The Middleman
Will woke up feeling the most relaxed and refreshed. On Earth, sleep experts extolled getting deep sleep. In deep sleep the body experienced the REM cycle and released growth hormones and the body would repair tissue and detoxify itself.
This was the only way Will could describe the sensation he was feeling. It felt like his mana pool refreshed, repaired itself, and detoxified, at the same time my body felt strong. At once Will realized more mana was traveling through my body and at a faster frequency.
Will cast [Rock Armor] and his body was immediately coated in solid rock. He could not believe the success of the spell, which was cast in his room not outside standing on dirt.
Will laughed, finally he felt confident in defending himself. At the mock battle, Will finally felt confident to perform well enough to keep my 15th place or maybe do slightly better.
Getting dressed, Will grabbed a quick bite and ran to Guardian Guild to meet Marshall Rolf and begin his quartermaster duties.
"Quartermaster vont Ballard, reporting for duty, sir" Will saluted.
"Welcome commander, here is a folder of the merchant contracts. The last quartermaster arranged merchants, but other commanders were required to submit purchase orders directly to various shops. What will you need to succeed at your command post?" Guild Master Rolf asked.
Will wonder if Marshall Rolf was testing him.
'Oh, how fun. Since I left the barony, I haven't negotiated with anyone. I enjoyed negotiations battling wit against wit,' Will thought.
Will decide to use this moment to milk every ounce of currency he could for his command post.
"Marshall Rolf, is there a budget for the quartermaster command?" Will questioned.
"Yes, your budget is 20 gold coins a month, why? What do you require to run this command post effectively, unlike the last imbecile?" Marshall Rolf said dissatisfied, think about the last quartermaster.
"Guild Master sir. I'll need two clerks, at minimum 50 gold coins, and a mandate from you that every purchase order goes through my office, no exceptions.
I will also need a recommendation from you addressed to the Guidon Merchant Guild, Blacksmith's Guild, Alchemy Guild, and inns within a 10-kilometer radius," Will said assuredly.
Earlier Will looked on the quest board. Will knew, very few quests asked cadets to travel farther than 10 kilometers out of the Guidon. Yet, still, a 10-kilometer radius provided Will a sphere of influence in Guidon. Within that sphere, he would build his monopoly.
Marshall Rolf raised an eyebrow at Will, and thought for a while before responding, "I can get you the two clerks, your budget can increase your command budget to 35 gold, I'll make the mandate, and write the recommendation letters."
"Guild Master, the 50 gold will be necessary for this office to function at the most efficient capacity. Also, I plan to pay the clerks from the quartermaster budget. Sir, when it comes to purchasing weapons, medicine, lodging, it is safer to have more money. Especially, if I must bribe someone," Will said convincingly.
While Guardian Guild would engender support in the kingdom, nothing moved hearts and minds more than coin.
"40 coins is the highest I'll go for now. If you do a good job, we can revisit the budget after your biannual exams," Marshall Rolf said.
Will saluted and walked to his new office. Of all the commander offices, the quartermaster office was certainly the smallest. Will sat down on a dusty chair and celebrated his small victory.
Based on the file, he quickly summarized, all he needed to run the office was an additional 10 gold. But every negotiator knew to start high, hold firm, and finally compromise. When the quartermaster agreed to 35 gold, he would have been satisfied. But the extra coin certainly made his plans easier to accomplish.
The most important part required all purchase orders ran through his office. This allowed Will to purchase orders in bulk and reduce costs and save money.
Moreover, this would enable Will to stretch his budget. Now that he controlled all guild purchases, he would use his Silver Pheonix company as the middleman when purchasing from various guilds.
Officially the Guardian Guild of the Knight's Academy would pay The Silver Phoenix to purchase orders on the guild's behalf. The Silver Phoenix would purchase those items, at a discount, and hand the goods over to the Guardian Guild.
Being a registered merchant with the Merchant Guild came with perks. One particular privileged was the ability to purchase items at wholesale prices. This meant that Will was given a further discount on goods and increased his purchasing power.
Purchasing power was the value of the currency in terms of the number of goods a unit of currency can buy. When Will bought wholesale goods in bulk, he's able to purchase a larger amount of goods.
The difference between the retail sale, and the wholesale would be the amount his company would earn. And all of this was legal in Fermion. This allowed Will to begin making a profit while he was enrolled.
Will was hopeful he could build a large saving account, between his expected middleman profit, and the allowance from his father. Regretfully, this kingdom did not have banks. Will planned to change that. Will planned to use his knowledge from Earth to earn a king's ransom in gold.
Will sketched out his business plan at his desk. Like Marshall Rolf said, this was his opportunity to build credibility with investors. If Will did a good job, in two years when he graduated, Will could build quite the economic empire.
Will would take this job very seriously. He would build this office, the same way I would my business.
In his office, Will checked his desk drawer for any papers or things on which to write. Will finally found an old piece of paper in the bottom right-hand drawer. Taking this command position, Will realized that not enough people had a good idea of what a quartermaster's job duties entailed, and he would take this opportunity to reach and grab as much power as he could.
On a parchment, Will wrote, 'The mission of the Quartermaster's Office is to support guild members in their quest, by providing weapons, rations, goods, and lodging support.' Most companies messed up their mission by being too long, a mission was supposed to be concise. As a CEO, Will knew the best missions were short and clear.
After finishing the mission, Will handed it to the Guild Master and Marshall Rolf to distribute it to the other commanders. Will told Marshall Rolf beginning next week, please ask the commanders to drop off their item or lodging requests in my office. He planned to spend the second day, in the city talking to the various guilds and negotiating wholesale prices.
