Revision of Plans and New Plans Added for the Merchant Group

Eldric woke up the next morning and went to do his usual, after he was finished, he realized it was still early morning and then it hit him, he had unknowingly finished his tasks in the last few days more quickly than ever but it was not that he did a half-assed job but instead because he was getting stronger each day he had been finding the tasks easier to complete. 

After he finished his tasks, he went to the House to make a few preparations. He wanted to travel to Silverpeak himself and witness the sight of the town and their newly bought merchant store. After three weeks of trading the House was able to gather enough money to buy a proper building. 

They had used around 2500 gold coins they saved to buy the store and all that was left was to stock and decorate it to make money, but before that, they needed to make a few plans for the store to function properly. 

He soon met with Garen, Solen, and Evander as well as the three merchants. Cael was not interested in the business and was out patrolling the grounds while Lachlan was busy helping and prancing around the grounds. Lachlan may be an elder, but he was young thus he could do what he pleases often, and in most cases, it was him hanging around the barn and the enclosures, spending time with the tamers.

Eldric wasted no time and soon started talking, "We have already discussed a few things during the last few weeks, but I want to make a few extra plans and want to revisit the ones we made. So, Caspian and his two apprentices, Ronan and Atlas will be heading to the shop as the blacksmiths of the Northern Star Merchants. His rank and reputation can be used to attract people to the store and ensure its reputation. 

During his time there he will make weapons both for the House and for the store to sell. I have talked to him and during our discussion, we came up with a few guidelines. Firstly, he will make no weapons for sale directly from our inventory that is stronger than what we are currently using. Meaning, Caspian will, for now, forge the weaker weapons to sell, and as the House upgrades our weapons, so too will the shop." Eldric explained softly. 

"But Patriarch what would we sell then? At the current stage our weakest weapons are only the pair of axes, [Frostfang] and we are currently still using them." Solen argued. 

"Indeed, there are only three weapons Caspian will be forging at the moment and it is [Frostfang], the bow, [Winter's Breath] and the standard [Knight's Broadsword]. These are the only ones we will sell at the moment. The reason being, although we use them, the amount is scarce, and all the knights use spears or swords that are of a better quality. If in the foreseeable future we can get a better-quality spear for example, the [Winter's Reach] will also be sold." He spoke fluently and swiftly in response. 

"Then, what else will be sold? Surely, we can't only sell weapons? If that is the case, then we can't call ourselves a commerce." Solen asked. "Currently we will sell the meat we have, if we can dry the meat and store it then it can be sold for good money and the barley and wheat will be sold. The rest of the things we can sell is a bit of salt as and exotic spice, the iron and coal can also be sold" He replied. 

"But Patriarch we do not have the necessary stock to fill the store," Evander said lightly, "Can I make a suggestion then?" he asked. Eldric nodded to Evander, "Spring is also here and that means the crops and the meat can be easily multiplied, the mines are still mostly unmined, and we can gather large group of men to go and mine. What we lack we can temporarily buy at other stores and businesses and resell them. It will be a lot more expensive but until we fill the warehouse with stock, we can only sacrifice a bit" he suggested. 

"Mm, that will be extremely expensive at first but if we manage to expand our crop selection and gather more meat, we can then slowly stop buying from others and start stocking independently. I agree with Evander, we can only sacrifice this bit of gold in order to ensure a higher amount of income later on" Garen agreed, speaking slowly as his eyes surveyed the others around the table. 

Eldric was a bit surprised at Garen's opinion as he refrained from talking too much about business, or anything actually for that matter. He rarely voiced his opinions and so far, it his advice was spot on every time and Eldric decided to trust him and agreed with Evander's suggestion. 

"Then, since that's settled, there are only two more things we have to discuss that I remember. First would be the work force. We have already decided we would use our own workforce and since we have bought the store it is time to decide how many and who will go and work." Eldric said slowly. 

"Since we have around 30 normal civilians who help around the House I believe we can send 5 of them to serve as clerks or helpers at the store" Solen suggested, "Indeed but we can also maybe split the genders, for example we can choose two beautiful women and let them be the face of the store" Evander also added. 

"Good, good!" Eldric said in excitement, "Then is it agreed upon, there will be five workers for now and two of them will be women. Any objections?" Eldric asked the others around the table. 

"Patriarch, I want to ask, since we will be in Silverpeak. Will there be any knights present to ensure the store's safety?" Eamon asked as it seemed that he was nominated to be the leader of the merchants and the other two followed his lead. "Yes, we will send a few knights to protect the store. That is my second concern" Eldric replied with a soft chuckle. 

What type of security should we send? I mean, we can't send weaker knights as the shop could be robbed any moment but too strong of a knight would attract attention.