“Huh….. I never knew that you could premeditate acting like a bigshot. The demon king’s father was a genius… I think I can learn a thing or two from his playbook, and try to set up events in advance that would help me play the role of a super bigshot,” Leo thought to himself, as he rubbed his chin and contemplated his gains from the class information pack.
Although he did not understand the exact path that he needed to take to become a master level actor or advance deeper into his specific class, what he did understand was that acting required preparation.
To deliver a compelling performance, an actor required meticulous pre-planning, patience, an audience to captivate, and flawless execution.
Only with a combination of all these elements could an actor transform a lie into a convincing truth which would be perceived as a legend by the observers.
“Yep…. This gives me a great direction to plan for the future…. I will definitely start planning on a big act myself, one that will bamboozle the entire Empire–” Leo murmured to himself, as he resolved to create an even bigger con than what the demon king had achieved in his vision.
Happy with his gains so far, Leo opened the ‘Merchant Class Information Pack’ next, curious to see what vision he would be shown in that pack.
**********
( At the heart of a bustling market, some unknown city )
Within the city, there was a bustling market and within that market, there was a young man who set up shop selling scrap weapons.
“Two for one, two for one, two for one…. Only for today! Buy one weapon and get one free…. Only for today…. Don’t miss this chance–” The man shouted on-top of his lungs, as he tried to attract customers to his small stall.
The stall owners around him seemed shocked by this approach, as they felt too shy to market their products like the kid was, however, they also felt like they were missing out if they did not follow his lead, as customers actually started to pile at his shop after he started his chant.
“Young man…. How much for these two scrap weapons?” asked a burly old man, as the young merchant said with a smile on his face “3 silver coins for two…. But today I’ll sell it for only 1.5 ”
The real price of the product was only 0.5 silver coin for each, however, not only did the young merchant sell it at a mark-up but he also made it seem like the other party was getting a steal.
“Hoo…. That seems reasonable…. Here young man, take 1.5 silver coins” the burly old man said, paying the young merchant his quoted price without negotiating anymore.
“Thank you kind sir… you have made a great deal today” the young merchant said, reaffirming the old man’s belief that he had received a steal deal, when he had actually been ripped off.
This same process was repeated with all the customers, as the young merchant managed to sell all his products within an hour of opening the shop and made a premium doing it too.
As he winded up and was ready to leave, the stall owner beside him asked “Young man, are you not afraid of your reputation? What if they find out that you ripped them off?”
This young merchant chuckled at this question, as he turned towards the stall owner and said “I’m not. If someone asks me why I sold them a scrap for 0.75 silver coin each when the market rate was only 0.5, I will tell them that this scrap is not ordinary, that it was once used by an officer from the royal military and that this weapon had saved his life on several occasions.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll start making up the composition of the metal, about how it has a higher percentage of other alloys in it and how it isn’t some normal iron scrap.
If that doesn’t work, I’ll make a hundred different excuses until the customer feels that they have gotten a good deal, because the value of money is not in the money itself but rather the perception of what money can buy.
My father used to sell scraps for 0.2 silver coins 20 years ago, because that was the market rate back then.
20 years later, people are selling the same scraps at 0.5 silver coins, but it isn’t the scraps that have changed over the last 20 years.
It is just that the acceptable market rate for them has gone up.
As a merchant, you can sell the the same product for 2 silver coins and someone else can do it for 200, the only difference is in the ability of the merchant to justify the price of the product, and I have the ability to justify a higher price”
*********
( Scene Change, within a large merchant headquarters )
The scene shifted for Leo, and the same guy that he saw before now seemed to be the leader of a big merchant group.
“Buy the Red Dragon Trading Company at their desired valuation, I don’t care if it bankrupts us.
Do it anyway and make the formula of the basic strength pills a part of the deal.
After we buy them out, they can no longer produce the pills under any other firm and the strength pills should become our sole ownership product” the young merchant said, however his associate seemed to disagree.
“The Red Dragon Company only sells about a million gold coins worth of products annually….. their profits are even lower…. paying 5 million gold for such a company is not wise sir, please reconsider–” The assistant said, however, the young merchant remained firm in his decision.
“No, the Red Dragon Company only sells the strength pills for 5 silver coins a bottle, but I’ll sell them at 1 gold coins a bottle.
Those fools don’t know the value of their own product, but I do.
I’ll recover those 5 million within a year and make millions more in the years to come” The young merchant said domineeringly, as his assistant felt shocked to hear his proposal.
“But sir, if we randomly hike prices by 20x the consumers will no longer buy it!” The assistant protested, to which the young merchant began laughing hysterically.
“They will have to purchase it….. they will have no other option.
Only two merchant trading firms in the entire kingdom own strength pill formulas, which is Us and the Red Dragon.
We have to keep our prices low because the Dragon keeps it so low, however, without any opposition, we can charge what we want for it and the consumers will pay with a smile on their faces.
Because if not? What other option do they have?” the young merchant said, as the assistant was left dumbfounded by his thinking.
Charging 1 gold coin for a product that cost a little over 1 silver coin to manufacture was morally unethical, but one needed to be morally unethical if one wanted to become a successful merchant as the trade world was not for the weak.