Reincarnated Into The Middle Ages

For a month now, every morning a small group of people would run around the estate. With plenty of meat and a stable salary, the members of Hammo's team gradually began to look more spirited.

Every morning, under Norn's guidance, they practiced formation changes and ran with weights. In the afternoons, William led them in thrusting and sparring drills.

Norn stood in front of the warehouse, watching Hammo's team pass by, and vaguely saw a bit of his past university life.

After a few sighs, Norn followed DeMol into his own woolen yarn warehouse.

Bundles and bundles of woolen yarn, sorted by color, filled the huge warehouse. The mixed aroma of various dyes reminded Norn of the unique rusty smell of coins.

Looking at the full warehouse of woolen yarn, Norn's lips curled up into a smile.

"Sasan!"

A young boy walked in from outside, responding in a cold, feminine voice, "Awaiting your command."

Norn looked at the "young boy" in front of him and sighed, "Can you stop changing your appearance all the time?"

"We cannot be easily discovered. It would be detrimental to protecting you."

"Never mind, as long as you respond to your name, that's fine." Norn then said seriously, "I have a mission for you!"

"Please command freely!" Sasan bowed, "Whether it's the life of Saladin or Baldwin, we can fetch it for you."

Norn raised an eyebrow, helplessly saying, "Don't always resort to violence! I just want you to deliver a letter to the textile merchants in town in a normal way! Ask them to send representatives here in three days; I have business to discuss with them."

"Is that all?" Sasan felt underestimated.

"This is just the beginning; there will be much more work to follow!" Norn encouraged.

"By the way, how did you observe Hammo and his men?"

"Though they are of low quality as mercenaries, they are sufficiently loyal as servants," Sasan calmly stated her conclusion.

"That's enough!" Norn replied with satisfaction, "As long as they do their job, I, as the lord, must also find a way to fulfill my promise."

"Next, let's conquer another battlefield," Norn said confidently to Sasan, his eyes twinkling with a light that even Sasan couldn't understand.

Three days later, representatives from over 30 textile workshops of all sizes in the city were sent. Although they didn't quite believe that Norn, this unknown young baron, would have any business, merchants who always believed in making money through harmony would never offend a noble over a small matter.

Merchants and stewards gathered on either side of a long table, looking at the empty hall and whispering to each other.

"Where did this young noble come from? This hall is so shabby."

"Exactly, it's not even as good as my own."

"So what do you think they want us for? Could it be..."

Before the merchant could finish, the hall's door was opened by Hammo, and Norn entered with a group of people.

The merchants all greeted him, and Norn, escorted by three knights, took his seat at the head of the table.

"No need for formalities, time is money, my friends!" Norn got straight to the point, "First, please take a look at the samples in your hands."

He then clapped his hands, and the female workers quickly placed the colorful woolen yarn samples in front of each merchant.

After apologizing, the merchants picked up the woolen yarn in front of them, either rubbing it or washing it to inspect it.

After a while, they whispered to each other. Although their faces didn't change much, Norn still saw a hint of worry in their expressions.

Finally, a representative, chosen by the merchants, stood up and asked Norn, "Your lordship, these woolen yarns are bright in color, diverse, soft, and sturdy. They are of good quality."

"However, your lordship, by showing us these, are you perhaps planning to enter the wool textile business?"

"That's correct. This is the business I want to discuss with all of you," Norn stood up from the bench, realizing he was too short, he simply jumped onto the table.

This caused an immediate uproar in the crowd.

"Silence!" William, standing behind Norn, shouted.

The noise stopped abruptly, and after a while, the leading merchant reluctantly said, "Your lordship, our guild has its own rules. Non-members are not allowed to engage in business."

"I know! But please hear me out."

"In your textile workshops, a skilled weaver takes about 10 days to spin 10 pounds of wool into 8 pounds of yarn, from carding to dyeing. That means the average cost per pound of yarn is around 20 copper pennies."

"But I!" Norn confidently waved his hand, "I'll sell you 1 pound of woolen yarn for just 15 copper pennies!"

This price once again caused an uproar among the merchants. This time, Norn just smiled and watched the merchants' drama, waiting quietly for them to calm down.

"Your lordship, your kindness is truly admirable, but the guild's rules..."

"I have no intention of competing with you. I promise not to sell finished woolen cloth in the Holy City. I will only provide you with cheaper raw materials. How about that?"

