Chapter 65
The city of Perugia I arrived at had a similar population to Guillaume City.
There were 10,000 citizens living in the city, and 20,000 other residents, totaling 30,000 people.
Even in Korea with its high population density, it would be called a town, so the city itself was bustling for a rural area.
"There are quite a lot of people."
Although it wasn't on a port like Guillaume City, nor was it a hub of land transportation.
This surrounding area had quite a wide plain, and water for agricultural use was relatively abundant.
So naturally, a city had formed.
Where there's a city, there would naturally be the guild I was looking for.
"Viscount, there's a small blacksmith over there."
Hearing those words, I went inside to look around.
Inside, there seemed to be about 3 people including the blacksmith and apprentice, but seeing them sitting and resting when others would be working...
'It doesn't seem busy enough for work to be flooding into all the blacksmiths in this city.'
No, guilds in such small cities generally only make things to be consumed in the city and its surroundings, so other workshops are likely to be in similar environments.
It means they won't refuse because they have too much work even if I throw work at them.
"It seems we've come to the right place."
Hearing those words, Chloe rejoiced as if it were her own business.
"That's really great."
"Although it's unlikely, if the blacksmiths here were all so busy they had to live buried in work, we would have had to look elsewhere."
Although it's unavoidable to make money, the thought of traveling for days in a carriage without suspension was really terrible.
"Now that we've looked around everything we needed to, we should meet the blacksmith guild master first. Weapons and armor production take up the largest portion of military supplies."
Besides weapons, there were things like armor, meat, grains, bread, cheese, and alcohol.
But weapons and armor were much larger in scale than the combined transaction amount of the rest.
So it was right to solve the blacksmith guild issue first.
"Let's hurry. We need to find guilds to handle military supplies for other divisions besides this one."
**
As I entered the blacksmith guild, the guild master came running to greet me in his socks.
That didn't mean he actually wasn't wearing shoes...
"Oh my, isn't it Viscount Medici? What brings someone like you to our humble guild?"
Guild masters and high-ranking guild craftsmen might not be nobles by blood, but in terms of social standing, they're not much different from lower nobles.
So while they don't have the same education as nobles, they have sharp ears for central information like nobles do.
Although it rarely affects craftsmen down to changes in the center, when it does affect them, the impact is no joke.
'Still, to welcome me, a mere viscount, like this.'
How did he recognize me?
"I'm not some high-ranking person like the lord here or a count, aren't you making too much fuss?"
At those words, the guild master shook his head.
"The story of how you rose to viscount by your own power just over a year and a half after coming of age is well-known even in this rural corner. I heard you normalized the military supplies for the 1st Division. Although our guild is small in scale, as blacksmiths, we understand well the importance of military supplies."
As a third-rate blacksmith, someone who didn't even go through an apprenticeship and learned half-heartedly from their father in a village forge has nothing to do with military supplies.
All they make would be kitchen knife level blades used by serfs when going to the city.
However, craftsmen belonging to even small guilds have no choice but to stake their lives on military supplies.
It's the biggest consumer of weapons, and if the weapons they make please some high-ranking person and rumors spread, their value skyrockets.
The guild master gestured to call his subordinates.
"Bring that from my office! The one that's a set with the sword and armor!"
"Isn't that a masterpiece?"
"If our viscount wears it, it'll be something for the Arezzo family to boast about for generations, so just bring it!"
This guild master seemed like quite a decent person.
Instead of trying to bribe me with petty cash to get a supply contract, he was giving his best masterpiece as a gift.
He seemed to be thinking of properly showing off his guild's skills and the master's sincerity.
"I've brought it."
Although the guild master position isn't one you rise to purely on skill, you need to have at least first-class level skills to be considered a candidate.
I wondered what weapons and armor made by such a person would be like.
The sword and armor were far more beautiful and of better quality than I had imagined.
It had elegant gold work, not too excessive, and looked sturdy enough to make me think it would protect me well if I got hit by arrows or guns on the battlefield.
It's not easy to achieve both beauty and functionality.
"I like it."
"We don't put this much effort into making all our items. However, I, as the guild master, have this level of skill, and we don't plan to supply any clumsy or shoddy items."
If he had said here that he would make all the volume he supplies like this masterpiece, I would have jumped up from my seat.
Items that go into military supplies are all mass-produced.
How on earth could you make that with the highest quality?
'It's not easy even after electrically operated automated machines appear.'
If it were before I became a viscount, it might have been different, but now my position was much higher than this small city's guild master.
So when I reached out my hand to shake, he bent his waist 90 degrees and grasped my hand.
"Thank you!"
"We haven't even started talking about the deal yet."
"I apologize, Viscount."
I sat down comfortably in the chair and said:
"His Majesty has ordered me to handle military supplies for two divisions. But with our Medici Trading Company's capital, we can't immediately prepare production facilities to meet military supplies. So we need a reliable guild to make the necessary items for us."
Of course, if we outsource production, the scale of profit I can eat will decrease.
However, it's perfect for octopus-like expansion as we can do business without large initial costs.
The integrated trading companies in Japan, Korea, and advanced countries around the world now operate in a similar way.
'Companies with an average operating profit margin of 0.5%, where even new employees are entrusted with 30 billion scale businesses'
Of course, my profit margin exceeds 30%, so I've just borrowed the operating principle.
"I want to request weapons, armor, tools, etc. to be used in one of these divisions, can you make them?"
On hearing my words, the guild master didn't unconditionally say it could be done.
Instead, he thought deeply and answered:
"How much time can you give us?"
"I can give you a month, no, 40 days."
"If we operate all the blacksmiths in our city, we should be able to meet it somehow. Afterwards, we'll need to recruit more apprentices or craftsmen for stable production."
"I'm thinking of making similar proposals to other guilds. Military supplies don't end with just supplying weapons and tools."
Hearing those words, the blacksmith guild master's eyes lit up brightly.
Seeing the smile on his lips, he seemed to have understood well what I wanted to say.
I was giving him a special opportunity in consideration of the sincerity he showed by offering his masterpiece.
'Tell the other guild masters about this good opportunity, and extract a bit more than the value of the masterpiece.'
"I'll convey it well. Then they'll come looking for you on their own without you having to visit them directly."
"Good, then let's enter into full-fledged price negotiations. Considering its large-scale supply and the supply scale will always be maintained consistently, isn't there no better deal for a blacksmith than military supplies?"
This is why when we subscribe to internet sites, the price difference between regular subscriptions and one-month subscriptions is nearly 1.5 times.
Because they think it's profitable for them to make it that much cheaper since a promise was made to make regular purchases.
Moreover, the tools or weapons that blacksmiths make, except for custom-made items, tend to have a long period between making the product and selling it...
'The longer the time remaining as inventory, the greater the risk of not selling.'
Considering these comprehensive factors, they won't lose even if the price is drastically lowered.
"How much are you thinking? Speak comfortably as your heart moves."
Hearing those words, the blacksmith guild master's face hardened a bit.
But I'm a merchant too, so I should maximize my profits, right?
So we should make a deal that we can all accept, no, a contract in the form where I take the maximum profit?
"If our thoughts differ, we can narrow the difference of opinion through dialogue."