Chapter 38
While Ruan was lost in thought about dwarf society, the Grand Duke spoke.
“But it’s just a small, new guild, isn’t it? The production volume won’t be high.”
Ruan nodded at the Grand Duke’s words. It was all true. However,
“That’s alright. It’s half a success if the first monster products introduced are high-quality dwarf-made items.”
Ruan began to explain what he had been thinking since he realized the potential of monster byproducts.
“People outside of Reinke can’t even imagine using monster byproducts. Showing them products made from monster byproducts will naturally be shocking at first. Ultimately, the success of this venture will depend on how that shock is received.”
The moment the shocking first impression attracts attention, if that shock can be perceived positively, it becomes a powerful weapon.
Of course, it was a strategy that could backfire if not done carefully.
“There’s a risk that using monster byproducts could be perceived as an uncivilized eccentricity due to its radical nature. However.”
Doesn’t Reinke now have a card that can more than overturn that?
“If the first items introduced are works created by dwarf craftsmen, and if those possessing these works are of noble status, monster byproducts will instead be seen as precious materials.”
To that, they would add another resource Reinke has besides snow and monsters.
Namely, popularity.
“We plan to overlay this with Reinke’s image.”
The people of the Empire love Reinke.
Far in the north, a land of endless snow. Brave and honorable knights and soldiers who stand against vicious monsters there. Solid walls that protect the Empire from that harsh winter.
Just as they love fairy tales about heroes, they loved the northern land that exists in the present day and is protecting their homes even at this moment.
That’s why they were genuinely saddened when Reinke fell. Of course, they could only be sad because the people of the North, including those from Reinke who had lost their homes and families, managed to prevent the horde of monsters from advancing further south… In any case, they were sincerely distressed by the calamity in the North.
Thus, now that Reinke has been recaptured and the walls rebuilt, the popularity of Dietrich Reinke, the Empire’s best swordsman, and the brave Reinke is skyrocketing.
To the extent that the royal family is aware of this popularity and plotting to recruit Reinke.
‘It’s a popularity with two sides, but we can use it too.’
“We’ll promote that monster products are proof of victory obtained by Reinke’s fierce knights and soldiers defeating enemies that threaten the Empire, evidence and symbols of their bravery. And that these items are actually used by those strong warriors.”
Since it’s medieval times, adding a spoonful of superstition might be good too.
‘Well… like, if you have these items, you become strong like the northern warriors?’
Anyway.
“Once that image is established, not all products need to be luxury dwarf-made items. More common items will sell well enough too. Of course, to make a profit, they’ll be slightly expensive… but we can set prices based on the image and high quality that people would expect to pay for. We won’t need dwarf craftsmen to make those items, so the income will be ours without profit sharing.”
Ruan looked at the Grand Duke after finishing his prepared speech.
The Grand Duke’s piercing golden eyes, with his usual strict, solemn, and serious face, were looking straight at Ruan.
It was a gaze that would make most people from Reinke run away thinking, “Eek, I must have said something stupid!” But… Ruan knew the Grand Duke was just deep in thought.
Because the tip of the Grand Duke’s tail wrapped around Ruan’s wrist was swaying gently.
‘Lately, he wraps his tail around me like this whenever we’re close.’
As Ruan was looking at his sleeve becoming covered in fur in real-time, the Grand Duke finally spoke.
“Go ahead and do it.”
It was permission.
“Yes! I’ll do my best!”
Ruan, who shouted with determination, immediately began thinking about what to discuss with the dwarves. As Ruan was unwrapping the tail from his wrist and about to return to his place, the Grand Duke added.
“But… don’t you need a merchant guild to implement this?”
At the Grand Duke’s words, Ruan’s feet stopped in their tracks. This was indeed the part Ruan had been most worried about.
Ruan’s plan was difficult to proceed with Reinke’s power alone.
First, the work Ruan planned needed to be centered around the capital, Ardenheim, which was the first problem.
All trends in the Sirah Empire started from Ardenheim. Therefore, to make the project successful, they needed to establish a presence in Ardenheim and first target the celebrities there with aggressive marketing… But Reinke, always suffering from labor shortages, couldn’t possibly have someone who could stay in the capital for long periods to conduct business.
Additionally, the fact that Reinke, which had no connections to commerce, lacked the foundation to distribute goods in the capital was also a problem. Just building that would require considerable time and cost. It was obvious that it would be much more efficient to entrust the work to a merchant guild that already had existing sales channels rather than starting from scratch on the Reinke side.
Therefore, for the monster product business to proceed properly, they needed a merchant guild to take charge of the entire operation.
A trustworthy guild, challenging enough to come all the way to Reinke for this experimental business alone, and skilled enough to carry out what Ruan required.
And finding such a guild was not an easy task.
‘Especially from Reinke…’
Reinke is a place with absolutely no merit for merchant guilds to visit.
First of all, Reinke, located at the northern end of the Empire, had very poor accessibility.
The sea route was only available for 5 months of the year. The land route was mostly covered in snow and extremely treacherous. It required tremendous hardship and cost just to get to Reinke.
Of course, merchants are people who willingly shoulder risks if there’s something to gain. If there was wealth beyond, merchants would set sail even on stormy seas. Even if the process was difficult, merchant guilds would move if they could see profit…
But Reinke only had risks, with nothing to gain. There were no special products worth selling or customers who could buy anything significant.
On top of that, it was always under the threat of monsters.
Reinke, with its huge risks and no expectation of profit, was a place no normal merchant guild would ever consider as a destination.
Moreover, being at the very edge of the Empire, there were no guilds that would stop by on their way to other places, so it could be said that there were no merchant guilds coming in and out of Reinke at all.
To find a guild that meets such demanding conditions in this situation… It was arguably the most difficult part of the entire plan.
But not just for this project, but also for Reinke’s long-term growth, a merchant guild that would come and trade with Reinke was absolutely necessary.
So Ruan finally… decided to use his possession cheat.
“There’s a merchant guild I want to contact.”
“Which one?”
Ruan looked at the Grand Duke, who was naturally placing his tail on Ruan’s wrist again, and said the name of the guild he had read about in “Tales of the Sirah Empire.”
“The Steiner Merchant Guild.”
In “Tales of the Sirah Empire,” at a point before the war, Louise moves busily to create allies within the Sirah Empire.
The figures she tries to recruit are all influential people in Sirah, and among them are… Dietrich Reinke, the Grand Duke of Reinke, and Ralph Steiner, the head of the Steiner Merchant Guild.
The Steiner Merchant Guild was one of the largest guilds in the Sirah Empire, known for growing through adventurous and aggressive management styles for generations.
And Ralph Steiner, the current head of the guild, was particularly famous for his good intuition.
The young guild head with animal-like instincts had achieved great success wherever he set his hand, rapidly expanding the guild’s scale. To the extent that he became one of the wealthiest people in the Empire despite not having a large territory.
On top of that, he had an unimaginable ability to get along with people, with few notable figures from all walks of life not being acquainted with him. Even looking at his personal influence alone, excluding the guild, he was undoubtedly a big shot.
So Louise had no choice but to desperately try to recruit him.
‘While Louise’s interest in the Grand Duke is disastrous… in this case, should I be thankful that the Louise in “Tales of the Sirah Empire” took an interest in Ralph Steiner?’
Thanks to that, Ruan was able to get hints about the points to target when approaching Ralph Steiner.
