Chapter 244: Starting a New Business (2)
“Penris Arrow Delivery? What is that?”
“I can’t believe it. Last time they gave a weird name to cosmetics too.”
“Can’t they have better naming sense?”
Regardless of the business itself, just hearing the name gave me a headache. As the retainers gaped, Ghislaine took a firm stance.
“Why? What? What’s wrong? The name should be intuitive so people can understand it easily! It has to be! Last time the cosmetics name was meant for nobles, so I compromised, right?”
Ghislaine had lived far longer as a mercenary than as a noble. Naturally, he preferred names that were quick and intuitive rather than unnecessarily flashy.
I still felt a bit regretful about missing out on the ambitiously named ‘Lovely Blingbling.’ The reaction had been so poor at the time, and since it was a luxury meant for nobles, I let it slide, but this time I couldn’t back down.
Hearing this, Claude, with a blank expression, asked, “So what exactly is this arrow delivery? I can guess a bit what it is, but could you tell me how you plan to do it?”
“It’s simple. It’s a business that delivers people’s letters and items.”
“Oh…”
“I’ll create ‘Telegraph Offices’ in each city and town, and charge a small fee to safely deliver letters and items. The ultimate goal is to set up a telegraph office in every city and town connected by roads.”
“Hmm…”
In this era, it wasn’t easy for commoners to send letters or items to distant relatives or anyone.
You couldn’t just send something whenever you wanted; you had to rely on travelers, merchants, or the army to pass it along during their journeys. That was the limitation of that time.
Of course, you could request it from a merchant group or hire someone separately, but that was difficult for poor territory residents to manage.
So, sending a single letter could take months.
If it became a business of the territory to handle the transportation instead, everyone would be able to send letters and items comfortably.
Ghislaine continued, as if this wasn’t the end.
“Since the roads need to be connected, for now, we’ll only operate within the territory, but there should still be quite a number of users. At the very least, soldiers separated from their families because of work would have to use it often.”
The retainers nodded blankly.
“And actually, even in areas where the roads aren’t connected, we can still make deliveries. It just takes a bit longer. For now, we’ll operate in the territory and establish a solid basic system, and then knights, administrators, and immigrants coming from afar will also be able to use it. We can charge a higher fee then.”
“Oh…”
Everyone wore expressions of admiration. It was indeed a plan with business potential.
The Penris territory wasn’t only inhabited by people who had lived there for generations.
Due to several wars and territorial amalgamations, people from Perdium, Digald, and Cabaldy had mixed in. There were even thousands of immigrants who had come from completely different regions.
Due to the war and territorial mergers, the people living in Perdium, Digald, and Cabaldy mixed together. There were also thousands of immigrants from completely different regions.
Many knights and administrators came to Penris alone, leaving their families and relatives behind in response to Ghislaine’s invitation.
Especially soldiers stationed away often sent letters to their families and close relatives, which would surely boost their morale.
“Not to mention, once this system is fully established, it will be easier for territory residents to get their hands on items. The faster communication between cities and towns, the quicker we can identify necessary items and materials.”
As Ghislaine finished speaking, Claude broke into a cold sweat as he pondered.
“What is this? How did this idea come about? This is on a whole different level from the businesses so far. If successful, I’ll earn an immense amount of money. A delivery business encompassing half the kingdom while collecting road tolls!?”
Seeing Claude lost in thought, Ghislaine smirked.
“I used to do a lot of deliveries back when I was a rookie mercenary.”
Even among nobles and merchants, some still relied on mercenaries to send important items. Sometimes they even escorted people while delivering.
If they encountered bandits or monsters along the way, both people and items would be at risk, so hiring mercenaries was a way to minimize danger.
That’s why the more skilled a mercenary or the larger the merchant group, the higher the delivery fees they charged.
“Life was certainly comfortable in my past life.”
Such businesses existed in his previous life, not strictly for profit, but as a necessary response to disasters, forming a delivery system to cope with crises.
They had used intermediate bases designed for military movement and supply support for each fortress in that way.
Having experienced the convenience of that system, Ghislaine planned to establish a proper ongoing business at the territory level.
“In times of civil war and disaster, it could be of great use. It’d be great when I need to go teach a lesson to some rebellious scoundrels.”
