Chapter 401 The Commerce Guild Of The Royal Capital I
The center of the Commerce Guild, which connects merchants across the Avalon Kingdom, is the Commerce Guild in the royal capital.
It has many departments because merchants handle a wide range of products. The guild is busy, with many employees and even more visitors. The headquarters, where the officials work, is one of several buildings on the large property. Another important building is the General Building, which has the reception area and other services. Sophia visited the Headquarters during her time there.
As Sophia stepped into the Headquarters, a man in a Commerce Guild uniform greeted her.
"Sophia, the Guildmaster of the Merchant Guild, right?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"We've been expecting you. Please, this way."
Following the staff member, she was led to a reception room. It was a luxurious room that could rival the royal palace's dining hall.
"I see, they want to see my reaction."
In front of the reception room, an elderly man was already seated, with 2 other men sitting beside him. When Sophia entered, they all stood up at once, walked toward her, and welcomed her with cheerful expressions.
"Welcome to the Headquarters of the Commerce Guild. I am Harvey Waterstone, the Guild Manager."
"Nice to meet you. I am Sophia, running a small merchant guild in the Grandchester territory."
She's not here as a noble lady, so greetings here are done with a handshake.
"There's no need for such modesty. In Avalon's social scene, there isn't a day when the Sophia Merchant Guild isn't a topic of conversation."
"It's an honor that someone like you would pay attention to a beginner merchant like me."
"Hahaha. A beginner merchant wouldn't be invited to the royal palace right after arriving in the capital."
"Unfortunately, my visit was more like an accessory to a noble lady. I would be very happy if I were called as a merchant..."
Sophia looked at Harvey with a friendly expression, smiling brightly. This was her way of brushing off Harvey's pressure that said, "I know about you," with a casual "Oh, really?" Of course, Harvey wouldn't just back down.
"No, no. I heard you presented a huge magic stone to His Majesty the King. It's probably only a matter of time before you get a royal favor."
"I hope so, but I'm still just a small local merchant guild that isn't even registered with the Commerce Guild headquarters."
"Oh, that's a problem. To align with His Majesty's wishes, we must leave our neighboring seat empty."
"I'm truly grateful for your excessive kindness towards a beginner like me. I came today to obtain permission for business in the capital, but I plan to follow the usual procedures. I wish to learn from wonderful predecessors like you all from the back seat."
"However, wouldn't that cause some problems for establishing a main store?"
"We have no plans to move the Sophia Merchant Guild's main store from the Grandchester territory to the royal capital. A small shop and a modest mansion for office use in the royal capital will be enough."
"I'm not sure what you mean by 'small,' but if it's close to the Commerce Guild, it might be hard for a newly registered merchant guild to set up shop there. I think it would be better if we helped you with that."
'In short, they know I hold the rights to the magic stones. If I want to set up a store in a prime location as a favored merchant, I need to offer something in return. They can't expect a newly registered merchant guild to suddenly open a store in a prime spot, right?'
Sophia understood what Harvey wanted. However, the Sophia Merchant Guild did not plan to open a large store in the royal capital. They did not have enough time to prepare and could not afford a big store. Instead, they decided to set up a small shop near the market where common people usually shopped. They also planned to use a small mansion at the edge of the noble district, owned by the Grandchester family, as their office and showroom.
This mansion was part of the late Mrs. Marquis's dowry, and after her death, Robert inherited it. In the past, Robert had used this mansion for secret meetings with women. When Sara found out, she suggested buying it. She said, "I will keep it a secret from Mother, so sell it to the Sophia Merchant Guild." This was a bit like blackmail, but she paid the market price for it. The registration change for the property was completed just yesterday, so Harvey and his team likely do not know about this yet. Robert used the money from this sale to pay off his debt to the Sophia Merchant Guild.
"Without a store, how do you plan to sell your products?"
"As I mentioned earlier, we are a small merchant guild from the countryside. Fortunately, various products we developed have caught the attention of some important people, but our production can't keep up at all. Even if we set up a large store, we wouldn't be able to display our products properly."
"In that case, you could partner with other merchant guilds to outsource production."
"Since our products are very unique, it might be quite difficult to find a partner."
Then, a man sitting to Harvey's left leaned forward and asked Sophia.
"If outsourcing production is impossible, how about outsourcing sales? There are quite a few merchant guilds that would like to handle Sophia Merchant Guild's products."
"I can only give the same answer. After all, we have very few products to sell."
"But what about the wheat!?"
'Oh, I thought he was pretending not to know about the wheat. I wonder if he just couldn't hold it in.'
