Chapter 10: Chapter 10: Merchant ranks

Once the door was opened the inside had a space that was larger than the general warehouse outside. It was five times its size. The special warehouse was brightly lit with luminescent stones much larger than the one in Leo’s storage shed. Their numbers were over a hundred times that of what was at Leo’s place and the quality was much better too.

The numerous luminescent stones made the warehouse more brightly lit than even walking outside in the daylight of the sun. Alf and Leo slowly walked in as Alf closed the door behind them.

The warehouse had thousands and thousands of shelves filled endlessly with different types of products. There were weapons of all varieties, armors of different materials, ores in different colors, and crystals that had some sort of elemental representation to them. Some looked like crystals of pure water, others block of frigid ice with accompanying fog around them, and others seemed to have fire enclosed within them while others would flash with lightning within and around the crystal.

The sheer volume of goods and products in this place that was within Leo's line of sight was enough to bury the whole of Bremdal town beneath it and even form a large mountain after.

“You aren’t a green-grade merchant for nothing,” Leo said as he whistled in appreciation.

Alf ignored him as he reread the list once more for confirmation as he made a mental note of where the goods on the list were located.

“Grab one of those chests at the side. We will start with the mithril and orichulum ingots first,” Alf said as he pointed toward a stack of large chests located on both sides of the wall next to the door neatly stacked together.

Leo quickly took one of the chests as they made their way to the shelves on the third row. It wasn't his first time here. Though Alf didn't allow many people back there with him and only allowed Leo in on account of his shamelessness and Mira's good business.

Each shelf had humungous cuboid compartments built into them like the ones used to collect and transport ores in mines. The third row was where ores and ingots of different kinds were stored. There were similar-looking ores all over though they differed in their luster. These showed they were of different qualities.

Alf and Leo walked for a few minutes before they reached the compartments where the ingots were stored. Each compartment had its own type of ingot. The ingots were in the typical brick shape. They had a smooth and clean texture. Their luster was the same all around exhibiting a sense of uniformness in their quality.

Alf who was leading the way stopped at a compartment that had silver-like ingots except they were much more crystal-like with flashes of light bending and being reflected from them. These were mithril ingots. It was one of the few metals known to handle and conduct mana pretty well. It was therefore an optimal choice for making magical weapons armor or even a core component in laying down a foundation for important buildings that would later be fitted with magical inscriptions and runes.

“Leo, the chest please, and come help me pack them. You’re the brute here,” Alf said as he invited Leo over who snorted in displeasure but still did as he was told with not a word of protest out of him. They stood side by side to each other as they started unloading the mithril ingots from the compartment. The ingot was cool to the touch. Not freezing cold but a type of temperate, soft coolness.

Mithril was well preferred by blacksmiths especially those coming up in the ranks due to the ease of malleability one has with mithril as compared to the likes of orichulum and adamantite which though were just as excellent in conducting mana required the hands of a craftsman in his peak to be able to make a worthy product out of them. Adamantite was too hard and Orichulum required a high degree of technique to ensure its mana flow was smooth. It was for this reason only craftsmen ranked expert and above were qualified to handle adamantite or orichulum. Anyone lower would struggle to make the best out of the two metals.

It took them almost ten minutes before they had finished packing 100 mithril ingots into the chest. One mithril ingot roughly weighed 5kg. 

Unloading 100 mithril ingots seemed like a drop in the bucket compared to what was still left over in the compartment.

“Alf, how can you afford all this? Even if you are now a green-grade merchant isn’t this too large scale even for a green-grade merchant? considering it's been barely four months since you became one,” Leo asked with a puzzled expression.

Most though not all merchants around the Trilunar world were members of the merchant guild. This was an organization meant to unite, grow, and protect the interests of merchants around the world. It was an organization borne out of necessity due to how dangerous it was for merchants who had to move from place to place for their businesses.

They ran various risks such as the risk of getting robbed or worse getting robbed of their goods and their life or getting sold to slavery. The delay risks that came from the nobles who denied entry to these merchants or charged exorbitant trade fees or confiscated their goods on trumped-up charges. Since those who became merchants were mostly commoners there was nothing they could do except swallow it and the massive losses that they would surely incur. With all these constraints they were no different than miners who toiled all day at the risk of their lives for almost nothing. It was from this desperation that the merchant guild came about. A union of merchants all around the world banding together to protect themselves and their interests. 

