They taught me a bunch of stuff after that. It turns out opening a store in this world isn’t that hard. You just have to go through the guild to buy land and the other necessary stuff, and you’ll be able to start your business right away. After that you have to write down your profits and expenses, and then pay your income tax and land tax once a year to the guild. As long as you can do that, age and gender doesn’t really matter.

It’s almost as if the only question is whether you can make money and pay up.

The first tax is also twice as expensive. Mainly because it’s essentially the equivalent of the gratuity fee [1] back in earth. The fees for the business license changes depending on the scale. A street stall would go for about 5 medium copper coins, while the plot of land I bought after becoming a store will cost me two gold coins.

The last expense is the annual fee. It’s sort of like a donation to the guild. Originally, just a small amount for the annual fees was fine, but because a limit was never set, it’s become customary for people to pay as much as they can afford to show off their wealth. Naturally, the guild also treats higher paying members better, on top of the increased reputation. Yeah, they’re merchants alright.

Like this I completed the lengthy process of buying a store, and after I thanked the three of them, I left.

Serge-san apparently had to show up in the next meeting of the merchants guild, and Pioro had something to discuss with him, so I parted with him at the guild.

I think I’ll start building my store once I complete my last adventurer job… I won’t be making just a cave this time, but a real building. I did work part time as a construction worker in my past life. It was hard, but being able to see your work amount to something so visibly really felt great.

I’m looking forward to it.

[1] – From what I gather, a gratuity fee is basically a security deposit.