In the fresh first week of a new month, the serious Balthazar and affable Vanessa came to visit Herbs & Lotions as officials from the Association to honor their promise during the auction. In this both formal and casual occasion, Alfraed confidently introduced two products to his business partners.
The first item he brought out was a bottle containing clear green liquid inside, an Antidote. It was a potion to counteract various poisons from monsters that would definitely proved beneficial to adventurers. Though, he did not forget to inform the current version could only handle up to fifteen different type of poisons. After all, extracting poisons from monsters to study their properties and came up with the proper cure to neutralize them took a lot of effort, not to mention the danger he had to face.
There was ginger-colored liquid in the second bottle, Stamina potion, a compulsory potion Alfraed always brought when gathering materials. Health potions cured wounds, but unable to recharge used up stamina, and stamina was crucial for adventurers, especially if they were conducting long-term quests such as exploring uncharted land or ancient ruins that could take months to complete. Many cases existed where adventurers had to bail out from quests since they were out of stamina and incurred hefty penalties.
"…Mr. Logick, how much is it?"
Balthazar tried to conceal his growing interest by asking in a flat, seemingly indifferent tone. But, the enthusiasm brightly showed in his widening eyes because he believed these products would sell exceptionally well, bringing more profit to his branch, as well as helping adventurers in the process.
Death by poison could happen to anyone, even to high-ranked adventurers if careless, and one would definitely want a potion that could made the lethal poison harmless. Similarly, having reserve of stamina would make it a lot easier for them to complete quests.
"2,000 rune per bottle for the Antidote, and 1,000 rune for the Stamina potion"
Contrary to Balthazar's effort to act dispassionate, Alfraed answered in an energetic voice, as he was certain to secure another deal with the Association. No product in their shelf came close to his Antidote and Stamina potion right now, and tried to get a better deal than what he already had by lowering the discount, or shorten the term of payment.
When the negotiation concluded, the Association agreed to buy fifty Antidotes and one-hundred Stamina potions per week, giving Herbs & Lotions the desired additional income... Nevertheless, Alfraed was up against Vanessa, and she steadily showed an undisturbed smile during the bargaining process. He ended up with the same deal arrangement; twenty percent discount and consignment payment scheme.
'…Should've asked Elise to join…' regretted Alfraed as he took a very long sigh after the two customers left with satisfied smiles and refreshing atmosphere, evidence they had just made a great business deal.
'…As long as they're happy, I guess…?'
Though the purchase condition was below his preference, Alfraed still made profit, albeit small. Additionally, this way the Association knew Herbs & Lotions was capable of providing useful goods for adventurers, and would ready to provide some space in their store whenever he had compelling products in later days.
Simultaneously, Dal punctually came every fortnight requesting his usual orders in each visit; nine-hundred bottles of Basic to High Grade potions. It seemed he really was able to sell that many within just two weeks, which was good for his business. Sadly, Alfraed missed the opportunity to meet his major buyer once again since he was working outside at the time. So, he fully put his trust on Elise to handle the matter.
When the dwarf finished paying for his goods in the second week, Elise unexpectedly informed him that production capacity of Greater Grade potions had increased, and they could spare some of the rare portions for him.
"…Really…?! How many can I take???"
"Five bottles, is that alright?"
"I'll take it!!"
Hearing the good news from Elise, Dal quickly did calculation in his head, and grabbed the opportunity with unmatched vigor, without any hint of hesitation. In other town, he could sell those rare potions and made decent profit instantly. Only a fool, or someone with tight liquidity would passed on this offer, and luckily he was neither.
Afterward, the round-shaped merchant could not stop grinning until he finally left the shop.
---Actually, current production of Greater Grade potions was thirty bottles per week. Initially, Alfraed intended to give the remaining twenty bottles to Dal to ensure immediate sales. However, Elise proposed to only give him five bottles, as she was sure new buyers would come once the news spread, and they could negotiate for more desirable prices.
A couple of days later, new buyers did come, and Elise managed to sell the potions by only giving ten percent discount, which gave better profit to the business.
'Thank God I listened to her advice…'
Alfraed was relieved he had a good manager to help with selling and pricing strategies.
Speaking of Greater Grade potions, remaining materials from that abandoned shrine was still enough to make another five-hundred bottles. There were three reasons Alfraed did not want to utilize them all at once.
First, suddenly bringing great numbers of rare potion to the market might disrupt its rarity image, possibly dropping the price, which led to lower profit. Second, sure, lots of profits could be obtained at one go, but he would not have anything left to work with. So, he preferred to maintain image of stability to customers, as he did now. Third, not so much of a reason, he just felt it was not the time yet.
'…That being said, how can I increase the rate of materials gathering?'
Nowadays, Alfraed would depart at Day of Moon to search for the materials, and came back either in Day of Frigga or Saturn. The best he could do was to acquire materials to produce around twenty-five bottles, or thirty if he was lucky. Thus, the available materials were declining slightly, but surely.
He needed to find a way to solve this issue within a year before the stock truly ran out. Additionally, he also did not want to spend all his time running around to pick materials forever, it was lonely.
'…I also want to enjoy my youth! Find a beautiful mature girlfriend, and have many dates with her…!'
