Parallel (A Virtual Gamer's Story) [Vol.1 - Vol.4 Complete]

Chapter 189: The Vampire's Prince

Aygorzi, Merriheim.

11:10 a.m. 16th Banem 1092

Absalon traveled through Aygorzi's streets on horseback and marveled at the ongoing construction all over the city. The speed with which new buildings were erected reminded the magician that this was indeed a gaming world. There was no way these feats would be possible in real life.

Regarding construction, the dwarfs chose to incrementally develop the city as it was far too large to develop all at once. Hence, about three-quarters of the entire outer region was temporarily walled off, while the remaining sector was populated with numerous residential and commercial buildings.

A structure suddenly blocked out the afternoon sunlight. Absalon looked up and let out a wry smile as he admired the overhead pass. He could not see it from his position, but there were tracks on that pass for trains which the dwarfs intended on fully releasing in a week or two. However, most of the tracks were laid underground.

Absalon turned his sight from the overhead pass to a large dome-like structure that was a replica of the Emporium in Meilfour. Miote, unsatisfied with having an Emporium at Meilfour, decided to make it a franchise located in every major city.

The Emporium, which acted as this world's version of a mall, housed stores from several dozen artisans and artists. One could find almost anything they wanted, be it food, jewelry, clothing, or armor.

Within these shops, the most popular were those that had the Maggot logo. These were the products that were usually made with the highest quality materials and enhanced with the best runes. The Maggots, armed with Kashi's runes and the recently acquired daebens' runic proficiency, had shot light years ahead of the competition.

Miote, that crafty cat, saw the opportunity to expand following the battle and quickly paid the dwarfs a significant sum to have the Emporium built. The effect of having this structure in the newly developing city soon reared its head. Everyone in Aygorzi, be they dwarfs or immigrants, soon identified themselves with the building as they could find almost everything they needed in one place.

As for how profitable this business was for the Maggots? The building's construction cost about 25 million Syros, an exorbitant sum only made possible because of the firm business foundations laid down by Miote and Leila. The guild's daily income from its several businesses and the 5% contribution tax on its members all summed up to over 1.5 million Syros a day. However, after paying several workers and soldiers (A.K.A Absalon's army), the actual profit was about 500,000 Syros.

This was without adding the cheat code that was Lunette Falsetto. This young woman's concerts were always sold out, drawing in about 300,000 Syros from a steady crowd of about 60,000 adoring fans.

To put it simply, 25 million Syros might be a mighty, unreasonable sum for most guilds, but under Miote's leadership, 25 million could easily be recouped in a few months. But Miote had never been one to wait that long to make a profit. Most of the shops in the new Emporium were affiliated with the Maggots. The Maggots taught the artisans how to use unique runes to improve their crafts and taught them new, trendy designs. These artisans would then give 10% of their total income to the guild.

Alternatively, some artisans asked the Maggots to teach them and provide the materials for their crafts. Miote naturally used his connections with Joanna Frye of the mercenary guild, Fang & Blade, to transport the items farmed by the Maggots to the artisans. Unlike the previous set, these artisans had a 70-30% split in favor of the Maggots.

With all these in place, the Emporium's regular businesses currently made an average daily profit of about 200,000 Syros, which was sure to improve as more residents flocked to Merriheim. However, if anyone thought that was all there was to this Emporium, they clearly did not know Miote that well.