NOVEL NEXT Chapter 83
As soon as I returned home, it wasn’t Chloe who welcomed me, but Chris.
Usually, Chloe would come out to greet me. Is something wrong?
“Is something wrong with Chloe? Is she sick or something?”
Thinking about it, Chris isn’t a servant or anything at our house, so how could she know everything?
I could just ask the butler here.
However, contrary to my expectations, Chris immediately gave me an answer.
“I happened to run into her on my way to greet you after hearing that the Baron was coming. She told me there’s a lot to report, so I should wait in the room.”
One of Chris’s arms was wedged with a rather large stack of documents.
“We’ve finished assessing the Spice Guild’s inventory, as well as the real estate, properties, and goods we can take.”
There’s only one reason why people are trying to buyout the tax collector’s position.
To make a profit, either by collecting more taxes than what they paid for the position or by seizing properties.
For me, revenge and a warning to Albert were more important than that…
But hey, money is always better when you have more, so I should grab every last penny if I can.
Ding! Ding!
“I’m all done with my work.”
“Thanks, Chris.”
Upon closer inspection, Chris had dark circles under her eyes, and her skin looked a bit lifeless.
I had given her a break after the sugar ban was lifted.
But right after that, she had to organize the huge inventory of the Spice Guild, figuring out what’s edible and what’s not. She probably hasn’t slept properly.
I’ve been working hard too, not just passing off work to the employees.
Chop! Chop!
“Lately, Chloe seems to have been exceptionally lonely.”
“You’re the one who’s been working hard, my Baron.”
“Thanks. Now, please report immediately.”
“Yes.”
Chris quickly brought out the summary of the report and began to explain.
“Let’s start with the properties in Florence. We have the Spice Guild headquarters, a warehouse of 250,000 pyeong in the suburbs, five wheeled carts, 900 wagons, 1,000 pack horses, and 600 cattle. There are also 18,000 gold coins, 60 tons of pepper, 0.5 tons of saffron, 2 tons of cloves, and 1 ton each of nutmeg and mace. I’ve noted the other art pieces and jewels in the report, so I’ll skip that.”
Did those guys really have 18,000 gold coins and all that spice piled up?
And seriously, why the heck is the warehouse 250,000 pyeong?
I’ve been saving up a lot of money and thought my income dwarfing that of most merchants was impressive, but these guys have been in collusion for centuries, their wealth is on a whole different level.
Booom!
“The Emperor would be shocked looking at their inventory.”
It’s not that he’s surprised that the Spice Guild members are richer than him, but more like he’s surprised that just the ‘Florence Spice Guild’ has that much wealth.
“Additionally, here’s the inventory of the Florence Spice Guild scattered across other cities. We do have mansions in major cities including Latina and Visconti…”
The Spice Guild is a trade guild focusing on commerce with heathens.
Of course, those guys are just puppets of the magnates, but to conduct trade, they must have ‘merchant ships’.
Otherwise, there’s no way to transport goods.
“We have five sloops with a capacity of 250 tons, and three carracks with a capacity of 450 tons. The number of sailors employed is around 550.”
If those were warships, each could carry 140 men.
Because they’d give up cargo space to cram in cannons, gunpowder, and people when engaging in naval warfare.
But merchant ships only take the bare minimum crew needed for trading and sailing.
You have to maximize profit by carrying as many goods as possible.
Swish! Swish!
“There’s other assets too, but when converted to cash, they total about 3,000 gold coins.”
“I understand. So, what do you think we should take?”
Chris pondered for a moment and then replied.
“First, cattle, horses, wagons, and spices like pepper should be given to His Majesty, Duke, and the other nobles as a token of gratitude for their assistance. Cattle and horses are too costly to maintain, so keeping more than necessary would be a loss. Spices would only be used in bulk during banquets, so giving them all away might be a good idea.”
The size of my territory isn’t that big to begin with.
So having so many cattle, horses, and wagons would be pointless as the serfs couldn’t even use them all.
Besides, my territory primarily focuses on commerce and industry…
Bam! Bam!
“Unless you’re farming, you don’t actually need many livestock.”
If I had vast lands and people like Duke Visconti, I could distribute one cow per household to significantly increase productivity.
It’s like increasing truck capacity in a company; having more doesn’t help when we already have enough livestock and wagons even including reserves.
Spices, like Chris said, would only be consumed heavily during feasts, so they fall short in asset retention priority.
“I think we should only keep the Guild headquarters, the warehouse, cash, jewels, and art. The mansions in other cities, the ships, and sailors all have value, but I shouldn’t hoard everything myself; sharing is a must.”
Just the eight merchant ships are worth over 10,000 gold coins, but keeping them with the crew is a money pit.
Exaggerating a bit, maintaining those eight merchant ships and their crew alone would cost about 2,500 gold coins per year.
Having mansions in other major cities would be nice, but we don’t face any issues without them right now.
Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching!
“I should gradually expand Cafe Medici and Medici Hospital too. Especially with merchant ships, I think there’s a lot of utility when seen from a broader perspective.”
“Indeed, among nobles in the provinces, everyone knows about Cafe Medici and Medici Hospital. During local banquets, desserts imitating those from Cafe Medici are served, and nobles have been trying for months to admit their wives to Medici Hospital.”
After spending over a year pining for it, they’d all probably rush in like crazy.
“The Cafe Medici in Florence aims for the highest quality, but in other cities, we should target a diverse customer base.”
About 60% of the barons and nobles in the Toscan Empire live in Florence.
So, it’s okay to aim for the highest quality here, but if we only cater to the ‘really high-ranked people’ in other cities, we’ll run into deficits.
“The quality of service remains the same, but let’s lower the upper tier of desserts by a step and the lower tier by about four steps. We can do the same for Medici Hospital.”
Boom! Boom!
By lowering the lower tier by that much, we can bring down prices to the level where average craftsmen or merchants can afford them.
And by dropping the upper tier by just one level, the well-off nobles will still have to come to Florence even if the prices are a few times higher…
Cha-Ching! Cha-Ching!
“This means we can maintain the market’s premium value while simultaneously expanding.”
“To do that, utilizing mansions in major cities would make less financial sense. Understood. But why the merchant ships?”
At that question, I grinned.
“This is a real secret, so you’re the only one who knows.”
Usually, when someone says, “You’re the only one who knows,” the secret leaks out, but Chris isn’t one to spill the beans anyway.
I tried to test her trustworthiness by involving a senior assassin from the information guild to check, and it turned out she wouldn’t leak any confidential info.
Whish! Whish!
“I’ve burned all other privacy-related matters.”
Then I whispered a very small secret to her.
Hearing that, Chris’s eyes widened, and she covered her mouth.
“My Baron, just how far do your insights reach?”
As someone who has lived in a world undergoing globalization, I have a wider perspective.
“A bit wider than you think.”
“Indeed, my Baron…”
Her voice was too soft for me to catch it all.
“I want to rest now too, but is there anything urgent left?”
“Yes, my Baron.”
“Then Chris, you can clock out, and let the other staff do the same.”
“Understood.”
Even after hearing she could clock out, Chris didn’t leave.
Does she have more to say?
“Chloe’s preparing something special for you. Please hurry in.”
…Thinking back, that darned Spice Guild Master ruined my cat playtime, didn’t he?
And she said she’s preparing something.
I dashed into my room with light steps.