Alfraed expressed his protest and desire loudly, yet quietly inside his mind. Surprisingly, the content befitted his young age, and for some reason he remembered a certain female adventurer that left an impression on him.
Then, though still small in size, the name of Herbs & Lotions now pretty well-known in Anspia since Alfraed started selling the Greater Grade potions and auctioned a Perfect Grade potion. Aside from Dal, there were now other merchants, and adventurers who frequently visit his store. In a week, he was able to sell around 1,000 bottles, or more than 4,000 bottles in a month.
After deducting salary and overhead expenses from the revenue, net operating profit he earned for this month was approximately 11,000,000 rune. This situation was very different to his first month of operation, where in that period he sold nothing at all. As such, he was thankful for all the people that had helped him thus far, and determined to cherish them.
With Lisa in charge of preparation, the raw materials could be made ready on time for the potion-makers to finalize them into products, and incoming demands were served splendidly. Speaking of his trusted employees, Elise and Lisa were struggling since Alfraed assigned the new roles to them out of the blue and countless mistakes happened. In spite of this, fortunately that struggle only lasted for a couple of weeks, and before the third week ended the two already acted their part responsibly.
On that note, Lisa reported to Alfraed the new preparers, mainly housewives from the neighborhood trying to help their families' finances, were happy with the friendly working condition, amount of payment, and provided lunch. Their satisfaction was shown in their positive work result.
"Boss, the one from last week, she wants to know if you're interested to know her daughter further, pfft!"
Since the preparers knew their young boss was still single, a number of those housewives saw him as potential son-in-law candidate, and started to introduce their daughters one after another in hope the two match. This should be in line with Alfraed's wish, however…
"…Ms. Lisa, I'm happy knowing someone deemed me worthy to take care of their precious daughter for life, if not for the fact the daughter was still a child! Please make an excuse for me…"
"Will do boss heh heh heh"
No matter how desperate Alfraed was in finding a girlfriend, he still had unshakable criteria, and would never want to die socially in a horrible manner.
For the potion-makers, Alfraed spent all day restructuring their mindset about drinking potions could be enjoyable, while remembering how his master often secretly drank his potions as if it was water, and taught them how to make potions with refreshing taste which also one of the reasons his version of potions was popular. For almost a month, they did not have a team leader purely because Alfraed did know any of them well enough to be given a more important role, so Elise was helping in monitoring their works. At the start of the fourth week, with inputs from Elise and Lisa, Alfraed appointed Beno Crawford to be a team leader for the makers, easing the burden for Elise.
He was a middle-aged human male with clean, yet beardy appearance, and warm personality that could befriend anyone. His wife died five years ago due to illness, and had been taking care of his eleven-year old daughter by himself. Based on testimonies from previous employers, he was deemed to be inefficient because had to leave work many times. The man was pessimistic Alfraed would hire him when they met for the first time in the interview session.
However, Alfraed had different point of view, the man simply could not leave his daughter alone, especially since the child unfortunately had somewhat frail body similar to her late mother. For Alfraed, someone who took care of his family was trustworthy, and never a bad person. Thus, Alfraed told the then timid Beno he could bring his daughter to the workplace, food would be provided, and he could take the potions if needed, for free.
"…Essentially, the company will help in making sure your daughter is fine. So, work hard…"
"Yes! Thank you! I'll work hard!"
Nowadays, the daughter, Lily Crawford, was happily playing with Emma and Evan every day, and did not bother Beno at all. She was even healthier than before. Thus, her father could work effectively, and turned out to be an excellent employee and team leader, proving him right.
In fact, seeing this treatment, many employees asked permissions to bring along their children as well. Due to this happening, Alfraed once again called upon the carpenters to renovate some area in the second floor to be used exclusively as children room. Inside the room, various picture books aligned neatly in bookshelf, plethora of toys for both boys and girls were present, the wall was painted with bright color, and the floor coated with colorful pattern to suit their cheerful nature.
"Elise, the boss seems happy"
"Fu fu fu, he really is"
It was clear to Elise and Lisa that their boss was having fun in preparing the room, and did not care the lease bit about the expenses, although the person himself did not realize regarding his own attitude.
In Day of Sun, Alfraed even opened a free class to teach the children how to read, write, and do simple calculations. The idea started because other children were envy seeing Emma and Evan apparent happiness in able to read stories in the picture books. This activity had turned into something that he looked forward doing every week.
…A long, yet short thirty days had passed. Today was once again the end of month, and it coincide with Day of Saturn which was payment day. Elise and Lisa could finally enjoy their new salary, and the two informed Alfraed they planned to move together to save rent to a better and more spacious place. Beno still received his usual salary for this month, and his adjusted salary of 8,000 rune started in the following month. After ensuring his top employees got their deserved reward, he gave his other employees their right.
"Thank you for your hard work! Please continue supporting me from now on!"
He showed his utmost gratitude to them all, without them it was impossible for his business to run smoothly as of now.
""With pleasure boss!"" replied all of his employees, they really meant it.
At dusk, the sun turned orange, and the emitted light painted the world with golden yellow, and it was also a sign for the moons to rise and govern the night with its gentle light. However, for Alfraed, the day was far from over. The young man had been curious to visit -just to visit- a certain place since years ago. Now that he had a leeway to explore, he decided to turn his body and walk toward the dazzling red light district…