Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3

The thought of one of the wealthy farming consortiums or families stealing and copying my monster-trapping method had been bothering me for months. I’d nearly died to make my method work. Others died to perfect it. Someone taking our effort just because they could left a bad taste in my mouth.

It made me angry, bitter, frustrated, and short-sighted.

However, it wasn’t until I sat down and listed out all the ways I could make myself miserable that I realised creating and managing a global trap empire was also making me miserable. I no longer needed the money. What I needed was free time to pursue what I wanted, and the trap business was pulling me away from that.

Without Yaceb, I wouldn’t have realised that the solution I created to solve my theft problem was bothering me nearly as much as the problem itself. The misery my solution caused me was less than the misery I experienced over the thought of someone stealing my idea and effort, so I’d wrongfully assumed I’d brought something positive into my life when I’d ended up settling for less misery.

There were a lot of solutions like that in my life I’d discovered. One by one, I’d implemented them because they were a quick fix that didn’t require too much effort. And now I was paying for my laziness. I could see the harm they’d done. I could see the misery I’d caused myself. I could see the problems they would create for me.

Frankly, I needed to stop reacting to the problems life threw at me and make actual plans for how I wanted to live.

However, without recognising the misery the solution to my problem caused me, I hadn’t been able to find a solution that I was happy with. Recognising that misery gave me the perspective I needed to take my trap business in an entirely new direction. One which wouldn’t be as profitable but would actually make me happy.

Just after dawn, I made my way through Adoya’s house of scholars, waving to those I knew, before rapping my knuckles on Jeric’s office door.

Usually, I would go to my assistant, Fitz, with something like this. However, a month ago, Fitz had left for the Capitol to rebuild his marriage, leaving my friend, Jeric, to fill his shoes. Keeping me informed of everything going on was a struggle for Jeric. His pregnant wife Isabelle was several weeks past her due date on bed rest, so she didn’t induce labour, and I didn’t want to know about most of the things I needed to know about.

Jeric was doing everything he could to remain by her side and entertain her, all while managing my businesses and keeping me informed. However, there weren’t enough hours in the day for anyone to replicate what Fitz could do. And Isabelle was getting more frustrated with her inactivity with each passing day.

There wasn’t anything medically wrong with Isabelle. Her constitution had simply risen to the point where it changed what you could expect from pregnancy. The higher a woman’s constitution, the fewer complications and discomfort they experienced. However, with very high constitution, they could carry their baby past forty weeks.

Carrying a baby longer significantly lowered their chances of sudden infant death and improved the child’s long-term health, fitness, and intelligence. Anyone who had the opportunity always carried their baby longer, but this was the first time Isabelle had ever had to sit and do nothing for weeks. Her condition was the only reason I wasn’t going to ask Jeric to join my Dungeons and Dragons campaign, which was the next thing I had to organise after this was over.

Jeric opened the door, looking like a man in his late twenties which was thirty years younger than he actually was. The weight he’d gained after his wife returned to Blackwood had disappeared during the months of monster waves, restoring his former Olympic swimmer physique.

He raised a questioning eyebrow, confused by why I was at his door, as he tucked his shoulder-length light brown hair behind his ear. He’d grown out his hair at his wife’s request, wanting to make her happy in any way he could after all their years apart.

Jeric lowered his questioning eyebrow and smirked. “Yaceb warned me I wouldn’t see you for a few days. He mentioned something about you having some self-reflection to do. I never imagined that self-reflecting would be so effective that I didn’t have to chase you down to tell you what you missed.”

“I’m not here for that.”

Jeric chuckled as he opened the door wider to let me in. “Why am I not surprised?”

Jeric’s office was on the smaller side, with a serviceable desk and floor-to-ceiling filing cabinets that occupied most of the available space. The view from the window showed a small cottage with a fat orange cat sleeping on the roof. There were better offices he could have taken, but he preferred the small room because it prevented large groups from complaining about me all at once.

I followed him in, closing the door behind me as he headed for his desk. “I have something important to discuss.”

“You always say that when you arrive unannounced.”

“And how often am I wrong?”

Jeric took a seat behind his desk, moving his work aside. “More than half the time, but the times you’re right more than make up for the times you’re wrong. What’s in the file?”

I pulled out the chair across from him, placed the file on the table, and took a seat. “What do you know about franchising?”