It wasn’t just to make money. While it would be used for delivery in peacetime, it would also serve military purposes in wartime.
After all, it was something that would have to be done eventually, so he figured he might as well make some cash while at it.
Seeing Ghislaine full of confidence, Claude racked his brain.
“Really, this lord has had a knack for absurd initiatives more than once. Somehow, this feels like it could be pushed through.”
As for laying the roads, they could throw money and people at it, and for building the stables and telegraph offices, they could scrape together some folks too.
All good, except there was one thing they couldn’t just throw people at.
“But what about the lack of people who can ride horses? Even if we connect all the roads, what good is it if there’s no one to deliver? Surely you’re not planning to borrow them, are you? Cavalry is a high-tier troop type, and there aren’t many in the capital. Other lords wouldn’t support it at all.”
“That’s why I’m thinking of training professional riders. In emergencies, they can serve as cavalry, and ordinarily, they’ll act as delivery personnel anyway. We were already planning to train cavalry.”
Ghislaine unconsciously blurted out, amazed by her own words. Training soldiers while also earning money—now, that was simply irresistible.
No matter how one looked at it, it was a brilliant plan. That’s why she had gone overboard in acquiring horses.
“…….”
Everyone was left speechless by Ghislaine’s shocking statement.
“Wow, she’s really determined to throw in people for good measure. We have to play soldier and get work done too?”
“We have to pave roads and train cavalry at the same time. Everyone’s going to be worn out.”
“Why is it that the tasks we take on are always so outrageous? We’ve made our territory rich; can’t we just live comfortably now?”
Of course, it wasn’t all negative thoughts. The scale of the work was so immense that some were left dumbfounded, but there were also those who looked at it positively.
It wasn’t the case. The scale of the task was so enormous that it left them in a daze, but there were some who thought positively.
“Being able to safely send letters and items anytime? If that works, we could really rake in the money.”
“Truly a bold idea from a lord. A delivery department? Delivery soldiers? You’re even creating a whole new profession.”
“If completed, it would be a remarkable achievement. If we guarantee it on a territorial level, everyone in the kingdom will have no choice but to use it. The Crown Prince Faction is also behind us.”
There wasn’t a single territory or organization in this kingdom that operated a proper delivery business.
That’s because no one ever thought of connecting roads this far.
In the past, they wouldn’t have dared to suggest such nonsense to Ghislaine. But with so many people and territory residents, the expectation born was worth a shot.
Claude also believed that Ghislaine’s plan had business potential. While it would mean more work, with the connections and strength now at hand, there was a visible possibility of success if they poured all their territorial capabilities into it.
And… it was a lord who wouldn’t listen anyway.
He let out a deep sigh and said:
“Understood. Then I will send people to each territory and the capital to relay the business plan. First, we need to start construction on the roads and secure the right to collect usage fees. Training the cavalry will inevitably take time, so we might face significant losses for a while…”
Before Claude could finish his sentence, Ghislaine waved his hand dismissively.
“What are you talking about? Why should we face losses? Cavalry can be trained quickly in just a month or two. I’ve got it all planned out!”
“Wait, how can you train cavalry that fast? That doesn’t make any sense.”
At that, Ghislaine grinned widely.
“It makes perfect sense. It’s time to utilize the elves.”
*
It had been a few months since the elves started training their stamina. Ghislaine figured that after that amount of time, their basic stamina should have improved reasonably.
Though he couldn’t check in the middle due to an expedition to the north, he knew that Gordon had been working hard to the point of being almost foolish.
Ghislaine was now ready to move on to the next plan and went to find the elves with several of his retainers.
“One! Two! Three! Four! Five…”
From a distance, Gordon’s booming voice could be heard. Ghislaine smiled with satisfaction as he approached.
Upon arriving at the training grounds and seeing the elves, everyone was struck by a great shock.
‘Is that… an elf?’
‘Why do they look like that…?’
‘No matter how much they exercised, what on earth have they been feasting on?’
Aside from their appearance, it was hard to distinguish who was Gordon. Everyone was so muscular that moving was a challenge.