What started from five friends mushroomed into a massive organization that finally had a voice in the world and a whole city as its headquarters, the Hamsa city of merchants. Over the past 20 years, the guild has seen an overwhelming increase in members, and with it came the need for a proper structure.

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The merchant guild thus created a ranking system for their members and perks that came along with those ranks. Members were divided into two ranks namely; Merseniers who were local merchants like those who had small stalls or kiosks. For an annual fee of 5 gold coins and a 5 gold coin registration fee, they could join the guild. 

The other rank was Koopman which was divided further into 7 sub ranks namely; Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, and lastly Violet. The scale of a Koopman's business is larger than that of a mersenier and for one to be a koopman they have to pass certain minimum assessment standards of their goods and scale of business. Unlike a mersenier who only pays the admission fee and the regular annual fees after that.

The red koopman is the lowest rank and the violet koopman is the highest. Their rank ascends as the colors move from red to violet.

Alf was a green-level Koopman and for someone his age, it was a commendable feat. At a minimum, for someone to be promoted or registered as a green-level Koopman they need to have charter deals with 5 different kingdoms. The variety of goods they trade in needs to be atleast of five different kinds and the quality needs at the bare minimum to be at grade 7. Their goods are of course appraised by officials from the merchant guild. There were different grades to appraisal with grade 1 being the lowest and grade 12 being the highest. To avoid biases the same goods would be appraised by at least 3 different appraisers at different time periods within the same year for a sense of fairness but also to ensure the standard of goods throughout the year is consistent.

Leo knew of Alf’s promotion that happened four months ago from a yellow-grade merchant to a green-grade merchant. However, he didn’t expect the scale of his operation to be this huge already. Two months ago when he was last here, the warehouse wasn’t this highly stocked. The volume seemed to have tripled hence his curiosity.

“Loans” Alf curtly replied

“Huh, say that again I didn’t quite catch it,”

Alf sighed before he said,

“I took a loan. Well, several loans to be precise. One from the Goblin quivirah bank, another from the guild, and the final from a new and upcoming bank that has large prospects and potential considering who its founder is. Though those goblins sure know how to milk blood even from dry bones with those high interest they charge and make it seem they are doing you this huge favor. I have half a mind to close my account with them and take my money elsewhere.

If it wasn't for them being widely spread with branches all over and the convenience and swiftness they give to large-scale transactions, I'd really move. They always try to rob me of my coin with these fictitious charges every chance they get and those loans....” Alf said gnashing through his teeth in frustration.

Leo at the side had a dumbfounded look on his face as he silently thought to himself,

“You’re one to talk about bleeding dry bones. Didn’t you just rob me of my gold coins for some jasmine tea and biscuits and that charge you want to put on Arc? Surely you’re the black-hearted one. The goblins are saints compared to you.”

“Did you just badmouth me in your head, Leo? Be careful or I might just tack on a few operational charges to your bill or accidentally be in short supply of a particular item on the list.” Alf said as he scrutinized Leo with a cold gaze.

“Alf, I’m I that sort of person? Let’s start packing the orichulum.” Leo said as he dryly chuckled trying to deflect and mildly terrified of Alf's intuition. They moved a couple of compartments over before they stopped at one that had dark grey almost cloudy ingots. These were the orichulum ingots. Leo didn’t even wait for Alf to ask for his help before he started packing up the ingots with zeal and a loyal mule aura enveloping his entire self. Within a few minutes, 25 ingots of orichulum had already been packed. Each ingot roughly weighed 20 kilograms. Orichulum was heavier and harder to deal with as compared to mithril. However, a weapon or armor made by craftsmen of the same standard, the one made from orichulum will survive more beatings compared to the one made of mithril. But mithril transmits mana 1.5 times faster compared to orichulum. Each has its own benefits considering what one wants from them.

In constructing buildings using orichulum is safer as a long-term option whereas when making airship conductors and transmitters using mithril is the best option to optimize mana usage and reduce on consumption.

Alf and Leo went around the warehouse for almost a quarter an hour before they finished collecting the things from the list i.e. the wyvern scales, block of wood from the enchanted elder tree, and the four buckets worth of sap from the heartwood tree, and the reverent rowan.

The only thing left now were the two eggs that Alf couldn’t identify.