A Single Mother's Farm of the Gods
Chapter 89: Elaina’s Suggestion

Chapter 89: Elaina’s Suggestion

Days have passed since her parents arrived and caused chaos. The first day was the most hellish experience Elaina had while the subsequent days that followed were fine and normal...aside from the screaming soldiers that kept on trying to breach the farm.

Funnily enough, according to Julia and Princess Tabatha, it seems the soldiers who are attacking also try to attack anyone who exits the farm and perhaps try to abduct anyone who does so, making it a bad decision to leave the farm to either go to the market or even go somewhere else. But there is one problem with that and that is because Julia is much stronger than she looks and Princess Tabatha is secretly protected by her Shadow Ops, it’s just not a good idea to even fight against them unless they are so confident in dealing with them.

Although it is rare for Princess Tabatha to visit, she does visit from time to time so this matter does affect her at times. Thankfully for Elaina, it seems the soldiers who try to sabotage the farm can’t enter at all. The gate is still unrepaired so anyone should be free to come in and get out and yet the guards remained outside trying to break in.

A few people already reported the troublemakers to the soldiers of the kingdom but because these guys are slick and fast, they are not easily caught and usually escape before they can do anything to capture them. The kingdom’s soldiers even try to ask whether they are fine or not. But once those people are gone, the soldiers who are hired by her parents will come back again and cause another trouble. Elaina gave up after that.

Elaina asked for this matter regarding the "repellant" that stops the intruders from entering Julia and the latter admitted that she is the one doing it and she set it up to ensure that any enemies or hostile entities that try to even harm or have malicious reasons for entering the farm will be dealt with immediately by forcing them to be deflected away or rejected before they can even enter. And if they tried to force their way, then the barrier would send them flying depending on how strong they used their force.

Hearing the explanation, Elaina finally understood why these soldiers seemed to be screaming every time they attacked or tried to get inside. It was because of this matter.

Because of the lingering soldiers that keep on trying to harm the farm, Elaina sent Julia to tell the rest of their acquaintances who will have to enter to either avoid going near the farm or if necessary, send a letter by using a pigeon messenger or magic.

Although this isn’t a big matter since the farm has barely any visitors aside from Princess Tabatha who does visits from time to time, Elaina is annoyed since this effectively stops her from inviting Jacob to do his work.

Sure, she can let Jacob work while Julia will escort her every time. But considering that this guy is someone who works very early in the morning, Elaina didn’t want to drag anybody into their trouble.

Despite all of this, Elaina continues to work on the farm diligently. A week has already passed since the incident. Although her parents remained unseen so far and the only trouble is persistent soldiers, Elaina is sure they must be cooking up something in the background while she is unaware of the situation. Still, there must be something that they might be doing.

Days slowly pass by and Elaina is slowly getting suspicious. There is no way this is their only tactic. Knowing her parents, she is sure they are up to something more than just this.

As Elaina currently is guessing what her parents are doing, Troy returns once again while carrying a few supplies after seeing the current predicament and a few items that he carried with him to install around the farm. Most of it is for defense and for keeping the farm safe.

"Elaina, I have some items and materials that might help spruce up the farm’s defenses. Consider using it seeing that these people our parents hired are so determined to carry out orders. Must be a lot of money at stake for them to remain here even though they seemed to be risking themselves."

"Thanks a lot, Brother. Anyways, do you think you have a good idea of what our parents are doing right now or perhaps even planning? I doubt these pathetic soldiers are the only tactic they had in store for me," Elaina asked.

"Ah, now that you mention it, our parents did something indeed."

"Go on, I am listening," Elaina went serious and listened.

Troy is about to relay his information when Princess Tabatha arrives once again.

"Princess Tabatha, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be avoiding this place considering the soldiers causing mayhem outside the farm?" Troy asked.

"Ha, minor inconveniences really. Not much of a big deal. So what are you guys talking about? It seems to be concerning the actions of those people from before?"

"I was asking my brother for whatever actions they were cooking right now."

"Hmm, can I listen as well?"

