A Dragon's Curiosity

“How can that be? Even more so, because the staff is a valuable weapon, you shouldn’t sell it. Some things cannot be bought even when you have the money to pay for it, where would you get a rank six weapon easily? Just keep it, it belongs to you initially.”

Faced with Nisha’s goodwill, Annabelle and Lydia kept a firm attitude and rejected her proposal. Taking advantage of the kindness shown by both the elder and granddaughter elf would only come back to bite them if they actually dared to accept the staff and the ingredients.

“I will buy it then. How much gold do you need? You know I have a lot of it.”

Regarding her words, the sisters indeed had an estimate how much wealth the little dragon possessed; they had helped moving most of it once while they were in the Hunting Grounds. This god of wealth had almost as much wealth as a kingdom, not to mention she carried it around in her [Inner Space]. Not even Luthais was aware of this hidden fortune.

“We still can’t take it. Sir Eldrin left the items for you; it would tarnish his remembrance if we forced you to exchange it for money.

Also, you don’t have to worry about us. While we might not have a huge amount of money at this time, I think we can realise our dream of owning a shop belonging to us sooner or later. You should spend your gold on things you like.”

Naturally, the two wouldn’t allow the dragon to gift them the gold either, and they started arguing.

A maid who came to clean on the second floor from the servant quarters situated in the rear of the house got frightened as she got close and saw the lady and her friend's quarrel.

Disagreements tended to happen; this was not the reason for her shock. Rather, the three argued about sums and treasures of an unimaginable height. And the strangest thing, they each wanted to give it to each other, instead of taking it for themselves.

Shaking her head and muttering something about the hobbies rich people have, she decided to delay cleaning and walked back the way she came from earlier.

Naturally, the three girls did not even register her presence and continued to bump heads.

Nisha grew quite frustrated when she only wanted to help the other two realise their dream, while Annabelle and Lydia could not understand why the stubborn dragon would not allow them to show their sincerity.

If it weren't for Galan, who appeared at some unknown point in time during their disagreement,  they would likely have continued in this fashion until deep into the night.

“Lady Nisha, Miss Lydia and Miss Anna, if you would allow me to offer you a compromise, I believe I can help.”

As always, the old Butler stuck to his role and bowed to each of them before opening the heavy wooden door leading to the dining room.

It was only slightly past midday so that lunch would be served in a while, but it wasn’t time for that yet.

Pausing their argument the two parties begrudgingly followed him, interested in the solution he mentioned.

“While not having heard the entirety of your discourse, I do believe the core of the issue revolves about Lady Nisha and the Misses disagreeing about the things left behind by the late master and establishing a new trade house, is that correct?”

Waiting for everyone to sit down while Galan himself stood slightly to the side of the head of the table, he directly outlined the issue from his point of view.

“Well, we didn’t plan to directly establish a trading house, a simple venture for us to get a handle and experience on the life of a merchant is enough for now. But essentially you are correct.”

As the more scholarly sibling, Lydia nodded her head while agreeing with the old man.

“It’s not just about the money though. I want to give it to them, but these two keep saying no!”

Agitated by not having things going her way, Nisha quickly added her thoughts.

“I understand, Lady Nisha.

However, from my understanding, the misses don’t want to accept your investment since it would be the same as charity without reason, isn’t that so? Would you accept it if young master Henry suddenly handed you a large amount of money?”

Whether their spat was pointless or childish, the butler did not add his thought and only offered a comparison to put things in relation. Seeing that the elf quieted down and started brooding over his words, Galan allowed himself the faintest of smiles.

“Since I already offended the lady and her friends, I have in fact also a resolution prepared.

Miss Lydia, did your sister and you already discuss the foundation of a merchant house with Master Edwin?”

“We had a general discussion with him, yes. A merchant house is established by either a family or a group with common interest. All profits and expenditures are recorded in the registry, a guild-approved ledger which cannot be counterfeited. At the end of each turn, the proceeds are then split or reinvested to build a solid foundation.”

While her words did not reveal much besides basic information, Nisha learned something new from then. Until now she thought of stores as a commodity without going much into their background, and as it turned out, merchant houses owned the majority of stores in Thurgau.

“Precisely. As for my notion, Miss Annabelle and Miss Lydia might want to form their merchant house together with the young mistress.

In fact, Master Luthais has inherited a similar arrangement from the late master, the firm supplying the city belonging to this house, Dornwich, has been set up between Master Eldrin and one of his old friends.

By now, they have a branch in the capital and contacts all over the continent.”

Followed by this revelation, not only Nisha, even Annabelle and Lydia were greatly surprised. The shop at which they learned the basics of the trade for the past moons was exactly the firm he was talking about a second ago.

“To be precise, this arrangement isn’t a novelty either. Almost all merchant houses which have some roots here belong partly to a noble family in one way or another. When a new shop gets profitable and wants to expand, the more sensible nobles reach out to them and offer them a loan which allows expanding their business in exchange for shares of the store.

About eight out of ten shares get sold, quickly repaying the initial loan and filling the pockets of the several nobles for years to come.”

As Galan’s plan did sound solid, both parties stopped arguing and rebuking for now and thought it over, addressing any concerns they had. Nisha asked something first.

