Familial Wealth (4)

"Well, now that we are all here, I wanted to ask if anyone had any ideas about the wine shop Renna owns~? Anything that we could make use of to sell more bottles and make more money?"

Swallowing the large chunk of venison and washing it down - funnily enough, with a bottle of wine that we now had in abundance - Rhefia got herself to the position of being able to speak so that she could say "I'm guessing you've already discussed the kind of girls you need working the store? You said Domus Stella - that's the name, right? - was more of a middle class, elegant but not overbearing sort of place, right?"

Renna nodded at that, so Rhefia said "Well, you need to pick out the girls based on their class and elegance, but also their ability to converse with customers well and have a good amount of charm. Not overly cutesy, but also not overly slutty either. You're selling wine, and while sex and wine go hand in hand more times than not, this store should have the outwards appearance of being classy."

"So... we need girls who are alright with showing skin but aren't trying to peel off their clothes at every instance possible, right?"

"That's what I would suggest, so I would say stay away from Rabbitkin or Bunnykin, at least for the majority of the employees. They are far too 'trigger happy' as a collective to not send the Domus Stella descending into a pit of degeneracy. One or two might be fine though."

"Isn't that one insane generalization of Rabbitkin and Bunnykin?"

Renna's frown only made Rhefia smirk as she shook her head, the Deerkin saying "Respectfully Duchess, the amount of women from those two races that I've seen throw themselves into a bed for barely a copper sometimes is incredible. It's not a bad thing either; it's just how they are, and most people love that about them. Running a business with them though... well, unless its a brothel, or you're alright with customers buying your products and buying some time with your employees..."

That made Renna sigh, and I glanced over at her as I added "It isn't a bad thing, really. I think most of the time they tend to be honest and hardworking folk, but they seem to be rather easily wound up..."

"Coming from you, my love, that's just rich~! But yes, Duchess, they aren't the sort of people to hire in bulk unless that's the angle you're going for with the winery. So besides that, you just need a bunch of well mannered, friendly girls to work for you, and you need to figure out some other sort of marketing strategy to get people to come in and stay."

Sari placed a plate in front of Aka and raised a brow at the kit before saying "You could try some sort of discount? Maybe give guards a few coppers off as a way to pull them in? Do the same with other professions for certain flavors that they tend to prefer? Have certain wines be dedicated to cooking and offer a discount if bought in bulk? No other place I know of does anything like that, at least not too often. Since you want to target the middle class, offering good products at a discount for certain things is a good start, no?"

"Ooh, that's certainly an idea~! It would be a good way to get large groups more interested in our items; what if we sent a sample to the guardhouse or something? Give them a taste of what we offer?"

Renna nodded and considered the idea, before rolling her eyes when Sari added "That would be the time to hire some Rabbitkin or Bunnykin, just saying~! Give them the full~ experience to try and hook them in properly~!"

I chuckled at that, glancing at the red head and noting how she didn't directly shoot that idea down, which made me wonder if there was a way for me to incorporate the things I do best with the things she does best... something to push Domus Stella even further above everyone else.

"Well, we still have a few things we need to do before Domus Stella is opened, which leads me to the next idea I had, one that isn't about Domus Stella, and one that would be a bit more risky. I want to open a second store, one that specializes in weapons and armor. Specifically, I want to make some decent gear to sell to anyone and everyone~!"

"Astra..."

Renna sighed as she stared at me, her blue eyes rolling around slightly as she said "You want to partially run a store with me, but also run a separate store on your own that sells something as 'risky' as weapons and armor? How are you going to manage that?"

I pouted slightly and instead let out a slight huff as I said "Fine, then I want to open a brothel."

That got everyone to pause for a moment, with Renna frowning while Rhefia and Sari sighed together, and it was Rhefia who said "I hate that logically, that would make the most sense for you. Being able to manage a brothel would unironically be one of the best decisions you could make, what with how your brain functions."

"I don't know if that is an insult or a compliment..."

"It's both, Astra... it's both. What Rhefia says is true though; if you did open a brothel, I don't think anyone else would ever be able to match the type of shows you could put on. Problem is... Birchan isn't really 'open' like that. Brothels exist, but they aren't that 'accepted' by everyone. It's stupid though, since people go to clubs often, and it's the same damn thing; just whenever you buy your liquor, you get a pretty girl to give you a hand or two..."

Sari clicked her tongue and shook her head, and surprisingly it was Shelur who said "The red light districts aren't that 'popular' amongst the upper class, but they are very populated... so it all depends on how you want to market yourself, I guess. Clubs are acceptable amongst Nobility, but brothels aren't. Clubs don't take well to your lower class people, but brothels do."

That made Renna narrow her eyes as she turned towards the Orc, who instantly looked away as she was asked "How do you know that, Shelur? I thought you never went to those areas, hm? Or am I misremembering..?"