"Sure. Considering you are the princess, perhaps you have some hold of the market here. Perhaps you can influence the market itself to stop the plan that our parents are currently planning," Troy said to Princess Tabatha.

"Alright, I will listen but I will see whether this degree is necessary and whether my involvement is enough to warrant this."

"Good. Then, I will start. You all know that both of them are here in the Darcero Kingdom? Well, the partners of the Zangrande Group started to carry goods with them and were transported to the Darcero Kingdom for some sort of "relief goods" and they are amassing a lot of them to be sent. The first batch was the best goods while the next batch seems to be fair quality to good quality. It’s not the best but they are still good quality."

Princess Tabatha frowned and immediately realized it.

"Ah, are they trying to ruin the market?!" Princess Tabatha is angry knowing this.

Elaina immediately interjects, using her capabilities as a businesswoman to explain their actions. "No. They are trying to get access to the market and own it themselves. If they are using these tactics, the current market will not survive in just a few days and the market will collapse as a result which will allow our parents to then take action and take over the business themselves. The moment they do it, things will be ruined for all business owners including us farmers."

Elaina then turned to her brother and urged him. "Alright, continue."

"Alright. Now those goods are being shipped in bulk. It hasn’t arrived yet but we are also quite sure that they will be coming around. If what my sister said is true, then Mother and Father will crash the current market, stagnate them to oblivion then make them useless which will become a huge loss for the business yes?" Troy looked at Elaina.

"Correct. I guess that a new firm or some company will suddenly launch after a few more days and that will be their goal, to soon rival the market and will cause severe trouble. In short, if the current market collapses, they will take advantage of it and take over which will, in turn, expand their control in business. It might sound good but it is a nightmare for almost every business including us. So I want this matter to be done gracefully which will be solved immediately."

Princess Tabatha stood up, ready to help out. "If that is the case, I will have to use my authority to stop this madness they are planning out. But I will have to ask the Guild Master for help on this one. I know a bit about business but I never tackled this kind of matter before.

Elaina smiled. "I am glad you wanted to deal with this as soon as possible. But you will have to prepare for losses as well. I have a way to deal with it with fewer losses but it will be a battle of attrition between the other group and your group. Depending on who will yield first, the battle might be over quickly or might last a few more months."

"It’s fine as long as it won’t last that long. As long as it won’t last for a long run, a few losses will be fine."

Elaina nodded. "Good. So here is the deal. Continue with receiving the supplies from local suppliers to ensure that they won’t feel the need to riot. When the market starts to see no sales, start operating passively and preserve the old items. Make sure to preserve them as best as you can to retain their quality and sell small bits at a time while also keeping the supply in hand in case it becomes a good sale. The other group’s main goal is for the market to yield and lower their prices as well which should go toe to toe with them and this will cause losses to the market. Their losses are calculated so they are not worried."

She continued. "Because the customers will flock to them due to their low prices, their goods will be gone in a flash but your goods will remain due to the competition. Now here comes the best way to keep the fresh goods from rotting. Freeze them while under the spell of Preservation Magic."

"Freeze them?" Princess Tabatha was stunned as she didn’t know this kind of method of preservation before. Even Troy isn’t sure as well on what Elaina is saying as well.

"Just trust me on this. Preservation magic alone will cause the goods to lose their quality. With this method, not only will the quality be retained, but it will also remain fresh once it is unthawed from the ice. With that, the goods are secured. Then, you guys will just wait for them to slowly make themselves shoot on their feet as they will slowly adjust from best goods to subpar goods. They will not afford to last long in this attrition and the customers will slowly flock back to the market. Then what comes next is the long or short battle. Waiting for who surrenders first. But if you follow what I said, the most likely to surrender first will be them."

Princess Tabatha was amazed by what Elaina just said. As for Elaina, nothing is amazing about it. She just knows this method by experience and she is just parting her wisdom over it.

"By the way, tell anyone who asked how you know this that you are the one who has this knowledge."

"But why?" Princess Tabatha asked.

"Because I am just a farmer and I don’t want fame and fortune. I just wanted peace and tranquility as I farm away here in my land."