Chương 438: 433. Options

Duvas looked at him.

"You know that it will be very difficult and highly unpopular if after a few months we decide that we cannot continue the payments in coins, right? Especially in the winter months." Kivamus smiled.

"We have enough gold now to start the payments, don't worry. We had already saved around 800 gold coins, and with this 900, it will go to 1700 gold coins. Even after setting aside 400 for the mercenaries, or even if they demand a little higher, we will still have a good amount saved as a backup. We are also selling coal worth around 300 gold every month now, so it should be fine." Duvas nodded slowly.

"But we are employing nearly double the number of workers now than we did last year, so our wage expenditure is also going to be higher, you know that right?"

"Of course." Kivamus looked around and confirmed that the doors were still closed.

"I wouldn't have made that announcement counting on just that 300 gold from coal sales. Pydaso buys around 450 gold worth of paper and tablets every three to four weeks. Once Trevalo returns and we start the coal trading route to Ulriga, our coal sales will also increase dramatically. We are already producing above 55 wagon loads of coal every month, which will give us around 550 gold of monthly revenue in total even at the lower prices right now, once the trade route is working. So we can afford it.

Of course we still need to keep growing our revenue to pay the taxes in autumn, and to buy enough provisions for the winter months, and also to have some extra saved aside for any emergency, but we are on a good track now. Once we start producing soap here in a few weeks, that will add another revenue stream for us."

"I guess you're right." Duvas exhaled and nodded again.

"I have been making the estimates for how much it would cost us every month to pay the workers and the guards, but getting 57 escaped slaves from the west will change those calculations. I will have the updated numbers ready for you by tomorrow afternoon."

"Good. Then we'll talk about it at that time. There are also some other smaller expenditures, like paying a year's worth of wages to Ridono's widow as a compensation. The man gave his life for the village in Torhan's raid, so we cannot postpone that any longer. We also have to pay the reward amounts for the other people who have been awarded medals. All that will cost a little but it should be manageable now." Duvas nodded, making some more notes in his ledger.

"And about the overdue wages for the guards? Are you sure about your decision? The guards won't like it." Kivamus sighed.

"Then we'll just have to make them understand. Paying them regularly from now is the best we can promise them. There is no possible way for us to give them what they deserve for working without pay in the last six months or we will bankrupt ourselves again. They and the other villagers were still given food and shelter in return, so that will have to be enough. I already talked with Hudan about it when we were coming to the manor.

He also agreed that the guards will be happy enough to get a regular wage from now, even without any extra payments for the past." Duvas nodded.

"I hope it is so." He snorted.

"The fear of Nesser and the captain will make sure the guards don't go overboard with drinking, but the village alehouse is certainly going to get a lot more business now."

"As will the other businesses in the village," Kivamus grinned.

"It was long overdue anyway. Another good thing is that we can finally start charging the village merchants and any visiting traders a small tax for being allowed to trade here. It will only be a small amount, and they will not like that announcement, but not paying any taxes or customs duty for this long is already more than they could have expected in another village. However we have to think about what to do about Cedoron and both the master carpenters.

Keeping them on our own payroll would be ideal since our demand orders for them are not going to decrease any time soon, and we are the only customers of crossbows from Darora and safety lamps, swords, daggers and other weapons from Cedoron. They are not allowed to sell them to anyone else even if they wanted to. However, we will not be providing food for free to their apprentices once we start paying in coins, so they need a way to pay those craftsmen."

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators! Duvas nodded slowly.

"One option is to bring all those apprentices of the carpenters and the blacksmith on our own payroll as well. So they will be living outside the manor but will basically be our full-time employees in everything but name. But that can get costly very fast, because between the two carpenters and the blacksmith, they have above 20 apprentices. We can still afford to pay them for now but the wages will only increase in the future when the craftsmen hire more apprentices to keep up with the demand.

However, a good benefit of this method is that as long as we keep supplying them with raw materials—mainly iron and steel—by ourselves, we will continue getting the crossbows and the weapons at cost price. That will save a lot of money." He continued, "On the other hand, we can let those three master craftsmen work independently. The benefit will be that they will have to pay their apprentices by themselves, but in that case they will add that expense into the price of the weapons and crossbows they sell to us.

They will buy the raw materials from the manor, and will sell the crossbows and other things back to us at a good profit. This will save us money from wages but will cost us more in the long run because of their profits. We can obviously put a prohibition that they cannot sell it to anyone else but us, but that will not be easy to enforce as the village grows and more merchants come here. They can get ideas about selling things like safety lamps and crossbows to any visiting traders in secret.

So what do you want to do?" Kivamus thought about it for a while. At the current stage, the blacksmith was only making swords and daggers, and the only new thing he had learned was the safety lamps and the meshes for mold and deckle for making paper. But in the future, whenever the time was right for it, Kivamus wanted to make guns here, and cannons after that and so on.

It didn't seem practical for him to just give the blueprints and the explanation to the blacksmith, and let him arrange the materials and sell those weapons back to the manor. There was a lot of moral hazard in that. Similarly, while Taniok was only making new buildings, he also knew how to make a sawmill, a triphammer, as well as tools like wheelbarrows and gromas for making straight walls. While Darora already knew how to make sensitive stuff like crossbows and scorpions.

Letting them go fully independent and reducing their dependence on the manor was only going to hurt the village. This wasn't a long-term solution, and far in the future, there would be no choice but to let those people go independent, but that time wasn't here yet. He looked at the majordomo.

"Let's keep all of them on our payroll. As long as they know that the food on their tables is provided by the wages we pay them, they will still have some kind of loyalty to us. We cannot afford anyone outside the village to even know about crossbows, scorpions, and such stuff—as well as any other things which we will make here in the future. So let's continue everything as it is.

We are already paying the three master craftsmen and paying their apprentices in kind by providing them food, as well as buying all the materials like iron. So paying them wages directly will only add a small cost, but the benefits will be worth it. We will also save money because we will keep getting those weapons at the price of raw materials and the wages, and my plan is to get as many of them as we can make.

We will probably have to continue increasing the number of the guards as the village population grows, which means the demand for swords and crossbows and other weapons will continue increasing." He added, "We will also need to keep people like Syrene on our own payroll in the future, as well as Isuha, Juhibi, and anyone else we need to hire to help in the construction of new sewing and weaving machines. So this is how we will proceed for now.

Make the calculations for what it will cost us, but this is the final decision." Duvas made some more notes.

"As you wish. I'll have the numbers ready by tomorrow." Kivamus stood up and stretched his hands above.

"Good. I also need to work on some stuff, and do some final planning about the losuvil encampment." With that, the majordomo stood up as well and exited the hall to an inner room, probably to bring another ledger which had the earlier calculations. Kivamus turned around and looked at the long dining table which also served as his sketching table. Gotta do some work.