ALL NOVEL Chapter 242 - Divine Cat Mii-chan Speaks Passionately.
Chapter 242: Divine Cat Mii-chan Speaks Passionately.
I requested the guild master of the Commercial Guild to cancel the rental agreement of the criminals’ residence, and to sell the two private homes owned by the captain of the security force and the two directors of the administration office. As for the mansion the magistrate was living in, it seems that was a royal family’s vacation villa, so I don’t have the authority to do anything about it.
“Is it alright to sell them off?”
“I will use the mansion that belonged to Olaf, who was the head of the administration office, but the others have no use, so it’s fine.”
“Understood.”
I handed over the deed to Olaf’s land and had them change the ownership. After that, I inquired about the situation of this town. As expected, the corruption in the administration was apparently blatant, but being directly controlled by the royal family, they had given up on doing anything about it. Additionally, since this region is a place famous for producing alcohol, the dark guild seems to hold considerable influence here, to the extent that both producers and sellers are required to pay tribute. It seems inevitable that we’ll have to crush them.
“Mii~”
When I mentioned that the Brocken Mountain road was being repaired, they were very pleased. Since merchant caravans had to take a long detour to Hildenburg, the number of traveling merchants stopping by villages off the main road to sell goods had drastically decreased, which had become a problem. Lately, it seems that many caravans don’t even stop by villages along the main road. Although the major shops and the Commercial Guild of this town are working together to send traveling merchants to nearby villages, it seems difficult to reach more distant ones.
“Doesn’t the Divine Cat Trading Company do business in this town?”
“For now, we’re fully occupied with Beruna and Wilhelm. However, we do plan to send merchant caravans between Beruna and Wilhelm under the Divine Cat Trading Company.”
“Mii~”
“I see… I had hoped you might open a branch of the Divine Cat Trading Company in this town as well…”
“More importantly, about the issue of sending traveling merchants to the villages in this region. What do you think about forming a joint trading association among the merchants of this town?”
“A joint trading association?”
If merchants don’t visit the villages regularly, it will affect the villagers’ livelihoods. Right now, it seems the Commercial Guild and the major shops in this town are handling the traveling merchants, but I think it would be more efficient to gather investors, create a new trading association, and send them out to the villages. There must be other associations in this town that want to send traveling merchants but have had to give up due to a lack of funds or manpower.
Therefore, I suggested creating a joint trading association, pooling funds, people, and goods, and distributing the profits as dividends. This would benefit the villages, the trading associations that want to send merchants, and most importantly, the Commercial Guild. Mii-chan also leaned forward on the table, enthusiastically supporting the idea. My real motive, though, is to show that the lord is actually thinking about the people of the domain.
“Of course, I, as the lord of this region, will also invest.”
“Mii~”
“That’s an interesting idea. Gathering the specialties of each trading association to form one joint association, with profits distributed according to the amount invested. This is a novel form of a trading association! Even those who wanted to start a trading association but couldn’t due to lack of funds would find hope in this idea. I will definitely consider it right away!”
I’m sure there have been associations like this in the past. People who borrowed money to start a trading association or started one with acquaintances. But those who didn’t have the presentation skills or connections couldn’t start an association, or even if they did, many probably couldn’t manage the finances well and ended up closing the association.
After informing the guild master of the Commercial Guild that a new magistrate had been sent, I left the Commercial Guild and headed back to Helda, the guild master of the Hunter Guild.
“Do you need something else?”
“Now we’re getting to the main point.”
“Mii~”
I informed Helda about the current situation on Brocken Mountain and briefly explained the treaty that would be signed between the ruler of Brocken Mountain and the Kingdom of Lumiere.
“And what about the monsters?”
“As for Brocken Mountain itself, we must not interfere.”
“And what about the monsters that come down the mountain to cause trouble?”
“You may hunt and eliminate those as hunters. However, like before, there won’t be mass raids of monsters descending from Brocken Mountain to attack villages.”
“You want us to trust that?”
“As long as humans don’t provoke them, I think it’s safe to assume that won’t happen. This is a treaty between the king of this country and the ruler of Brocken Mountain, not with Baron Brocken.”
“So, are you saying humans won’t be attacked on Brocken Mountain?”
“Not quite. Not all monsters obey the ruler of Brocken Mountain. Monsters with low intelligence or stray monsters will still attack people as usual.”
“Then what’s the point of the treaty?”
“By signing a treaty with the ruler of Brocken Mountain, the main roads will be much safer to use. More importantly, the nearby villages will suffer less from monster attacks. The hunters currently stationed at the foot of Brocken Mountain will no longer be needed.”
“So, the hunters in this region will be out of a job…”
“Is that really the case? As long as you don’t enter deep into Brocken Mountain, you’ll be free to gather medicinal herbs. Hunters who were keeping watch on Brocken Mountain will now be able to accept requests from other villages they couldn’t before, and as the mountain road opens up, more escort jobs will become available.”
“It’s not going to be that easy…”
Since the western road is unusable, the only way to get to Hildenburg is through this road. Right now, most trade is with the northern countries. Relations with Rotalingia in the east aren’t going well. Once this road becomes easier to use, merchant caravans will naturally start using it more. It’s clear that Forte, the main town along this road, will flourish.
“Mii~”