"Never run a mill on dreams, lad. Always chase copper." Grandfather Konrad's merchant creed echoed as the morning market buzzed with news of a papermaking revolution. The SK Sheets partnership—Sharath and Konrad's joint venture—emerged almost by accident. As demand outstripped what Riverbend could supply, Konrad deployed his longtime network of commissioned factors and guild contracts.
First, logistics. Konrad chartered sturdy river barges, hiring seasoned skippers who could deliver bulk bales even through flood and thaw. Sawyers and woodcutters in the highlands were paid in advance to clear marsh pine and strip bark, selling directly rather than through middlemen. Farmer cooperatives got shares in profits for providing seasonal flax and yearly rags.
Next, financing. Konrad convinced the town council to guarantee low-interest loans for new mills. He offered guild apprenticeships in return for organizational muscle—guilds got quotas on high-quality rag, in exchange for giving up chokehold control of the finished product.
Sharath designed a modular expansion: new mills using identical molds, veneer presses, and iron beaters cast to SK spec. Whenever a region fell behind in output or quality, Mira rode out as roving mentor. Each auxiliary mill was color-coded for traceability—shades of blue and green for northern and southern river districts, russet for the highland stone mills.
Their chief rival was the established parchment-makers' guild, now facing extinction. Scribes grumbled about tradition, priests about divine script. Konrad's answer was sophisticated diplomacy: the guild received first rights to discarded SK offcuts for ritual writing, while high priests were offered honorary seats on a "Scripture Review Council." The wells of resistance ran dry faster than anyone expected.
Konrad's market genius showed in how he handled price. "Underprice and the peasants suspect shoddy goods," he told Sharath over mugs of cider. "Overcharge and demand stalls. Value lies in trust—bill fair, deliver early, cull the mistakes." The mill took back defective sheets, no questions asked, and replaced them with the next batch for free.
Within a season, SK Sheets circulated from the capital to the smallest hill parish. Konrad's factors bought up struggling parchment-maker loans, converting opposition into investment. By year's end, the SK ledger noted seventeen mills in three provinces, worker wages up by a quarter, child apprenticeships doubled, and royal revenue from knowledge tax rising for the first time in an age.
One night, Sharath found his grandfather gazing across Riverbend's busy docks. "Your presses and mills make paper, boy, but the system—this partnership—spins coin and trust. Never neglect the craft of ordinary folk: their hands are what build empires."