Jeric frowned, tilting his right ear towards me like he needed to hear me better. “Was that your native tongue? I’ve never heard that last word before.”

I stared at Jeric, trying to figure out if he was joking. My translation ring worked 99.9% of the time. It was extremely rare for words to be entirely missing. Usually, it just translated the words I knew to the closest concept, so this had only occurred a few times since I’d met him. When it did happen, it typically involved scientific terms like microscope, electron, or quark.  

A large smile crept onto my face as I realised that he wasn’t joking. If they didn’t have the word, then the concept was likely going to be entirely new to them.

“Franchising is a business concept you’re going to love. We used it a lot where I come from, so I believe it will work here. If it does, it will allow us to maintain complete control of my trap method.”

Jeric leaned back, ran his finger through his hair, and groaned. “Maintaining complete control is impossible, Arnold. We’ve been over this. There are farming businesses all across Radian that are far more established than yours, with significantly more wealth. We’re currently ahead of them, but they’ve already been sniffing around your test villages, and they have the resources to catch up and surpass you once they understand what they’re looking at.”

I slid the file across the table. “That’s something that will work in our favour if my plan works. And I’m not talking about maintaining control in Radian. I think we can do it in all eleven kingdoms.”

Jeric scoffed. “How?”

“By turning my trap business into a franchise at the next cull.”

“Once again, Arnold, I don’t understand what that word means.”

I leaned back and grinned. “A franchise is a business model. With it, you grant franchise rights to an individual or business, giving them the right to operate a business identical to your own, using your brand, business systems, and products. In return, we will charge them a set fee for every village, town and city where they use our business. Additionally, we will sell them the trapping equipment they will use to operate through licenced blacksmiths and trapsmiths and train their operators. All they have to do to gain access to everything we’ve created is sign a non-competition contract, pay the fees, and adhere to the rules of the franchise. It will allow them to begin trapping forests immediately and reap whatever profits they can.”

Jeric folded his arms. “Why would they pay for something they could eventually do themselves.

“It’s the eventually that’s the problem for them. If I make this announcement at the annual cull to the consortiums and families all at once and explain my method in detail, anyone who doesn’t accept my offer will be years behind their competition. Everyone there has the ability to go wide with my method a lot faster than I do. If they have to spend years figuring out how to do it themselves while their competition accepts my offer, they will lose their chance to take advantage of my discovery.”

Jeric frowned. “I’m not sure I understand. You’re going to make them pay for the privilege of competing with you?”

“No. I’m going to make them pay for the privilege of competing with each other on an even playing field.”

“Ah,” Jeric said, finally understanding. “But what if they don’t accept your offer to join this franchise?”

“They have to accept. My method generates too much experience for them to refuse. The consortiums and Winslow’s family are all business-minded. They will realise that even if they all agree to refuse my offer, the smaller businesses and families won’t. Those businesses and families don’t have their clout, but there are enough of them to take control of a large portion of every kingdom before the larger players are ready to compete.”

Jeric suddenly chuckled. “Your world gives you far too many advantages over ours.”

I grinned back. “Then you agree this will work?”

“You make too much sense for me to see them refusing. However, I’ve never heard of something like this franchise, so start over from the beginning. I don’t fully understand it yet.”

Jeric cancelled his meetings, and we spent the rest of the morning discussing franchises. We discussed how we could utilise franchises to have blacksmiths and trapsmiths produce the equipment that anyone who bought into my franchise needed, taking a cut on every sale. That needed to be costed out. Jeric and I weren’t the right people for the job, so we left that for the professionals, only discussing the structure and implementation of the franchise business.

Selling my method to everyone for a fee wouldn’t just lower everyone’s workload here in Blackwood. It would give everyone involved the recognition they deserved and guarantee that those we worked with were just as dedicated to safety as we were. Trapping monsters was dangerous work, and one of my major fears was that people would steal my method without understanding the considerable effort that had gone into ensuring the farmers’ safety. I knew that I’d created something that could end horribly, which was why I didn’t want anyone to steal it, and now that didn’t seem as likely to happen.

Jeric unfolded his arms and scratched the back of his head as his stomach rumbled. “You realise that the consortiums and Winslow’s family are going to be furious with you for allowing everyone access to your trapping method. They’ve controlled access to one of the great boons for centuries. The rarity of the boon has helped them maintain their monopoly on luxury produce. The influx of farmers with the great boon will vastly increase quality and productivity across all kingdoms. Within a few decades, every city and town will have a farm with this boon as a standard. Within a century, it will include villages.”

