NOVEL SIMPLE 2.08 – Letter
Maple sat on their bed with Charlotte's letter in her hand. She sighed. Part of her didn't want to read it, was anxious about it, because Charlotte may have said no to her loan idea. Because she may have agreed to it, and that was even scarier.
Emma sat next to her, clearly excited to see what Charlotte wrote back. Maple fidgeted with it and stalled for time.
"I'm thinking about starting a dairy thing myself. A business, now that SuQ Dairy is closed. So I asked Charlotte for a loan, because she did say we could do that, remember?"
Emma nodded with a big smile, and groped both of Maple's boobs. She'd be her number one customer.
"Hehe, not my milk. Remember when we talked to Mirkham last? He's not interested in running anything himself, but it sounded like he'd maybe join a new company. There's also all the milk girls with nowhere to sell to now. And SuQ's building is being auctioned. So...it kind of feels like an opportunity if I acted fast enough? Maybe..."
The uncertainty showed in her voice. It still felt overly ambitious for her to try, and didn't like 90% of businesses fail? Or some high number like that? What was the failure rate in this world? Emma patted her and scraped her pen against her notebook.
Sounds like a good idea. I support you.
"Thanks cutie. But it'd probably be expensive, and it'd be Charlotte's money I'm risking if she agrees. And I don't know, do you really think it's worth trying? I don't have a class yet, so I could try like—anything else. I just don't know what."
She had thought about it a bit, and her classes wouldn't matter as much for a dairy. Rather, it relied on several other people's. People to provide milk. People to process the milk. People to make cheese.
Mirkham could do both of those last two himself, below a certain quantity, but Maple would need outside people to make the equipment he'd need. She would even need to source bottles from somewhere.
Compare that to becoming a [Blacksmith] or something, and just needing a workshop, materials, and levels; any kind of skilled trade she could do entirely herself and set up a storefront for.
She still thought magic and enchanting things could be fun, but that had several issues like how long it would take to learn, and how expensive the materials were. Ideally, she'd find a good teacher, and that would be pricey too. It felt like the bigger gamble of the two.
A dairy mostly needed people, and Maple had never considered herself to be much of a people person. She'd get by if she had to, but well, here's hoping Charlotte's letter would tell her it was a silly idea and to think of something else instead. Emma shrugged.
Up to you. Charlotte's decision too. Do it if it'd be fun. Or find something else.
"If it'd be fun? Huh, I guess. But I need an income sooooon."
Finding a job would likely be doable now that she didn't have her lewd classes, and now that she'd already ruined her chances at a hundred of 'em. But she was done with that. If Syber's employers couldn't handle her with her lewdest classes, then they didn't deserve her—as a classless erotic angel?
Something like that. She was indignant about it. Enough putting it off. Maple tore open the envelope and found a few pages inside. She unfolded the first page. It was Charlotte's reply, written in her flowing cursive. It reminded Maple of her grandmother's hard-to-read cursive.
Dearest Maple,
I'm writing this in haste, as I have the [Courier] waiting on me. I nearly had to tie him up just so I'd have time to reply. Usually that's not an issue, but this one turned down all of my advances. Prudish boy. I told him to send someone else next time.
"That poor delivery boy."
Maple laughed and exchanged a glance with a giggling Emma.
Anyway~ It's so nice to hear from you. I'm glad you're having fun in Syber, and I would have loved to taste your milk myself~ Do give Emma and my daughter my regards. I am quite well, but will leave that for a longer letter when I'm not on a time limit.
Maple had sent the letter a day before they'd left for the spa. She'd told her everything they'd been up to, including the sex zombie disaster and how they'd solved it. Emma had been at work, unable to write anything.
"Jeez, she's such a pervert. And did she think the sex zombies sounded fun?"
Emma groped her again and wiggled her eyebrows. All this talk of it seemed to have renewed her appetite for Maple milk. If only it hadn't been a limited run.
As for a loan, I was wondering when you'd take me up on my offer. I would be happy to support you financially with any business endeavor you'd like, dear~ I can't comment on the fruitfulness of a dairy in particular, as that's for you to determine. You'll get only the single chance from me if you lose it all, no matter how much I like you, so make whatever you decide to do count.
