Shui's Method 

As Tenur closed up the store at the end of his fourth day in Cusca, he counted 834 silver coins, a turnover higher than that store would have had under Shui in over 16 days.

But this had all happened in a single afternoon!

Not only that, the store had made a profit even with the impressive discounts that Tenur had promised to keep for the first week of his trading in Cusca.

The materials had been sold at a price where Mero would neither profit nor lose anything. But each bread sold had made a large profit. The plaster had not yet been sold, only ordered to be paid for during delivery. But it also hid in its price a significant profit.

So in his debut as manager of Mero's store, Tenur made a profit of more than a little over 1.2%, something small, but which in a loss-making store was something significant.

Only he knew these numbers for the time being. Still, as he left the store in the late afternoon, Amir had a good impression of what Tenur had achieved since he himself knew the old numbers for this store.

At the same time, unlike Shui, who didn't know about Tenur's plans, this servant knew why that slave kept prices low in the first week of business. So he had much more confidence that positive results would come!

As a servant of Mero, not a mere slave, he could benefit greatly if his master rose in rank. As such, he was doubly interested in Tenur's accomplishments and considered this captive a genius.

As for Shui, as he left the store, he was moody, full of things on his mind as he headed to his wife's family home to see Khaa.

'That bastard...

He screwed my business with that price decrease.' He thought about it again, sighing in the expectation that Tenur would not insist on it after that week of discounts.

...

All the slaves had already left Mero's store, and Tenur was walking through the torch-lit streets, thinking about his plans.

'Shui and his cronies must be planning something against me now...' He looked at the leaves of the trees swaying in the wind on his path. 'He won't be able to steal the resources again in the next few days, or he won't be able to sell them.

That would get him into trouble.' His eyes narrowed.

Shui would 'buy' the products from Mero's store when they arrived in town, something that the people in the Touma family sent once every 15 days.

When the resources arrived, he would record smaller quantities than had been sent and buy a portion of the products to compensate for his actions.

For example, if 100 kilograms of ore were in the wagon leaving Noskain's capital, Shui would record that only 90 kilograms had arrived in Cusca, which was easy to accept since ores could be lost on the way.

He would then buy 20 kilograms of the ore in question and pay the appropriate amount for them to make up for removing items from the store and not create distrust among the slaves.

Slaves couldn't count, and only he was a servant there, but since slaves could talk, he would do this operation to make up for his actions.

A slave might have less power than servants, but if some of them started talking about servants stealing, most masters would try to find out more about the rumor...

With that, Shui was cautious!

After that, Shui would make it look like a big buyer had made purchases, and the store assumed the cost of delivery, something that happened occasionally.

He would make Khaa's sons work by delivering things from his own store, something he would charge customers for, and put the 'cost' of the service in question into the accounts of Mero's store.

But this cost would not be small. Shui would only buy from Mero's store a few kilos. Still, the contracted delivery service would cost enough to deliver hundreds of kilos.

But he obviously didn't buy just a few dozen kilos, but hundreds every week!

Through this, he could charge much lower prices than he had previously charged in Mero's store, which was slowly enriching his and Khaa's store, who had thought it all up.

Tenur knew that if Shui tried to divert resources. So this man would not be able to sell them. That could cause him to have those resources in the store controlled by Khaa, leading to his being found out.

But even if Shui could sell such resources, it would be harder to get them since, from now on, Mero's store would have Tenur and Amir to watch his actions.

Knowing the basics about all this, Tenur already had it in his mind that such a man and the people he worked with were probably starting to look for ways to harm him.

He was a stone in those people's path, so it was natural that they would go out of their way to destroy him!

This fellow knew a lot about the actions of people like that and was getting ahead of himself. 'I am a slave, so the first thing they can do, besides trying to kill me, is to make me a source of distrust so that Amir will remove me from my position.'

Tenur's eyes narrowed at these thoughts. 'They probably won't try anything in those first few days, or everything will become too obvious. Then I have to prepare myself for the next few days...

A new shipment will arrive in another week, so everything will be more likely to happen at this time.'

Despite the voluminous sales on this first day, he had not yet ordered extra items. This shipment that would arrive from the capital was just one delivery that was already scheduled to happen.

However, that was another problem that Tenur would have to review in the coming days. The current stocks in that store were voluminous enough just for Mero's market flow in the vicinity and from the store sale in Custa before this slave. But with his changes, the quantities in question would no longer be sufficient.

He knew this and already had such a thing in mind to sort out once the new shipment arrived.

"Sigh... I'd better go to sleep."

...

As Tenur returned to the house where Mero's slaves ate and lived in Cusca, news of the change in that store was already making its way through this city.

Everyone who passed in front of the Touma family store in Cusca on this day had seen how the front of the store was looking, so the news about that white thing soon became widespread.

There weren't many places with a color other than light brown in this city. Besides local plants with different colors, almost everything here, the sidewalk, streets, and buildings were the same color.

With the appearance of something different, it wouldn't take much for the comments to spread like a contagious disease.

At the same time, those who entered Mero's store in curiosity on this day were already talking about the prices being charged in that store and the two new products.

Bread and plaster.

These were things they didn't have in Cusca. As the only salesman, Tenur had naturally irritated almost all the local powers simultaneously.

From the tavern owners to the owners of other stores with materials similar to those in Mero's, everyone already had their eyes on Tenur's actions even that night.

Some still didn't know whether the changes Tenur was making would necessarily be bad or good for them. But some of the most ambitious rich locals were already starting to plan!

They could not act against the Touma family store, as this was a house to be feared by the local powers. But Tenur was only a slave, and there were many methods to hinder or even neutralize someone like him!

Hence, while that fellow minded his own business, a tall, strong man was talking about him with someone else on a relatively grand estate in that city.

"Go to this Tenur and see what difficulties we would have in action against him." This man, dressed in a beige robe, said somberly. "If there is nothing, kill him secretly."

"Your wish is an order, master." That man said before asking. "But if there is something?"

"Frame him. Make it look like he deserves to be punished, and don't let servant Amir save him from punishment with payments."

"I will do my best!"