Cheap Paint 

On the fourth day since the opening of Mero's store...

This morning the store opened at the correct time, but unlike the day before, the place was not full of people in the surroundings when Tenur and the rest of the staff arrived.

But this was to be expected—they had been late the day before. Since most of the customers of this store were relevant people in Cusca, most would not come to this place at sunrise, the store's opening time.

After the slaves opened all the windows in that store, the women went to the kitchen to work, and the male slaves went to the paint and plaster production area.

Tonur immediately had two of the 11 men start painting the front of the store to advertise their new product while making two of the slaves he trusted most follow him.

He did not yet have the ingredients to make beer and wine. But since he planned to produce these two drinks in Mero's store, Tenur already wanted to start producing the necessary items.

He was versatile in using items at hand to improvise mechanisms needed for the equipment he had in mind.

Since producing the two types he had in mind was not difficult, producing the equipment would not be difficult either. He would only need the base material, something that, on this day, he asked Amir to go and buy together with the slaves to avoid anyone else blaming them for stealing something.

...

The first few minutes of the day passed quickly, and soon the storefront was painted red so that everyone passing near the store would notice it.

As planned by Tenur, he immediately got more people's attention to Mero's store, making even those who were not interested in returning to that store in a short time decided to stop by there today.

"Hey, Tenur, what are you guys using in the lobby?" A nobleman who was there to pick up more plaster asked aloud, a little surprised.

Paint existed in this place. But they were costly. As such, only the wealthiest people in Noskain and the royal family had the purchasing power to paint their residences.

A mere store going through a paint job could only indicate two things. Either Mero was crazy and wanted to make his store stand out regardless of the cost, or this place had a new product, such as the plaster and bread that had already been launched recently.

Thinking this was the case, this and other rich local men soon approached Tenur at that store to learn more about it.

Tenur looked at the middle-aged fellow who first asked him and replied. "Senior Babu, this stuff we are going over the store's walls is new paint. The store has 20 buckets of paint to be sold daily, and each one costs 5 silver coins and 27 bronze coins."

'527 bronze coins?' Some of those people thought about the cost of the buckets, imagining that such a bucket would be similar to the ones that the two slaves painting the outside of the store were using.

That was a high value, but like plaster, the paint would not be used often and could last long if the painted walls were well cared for. But at the same time, this was a fraction of the cost of paint normally found in Noskain.

To get a sense, a bucket of paint the size of the one the slaves in this store were using to paint the outside walls cost 10 gold coins.

That was 100,000 bronze coins!

Because of this extremely high price, few people used to paint walls in Noskain, even nobles.

Upon hearing the price of Tenur's paint, more than 30 people inside that store immediately shouted impossible orders from this individual to deliver.

"Hahaha, I'll have 50 buckets then! I'll paint my whole house!"

"Yeah, or I'll do the same. I was already tired of living just like those miserable people..."

"I'll do that in my restaurant!"

Soon, Tenur wrote down on a scroll all the orders for the next days and sold the 20 buckets of paint he had ready today.

He and the other slaves also delivered a thousand kilograms of plaster they had due today, collecting 205 silver coins and 40 bronze coins later in the morning.

...

By early afternoon, Mero's store had more than 400 people in front of it, not to buy but to admire the first painted building of Cusca.

Even some of Tenur's opponents, whom this young man didn't even know existed, were there to observe the place, feeling that it would be much more difficult for them to stop the growth that the Touma family store was experiencing.

'Damn it! How is this possible?' The young master of the Gaber family wondered when he heard the price of the paint bucket. 'How can these people charge such prices? Don't tell me that young master Mero is bearing the cost? But why?'

At the same time, Khaa was watching that place with her narrowed eyes, noticing that the one slave that Shui talked about every day really seemed to have abnormal abilities.

'We have to get Mero to get that person out of the store, or we won't get the resources needed for my store!' She thought as she had a smile on her face, pretending to be impressed by the paint job in that store.

Without the resources from Mero's store for her and her cronies to steal, her store was already running out of items to sell. Without resources, they would lose their customers and eventually let the opportunity to become rich slip away.

She couldn't allow that after all her efforts!

'Tenur, uh? Let's see if you're preparing for the pressure about to arrive!' She clenched her fists before leaving the crowd to return to her plans.

A single person had no right to have so much on his hands, to have such potential!

...

In the afternoon, Tenur had already registered orders for buckets of paint for the next 15 days when Amir arrived with some slaves with the items he requested.

With that, after the 90 filled loaves of bread for the day had been delivered, he and half of the slaves gathered in the kitchen to prepare the equipment useful for producing beer and wine.

The work was delicate, so he was doing most of the work himself. But the slaves who were closest to Tenur participated in the process, helping him as they could, either cutting or assembling parts.

But they would not finish the work this day. It would take at least three days of work, so in the late afternoon, they closed up the store and left to continue the next day.

Upon closing the store, Tenur followed Amir to walk around the city and talk a bit about their plans.

"Senior Amir, our plan to catch Shui will begin when the new shipment sent by lord Mero arrives. Until then, we can't do much other than watch him." Tenur said in a low voice, looking at the dimly lit front of the street they were on.

Cusca had streets that were a bit wider and dimly lit for the passage of wagons and animals. But it also had streets like alleys, where the houses were less than 2 meters from each other on the other side of the street, with only room for people to pass through. But they were well-lit, and usually, taverns, restaurants, and inns were in places like these.

At the moment, the two just wanted to talk without risking being overheard, so they were in one of those places where only a few wagons were passing amidst the penumbra of the night.

"What if he acts against lord Mero? I feel that he and his group are starting to get nervous." Amir said, considering what he had already heard from Tenur. "If they depend on the stolen goods from the store to operate, they are running out since we have sold everything and will run out for the next few days...

That man who attacked you the other day may be related to them."

"I don't know..." Tenur shook his head negatively. "I think it's unlikely. Shui depends on the store to get his items. Still, if I am killed, lord Mero would send people to Cusca, who would cause problems for his operation.

I think someone else is behind that attack."

"Someone else? But who would dare try to mess with the Touma family in this city?" Amir made an ugly expression.

Tenur said. "The Touma family is powerful and respected. But in a place so far away, where only one 'forgotten' family store is located, is everyone so fearful of lord Mero's house?

Greed is the greatest fuel of those in development, and there will always be those willing to take risks for significant returns... Surely there are people like that in Cusca who want to see me dead to stop lord Mero's business from growing."

"If that is the case, what can we do?" Amir asked.

He was a warrior, but he needed to know who his enemies were for him to act!

Tenur thought of something and said. "We can..."