"My dear merchant friend, remember that the point of making the soap is as much about profits as it is about helping my father. So the cheaper it is, the more we can sell as well as the frequency with which they will buy the soap, meaning bigger production, as well as more workers we get to recruit and so on. It's a win-win." William explained he was looking at the long-term effects rather than the short-term potential gains.
"Ok, I will follow your lead on this, though I see the point I must admit that as a merchant, the pricing kind of hurts me in my guts." Edmund expressed.
Hearing this, William chuckled in amusement before he said.
"Ok fine, let's bump the number to twenty percent, but that is my final offer." At this, Edmund's expression gets a little better and brighter.
"Anyways, now comes the task of actually selling the soap, what is our strategy on this front? Should we go door to door, rent a stall, or what exactly?" William asked, he had little knowledge when it came to this subject, so he preferred to get his partner's advice or better, just leave the whole matter to him if possible.
Edmund thought about it for a bit before he answered " A stall in the busy market area should work well enough with little cost to us, just leave this to me and in a day or two we could start selling our products in earnest."
Hearing exactly what he wanted, William was more than happy to leave this whole matter to someone else. "Great! Then I will leave this in your capable hands".
After going over a few more details, William exited the warehouse and decided to visit the nearby docks; though his father had more or less forbade him from doing so with only five guards; he genuinely wanted to do so, especially considering its economic importance to the city.
It took him a while to barely convince the guards to go with him and not stop him; he did not want to use the veto card and try to pull rank, though he doubted it would really work considering his father's orders were of way higher importance than his.
After doing so, he happily made his way to the docks a short distance away, though the guards made sure to stay much closer to him than they usually do.
Upon reaching the place, William saw a huge buzz of activity, as a large number of men went about loading and unloading cargo from the river ships that were docked.
The place had a very different feel to it, mostly because most of the workers looked poor and dirty, no doubt from the slums on the other side of the river, living away from the city and its protection, and having to commute every morning to find work.
The place was dirty, crowded yet for William it smelled of money, energy, and oh so many opportunities. If the business district was the largest source of taxes in Landow, then the Docks are the very blood that keeps it alive by allowing for goods from across the marquisate and even beyond to make their way through the rivers and reach them right here.
As William found himself lost in his thoughts, someone bumped into him abruptly; William turned his attention, to see who this person might be.
It was a man that seemed to be dressed in nothing but rags, slightly dirty, weak-looking and slightly hunched over. It was the type of person that would make you look down on and slightly pity him, even if he was the one to be in the wrong when he bumped into you, and instead of being angry or argue with him, you would just let him go.
"I am so sorry young man, I have not been paying attention, forgive me." The man apologized, almost begging.
Something seemed a bit... off to William; he could not put his hand on it but he felt like somehow he was in a situation so cliche that if he were to understand it later, it would be too late and too embarrassing for himself.
He put his right hand behind his back to stop the guards who were about to move in and take care of the possible threat before he answered.
"No problem, just watch the road next time."
"Ah, yeas! Thank you, I will, good day to you." The man quickly left and merged with the crowd after he said those words.
William soon continued his exploration as if nothing had happened at all.
In a relatively quiet alley not far away, the very same man who had bumped into William a few minutes ago made his way into a corner with a sleazy smile plastered on his face as he spoke to himself.
'Another day at work and another lovely customer served to perfection."
In his hand was a pouch, if William were to be here, he would have recognized it as the same one he owned.
The man looked around to make sure that he was not being followed, and slowly opened the pouch to inspect his most recent acquisition; as his smile grew along with the anticipation of reward, he completely opened the pouch.
At first, his smile froze; a few moments later, all people could hear was the voice of a man cursing out loud at his rotten luck.
Meanwhile, William was making his way through the crowds as he went about exploring the area when a homeless man came towards him.
"Please young man, spare a coin so that I may get some food to satiate my hunger."
William looked a bit embarrassed towards the man, he turned around towards one of the guards that was closest to him, took a few steps to reach him, came real close, and said.
"Hey Lancelot, got a coin laying around somewhere?"
Lancelot looked at his young lord in complete confusion for a few moments before he returned. "I beg you pardon my lord?"
William sighed a bit, took a deep breath and explained.
"Look man, I am broke, I don't even have a single coin to my name, I will just borrow it so don't worry I will return it later. Here look my pouch is as empty as it gets."
So as to prove his point, William reached his hand toward his pouch, which was supposed to be attached to his waist, yet found nothing; he quickly looked down, and indeed he saw that nothing was there.
"Holy shit I got robbed, someone stole my money pouch!"
Lancelot looked at his young lord with even greater confusion, and so spoke. "Are you sure you did not lose it or forget to bring it with you, my lord?"
"No I am pretty sure I had it, I think I checked just before we left the warehouse," William replied looking very frustrated and a little angry.
By now the other guards seeing the commotion had come over to see what was happening; Upon learning of what had happened, the captain of the five guards attempted to "comfort" William.
"My lord, since the pouch was empty, then I believe that no harm was done."
William looked at the man with his piercing eyes and said.
"It's the principal man, I was taking advantage of like the newest victim at school, this is just bringing back bad memories all over again!"
The guards were left completely bewildered by the situation; first, by the fact that the son of the marquess can be broke, and second by how "thrifty" he is.