Chapter 457: Profit

"The Guild Healing Hall averages sixty-two thousand gold coins daily. Treatment charges are deliberately kept reasonable for registered Adventurers, so it isn’t designed to maximize profit. Non-Adventurers pay more."

Sage approved immediately. "Keep it that way. Injured Adventurers shouldn’t avoid treatment because they’re afraid of the bill."

Irene nodded. "Elowen agrees. The Alchemy and Potion Center averages fifty-onethousand daily from ordinary potions, refinement services and commissioned work. Again, that should increase as Adventurers bring more ingredients back from missions."

"The Library?" Sage asked.

"Seventeen thousand gold coins per day," Irene answered.

Boren looked surprised. "People pay to read?"

"People pay for access to restricted records, copied materials, monster information and certain advanced references," Irene explained. "Basic Guild information remains freely available to members. Lucien would probably strangle us with a scroll if we tried charging Adventurers for everything."

Sage began adding the figures mentally, but Irene had already prepared the total.

She turned to the final page. "Average recurring gross revenue from our major earning facilities is currently approximately one million six hundred and forty-nine thousand gold coins per day."

This time even Boren went silent.

Sage stared at the figure.

Irene continued calmly. "If activity remained unchanged for thirty days, that’s approximately forty-nine million four hundred and seventy thousand gold coins in gross monthly revenue."

Boren finally whispered, "We’re rich."

"No," Irene replied immediately.

Boren stared at her. "You just said fortynine million."

"I said gross revenue." Irene rolled her eyes at him.

"You keep ruining beautiful numbers."

Irene pulled the second account book forward. "Now we discuss expenses."

Boren leaned back. "I suddenly have somewhere else to be."

"Sit down."

Boren remained seated.

Irene opened the expenditure ledger. "Current operating expenses average approximately nine hundred and seventy thousand gold coins per day."

Sage’s expression changed.Irene began counting them off rather than burying him beneath a single number. "Employee wages across the Headquarters average one hundred and eighty thousand daily when calculated across the pay period.

Food and ingredients for restaurants and hotel operations average ninety-three thousand. Smithing ores, charcoal and replacement materials average seventy-one thousand. Potion ingredients and medicinal supplies average forty-six thousand. Feed, stable maintenance, wagon repairs and transport costs average thirty-eight thousand."

She turned the page.

"Maintenance of the Mana Tower and other major formations averages one hundred and twenty-five thousand gold coins per day. Headquarters security, guard equipment and protective formations account for another eighty-two thousand. Building maintenance, water, sanitation, lamp oil, firewood, parchment, ink, replacement furniture and miscellaneous supplies average ninety-four thousand."

Boren raised his hand. "How much of replacement furniture is Adventurers?"

Irene looked directly at him. "Enough that Garran has proposed fines."

Boren lowered his hand. "Reasonable."

Irene continued. "Warehousing, material storage losses, spoiled goods and processing expenses account for approximately sixty-three thousand. Mission administration and payments not covered directly by clients add another ninety-seven thousand. The remaining eighty-one thousand covers smaller expenses spread throughout the complex."

Sage looked between the two totals. "So we’re spending nearly a million every day."

"Approximately," Irene confirmed. "Which leaves recurring operating profit around six hundred and seventy-nine thousand gold coins per day under current conditions."

Boren blinked. "That’s still twenty million a month."

"Approximately twenty million three hundred and seventy thousand," Irene corrected. "Before unexpected major expenses, expansion costs or emergencies."

Sage leaned back slowly. The Headquarters was enormously profitable. It was also enormously hungry.

"And the auction?" Sage asked.

Irene immediately closed the recurring-income book and pulled forward a separate parchment . "Separate. Completely separate. I refuse to let you mentally combine auction windfalls with normal Guild operations."

Sage smiled. "You really don’t trust me."

"Correct," Irene answered without hesitation.

Boren pointed toward her. "See? She admits it."

Irene ignored him and continued. "The first Grand Auction produced several hundred million gold coins in total sales. After accounting for the treasures that belonged directly to the Guild, handling costs and other obligations, it represents an extraordinary increase to our treasury. But it is not recurring revenue."

Sage’s smile faded. That was the important part.The Mana Tower could earn tomorrow.

The restaurants could earn tomorrow. The hotel, Exchange, Smithing Complex, Processing Center and other facilities could earn tomorrow but Starfall Severance couldn’t be sold tomorrow because it was gone, neither could Voidstride or the Golden Mana Liquid.

Irene folded her hands. "The Headquarters is successful, Sage. More successful than I expected this early. But Kingdom-wide expansion cannot depend upon you opening the Vault whenever we need another fifty million gold coins."

Sage looked again at the figures. "Then the Exchange and processing facilities matter more than the Shop."

"Long term? Absolutely," Irene replied. "The best income is generated by activity we don’t have to personally supply. Adventurers return with materials. Merchants purchase them. Craftsmen process them. The Guild provides the trusted place where everyone meets and earns from the movement."

Sage rose and walked toward the window. Below, Adventurers crossed the grounds between the Mission Hall, Exchange, Mana Tower and surrounding facilities. For the first time, he wasn’t looking at buildings.

He was looking at an economy.

"The Guild Shop sells our goods," Sage said thoughtfully. "The Exchange lets everyone sell through us."

Irene smiled faintly. "Now you understand why I like the Exchange."

Boren lifted the final pastry from his plate and nodded toward Irene. "I’ve decided she’s terrifying, but useful."

Irene closed the ledger. "And I’ve decided the food budget remains unchanged."

Boren froze with the pastry halfway to his mouth. "Why must every financial discussion become personal?"

Sage laughed, but his attention remained on the Headquarters outside.

Nearly one million seven hundred thousand gold coins flowed through its facilities every day, and almost a million flowed back out simply keeping everything alive. As the Guild expanded, both numbers would become larger.

The Vault had given him a tremendous advantage. The Grand Auction had given him a fortune. either could become a crutch.

If the Adventurer Guild was going to spread throughout the Kingdom and one day far beyond it, then its greatest treasure couldn’t be whatever ancient weapon Sage happened to pull from storage.

It had to be the system of missions, Adventurers, merchants, craftsmen and facilities that made gold move through the Guild every single day.