Chapter 34.1: Circulating Gold

After receiving a few papers from Elise, Rishe let the maids withdraw from the reception room.

“Then…”

“Rishe-sama, if I may be so bold, I’d like to advise you first.”

Tully raised one hand as if to restrain himself and chuckled.

“Are you sure you don’t want to add extra terms? Your product is excellent. If you agree with our sales strategy of marketing it as a high-priced product for the aristocracy, then we’ll give you a pass.”

“No, Mr. Chairman.”

Rishe faced him and said clearly.

“We’ll proceed our negotiation as is.”

“Let’s hear it…”

She nodded and presented one of the documents she had to Tully.

“First of all, this is the arrangement regarding salaries in Garkhain. Three years ago, this country instituted something called minimum wage.”

“Whoa, interesting.”

Tully looked at the contents of Rishe’s notes with interest.

“I see. The employer must pay any worker more than this amount. Is anyone who contravenes it an offender?”

Rishe nodded.

“Since this measure has been established in Garkhain Kingdom, there’s no longer the case of ‘no matter how much you work, you can’t make ends meet.’ Instead, everyone can now have a stable income. This has spurred the wealth of the country.”

“However, only those who can get a job benefits from it.”

“That’s right.”

Tully hit the nail on the head.

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This measure that Arnold issued has increased the income of the workers.

On the flipside, employers’ spending rose proportionally to the increase of wages that each worker must be paid.

Employers started to keep the number of people they hire to a minimum.

Consequently, there were fewer cases of people unable to make ends meet no matter how hard they worked. But there was still a portion of the population who couldn’t get by because there was no place to work.

“Next, please take a look here.”

Rishe showed Tully the second document.

“I’ve gathered all information necessary for mass production, including suppliers of materials and workshops for production, as well as distribution channels. As you can see, the costs associated with manufacturing can be kept fairly low, except for labor costs.”

“Good grief.”

Tully leaned forward and propped his chin on his hand with his elbow resting on his lap.

“I’m beginning to get what you’re saying. Now, shall we get on with it? What do you intend us to do now that you’ve set us up this far?”

“We need to recruit people from the favelas who are desperate for work.”

Rishe kept her back straight and continued.

“I’ll only provide you the craft for this product if you promise to do this.”

“…”

The somewhat belligerent light from Tully’s eyes suddenly disappeared.

“That’s a noble thing to do.”

He sighed deeply and shot Rishe a cold look.

“But… I’m very disappointed in you, Lady Rishe.”

“Kane Tully! You’re being disrespectful to the future Crown Princess of this country!”

“No, no, that’s fine.”

Rishe held back the usually cheerful knights and turned to face Tully again.

“Even with this plan, the Trading Company should be well served. It may be less inferior to that for aristocrats, though.”

“That’s not enough for a greedy merchant like me. If you’re looking for charity instead of commerce, you’ll have to wait until I change jobs to the clergy.”

That was the answer she had anticipated.

Tully wasn’t cold to others, but he advocated aesthetics for business.

For this reason, Rishe told him, “This isn’t about charity, but business.”

“Say what?”

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Tully frowned.

The other executives showed identical expressions of incomprehension.

“Someone once told me that a good merchant can choose his customers.”

The person who had once taught Rishe those words was looking at her with a complicated look on his face.

“I also learned just the other day that in Garkain, after the war ended, the government spent a huge amount of money to invest in the poorest of the poor.”

“I know what you’re talking about. As I recall, hasn’t His Royal Highness the Crown Prince already taken measures? A lot of people were saved and enriched, or something like that. It was a hot topic among the merchants.”

“Yes. But if His Highness hadn’t taken these measures, and only the royal family and the nobility had enriched their own pockets, the citizens would have been starving.”

In her life as a merchant, Rishe traveled to many countries around the world.

Some of them, like the Garkhain, belonged to the victorious side, but not all of them were rich.

Some countries were even much poorer than the countries that lost.

“When consumption declines, the economy stalls. When that happens, workers lose their jobs and become poor again. Once that cycle occurs, even the royal family and the aristocracy, who live off of the taxes paid by the people, are doomed.”

Then Tully sneered.

“So what you’re saying is, if you keep your riches in one place, you’ll never get rich? If so, share with the poor?”

“No. Let me say something to your liking.”

Rishe smiled and told Tully, “Mr. Chairman, instead of choosing our customers, why don’t we create them ourselves from now on?”

“…!”