Chương 17: Chapter 16 - Piece By Piece

Stars, I love it when a plan comes together. Okay, sure, maybe it could have gone a bit smoother. Garth would be seeing spots in his eyes for days after accidentally dropping the first arrow when I'd signalled to start. Not to mention the Stoneboar had flailed so much before finally stumbling into one of the six pits I'd prepared just to be safe.

The panic had kicked up so much debris that I'd been practically caked in dirt by the time the creature finally collapsed into the flames, screaming loudly enough to give me a headache while the hive of Mana Nymphs burned to ash. Most importantly, not a single extra bit of the forest got destroyed, meaning I wouldn't have to hear any more complaints about it. Quite honestly, if I never had to discuss another Stoneboar it would be too soon.

Garth and I were just exiting the treeline and walking back toward the hamlet when I saw Daniel wave a hand at us, then point toward the crew's work area with a massive smile on his face. The two of us shared a look, Garth shrugged, and we turned to start walking that way instead. I could see Willow sitting on a small deck behind her and Daniel's cabin, a large canvas set up in front of her and bits of green paint smudged on her cheek.

As we moved close enough to pass, she briefly waved, then looked at her canvas and quickly moved it so that we wouldn't be able to see. That had been rather odd… I shrugged it off, briefly looked at Dartigan's wagon parked just past the furthest of the houses, and then followed after Garth. The whole crew was standing in the Voting Ring, some looking a bit more impatient than others.

"I told you they didn't get gored!" Bram said, and Willem rolled his eyes.

"I never said they would, just that it could happen if they decided to tackle the thing without a full hunting party," Willem shot back.

"Yes… before we get to the subject at hand, how did the tracking go, Garth?" Daniel asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Done," Garth grunted, eliciting a few curious looks.

"Corbin made rather short work of it actually."

"As in… the Stoneboar and Mana Nymphs are dead?" Daniel asked hesitantly, eyes shifting to the others.

"Yup. Burned to ash in a pit," Garth explained quickly.

"Honestly, I think he probably didn't even need me there. Damn near blinded myself."

"Boarshit," Hugh said, looking at me through sharp eyes.

"You're telling me this guy who can't swing an axe killed that thing?"

"Well… it is dead," Daniel said, a slight look of awe in his eyes.

"My Claim Interface has the forest's hazard rating set to Negligible. Obviously won't last when spawns start again but still…"

"Only thing we might want to double back on is the trail of decayed trees. There's a few that we might be able to get some harvest from if we move fast enough," Garth explained and Daniel nodded in approval.

"Given the fact that we've got some real business potential on our hands, having that handled is a good weight off our shoulders. Good work you two." There were a couple more murmurs that passed through the circle, including several more variations of Daniel's praise. I squirmed slightly, unsure why that made me uncomfortable. Thankfully, this only went on for a few seconds before Daniel clapped his hands together.

"Now as great as that news is, it's not why we're gathered up here. I'm sure all of you've seen Mr. Ward's wagon by now and boy did he bring some great news our way." I took a step back, ready to extract myself from their business dealings when Daniel looked my way.

"Actually, I was hoping to get your opinion on something, Corbin. Think you could stick around?"

"Umm… on what? Isn't this a business thing, not a Danwood thing?" I asked, not quite stepping back up.

"They're kinda the same right now," Bram said and Daniel waggled his head.

"Nah, this ain't something Corbin should be voting on. No offense, but you're not cutting the trees or part of the company."

"None taken," I said and looked at him curiously.

"Okay… so, what kind of opinion?"

"Don't worry, I'm gonna get to it," he said, waving off the question before looking back at the others.

"Okay guys, we've got a decision to make courtesy of Mr. Ward. There was an incident involving some sorta sea monster that took out the majority of the crown's fleet. Luckily for us, now they're in some dire need of sturdy wood. So much so in fact that, thanks to the road crew, they are looking to set up a regular trade route. Based on their progress, Mr. Ward's relatively confident the road'll be done by the time the first caravans come this way, and no Bram, we're not calling it the Bramway."

"Stars… Are you serious?" Thomas asked, his disbelief clear.

"Right?! The name is perfect!" Bram complained and I grumbled just a bit. Either Daniel had mentioned the name to him, which didn't seem likely since he was pushing against it, or somehow Bram had better hearing than I realized. Or I suppose the upstart could have thought of it himself…

"I'm as serious as the rising sun," Daniel said, his excitement palpable as he chose to thankfully just ignore Bram.

"We've got a sale on our hands but… well there's some caveats here and it's why I think a vote's necessary."

"Is this a good news, bad news situation?" Willem asked.

