episode_0007

“The authority to sell books will be transferred to ‘Yuren Sangang’, which offers the highest price per book.”

At my remark, except for one merchant, everyone had dark expressions on their faces and let out a loud sigh.

“No!! I should just write a little more… .”

I clenched my fists and cheered as if I was the only merchant, and it was worth it.

‘I won the auction by only 1 silver, so it would be a shame for the top to write the price in second place.’

I proceeded to draw up a contract with the owner of Uren, which won the bid.

“There is no significant change in details. You must follow these two precautions.”

“What do you mean?”

“Never! The price should not be more than twice the original price. And only one copy can be sold per family.”

I saw the Sangsanju’s expression distort at my words. As if he were asking why he spent a lot of money to buy this book, other than that.

“If you don’t like these conditions, there was no contract… .”

“Sleep… Just a moment! I will do that!!”

When it seemed like I was going to break the contract, he changed his attitude and signed a contract with various clauses as if he understood.

‘If these conditions are not met, wealthy noble families may purchase them in large quantities, or the Yuren merchants may make exorbitant profit margins.’

Sang Sang-ju may have mistaken me for just a young nobleman, but he is a former webtoon writer who has faced every kind of unfair contract on Earth.

Wait a minute, why are my tears falling… .

Anyway, the conditions I presented were by no means unreasonable.

Since you can get up to twice the price, you will always make a profit, and the reason for selling only one copy per family was for two reasons.

First, since this is a children’s book, I wanted to enable as many children as possible to read it.

Second, the reason I went through all this trouble and made a lot of money was because I didn’t want to be bothered by visits from noble families ever again.

Perhaps 100 copies would be enough, assuming each book is sold?

“It was a good deal.”

“Thank you. Master.”

In the end, the auction for the children’s book came to an end with the signing of the contract with the merchant amicably.

***

The Somerset family is an earldom.

Speaking of the count family, it is a very high noble family that ranks third from the top among the five noble families.

In such families, there is a territory meeting, which is usually a meeting where vassals gather to discuss various aspects of managing the territory.

However, our family’s estate meetings were rather simple, if not very simple.

If it is a general estate meeting, the vassals of the family usually participate and coordinate various matters of interest.

Our family’s estate meeting consisted of my father, the head of the family, the knight Lord Mullers, who was responsible for the security of the estate, and finally, Viscount Klein, who was in charge of finances and management of the estate.

“I am deeply touched that you are already old enough to attend the territory meeting!”

Lord Mullers, the only knight in our fiefdom, looked like he was about to shed tears when he saw me sitting in the head’s office where the fiefdom meeting was held.

Viscount Klein, who was sitting across from me, turned his head and wiped away his tears with his fingers, pretending not to be there, which made me feel very embarrassed.

The territory meeting was originally held with just the three of us, but starting from this meeting, I was able to attend.

Externally, it was just a justification to know about successor education and management of the estate now that he was of a certain age.

‘I made a lot of money this time.’

Since I had made quite a lot of money selling books, they decided to let me participate in the estate meeting to hear my opinion.

“This time, the priority is to expand the territory guards and improve the supply of weapons… .”

“Of course, that is important, but right now, the merchants in the territory are not able to buy and sell goods, so the flow of funds has stopped… .”

“They are important, but the most important thing is to consider that taxes to be paid to the imperial family will be normalized starting next year. For the past three years, taxes have been reduced as a follow-up measure to the war… .”

I found the process of the three of us talking and discussing various matters of the territory unfamiliar and fascinating. Does it feel like a glimpse into the world of real nobles?

It is said that even 10 years ago, before the family’s downfall, on the days when estate meetings were held, this long desk in the office was filled with people, with some even standing.

The two loyal vassals who still remain in our fallen family were once again considered amazing.

‘If it were me, I would have run away a long time ago.’

I came to my senses and looked into the financial situation of the estate. It seemed like he was truly loyal to remain like this even though he knew his financial situation.

But regardless of loyalty, now was not the time to discuss such matters.

“Father, how much debt do we have left?”

Everyone was dreaming of what to do with the money they received from book sales, so I cruelly broke it.

“That… Why are you suddenly asking that?”

My father was so embarrassed that he couldn’t answer properly, so Viscount Klein, who was worse off, spoke for him.

