Chapter 324 - Village Five’s Industrial Development Plan (I)
Chapter 324 – Village Five’s Industrial Development Plan (I)
Chapter 324 – Village Five’s Industrial Development Plan (I)
I attended an informal meeting at Youko’s mansion in Village Five.
The participants are acting village chief of Village Five Youko, elder dwarf Donovan, high elf Ria, beastkin Gutt, two civil servant girls, and the first in command in civil affairs of Village Five Loch.
There are also the two former four heavenly kings, tree king, bow king, Michael-san, Michael-san’s son Maron, and the present four heavenly kings Beezel. A total of 15 participants.
The agenda is Village Five’s industrial development plan.
In the beginning, I, Youko, and the civil servant girls are the only ones doing this but we lack information.
Especially that we don’t have that much knowledge with the subject.
It will be hard for us to give orders with our unreliable knowledge so we decided to increase the participants.
I can only thank Michael-san, Maron, and Beezel for joining us in every meeting.
The meeting is at a large round table.
One of the civil servant girls takes charge as the chairperson.
「The problem of alcohol, which has been a concern for a while, is now being resolved. We would like to thank Michael-sama of Goroun Company for this. Thank you very much.」
「No, we also profit because of it. No need to thank us.」
Michael-san drinks tea as he declines.
The problem is how should we distribute the alcohol from Big Tree Village to Village Five.
If it is a village under my control, I want it to be able to drink it freely like other villages.
But its population is too big.
In addition, villagers from Village One, Village Two, Village Tree, and Village Four along with the villagers from Big Tree Village expressed their opinion that it is appropriate to treat Village Five differently.
Though I don’t like it personally, I decided to treat it differently.
Yeah, I don’t want to be told to carry a million people on my shoulder.
I’m glad that Youko was there to share the burden.
I strayed away.
Before sending alcohol in Village Five, we have to grade the alcohols made by Big Tree Village first.
Wine, distilled alcohol, fruit wine, rice wine, beer….
Currently, there are a wide variety of alcohols made under Donovan’s control.
Even if they are the same kind of alcohol, they can’t be treated the same because both their raw material and degree of completeness are different.
Therefore, I asked him to give grades to each type of alcohol.
「Do you want me to grade theme with deliciousness?」
I shook my head at Donovan’s question.
「We’ll use that later. First of all is the difficulty of production…..I want you to grade them with productivity first.」
There are three grades: high productivity, average and low.
We didn’t name them as “first”, “second” and “third” grade or some might misinterpret it as “first should be the best”. We grade them as “mountain”, “forest”, and “tree” instead.
“Mountain” for highly productive, “forest” for average, and “tree” for low.
「I see.」
I would like to further subdivide them but let’s go with this for now.
「Ah, you don’t need to grade every alcohol. You only need to grade those we are going to sell.」
「I understand.」
In that way, the alcohol for sale was graded.
Let’s return to the problem of how should we distribute the alcohol from Big Tree Village to Village Five.
It has become a talk of selling alcohol to Village Five.
Now, the problem has become the price.
Currently, we have a sales contract with Michael-san and Beezel.
Even if we sell alcohol to Village Five at the same price as I sell with the two of them, it will not be easy to buy.
Then, lower the price?
When I made that proposal, Beezel and Michael-san replied as if they were in trouble.
The alcohol purchased from Big Tree Village is mainly used as presents to nobles.
They don’t want its value to go down.
After that, the two decided to attend the meeting.
The two of them insist that the value of alcohol must not be diminished.
It is okay to sell them cheaply in Village Five but what if a merchant buys it from there then sells it to another place?
I thought that the two of them only wanted to stop another business rival but I was wrong.
「They will surely lower the quality of alcohol by diluting it.」
「I don’t want to drink something diluted.」
So that’s how it is.
Diluting huh.
However, this is inevitable no matter what approach we have in mind.
Merchants will sell it as high as possible.
The first step in that is quantity deception.
Do we have any measure against that?
Youko answered my question.
