Chapter 1283 - 1203: Awesome!
Kindness Department Store.
Staring at the Great Cathedral with that sign hanging on it, both Leia and the manservant were a bit stunned.
"You’re sure this is the Kindness Department Store?" The manservant turned to ask the coachman.
The coachman scratched his scalp and pointed at the map sign by the roadside. "This is it, I didn’t take the wrong road."
Compared to the small white mortar buildings with big floor‑to‑ceiling windows used over by the ry Court Barracks, the architecture here in Rapids City was a bit more old‑fashioned.
Simply put, the Kindness Department Store in Rapids City had been converted from a church.
But to keep the style unified, the Kindness Department Store company had even specially painted the entire church white.
Compared to the multi‑storey department building of the ry Court Barracks, the Kindness Department Store in Rapids City was laid out like a long corridor.
"You’d better go borrow a little cart," Leia patted the manservant’s shoulder. "I’m afraid you won’t be able to carry it all."
"Huh? Isn’t the budget only 10 Dinars?"
Dinars was about a week’s wages for a baker or a skilled construction worker.
"Yeah. Haven’t you looked at the price list?"
Seeing the confusion on the manservant’s face, Leia started to explain to him.
This was how merchant families passed things down: today’s personal manservant might be tomorrow’s chief steward.
Otherwise why not hire a maid?
In the Holy Alliance, as the Dinar’s exchange rate stabilized, people generally preferred to use Dinars as the unit of measure rather than gold pounds.
Generally speaking, the Holy Alliance Government called anyone with an annual income below 500 Dinars "the poor."
This group consisted mainly of farmers, laborers, unskilled workers, and low‑level service personnel.
Those with annual income between 500 and 1500 Dinars were called low‑income, basically what you’d lump together as workers.
Of course there were differences among skilled workers too.
A baker’s daily wage was only about 1.5 Dinars, while tailors and furniture makers could earn 4–6 Dinars a day.
About 1000 Dinars was the dividing line: those earning between 1000 and 5000 Dinars a year were called middle‑income.
Government employees, senior engineers, doctors, notaries, workshop masters and so on all belonged to this group.
From 5000 Dinars up were the high‑income group of the Holy Alliance, like the heads of various ry Court Barracks agencies, managers of Holy‑Owned companies, and the like.
"Ah, I see." Just by looking at the manservant’s expression, Leia knew he hadn’t understood.
Compared to people of the Holy Alliance, who were very sensitive to numbers, Imperial People’s grasp of numbers was not very concrete.
Just saying it like this, many Imperial People had trouble grasping it; Leia herself hadn’t matched things up at first either.
But Leia knew how to make him get it.
"An income above 5000 Dinars is about the same as two Knight domains’ annual income."
"Ah!" The manservant slapped his forehead. "That’s quite a lot... Wait, no, how come the Holy Alliance leadership’s income is only about the same as two Knight domains?"
Not to mention anything else, a Count in the Empire had an annual income of around 2000 gold pounds.
Yet His Majesty Horn, as Pope, only had an annual income of 200 gold pounds.
Compared to commoners that was substantial, but compared to the other high nobles of the Empire, that figure could only be considered middle‑class.
To be honest, that was just about what a regional bishop earned in a year.
For example, the current general manager of Kindness Department Store, the cripple Godan, had an annual salary that looked as high as 8000 Dinars, but that was only the income of three Knights.
"Which brings us to prices in the Holy Alliance." Shaking the price list in her hand, Leia sighed. "Goods in the Holy Alliance are far too many and too varied, prices are low.
And thanks to the prevalence of Holy Path‑ism, people pursue joy in this world and don’t shy away from material desire.
Nor do they bury money in the ground and refuse to use it, like the Empire’s Monastery does..."
Though he still didn’t quite get it, the manservant nonetheless paid the deposit and borrowed a wooden four‑wheeled handcart at the department store counter.
"This time we’re mainly simulating ordinary people’s lives, so we’ll mainly buy bread, meat, eggs, wine, and vegetables."
"Alright."
"Come on, let’s see whether 10 Dinars is enough to eat for seven days."
Walking into the church, the basilica‑style side aisles had been knocked through and fitted with rows of shelves.
The once quiet, solemn, and dim space beneath the aisle columns was now brightly lit by fluorite lamps, and people were walking back and forth carrying paper bags full of vegetables.
Their first stop was the bakery.
Entering the bakery, behind the wooden counter were stacks of steaming 4‑pound loaves of bread, and the owner was weighing baguettes on an iron scale.
"Boss, how much for a 4‑pound loaf?" Leia pointed at the top shelf’s wheat bread and asked.
"9 Farren, government‑fixed price, fair to all." The shopkeeper said, tapping the Holy Products Supervision Bureau seal on the scale weight.
"What about rye bread?"
"This one’s mixed with wheat and finely ground, so it’s more expensive than regular rye bread—4 pounds for 7 Farren."
"Give me eight pounds." Solaini pulled out a 2 Dinars note and handed it over, and the shopkeeper immediately gave him 6 Farren in change.
He turned to the manservant and said, "Write it down, 8 pounds of bread, 1.4 Dinars, 10 - 1.4, we still have 8.6 Dinars left."
