Only after staring dumbfounded for a few minutes did Gato and his family tear their eyes away from the huge old building that would be their new home and their new storefront. They realized that their young elf lord had walked off with the manager of the six-building business. They hurried over to where the two were discussing the direction that the place should take.
Ryuji stared around him at the six buildings of his new holding as a noble of the city. Anybody with enough money would be able to purchase a license and purchase a plot of land in the city but they would never actually own that land. Nobility was different. They could purchase a property and would actually receive the deed or title to the property and though Ryuji was a bit unsure of the details, he suspected they wouldn’t even have to pay taxes on the land. It might also be that he would collect the taxes but only have to submit a certain percentage of them. Either way was fine with him because money was the one area that he would not have to worry about anymore.
As he was contemplating, he stared at the back of the large U-shaped general store. He estimated that it would need a bit of renovation due to a lack of upkeep but it was in use often enough and the people who worked there kept it well enough that it wouldn’t be too bad. The storage building to the right of it was in even better shape and since there were some food items stored there, there were a lot of measures made to keep vermin out too.
He looked to the left and the furniture shop caught his attention. This building looked to be in way worse condition than the others because of it being on the bank of the river. He could see several places where there was mold along the bottom edge of the building and it looked like it might be leaning just slightly.
As he was assessing the furniture shop, he spotted the cats walking up to them as a group and that brought his attention to the other waterfront building behind them. The building that he was going to move the family of nine cat beastfolk into was a bit smaller than the furniture shop but not by a lot. Both of them were one-story buildings but with space in the attic that could be used for storage or living space depending on how the family decided to set it up. the problem was that the building was in worse shape than the others and was very obviously leaning.
Ryuji considered the possibility of the place collapsing but that didn’t seem very likely because the largest part of the building was made of stone that looked like it had been melted together. He had discovered that the reason for that look was an earth elemental spell used to meld the stone together and make it stronger. That being the case it was this part of the building that was acting as support for the wooden portions that looked decidedly less stable.
The young manager, Varon, was looking at his new employer with a trace of curiosity. To him, this was a blessing sent by the gods. Only a few minutes ago he was wondering how long he could keep the business running and how long he could keep the people here paid and now he had a handful of gold coins. The new owner was looking at the buildings and there was a degree of calculation in his eyes that the old owner who died would have been hard-pressed to match. This young elf lord, for what else could he be if the duke gave him the property, was looking at the business and one could see that change was coming in a big way.
Suddenly he stopped staring between the cat beastfolk and the abandoned building and looked directly at Varon. “Do any of the people in the business know how to do carpentry? I noticed that a lot of the buildings need some woodwork done and if we don’t have carpenters on staff, we’ll need to hire them for renovating the place.”
As Ryuji finished, he realized that Varon was staring at him in confusion and tried saying the word renovate only to discover that he was saying it in Japanese, a sure sign that the word didn’t exist in this world. He spent a moment explaining the concept without using the word again before they continued the conversation. Varon confirmed that they didn’t have a carpenter employed who worked on buildings, just furniture. “After we finish making the place look better and make it better to live in, I’ll be hiring at least one of the carpenters who did the work to keep the buildings in good repair. I’ll want you to assign people to watch the carpenters and decide who it should be.”
“I also understood from our conversation earlier that the pay was too low. Begin assessing the business and its ability to make money. Figure out how much it can make if there isn’t a constant drain on the funds that it depends on to keep going and see if there is room in the budget to increase pay in the future. I don’t want my workers impoverished and miserable. I want to pay them what their labor is worth so they are happy with their job and their performance will improve as a result.”
Ryuji turned and strode towards the back entrance of the storefront. “For now, I need you to show me what all is sold here and where and at what prices, etc. I will look over the books after that before I leave for the day.”
As the pair walked in the slight murmur in the building died instantly and all eyes were glued to Ryuji. He suddenly felt very awkward realizing that all these people were looking at him with awe in their eyes. He shook it off and smirked to himself thinking that he wasn’t doing too bad for a high school kid from another world then lightly scolded them. “If you have time to gossip you should be working. I’ll make sure that you are all taken care of but I expect you to work while you’re at work.”
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Hearing these calm quiet words, the various people in the store got a smile on their faces and went back to work with a bit more vigor. There was something else in all their expressions that hadn’t been there in a long time, Hope. That tiny bit of hope was able to get them more motivated than they had felt in a long time.