"I don't think so, but I can't speak for how you all will see it," Daniel answered, waiting to see if anyone else wanted to speak up. When they didn't he continued, "Mr. Ward was kind enough to lay out the two ways that we could approach this, one of which is really only available because I activated as a Woodwright. The first way is the easiest, we keep doing what we're doing, cutting down the oaks and selling them as they are, just trimmed down for transport.

I won't lie, we'd be making a nice little profit once you consider fees and what we'd need to set aside for settlement taxes."

"Since when do we do things the easy way?" Bram asked with a rather proud smile. I was surprised that no one told him to quiet down, instead getting real nods of agreement coming from the few others closest to him.

"Well the less easy way involves changing how we do things around here," Daniel said and this caused the crew to quiet.

"If we were to build a Lumbermill, something that could really handle the size of these things, then we could sell the lumber in its refined stage for a much, much better margin."

"Oh no… we have to build a building… How's that change things exactly?" Bram asked, confusion clear.

"It's not just a building, Bram. Even with Daniel's Activated abilities, there are still sawblades and other tools we'd need to refine any sort of lumber, and the kind we'd need for these guys… well I can't imagine they'd be cheap," Garth said, rubbing his chin. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. I felt my gut turn as he mentioned the price and briefly looked over at Daniel. He… He hadn't asked me to stay here to try and get me to pay… did he?

For my own good, I kept my mouth shut. Better to let them say something before accidentally volunteering my wallet just to help them get paid a little more in the long run.

"And Garth has cut to the center of it. Not only would a Lumbermill cost a good chunk of gold to get operational, we'd honestly need to look into expanding our crew to create a consistent workflow," Daniel explained. This got the murmuring going again until he raised his hands and signaled for them to quiet.

"Which is why I said it would make things need to change… Look, I for one fully believe that as a crew, we've done things the right way… Everyone deserves fair compensation for their work. But, I'd be a liar if I said I didn't think each of you deserved a bit more for the confidence you've all shown in Danwood. We have a golden opportunity here, one that could in theory be the start of real growth for our home, but that also might mean changing the way we do things and how we run this place."

I continued to watch from the sidelines, trying to guess which way the others were leaning. In truth, at least if it was up to me and I was in their position, I'd be jumping at the Lumbermill and the opportunities it provided. Granted, I personally would prefer if they'd just stick with selling the raw material, but I was starting to realize these people had, for better or worse… ambition.

"So… if we do the mill, assuming we can pay for it and decide what that means for us, then… who'd own it? Would we formally declare a company?" It was Vernon who asked this, his brow scrunched as he looked back toward the hamlet.

"Opening a trade route with the crown requires that formal declaration no matter which way we go, so we'll need to decide on a name regardless. That's a minor thing that we can talk about later," Daniel explained. He swallowed hard, then looked my way.

"This was actually why I asked Corbin to stick around…" Oh boy here it came… I was going to have to think of a polite way to turn them down because–"What's your opinion on Mr. Ward, Corbin?" Daniel asked as I started to get lost in thought. I snapped out of it and hoped I didn't look too confused.

"Dartigan? Uh… typical Royal Merchant? He'd probably try to sell you a chimney for a house without a fireplace if he thought you'd buy it," I said, cocking my head to the side. Daniel nodded when it became clear I wasn't going to immediately offer more, then turned back to the crew.

"Mr. Ward has given me a rather tempting offer. For a stake in the company and a return on the profits, he'd provide all the funds we need to build not just any Lumbermill, but… well… He's offered enough for anywhere from a standard mill, all the way to one big enough that we'd probably never need to expand it again. He'd also provide initial funds to hire additional crew, along with some worker barracks."

"That's… a lot," Thomas said. Much like Vernon, he was staring off into the distance now as he thought about it.

"How much of a stake would he be taking exactly?"

"And what's that mean for the rest of us?" Willem added. This was greeted with several others murmuring in agreement.

"Does he get his amount and then the rest of us have to split what's left equally between us. Wouldn't that make him a bigger owner than any of us?" For the first time since I'd known him, Daniel seemed to squirm just a bit. It was only for a moment, but I know what I saw. The others had asked good questions and depending on Daniel's answer, regardless of how much he obviously wanted the Lumbermill, the crew might just decide to keep things simple.

"It depends on which route we go… If we go all out and Mr. Ward provides the funds… he's asked for a seventy-percent share in the company," Daniel said. The recoil around the crew was palpable and even my eyes went wide. Daniel wasn't stupid enough to actually want to take that offer… was he? Sure, the startup was pricey no matter what size of mill they built. And if the size Daniel was implying Dartigan suggested was as big as I thought he was implying then yeah, you'd need a lot of equipment.

