Chapter 166 Preparing To Open The Merchant Guild Iii
On the second floor of the merchant guild's main store, there were several special rooms that only a limited number of customers could enter. Most of them were reception rooms for noble customers, but one room located near the stairs was different. In reality, this room was the "Book Department" of Sophia Merchant Guild.
The Book Department handled a wide range of fields, including Herb Tea's catalog, sheet music for songs that flowed from boxes, various textbooks, research papers on wheat harvest predictions and their explanations, and even Robert's romance novels.
The reason the Book Department was on the second floor was that, in this world, books were still expensive, so it was difficult to display them casually on the first floor. To be honest, it was also because Sara didn't want to put Robert's novels, which had somewhat explicit content, in a place where many people could see them.
Therefore, Robert's books were placed in the inner room of the Book Department. To purchase these books, one needed to go through another door. When Sara saw this room for the first time, she thought something silly, like "Is this the R-18 corner of a video rental store?"
By the way, Robert had written 3 long series of novels, totaling over 20 volumes. He had also written around 10 short story collections, making him a very prolific author. There were still unpublished manuscripts, so Sara took them all from Robert and turned them into books from scratch.
Incidentally, Sara had asked Robert, "Could you please write novels that I can read too?" So, it's likely that he will publish works with different styles in the future.
The printing workshop associated with Robert was a large-scale facility that could handle everything from editing to printing to bookbinding. However, the workshop owner was notorious for being a perfectionist who hated compromise, often getting into fights with other workshops that made typefaces or paper. Many merchants and merchant guilds were frustrated with the workshop's demanding attitude, and they were also struggling with financial issues.
Sara, on the other hand, loved the craftsmen's stubbornness. Rather, she adored it.
Most of the reasons why compromises are necessary in manufacturing are due to limitations in funds, time, and human resources. In other words, lacking financial resources means failure is inevitable; similarly, insufficient time and unskilled labor also guarantee failure. However, having sufficient funds can surprisingly resolve the latter two issues with ease.
Sara, disguised as Sophia, frequently visited the printing workshop, trying to secure high-quality typefaces and paper by visiting various blacksmiths and papermakers, and paying them in cash. It was as if she was hitting them with a bag full of gold coins.
When she asked a workshop to manufacture typefaces, they suddenly offered to deliver 3 times faster if she doubled the payment. Suspicious, Sara had Sedrick investigate, and it turned out that they were hiring skilled workers at low wages and working them to the bone to meet the deadline. So Sara decided to directly commission the subcontracted workers, restoring the original cost. Of course, she cut ties with the main contractor, as they refused to pay fair wages for labor.
Needless to say, Sara also prepared sufficient funds to pay the craftsmen in the printing workshop a fair wage, refusing to compromise, and had them print and bind various books as quickly as possible.
Moreover, the master of the workshop, Luriyuru (bookbinder), was the wife of the workshop owner, and she was also a skilled craftswoman who didn't lose to her husband. Of course, Sara had provided her with various materials such as leather, fabric, thread, ribbons, and adhesives as requested.
However, when Sara first met this craftsman couple, she declared the following:
"I'll allow to multiply the cost for the first edition. It's a special product, after all. But for the second edition or reprints, I'd like to make a more affordable version with reduced costs. I want to make books that can be widely enjoyed by ordinary people as much as possible."
This was a statement that only a large-scale publisher could make, and it also meant taking the risk of holding a large inventory. Sara wanted to increase the literacy rate in this country and open up a new business field called "publishing".
Sara thought that if the literacy rate among commoners was low, it would be good to create picture books or comics. Children would surely want to learn to read when they see interesting comics. However, it was uncertain whether there were authors who could understand this.
There were many problems, though. The biggest issue was that this country didn't have a law equivalent to copyright law. It was likely that numerous pirate editions not published by the merchant guild would appear.
Sara thinks this problem needs to be solved someday, but it's not that simple to reduce the publishing costs of books, and it's also hard to imagine the literacy rate among commoners increasing suddenly. It's possible that the existence of pirate editions might even contribute to the increase in literacy rate, so she decided not to think about that for now.