Sophia chuckled softly.
"Honestly, we don't need a storefront. We just need to sign a contract and move the wheat from one warehouse to another. Of course, we will set up an office for various administrative tasks, and we plan to have a reception room as well. I've also heard that we can use the Commerce Guild's facilities for signing business contracts, right?"
"That's true, but don't you think the presence or size of a storefront greatly affects the trustworthiness of the merchant guild?"
"I would like to ask you a different question: Do you think a business partner is 'top-tier' just because they have a store in a good location? While regular customers may see it that way, I believe merchants should look at their partners from different angles. It's true that factors like location, size, number of branches, and sales are important. That's why we want to focus on 'business that fits our scale'."
"'Suits our scale'? That doesn't sound like something the Guildmaster of the merchant guild, who can buy up all the wheat in the Grandchester territory, would say."
The man sitting next to Harvey smiled, but his eyes were completely serious.
"I never thought I could buy up all the wheat either. Thanks to various connections, I was able to buy this year's wheat, but I don't think I can use the same method repeatedly."
"Oh?"
"Besides, I have no intention of competing with a large merchant guild like the Midran Merchant Guild."
"Hmm. Did you know about me?"
The man on Harvey's right, Archibald, the guildmaster of the merchant guild, spoke in surprise. The other 2 also looked at Sophia differently.
"How could I not know about you, Mr. Archibald? In this country, you can't deal with wheat without knowing you. It's not just wheat, either. You trade a wide range of things like soybeans, cotton, corn, and flax."
"I've left the business to my son for almost ten years now, so many merchants from outside the capital don't know my face."
"Oh! I apologize for that. I thought you were still active since I saw your son, Mr. George, at the banquet with Mr. Kojimo in the Grandchester territory."
"...!"
Archibald couldn't respond when pointed out that he had participated in Kojimo's negotiations. The negotiations that had been going on for years suddenly failed without warning, and the Midran merchant guild hadn't been able to buy the necessary wheat.
"Are you planning to let the people of Avalon starve, Sophia Merchant Guild?"
"That's not my intention at all, but I can't deny that I am being selective about where to sell."
"What are your criteria for that?"
"Governor Sir Robert of Grandchester has not been pleased with the unfair manipulation of wheat prices for some time. Therefore, when our bid was accepted, he asked us not to deal with the merchant guild involved in the price manipulation."
"What! Then!"
The anxious Archibald lost his calm first.
"Sophia, please. Sell us the wheat."
Archibald was upset because the Midran merchant guild had signed a contract to sell wheat to a merchant guild in the Coastal Union 6 months ago. This kind of deal, where specific products are bought and sold at agreed prices on set future dates, is called a "futures contract." While there isn't a trading market that many merchants can join, similar business practices exist in this world.
In other words, the Midran merchant guild must secure the necessary wheat by the deadline and deliver it to the agreed partner. They are in a situation where they must buy wheat from the Sophia Merchant Guild at all costs.
To be precise, it's not just the Midran merchant guild. Many brokers visit the Sophia Merchant Guild's main store daily, trying to negotiate for wheat purchases. Each time Sophia declines, the prices they offer keep rising, and they have already skyrocketed to nearly double the price Sophia originally paid.
"Since there are still ten days until the final trading day, can't you just do a reverse trade?"
"The price of wheat has already skyrocketed. There's no way we can do any buyback now. The deal was made 6 months ago. My merchant guild will collapse because of the difference!"
A buyback is when you buy back a product that you had previously agreed to sell. Naturally, you would have to buy it back at the current high price, which creates a difference between the selling price and the buying price. In other words, Archibald is screaming because this difference is very large.
The The Midran merchant guild predicted a good wheat harvest this year based on their research. As a result, the selling price of contracted wheat was slightly lower than usual.
This trend was seen not just in the Grandchester territory but across Avalon, confirming the guild's prediction. However, they did not expect the negotiations to fail. Additionally, merchants from the Coastal Union were competing to buy wheat, which caused prices to rise more than anticipated.
"Mr. Archibald, if we were to sell wheat to the Midran merchant guild, what would the selling price be? I believe we would start with negotiations, but I think it's not appropriate to discuss that here."
Sophia wore a graceful smile taught by Rebecca. Of course, her eyes were not smiling.
"Hmph. How exaggerated. Even if we pay the difference, there's no way the merchant guild would collapse."
Thanks to Sedrick, the inner workings of the Midran merchant guild were already known. While it was certain they would incur significant losses, it was understood that the merchant guild would not face bankruptcy.
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