AWDC Chapter 9
by VolareTwo and a half years have passed since I came to this world, and the second spring has arrived.
The papermaking industry that Lord Robertson tried to start has become a reality with the paper brought into the lord’s mansion.
Until last year, I could only make less than 100 sheets of paper by myself.
Now, it was piled up in a large room in the lord’s mansion.
“Hmm, a splendid job. Toma, it was a success to leave it to you.”
Looking at the stacked paper, the lord was satisfied.
“Lord, we can’t say it’s a great success yet.
Because we haven’t made any money yet.”
“That’s right. How high we can sell this will affect the development of the village,”
Roy and I didn’t forget to advise the lord.
“Well, that’s right. I’m thinking of showing this to Earl Milona first.
The Earl should buy the paper at a high price.”
Earl Milona is the lord 50 kilometers south of Toriholi Village.
He governs Milona Town, which was formed at the point where the Mulan River, which flows out of Toriholi Village, and another river merge.
As you can tell from the similarity between the name Earl Milona and the place name Milona Town, the Milona family is deeply involved with the southern region.
And the entrance and exit of Toriholi Village are firmly controlled by Milona Town.
Moreover, Earl Milona is the most powerful person in the southern region of this country, and also has a senior-junior relationship with Lord Robertson.
Of course, it goes without saying that Lord Robertson is the junior.
It was only natural that our lord should consult with the Earl.
“Along with that, I think it would be good to call out to some merchants in the capital.
Going directly to the Minister of Finance would cause a lot of trouble, but if we go through the merchants, we won’t be bothered by the Earl.”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll talk to the Earl.
Roy, negotiate with the merchants in the capital.”
“Should we set the price at about the same as making parchment?”
“How about 1 million Zeni for 50 sheets?”
“That’s too high,” Roy said. But Roy’s proposed price is also high.
(20,000 Zeni per sheet. Zeni is almost the same as the Japanese Yen. Isn’t that a rip-off?)
In this country, parchment is not a product that is distributed in the market, but nobles and churches have it made by craftsmen in their territory.
Therefore, there is no measure of the price per sheet sold on the market.
However, only 10 sheets of paper can be taken from one sheep.
No matter how much the sheep is slaughtered to obtain meat, the by-product of the sheep’s skin is not worth anything.
Moreover, the work of peeling the skin from the sheep, removing the hair, and thinning it requires a lot of effort.
Well, you can think of it as several thousand times the price of Japanese paper in my world.
At 20,000 Zeni per sheet, considering the materials and labor of parchment, it might be about that much.
However, even at this price, buyers may be found, but it will not be sold in large quantities.
The price I’m thinking of is up to about 100 times the price of Japanese paper sold in Japan.
If it’s more than that, only a handful of royalty, nobles, and big merchants will be able to buy it.
Sales will not increase with only such a customer base.
Even if they jump on it out of curiosity, function and price should be balanced in any world.
I didn’t interfere with the lord and Roy’s price negotiations, but I felt it was too high.
The two’s discussion lasted for a long time, and in the end, they decided to stop negotiating prices based on comparison with parchment.
The desired price was set at 100,000 Zeni for 50 sheets per book.
After that, the lord will present the price while looking at Earl Milona’s expression.
If the Earl strongly objects, they will lower it to half the price as the minimum line.
Well, it’s a boring story, but I realized once again how difficult it is to buy and sell things in a senior-junior relationship.
Here, let’s talk about the lord, the Earl, and the Midland Minister of Finance.
The lord’s family originated from the Minister of Finance, Lord Midland, and the previous Robertson raised military achievements and became a baron from a commoner.
It goes without saying that the Minister of Finance greatly helped him obtain this peerage.
However, Toriholi Village, which was given as the territory, was the southernmost part of the country, and was a poor village with significantly delayed development.
The Milona family, which can be said to be the margrave of this southern region, was not so much opposed to the Minister of Finance, but politically belonged to a different group.
No matter how deep the baron family’s relationship with the Minister of Finance, they cannot oppose the Earl, who is the ruler of the southern region and controls the economy of Toriholi Village.
The current Robertson Baron has no choice but to obey Earl Milona.
Even so, he was dissatisfied with being constantly held down by the Earl.
The achievements of the previous generation were evaluated far higher than those of the Earl, and the Robertson family received special treatment from the royal family.
The current head of the family never forgets that pride.
It was only natural that Roy wanted to maintain a good relationship with the Earl while continuing to have connections with the Minister of Finance.
Instead of openly interacting with the Minister of Finance, he thought of putting a merchant in between.
And the lord’s sale of paper to the Earl was settled at a 20% discount from the desired price.
The Earl was satisfied with the quality of the paper, which was better than parchment, and immediately purchased 10 books.
Furthermore, he was also given approval to sell the paper in town.
“The negotiations were surprisingly easy,” the Baron said with a beaming face after returning.
“This will greatly help this year’s finances.”
“Yes, next you do a good job. Sales from Milona alone are still insufficient.”
“That’s right. There are probably no merchants in Milona who can purchase paper at this price.
In the capital, merchants as well as the royal family and nobles will be interested.
I’m going to take Toma and Jim to the capital as well, is that alright?”
“Yes, I don’t mind. I have to let them breathe the air of the capital and broaden their horizons.”
Our dreams, mine and Jim’s, were suddenly accelerated.