checked for condition and compatibility; a failed batch could be refused without giving Dorian ownership of anything inside Ironroot. Any change to ingredients needed approval before the next preparation.

Cosmic made sure the upgrade contribution was written separately from the daily payment. It covered the materials listed for the existing kitchen’s next upgrade, not another kitchen or unlimited future upgrades.

Carlos would send the building record after returning, and Dorian would supply those materials before the first delivery. Mira and the kitchen remained Carlos’s.

They accepted the permanent agreement after reading it through.

--

[Permanent Prepared Food Supply Agreement]

[Supplier: Carlos Goldwin]

[Buyer: Dorian Kessler]

[Quantity: 6 agreed portions daily]

[First delivery: Tomorrow]

[Duration: While both registered territories remain standing]

[Payment per accepted delivery: Iron x450, Copper Coins x900]

[Ingredient contribution required before preparation]

[Buyer contribution: Materials required for the supplier’s existing kitchen’s next upgrade]

[Upgrade materials due before first delivery]

[Additional quantities require a separate agreement]

--

Dorian walked them to the receiving yard afterward. One of the loaded carts had been emptied while they spoke.

Carlos looked at the stone arriving from the slope and imagined how much food such an operation could purchase.

"Are you thinking about why I talk about such high numbers when I only operate a mine like this?" Dorian smiled.

Carlos couldn’t help but chuckle and Cosmic wanted to smack his head. He wasn’t supposed to agree to this allegation.

Dorian smiled warmly looking at Carlos’s honesty. "Listen well, kid. Sometimes the most boring businesses earn the most and that too, silently. Always remember that," he spoke.

"The flashier it is, the more it costs to operate, the more it eats on the profit. You don’t want to do that unless you are ridiculously strong."

Carlos nodded and thanked him for the information, making Dorian nod.

"Send that kitchen record when you get back," Dorian said. "My people will arrange the materials today."

"I will, sir. Thank you."

Back in Ironroot, Carlos went straight to Mira with the completed terms and the sample result. She read the six-portion count first, then stopped at the upgrade contribution.

"He is paying for it?"

"The next upgrade, yes. We still have to get the other kitchen ourselves."

Mira smiled and handed the record back.

"Then send him the requirements, Carlos. I have been asking you since before we left."

He opened the existing kitchen’s upgrade record and sent Dorian its listed requirements. The reply confirmed that the materials were being arranged.

They had not arrived yet, so Carlos left the kitchen as it was and let Mira check the next ingredient contribution before going to find Cosmic again.

"10% of the Copper payment on the new food sales you arrange," he said. "For your work. Starting with those samples."

Cosmic lowered the order sheet in his hands.

"You picked that before asking me?"

"I am asking you now and your lord permits you to argue," Carlos joked, but Cosmic winced. It might have not been a good joke.

His friend looked at him, then smiled. "I accept, bro. Keep the Iron for the territory."

Carlos transferred the thirty Copper Coins owed on the samples. Cosmic confirmed it, then pulled the next ingredient listing over before Carlos could leave.

"Look at what he is sending first. Mira needs to check the seasoning."