152 -) Taking Care of Business
Year 1452, month 08, day 20
I was planning to coordinate with Silas to inspect what information he gathered and organize an operation to open a new branch in Lupinkel as soon as possible, but when I returned from the trip, the issues to take care of had piled up. So I could only call him today.
While waiting for him, I finished the remaining procedures. The training of both slaves and apprentice questers was going well. New questers were also doing fine, although there would be some issues from time to time. So it might be good to appoint a guild master from now on to take care of things like that.
Construction of the Guild area is continuing to expand, but the base facilities are completed. The main hall is operating as a gathering area and quest-giving location. The training hall is under the trainers’ operation, and they teach kids, apprentices, and new questers.
There are around 10 trainers, and some of them are bought as slaves, while some of them are hired. They teach training with the weapon that the trainee is good at, reading and writing, speaking the common language, financial education, military and party strategies, and the rules of the guild.
There is also an orphanage built on a piece of land close to the guild area, which I bought later on. Witnessing many orphans and children who cannot be provided for by their parents rushing to the training halls just to grab something to eat, and the younger ones who could not even do that, forced me to decide on that.
Of course, it would not be just a charity deed. That might help me raise my popularity, but I could cultivate some talented children and make them loyal to me just by providing their daily necessities. Of course, as time passed and the workload increased, I found new ways to bury myself under even more work.
“Knock, knock!” Just as I finished what I was doing and was deep in thought, the door to my room, which is in the headquarters building, was knocked twice.
“Come in!” I said with a loud voice for it to be heard.
When I let them in, the door opened without much noise. Since it was new, I asked for both structure and furniture to be of high quality. I thought that I must be unsparing in designing my headquarters at least.
A slender man in his forties appeared behind the door. Although the outfit he was wearing was fitting for a merchant, it was uncommon for a merchant and a succesful business man not to be fat or at least paunchy.
“You called, boss?” He asked with a light bow.
“Yes.” I nodded. “Please sit down first,” I said while pointing toward the seats across the light-brown table in front of me.
“Thank you, Sir.” He said and took the closest seat to me before waiting for me to speak.
“How is the situation going on in your shop?” I started the conversation about his shop, which I bought later on.
“It is all thanks to you, boss.” He bowed again before continuing, “The personnel were uneasy at first since the owner changed hands. You know, as my business started to worsen, the employees started to leave one after another, and the ones who stayed until the end were the most loyal ones who had been with me since their childhood.”
“It must be hard for them to accept a new superior.” He said with a bitter smile. “Fortunately, things are fine now. They knew well how good and attentive a boss you were.”
Whether it will be beneficial to me for them to be grateful or not, it is true that I rarely interfered with what business they do and supported them whenever they were in need of something. I knew they would not work genuinely for me at first, so I don’t think it was a bad investment.
They are good at and experienced in what they have been doing so far. The only thing I had to do was to look after and inspect them from time to time, so they would not fall into the same situation again. Aside from that, I use them in my own businesses as experts, like how I sent them to Lupinkel.
“I am happy to hear that,” I said with a smile. “As long as you do your job well, I will continue to be a good boss to you.” Even though it sounded reassuring, there was an underlying warning in it too.
“W-we will not disappoint you, Sir.” He stammered for a moment, but managed to pledge.
“Good, anyway…” I nodded and changed the subject, “Please report on the situation on Lupinkel.”
“Yes, Sir.” He fixed his stance and donned a professional expression. “We sold most of the goods we took with us. However, we could get less than a quarter of them in coins and had to give the rest in credit.”
“Hmm…” I put my hand on my chin for a few seconds, then asked, “What were your criteria for a person when you were choosing to give them our goods on credit?”
“I focused on people who were well known, so they could not and would not avoid paying their bills.” He said as I nodded in return. “However, Mister Wark helped a lot in that regard. He even helped us sell our goods as if they were his own. We could not have had such a good job without him; let alone the time we spent would be more.”
“Mister Wark?” I tilted my head and asked, “Is he the father of Wyn and Woya?”
“Yes, Sir.” He nodded. “I heard that he went under, so I doubted him at first, but he was such a good merchant. I even took a fancy to him when I heard the reason his business went bankrupt. He also knows many people, so he would be a good partner if you ever consider expanding your influence in Lupinkel.”
“I see…” I nodded and got lost in thought for a while. “The goods were just the ones we could not sell off easily anyway. So it is no problem even if the payment is delayed.” I said after finishing contemplating. “I was also curious about Mr. Wark, and I happened to want to build another branch there.”
“We can ask for his cooperation when we send people for construction. We should prepare the necessary items and tools, but local goods can be bought through him.” I voiced aloud the workflow I had begun to formulate in my head. “When the branch starts to function, we should send a competent wolfkin slave as a guild leader, and Mr. Wark can be under him as the person responsible for finance. Hmm… I heard from the girls that there are talented wolfkins even among the younglings. We can get many wolfkin as subordinates if this works out well.”
“... Y-yes, Sir.” Silas somewhat looked restless, as if unsure what to say.
“We will increase the speed of expansion of new branches.” I turned to him and gave instructions, “Continue to watch the market. Buy undervalued items and stockpile as many goods as possible we need at the guild branches. Also, send words to the slave traders to increase the number of slaves they bring. I am willing to pay more if the quality and quantity are increased.”
“Yes, Sir.” He nodded again, with a resolute expression this time. “By the way, boss…” He stretched his sentence as if he wanted to say something.
“Go ahead.” I gestured with my head.
“How was your trip to the capital?” He said curiously, “Did you manage to achieve what you aimed? Seeing that you are confident and even trying to speed up the whole thing, I can’t help but get my hopes up.”
“Haha,” I chuckled when I saw the look on his face.
He was like a child who is asking about their toy. Whoever he is, he is a merchant in the end. He can’t help but be curious and excited about the prosperity and future of the business he is connected to, although the profit will end up in someone else’s hands.
“The outcome was much better than what I expected,” I said confidently. “Thanks to that, we can rush and still be fine for a long time without additional funds, even if we don’t have any profit from the guild businesses.”
“Really?” He said in surprise. “You must have made it big in there, then, boss.”
“Yes,” I nodded and decided to finish today’s discussion. “We have so much money, so the only thing you have to focus on is to do your job well. Then the prosperity will await.”
“Yes, Sir!” He exclaimed excitedly.
“Is there anything more you want to report?” I tried to check whether anything was skipped or not before sending him.
“No, boss.” He shook his head. “There is nothing more currently.” He said, then tried to take off an inflated pouch on his waist. “It is just that I also brought the income I earned from the sale.”
“You can keep it.” I shook my head. “Use it in your current deals. You just have to make it recorded.”
“Sure, boss.” He nodded and placed the pouch on his waist again.
After that, he bowed and left the room. The room was filled with silence once again.
I turned to the side and saw the setting sun. I sent the girls beforehand so they could shop and prepare dinner. This way, dinner will be ready when I arrive at home. Since the weather is hot, I just got up and left the room. After going down 3 floors, I was outside the building.
The building was newly painted, and the main door was double, and each door was wide and long. There were no adjacent or nearby buildings to the headquarters building. There were benches placed in that space for questers to use.
The closest buildings were for accommodations and storage. I saw people going in and out of dorms. Some of them went in exhausted, while some were moving quickly as they were carrying something.
The sight of something someone built themselves felt good. Now it was functioning well, and it felt even better. What made it even better was that there was a home, and in it, a hot meal and even hotter girls waiting for me.
If this is not a blessing, what is it then?