The other morning...
After opening the store for the first time since arriving in Cusca at the correct time, Tenur immediately had the slaves get on with the same activities as the day before.
Some went to the kitchen to prepare the bread, while others went to the paint and plaster production area.
Tenur was not making paint yet; he intended to finish covering the store's walls with plaster to start making this product. So all the slaves in the plaster and paint production area were producing that coating material.
At the same time, when the first portions of plaster of the day were ready, three slaves, two outside and one inside the store, would pass that material on the walls.
In this way, the day's first customers saw this store as they had heard rumors of the day before, with its plain white facade and well-organized interior.
But unlike the first customers to come the day before, today's customers already knew about the underpriced items in this store.
So they only showed satisfied reactions when they noticed those prices were real and no one would waste their time there.
Because of this, at the very beginning of the day, dozens of people, masters accompanied by their servants, passed by Mero's store, buying, observing the place, and asking questions.
...
Not only did ordinary customers come to Mero's store this morning, but some members of rival powers were there to see the changes generated by a slave named Tenur.
Right now, one of those people was standing there, looking at the front of that store with narrowed eyes and clenched fists.
'Those walls... How did he manage to do that? Where does this slave come from?' A local nobleman wondered, looking at that smooth, white wall, something so different from the rest seen in this entire city.
His servant was also shocked, having insights as he looked at the store's interior. 'The organization of this furniture and also its practicality is extremely clever!
He cleaned up the space where the customers passed, managed to decrease the store size, and even made it easier to identify each product...
I did this in lord Ari's store, but not in this quality...'
Ari then walked into that store, seeing Tenur's well-thought-out furniture and wishing for the same in his food store.
He was not exactly a competitor of Mero since he sold mostly different items than those sold in this Touma store. But in this place, anyone with similar business activity could be considered a rival since the products traded could change easily.
Today Mero's store had more mineral items. But before long, depending on demand, the young man from the Touma family could make this place sell more grain and cereals.
Ari knew this and saw this store as his competitor to be beaten whenever possible.
Seeing this place look better than his store, he felt terrible but full of thoughts about improving.
"Sab, do you think we can produce compartments like these?" Ari asked his servant as he stopped in front of the cabinet where the robes sold there were.
"My lord, I can't say if they would be as good, but we can try to make something similar." Sab placed one of his hands on that piece of furniture, feeling how firm and functional it seemed to be.
"Very well, we will try to do that in our store..." Ari smiled before turning to look at an interior wall that was already covered with plaster. "But now we have to get some of that.
If only this store had that plaster in the whole city, our customers would think our store is not on the same level as this one!
We can't allow that!"
"Yes, lord. We must cover the lord's store with this material." That man agreed before the two of them made their way to where Tenur was standing in the payment area of that store.
Unlike what one would see in virtually every Noskain store, in Mero's store, payments had a specific place to happen.
Instead of the customer coming to the side of the stack of items and paying for the desired quantity, they would have to say how much of each item they wanted at the counter's desk, pay, and then a slave would be ordered to deliver their items.
Orders had to be placed in the same way, but payment only had to be made when the items were delivered.
Ari was already aware of this, as a large sign at the store entrance had the most basic rules of this place engraved on it.
"Slave, I want to order 500 kilograms of plaster," Sab spoke as he stood facing Tenur, where this slave stood behind the counter.
Upon hearing this, Tenur smiled and said. "That will cost 50 silver coins, gentlemen."
Ari and his servant knew the price of plaster, so they were not surprised.
But then they heard something they didn't like. "However, I am sorry to inform you that we can only deliver the package in 15 days."
"What? 15 days?" Ari frowned his eyebrows, and the veins on his forehead appeared, twitching below his tanned skin.
"Slave, are you trying to test us?" Sab shouted before slamming his right fist against the bench between him and Tenur.
Tenur smiled bitterly and said. "Not at all, gentlemen. I would never dare displease lord Mero's customers.
It's just that other customers have already ordered 8,600 kilograms before you. But the store can only produce 1,000 kilograms of plaster per day at the moment.
We will not be able to produce plaster for the customers until tomorrow, and our stock of materials will run out in another two days. Furthermore, we will run out of anything until the next shipment arrives, which won't happen for another week.
So we will have problems delivering orders sooner than that..."
"Other customers? To hell with other customers." Sab growled. "Just put us at the top of your delivery list.
Do you know who the person in front of you is?"
Tenur looked at Ari and had no idea who this person was. But since this person was supposed to be someone of some local importance, he was careful in his words.
"Senior, if I do this to every customer who says the same thing, and you must know that other nobles are in town, wouldn't that be bad for yourselves?
Unless you are the most powerful in town, someone else will pass in front of you, and the situation will end up the same, or even worse..."
Ari felt that the words of the slave in front of him were not unwise, but he did not like being hindered by other people. "For I want to get in front of the idiots in front of me. How much must I pay extra to get it?"
"What? Are you crazy?" One of the customers who had just accepted a 13-day wait to receive his plaster exclaimed indignantly.
"Hey, you can't accept that! How will we customers stand if anyone who pays extra can get ahead of the others?"
"Yes! It's unfair! Whoever came first should get their orders first!" Another customer shouted, while quickly the atmosphere in that store heated up, and Ari's servant frowned, fearing these people revolted against them.
Laws were somewhat flexible in Noskain. Besides, Ari was not the most powerful person in Cusca, so several people in this city could deal with him without risking severe consequences.
Thinking about how some of these people, bold enough to make such loud comments, were looking at them, Sab thought the worst and advised his master. "My lord, give it up, please. I'm afraid some of these people will try something against us if we continue with this insistence."
Gulp!
"Do you really think so?"
"Who else but the powerful or the insane could raise their voices near the lord?" Sab asked, indicating the two most dangerous types of people to deal with.
Ari was not stupid, so he lowered his aura and became somewhat humble.
"Fine, I'll follow the order of the waiting list as long as no one passes in front of me. Otherwise...
Humph!
You had better honor your words, slave!"
"Certainly, dear customer," Tenur said, relieved that everything had been resolved without problems.
It was annoying to deal with this kind of situation. Still, seeing how the customers had made themselves available to solve the problem, Tenur was delighted.
Customers showing this attitude was a classic sign of quality and desire for the product in dispute!
Since this was his creation, he was naturally happy with the reaction of the many people in that store.
Amir saw this and continued to stand next to Tenur, staying there to ensure the safety of this fellow who had been achieving great things with Mero.
"At the current rate, in no more than three days, we will have no more products in the store." He commented in a low voice to Tenur. "Then we won't have to keep selling under that advertising promise."
"Yes, I figured that would happen," Tenur confirmed Amir's suspicions about the discount offered.
That man pursued the matter further and asked. "But what about the plaster and the bread? What will we do in those days? Go without work?"
"The loaves we can keep producing until the day the new shipment is delivered. Our stock of those ingredients was not low.
As for the plaster, we won't be able to continue producing it to deliver to customers, but we will be able to make enough to finish covering the store's walls.
At the same time, we will produce paint once the stock of the plaster materials runs out."
Tenur was not selling the resources needed to produce plaster and paint. So he had enough to finish the store renovation and still sell some plaster and paint.
That way, even without enough materials to keep the work at a maximum for the next few days, the slaves would have enough work to do until the delivery was made!
Amir liked this and soon thought of something to help the store...