“Certainly, it’s not something strange.”
“Right. Moreover there are people in the world that can and cannot do management. For people that can’t, instead of forcing it, those people generally hire someone else that can do management.”
“I can also understand that.”
“It would seem that Ryouma-sama can’t make a decision as of the present time. In my opinion Ryouma-sama has the talent for management. After all, there is the idea, the way to make it a reality, and amazing management strategies that will surely change the landscape of how businesses work. However I do not believe Ryouma-sama is very talented at the psychological war in discussions. Because, everything Ryouma-sama’s face is like an open book. Everything shows.”
You’d say something like that so bluntly!?
“For someone of Ryouma-sama’s age it may be something concealable, but that level won’t work against a sly old fox of a merchant such as myself.”
“I see…”
I had some confidence in my poker face in previous life, but was that just my imagination?
“Also, I am not lending Ryouma-sama my people completely out of virtue. When Rheinhart-sama had introduced Ryouma-sama to me, he told me to give Ryouma-sama advice. Aside from that we also talked about our thoughts on Ryouma-sama’s future prospects.”
“Future prospects?”
“Yes. To have come up with the waterproof cloth and the thread, as well as that iron ingot at that age. Even without Rheinhart-sama’s introduction, Ryouma-sama is definitely someone to watch out for. On top of that, because of the conversation today, the earnings from today onwards is something that can be looked forward to. This isn’t something that a merchant such as myself can ignore. Being able to sell the bags whole sale to Ryouma’s store is also good, so I would love to have a share in this. With all that in mind let us open the capital for investments.”
… Going this far, is that really ok? But you know…
“If you invest money into this and it fails, then what?”
“One who is afraid of failure would not be able to make a store big. A merchant that owns a store this size can more or less carry the risks.
Moreover, nothing comes to mind when it comes to factors that will cause Ryouma-sama’s business to fail. But in the case that it does fail, it will be enough for Ryouma-sama to create iron ingots and waterproof clothes to compensate the loss. The chance for success is high, and there’s even a way to get back my losses. With this kind of conditions, if I didn’t pitch in then I wouldn’t be called a merchant anymore.”
True, if I just made some ingots I would make money…
“I understand. Let’s work together.”
“Has Ryouma-sama started to feel like doing it?”
“Yes. But please excuse me from the financial investments. In the past I had subjugated some bandits, and because of that I have received quite a bit of compensation.”
“Is that so? Then, how about the workers.”
“Yes, please take care of that. Also, please let me buy the miscellaneous goods including the bag that will be used in the store, here. As for the talk regarding the ingot, let’s do that at a different time. To begin with, because the management of the mine had been left to me, I had already been planning on making some.”
“Thank you very much. From now on it appears that we can look forward to a good working relationship.”
With this we were able to conclude our discussion. After that I bought the bag from Serge-san, who was quite in a good mood, and then left the store.