Snow White
Snow White
"The rights to sell the books will go to the 'Yuren Merchant Company,' which offered the highest price per volume."
At my words, every merchant except one wore a grim expression and let out a wailing lament.
"No!! I should have written down just a little more...."
Only one merchant clenched his fist and cheered as if he had already won, and he had every reason to.
'He won the auction by a single silver, so the company that bid second must be kicking themselves.'
I proceeded to draft the contract with the head of the Yuren Merchant Company, the winner of the bidding.
"The detailed terms remain largely unchanged. However, there are two conditions you absolutely must observe."
"What would those be?"
"Absolutely! The price may not exceed twice the original price. And you may sell only one volume per household."
I saw the merchant head's expression twist at my words. As if to say, without those conditions, why would he have spent so much money buying this book?
"If you dislike these terms, then the contract is void...."
"W-wait, understood! I'll do it!!"
When I acted as if I would scrap the contract, he hastily changed his attitude and signed the contract filled with various clauses.
'If I didn't set conditions like these, some wealthy noble house would definitely buy in bulk, or the Yuren Merchant Company could take outrageous profits.'
The merchant head might have mistaken me for just some young nobleman, but I was a former webtoon artist from Earth who had suffered through every kind of unfair contract imaginable.
Wait, why are tears coming out....
Anyway, that didn't mean the conditions I proposed were entirely unreasonable.
They could charge up to twice the price, so profit was guaranteed, and the one-volume-per-household rule existed for two reasons.
First, since this was a picture book, I wanted as many children as possible to read it.
Second, the reason I went through all this trouble to make so many copies was that I never wanted to deal with the nuisance of noble houses visiting again.
Assuming one book sold per household, wouldn't about a hundred copies be enough?
"It was a good deal."
"Thank you, Master Rupert."
In the end, the auction for the <Cinderella> picture book concluded amicably as I signed the contract with the merchant head.
***
House Somerset was headed by a count.
Among the five ranks of nobility, a count's house was an extremely high-ranking noble family, third from the top.
Such houses had something called a territory council, a gathering where vassals usually met to discuss various matters of territory management.
But our family's territory council was a little—no, very modest.
While a typical territory council involved the family's vassals coordinating matters tied to various interests,
our family's territory council consisted solely of my father, the head of the family; Sir Mullers, the knight responsible for the territory's security; and Viscount Klein, who handled finances and territory operations.
"To think Master Rupert is already old enough to attend the territory council—I'm overwhelmed!"
Sir Mullers, our territory's only knight, looked at me sitting in the head of the family's office where the council was held, as if he might burst into tears.
Viscount Klein, sitting across from me, turned his head as if nothing were wrong and wiped tears from his eyes, which made things quite awkward.
The territory council, which had previously been conducted by only the three of them, now included me starting from this meeting.
Outwardly, the justification was that I had reached a certain age and needed training as an heir and instruction in territory management.
'I did bring in a lot of money this time.'
Really, it was because I had earned a fairly large sum selling books, so they included me in the council to hear my opinions.
"First, we need to expand the territory's guards and improve the supply of arms...."
"Certainly, that is important, but right now the merchant companies within the territory are struggling to buy and sell goods, and the flow of funds has stalled...."
"Those are important too, but we must consider first that the taxes owed to the imperial family will return to normal starting next year. For the past three years, taxes were reduced as a follow-up to the war...."
I found the process of the three of them discussing the territory's various affairs unfamiliar and fascinating. It felt like getting a glimpse into the real world of nobles.
Ten years ago, before the family's downfall, on days when the territory council met, this long desk in the office was said to be so packed with people that some even had to stand.
The two loyal vassals who had remained with our fallen family all this time seemed all the more remarkable.
'If it were me, I'd have run away long ago.'
I had come to my senses and examined the territory's finances. Knowing that financial situation and still remaining here—it looked like nothing but true loyalty.
But loyalty aside, now was not the time to discuss those matters.
"Father, how much debt do we have left?"
Everyone was lost in happy dreams about what to do with the money from selling the books, so I mercilessly shattered them.
"Wh-why do you suddenly ask that?"
Father was flustered and couldn't answer properly, so Viscount Klein, unable to watch any longer, answered for him.
