“10 days from now, I want to go see my sister who lives in Schwarn Village. I haven’t seen her in over 10 years. I believe it’s a one-day round trip by carriage, is that correct? I should send her a letter asking to meet.”
“You are all set. You will be able to see your sister soon.”
“We want to go see Lake Haltain, which is a famous honeymoon destination. Can we use a carriage for that?”
“Reservation confirmed. We will come to pick you up in front of your house on the morning of the day you requested, 3 days from now.”
“To think we can actually go on a honeymoon… Mike… I’m so excited…”
“Prill. I’ll make you even more excited when we get there.”
“You’re crazy!”
Prill gave Mike a playful *thump* on the chest. The two soon-to-be newlyweds were oblivious to the fact that they were making everyone else around them cringe.
It was almost unheard of for a young commoner couple to travel to another village for their honeymoon. But thanks to Maber, the two were able to head to the distant Lake Haltain for their post-wedding trip.
“We are Chocodan, a Fifth Grade Merchant Guild. We supply mint to the surrounding villages. Until now, carriages were too expensive, so we hired several people to walk for several days to make the deliveries. When we did the math, coming here was actually cheaper. We deliver mint to various shops on a regular basis, so renting a carriage for 1 day seems perfect.”
Small Merchant Guilds, which previously had to hire people to carry heavy goods by hand due to the lack of carriages, could now make deliveries quickly using the new service.
Being a Grand City, the stories were as diverse as the people. There were many people looking to use a carriage for as little as 1 hour to as long as over a day.
After taking orders for a long time, Meat came running over.
“William, this is huge! The one-week schedule is already packed. Starting tomorrow, we’re going to be busy enough to lose our minds.”
The “opening effect” was massive. While it might not always stay this intense, the numbers would likely grow steadily. In the future, the number of customers using carriages would only increase.
“I might have to double the number of Mabers soon…”
I joked with Meat, but that was all it was. It wasn’t the right timing to expand the infrastructure just yet. The demand might have temporarily spiked because a fascinating new service had just opened.
Once the demand was fully verified and the number of customers predicted, we could expand slowly and conservatively.
Everyone had been moving busily since the morning. Since many operations were scheduled for today, horses and carriages were being prepared diligently at the carriage docking station.
“For now, I think we’ll need about two more employees to help out.”
“Great. Meat, from now on, I want you as the person in charge to make the decisions regarding field operations. Please take good care of the Maber business, even if I’m away for a while.”
“Are you really leaving? Can the business proceed properly without you?”
“Hey, you’re the Vice Merchant Leader. I believe in you.”
“Alright. I heard it was something important… You’ll come by often, right?”
“Of course. Maber is the first business of the Unicorn Merchant Guild.”
The Maber business was the core distribution business that would serve as the backbone of the Unicorn Merchant Guild.
Common carriages handled people and relatively large logistics, and in the future, it would be great to expand into areas more closely related to daily life, such as delivery services.
“I think it would be good to create a city tour tourism product using Maber as well,” Meat suggested. It was a good idea.
“But I’m afraid my ideas might be wrong.”
“Meat, don’t be afraid to try! Success is something that comes after countless failures.”
These were the words of Sergey, the founder of Gogol.
Tyson—who wondered why fans had to use blades and why sticky notes had to be stuck and peeled easily—also created a successful model after numerous failures.
In the United States, there is even an event called FailCon (Failure Conference), a place where people share their failure stories. This culture of recognizing failure as a social asset is something that must be learned.
Gogol has an interesting space called the ‘Gogol Cemetery.’ The internet empire Gogol gathers its discontinued services every year and commemorates them with tombstones.
If you enter the website, you can see that over 150 services have been discontinued in the form of a cemetery image. It briefly records service descriptions, launch dates, discontinuation dates, ages, and types.
Gogol is both the most innovative company and the company that has failed the most. The reason is that they made various attempts to change the world.
I hope this kind of entrepreneurship is ingrained in our Unicorn Merchant Guild as well. Even if another unfortunate service ends up in the cemetery, we must challenge a new business area today.
