Chương 300: 296. Dealmaking - II

Kivamus handed over the wooden bowl containing the reddish powder to the merchant.

"This is called a medicine - which is like an improved, refined version of a healing herb like losuvil. This medicine works wonders whether you have a small cut on your finger, a large wound, or even a high fever. Although it's not feasible for me to prove its efficacy to you unless you are willing to enter a bout of sparring with my guard captain."

"Wait, what?" Pydaso asked nervously.

"I'm not insane! I don't want to fight any of your guards... Certainly not the guard captain - who'd break my bones wi th a single hand!"

"Don't worry," Kivamus reassured the merchant.

"I only meant to say that for us to fully prove that the medicine really works, perhaps the only way for you to believe it would be to apply it on your wound, but that's not feasible unless you already have a wound or a fever. That being said, this medicine can also be ingested along with some water, and it will work even faster. From our tests, I have seen that with a bigger dose of it, this medicine will take away a man's pain completely even if he had his arm cut off."

Seeing the merchant's disbelieving expression, he added, "Trust me, we already had a chance to verify that, not that we wanted to." Pydaso frowned.

"You mean this medicine is something like a much better version of losuvil paste? How does this even work?" Kivamus shrugged.

"I can't disclose the inner workings of it at the moment, to you or to anyone else. For now, all I can say is that even a small pinch of this medicine is enough for most minor cuts and injuries, while a double or triple dose can be taken to bring down a fever or for more serious wounds. That's all you need to know for now to sell it.

However, the best part is that unlike losuvil leaves—which have to be used within a few hours in the summer and within a few days in the winter so they don't lose their effect—this medicine easily lasts for months. I don't yet know for how long exactly, but it might even be a year, or perhaps longer." The portly merchant looked speechless at this point. Kivamus continued, "In the future, I plan to make small tablets of this medicine to make it easier to measure and use.

For that I'll need you to start bringing some small glass jars in the future - or rather the cheaper ceramic jars - to easily store and transport the tablets. So tell me, will you be able to sell this as well? Without letting anyone know about the source of it? It has to be done in a way so you don't paint a target on your back either." Pydaso stared at him.

"While I'll still have to find some way to check if this really works before I leave this village, I don't think you are lying. But if you have really managed to produce something like this here - which is going to be revolutionary to say the least - simply by the number of lives it is going to save, then I don't think you have any reason to lie about being able to make paper here." He looked at Kivamus for a moment.

"Just who are you, milord?" Kivamus shrugged.

"I am just an... unconventional noble who wants to do the best for his people, that's all." He thought to credit Syrene with the discovery of the medicine, but that probably wouldn't be safe for her. For now it would be better to keep her scientific skills hidden from outside eyes.

"As for how, well, I've mentioned that I used to read a lot when I lived in the Ulriga palace. I'm just building upon the things I learnt there. So, the point is, can you sell it?" Pydaso exhaled loudly.

"Unlike selling paper, for which we will eventually have to deal with the guilds of Plumron, there is no such guild regulating the supply of a similar medicine like this, simply because it doesn't exist anywhere. The herbalists in every town and city cultivate a small patch of losuvil leaves in their gardens, and use it to supply a fresh paste to anyone who needs it at a premium price. That means we won't have to deal with a guild obstructing the sales of this medicine. That's the good news."

The merchant continued, "On the other hand, unlike paper - which is still fairly mundane, if too costly to be used commonly - this medicine is going to be something that is craved by every noble who hears of it - including for their personal use as well as for their retinue, while all the merchants will want it to sell it at extortionate prices to anyone who really needs it to raise their profits.

That means they'll do their best to find its real source, which would mean all kinds of trouble for both you and me, which is why we'll really have to make sure that nobody finds the source of it any time soon." Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"That is true enough," Kivamus said.

"Can't you use that same trader in Ulriga who imports goods from visiting sea merchants? That will disguise the source easily enough, as long as he keeps his mouth shut."

"That's the thing, isn't it?" Pydaso muttered.

"I don't know him well enough to be sure if he will keep his mouth shut - especially where such big profits are involved. That's why I think it would be better for me to take some time and form a better trading relationship with him by selling him the paper you make. I would like around a month or so to see if he really is trustworthy enough by asking around through a third person to see if he is gossiping about the real source of the paper.

Assuming he turns out to be reliable, I can then try selling the medicine through him." Kivamus nodded.

"That actually works for us. Our stock of this medicine is nearly used up, and we'd need around a month or so to make more of it. By that time we should be able to make single-use tablets of this medicine and you should also have found out if that trader is trustworthy, and then we can start selling it to him." Pydaso smiled.

"That sounds good to me. The amount of iron ingots I've brought should easily last you long enough for me to travel back to Ulriga to meet with him and try selling him the paper. I think it would take me around a week to reach there, including any stops on the way, and another week to return here.

Adding a few more days for any minor problems on the road like another wheel getting loose - my wagons are getting old after all - and some extra time to make a good deal with him, it would mean that I should be back here in around 20 days." He added, "At that time I'd like to buy a bigger quantity of paper from you, so I can return to Ulriga and sell it to him again and find out if there are any rumours about the real source of the paper.

Assuming everything is fine, I should be back again in another 20 days, and by that time you would probably have a stock of this medicine as well. By the time of my third visit to him, I will confirm if that trader is keeping his word, and assuming he is, I will start selling the medicine to him. That reminds me, what do you call this medicine? Does it have a name or something?" Kivamus glanced at the majordomo. They hadn't had a chance to think about this yet.

Taking a moment to consider the options, he got an idea of including the name of Syrene as well as their village in the name of the medicine, since that's who had played the biggest part in creating it and Tiranat is where it was created. But he immediately realized that even if they ignored the security risks of it - since doing that would disclose the real source of the medicine - this was not going to be the last invented product created here.

That meant they had to give it a name which would keep it unique even after other new products were made here. He recalled that back on earth, the name of any medicine was usually derived based on what its primary purpose was, as well as the source from where it was created.

Here, this medicine had properties similar to acetylsalicylic acid - commonly known as aspirin - as well as that of an antibiotic, since this powder worked to prevent infections in any wounds as well, while it was created from the leaves of losuvil vines. Using that concept, some possible names for it could be losutic, vilotic or acelos. Hmm... Losutic sounded like the name of some bug, while vilotic... didn't sound like a medicine.

Acelos - which was coined from the first syllable of acetylsalicylic acid, and that of losuvil - sounded better. That could work. He looked at the merchant.

"Acelos. It's called Acelos." Pydaso nodded.

"Acelos, huh? I think that's an interesting name. What about the pricing?"

"Like you said earlier, it is going to save a lot of lives, so I don't want to profit too much from it," Kivamus explained, "but I do want to charge enough to cover our costs and make a reasonable profit." He looked at Duvas.

"How much had you mentioned that a single use portion of fresh losuvil paste sells for in Cinran?"

"Usually it's around a week's wages of a labourer." The majordomo continued, "That would be around 60 to 70 copper coins per portion. In other words, 6 to 7 silver coins for a single use." Kivamus took a moment to think about what the price of this medicine should be. Ideally, it should be cheap enough that even a poor labourer should be easily able to afford it to cure his child, without him spending a week's wages on it.

Since most of the unskilled labourers earned around 8 to 10 coppers every day, from which they also had to feed their family, the price should ideally only be somewhere around one or two coppers at most. However, there were three problems with that approach which he could already think of.