The merchants discussed again for a while, and soon the representative happily said, "Then we are naturally grateful for your lordship's kindness. But we wonder about the output of your workshop?"

"Every day, I can produce 400 pounds of woolen yarn. Of course, if you can introduce some wool suppliers to me, the output can be increased further."

"However," Norn still maintained his seemingly innocent smile, "I like to work with those who can seize opportunities. First come, first served."

This caused the merchants to explode into a frenzy, all flattering Norn in an attempt to get a larger share.

Norn still maintained his amiable smile but scanned the crowd for a familiar figure. Norn waved to the serving girl beside him, quietly gave her some instructions, and then continued to finalize the details with everyone.

After signing more than twenty orders, Norn regretfully told the remaining merchants, with a limited output, he could only say it would have to wait for later, under their disappointed gazes.

After seeing off the merchants, the once noisy hall returned to silence, leaving only Norn and his familiar knights.

"Banquet tonight, everyone is invited," Norn could no longer hold back his smile and cheered, causing the others to become excited as well.

In the evening, the originally spacious hall became somewhat crowded with over a hundred people. The outermost layer was the female workers, while the inner part was Hammo's mercenaries, with Norn sitting at the head of the hall, surrounded by his closest knights and Anna, and a serving girl behind him.

Four golden-brown roasted sheep were constantly turning in the hands of the cooks. The rich aroma of dripping fat occasionally hit the fire, creating sizzling smoke. Many children drooled at the sight of the roast sheep.

Looking at the satisfied but clearly divided crowd, Norn tapped his silver goblet. The previously chattering crowd fell silent, looking at Norn.

Norn stood on a chair and toasted everyone.

"No matter who you are here, I, Norn Adler, want to thank everyone for their hard work, which has made our wool workshop profitable."

"I won't waste words. I announce that every month, the best-performing employee from each workshop will be freed from slavery and become my employee, earning a salary of 5 silver denarii per month."

The outer female workers burst into cheers, then quickly realized their mistake and fell silent.

"At the same time, to reward Captain Hammo and his fine lads, the team that wins the monthly end-of-month competition will receive an additional half-month's salary."

Captain Hammo, sitting at the end of the table, quickly stood up and bowed to Norn.

"And my dearest uncles, thank you for volunteering to accompany my uncle to the Holy Land. I decide to give an extra subsidy of 5 gold nomismata per month to improve your lives."

The three knights were initially very surprised that they also received rewards and quickly stood up and bowed to Norn.

In this scene, Norn felt as if he had returned to his past life as a company boss, now giving out year-end bonuses to his employees.

"Let's eat! Tonight, everyone can have a share of lamb and a glass of wine!"

Norn sat down amidst the cheers, and the cook immediately served a piece of the most tender lamb leg. Everyone picked up the specially made knives and forks that Norn had had made and began to eat and chat happily.

"Here, I saved this for you. Sasan," Norn cut a piece of lamb and handed it to the serving girl behind him.

"Thank you for your kindness," Sasan's usually cold tone finally changed a bit.

During the meal, Anna curiously asked, "Norn, why don't you just weave the wool into cloth and sell it? Wouldn't that make more money?"

This made everyone else curious as well, and even Sasan behind him couldn't help but look over.

Norn chuckled a few times, "There are many reasons!"

"First, our foundation is not solid. There's no need to directly conflict with the local textile guild. Even if we overpower them with our technological advantage, it would be hard to establish our sales channels in a short time."

"Second, although I can come up with a loom, it's hard to find skilled workers who can weave various patterns. That means the high-end market for weaving will always be in the hands of those merchants. So it's better to let all the textile merchants work for us, like now."

"Third, we can further monopolize the supply of raw materials to the guild and gradually control the purchase of wool. This way, we can lower the purchase price of wool and make more money."

"What if the guild unites and refuses to buy your woolen yarn?" Anna countered.

Hearing this, Norn laughed again, "They won't. The guild is made up of many people, and no one would give up such an easy opportunity to make money."

Norn picked up a cup of sheep's milk and drank it in one go, finally summarizing, "Merchants, as long as the profit is enough, would sell you the rope to hang themselves."

This left everyone in the room bewildered, except for Anna, whose eyes flashed with understanding.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, William, who was tipsy, jumped onto the table and began to sing and dance merrily, with everyone else joining in the fun.

Norn looked at the happy crowd and felt for the first time that this era wasn't so bad after all.

"By the way!" Norn waved to Sasan behind him, "Come to my room tonight."

"..."