Chapter 164 Preparing To Open The Merchant Guild I
As I opened my eyes, soft morning light was peeking through the gap in the curtains. Sara, still in her nightclothes, approached the window and gently opened the curtains. The trees in the garden visible from the window were starting to take on colors, reminding her that there weren't many days left until the Hunting Festival.
Over the past 2 weeks, Sara had been incredibly energetic.
She had hired ten employees for the merchant guild. They were recruited through the Commerce Guild, but during the document screening process, she excluded anyone with connections to other merchant guilds, commerce guilds, and high-ranking officials. Sedrick took care of the investigation, and all of these employees had signed a confidentiality agreement using magic.
'Since we're openly excluding those with connections, it's probably already known to other merchants that we have exceptional information gathering abilities.'
The first floor of the main store was converted into a cafe space with simple chairs and tables, where customers could try herbal teas and Elma liquor.
The other half of the space displayed merchandise, but the biggest feature of this store was the constant music flowing from the "music boxes." Several types of boxes were prepared, and when one performance ended, the staff would close the box and open the next one.
These boxes were available for custom orders, and if requested, decorations could be added to the box or different items could be placed inside to create a gift box.
The recorded tracks are not only piano solos, but also violin solos and songs with piano accompaniment. It was Juliette, the maid of the castle, who played the piano accompaniment for Sara's violin. At first, Sara thought of multi-tracking, but since Juliette was enthusiastic about volunteering, she asked her to play the accompaniment.
The item that took the most time to prepare was, of course, Elma brandy. The distillery that Marquis secured was a building located on a small hill about a 10-minute walk from Fran's family home, Harlan Farm. It was a sturdy brick warehouse that had been abandoned for years, previously owned by a fallen merchant family. Marquis purchased the building with his own funds and handed it over to Sara under the name of Sophia Merchant Guild.
Fran asked his blacksmith friends to hurry and make 2 distillation furnaces for her. Sara wanted them to make even more, but building large distillation furnaces is a very delicate task that normally takes several months. It's amazing that they were able to make furnaces identical to the one in the maiden's tower in such a short period, even using the documents left by her great-grandfather as a reference.
To be honest, Sara did cheat a little. She used earth-attribute magic to extract some of the materials. Since she's not sure about the durability of items created with magic, she asked Fran to make them while observing the process carefully.
Furthermore, she disassembled the distillation furnace in the Maiden Tower and relocated it here, and had Theofrastos' disciple, an alchemist magician, distill Elma brandy under Elma's guidance. Sara was not enthusiastic about it, but due to the Marquis' strong intentions, the alchemist magicians involved in distilling Elma liquor had a magic-based confidentiality agreement.
The one being distilled was not something made by Fran's mother, Tonia, but rather Elma liquor made by Fran's brother's wife. When they tried distilling it, the result was just as good as the one made from Tonia's Elma liquor, so Sara bought up all of Fran's brother's wife's Elma liquor.
They're selecting smaller oak barrels for aging. The size of the barrel also affects the aging process, with smaller ones aging faster. It would be better to use larger barrels for Elma brandy that requires long-term aging, but for now, it seems sufficient to make do with these for the hunting tournament.
During the Sarasa era, she traveled to various breweries and distilleries in different countries, establishing trade agreements. Each had their own unique thoughts, traditions, and ideals. Sarasa respected them and made sure not to look down on them for the sake of her own merchant company.
As a result, every time she had Mike age the Elma brandy, she felt like saying, "You're mass-producing liquor on the spot, what a blasphemy..." But for the sake of making a brilliant start in the Merchant Guild, Sara had no choice but to turn a blind eye.
As announced in the Commerce Guild, preparations are also underway for herbal teas and potpourri, such as sachets.
They purchased a large quantity of tea boxes from a merchant introduced by the Commerce Guild to sell Herb Tea. Since many woodworkers were affiliated with the merchant, it was faster to pay the handling fee and place an order through the merchant rather than directly with the workshop.
The tea boxes are made of cedar wood with a tin lining to prevent moisture, and the Merchant Guild's crest is embossed on the bottom. Considering it would be difficult to present large items as gifts, she prepared smaller ones that a woman could carry with one hand.
There's also a behind-the-scenes reason for this--Amelia the Pharmacist Girl's production can't keep up. She want to sell Herb Tea in bulk eventually, but production is still lagging. They'll probably need to prepare a separate, specialized store.
By the way, the tea boxes will be placed in cute bags made by the women's village and given to all participants at Rebecca's ladies-only tea party. Sara and Rebecca rejected Marquis's opinion that the quality of the gifts should vary according to social status.
They thought that even if someone has a low social status, they might still come from a wealthy family, and giving them low-quality items would create a bad impression for the Merchant Guild.
However, for products like potpourri-filled sachets, essential oils extracted from flowers and herbs in the Secret Garden, aromatherapy candles, and the first installment of the cosmetics series, including hand cream, which will be sold by the Merchant Guild, she decided to provide them only to the Duke and Marquis households, and prepare trial products for others to try on the spot.
Of course, the merchant guild's warehouse does have inventory, but not enough to go around, and if they distribute it to everyone, they'll run out of stock to sell. Sachets and pouches are not only made by the women in the settlement, but also by various women connected to them, who are diligently working on their crafts.
The 10-year-old boy living with his mother in the settlement created the design samples for those pouches and sachets. Even after the design was finalized, he's been guiding the sewing and inspecting the products, and the quality of the finished goods is extremely high.
Due to Sara being too busy, she hasn't met him yet, but the samples he sent over have not only Sara and Rebecca, but also the Lady-in-Waiting and the maids, all falling in love at first sight. The merchant guild has offered him a designer contract, but he's still undecided about what to do.
As for the aromatherapy candles, she has had a few pharmacists from the Pharmacist Guild teach the manufacturing method to some day laborers, who will then pass it on to others while being supervised. By the way, the main day laborers are children from the settlement and the orphanage, as well as some elderly people and those who can't work due to injuries. Since it's the start of winter preparations, we didn't have any trouble finding workers.
And the essential hand cream, which is the first cosmetic product sold by the merchant guild, is being created by Amelia the Pharmacist Girl with the goal of maintaining high quality. She had the ladies-in-waiting and maids at Grandchester Castle try out the samples, and their reviews are extremely positive. Especially from the maids who do a lot of water-based work, we've even received letters of gratitude from the Maiden's Tower.
Since there are bees in the Secret Garden, they can also harvest beeswax. However, they're only using the beeswax harvested here for the hand cream. Ideally, Sara'd like to use it for aromatherapy candles as well, but the amount they can harvest is too small. So, She has decided to use the high-quality beeswax they can control ourselves for the hand cream, and purchase beeswax from other merchant guilds for the aromatherapy candles.
Of course, they can also harvest honey from the Secret Garden, but she has decided to keep it as a snack for the breaks. She might commercialize it in the future, but for now, seeing Blaze's happy face is more important, and that's the consensus among the maidens.
By the way, Harlan Farm is also showing interest in beekeeping, and they might be able to harvest honey from Elma's flowers as well. Sara is currently considering whether she can divide the bees from the Secret Garden, but since the flower season is over, that'll be a pleasure for next year. Apparently, if she goes through the fairies, she can make a direct request to the bees. But, it's not just Sara who thinks that scenario sounds strangely fantastical.
Sara: Mr. Honey Bee, will you grant my wish?
Author: You're so full of yourself, yet... Gross!
Sara: Don't say that! I think the same thing about myself, okay?!
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