A few hours passed as both William and Rizwell stated their conditions. For William, his terms protected the interests of Infinity Guild and prevented the Draconis family from scraping off more profits than agreed upon under the profit-sharing clause that was left to be negotiated separately.
There was also a clause stating that Infinity stores and their subsidiary brands would initially maintain an eighty-twenty staffing ratio.
80% of staff from Draconia House and 20% from the guild itself, and over the period of the next five years or sooner, the numbers will be reversed, meaning 80% from the guild and 20% from the family.
There was also a provision about limiting the number of awakened guards and soldiers stationed; also, the code of conduct of the staff was to be decided.
The initial salaries for a few months were supposed to be given by the family only to the staff affiliated with them; the guild employees would operate under a separate payroll structure.
Then the topic of discussion shifted toward land usage and rental costs, the cost of operations, and other methods of operating.
Meanwhile, on Rizwell’s side, his main concern remained to protect the interests of the family, so his proposed conditions remained based on those.
No poaching of the family’s existing employees, not using them for selling conflicting products and services, and guaranteeing stable working hours and other small considerations.
There was also a clause granting protection from unauthorized contracts.
He also brought a bit of flexibility in the contract, adding a clause of regular revisions at fixed intervals of a few months for the first year.
They also established minimum operational requirements that they were obliged to carry out, and anything above those would demand proper monetary compensation.
William agreed to most of the conditions and added several of his own after that as well.
This back and forth went on for several hours. Emily, who had stayed silent, was already feeling sleepy; she was only a C rank and could not afford to avoid sleep, and for the past few weeks, she had been compromising sleep for her studies.
Her eyes had nearly begun closing from exhaustion and inactivity; that was until her name was called out.
She straightened, and the lingering sleep vanished. Violet had called out her name, and all eyes were suddenly looking at her.
"I want you to negotiate the profit sharing with Duke Rizwell."
At his words, everyone’s eyes widened; even Emily herself was shocked.
Why was he handing over the most important part of the contract to her? She could not understand.
"Take your time reading this draft," Violet said before handing her a set of documents.
"This is your first step as a Guild Master of Infinity. It is time to prove your worth to the sovereign," he said silently. Meanwhile, Rizwell felt increasingly uneasy. Why was he trusting this girl blindly?
"Each percent in our favour will matter; I expect good results from you. No matter which number you arrive at, I will not object. From this point onwards, I am handing over the reins of this venture to you."
William said with a smile.
Emily’s breathing quickened as she felt extremely nervous about this development.
"You can do this." Suddenly, she heard a voice transmission from Miss Delta in her mind.
"I believe in you," Jaden’s voice rang in her mind next.
Their words calmed her down a bit; she told herself this was her chance to prove her worth to the world. With a deep breath, she accepted the contract and started reading it all over again.
A few minutes later, her demeanor completely changed. Rizwell had been eyeing her and observing her, anticipating what she was about to do. To be honest, he felt a bit relieved about the situation; negotiating with Emily was much better than negotiating with Violet.
Emily calmly raised her head and looked at the duke.
"I would like you to present your proposal," Emily said.
The duke signaled to Adam, and the old butler presented a document in front of her.
Emily calmly picked it up and read the percentage profits they were asking for and the justification that was hidden behind that proposal.
The Draconis family had proposed a sixty-forty profit split. Of course, after accounting for all the expenses of operations.
Suddenly, she felt her Heavenly Merchant talent activate.
Effects like economic foresight, perfect negotiator, and value appraisal were activated at once as she assessed the situation completely.
The more she thought about it, the more she realized that asking for a 40 percent profit share was a lot.
Emily inwardly smiled a bit before taking a parchment and writing down her proposal.
She handed just a single sheet of paper to Adam across the table, and the old butler gasped after reading it.
"Impossible," he spoke out in a loud and mildly furious tone.
Rizwell, puzzled by his reaction, took the parchment and read it.