But even then, seventy percent? I looked back through the trees, barely spotting the cloth covering of Dartigan's wagon.

"What if we go the other way?" Thomas asked, breaking the brief side chatter that had filled the space.

"We obviously have lumber and stone at hand to build the bones of the mill, assuming Corbin is willing to sell us the stone of course. Could we have Mr. Ward either loan us the money or offer him a smaller company stake?"

"He did offer that as an option but… well I'll be the first to admit the loan terms he offered were not what I'd call favorable since the tools necessary for trees this big are really specialized. We'd bleed coin until we had at least three trade cycles completed," Daniel explained.

"And if we gave him a stake for it… well he'd still request thirty-five percent. Not quite as much but it is still a lot." Once again, this made the crew start talking amongst themselves. Daniel looked my way curiously, looking slightly confused for a moment. I immediately realized I must have been making a face.

"You don't think it's a good deal, do you?" he asked. I wanted to stay out of this… I really did. But I shook my head.

"I could be wrong, I'm not exactly a woodworker after all," I said, trying to qualify what I was going to say. Though, I doubted it would stop them from questioning it all the same.

"The gear you'd need, assuming you started with a single lane in the mill, is pricey for sure… but not pricey enough to justify asking for thirty-five percent of the company and your profits forever."

"Couldn't… uh… I mean," Bram started, his usual talk-first-think-later approach actually faltering.

"Couldn't you just loan us the money instead, Corbin? Or buy in like Mr. Ward's trying to do?"

"Bram!" Daniel snapped. The younger man cringed back slightly, but that wasn't enough to stop a few of the others from nodding and looking my way.

"It is a fair question…" Thomas added. With more murmurs coming from the crew, Daniel wasn't quite as quick to snap this time.

"Wouldn't it be better to borrow from the rich guy that lives next to us instead of the one that works directly for the crown?" Dusk take me… okay, sure, I'd been the one to open my mouth but come on, this was starting to feel like the system just liked screwing with me. Daniel shifted uneasily again, looking over at me with more hope than he probably wanted to show. This right here was why I hated Royal Merchants by the way. They could take almost anything and make it seem like a black-and-white decision.

Because the entire crew was missing a very important detail and it had all been because of how Dartigan had framed it. Unfortunately, that left me in a lose-lose-lose situation. Because it was clear that the crew wanted the Lumbermill. They were all actively trying to find a way to justify it even if they hadn't said it out loud, that much was painfully clear. Which meant I effectively had three terrible decisions to choose from.

I could let them get into a bad deal with Dartigan, who'd then have an ownership stake and would almost definitely set up a Merchant Guild outpost here. This personally was the worst of the outcomes… The last thing I needed was more crown presence around here, so I was left with only two choices. Either I become their bank, effectively having them forever see me as a source of coin whenever their ambition got ahead of them…

Or I pointed out what they'd clearly missed, which would probably end up with me having to give financial and trade advice for the rest of this life… Stars, I really just wanted to get back to working on my fields.

"Look… if you want a loan, it's something we can discuss… but, I think you guys got a bit blinded by possibility," I explained. It really was better if these people weren't any more financially dependent on me than needed, even if my bag was bottomless, my wallet wasn't. Daniel looked at me expectantly. Guess I was going to have to spell it out for them…

"Just do a quick sale with Dartigan while he's here. You guys already did a small sale on some of them if I remember right, so he should be open to doing it again. There's really no point in rushing into a formal trade route right off the bat. With how desperate the Royal Shipwrights probably are and how much space I saw in his wagon, you should be able to sell him enough to buy the main sawblade you'll need.

Then just do that again, little-by-little until you get to a full refined setup and turn that into the regular trade route. It doesn't exactly give you an answer for what to do about bringing in new crew members, but at least with this you wouldn't be giving someone coin for no good reason."

"Build it as we go, piece by piece…" Garth murmured, rubbing his chin.

"Thomas is right… we've got everything we need to build the frame of the mill, even if we did want to go as big as possible. Who says we gotta rush?" Daniel's eyes went wide, clearly not having considered this path at all. His nervousness seemed to fade and a smile returned to his face as he looked around the crew. All of them seemed to have shifted the same way.

"Any man who wants to consider either of Mr. Ward's offers, speak now," he called out. There were a few more murmurs, but no one moved to speak up. He nodded, his smile growing wider.

"Okay I think I know how this will go… but vote. Raise your hand if you want to follow Corbin's suggestion?" It wasn't an immediate rush, other than Bram at least, but one by one, hands started to raise. In the end, the vote was unanimous. Daniel looked over and smacked me on the shoulder, an excited din of chatter starting with the vote complete. Great… Now I was apparently a trade advisor.