Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.
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@tsukikira said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
@Geezer-Weasalopes said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
...I continue having a major problem with his store and how he's got it set up.
If anything happens to him they're hosed.
He's subsidizing them like you wouldn't believe, and so much of their stock at all levels is stuff he's supplying.
It's effectively a money laundering operation, allowing him to intervene in social matters under an alias.
Which is fine so long as he's around, but eventually he won't be and even with the research going on (that he's subsidizing) I'm not seeing how they'd be able to keep going for long given there's no source for so much of their inventory aside from him. (And I start to repeat myself, yes.)Except that isn't entirely true. The reason they were asking for more employees for all departments (alchemists, magic tools creation, etc) is because their side businesses are thriving. Remember, while all the military contracts are basically him laundering money, but a lot of the items they are selling are things he or his party invented (restaurants, hair growth potions, lingerie, pantyhose, other inventions that Arisa came up with) which are actually made by the rescued people from his various good deeds and overcharging the nobility for fashion's purpose. He's not concerned about losses, true, but he's already handed over the money for his investments. Making villages on Muno's territory is mostly reclamation work, and the hard part was done in a fortnight. (The culling of all the monsters).
The reclamation work both gives refugees jobs and builds relations with Muno County... The reputation gain and connections more than make up for any monetary losses.
Plus, the businesses have been stated to have such large positive cash flow that they are actively searching for more projects and businesses to invest in...
Even if he suddenly disappeared, the company could last for years on its own, plus there are others who could step in, like Hikaru.
Green's Theorem
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@piisfun said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
@tsukikira said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
@Geezer-Weasalopes said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
...I continue having a major problem with his store and how he's got it set up.
If anything happens to him they're hosed.
He's subsidizing them like you wouldn't believe, and so much of their stock at all levels is stuff he's supplying.
It's effectively a money laundering operation, allowing him to intervene in social matters under an alias.
Which is fine so long as he's around, but eventually he won't be and even with the research going on (that he's subsidizing) I'm not seeing how they'd be able to keep going for long given there's no source for so much of their inventory aside from him. (And I start to repeat myself, yes.)Except that isn't entirely true. The reason they were asking for more employees for all departments (alchemists, magic tools creation, etc) is because their side businesses are thriving. Remember, while all the military contracts are basically him laundering money, but a lot of the items they are selling are things he or his party invented (restaurants, hair growth potions, lingerie, pantyhose, other inventions that Arisa came up with) which are actually made by the rescued people from his various good deeds and overcharging the nobility for fashion's purpose. He's not concerned about losses, true, but he's already handed over the money for his investments. Making villages on Muno's territory is mostly reclamation work, and the hard part was done in a fortnight. (The culling of all the monsters).
The reclamation work both gives refugees jobs and builds relations with Muno County... The reputation gain and connections more than make up for any monetary losses.
Plus, the businesses have been stated to have such large positive cash flow that they are actively searching for more projects and businesses to invest in...
Even if he suddenly disappeared, the company could last for years on its own, plus there are others who could step in, like Hikaru.
It's a month since my comment that is only now stirring up discussion, and I've read a lot of other books in the meantime.
Doesn't change my belief that the core products of the firm are entirely dependent upon the MC, that the massive positive cash flow depends upon not paying anything to the MC for the materials and products he's provided for which they have no alternative sources.
The reason they're searching for uses for their profits is that they aren't using any of it to purchase their most expensive stock in trade. Any discussion of cash flow which neglects to address oddities in their acquisition of sales items is flawed.
They are funding research into new production methods, yes, but would any of what they can produce without materials supplied by the MC offset the loss of market dominance if he ceased supplying them with anything.
Reputation and connections mean nothing if you can't afford the losses involved. Especially if the connections are his...and he's the one gone missing.He has immeasurably more wealth and resources than he'll ever exhaust upon himself and his party, at least based upon events to date, all of his mercantile activities are a means of getting at least some of that back into the various economies and do some social engineering at the same time...in some ways making a profit is the last thing he wants to do, which is why he isn't charging for what he provides and isn't withdrawing anything from the firms.
Since he has subsidized these operations from the very beginning and their flagship products rely upon his activities I have a hard time accepting bland assurances that they'd do just fine if he and his resources vanished overnight.
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@tsukikira said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
I hate to say it, the Web Novel is NOT currently different enough from the Light Novel to consider them separate works. I went and read ahead on the Web Novel once I caught up to the Light Novel, and while some details have changed to keep the story more engaging and less 'I win over everything with ease', the broad strokes of the greater plot are identical, including a fair amount of the foreshadowing. A lot of the major 'plot points' that have changed were clearly minimized in later writing of the web novel, and thus changing those details has done no damage to the plot.
My opinion is all the changes to the Light Novel has made the story better to read and more worthwhile to read - that being said, the broad strokes of the greater plot remain intact for the same outcomes to be discovered down the road as the Web Novel.I'm incredibly impatient, and not particularly anti-spoiler, so I keep waffling on whether to pick up the WN or not. I really want to know what happens next! When I hear things like this, it counts as a strong vote in the "Read WN!" column...
