Chapter 2798: Manor Income and Meeting the Designers

Lajieer's answer also confirmed Xia Duo's guess: if an Elf Merchant wants to expand their scale of operations, on one hand, they need to prove their strength, and on the other, they need to find a backer for themselves.

Purchasing a manor from an Upper Family to dress up their facade has become a very good choice; it not only proves their strength (financial power) but, to a certain extent, also counts as finding a backer for themselves.

In Evereska, merchants of this type generally engage in international trade; after all, the market in Evereska is truly too small, and it is very easy to hit the ceiling.

This requires development into a transnational chamber of commerce, and in this process, it is almost impossible to do without the support of the Evereska authorities—which, in reality, means the support of those ten or so Upper Families.

Yet, Evereska is not exactly a strong or major power on the international stage; even with official support, an Evereska chamber of commerce is not necessarily able to compete with foreign chambers of commerce.

Thus, there have been the ups and downs of a great number of chambers of commerce, which can also be viewed as the bittersweet history of this city-state of Evereska as it seeks external development.

However, Xia Duo is not one of those merchants; he does not need to consider capital turnover issues, only how the relationship between Daxia Territory or Netheril and Evereska stands.

In the current international situation, which is generally peaceful, and with both Evereska and Netheril actively seeking neutral development, it is almost impossible for the two countries to become hostile.

Taking a step back, even if the two countries were to become hostile, it is unlikely that Evereska would directly confiscate his assets in Evereska; Xia Duo is quite reassured on this point.

……

After the small interlude, Lajieer continued to introduce Golden Maple Manor to Xia Duo:

"The main body of the manor is a vacation villa in the Ancient Mielikkian style, with complete internal facilities, as well as residences for staff such as servants, craftsmen, and guards, plus several workshops. Currently, the manor's main income comes from those workshops."

"What kind of workshops are there?"

"The workshops involve sugar refining, brewing, furniture, and artistic decoration, and the raw materials come from the Cloud Maple Forest on the outskirts of the manor."

"I see. Then what is the annual revenue?"

"The annual income is over 200,000 Hillmer, with an annual growth rate of about 4%, but the expenses are also very high; the wages for the manor's employees alone are close to 100,000 Hillmer."

Evereska also issues its own currency, but the currency most commonly used by the public is still the currency of Cormanthor; Hillmer is the Cormanthor Gold Coin.

One Hillmer converts to Nether Gold Coin at a rate of about 1.2 to 1.5.

In other words, the pure annual income from just these workshops at Golden Maple Manor is as much as about 150,000 (Nether Gold Coins), which is even higher than the annual pure income of the former Savile Territory (including the Tower of Time)!

It is no wonder that Nether merchants would sharpen their heads to break into the Elf World.

It is just that, while the manor has an annual income of over 200,000 Hillmer, the expenses take up nearly half, and this does not include the maintenance costs of the manor itself; the actual pure income has to be discounted further.

"If I were to replace the craftsmen in the workshops with humans, would I be able to save more than half the expenses?"

"Ah?"

Upon hearing this remark from Xia Duo, Lajieer was practically stunned. Only after coming to his senses did he hurriedly try to stop him, "My Lord, you must not! Elf craftsmen are the guarantee of the product quality of Golden Maple Manor. If you replace them with humans, the wage expenditure would indeed decrease, but the income would also drop significantly!"

"I was just joking, don't take it seriously."

In fact, Xia Duo was not entirely joking. If this manor had not been a gift from the Golden Maple Family, but rather something he had purchased himself, he would indeed have had the thought of replacing the Elf craftsmen with humans.

Even if the quality were to decrease, or if one were to simply say that Elf society does not recognize human products, one could completely slap on the label of an Elf manor and then export them to Netheril; the income might even double!

Of course, this is considering it purely from a commercial perspective.

If one considers the development of local industries and the infiltration of Elf culture, then one cannot do that; instead, one must vigorously promote human products and human brands.

Therefore, even if Xia Duo could export the products of Golden Maple Manor to Netheril right now to make a fortune, he would not do so.

……

"How much is the annual maintenance cost for the manor?"

"This aspect is completely outsourced to Vidas Workshop. The fixed annual expenditure is 24,000 Hillmer, with the price renegotiated every ten years. During the service period, Vidas Workshop will respond to calls at any time to come and repair or maintain the manor's Magic Facility."

"Vidas Workshop?"

"Yes, Vidas Workshop is one of the top-ranked construction workshops in Evereska. If you are not satisfied, My Lord, you can also change to another service provider, but the current contract between the manor and Vidas Workshop still has two years left. If we terminate the contract early, we would need to pay a penalty."

"No need to change, I just have some impression of this name."

The Evereska Street Lamp Advertisement renovation project was handled by Vidas Workshop. If they have the ability to secure municipal engineering projects, maintaining a manor certainly won't be a problem.

In any case, there are only two years left in the contract; at worst, we can change to a different service provider then.

However, Xia Duo's impression of Vidas Workshop is actually quite good, mainly due to the impression left when he visited the street lamp renovation site earlier. The team sent by Vidas Workshop was professional and efficient enough that they didn't even feel like Elves.

They completed the renovation of all the street lamps in Evereska city in a short time; the fact that the advertisement for the Tower of Time's Void Warehouse could be hung up so quickly is also thanks to Vidas Workshop.

The iconic building he is currently (arranging for designers) to design for hosting the New Wind Art Exhibition should, if nothing goes wrong, also be handed over to Vidas Workshop to build.

This is the effect of a first impression. If this workshop doesn't pull any outrageous stunts in the future, as long as there is a place where they can be used, Xia Duo will likely prioritize them.

……

From the history of the manor's architecture and decorations to the habits of the maple trees on the outskirts of the manor, Lajieer's introduction was meticulous. It is just a pity that the time Xia Duo had agreed upon with the designers like Yikejita was a bit tight; otherwise, listening to it all would have been a rather nice sightseeing experience.

"Let's leave the rest for next time, take me to the conference room now!"

"Yes, My Lord."

……

Inside the conference room, the thirteen contracted designers were sitting upright. Seeing this, Xia Duo felt a bit amused; it was nothing more than a change to a formal meeting occasion, yet they were so constrained.

It is no wonder; these thirteen designers are either incompatible with the mainstream design world or have some deficiencies in their abilities. Most importantly, they are all able to accept thematic designs under human leadership.

If they were those mainstream, famous designers, they probably wouldn't come here to be used by Xia Duo.

"Everyone, a week has passed. Do you have your proposals?"

"We already have preliminary proposals, please take a look, Lord Xia Duo!"

Saying this, Yikejita, acting as the representative, handed the proposals to Xia Duo.