He then, unfazed, looked at Emily as his face twitched a bit; his head turned to Violet as he said, "My lord, I believe your subordinate is joking here. She expects us to operate on only 10% of the profits; that is really unacceptable."
Even though he did not intend to be impolite, the numbers were just outrageous.
William gazed at Emily and noticed the subtle smile on her face. He immediately understood her intention; it was not to negotiate at 10 percent but just to play with the emotions of her target.
She was setting the bar so low that balancing the scale back to before would become impossible.
William just shrugged and replied to Rizwell, "As I said, profit-sharing negotiations are entirely under her authority."
Rizwell was about to say something when Emily calmly addressed him. "Lord Duke, may I know the reason behind the proposal of 40 percent shares that you are demanding from us?"
Rizwell shook his head in disappointment before saying, "Young lady, perhaps you underestimate what the Draconis family is providing." I believe you did not even pay attention to the document we provided earlier; if you had, then you would not have asked such a question.
Emily smiled. "I apologize, Duke Rizwell. The proposal contained assumptions I found questionable. "Perhaps you assumed we have no alternatives beyond the Draconis family."
Rizwell ignored her comment and continued calmly. "We are supplying lands, stores, infrastructure, political influence, manpower, and logistics throughout the entire Riverdale Empire. Riverdale is the most populous and vast landmass. I hope you realize how difficult it is to penetrate deep into the empire and the cost it takes. I believe only someone like the Draconis family can do that, and we are irreplaceable to your guild in that sense."
Emily chuckled.
"Pardon me, Duke, I thought the Draconis family possessed the biggest network of iron refinement and supply chain and weapon stores spanning across every major city and town and some villages across the empire."
Duke Rizwell, carried by his pride and anger, nodded. "Yes, it is true; that is why I told you that only the Draconis family can provide the scale."
Emily nodded calmly while her smile never faded.
"Lord Duke, are you telling me that you don’t intend to use your pre-established networks and robust supply chains to carry out the Infinite Guild’s operations?"
Rizwell’s brows furrowed. "Of course, we will use our robust network to provide the expansion your guild needs."
Emily nodded. "Then why have you mentioned the cost of establishing new supply routes as one of the key factors in your proposal?"
"That..."
Emily did not let him speak. "Does expanding cargo volume marginally within an existing network truly justify forty percent of future profits?"
"Can preexisting supply schedules and a few cheaper modifications to preexisting systems not be the optimal solution?"
Rizwell sweated a bit before adding, "Supply chains are not merely carriages. Warehouses, taxation, maintenance, guards, regional permits, and personnel management all incur costs."
Emily calmly nodded.
"You are right, Duke. Warehouses require maintenance, guards need salaries, permits cost money, and personnel management is not free."
For a moment, Rizwell relaxed slightly, but then he saw Emily smiling like she was not fazed at all.
"But I fail to understand why Infinity Guild should bear the full burden of costs that already exist for the Draconis family’s business."
Rizwell’s expression stiffened; meanwhile, Emily calmly continued:
"Your warehouses already exist, Duke."
"The Draconis family stores siege weapons, refined metals, and military equipment on an empire-wide scale."
"Unless your warehouses are already filled to their maximum capacity..."
"...adding Infinity Guild products merely utilizes existing unused space."
She looked directly at him.
"The additional cost would be marginal and borne by the guild. Perhaps some management adjustments, a few additional workers, and storage modifications."
"But such expenses do not justify demanding forty percent ownership of future profits." Emily then turned the page and started speaking.
Our guards are already stationed, your permits have already been secured, your caravans already travel throughout the empire, and your management system has existed long before Infinity Guild entered the equation."
She tilted her head slightly.
"We are not asking you to build a business network from nothing."
"We are asking you to place additional goods into an already-operating system."
"Should we pay for incremental costs?"
"Certainly."
"Should we pay as though we are financing the construction of the Draconis family’s entire network?"
Emily slowly shook her head.
"I do not believe that is reasonable."