The Mighty Dragons Are Dead

————

“Lord Landlord, the response to the Fresh Flower Soap has been very strong, and many nobles have expressed their desire to purchase it,”

Sherlock frequently traveled between North Valley City and Fresh Flower Town. As a merchant under Liszt, with the birth of the Thorn Minor Elf, his status had risen along with the tides, making him a heavyweight figure in the business circles of North Valley City.

Upon receiving feedback, he reported to Liszt at the first opportunity.

Merchants are adept at reading people and Sherlock knew that the young Lord Landlord might not be keen on power and mundane affairs. However, he was very keen on having complete information and disliked being kept in the dark by anyone. Therefore, he always looked for opportunities to report to Liszt.

“It seems that Fresh Flower Soap has already brewed a strong initial momentum. Go ahead and proceed. I look forward to seeing Fresh Flower Soap dominate the soap market of Coral Island,”

“As you wish, Lord Landlord!” Sherlock responded loudly, “Sherlock is willing to devote all his strength for the wishes of Lord Landlord!”

Liszt looked at the heavily sycophantic Sherlock and felt rather pleased: “Do not disappoint me, Mr. Sherlock.”

Hearing himself addressed as ‘sir,’ Sherlock was even more exhilarated: “Please rest assured, Lord Landlord!”

After he left the castle, he was full of ambition.

He knew that with the Fresh Flower Soap, he would soon secure a position in the heart of the Lord Landlord not inferior to Abagon’s, and he might even rival Old Geronte.

“I need hands, to spread the word! To let the reputation of the Fresh Flower Soap permeate across all six cities on Coral Island, as well as every small town below… First, those soap-selling caravans must understand that Fresh Flower Soap can be cheaper but of better quality. For every piece of Fresh Flower Soap they sell, they can earn more profit,”

Obviously, Fresh Flower Soap could not be given away in large quantities for free, so Sherlock, in his eagerness to spread its reputation and monopolize the market, decided to lower the wholesale price.

No advertisement is as potent as allowing the merchants to make more money,

“What? Fresh Flower Soap, better than ordinary soap, for just one silver coin plus fifty copper coins?” exclaimed an itinerant merchant in surprise.

“That’s right, you buy soap from Baron Henderson for one silver coin and eighty copper coins, and resell it for just twenty copper coins. But by selling Fresh Flower Soap, you’ll earn fifty copper coins per piece, which is equal to the profit of selling two and a half pieces of the other soap. You can do the math yourself,”

“But is Fresh Flower Soap really that good?”

“The nobles of North Valley City have already used it, and each one is singing its praises. You can inquire about it with confidence. Additionally, I have a piece of Fresh Flower Soap here that has been used. I can let you try it out,”

Of course, the itinerant merchant would not take Sherlock’s word for it blindly, so he poured some clean water and tried the Fresh Flower Soap.

The abundance of lather, the smooth texture, the efficient cleaning ability, and the skin-tightening experience after use all convinced the itinerant merchant that Fresh Flower Soap was indeed superior to ordinary soap.

Replacing ordinary soap with Fresh Flower Soap would doubtless be successful.

With a winning ticket in hand, Sherlock added: “If you’re considering placing an order, you’d better make a decision quickly. The soap-making workshop in Fresh Flower Town has a limited output, and when everyone starts fighting over Fresh Flower Soap, we might raise its price,”

The prospect of a price rise eliminated the itinerant merchant’s last hesitation.

He clenched his teeth and nodded: “Well then, Captain Sherlock, I’d like to order five pieces… no, ten pieces of Fresh Flower Soap!”

With a snap of his fingers, Sherlock noted down the itinerant merchant’s order on a thick piece of paper: “A wise decision.” He then collected a deposit from the merchant and arranged to deliver the goods in three days.

He rose and left.

Clutching the thick parchment tightly in his hand, he had written down a total of seven orders, belonging to seven peddlers from North Valley City who mainly operated trade routes around the small towns near North Valley City.

Together, these seven peddlers had placed orders for fifty-eight bars of Fresh Flower Soap.

Many nobles, bypassing the peddlers, ordered Fresh Flower Soap directly, such as Baron Gelta’s butler, who ordered a whole eight bars of Fresh Flower Soap from him.

“Captain Sherlock, we’ve had a perfect start, Fresh Flower Soap will become a luxury that nobles will chase after! They won’t be able to do without Fresh Flower Soap in the future!” his deputy said excitedly.

Sherlock smiled modestly, “According to the usage of soap, North Valley City can sell three hundred bars of soap a month. Serpent Spear City, Shattered Stone City, Elm Forest City, and Birch City are about the same, making it a total of one thousand five hundred bars of soap. And in Coral City, where there are the most nobles, Honored Knights and prospective knights, as well as those wealthy freemen, at least two thousand bars of soap will be used up in a month.”

That is to say, Fresh Flower Soap would dominate the soap market.

In Coral Island, three thousand five hundred bars of soap could be sold in a month, plus at least three hundred bars on Beer Island, and with the usage in Fresh Flower Town itself, the monthly shipment would be close to four thousand bars.

“Four thousand bars of Fresh Flower Soap!” Sherlock thought of such a scene and could no longer contain himself, breaking into a wide grin, “One bar of Fresh Flower Soap for one silver coin plus fifty copper coins, that’s a total of…”

He couldn’t do the mental math.

So he simply calculated with his fingers and finally came to a monthly sales amount of six thousand silver coins. And the cost of Fresh Flower Soap was only forty copper coins, meaning that he could make a profit of four thousand four hundred silver coins a month.

With Fresh Flower Soap dominating the market, it would be entirely possible to raise the price to one silver coin plus eighty copper coins, which was the original wholesale price of the soap.

As for the cost, it only needed to crush Baron Henderson and press down the price of soap powder to further reduce it.

He roughly estimated that it could be reduced to thirty copper coins.

That meant the net profit for one bar of Fresh Flower Soap was one silver coin plus fifty copper coins, giving a total monthly profit of sixty Gold Coins.

He could earn two Gold Coins a day.

“Compared to the seafood business at its peak, where I earned nearly four Gold Coins in net profit a day, Fresh Flower Soap is slightly inferior, but this business has much lower labor and material costs… and, the Fresh Flower Soap business is dominated by me! No matter whether it’s Thorn Caravan or Fresh Flower Caravan, they all have to work with me!”

With this confidence, Sherlock met with Abagon, who had rushed over from Coral City, discuss how to dominate the market on Coral Island.

But Sherlock had never expected that Abagon also came prepared.

The fellow from Little Papa Island gave him a sidelong glance, “Sherlock, your vision is too narrow, dominating the Coral Island market isn’t that big of a deal. Leveraging the superiority of Fresh Flower Soap, we could slowly phase out regular soaps without much effort. In my opinion, we should turn our attention to the outer islands and commoners!”

“Outer islands? Commoners?” Sherlock was taken aback.

“Fresh Flower Soap can be turned into a special product of Coral Island, it can be sold to remote islands with the help of Tulip Castle and Beer Castle’s channels. At the same time, I’ve consulted Bunier, Fresh Flower Soap is generously made. But by reducing the amount of materials used, we can produce a regular soap with lesser effects, which can be provided to commoners at a low cost.”

Abagon smiled triumphantly, giving Sherlock a challenging look, “I’ve already reported to Lord Landlord, and Lord Landlord supports my ideas and plans!”

A strike to the heart!

Sherlock felt a bit dazed.