The (Trade) Union

Other than the Association, there was other known organization called the Trade Union, often simply called the Union. Different from the Association, their members were not battle-hardened adventurers, but savvy merchants or business owners. Furthermore, unlike the Association that extended its service to all adventurers and people regardless of nations or kingdoms, the Union only accommodated their members' interests and objectives within a city. Therefore, each city has its own Union, and was independent from one another.

Regarding size and coverage, the Union may pale in comparison with the Association. However, the later did not take part in development of a city. On the contrary, the former heavily took part in a city's politic, influencing its implemented policy, and contributed to the economy and prosperity of the citizen, as well as their own pockets.

Anspia, the great and populous city had been in existence since the reign of the first king, and was also the kingdom's former capital. In such a distinct historic city, the Union this city had was also a large one, if not the largest within the kingdom.

In a guarded room located in the Union's second floor, mountain of papers consisted of reports and proposals could be seen on top of an elegant wooden table. Behind the artificial mountain, a figure diligently reading every single one of them with impeccable concentration.

"…This point needs better wording…" voiced the figure while writing his comments on the lacking parts of a proposal.

"…Hrm, this presentation is well made…" praised the figure, and put his priceless signature that could authorized movement of a large amount of funds at a moment notice on an acceptable proposal.

Due to experience, his working rhythm was just like that of a mechanical equipment, where every document was evaluated properly in identical amount of time. Compared to the beginning of the day, the towering papers have been reduced by two-thirds of its original amount.

The upright figure was Kelreas Voidclouds, the person who sat on top of the Union's management hierarchy.

Age had seeped deeply into his once well-formed visage. Yet, his eyes and mind remained perpetually clear and sharp. His silver hair was cut short and there was his trademark half-moon eye glasses on his nose.

His race was that of a demon. Yet, unlike his peers, he lack necessary strength as warrior to participate in battles due to his non-existent horns, making him no different than normal human. Horns were basically an extension of demons' magic circuits, enabling them to perform magic at a pace and power above other races. Larger horns equated to higher magic aptitude and swelling pride. In this kind of environment, he was underrated.

Fortunately, Kelreas was rational, believing strongly success could also be attained outside battlefields. This positive thinking made him indifferent to negative gazes from others, and soon found his calling in trading activities.

Employing a great deal of effort, inexhaustible persistency to continue despite difficulties, and a little bit of essential trickeries, he successfully rose to his current position, and had been holding it dearly for three decades with sound responsibility.

Kelreas was even familiar with the previous king, having met him often to discuss direction this used-to-be capital city would take as the Union's president. He was rewarded with criticisms from the king's countless vassals due to his no-nonsense and blatant way of speaking, an act that would normally invite beheading. Fortunately, the king was quite a humble individual and did not mind his mannerism. To tell the truth, it made things easier as they could discuss openly and formed needed action plans to develop the city. The two contrasting individuals even became friend.

That was why Kelreas was hit quite hard, furious even, he took it personally when the new king decided to move the capital away from their beloved city.

"…Better take a rest…"

Knowing his mind had unnecessarily wandered, Kelreas put a stop to what he was doing, as keeping up would be counterproductive. Then, he asked his loyal butler to prepare his usual tea and light meal, and he prepared them almost immediately.

"…Speaking of which, that visit was unexpected…"

After taking a delightful sip of his favorite black tea, Kelreas was reminded of a meeting he and his assistant had an several hours ago with a young man.

---He remembered meeting the young man for the first time three months ago, when his eccenteic acquaintance came to visit and introduced him as a disciple. Kelreas was asked to give him support, if he ever asked in the future. At a glance, he had no notable impression of the disciple, just a normal young man you could find anywhere. Regardless, looks could be deceiving, and he had experienced it first hand countless of times.

'Taking a peek wouldn't hurt…' he thought.

You see, Kelreas had a little secret known only to handful of people; his eyes were special. Despite not having horns, he was born with magic eyes capable of gauging a person's magic, intelligence, and strength, and showed them in numerical value. In general, these eyes were wasted on a non-combatant like him. But, it was always entertaining to see other people's confidential information, and in this occasion he utilized those eyes to look into the young man…

"…Honestly, what in the world that person did to the young soul…?"

Kelreas was able to vividly recollect the result he saw.

The young man's magic capacity was above average, but nothing special, and certainly a far cry from his master's. Well, comparing the two was unfair in the first place, the magic capacity possessed by Kelreas' acquaintance was -virtually- endless, more than sufficient to wield two Legendary Grade weapons as if nothing. A feat that was never seen before.

Regarding intelligence, for someone so young, he had a good one. Kelreas had met various type of people in his life, he had a hunch that the young man was not intellectually gifted, and that his accumulated knowledge was a result of hard work. Due to this assessment, Kelreas had better impression of him than just a simple disciple.