Anyway, as a merchant guild, she were the first to publish low-cost editions of books, specifically textbooks on "Reading and Writing", "Math", and "Basic Double-Entry Bookkeeping". Since the original manuscripts for "Reading and Writing" and "Math" were already in the library of the Maidens' Tower, sheasked Thomas to edit and add to them. In a way, it was possible because there was no copyright law.
Thomas's manuscripts were also reviewed by Rebecca and Cordelia. As a result, they decided to divide "Reading and Writing" into 3 levels and "Math" into 5 levels according to their difficulty.
Including "Basic Double-Entry Bookkeeping", they published these textbooks using a different printing workshop from the usual one. The workshop that Robert introduced them to was overwhelmed with manuscripts, so they had to ask the apprentice of the workshop owner to help them out.
This workshop was not as particular as their master, and they agreed to create low-cost editions from the start. So, they decided to ask them to print all the textbooks from then on. Later, they would also print the sheet music.
Of course, if they were to buy leather and paper in bulk, rumors would spread like wildfire through the Commerce Guild. Many merchants and merchant guilds tried to investigate Sophia's true identity and her connections, but no one knew the truth about the mysterious beauty who suddenly appeared.
Since Jeffrey was frequently seen entering and exiting her mansion, rumors even spread that she was his fiancée. Sara didn't mind, so she just let the rumors be.
At first, there were several shops that refused to accept checks as payment, but Sara would bring multiple intimidating bodyguards and pile up cash in front of them. Additionally, there were many shops and workshops that would take the checks issued by her to the store immediately and pay in cash on the spot.
As a result, rumors spread that the Sophia Merchant Guild's headquarters had a large amount of cash, and thieves and troublemakers would often sneak in at night, leading to a series of incidents.
However, the store guild's premises were protected by the golems created by Sara. By the way, these golems were smaller than the ones she made during her first magic training, standing at around 180 centimeters tall. The golems were programmed to recognize anyone not registered as a member of the merchant guild as "customers" and would guide those who entered restricted areas to the correct entrance.
Of course, if it was outside of business hours, the customers would be politely asked to leave. The golems would speak to customers who visited the guild outside of business hours, saying, "We are closed. Please come back another time. We appreciate your cooperation." The message was, of course, pre-recorded, using the technology of sound-emitting boxes.
Even if the customers refused to leave, the golems would try to guide them out of the premises without harming them. If the customers tried to climb over the walls or windows, or break down the doors to get in, the golems would gently but firmly escort them out of the building.
At this point, most thieves and bandits would give up, but there are still challengers who try to destroy the Golem. When the Golem recognizes an attack, it gives a one-time warning: "I've detected an unauthorized attack. I will respond with force." If the attacker continues, the Golem will use the baton attached to its waist without hesitation.
In reality, this baton is equipped with a stun gun-like mechanism that releases an electric current. Most humans are incapacitated with a single hit, and if they still try to get up, the Golem will continue to electrocute and strike them. Once everyone is incapacitated, it rounds them up and captures them.
Thanks to this, the Sophia Merchant Guild has 0 theft cases, and many thieves have been arrested. Even a wanted criminal with a bounty on their head was caught, and the Commerce Guild asked if they could sell the Golem as a product, but they clearly refused.
Incidentally, due to the strong impact of the Golem's creation, it has a bug where it starts doing a little dance around the captured thieves after a successful arrest, spinning around them in circles (this is not intentional). Since it's too much trouble to fix, Sara has just left it as is.
As a result, the captured thieves are forced to watch this mysterious dance until the merchant guild staff arrive the next morning. Some people even develop trauma from this experience, or maybe not...
The Commerce Guild's Kojimo tried to send spies to confirm Sophia's true identity, but every person they approached refused the job. Of course, people sent by other merchant guilds also met with the same result. They even considered sneaking into the merchant guild at night to gather information, but after seeing the thieves caught by the golems, they had to give up on that plan too.
As a result, Sophia Merchant Guild continued to prepare for their grand opening without a hitch.
Author: In Sara's case, wouldn't it be great to stuff a bag with money and swing it around, saying "Take this!" and then whack them?
Sara: Wait! Is that what "unbeatable with money" means? I've received a lady's education, you know?
Author: But didn't your teacher proposed by someone and reject gun? And didn't you also disable the enemy's limbs?
Sara: When you put it that way, I guess I did. Maybe you should just change the category of this novel to a violent action story?
Author: No way!
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