Trading via Land or Sea in this age the world was dangerous, the land was filled with filthy brigands, bandits, gangs, and even small-time thieves, the sea and ocean meanwhile were filled with ferocious pirates and privateers who were secretly employed by royalty or individuals with a significant amount of power within a country.
Because of these conditions, it's not unusual for caravans or ships to be raided, looted, and innocent merchants killed, thus disrupting the flow of trade and causing various commodities and goods to increase in price, This often led to starvation in specific places, villages, towns and rarely cities. In the worst-case scenario, it can cause famine and war.
Many merchants also use this event as an opportunity, raising the price of their goods to an extravagant price, thus further making everyday folks alike suffer from the high prices of commodities. This became a large problem throughout the continent, and the civil wars and major wars between nations didn't help the situation any better.
Thus, in the early years of Pax Solarium, one of the summoned heroes established the Merchant's Guild, The objective and mission of the guild was simple, the guild was to band together merchants across the continent and provide security and a safe trade route. With the hero's fame, power, and charisma, he was able to make it a legal organization of merchants in all of the countries, in return, the organization would organize merchants and punish monopoly of goods and prices by imprisoning and sanctioning, the guild was also made to be neutral in the political affairs of merchants.
With the guild ensuring the flow and price of goods, and the country's cooperation for security, the Merchant's Guild grew at a rapid rate and sooner became a mega organization of merchants many policies were made and changed but all of it was for the greater good of common folks and the merchants.
Since then, trade became much easier, and bandits, brigands, pirates, and privateers' activities became less although there were still there waiting for vulnerable victims, nevertheless, the Merchant Guild became one of the most important organizations across the continent, even royals and nobles were careful around them, else if the merchants across the continent placed an embargo to them, their countries will be doomed.
...
Yozora was sitting on a wooden chair, in front of him was an old man wearing silk clothes and a fancy purple robe, he was also wearing a monocle, his hair was long and graying together with his well-kept mustache, and he was radiating that professional aura, this man was Domingo de Monte, the Merchant Guild's guild master of the Vallas Town branch, Yozora was called upon here.
There were only small talks between the two as the guild master was extremely busy based on piles upon piles of parchments and papers that were stacked on the two sides of his long office desk.
"Giving you a loan should not be a problem young man since the church is backing you and your credibility." Yozora wasn't able to read what was the content of the parchment since it was already wrapped and waxed. But guild master Domingo was kind enough to mention that the church was proposing to give him a loan of 100 gold coins.
"I will approve this loan request, You only need to pay 10% interest, specifically 10 gold coins, You can pay the loan and the interest monthly when your business is established and running, Be aware that if you escape with the money the Merchant Guild will be your enemy, I hope you know that was not someone to be played with. And finally, since you are going to establish a "Convenience" Store, I'm going to give you a list of properties that we own from our debtors, you can either buy or rent those, although there's a need for refurbishment and repairs it should only cost not that much as long as you're smart with your money, now go downstair and give this paper to the clerk, they will guard you to the teller."
Yozora bowed and thanked the guild master, he then proceeded downstairs and met the clerk, he was guided to a separate section of the building that was heavily guarded by the guards hired by the guild, there was a room where tellers were busy tending to costumers who pay the loan, manage their accounts and more.
Yozora waited in line and after 10 minutes, it was his turn, the teller greeted him, "Welcome good sir, do you need to manage your accounts or pay loans?"
"I was told by the guild master to come here," Handling the paper to the teller, Yozora waited as the teller read the contents, "I'll be right back with the loan Sir Yozora, as well as the documents you need to sign, in the meantime, here is an album containing various properties that the guild owns and are up to for sale and rent."
The teller handed the book to Yozora as he walk and sit in the nearby lounge area, there he opened the album and browse its contents by flipping and reading each pages, there were markers for specific properties, there were houses, farmlands, plot of land, manors and even a single mansion, Yozora begun to choose various establishments for his future convenience store, "Hmm, I should look for something large but cheap," the tour with the clergyman helped Yozora to have an idea with the available resources in the town, andone thing that he noticed the most was the lack of spices, he was surprised that a world this diverse lacked spices, but apparently, when the goddess used her powers to give birth to magic, many native floras, such as herbs, trees and other source of ingredients and spices died and was not able to adapt its new environment, there were still salt and some unkown seeds and herbs but there were numbered and only a few can be sold due to high demand and difficulty to make and cultivate them.
Yozora then finally saw a potential property for him, It was an old tavern with three different floors, the underground floor which is made of stone bricks that act as storage, the ground store where they serve customers, had a counter perfect to be a clerk desk, the ground floor was spacious enough for various shelves to be placed, as well for refrigerators, vending machines, and freezer, but those three can wait since electricity might be a problem.
"I should sell dry products for now, I can also bring my large old cooler to store beverages, this place is pretty large since it's a tavern, it's also along the main street of the town, the perfect place since most stores are located here, the rent does not cost that much but they sell it for 50 gold coins, I should just buy this and pay the land tax, only 5 gold a year."
( Sorry for the interruption I'm just going to explain the world's currency:
50 copper = 1 silver coin
10 silver coin = 1 gold coin
10 gold coin = 1 platinum coin
This will be used as a reference because I can't see specific pricing for commodities in medieval times due to lack of documentation, but since this is a fantasy book I'm just going to make it close to realistic.)
After 20 minutes, the teller went back with two guards with him, she sat on the opposite couch of Yozora, "Sir Yozora please read and sign this document so we can finalize your loan request."
Yozora needed, thanks to some unknown reason or thanks to the goddess, Yozora could conveniently read and write, he took the document and read its contents, Seeing nothing wrong or out of place, Yozora was handed an expensive pen and began to sign the document.
"Ah, I have also chosen a property, I wanted to buy it is it possible?" Yozora informed as he handed the album and pointed to the property he wanted.
"There should be no problem, no one else is trying to buy this old tavern, let me get the document for this property so we can settle this once and for all." Yozora smiled in appreciation.
The negotiation went without any difficulties, he was able to get the loan and buy an old tavern, The teller was also kind enough to message one of the town's best construction companies to refurbish the old tavern, That day, Yozora also met the the foreman who will be in charge with his store's refurbishment, he was a dwarf!
Dwarves are known for their crafting and construction skills, The dwarf was also a veteran in the field since Yozora didn't have a blueprint, the foreman thankfully was very experienced, and he proposed several proposals to Yozora, It did not take long for Yozora to agree, they will build several shelves, and several other types of furniture, as well as repairing and replacing the damaged part of the store.
At the end of the day, Yozora spent 100 gold coins as he bought the old tavern for his store and refurbished it into a proper store, he also bought other things like a bed, chairs, tables, other furniture, and various designs for his shop.
It was already night, Yozora then goes rent an inn just in front of the property he bought, he only paid 15 coppers for the night and paid another 5 coppers for the meal, inside his inn room, Yozora was eating vegetable and chicken stew, using a wooden spoon, he delivered the food into his mouth, chewing the chicken and vegetables before finally swallowed the food.
"Too bland," The food was bland, only the chicken and the vegetables gave some resemblance of flavor to the meal since spices are very expensive and only elites and nobility could buy them, the common folks were left with no choice but to eat food with little spices and often without any spices at all.
Opening his bag, Yozora took out a bottle of mineral water and drank it, he also bought some chips and energy bars, as well as extra clothes. He then decided to come back home and return here tomorrow, using the bracelet, he ensured he didn't leave anything and then confirmed the teleportation button, he was once again covered in the bluish shield and teleporting in the blink of an eye.