Marshall Rolf told him the letters of recommendation would be ready in two days. Two days later, Will returned to the guild before heading to the city for guild business.
When he arrived, Guild Master Rolf told Will two new cadets agreed to clerks, and they were on their way now. This was the first time that the guild would have three people serving in the quartermaster's office.
Will plan was to have one clerk keep track of the guild's weapon, alchemical, and lodging requests. The other clerk would be responsible for sending those requests to the merchant, blacksmith, alchemist guilds; and inns. In other words, this clerk dealt with requisitions and purchase orders.
This way one person could keep track of the accounts received and the other payable accounts. In other words, this clerk was responsible for purchasing. That would provide a double-entry bookkeeping system.
What Will did not say, was that he would be responsible for his company's account. If people received their requested items in a timely matter, the money would continue to flow.
As Will greeted Marshall Rolf, two female cadets shouted, "Grace vont Allen reporting for duty," "Sarah Taylor reporting for duty."
The guild master informed him these two friends agreed to work in the Quartermaster's Command to earn guild points. Will bowed and welcomed both noble cadets to the office.
Grace was the daughter of an agricultural baron, like him, and Sarah was the daughter of a successful tradesman. Both girls were friends who wanted a way to earn guild points while continuing to spend time together.
Will introduced the girls to the dusty office and told them the Marshall would bring in two desks and chairs this afternoon, as well as the paper and pencils for recordkeeping. Will asked them to describe themselves and if they knew anything about being a clerk or bookkeeping.
Grace did not know anything, but Sarah had watched her father keep his accounts. Knowing that Sarah was the daughter of prominent tradesmen, Will assigned her to the accounts payable position and Grace to the receivable accounts.
Will described their jobs in detail. Reinforcing the need to record transactions between guild members or merchants. Both accounts needed to match, but if there were discrepancies, Will could easily examine their records to resolve the matter. These two cadets would ensure my business builds capital, Will was very dependent on these women, as was the guild of course.
Will and young women spent the rest of the morning and afternoon cleaning the office and arranging furniture. Finally, the office albeit small looked presentable. Grace and Sarah's desk were parallel to the front wall. As soon as guild members came file requests they would be greeted by both cadets.
Will's desk sat behind them adjust to the back wall. In between, us was a small gap. In this medieval landscape, file cabinets did not exist, and Will asked Marshall Rolf to buy a chest for the office. Instead, Marshall Rolf offhandedly told Will to use my budget to purchase the chest himself. That was fine with Will because his budget was still more than enough for his needs.
Before Will left, he told Grace and Sarah to meet him by the academy gate after breakfast to begin negotiations with various guilds.
By the time Will left the guild, he was only able to grab quick lunch before heading to physical training. By now the laps and calisthenics did not bother him. Marshall Rolf also insulted our classless, but not by much.
"Will, Mark go spar" Marshall Rolf yelled. Deciding when to call him Marshall or guild master was confusing.
This was Will's first time sparing against Mark. Mark was stronger than Will was, his sword swings were forceful, but Will was more agile than him.
As their duel began, Mark ran to the center of the stage to gain an advantage, while Will circled close to the edge. By now Mark and Will knew how each other fought. Mark's sword skill surpassed the class, but he could be defeated, by quick movements that chip away at his stamina.
Focusing on his dexterity, Will circled Mark dodging his heavy strikes, and countering with quick short jabs. This was not Will's preferred style of play, but this was the only way Will saw myself winning.
After about 30 minutes of the plan, Will saw Mark growing tired and his enhanced body waring off. Will knew this would be his moment to make a stand. Will cast [Rock Armor] and enhanced sword, his mana pool dipped, but Will felt he could hold both spells for 5 minutes and joined Mark in the center of the stage to trade blows.
Mark was astonished by Will's plan. Mark decided to match Will's intensity a minute before giving his all to end the fight. We looked like two boxers at the end of a match, trading blows to win the scorecard. Mark's heavy hits slammed against Will's amour, and Mark's jabbed against Will'senhancement, while their enhanced swords occasionally parried.
After five minutes, with Will's armor and enhancement fading, Marshall Rolf stepped in to call the match in Mark's favor.
Both Mark and Will fell to the ground exhausted with their backs pressed against the other. Will realized that his earlier guess of Mark's tiredness was a ruse.
How strong and strategic was Mark to game plan Will's defeat. Will was amazed at Mark's talents. He was certainly worthy to be ranked first in our year. Will congratulated Mark and told him how much he admired his tactics. Will had no doubt that Mark would retain his rank in the mock battles and mid-year exam.
When Will left the stage, his screen appeared in my eyes.
Name: William vont Ballard
Race: Human
Rank: 0
Class: Merchant
Sub Class:
Attributes:
Constitution—21
Strength—25
Dexterity—19 (+5)
Intellect—32
Charisma—12
Ranks Skills: Management (23), Diplomacy (23), Accounting (43)
Class Skills: Appraisal (1, 100)
Abilities: Apprentice Swordsmanship (12, 25) Novice Terramancer (10,10)
Will's match increased his dexterity and swordsmanship. Even better Will maxed out his novice terramancer ability.
Tomorrow, Will would start practicing [Rock Spike]. However, it dawned on Will that tomorrow, Elder Thaddeus would teach him how to set up an array to create a whirlpool in his mana pool. After a big dinner to replenish his lost mana, Will placed the last herb under my tongue and went to sleep nervous about what tomorrow would bring.