「Let’s dilute it here, change its brand, and sell it.」
I thought her proposal was a brilliant idea but Donovan didn’t look good.
Youko followed up.
「I used the wrong term. What I mean is mix it with alcohol from here.」
「Mou」
「That’s normal practice. It is common for each village to make alcohol of their own then mix it with other alcohol to make it better. 」
When I looked at Michael-san, he nodded.
Beezel nodded too.
Because we’re going to use that method, the village will only be paid not with the quality of wine but with the cost of overall production.
That’s also normal practice.
I see.
Maybe this is the reason why alcohol doesn’t taste good outside of Big Tree Village.
If it is delicious but not appreciated, no one will make an effort.
Other than Big Tree Village, delicious alcohol is either self-produced or protected by feudal lord nobles. They won’t allow any other wine to be mixed with theirs.
「However, compared to theirs, the alcohol from Big Tree Village is too good. So Youko-sama’s suggestion is to mix alcohol from Big Tree Village to alcohol from the demon king’s kingdom.」
「The amount will increase and it will not be too bad.」
「Wait!」
Donovan clearly disagrees with Youko’s proposal.
「I don’t mind if a good alcohol is mixed with another good alcohol. I also don’t care if an unpalatable alcohol is mixed with another unpalatable alcohol. However, I will not stand by if a good alcohol is mixed with an unpalatable one.」
「Then, do you have any alternative?」
「We’ll only mix alcohols from Big Tree Village. I’ll take care of it.」
That’s what happened.
It was early spring at that time.
“Mountain” grade alcohols were used to produce “Village Five’s Alcohol” and “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative”.
They are types of wines.
Considering the crops cultivated in Big Tree Village, that’s the natural result.
There are two kinds because Donovan struggled to make decisions on productivity and taste.
“Village Five’s Alcohol” is highly productive but the taste is not good.
“Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative” is average in productivity and the taste is average too.
That alcohol was sold cheaply at Village Five’s Festival.
「If many people are already familiar with the taste of that alcohol, it will prevent others to dilute it or mix it with other alcohol.」
That’s Donovan’s proposal.
I originally intended to give it away for free but it was recommended to charge a little when distributing alcohol.
「If not, it will interfere with businesses connected to alcohol business.」
True.
One small cup for one medium copper coin.
The amount to be distributed was also limited.
Thus, “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative” was sold.
This is the first step in solving the alcohol problem of Village Five.
The second step is to start selling alcohol to those who will ask for “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative” after the festival.
“Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative” will be sold in small quantities.
At the same time, “Village Five’s Alcohol” will be sold.
With this, the amount of alcohol distributed in Village Five will be manageable.
Maa, in addition to “Village Five’s Alcohol” and “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative”, people can buy alcohol from other sources so I don’t think there will be dissatisfaction because of shortage of alcohol.
At the time, Michael-san suggested one trick.
The selling method for the suppliers should be an auction.
Michael-san’s Goroun Company will bid at a certain high price.
I was wondering why he suggested that but it seems like he’s planning to make that certain high price as the standard price of the alcohol.
If others compete for more than that, the Goroun Company will withdraw.
It’s really a trick.
Or so I thought. It seems like it is normal practice.
Well, if everyone who participates in the auction cooperates, they can buy it at the lowest price.
The development of the legal system in this place is not that good so it is unavoidable.
I see.
Once those steps are done, it will be just selling alcohol from Big Tree Village.
The third step will start by then.
That is, brewing alcohol in Village Five.
The funds will come from the sales of “Village Five’s Alcohol” and “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative”.
Once “Village Five’s Alcohol” and “Village Five’s Alcohol Alternative” is known, we will recommend Village Five to brew it themselves.
In this aspect, Donovan’s cooperation is necessary.
He hopes that in the future, they’ll be able to produce “True Village Five’s Alcohol” which is a mixture of Big Tree Village’s alcohol and Village Five’s locally brewed alcohol.
Have Village Five’s produce them themselves, there will certainly be problems in the future.
Maa, the third step is in the future too.
For the time being, let’s make sure that the second step is smooth.