"I will answer on his behalf. Currently, our territory's total debt is 815 gold, and the interest alone is 54 gold per month."
I had felt this when I last examined the family's finances, but it was astonishing that our family had managed to hold on this long.
'This loan sharking is on another level! Not annual interest, but 7% monthly interest? This is just predatory lending.'
It was a situation that could only draw a sigh.
In this situation, even if we added the money earned this time, we would eventually end up strapped again.
'Our family isn't some wealthy territory with special products, but we are still a count's house, so our basic yields are fairly decent.'
That was why we were managing to pay off such an outrageous debt and loan interest, but even so, we were destined to spend our whole lives paying off debt.
'In my last life, I worked myself to the bone paying off student loans. I can't do that again in this life.'
Thinking about it the other way, once that debt was fully repaid, a territory producing stable monthly income would become entirely mine, and as long as I didn't indulge in extravagance, I could live comfortably like a noble.
"I absolutely have a use for this money."
This money was investment capital.
If the plan I had in mind flowed properly, our family could probably be revived in the near future.
***
"That area is for sewing. Put the sewing machines and the long table over there."
Our family's mansion, which I had felt was pointlessly large.
But even dog shit has its uses, and the spacious grounds were a huge help at times like this.
"Leather shouldn't be exposed to light, so it needs to be kept somewhere the light from the windows doesn't reach."
Watching the artisans who had built up experience making books with me voice their opinions on each necessary aspect as they worked on the new workshop filled me with emotion.
Until now, I had hired them temporarily each time we made books, but now I decided to employ them full-time.
'I'd like to hire you artisans on the condition that I cover all material costs. What do you think?'
Honestly, I had expected some of them to refuse.
That was because, in this medieval world, artisans were precious specialists whose value couldn't be measured in money alone.
Moreover, these were not just any artisans—they were the finest artisans in our territory, each with a name for themselves in the region, so I didn't think they would readily accept my offer.
'I'm in!'
'I'd love to take part too!'
'Just leave it to us!'
Contrary to my expectations, however, the artisans accepted the offer so readily that I was taken aback.
'Truthfully, it's hard for artisans to earn much without nobles. Since the recent war, noble spending has dropped sharply, and everyone has been struggling.'
The scars left by the war were not ours alone, it seemed.
Butler Alain briefly explained the artisans' favorable reaction, and I understood.
They too had produced goods throughout the war under the pretext of requisitioning military supplies without receiving proper compensation, and after it ended, they had been struggling with the sudden halt in work.
They said my recent picture-book production had been like rain after a drought, so this offer must have been welcome.
"However, Master Rupert, though it may be a foolish thought of mine, I worry that making such an investment based solely on demand for the Cinderella picture book is too hasty."
Alain, who had been watching the construction of the book factory on the mansion grounds with me, quietly asked.
As the butler responsible for the household finances, he must have been deeply concerned about my current actions.
Just looking at Father, Alain had clearly tried to stop him many times, but Father had pushed ahead with the mindset of "I'll win it back and pay it off!"
But I am different from Father!
"I'm certain Cinderella will be difficult to sell further."
The impact of combining a picture book that had never existed in this world with Cinderella, a proven hit from Earth, was certainly tremendous.
But the price of the book itself was no small matter.
The <Cinderella> made exclusively for nobles ranged from at least 1 gold to nearly 10 gold depending on the version,
and even the mass-market edition, though its supply price had been lowered considerably, was still priced beyond what ordinary commoners could ever afford.
It was a price only wealthy merchants or noble families could afford.
Even then, the <Cinderella> picture book itself was a work aimed at young girls, so the consumer base shrank further.
That was also why I had printed exactly one hundred copies. That was probably the limit of what could be sold right now.
"Master Rupert, if you know that, then why expand this business..."
Knowing it couldn't sell more, why had I expanded the business so grandly, investing the money earned last time?
"Because the next thing I make isn't Cinderella."
Thank you, Brothers Grimm.
Honestly, I'd hardly ever read fairy tales, so I knew the titles but could remember the actual plots of only a few.
But I definitely remembered three representative works that children would love.
Among them, the first work, Cinderella, had brought in this much profit, so I would make the remaining works succeed and definitely resolve our family's debt problem.
"The next work is 'Snow White.'"