Lastly, numbers for strength represented pure physical prowess, it did not include experience nor so-called battle technique which he did not understand. The result was… ridiculously terrifying.

"...."

Kelreas unknowingly opened his mouth in awe, and recalled his acquaintance noticed what he had been doing at the time, and showed a smug and proud face like a parent when seeing his rare flabbergasted expression.---

Prior to the meeting, Kelreas already prepared to put aside some money to help the young man, to honor his acquaintance's wish. Doing a business was never easy. Contrary to his belief, the young man brought businesses to him instead, and he never refuse a business.

First, the young man wanted to buy two buildings adjacent his store. Additionally, he wanted certain renovation to be done to connect all three buildings together and changed the layout of the two buildings to be suitable for potion-making activities. Furthermore, he requested the renovation finished within a week.

"…It's a tight schedule, the carpenters might want extra for the job…" commented Kelreas' assistant after reviewing his request.

"I don't mind, my priority is speed, including the buildings how much should I pay?"

The two parties entered heated negotiation for the price, and finally settled at 550,000 rune for the buildings and service. When asked about the payment, Kelreas and his assistant were quite surprised when he promptly paid in cash.

For Kelreas, he could not ask for a better payment method, and was finally able to sell the unmarketable buildings in the lower district, whereas the young man got what he came for with price that was below his initial budget. So, each party won in this transaction.

Second, as the Union also acts as employment center to connect the right workforce to the right workplace for the city, the young man asked Kelreas to find him four decent potion makers.

"…We do receive employment requests from a number of potion makers. I can set an interview with all of them tomorrow, so you can choose. Their requested salary is 30 rune per hour. And, as you asked us for help, there will be introduction fees if you ended up hiring them. Are you okay with that?"

"Yes, that will be helpful, and I'm okay with the salary"

"…Don't you need preparers as well?" asked Kelreas. He himself was a businessman, and was well-versed in various businesses, including potion making. That was the reason he threw that question, because the young man did not ask for them.

"I do. But, I can ask my current employees to find them"

"That's too bad. I was hoping to get more fees, you know?" replied Kelreas while laughing satisfactorily. Business owner did need to reduce costs whenever possible.

Third, he wanted Kelreas to introduce him to respectable material suppliers for his potions, and that request was music to his ears.

"You can count on me on that. I'll tell my manager to visit your store tomorrow"

"Thank you… I can ask discount for buying in bulk, right?"

"Negotiate with him directly, do your best though, he is not an easy person to crack"

"I will do my best!" announced the young man vigorously.

When Kelreas finished reminiscing, the sun had already set in the horizon, and night greeted the city and its people.

"You look oddly happy master" told the buttler to his grinning master.

"Do I? Maybe because I found a promising business partner"

Afterward, Kelreas decided to call it a day, the remaining documents could wait, and suddenly felt like visiting his daughter's house to play with his cute grandchildren, it had been a while since he visited them after all…

-------

In the next two days, Alfraed had a great deal to do.

"So, I need a passage from the storage room that connect to other buildings, and I want the interior in the new buildings to be spacious, so people can work together in the same place..."

He needed to welcome and provided explanation to the carpenters that were going to do renovation to his store and the two new buildings he purchased.

Afterward, a manager from Kelreas' company arrived to discuss what materials he needed and negotiated the prices.

"Wait, I want an employee of mine to join..."

To maximize the result, Alfraed asked Elise to accompany him. When the negotiation concluded, it was decided that the materials would be delivered at the beginning of each week, and paid full in cash when they arrived to acquire better price than what available in the market.

Cash was king, people with strong liquidity usually able to earn more preferable deal compare to their tight liquidity counterpart.

The materials were to make Basic to High Grade potions. Alfraed finally admitted collecting all materials in the wild by himself was not feasible because of time constraint. So, except materials for Greater and Perfect Grade which was hard to find, he would have a supplier provide them.

He would still make profit this way. However, in the future Alfraed must find a method to ensure all materials were always ready to serve all incoming demands.

In the afternoon, he went to the Union and led by the assistant to a meeting room to interview potential potion makers that would be working for him. Alfraed expected the process would only take a couple of hours, and was quite surprised when he found out that there were thirty interviewees waiting for him.

"...This many?!..."

They consisted of male and female from different age groups, and each one of them looked at him with hopeful stare to be recruited.

"It's good to have options, no? Don't forget to act tough, you'll be their employer soon enough" said the assistant with a mischievous, yet still formal smile.

The interviews finished at night, he never knew asking question would be that exhausting. But, Alfraed decided to wait until the aution concluded to tell the result.

...Time flew, it was already the day of Frigga again, and Alfraed head to the Association to see the auction for his Perfect Grade Health potion that had not been manufactured for years anywhere by anyone.

"I wonder how will it go..."

Of course, Alfraed also wondered how much he could gain monetarily.