“It’s the way things should be,” I replied.

Jeric frowned at me. “What do you mean?”

“The boon isn’t supposed to be rare. It’s an integral part of the farmer class. Every farm is supposed to be led by someone who has it. The system wants every farm to have the boon. I’m merely following the path that has been laid out.”

I turn to the window to stare into the distance knowingly, trying my best to look wise.

Jeric snorted. “Is that you trying to imitate an all-knowing sage?”

I continued to stare off. “I would not expect you to understand the machinations of the system. I am an enlightened being.”

Jeric finally laughed.

I turned back and grinned. “So, now you know what I want to do. Can you make sure we’re ready when the next cull occurs? We’ve only got one shot at this. We’re already going wide, so like you said, the secret is going to be out soon enough. If we can’t do it at this cull, we will have lost our chance.”

Jeric sighed. “I can have everything ready in time, but the cull doesn’t happen every year. Sometimes, the Orcs don’t head towards a city. We need a backup plan.”

 “Can we invite them here?”

“No one would come this far for an unknown reason.”

“How close could we get them?”

“The Capitol.”

“Hire a space.”

“They wouldn’t take you seriously if you did.”

“I hope you’re not suggesting I buy a building for a single meeting?”

Jeric paused. “I doubt you’ll have to buy one.”

“Good. That would have been ridiculous.”

“No. I mean, there are several farming trading houses in the Capitol’s business district. One of them might be willing to trade their building for farmer experience if you were willing to offer it to them at your combined maximum.”

I sighed. “I thought muddled thoughts only occurred after the baby arrived and you’re sleep-deprived.”

“What?”

“Do you seriously want me to buy a building for a single meeting?”

“Yes. You have to prove that you’re serious if you want them to take you seriously. You’re an unknown entity. A trading house in the Capitol will give you the recognition you need.”

“I’m a champion. I have the crown’s mark. I’m a sage. I have a trade deal with a dwarven clan.”

“That makes you interesting. It doesn’t prove you’re worth their time when it comes to business.”

“But a building will?”

“A very large, very expensive building will. And it’s not like you will have to exchange money for it.”

“I’d agree with you, but we’re about to crash the price of farmer experience back to base. Won’t this piss them off whoever sells it to us in the long run?”

Jeric nodded. “It’s likely. You should offer them an unnamed favour of your choosing in the future in addition to the experience. Once you go public with your system, they will be ecstatic to be first in line to receive a few of the great boons, and everything will be forgiven.”

That was a reasonable solution, but I didn’t want to buy a trading house for a single meeting. “There has to be another way?”

“You could go to them one by one and beg for a meeting, but that won’t let you make the announcement to them all at once.”

“Something other than that.”

Jeric leaned forward and sighed. “Arnold, these people can buy and sell Blackwood if they want to. They won’t believe you’ve created anything worth their time. You have to do something awe-inspiring to show them you’re on their level, such as purchasing a trading house with experience. That’s the sort of thing that will catch their interest.”

“Do I need to be involved in the purchase?”

“You might need to sign a few contracts.”

That wasn’t too bad. “Fine. Contact Fitz and have him organise the purchase. He can use the building to create awareness of the new games and products we’re developing in Blackwood. It might give us more legitimacy if we need to unveil the method there instead of at the cull.”

“He’s going to need to hire assistants. This isn’t something he can organise by himself.”

“Give him anything he needs.” I realised as I replied that I needed to get out of here before Jeric found more work for me. Otherwise, it would be days before I could organise my Dungeons and Dragons campaign. “If there’s nothing else, I’ve got other jobs to do today.”

Jeric glanced at his notes. “The others are going to have questions about franchises when I tell them your new plan.”

“Set up a meeting that works for you.”

Jeric made a note, and his shoulders relaxed. “I hope you realise you’ve taken a lot of the pressure off us with these changes. We don’t have to worry about expanding your trap business anymore, only making sure everything is in place for others to take over.”

“That was the idea.”

Jeric suddenly made a shooing motion with his hand.

I frowned. “Why are you trying to get rid of me?”

Jeric looked me in the eye and smirked. “It just occurred to me that if you stick around, you might find some way to use up all that time you just saved me.”

I chuckled as I hurried to the door. “I’m worried you’ll do the same.”