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Mother, Polly, and Claire have
successfully delivered their babies, and Castle Hill is abuzz with the sound of
crying babies.
Mel and Sharon were eager to
take care of the baby, and I was smiling at the sight of the two girls.
On the other hand, Liddy
seemed to have a hard time with babies and wouldn’t hold the baby even when the
mothers tried to make her hold it.
When I asked her why, she
replied, “She is so small that I am afraid of dropping her or putting too
much pressure on her.”
Children are seldom born in
elven villages. In some small villages, a child is born once every ten years or
so. Especially in Liddy’s case, she left her village at a young age and, since
she leaned to distrust people, even more, she hardly socialized with anyone.
She has become accustomed to
small children through her traveling classroom, but as one would expect, he
does not deal with newborn infants. For this reason, she has never touched a
baby in her fifty years of living.
Even so, she has held the baby
a few times since Mother, and other mothers have always encouraged her to do
so. Recently, she seems to have gotten used to it and is no longer so timid
about interacting with one.
Especially during the hot
season, she does some surprisingly good tricks, such as using wind magic to
send a gentle breeze to the babies.
My brother Rod has also been
training hard since my birthday, and now that he has a younger brother and
sister, he seems to be putting even more effort into his training.
It seems that my father has
talked to my grandfather, and it has been decided that in three more years he
will join the Knights of the Count of the Roswell territory in the northern
part of the Caelum Empire.
The demon folk that had
attacked the Kingdom of Caum in May had gone into hiding, and peaceful days had
returned to the village of Rathmore.
Summer passed, and around the
middle of September, a visitor arrived here at Castle Hill.
While we were playing in the
playground of the mansion, a two-horse cart with an escort of about 10 people
came up the hill.
It was around 11:00 a.m., just
before lunch, and we were the first to spot them.
I ran into the house to tell
my grandfather and father that we had visitors.
“Grandfather, a carriage
is coming up the hill. There is an escort, so it must be a person of rank or a
wealthy merchant?” (Zack)
Grandfather stopped his
training at my words and headed toward the south side of the mansion.
“There is no family
crest. The guards seem to be mercenaries. They are probably merchants. At last they
have finally arrived…” (Govan)
A few months ago, one of the
peddlers had started buying soap from the Lockhart family after finding
villagers using it.
(Knights and nobles don’t come
to our house, and merchants don’t come if there’s nothing going on. The same
would be true of Grandpa’s idea. It was probably a merchant who came to buy
soap…) (Zack)
He tells Father about it and
sends him to call Nicholas immediately.
The carriage took about ten
minutes to climb the narrow path up the hill and arrived at the front of the
house. An elderly man dressed in fine clothes got out from inside.
Then, in a low, clear baritone
voice, he said,
“I’m from Musgrave Trading
Company. Could you please open the gate?” (Elderly Man)
I thought that we don’t have a
gate to be opened and almost burst out laughing.
(Well, they are not just suddenly
going to start a business meeting, right? Well, we are a poor knight family,
but it would be rude to come to a lord’s mansion without announcing your
presence… Let’s let father and Nicholas work it out here…) (Zack)
Walt, the head servant, goes
to the gate and confirms his business.
I go to my father and Nicholas
and explain to them the plan to deal with the merchants.
First, I ask, “Have you
ever heard of the merchant company called the Musgrave Trading Company?”
But neither my father nor Nicholas knew of it.
“If they have come for a
business meeting, we will come out in a high-handed manner. Since it would be
impolite to come to a lord’s mansion without warning.” (Zack)
My father, who was not
concerned about such things, said, “Our Lockhart family is not of that
rank, because we were knighted during my father’s generation,” but I was
going to use this as a bargaining chip.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s
actually disrespectful. Besides, this was a tactic to see how the other side
would respond. It is natural for a person of lower status to pay a visit, so it
is only natural to give them a warning. The other party must have
underestimated our family. They are probably thinking we are poor rural lords.”
(Zack)
Nicholas’s expression turned
grim at these words, but I continued on regardless.
“I don’t care what he
thinks, but we will continue with the talks. Besides, if we act aggressively,
they will underestimate us even more. They will think we are fools who are not
even peddlers, making enemies of merchants like themselves.” (Zack)
My father couldn’t read my
thoughts and gave me a look of confusion.
“It is good to make them
think little of you? But isn’t that just what you want to happen?” (Matt)
“Yes, that’s what I’m
trying to make them believe. Besides, we are going to ask them to come back
again.” (Zack)
My father said to me, “Are
you sure about that? It’s a business negotiation that came to us.”
“I don’t care. If I leave
it alone, more will come. I’ll just ask them what they want today and send them
on their way. If that happens…” (Zack)
They are beginning to be drawn
into my plan, but a knock on the office door interrupts the conversation.
Walt says, “A man named
Edmond of the Musgrave Trading Company is here. What should I do with them?”
Before my father could say
anything else, I gave him the affirmative, “Send him to the reception room
and tell him he’ll have to wait a little while.”
Walt looked at my father as if
wondering if he should do so, but when he saw my father nod, he left the room.
I chuckled.
“Let’s make him wait about
thirty minutes. It’s only natural since they didn’t consider the schedule of a
busy lord.” (Zack)
The two men didn’t seem to
understand what I was trying to do and didn’t respond to my words.