The manservant hurriedly scratched on the paper, "4 pounds of wheat bread, 0.9 Farren; 8 pounds of mixed rye bread, 1.4 Farren..."
Striding forward, Solaini turned into the butcher’s next door.
Behind the counter stood a butcher in a greasy apron, with dark red beef hanging from iron hooks.
Solaini said, "We can’t live on bread alone, can we? Let’s buy some meat."
He poked at the grain of the meat with his finger. "Boss, how much is a pound of beef?"
"2 Dinars, cow slaughtered just this morning!" The shopkeeper grabbed the beef and put it on the scale.
"Hey, hey, hey, I’m just looking." Solaini hurriedly waved his hand. "What about sausages?"
Scowling, the shopkeeper hung the beef back up. "6 Farren for half a dozen."
"A dozen is twelve, half a dozen is six, then give me a dozen." Solaini took the sausages wrapped in oiled paper, paid 1.2 Dinars, and added to the manservant, "We have 7.4 Dinars left."
Twelve sausages over seven days, that’s the meat sorted.
A few more steps forward brought them to the fruit and vegetable section.
"How much are the brown oranges? That expensive? Oh, hard to get, huh? What about purple eggs? Wow, that’s cheap, take two, two for each of us!"
He bought a paper box of freshly shelled peas, four purple eggs, a handful of bean sprouts, and a few cabbages, all adding up to only 1 Dinar.
Reaching the grocery and grain-oil shop halfway down the arcade, Solaini picked up a bar of solid cleaning agent and sniffed it.
The shopkeeper hastily introduced it: "Lavender scent, 1 Farren a bar, enough to wash clothes for half a month!"
Solaini paid without fuss, then pointed at the jar of oatmeal to ask the price, "How do you sell this oatmeal?"
"1 Dinar for 10 pounds, enough to cook porridge for a week."
"What about eggs? And this piece of cheese, this jar of butter?"
"Eggs, 5 Farren for 10; cheese, 3 Farren a pound; butter, 6 Farren a jar."
"What’s this?" Solaini had already been reaching for his money, when he suddenly saw a round iron lump.
"That? Fermented-bean herring in a tin, one for 1.5 Dinars."
"Then forget it."
Pulling out a Dinars note, Solaini straightforwardly bought 10 pounds of oatmeal, 10 eggs, a pound of cheese, and a jar of butter.
Having spent 2.5 Dinars, he turned to Pierre with a smile. "We’ve got breakfast and dinner for seven days now, so we have 7.4 - 2.5 = 4.9 Dinars left.
We bought 8 pounds of bread, a dozen sausages, 10 pounds of grain, eggs, cheese and butter, plus vegetables.
Do the math: with all this together, is it enough for one person for seven days?"
The manservant quickly bowed his head to do the accounts. "It’s enough, though poor families probably wouldn’t buy this much meat, eggs, and vegetables."
"Poor families wouldn’t come to Grace Department Store anyway, we’re simulating a baker’s budget."
At last they walked to the wine shop deep inside, and Solaini picked up a bottle of ordinary green wine and swirled it. "Boss, how much is a liter of apple cider?"
"9 Farren, produced in the south, just right to have with meals, 1 Farren back if you return the bottle."
"I brought my own wineskin." Solaini didn’t buy a whole bottle, he only took half a liter, paid 4 Farren, and said to the manservant, "Last entry: half a liter of apple cider, 4 Farren. We have 4.5 Dinars left, enough to buy a shirt.
Now let’s sum up: out of 10 Dinars, we’ve spent 5.5 Dinars.
We bought 8 pounds of bread, 10 pounds of oatmeal, a dozen sausages, 10 eggs, a pound of cheese, a jar of butter, a bottle of cleaning liquid, a box of peas, four purple eggs, a handful of bean sprouts, a bag of cabbages, and half a liter of cider.
That’s more than enough for a man to get through seven days, he could even take care of a woman too."
"Challenge complete." The manservant stuck up his thumb. "Totally awesome!"
Of course, that’s just the way it’s said; quite a bit of the remaining 4.5 Dinars still has to go on salt, sugar, tobacco, water, and other living expenses.
If you’ve taken out loans, you still have to repay them; if you’re not a local, you still have to pay rent.
Solaini was already being optimistic here—many Holy Alliance citizens don’t eat meat every day.
Not to mention buying the more expensive finely milled mixed rye-and-wheat bread.
Normally, being able to save one or two Dinars per week is already pretty good.
It’s just that, compared with Leia back then, that bottom-tier baker who could save more than ten Dinars in a year, bakers in the Holy Alliance are already quite fortunate.
When ready-made clothes go on clearance at the end of the year, they can even afford a new outfit.
"If only a department store like this could open in our Leia..." Solaini couldn’t help sighing.
The manservant’s eyes lit up instead. "Hey, right, why not? We could open one too, and it just so happens the family business has been shrinking lately."
"You fool, if you open this in the Empire, it’ll be strip-cleaned for free on day one." Solaini counted on his fingers. "Then the bishop, nobles, King, and squires will come one by one to extort you...
Besides, the food at Grace Department Store is all pre-processed, so it’s a bit more expensive.
Their time is valuable, they don’t want to spend it on this; but in our Empire, why not go buy at the countryside market instead?"