"Vicente, you need to rethink your current strategy, kid. Do you believe that you can encroach on all our businesses?" A middle-aged man exclaimed to the boy who sat across the table in the Fuller family's warehouse.
On the outskirts of the former office of Jesse, Vicente was sitting in an armchair, with Rory standing next to his side. Both faced the local merchant who had just arrived, demanding to discuss business endeavors with them.
Next to this merchant stood a level 6 General, observing them with authority, talking like an adult trying to scare a child who had done something mischievous.
Vice grinned in response to this old local merchant's words. "Mister Damian Cohen, you seem to have misunderstood. I have no desire to steal anyone's business. In fact, I would like to get closer to local merchants. If you are willing, we can form a mutually beneficial partnership."
"Partnership?" Damian wore a puzzled expression, not able to comprehend what Vicente meant. He was there to talk to this boy who had been allegedly stealing his business, but Vice had suggested a partnership out of the blue...
Was this boy crazy, or was there something else behind it?
"Kid, don't assume that I won't take any action against your group because you are a child," Damian warned.
"Hmm, but mister, what do you want me to do? I have merely offered better prices to my suppliers and customers. It's not my fault if others, whom I wasn't even conducting any business with, found out about it and now want to approach me..." Vicente countered. "Or are you suggesting that they have an obligation to do business with just you?"
"What? That's not what I'm saying!" Damian's voice grew louder in frustration.
"Then what is it? If you are bothered by rumors circulating among your suppliers, then you can just lower your prices, and you won't lose any of your business."
"That's preposterous! Are you suggesting that I lower my profits?" Damian felt outraged.
Vicente grinned again, "That's how the market works. Even if I were to step out of this business now, there are already a few groups who are imitating us. Hence, those exorbitant prices would still have to be lowered if you people still want to stay competitive with other groups."
"But this is all your doing. You started this madness!"
"Hmm, so you can become my ally. While you won't get the same high returns that you used to get before, you could still greatly profit from our collaboration," Vicente proposed, negotiating more support for his group.
One tactic Vicente had employed was reducing some costs that were typically associated with merchant groups like his when trading the products of their suppliers. For example, traditionally, groups of merchants traveling with their products had to hire warriors to safeguard these resources.
The cost of mercenaries was not cheap, so to maintain their profits, a merchant like the angry Damian in front of Vicente had to promise lower prices to their suppliers while selling their products at higher values to consumers to maintain profits.
However, Vicente had the advantage of firearms on his side and people who were willing to take their chances with these weapons!
With these assets, he no longer needed to hire mercenaries and had been relying on his team to protect their wagons.
Through these measures and other such actions, Vicente was able to offer better prices to both his suppliers and customers without decreasing his profits significantly!
'Vice was very clever.' Rory thought highly of his friend as he looked at Vicente while talking to the merchant. 'With the advent of firearms, Vice was able to increase the prices we pay to our suppliers and thereby satisfy them well.
Now the risk of Andrew's former suppliers leaving us has diminished significantly, and we can operate with less worry of losing what we already had in the beginning.'
Vice continued to smile as Damian grappled with the situation. "Mister, I can't reveal to you the specifics about how I have improved the prices for my customers and suppliers. However, I assure you my profits are almost equal to what my father received during his time.
If you join me, I can guarantee you the same level of profits I have been making."
"How?" Damian inquired, still agitated by the audacity of this bold child.
"I am afraid I can't disclose that until you have signed a Magic Agreement with me," Vicente replied.
"Tsk!" Damian looked away, trying to control himself a little and not grab this child's collar due to his irritation.
He couldn't just hit this child. That would be an utter embarrassment to him!
At the same time, merchants were not people who would typically resort to violence at the first sign of disagreement. In contrast, Damian preferred to engage in conversations and negotiations before drawing his group's weapons out.
In this situation, Damian sighed and inquired, "What would that be like?
I don't quite understand what kind of partnership I could have with a boy of your age."
Vice then proceeded to explain, "It's quite simple. Join my group, and we will merge our merchant caravans."
Damian furrowed his brows. "So, you want me to subordinate myself to you?"
"No, that's not the case," Vicente clarified. "While I will be the leader of this group, you will retain almost all of the freedom you have now. The significant difference is that you will be part of a society with several merchants under my authority.
I will provide you with the means to offer better prices to your customers and suppliers, and in return, you will have to share a portion of that business with me. And naturally, you will also have to follow some rules."
In response, Damian inquired. "And why would other merchants choose to join you? We can simply lower our prices and maintain our independence.
We'll have to give you something for it anyway, so won't we simply relinquish some of our profits for our freedoms."
Vicente replied. "Yes, that is a possibility. But you should be aware that not everyone will go along with it. And when I have more merchant groups on my side, I will naturally use my influence to exert pressure on those who are not willing to align with us."
Vicente then gazed at the mercenary. "However, if they stand on our side, not only will they not have to concern themselves about losing their suppliers and customers, they will no longer need to hire mercenaries anymore.
I will provide protection, transportation, and more." Vicente opened his arms with a confident smile on his face and added. "As our society grows, we can even achieve things that would be unattainable individually.
The influence of a group will always be greater than that of a single person!"
In this region, there existed societies like the one Vicente was planning to create. However, the associations and guilds in this model typically demanded much more than just the freedom of their members. For this reason, many merchants preferred to remain unaffiliated with such groups.
Nevertheless, what Vicente was promising was undeniably tempting.
"But why you?" Damian questioned, not completely disagreeing with this boy's words. However, he still had a hard time accepting such a young boy as a leader. "Why wouldn't we unite under the command of someone more capable?"
Without hesitation, Vicente responded. "Because only I possess the necessary mastery to lead you. Apart from being the only one with the method to reduce your costs, I already have 37% of the suppliers in the area.
Excluding myself, counting you, six other merchants share the remainder of the local suppliers. But none of you even comes close to my position.
You see, Mister Damian, I have been preparing myself for this. Unlike you, I have been working to create this group for almost a year now.
None of you can replace me and take this group to the position I envision."
Damian was well aware that most of the business in this region was in the hands of Vicente's group, and he could not deny the advantage of the time this boy had been planning everything.
"Can I have some time to think it over?"
"Of course. You have until the end of next month to make your decision. After that, I will assume you have given up." Vicente agreed.