How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

I woke up rubbing my eyes. That dance was wholesome and helped to relieve some of the stress I had built up but now it was time to get back to work...

'Voad, what's the time?' I asked, yawning.

'Do I look like some sort of clock to you? I have some dignity you know.' he retorted, going back to sleep.

I sighed getting out of bed and heading for the bathroom. Today was the day I would head to the Elven Kingdom again; I had to fulfil Prince Landon's task to help the poor. It was better that I wouldn't bring the others, it would distract me.

I already planned some ideas I would be able to use that required little costs; I just had to put them in play.

"Why are you up so early? It's the weekend." Jace yawned, slapping my back, as I packed my bag with extra clothes.

"I have things I need to do, so I'm leaving today. I'll be back in a few days." I returned, getting up and heading out of the room.

"Wait! I'm com-" 

I closed the door behind me and switched the light on. 

Sh*t.

3 women stood in front of me with their arms folded.

"Where do you think you're going, young man?" Mother asked with a serious tone. How did she know I was going out?

She wasn't too happy last time that we were in danger, especially as I sent a group of elves through a portal to our home without further notice. Mother scolded me a lot for it but she took care of them nevertheless. She wouldn't leave a guest unattended.

"I have a couple things I need to do." I sighed heavily.

"Where?" Naz demanded. Both mother and Naz, including Malia, glared at me.

"Prince Landon gave me a task to fulfil so I'm heading to the Elven Kingdom. I'll be away for a couple days and I promise I'll return home if anything bad happens." I replied.

"You're not going. I don't care if the Prince gave you a task or the king himself. You were in so much danger last time…" Mother began her lecture.

I rolled my eyes.

"Why don't you guys come with me? You can do shopping or something; the Elven Kingdom's security has been buffed up and I heard that they have really special garments available. 

"Come on mother, you've been cooped up at home for too long. You've become all grumpy." I said smiling.

"Excuse me." Mother scoffed.

I pulled out 2 sacs of gold from my dimension ring and held them up, "You guys can spend this money however you like, but whatever you do, please just don't bother me when I'm working." 

"Yes! Let's go!" Malia snatched the two sacs of gold from me with gleaming eyes, "I think we should go, what do you say auntie? Girls day out!"

"It doesn't look like such a bad offer." She scoffed.

'It seems I've been teaching you well. You have conquered the woman species it seems.' Voad chuckled in my head.

'Shush. You've been talking too much nonsense these days.' I said through our mind link, blocking him off and pushing him to the back of my head.

"It wouldn't hurt to spend all this money right auntie?" Malia smiled looking up at her.

"Fine!" We'll all go!" She said storming off into her bedroom, "Girls get ready. We're going on a shopping spree."

"I'm coming too!" Jace barged out of the room, his hair still messy and wet.

I shook my head, going downstairs and preparing breakfast for all of them.

**

Jace and I walked through the Elven market bustling with people. The dreadful atmosphere from before was gone and the old optimistic feel was back. 

Mother and the other 2 split up from us as soon as we arrived and went on their shopping spree. At least they were enjoying themselves.

"So where are we heading?" Jace said, eyeing down all the beautiful elf girls that walked past us.

"The Elven Kingdom is truly blessed." He winked at a group of Elven girls making them giggle. I shook my head at his stupidity.

"Oii! Stop cheating on your girlfriend: Naz." I rolled my eyes. 

"Oh yeah… still getting used to that." 

I stopped at one of the sworn down cottages and knocked on the door. The building was so run down, the foundations of the building shook with each of my knocks. Hopefully, I could change their situations.

Knock. Knock.

"Why are we at a place like this?" Jace whispered but I ignored him.

"Welcome! Welcome! Esteemed guests of the prince. We've been waiting eagerly for your arrival." An old man, maybe in his 50's opened the door for us, bowed before gesturing us to come in. He wore ragged clothing and looked malnourished and frail.

"Please take a seat." He said.

I sat down on one of the empty seats and Jace reluctantly followed me, sitting next to me. It wasn't only that old man, there seemed to be 10 other men sitting around the table. They all looked the same, ragged clothing and frail figures. Only a couple of them were more on the round side but that was probably due to drinking too much.

"We're ever so grateful for your help. Please let me introduce myself: My name is Rae Piste McKraken and I'm the elected representative of the poor here." He said smiling and taking a seat opposite me.

