Chapter 70 - Ore to Gold

Approaching King Zar's throne again was seer. He didn't hold papers on his hands this time  but he doesn't seem to be in a good mood.

"What news do you bring me, old friend."

"Sire. I hate to inform you this, but after the deconstruction of the Chapel started, people who stood in solitude with the religious organization known as "illas", Abandoned our Kingdom.

They followed them out of the Kingdom, carrying their life savings. They also seemed to have sold their furniture that was worth a decent amount of gold coins. But everything cheap, they left behind."

"Well that is actually good news. Were any of them my workers?"

"No. Just people who made their life fortune long ago through Propaganda.

The houses are of good quality as well. 10 people can live on one house without invading each other's privacy!"

"Well this is good news. We've let go of dead weight. What about the religious Organization. How many houses did they leave behind?"

"7! They seemed to have shared houses to avoid big expenses."

"Good. Now listen closely. We just recruited 100 Workers in total a few days ago.

All those 100 shall live in those 10 abandoned houses of good quality temporarily, until the new houses are built.

If for some reason any of our old workers don't have a home, let them join the one of the 10 quality houses.

Do not forget to fill papers and store them on the castle about the temporary residents. We need to doc.u.ment everything as none is smart enough to remember all of this!"

"Of course sire. Those men and Women will be so happy. Those houses are big enough to even support their families.

Judging from their background, they don't mind sleeping with 10 people in one room.

But what about the taxes?"

"The Workers may bring whoever they please in their house to live, as long as it is a family member. And the tax is the same as per every house, 40 Gold coins.

Each individual in the house needs to pay, but not 40 gold coins each. If there are 10 workers in a house, each one needs to pay 4 Gold Coins to make a total of 40 Gold Coins. That should at least help them feed their families more or even buy them new clothes."

"Sire. You did say that you deny to run your Kingdom in Xakro's way. I never realized that you meant it this much. I feel so much positivity in your requests.

And i do feel that in just a few years, this Kingdom will be the strongest one in Ignis. You mean so well!"

"The people have suffered to long for land l.u.s.t my friend. I plan to make Pameres Kingdom a place where any poor person can get wealthy with hard work."

Said Zar while actually smiling for once. He faced a huge emotional change these days. In Fact he has been facing it for weeks. But just recently he found the guts and opportunity to defy the actual ill.u.s.tratian Alliance.

"Sire I have one more question. What about the 7 houses the "illas" believers left behind?"

"I've been thinking of a plan to make profit out of the mines. Our new set of workers we might be able to get, will live in those 7 houses.

But first, answer me this question.

How much does a raw iron ore cost?"

"Interesting question sire. It costs 8 gold coins."

"What about an Iron Ingot?"

Said Zar with full concentration on Seer.

"25 Gold Coins if i recall right!"

"Perfect. And what about an Iron Sword?"

He said with half a smile!(which is a big deal because he never smiles!)

"70 Gold Coins Sire. It is a bit costly."

"Are you seeing my point of view Seer. Did you catch on?"

"Yes. You want to sell IronSwords. This could actually be very profitable. Selling 50 iron ores in a day for example and getting 400 Gold Coins is a good profit.

But imagine using those 50 Iron Ingots to make 25 Iron Swords.

That's almost 4 times the profit from selling the 50 raw ores.

But have you considered the wood, blacksmiths and leather strips needed to make them?"

"We already have enough Workers experienced in lumbering. They are able to provide Planks for the 100 houses in Construction. Providing enough wood for Sword Handles should be child's play for them.

The Hunters and Blacksmiths however. Require some work to acquire."

"Do you want me to fill out some papers for recruitment sire?"

"Yes but for another day. I need to make 2 deals which could boost our economy.

Gaster Kingdom is near the ocean and they have a port. I can't afford to send my Construction Workers all the way near Gaster Kingdom and back just to build a port. It is too dangerous, expensive and time consuming."

"So you plan to do business with another continent?"

"Yes. For that we need to make a deal with that race of which has Witches and Wizards with Healing Powers. What's it called?"

Asked Zar. He isn't trying to be racist, but he doesn't know much of anything out of Ignis.

"You are talking about the Zamerians, Sire.

That is actually a very good idea. It takes only around 2 weeks to arrive from that continent. So sh.i.p.s will constantly be moving from that Continent to Ignis.

But there is one problem!"

"What could the problem be?"

"Even if we make a deal with both Gaster Kingdom and the Zamerians, we will need at least 15 blacksmiths to withstand the daily amount of ore which is commonly around 20. Not to mention that Blacksmiths are harder to find. Even harder than Stone Masons."

He stopped for a while and added

"If a Blacksmith has over 10 years of experience, he can likely make 3 quality Iron Swords in one week. Making a sword requires continues banging with a hammer for days.

An Experienceless Blacksmith could likely make only good quality Sword for one week."

"Hmmm. Troublesome indeed. But if the monthly pay for a experienceless blacksmith is 100 gold coins, we might be able to recruit more. Ultimately leading to more income!"