Expansion and reconstruction

Agnes agreed and began to ask further. "That sounds like a good plan. What about the other businesses or the things within the village?"

"Mom needs to expand her range of customers a bit more and focus on more than work and martial uniforms. She can move onto making higher quality clothing and designs but they will be much more expensive than the mass produced goods and they will be sold in fewer numbers. As for the highest price clothing and materials used, we can make a couple of dresses or mens clothes to suit every season and they will be limited to only having a couple of the same or similar design to make them more attractive to the nobles. The less there is of something the more they would pay to get it. We have the families seamstresses to assist but it would be a good idea to properly open up one of the buildings in the village and begin to open up a clothing production based place of work and also maybe other stores for the family. Maybe a blacksmith would be useful too."

"So… in the village you wish to use some of the land and homes to open a blacksmith, a silk weaver building, a clothing maker building for dealing with other materials and making the clothing, an orphanage, a martial training and duelling field and also a public library." Agnes was deep in thought. "I will get the workers to begin the reconstruction of the land we claimed back but what about the walls? This may slow down the building of the outer walls."

Ki thought for a moment and thought of a solution. "Any villagers that have experience with building, fixing or moving things around can assist with the reconstruction for a fair price so long as it does not interfere with their daily lives or work. We may end up burning through more money to get things completed quicker but we have enough money to spare right now and it's best we don't be delayed for too long. If we need to bring in more workers from outside and purchase more materials then it would be best to be cautious and investigate the other party before doing business with them."

Agnes tilted her head while in thought. "The family have a lot of money in reserves so we can afford it but it's best we do not overspend and expose our wealth to any greedy forces so I agree we need to be extra careful when bringing in any outsiders to work on building the walls and renovating the village. What are your plans for the herb pavilion or clinics?"

Ki smiled and responded quickly as if she had expected the question to come. "It needs a little reconstruction but overall it had been previously well handled. I just need to train some people who can be sent into every store. I have been messing with the herbs in the underground inheritance over the years so I have a couple of ideas on what may be able to be sold in the herb pavilion, clinics or potential stores that could work alongside them. Herbal candles, medicinal soups, wound or irritation based creams, medicinal wines and medicinal tea leaves and even medicine bath solutions can be sold within an affiliated store that will be connected to the herb pavilions or inside the herb pavilion itself. I don't think it would be a big problem to buy a small store close to the herb pavilions in the closest locations to us and begin to test their rate of success. If they become popular by association the. We can expand this further outward, the money from Bernard that he gifted should be able to cover the expenses of the expansion."

Agnes nodded and began to write down her thoughts and everything that was discussed. "I will need to see the products for myself before I can begin to take action. I will talk to your father about the business matters and the expansion of them along with the renovation ideas for the village. I also need to contact some of the people I have sponsored over the years so I can call them back to the village as they will be of great help if everything goes according to plan and they can also settle down here. As for your mothers matter with her clothing store I will talk to her, if you have any ideas for designs to contribute to it then show me as soon as possible."

Agnes may have seemed a little tired after hearing the many tasks to complete but deep within her eyes was an excited glint in them as she left the room.

Ki smiled as she saw her grandmother leaving. "How far has she been suppressing her desire for the family to grow to greater heights? I'm sure it must of been hard to suppress herself over the years just to keep the family stable, safe and not attract trouble."

Ki decided to do a review of what she had built up so far and the forces behind her. "First there is the head strategist or the brain behind the forces I wish to build which is Isaac. Next is the dark intelligence and underground organisation named Nox and their head is Marilyn. Third is the elite force in charge of cleaning up traitors or troublesome elements named Umbra which is under Rashida's leadership. Forth there is the political and trading head Miranda. Fifth is the head of records and treasury which is to be assigned to Evie when she is qualified enough."

She took a second to reorganise her thoughts. "Positions that need a leader that have yet to be filled are the head of law, a head of a small teams of elites and a commander or general for to lead larger groups of the villagers or our own men during times of war or invasion. We also potentially have an assassination group with the reaper as it's head if that idea develops well in the future."

She then moved onto the businesses and connections. "We have slowly spread out from the three cities nearby and begun expanding slowly and carefully over the years. We have allies with the Seren, Nix and Bifta families in those three cities but it wouldn't hurt to make more allies in the future. What else.. we have the clothing stores, the restaurants, the orphanages, the tea pavilions, the herb pavilions and clinics and slowly we will develop more with them and expand our range of control and information gathered."

"Hmm.. what else could help us tide over the money needs quickly and gather materials needed…" Ki's mind thought back to her previous life and had very few solutions but then a spark lit up in her mind. "Mining… it's a risky business but if you know what place is going to produce good jewels, ores and jade then it would be good to bid upon it and begin to make use of everything mined to either make high profits or to help with the building, reconstruction and keeping the blacksmiths materials stocked to make various traps, weapons and tools. Also I have some knowledge on what mines have collapsed or been unprofitable because the ores or jewels could no longer be dug up thanks to overmining. I just need to wait for some mines close by to be put on sale or for them to be discovered and I can identify if they would be worth purchasing. I could offer some of the less loyal, talentless or lazy slaves to work off their time and their money owed to the family by placing them in the mines until they pay off their debt and help to make some money to start up new lives for themselves, some can also do jobs to assist the building of the walls and the reconstruction of the village."

Ki quietly sighed as she placed her finger and thumb on the bridge of her nose as if experiencing her symptoms from overthinking again. "Sigh… too many ideas but not enough manpower and private funds to handle everything. It's best to leave everything else to the family and work out a plan for the slaves I cannot make use of and have been idling over the years. It's also time to begin recruiting some of the more talented slaves, orphans or villagers to begin practicing martial arts and let the females practice the mulberry palm and sword arts. Many wooden swords need to be purchased too, the prototype uniforms have been ordered to help promote unity but once the group grows bigger I need to decide the final design and colour for the uniforms for each rank of position within the village and a badge or something similar to display their strength or ranking for their age groups and gender."

She laid back in her seat with her eyes closed. "Sigh I don't know when to stop myself. So much to do but so little time and then come new ideas to add each time. It would be a miracle if I wasn't crushed under the stress but it's a good thing I have many people to support me."

Ki finally calmed down and found a moment of calm and peace. "After all I cannot be everywhere and cannot do everything so I need more capable people around me. The heads of each department can begin to nurture their own people under them and take control of the smaller tasks."

Ki got up out of her seat to leave the room and head towards her research room to prepare several products for Agnes. "First things first. I need the herb pavilion products to be completed for to push forward with the rest of the plans."

Agnes continued to walk down the hall of the mansion and found herself back in her room in deep thought. "My granddaughter is a lot more bold than I was in my past but she definitely inherited her cautiousness and wisdom from me. She has the foresight to expand our business and renovate the village to increase our families presence and income but at the same time can take measures to increase our security and protection. At the same time she has so many products and ideas ready or at least in her head for the next plans, if the herb pavilion did not show up suddenly then I am sure she would have taken actions to start up something similar in the future. I'd love to open that small head of hers to see how far she has planned ahead."