“Thanks, William.”
‘Remember that heart well. Because from the moment I leave this afternoon, you’ll probably start swearing at me.’
Things were about to get truly hectic. ‘I’m always welcome to an SOS wherever I am.’
It wasn’t an empty promise. Running a startup was no easy task.
“I’m already losing my mind. Oh, right—before you leave, Sir Hailey and Julie said they had a gift for you.”
“Huh? A gift? Really?”
“They told me to tell you to come see them before you leave this afternoon, since things are so hectic right now.”
I was looking forward to it. During the morning, I helped out with the Maber work as well. After frantically managing the dispatch and sending off several carriages, the morning flew by.
“Well, it looks like the morning tasks are mostly sorted out.”
It was time to leave. Slot and I said our goodbyes to everyone and prepared to head to Tanden. We were already long-term customers of Maber. Renting one carriage for one week was expected to cost around 90 silver.
“I forgot to set aside a carriage in advance… It should be fine, right?”
Sir Hailey Patrik, Juli Taylor, and Hyde Taylor, who had heard the news of our departure, were waiting for us next to the Maber office. And standing next to them was a carriage I hadn’t seen before.
“Wow, that’s magnificent.”
A massive carriage stood before us. It was luxurious at a glance and had a spacious interior. It was a carriage that stood out with its classic, curved lines and exquisite decorations.
“Our Patrik Family has started producing carriages ourselves, but until now, we were only a sales branch for the luxury line of Roll Royce… Since you purchased Patrik+ in bulk this time, we decided to completely wind down the commissioned sales line. This is a gift I am giving to you.”
Come to think of it, they did say there was a gift… And it was a whole carriage?
“Why are you giving this to me?”
Though I feigned humility with my words, my eyes were fixed on the carriage. I was even salivating.
“Should I call it a gift of friendship? It’s a bit of a burdensome gift, but think of it as a gift from a companion on the same boat—no, in the same carriage.”
Good heavens. Good grief. It was a truly wonderful carriage. While the Fort Rick 7 was a great carriage, its utility was emphasized… This carriage, however, seemed to possess both utility and luxury. The space looked twice as large as well.
“It is a fine carriage, but not an extravagantly expensive one. This carriage is built to be sturdy, focusing more on travel. It even has a name. It was named ‘Caliber,’ after the name of the Mythril mine that was a major historical discovery in the Kingdom. It’s a good carriage that is sturdy and can carry many people, so please use it carefully.”
My jaw dropped, and I barely managed to pull it back up. Wait, even after pulling it up, it kept dropping. It would look quite uncool if I made it too obvious…
“Thank you, Sir Hailey.”
“Organization Leader. Your jaw is going to fall off. Be careful…”
But there was another gift. What else would a carriage need? Horses, of course. Juli Taylor walked over, leading two horses.
‘Wait… Could it be?’
“William, I have a gift too. They are twin horses that I cherish. I named them Thor and Lux, after the names of heroes. Both are Goldshim Andalusians, a breed strong in combat.”
‘Goldshim Andalusian! That’s definitely the famous horse I saw at the other ranch and wanted so badly.’
Thor and Lux. In the hero tales of this world, there is a story of famous twin warriors named Thor and Lux.
It’s a myth-like story related to the birth of many ancient kingdoms, telling of twins who shared deep brotherly love but became enemies due to a misunderstanding.
Come to think of it, the structure seemed similar to the story of Thor and Loki from Earth’s myths.
“Thank you, Julie. I don’t know if I can accept such a gift…”
“What are you talking about? They are 20 gold each.”
Wow… That’s the price of forty Maber horses. Julie spoke with a smile.
“I’m joking. They are horses worth that much, though. I’m giving them as a gift.”
I didn’t know exactly how things were unfolding, but a private jet… no, a private carriage for the Unicorn Merchant Guild had been born. Caliber, Thor, and Lux. Even if I had tried to buy the horses and carriage right away without starting the Maber business, they were so expensive that I could never have bought them with the money I had.
