Renly went to Witt's room in the evening to talk.
"We're broke. You had me spend all the remaining money on this outfit and accessories. Are you sure we can make money this time?"
Witt looked at Renly's opulent clothes and accessories. "You have to package yourself when you do business. Even if you're broke, you have to look rich. It increases their trust in you."
"I'm the Duke of Storm's End! Do I really need to do this? Am I really going to be a merchant?" Renly was somewhat puzzled.
"You're the Duke of Storm's End, but you're only a ten-year-old duke. And there are rich dukes and poor dukes."
Witt answered Renly's questions one by one.
"By creating the image of wealth, even if you're penniless, people will think you have money and want to do business with you. For example, with the Cocoa Beans, I negotiated to pay next quarter. When we sell the first batch of chocolate, we'll have money."
Witt and Renly's business arrangement was a seven-three split; Renly took seventy percent. He covered the capital, workers, venue, transportation, and sales. Witt took thirty percent, providing the technology, sales strategies, and worker training.
"There's no need for me to demonstrate it personally. I've memorized those lines I used in the hall today," Renly said, now growing up and starting to care about his image.
"Every new thing needs a leader to get it started. And you, the Duke of Storm's End, are both the seller and the best leader."
Witt placed a hand on Renly's shoulder.
"You build a wealthy image and maintain good business credit. When you do business in the future, just standing there, even without saying a word, a glance from you will automatically seal the deal!"
Renly's heart surged at the thought of making deals with just a glance. "Then I'll give it a try?"
"No need to try. Every morning, tell yourself: I can do it, and then you definitely will!"
Renly nodded heavily.
He knew from a young age that his younger brother was incredibly intelligent and had even taught him magic. He'd been forced to study and train when he was young, but as he grew up, he realized he was far ahead of his peers. His brother always thought of him first and had never let him down.
So, while he was incredibly grateful and admiring of his brother, he sometimes wondered, who was truly the older sibling? Had their parents gotten the birth order wrong?
~~~
After the business was settled, others would take over the details. Witt and Renly prepared to watch the tournament.
Stannis was also there. He'd been paid by Mace Tyrell to organize the tournament. Witt hadn't seen him yesterday because he'd been busy with the preparations.
In the past, when Tywin was Hand of the King for twenty years, he advocated for tournaments. However, those tournaments were organized by various nobles to display their strength, spending their own money and offering prizes, just to gain some reputation. In reality, they usually lost money.
But since the Storm's End tournament a few years ago, Stannis had been making a lot of money from each tournament. After Robert became king, he found all sorts of reasons to hold tournaments, and Stannis was always the one in charge.
King Robert lived extravagantly, and his spending was huge. He didn't have a dedicated Minister of Finance, so Jon Arryn was handling it in addition to his other duties. Jon was okay at governing, but everyone agreed that he wasn't very good at making money. So, he borrowed from all over, from Tywin, from Highgarden, and from Storm's End. But after each tournament, he'd pay back a sum.
Later, the Small Council ministers all knew that this Naval Minister was not doing his job. Every time, he relied on betting on jousting tournaments to get Robert some money back. Robert told them to keep it a secret, as no one would talk about making money. But the news always got out.
The Seven were the gods of the Westeros continent, and their doctrines did not approve of gambling, and opposed bastardy, with the most serious curses being incest, patricide, etc. Everyone thought incest and patricide were very serious, and once a mistake was made, it was basically a death sentence or being sent to the Night's Watch. But gambling and bastardy were not such serious crimes; what everyone said and what they did were two different things.
Other nobles had also tried to learn to open betting pools, but the various odds were not so easy to set. There was even a noble who sold his own castle after holding a jousting tournament.
Robert couldn't hold a jousting tournament every month in King's Landing. Now it was a time of peace, and Stannis always had free time. Mace Tyrell found connections to ask Stannis to help Highgarden hold a jousting tournament and promised a generous reward.
Witt found Stannis. The people who organized the jousting tournament were from Highgarden, but the operation of the betting pools and other matters were all handled by Stannis's own people. His uncle, Lomas Yisemon, also came along. Mace Tyrell could only check the accounts; in any case, he just wanted to make money.
His uncle went to Dragonstone and was now his second brother's vassal. His other uncle was Renly's vassal back home, a typical case of betting on both sides.
"Second Brother, Uncle," Witt and Renly greeted the two men.
"Witt is here. You wrote in your letter that you had something good for me; what is it?" Stannis was still expressionless.
"If you hadn't written that letter, Stannis wouldn't have agreed to come to Highgarden, and we'd still be training the navy," said his uncle, Lomas, immediately.
"What navy are you training? It's just an excuse to set up a gambling den, isn't it? As if I didn't know. Come on, let's go to that table."
They were all family, so there was no need to mince words, just straight talk. Witt took out the Mahjong and the square box, set up the chairs, and the four of them sat down, one on each side.
"This is called Mahjong, and there are 144 tiles in total."
Witt took the Mahjong tiles out of the box and taught the other three the rules, playing a few rounds.
"It's a game of skill, of course, there's some luck involved. But skill is the most important thing."
"But you need four people, and this game isn't suitable for the poor. Second Brother, you can find a spacious shop in the noble gathering area of King's Landing, preferably with several floors, providing comfortable seating and high-quality Mahjong tiles. The upper floors should have independent small rooms."
Both Stannis and his uncle's eyes lit up as they listened.
"The imitation of these Mahjong tiles is simple. The key is who you play with. If Renly can find a luxurious venue and organize a few nobles to join a game, the other nobles will follow. The money isn't in selling the Mahjong tiles themselves, but in the room fees, drinks, and a cut of the winnings. You know what I mean."
Witt wasn't sure if Mahjong would catch on. After all, there were many places in the present world where it wasn't played, and no matter how much you tried to convince people, they wouldn't. It was a matter of cultural acceptance, and there was no solution.
"I'll give these to you. In exchange, all the Mahjong tiles used in King's Landing will have to be ordered from Storm's End. These are just samples. Later, I'll have Renly purchase the most luxurious materials for the craftsmen to use. They'll feel amazing to the touch."
"Agreed. We'll talk more after I'm finished." Stannis's usual concise style.
....
Fully Completed English PDF of this fan-fic on my Patreon shop if you want to support and own the full fan-fic in one go. Just grab the PDF and binge the entire story from start to finish!
Patreon.com/AniFic