"Rune Garden?'
"Runegard?"
The people in the room were confused. This was the first time they were thinking about this.
Balott had a smug smile. "Now that people have accepted Rune Technology, there is one thing that we should do. It's to utilize it to our advantage and bring in wealth that no one has ever seen before. Or to put it simply, a monopoly."
"A monopoly?" Charlotte's expression turned dark. "Isn't monopoly banned in the kingdom?"
"Of course. That's why our master is creating the Rune Academy. It's to spread knowledge about runes. However, it doesn't change the fact that we are the sole possessors of Rune Technology. While the technology will spread in the future, we can still take advantage of it now… Or should I say, we should utilize it now."
"What do you mean?" Charlotte frowned. She certainly knew the trouble that would come with monopoly. Even after following Luke, their former master, she had never seen him create a monopoly.
However, there was one thing that reminded her of this strategy. And Balott's words jolted her mind.
"We will create this company to spread the rune technology, send off experts, and even do maintenance. This is to build trust. Once the rune spreads, there will be a lot of companies doing the same thing. However, what do you think the customer will do?" Balott smirked.
Charlotte sucked a cold breath. "A lot of people might go to the cheaper alternative, but even if our prices are slightly higher but still affordable, people will go to us. After all, we have shown them that they can trust our company. And if we start early, we can create an environment where our runes are connected to each other."
"That's right. Most people will go to us because we have all the convenience they want, with just a slightly higher price." Balott smirked. He was sure that the nobles or even the royal families would choose them over a cheaper alternative because they were much more trusted. After trials and errors, their Runegard would know which things the customers wanted and needed.
In addition, Noel was the source of all those runes, allowing them to create one weird technology after another.
While most companies would only produce rune technology that had better design or a cheaper price, they couldn't be compared to Runegard in producing a never-before-seen invention.
"This is…" Charlotte sucked a cold breath. She could see how much money they would get from this.
Noel smiled. Both he and Balott had thought about this. They knew that the only way to move forward was to regain the 'status' of the Ardagan family.
Of course, Noel had planned for this money. Building the territories might be an important task, but he could use all this money to send forth expeditions in order to help more people. In fact, he could become a sponsor of the Moon Temple.
By taking advantage of this money, Noel could finish the mission to help people. Helping thousands of people was just a simple task in the future. He might be able to help even tens of thousands of people every single month with this money. And all those honor points could be used for his improvement.
That was why Noel planned to make an unlimited amount of money.
"Still, Master…" Dimitri raised his hand. "While I do understand the importance of the Runegard, who will take charge of this operation? In the past, the previous master delegated this task to someone else because he was too occupied with his work as a lord."
"As for that…" Noel turned his head toward the most promising young talent. He believed that he could do this task pretty well.
Everyone thought it was going to be Balott, but they soon dropped their jaws when they followed Noel's gaze.
"Me?" The voice of a young man echoed inside the room as he pointed at himself with a panicked expression. Yes, the one Noel wanted to be taking care of the Runegard was his disciple, Tristan. "M-Master! It's impossible for me."
Noel had two reasons for choosing Tristan for this task. The first one was Tristan's self-esteem. Because of his previous status as a slave, while Tristan believed that he could become a normal commoner in the future, he didn't have confidence in becoming a person of better status.
That was why his low self-esteem was always something he had to take care of. If Tristan showed a lot of success in this project, he would definitely feel more confident in himself and transform into a man worthy of the status of Noel Ardagan's student.
As for the second reason, it was basically his talent. Tristan had a photographic memory, which was extremely useful in this area. He could remember the numbers of purchases or even the minor details of transactions. It was so overpowered, to the point that he would be able to find corruption inside the company.
He knew that this Runegard would make it big, so there would definitely be a lot of corruption. With Tristan as the head, they wouldn't have the chance. Tristan was also going to become strong soon as a rune magician.
"There is one problem about this, Master. It's not that I doubt your decision, but Tristan doesn't have the knowledge or skill as a merchant," Dimitri expressed his concern.
"I know that. Hence, I'm planning to have Roel's children support him. They have gained a lot of experience as merchants, so I think it's fine to give them a chance. Of course, Balott will be supervising everything as well as teaching Tristan and the twins the necessary skills as high level merchants," Noel explained.
Tristan should be able to close the gap easily with that memory of his. That was why Balott would probably become a bit too busy for a while, but in the future, he would just monitor the situation.
Balott agreed with this.
"Yes. I don't have a problem." Balott nodded with a serious expression.
"If that's the case, I think it's worth a try." Dimitri nodded.
"Of course, I will bring in some experts if it doesn't work. This is the Ardagan family's main source of income, so I'm planning to take this seriously." Noel waved his hand, ending the conversation.
The others were slightly concerned, but they didn't raise any more objections.
Tristan was so panicked that he forgot the fact that he was still the vice principal of the Rune Academy.
"I'll make the business proposal later. But considering the situation, we have the Sword Arbiter, the Moon Temple, the Demon Relief Squad, and the Silica Valley as our first targets. So, we can use them to spread the word regarding the Runegard. Since you all don't have any more objections, I shall continue on to the next topic." Noel looked at Livia.
"Oh, it's my turn right now? I was about to ask who would be the replacement of my vice principal, Teacher." Livia smiled.
"Tristan will still hold that position, but the majority of the work will be on you. And once the Rune Academy has developed a bit, why don't you pick up a student as your personal disciple and teach them about more runes?"
"Mhm?" Livia raised her eyebrows. Even though she was Noel's student, she was still the princess of the Greenwood Kingdom. She understood perfectly what Noel meant. By taking on a personal disciple, she could teach them a lot more things and eventually become the replacement for Tristan.
Though she would be extremely busy for a while, working on everything by herself, it could be said that this was a fair exchange.
"I understand. I shall work very hard so that you won't feel unsatisfied with the Rune Academy." Livia politely bowed her head. This was an opportunity for the Greenwood Kingdom, which was something she couldn't pass on. In any case, she intended to work to the bone when coming to this place, so this was just a bonus for her hard work.
"Good. I will send you the proposal regarding the development of the Rune Academy later. I'll leave the details to you."
"Understood." Livia nodded.
"In that case, who is next…" Noel looked at the people and pointed at Roel.
"Oh. It's my turn now?" Roel thought for a moment. "Currently, we are understaffed. Are you planning to divide our people for this Runegard, my lord?"
"No. It's more like all the blacksmiths in this city will join the Runegard. And if you plan to leave and become the exclusive blacksmith of the Ardagan family, then that would be fine. I'm planning to raise the Runegard to the highest level to the point where Master Blacksmith has to bow down to the blacksmiths of my Runegard."
Roel contemplated for a moment. The proposal was tempting. The Runegard would become the Ardagan family's face in the future, so it wouldn't be weird that their blacksmiths would be considered elites. In fact, joining Runegard would mean that they could leave the company in one way or another.
If nobles actually recruited them, they would definitely have the status where even nobles had to be polite to them.
If a master blacksmith was equal to a noble, this new status would definitely put them slightly above nobles.
At the same time, Noel planned to show other Master Blacksmiths that they could join Runegard and receive instruction about runes. When this happened, the Ardagan family would have a lot of master blacksmiths.
No one would dare to oppose this family anymore.
Roel nodded in understanding. "Then, what am I going to become next?"
"Well, I hope that you can become their supervisor for the time being as the blacksmith exclusive to our Ardagan family."
"I see. So, you're planning to separate the Ardagan family and the Runegard."
"Yes."
"I understand." Roel nodded.