I've included the standard contract I use, along with the documents you'd need. In short, the loan would be interest free, nullifiable were it to fail disastrously, and be in exchange for a percentage of ownership and profits, no higher than 50%. For you, I made the limit 500 gold. That's 10 gold loaned for every 1% you want to sign over.
You'll need to register your business as an entity, and then Bank of Syber will be able to help you sign over portions of it to my name in exchange for gold, as you require it.
There are other clauses, so do read the contract in full. My daughter knows how I do things if you have any questions that need an immediate answer. My offer will stand and applies to any business you'd like to do, so take your time deciding.
XOXO
~Charlotte
"Dang, 500 gold."
Maple didn't say anything else for a minute. She skimmed through the actual contract and thought about what it all meant for her. Charlotte must actually be loaded, for one. And for two, Maple hadn't considered it might be in exchange for a percentage of the business. She'd want to borrow as little as possible, in that case.
She wasn't sure how fair it was. Charlotte's risk was high, but it was still a loan, and after paying it off with money the company made, she would still own whatever percent Maple signed over. But if it ended up being really successful, none of that would matter very much.
It also meant that she couldn't really use it for independent study. Like, she wasn't going to pay for magic school and then owe Charlotte 10% of everything she made for the rest of her life. It'd have to be a standalone business.
Emma plopped her cowgirl hat onto her head again and wrote a message for Maple.
Take the money and run.
"Haha, noo, silly. But hmm, what are you going to do today?"
Emma shrugged and leaned against Maple.
Work, later.
"In the meantime, do you wanna go pick out a pot together for our, uh—plant?"
Maple's shameful mistake.
Our baby.
Emma corrected her and nodded enthusiastically.
"Right. Our baby."
Before they could procure any pots, they needed breakfast. Maple and Emma took a seat next to Thera. The rest of Azure Bond were nowhere to be seen in the mildly bustling dining room. Thera smirked as she greeted them.
"I see someone got up early. Or should I say off?"
"Jeez, you're worse than Alas."
Maple rolled her eyes, while Emma silently laughed and gave Thera a good morning hug. Their boundaries on the permanent telepathic orgasms stopped somewhere before some threshold of humor. Thus far, it'd been a bit one-sided. Maple crossed her arms.
"And you still haven't. Not even once."
"Oh, did you want me to? Are you waiting with bated breath?"
Maple had spoke without thinking, and her head felt spinny as she realized she was yet again trying to score a future encounter.
"N-no, but I think Sasha's giving us our own room today. If you wanted to, uh, fix that."
Maple's face heated up. Speaking of the pink-haired not-devil-because-that-had-offensive-connotations-here—Sasha spoke up from behind her. She came bearing drinks; a steaming mug of tea for Maple, and juice for Emma.
"Did you two make a decision on that? I do have a room ready whenever, as long as whenever doesn't go on for too long."
"Yeah. We're gonna do it, right?"
Maple deferred to Emma, and Emma gave Sasha a thumbs up.
"Cool. I'll get your keys. Usual for breakfast?"
"I want something spicy today, actually. I don't care what."
"Sausage and eggs with hot sauce it is."
Maple frowned slightly. That was just her usual, but with hot sauce. It worked, she supposed. Emma nodded for her usual, which could be anything, as hers was: Surprise me!
Sasha left, and Thera drummed her fingers on the table.
"Well, that's good news for you two. And sure, I'd come 'visit' tonight if you wanted. We're heading out tomorrow or the next day, depending on how things go. I'm gonna get some supplies for that old [Hermit] while I'm at it."
"What for?"
"What do you mean? He looked like he could use some stuff, didn't he? Some clothes mainly, before winter hits."
He'd looked downright impoverished, if Maple were being honest.
"Oh, that's nice of you."
Thera nodded, and Maple felt a little bad for having had to ask—for not having considered doing such a thing herself, not that she could have afforded to. Thera didn't exactly seem rich herself, though, so Maple had to admire her even more for that.
Sasha came back a short while later with their food and their new keys.
"It's the room directly across from your old one. I could number it 69, if you want me to."
"Uh, no. That's okay. But yay, our own room."
Maple smiled, and Emma smooshed against her. They kept the old keys for now, and planned on moving what few possessions they had after finding a nice pot.
Something Maple was sure would be a quick, fun little shopping trip that didn't leave too big a dent in either of their coin purses.