“I will speak for you. Currently, the total debt of our territory is 815 gold, and we are paying 54 gold in interest every month.”

I felt it the last time I figured out the family’s financial situation, but it’s so amazing that my family has survived this long.

‘There is no such evil as usury! 7% monthly interest, not even annual interest? ‘This is just a private loan.’

This is a situation where you can’t help but sigh.

In this situation, even if you add the money you earned this time, you will end up in a situation where you will be in trouble again.

‘Our family is not a rich estate that produces special products, but since we are a count family, we produce quite a bit of basic produce.’

So, although I am paying off such enormous debt and loan interest, I am stuck paying off debt for the rest of my life.

‘I worked hard to pay off my student loans in my previous life, but I can’t do that in this life as well.’

On the contrary, if you think about it, once you pay off all the debt, the estate that generates stable income every month will be completely yours, and as long as you don’t have any extravagances, you can live comfortably like an aristocrat.

“I will definitely use this money.”

This money is investment money.

If the plan I came up with goes well, my family will probably be able to be revived in the near future.

***

“That’s the sewing place. Please put a sewing machine and a long desk there.”

Our family’s mansion felt unnecessarily spacious.

However, even dog poop is useful, and the large land was a great help in this case.

“Leather is not good when exposed to light, so it should be placed on a wall away from windows.”

It was a refreshing feeling to see the craftsmen who had accumulated experience making books together with me participating in a new workshop, each giving their opinions on what was needed.

In the meantime, whenever we created a book, we hired people temporarily to do the work, but now we have decided to hire them full time.

‘I would like to hire craftsmen on the condition that I bear all the material costs. What do you think?’

I honestly expected some of them to decline.

That’s right, in this medieval world, the value of artisans was valuable talent whose value could not be measured in simple money.

Moreover, these are not just ordinary craftsmen, but the best craftsmen in a well-known territory in our region, so I didn’t think they would easily accept my proposal.

‘I’m good!’

‘I really want to participate too!’

‘Just leave it to me!’

However, contrary to my expectations, I was embarrassed to see the artisans willingly accepting the offer.

‘In fact, it is difficult for artisans to make a large profit without nobles. After the recent war, the nobles’ spending had decreased significantly, so everyone was in trouble.’

It seems that our family was not the only one who suffered the scars left behind by the war.

I understood as Alain, the butler, briefly explained the craftsmen’s favorable response.

They also produced goods without receiving proper compensation throughout the war period in the name of requisitioning military supplies, and after the war ended, they were in a difficult situation due to the sudden drop in workload.

They say that my recent children’s book production was like a rain in a drought, so I would have been glad to receive a suggestion like this.

“But Mr. Master, it may be a foolish idea on my part, but I think it would be too hasty to make such an investment based solely on the demand for Cinderella fairy tale books.”

Alain, who was watching me build a book factory on the grounds of the mansion, quietly asked me.

As the butler responsible for the family’s finances, I guess I was very concerned about my current behavior.

Just looking at my father, it’s clear that Alain tried to stop me several times, but I just have to pay him back! Because I pushed ahead with that mindset.

But I am different from my father!

“I definitely think Cinderella will be harder to sell.”

The impact of the combination of a children’s book that did not exist in this world and Cinderella, a proven hit on Earth, was certainly enormous.

First of all, the price of the book itself was quite high.

, which was made exclusively for nobles, varies in price, but ranges from at least 1 gold to close to 10 gold.

Even though the supply price of books made as an entry-level product has been lowered significantly, the price is such that ordinary people will never be able to purchase them.

At least, it is a price range that only wealthy merchants or noble families can purchase.

Even so, since the children’s book itself is a work aimed at young girls, the consumer base has further decreased.

That’s also why I only took pictures of 100 books. Probably because that is the Maginot Line that can be sold now.

“Master, if you know that, why are you doing this kind of business…? ”

Why did you invest so much of your last money to grow your business when you knew you wouldn’t be able to sell more?

“That’s because the next one I make won’t be Cinderella.”

Thank you Brothers Grimm.

To be honest, I don’t read children’s books very often, so I only know the names, but I can’t even remember the contents of a few of them.

However, I definitely remember three representative works that children might like.

Since I have made such a profit with the first work, Cinderella, I will definitely solve my family’s debt problem by making the remaining works successful.

“The next work is ‘Snow White’.”