Varon showed Ryuji around the store and showed him an assortment of different wares for every part of life. Most of the things they had were less specialized than other stores but much like a supermarket, they had some of most things. In the center of the store was a large section devoted to foods used in cooking. There were items like butter and crates of eggs as well as crates of various grains sitting open with scoops in them and stacks of jute bags beside them. There were jars with crude labels and the more exotic spices in somewhat clear glass jars. This area also had some cookware such as pans and pots but also there were signs painted in the image of other things.
One of these signs was a cast iron stove with a price painted at the bottom. Varon explained that a lot of the larger items like the stoves of various sizes were locked up in the storage building. Partly that was to save space but also those things were more costly and the storage building was safer with no windows and only a securely locked door to enter it.
The counter was to the rear of the groceries with medicines in glass jars and vials next to a small section of jewelry. In front of the counter were a few types of wooden or cloth toys and there were people bustling about everywhere. They moved to the side where the furs and clothing were. This area was in front of the area with the linens, bolts of fabric, and dyes. At the back of that was a small area in the back of the right-side wing of the building. This area had a counter and a clerk who was dealing with a customer. There were signs proclaiming different types of furniture for sale and there were several catalog-looking books with parchment pages on the counter. The customer and clerk were perched over one of these open on the counter.
Varon explained that the furniture shop didn’t have a dedicated storefront but the items were instead usually made to order. The customer would come in and look for a certain type of furniture and they would look at drawings of the pieces for sale and choose between those. Any special additions to the furniture could be made at that point for a fee. Then the order was taken out to the shop where the carpenters would work on it and prepare it for delivery or pickup.
When Ryuji inquired about that he was told that the store owned a wagon and a pair of horses at the stables. He was also informed that the stable hadn’t been paid in months. Ryuji had to facepalm at this point and asked the obviously leading question. “How much do we owe them? Also, How much do we owe to various other places? I’ll need a list of accounts that need settling.”
After apologizing for having to bring up the need for yet more money the Young manager took the new owner through the rest of the store. The other side of the store had a lot of tools, farming items, and grains, and at the back, it had a sign with pictures of the various building materials and their prices listed on it. The sign was a bit faded and most of the items were hard to make out because they were poorly drawn, to begin with. Ryuji made a note to hire an artist to come in and paint the signs and catalogs better as well as add the word for each item under the picture. Who knows, maybe his store would contribute to literacy.
After the tour of the store, Ryuji was taken into the office behind the counter of the general store and shown the books for the store. It was a bit of a headache always calculating in base eight because the people of this land, and as far as he knew every other country, all counted by eights. This peculiar numbering system was brought about by the beastfolk who introduced math to the people of the country. Many races of beastfolk were born with three fingers and a thumb on each hand. Ryuji wasn’t going to try to disrupt this in favor of the decimal system at this point in time.
As he was looking over the books Ryuji noticed a sudden and drastic decline in the business about twelve years back. When questioned, Varon confirmed that that was the point when the old owner died and the younger Markiel had taken over the business. Then he noticed some two years later that the business took another dive and he asked about that.
Varon looked a tad uncomfortable as he explained that it was the point where the store stopped lending credit. He began trying to Explain the need for the credit and barter that was done before but it wasn’t needed. “You see, the farmers usually only get one harvest a year and a lot of our profits…”
Varon trailed off at the look of disgust on Ryuji’s face and his heart sank. He had hoped to get the credit system or at least the bartering system back but the young elf lord looked really mad right now and he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to continue. Then Ryuji turned to him and asked in a quiet voice tinted with outrage. “That bastard cut the farmers and trappers off cold, didn’t he? Did he not learn a single thing from his father or any of the people here? Let people know that we’ll begin extending credit again effective immediately. Also, begin letting people barter and give them more value than their items are worth. We’ll run things that way for at least a few months to get people coming back to the store that were lost due to the last owner.”
Varon just about fell out of his chair at the words he was hearing. The new owner wasn’t mad at him he was pissed off at the last owner. Thinking back on it the only time the young Mr. Markiel ever looked over the books was when he didn’t get as much money as he wanted from the business. Varon was sure things were finally looking up. As Ryuji left a smile spread across Varon’s face.