Jace giggled at his name and gave a couple coughs to his side, holding his laugh in. I smiled awkwardly trying not to burst out laughing. Why did Elves have such weird naming. Rae piste, really? You couldn't think of anything else to name your child?

"...And I'm the Vice representative, Hue G.Rection Dawarin. It's an honour to meet you."

"Bahahahh-" Jace burst out laughing but I elbowed him so hard he twisted and folded up. He tried his best to stop laughing but it wasn't working.

"Jace, go stand outside." I said, with a strict tone. He got up and walked outside, still silently wheezing.

"I'm sorry for his poor manners. He's mentally unstable." I apologised.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAA!!! RAE PISTE! AHAHAHAHA! HUE G. RECTION! AHAHAHA!" Loud laughing and mocking could be heard from the outside. I knew I shouldn't have brought him along.

'What are these names? Ahahaha.' Even Voad made fun of them. I didn't want to hear the rest of their names. Who knew how many names I could hear before I too burst out laughing.

"Yeah. He's a bit crazy. He's going through therapy at the moment, and apologies for his rudeness." I said solemnly.

"No, no. It's fine young sir. Please proceed with the meeting." Rae piste replied smiling.

"I wanted to help you guys with starting a business but before that I will have to give you guys a study session first." All of the family leaders nodded at my words and listened attentively.

"The business model we will be using is something similar to drop shipping. This means that we will not be holding any physical stocks. As you guys have very little capital (Money and resources) using this model will be very beneficial." I began.

"Young sir? What's this drop shipping?" One of the men asked. 

"Good question. I was getting to that. What's your name?"

"My name is Ben Dover Leolana." He replied. 

'Ahahahaha. He's telling you to bend over.' Voad mocked. I really shouldn't have asked for this gentleman's name.

"Dropshipping is a way people can pursue commerce without holding any physical stocks. I'll give you a scenario that will show you how it will work. Let's say I'm the business owner and I have very little money but I have assets like buildings and other valuables.

"I will go to a supplier business like one of the rich businesses. I will negotiate with them and get some of their products and place them in my shop to sell.

"People will buy our product and we will pass the orders over to the supplier business we negotiated with. They will then provide us with the stocks and we will deliver them to the customer's houses." I explained.

This would have been much easier if they had the internet but sadly they didn't, I had to change the business model a little. In my old world many young teenagers and young guys followed this business model until everyone started to do it.

"But sir, we don't have anything to negotiate with." Hue G. Rection spoke with a glum tone.

"The next thing I will be teaching you about is trade credit. Trade credit is like taking a loan. That's what we will use to negotiate with the other rich supplier businesses. They will provide us with stock when we need it and we will return the money in monthly instalments." I replied.

"Young sir, I think you've lost us all with these big words. Could you explain in simpler words please?" Rae piste asked, paying full attention to what I was preaching.

I took a deep breath before explaining my idea much simply.

"Firstly, our business will be split up into specific sectors: Logistics and Procurement, Marketing, Sales and lastly Finance.

"I will split up the amount of people here into one of those sectors. Logistics and Procurement will involve working with the Supplier businesses and delivering the goods to the customer's housing. 

"Marketing will involve advertising the business's products and answering people's questions on the products we will sell.

"Sales will involve in hand selling of the products, one of the important roles and lastly finance will involve logging the business's expenses and expenditures.

"I will lend you guys 500 Platinum Coins to get you all started with the opening of this business. For this investment I will take a 30% stake in this business and will lower it to 25% when you guys repay me my investment." Their mouths dropped at the huge sum of money I was willing to invest and they all took big gulps.

"As for the type of products we will be selling, I had a look around the Elven Market and have found that Armour and weaponry are scarce. Therefore, we will be negotiating with blacksmiths and selling their products. Are there any more questions?" I asked, looking around the small building.

"No sir!" They replied like keen students.

"Before we begin our business, I will be providing simple education so you all are smart enough to not get deceived by others. I'll be taking my leave. I will return tomorrow to discuss other matters. Take care." I said, giving them a short bow before walking out of the room. 

They all paid their respects and waited for me to leave, before cheering in happiness when I closed the door behind me.

Jace punched my arm happily when he saw me and we went over to meet with the elves at the party.

This request of the Prince's would require a lot of work...