‘I definitely made the right choice starting a startup.’
I looked at Sir Hailey and Julie with an expression full of emotion. Oh? Now that I looked, there was one more person standing there. Slot and I looked at Hyde Taylor.
Three people were standing there, and since one gave a carriage and the other gave horses, we sent him a look that said he should cough something up too.
‘Don’t you have anything?’
“Wh… what? Why are you looking at me like that?” Hyde panicked. “Argh, how did you know? I was going to talk to you when my sister wasn’t around…”
As expected! Hyde, you have something too, don’t you? Since he’s a Monk, maybe it’s a blessing of the holy attribute… Anything is fine.
Hyde hesitated for a moment before speaking. “Take me into your guild.”
“Thanks… Wait, what?”
I almost said thank you before I realized what he said and spoke in surprise.
“I mean, hire me for your Unicorn Merchant Guild.”
It was an unexpected request.
“Haha… Organization Leader. It seems Hyde wants to join the Unicorn Merchant Guild…”
I know that, you brat. I’m listening to him right now. My words repeated because I was suddenly flustered, but I soon regained my composure.
“What’s the reason?”
“Re… Reason?”
“There must be a reason for you to suddenly accompany us.”
“Well… it’s because… first of all, it seems like you’re doing interesting things… and I also overheard you’re going to meet a mage…”
He must have overheard me and Slot discussing our destination last time.
“And I have a feeling that if I’m with you guys, I’ll run into the demon race. This is just my hunch, though.”
No. I want to live a quiet startup life in this otherworld. I don’t want to be entangled with scary beings like the demon race…
Slot and I whispered in the corner. When the discussion dragged on, Hyde eventually lost his patience and shouted.
“How can men be so timid! Are you going to let me join or not?”
Our opinion was the same.
“Alright, Hyde. Welcome to the Unicorn Merchant Guild.”
Hyde joined the Unicorn Merchant Guild as a mercenary. Of course, it wasn’t for free. He signed a contract for a salary 1 silver lower than Slot’s. Aren’t Monks messengers of God? Can’t they do volunteer work?
***
There was a brief commotion, but it was settled well. I’d welcome this kind of pleasant commotion any time.
It was finally time to leave. Hyde was sitting in the coachman’s seat.
“I’ll drive first, and we can switch later. How were you planning to go without even a coachman?”
Well, I didn’t know I’d get a carriage and horses, and I was planning to rent a horse, carriage, and coachman from Maber for a long term… Since we’d be taking turns driving the carriage from now on, I decided to learn how to drive one later.
Slot tried it out as a test and seemed to be quite proficient at it.
What a cheat character. Come on, I was a Type 1 driver’s license holder back in the Republic of Korea.
Meat said, “William. When you get in touch, make sure to reply by carrier pigeon and visit often. And refrain from doing large-scale idiotic things.”
“Be good, Meat. If you ruin my business, I’ll chase you to the ends of the Earth to get my revenge.”
We shared a warm final blessing.
I also said goodbye to Sir Hailey and Julie Taylor. Upon boarding the Caliber, I saw the messenger bag I had received from Miss Frana Bella, which I had kept hidden away.
The messenger bag contained all my belongings. The Cloak of Protection, which blocked magic once a day. A few sets of clothes, and the pen and paper sets I received as gifts when I formed the guild… Oh, there was also the token given to me by the old man I met at the guild.
Since I had a carriage now and didn’t have to carry it every time, I unrolled the messenger bag to pack the artifacts separately. Sir Hailey was also watching the scene.
‘Oh right… I shouldn’t reveal the artifacts, but it should be fine since they’re trustworthy people, right?’
“What in the world is all this?”
In an instant, Sir Hailey’s eyes grew so wide they looked like they might pop out.
Ah! Did he recognize the artifacts? He has incredible insight. By the way, what kind of dialect was that?
As expected, the artifacts must be incredible items to even make the refined Sir Hailey jump in surprise.
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