“But why do different houses invest in a shop? Won’t they suffer a loss if they can’t repay the loan?”

The dragon had no concerns about her money disappearing in case she gave it to Annabelle and Lydia. She only wanted to understand why the nobility of Leandar got involved with the merchants.

“It’s indeed a risky move if you look at it as a single case. However, most investors do not stop with just a single venture. By spreading their assets over different categories, the risk gets somewhat minimised.

For example, the new shop backed by a noble specialises in furs, and the price suddenly falls after a turn. While the fur market is going to be a fruitless endeavour for turns to come, silk or ore trade won’t necessarily fail at the same time. As long as the merchant houses aren’t completely bought up or disbanded, the long-term investment most likely will give returns.”

As the right hand of Eldrin in the past and the most trusted subordinate Luthais has right now, the Butler explained the issue in a concise manner. His involvement over the years managing the funds belonging to the Dharnas house made him an expert on the topic.

“Furthermore, a powerful backer can open doors that money can’t. Several of the bigger merchant houses openly show the emblem of their patrons on their buildings, increasing the prestige they have. Many contracts for ventures outside of Leandar traditionally go to the Traders affiliated to the prominent noble families. Their personal funds act as a reserve in case the caravans get plundered, or the merchants don’t return.”

“Can regular citizens found a merchant house without the influence of nobility as well? Your words make it sound as if there is no chance for anyone to succeed if they don’t pay them a share.”

Annabelle frowned alongside her words. The sister’s dream had always been to create a place belonging only to them. Now they were told they needed to have a backer or their wish could not be fulfilled.

“Not necessarily. Unless you are dealing with orders well above the capacity of an individual, anyone can open a shop and prosper. The cutoff isn’t entirely clear, but you will face the opposition of the already established merchants when you seek to expand at a certain point.

Of course, this isn’t a law set in stone. You two could also ask the [Adventurer’s Guild] to lend you their protection. They do not ask for a share of the profits but might expect other favours in the future. I’m not too knowledgeable about their demands. Please do excuse me for that.”

Seeing that the girls were about to come to an agreement, Galan left on his accord, in his opinion they needed to work out the final deal by themselves.

After watching how he had left, the three girls calmed down as well.

Even while fighting with each other, neither side held resentment or felt aggrieved since the others were looking out for them. And now another plan appeared before them; they had to give it at least a try.

“Nisha, how about this. We will take a step back and do as Mr. Galan said. Founding a merchant house, you will become the owner together with us two, but you need to agree to one condition.

Instead of just giving us the money, we will treat it as a loan. We will make our venture a success and return the loan to you.”

With each side speaking a word less and relying on each other, Lydia meant the words she spoke. Although their dream initially only belonged to the two of them, the little dragon had long since become family. Allowing her to join them meant only benefits. And Nisha gave those freely, not out of speculation.

“This … okay, since my elder sister already spoke, I won’t say unnecessary things. But we need to decide on the loan and a number of shares.”

Lydia appeared as the more intellectual half of them generally. However, Annabelle wasn’t slow either. In her heart, she didn’t covet the gold or the shares either, but setting clear boundaries was needed in business. If the division wasn’t clear, how were they going to pay back Nisha?

“Anna is right, do you agree Nisha? Before we set up the documents and go to the [Merchant’s Guild] to register, we need to be in agreement.”

Glancing over the fact that the elf had yet to agree, Lydia already spoke of their collaboration as a sealed deal. Knowing their close friend, with her character she would not make things difficult at this point and agree to compromise.

“Geez, alright. Then I’ll go ahead and make a proposal for the division.

I will give you ten thousand gold for two out of ten shares. I’m content with that and hope you will make our business one of the most successful ones there are in Thurgau. Of course, you can use the Dharnas coat of arms on my behalf.”

Giving out an incredibly favourable deal, Nisha similarly hoped the two sisters would accept as part of the compromise. Clearly, she underestimated how important their dream was to Annabelle and Lydia.

“This won’t do! If you listened to Mr. Galan earlier, you should know the two shares should belong to us usually. And if you can’t give us an acceptable suggestion, we will need to invite Ser Luthais to negotiate.”

Threatening to involve the head of the house, Nisha felt helpless as well. She could spend her money, but the half-elf would still look out for her interest and get as many shares as possible.

“Alright, I won’t squabble then. Listen to my final offer.

Out of nine shares, three will belong to me, and each of you will take three shares as well. And when the loan is paid back, I will get one more share at that point, making it four total for me and six total for you guys. And to make it worthwhile, I will give you each ten thousand gold. No matter what you say, I won’t budge even one copper!”

Hearing this, Annabelle was prepared to argue with Nisha. Lydia, on the other hand, held her back with a complex expression on her face. Seeing how the dragon furrowed her brows and pouted her lips, this likely was her bottom line and even inviting the master of the house would likely not have much of an effect. Looking back on their conversation, the amount of money they were talking about ought to frighten her, most business deals she had handled so far rarely exceeded one gold, up to a maximum of ten gold.

In the end, she felt that was as much as Nisha was willing to concede, so she nodded her head.

“Alright, we will do it that way then. Now we only need to find a place to establish our merchant house and a fitting name.”