161 -) Before Winter
Year 1452, month 10, day 15
“Sir, all of our storage is nearly filled to the brim.” Said the woman who was an employee of the guild. “Especially the ones that will be used for clothes like furs, leathers, fabrics, and related tools. We could spare some space by moving some to the areas where they will be processed, but even the output products made from these materials are filling their storage spaces.”
The weather is getting cold, so fur and winter clothing trade is booming. It is not just that; everything related to heating and warming is getting increasingly expensive. This is also an opportunity for the rich to get richer.
“It is okay, we will be selling them fast enough before the winter ends,” I said with a confident smile. “Did you forget where we are? Yargan is on a big trade route. We will be able to sell all of them with a huge margin.”
“... Yes, sir.” She nodded but reluctantly. She looked like she was not convinced. “It would be okay if it is just what we have. We can sell all of them with a bit of discount. However, we are continuing to produce more of them. I fear we won’t be able to liquidate all of them.”
She has a point. There is a limit to demand, but also there is a limit to how much a merchant would put their money on a single type of goods. If we want them to spend their money more on our products that are clearly accumulating more than normal, we should make bigger discounts for them to profit.
“It is okay.” Regardless, I nodded and assured her. “We can just make bigger discounts. We will still profit, but it is most important to continue our employees who are still getting used to their jobs to gain more experience.”
I was employing new people and buying new slaves to use in the guild’s academy and artisan shops, to carry out labor jobs, take care of construction, and learn to be a section chief on them, taking care of paperwork, etc.
It was not just about increasing the number of personnel. I was trying to increase their capabilities. For example, employing or buying experienced and master artisans for each stage of clothing processes. Making them oversee many more people than they normally have by providing funds, so producing qualified people.
The settlements are much smaller than on Earth here, so it is hard for a sector to produce and contain all its materials, people, tools, intermediate products, and final products. So there would be a division of labor between cities on main trade roads or around some bigger cities.
I tried to create a miniature version of this. It might have been possible in the size of Yargan with its population, but it is mainly a trade city, so it didn’t have a focus on that kind of thing.
That led me to a conclusion: I built, bought, or funded workplaces around the villages that are close to Yargan, on the bigger side, and the ones I built a branch of the guild. Then gave a single basic task to every one of them.
Since the process was mostly linear, I made sure that the villages that were tasked in the previous and next process would be close to each other. This way, a production cycle was created. The last stop was Yargan, as the final products would be created and sold here.
“If you say it is okay, sir.” She looked more relaxed when I eased her worries. “That is all for my report. I will take my leave, then, sir.”
With that, she left. Then the door was knocked again, and another person came in. This time, it was a man. He was a slave I bought a few months ago. I paid 120 gold coins for him because he had quite a bit of literary knowledge.
He is fast at learning new things; he is good with reading, writing, and calculations. I heard that he would be the new lord of a small town if he wasn’t just the 8th child. He already had a scholar job at level 31. I wanted him to be an architect. So his current job is builder at level 5, which I changed for him.
“Hello, sir.” He greeted me with a light, elegant bow. “The notice was sudden, but I managed to compile as much information as possible.”
As he said, I gave an urgent notice to bring reports for each section of businesses. The winder sales are booming, hunting and collecting season is coming to an end, and it is getting harder to operate flexibly. So I wanted to make big movements before it got any harder.
“How are construction and training of new personnel going on?” I asked, then smiled before saying, “I hope you also are getting a good grasp of what I assigned to you. We will only get busier as time passes.”
“Of course, sir.” He nodded without showing any emotions. “New people we appointed as I am included progressing well. I believe they will be able to operate without constant advisors when spring comes.”
“Very well.” I nodded with a satisfied smile on my face. “They should continue to work hard. I have no intention of providing much to those who slack off. Also, make sure to fill in for people who don’t need advisers with new people too. We are always in need of people.”
We need to build branches, so we need many people for construction. To train personnel, I initially hired an experienced team. They came to build the headquarters, but in the process, they started to take people in. For example, when I made a deal with the master builder, Halun Temel, he came with his own builder assistants, experienced builders, and laborers.
I asked him to hire more labor and put more people under every director, so the construction would speed up. Unfortunately, it did not speed up, but slowed down instead. They had to get used to the job after all.
Thanks to Master Builder Halun and his men’s cooperation, newly joined people started to grasp the job and worked really hard to not lose this opportunity. They were in a desperate situation, so this enthusiasm was not only among construction workers, but also among other jobs too.
When they got enough experience, we recruited more people and put them under experienced ones. Halun’s assistants and artisan builders took the ones who looked smart and promising as apprentices.
As for Halun’s men, I promised to sponsor them, so those with accumulated experience took higher-position jobs. Experienced building artisans took under them more inexperienced artisans and started to oversee multiple jobs at the same time.
Even Halun started to give the management and planning of some buildings to his assistants and act as an advisor in need. This increased accidents and expenses, but the speed of ongoing projects also skyrocketed.
The most obvious benefit was that we became able to do multiple projects even at distant locations. This was especially helpful for our branches’ construction. Until now, I could only buy the related land, clear its surroundings, hire local people, and prepare the site for construction.
Now, construction on multiple towns, 2 cities, and some hunting grounds with herb collecting outpost are in process. Halun can barely keep up with the workload, and I can merely hold him from running away by giving him around 10 times what he would actually make.
“As you instructed, every exterior construction is planned to end before or until the middle of the 12th month.” He started to report to me the current situation. “What should the worker do when it is winter, and there is no job to do? Should we release them or put them on unpaid leave?”
“Of course not.” I shook my head. “We are spending so much to just let them gain experience, so there is no way I will let them go. Unpaid leave is also out of the question. There will be interior design. They should work on that in the meantime.”
“As you wish, sir.” He nodded and took a note, but he looked troubled. “Sir…”
“Say it.” I urged him. “You don’t need to hold back if there is a problem.”
“... I understand that you want people to work hard and finish their tasks as fast as possible. You also don’t care much about cost…” He said as if it didn’t make much sense. Then continued, “However, even if we want to continue to work, they might want to rest. The bigger problem is that the other craftsmen and artisans like carpenters, blacksmiths, and others should be working too. We can’t decide whether they will work or not.”
“You don’t have to worry much.” I tried to reassure him. However, I knew that I needed a suitable argument. “Just offer them a higher amount and provide the lacking materials and goods with our own personnel. That should be enough.”
“... Yes, sir.” He said with a mix of reluctant and surprised expression. It seemed like he did not expect me to push it this hard.
After he left, I took note of what happened today. I tried to devise a few new steps for what employees and slaves to do in the winter, and inspected the written reports the staff brought to see if there were any problems.