“To continue where we
left off, what do you think they will think if we just ask them what they want
today and tell them to come back next time?” (Zack)
Nicholas replies, “Wouldn’t
they think that we are not interested in selling them the soap formula?”
I chuckled at his words,
“That’s a good try, you have to think more as if you were the other party.”
“He thinks we are a
knight who doesn’t know how to do business. They think that if we don’t want to
sell, we won’t even ask them to come back. And then they’ll wonder why we’re
being so unaccommodating… ” (Zack)
I continue talking, making
sure they’re both following the conversation.
“…They will wonder if
some of the merchants knew of this. Perhaps they might think that there are
other inquiries coming in besides their own?” (Zack)
Father and Nicholas nodded at
my words.
“We have time, so let’s
talk about it after they come back. We will sell it for at least 10,000 C (10M
Yen) just as originally planned. However, this cannot be acted on without
seeing how the other party will react…” (Zack)
I’m pretty sure I can sell it
for at least 10,000 C, but I don’t know about the actual value. Chances are
it’s worth more than I think it is.
I’m hoping to find out what a
fair price is by watching the merchant’s reaction this time.
“…We will also tell
them that we will sell it to other merchants and that we will continue to make some
for consumption in this village. But at first, please just listen to what they
have to say.” (Zack)
I cut off my words and check
their level of understanding of the situation.
(They both understand up to
this point. Now, I hope they understand the rest of the plan…) (Zack)
“And if the conditions offered
by the other side is so bad, say 1,000 C, but if we sell them for 2 C apiece, we
can make a profit in just six hundred. Tell them that we won’t talk to them with
such ridiculous terms.” (Zack)
The two men don’t seem to
understand the purpose of this. Nicholas questioned,
“The other party doesn’t
know the cost of the soap. Therefore, they don’t know if they will make a
profit, do they?” (Nicholas)
I grinned at that question and
nodded, “That’s right.”
“Then, we will let the
other party know that even if we sell 600 units at 2 C apiece in our current
conversation, we will make a profit of 1000 C. Then wait to see what figure
they come up with.” (Zack)
Nicholas nodded with a smile,
as he now understood.
We will risk telling the
merchant the cost so that they can easily give us a fair price.
If they don’t know the cost of
goods, they need to estimate their profit based on that assumption. I am sure
they have a good idea of the sales channels, so they will be able to calculate
the number of units they can sell. Then, if we let them play the profit per
unit, they should be able to tell us the value of the manufacturing method we
want to know.
Nicholas seemed to understand
my intentions.
“I finally understood.
You are going to make it look like we are ignorant, and that we are giving them
information for no apparent reason.” (Nicholas)
I grinned at Nicholas,
“That’s right,” and turned to them.
“Nicholas plays the role
of the bureaucrat who doesn’t know business management, while my father plays
the role of the stubborn lord who is obsessed with money. The reason we are
being so unaccommodating is that we don’t know how to do business, and if the
other side can’t negotiate properly, they will come up with a compromise.”
(Zack)
My father looked somewhat
uncomfortable, but he nodded, “Okay. I’ll leave it to you.”
“As for me, it is
unnatural for a five-year-old to go to the negotiating table. But if the son of
a curious country lord wants to see a merchant, I don’t think it would be so
strange.” (Zack)
“Even if you get into the
negotiations, you won’t be able to say anything.” (Matt)
“Of course not directly…
I have no intention of speaking directly, but I suppose I could send signals…”
(Zack)
I was thinking of having
Nicholas negotiate and send him signs.
“We should let Nicholas
negotiate, while I’ll signal Nicholas. I would sit on the side facing Nicholas,
with my father in front of the merchant and Nicholas beside him. In this way,
the merchant will not be able to see my movements, so to some extent, he will
not be able to detect my signals. Of course, I will make my movements in such a
way that I can deceive them even if they see me…” (Zack)
My father and Nicholas don’t
seem to understand my ideas very well. I used the example of a battle to make
it easier to understand.
“Nicholas, don’t you ever
give orders to your allies on the battlefield? For example, do you use drums or
flags to give orders to soldiers at a distance?” (Zack)
Nicholas tilted his head and
said, “Yes. Drums, gongs, flags, smoke, etc…” and then, clapping
his hands, he said, “Yes! So this is also a battle but against merchants.”
his face lit up.
“The enemy is a skilled
negotiator, whereas we are all amateurs, including me. Then we’ll have to go at
them together.” (Zack)
My father’s face lit up in
agreement.
I then explained the signals.
“The basics are ‘Yes’ and
‘No’, but since this is a battle, we also need ‘Attack’ and ‘Retreat’. For
‘Yes’ a swing of my foot for ‘No’ would be me stretching my legs…”
(Zack)
I also set up a few other signals
for my father and Nicholas to memorize.
“…It is quite possible
that an unexpected question or situation will arise. …when that happens, I’ll have
Nicholas act with some flexibility.” (Zack)
Nicholas looks anxious,
“Will I be able to do this?”
I smile at him and say,
“Don’t worry.” My father nodded his head in agreement.
Thirty minutes later, a
merchant comes in, As we had agreed, we make him leave the room, just to hear
what he has to say.
After that, the three of us
decided on the actual negotiations for tomorrow’s negotiations, including the
division of roles between my father and Nicholas and how to negotiate the sale
price.
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