It didn’t matter if they were tall or short, or even their gender. They all had become shoulder brutes. Their trapezius muscles were so prominent that it looked difficult to even turn their heads.
But their lower bodies seemed weaker than expected. It looked as if they only trained their upper bodies; they all had inverted triangular shapes.
“……”
Ghislaine stared at the elves he hadn’t seen in a while, blinking in disbelief and unable to speak. What on earth had they done to transform in this way?
Gordon, who was exercising with the elves, spotted Ghislaine and was overjoyed.
“My Lord! When did you return? I’ve thoroughly conducted ‘physique’ training! I’m planning to build up the lower body now too!”
The elves also struck impressive poses when they saw Ghislaine, as if wanting to show off their muscles.
“It’s actually quite fun doing this! Hahaha!”
“Now that we’ve built muscles, we feel confident too!”
“At first, it was kind of gross, but now it looks awesome! Hehehe!”
“……”
After briefly watching the elves boasting about their muscles, Ghislaine turned to his retainers and asked.
Ghislaine looked around at the retainers and asked,
“Why… did no one stop this from happening?”
Ghiselle, Gillian, Claude, and the others were out on an expedition, so they hadn’t noticed. However, the others could have checked if they wanted to.
The retainers all looked away and said,
“We were too busy…”
“We thought you’d handle it…”
“You said it wasn’t something we needed to worry about…”
The elf training grounds were tucked away in a corner of the lord’s castle. Unless one made a point to check, it was impossible to notice the state of the elves.
The retainers were too busy with their own tasks to check on them. They simply sent whatever Gordon needed when he asked.
Gillian sighed heavily and bowed his head to Ghiselle.
“…I’m sorry.”
He was the one who recommended Gordon. He had told them to focus on ‘stamina,’ but they ended up bulked up instead. There were no excuses left.
“For now, I’ll have to trim some of the muscles.”
“…Alright.”
They were planning to create a new special unit that suited the elves. If they became over-muscled like that, it would backfire rather than help, even if they weren’t shield soldiers or shock troops.
If the muscles became too exaggerated, they wouldn’t be able to exert proper strength. Especially since agility and endurance would drop significantly.
While some people might thrive with that kind of training, it was best suited for those who emphasized brute strength and destructive power. It was completely unsuited for the slender elves.
Gordon came running up, grinning, totally oblivious to the gravity of the situation.
“Lord! How is it? I’ve been feeding those guys only chicken breasts every day to prevent muscle loss… Keeek!”
Before Ghiselle could say anything, Gillian began to smack Gordon without a word.
“Honestly, there’s not a decent one among them.”
Seeing Gordon getting hit, the elves stopped flexing their muscles and cautiously started looking around.
Surprisingly, Ascon’s physique was the most normal of all. He had maintained a sleek figure while sporting firm muscles.
Not following orders and undertraining had oddly turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
“See, you should’ve done it moderately, like me. Everyone else looks ridiculous.”
Ascon tossed his hair back, clearly proud that he hadn’t followed the rules.
Shaking her head, Ghiselle immediately called the elves.
“Physical… no, stamina training stops here. Let’s proceed to the next task.”
“Ugh!”
“…”
Their responses had grown increasingly bizarre. No matter how much the elves had adapted to the human world, they seemed even stranger during the short time she hadn’t seen them.
“…In the morning, we will work with Gillian to reshape our bodies, and then we’ll enter basic training.”
“Ugh!”
“…Change your manner of speech.”
“Ugh!”
“…Ascon.”
At Ghiselle’s call, Ascon crept over, trying to gauge the mood.
“What is it?”
“From now on, there will be something that elves must do daily. After the morning training, you’ll focus solely on that task in the afternoon.”
“What is it…?”
“From now on, all elves will become horse tamers. You must tame horses as quickly as possible so that others can ride them.”
Ascon’s eyes widened at the sudden news. He had never done anything like that. He was always hopping on a wagon comfortably, and he didn’t know how to ride a horse at all.
“No way, how the hell are we supposed to do that? I’ve never even raised a damn puppy.”
Then Ghiselle grabbed Ascon’s shoulder and grinned.
“No, you can do it. It’s something only elves can accomplish. You need the ’empathy’ ability that only your race possesses.”
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