This was a pretty good volume, and I do like the sub-plot of the Evil God's Curse and the villian introduced - the latter certainly didn't exist in the current format in the web novel, but it both introduces the later WN arcs via hints as well as fleshes out the world.
... but unfortunately, things like this count as a strong vote against. I already struggle to keep all the LNs that I'm reading separate in my mind. Keeping track of multiple versions of each storyline would only exacerbate this problem.
The mage guy, in particular, left a fairly weak impression in my mind. He seems to be pretty high up in the Parion province, and tied to some mysterious "holy woman" that we have yet to meet. But he is also - as it turns out - completely evil, maybe. In other words he seems pretty important to understanding the next volume or two. So trying to keep track of multiple storylines where this guy is or isn't present just seems like too much trouble.
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@piisfun said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
The reclamation work both gives refugees jobs and builds relations with Muno County... The reputation gain and connections more than make up for any monetary losses.
I agree with you, but Satou only has the luxury to prioritize these things due to his inexhaustible wealth. Real businesses can't operate at a loss indefinitely.
Per @Geezer-Weasalopes point, it's hard to understand how these activities might continue in Satou's absence, unless he transfers everything out of his storage before leaving.
Plus, the businesses have been stated to have such large positive cash flow that they are actively searching for more projects and businesses to invest in...
I'm not clear on that point, to be honest. We know that the rescued girls were operating in the red, prior to the establishment of the Echigoya company, despite the food carts they'd setup. I know that he's expanding on things the company can make by hiring alchemists and putting together first-aid kits and things like that. But, broadly, it seems quite challenging to setup a profitable business - it's the kind of thing that one might expect to earn dividends on only years down the line (this is true on Earth, too, btw). When you consider the cost of materials and labor, we don't really know what margins they're working with.
My impression is that the vast majority of the Echigoya Company's profits come from his money laundering activities - things that are almost pure profit. So manufacturing and selling magic swords and flying ships, and using his storage/teleportation to transport things cheaply and near-instantaneously, etc. When Satou is no longer around, this will be a huge loss of revenue/profits for the company.
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@unknownmat said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
I'm not clear on that point, to be honest. We know that the rescued girls were operating in the red, prior to the establishment of the Echigoya company, despite the food carts they'd setup. I know that he's expanding on things the company can make by hiring alchemists and putting together first-aid kits and things like that. But, broadly, it seems quite challenging to setup a profitable business - it's the kind of thing that one might expect to earn dividends on only years down the line (this is true on Earth, too, btw). When you consider the cost of materials and labor, we don't really know what margins they're working with.
My impression is that the vast majority of the Echigoya Company's profits come from his money laundering activities - things that are almost pure profit. So manufacturing and selling magic swords and flying ships, and using his storage/teleportation to transport things cheaply and near-instantaneously, etc. When Satou is no longer around, this will be a huge loss of revenue/profits for the company.
Well, there's nothing we can do about your impressions of the profits of the company, but that's not why the departments are hiring. The key words are 'prior to the Echigoya company being established'. Right now, the thing that makes them good money is the inventions that Satou has thought up - hair growth tonics, energy drinks, silk lingerie, and other 'fashion' items that are being manufactured by people other than Satou, and explicitly being sold to the nobility for ridiculous markups simply because they can be.
This is not counting the military things that basically come from Satou's original finances. Keep in mind, he's already invested a ton of money, and built top notch security in golem fashion, so those wouldn't just 'go away' if something happened to Satou.
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@tsukikira said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
Well, there's nothing we can do about your impressions of the profits of the company...
Sure there is. Just show me some textual evidence that I'm wrong. I don't have a great memory and I'm happy to be corrected if I've misspoken.
The key words are 'prior to the Echigoya company being established'.
This is important, because it established a baseline for how successful organic Satou-free businesses are likely to be. i.e. Small profits, but nothing close to a level needed to support a community of traumatized women.
Right now, the thing that makes them good money is the inventions that Satou has thought up - hair growth tonics, energy drinks, silk lingerie, and other 'fashion' items that are being manufactured by people other than Satou, and explicitly being sold to the nobility for ridiculous markups simply because they can be.
I doubt that you have any basis for this assertion. Perhaps this comes from your WN knowledge, but I can't recall anything in the LNs that would support this.
The most I can recall are fairly subjective assessments that certain product lines are selling well, or becoming popular, etc. And even then, I think it's open for debate whether their raw materials are still being sourced by Satou.
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Even if some parts of it are honest-to goodness profitable, the core business of the Echigoya company is money laundering. It's practically made to absorb Satou's resources. Suddenly pivoting to a regular business (that buys low from suppliers and sells high to clients) would be impossible.
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@unknownmat said in Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody Vol 20.:
I doubt that you have any basis for this assertion. Perhaps this comes from your WN knowledge, but I can't recall anything in the LNs that would support this.
The most I can recall are fairly subjective assessments that certain product lines are selling well, or becoming popular, etc. And even then, I think it's open for debate whether their raw materials are still being sourced by Satou.
It is true that my knowledge and memory are tainted with WN information, since the investment situation is located at the end of LN 18, and the investments have not yet paid off in the translated LN that I could find (19-20)
Unfortunately, the 'fairly subjective assessments' are all we will get from the Light Novel afaik. There are reported anticipated failures, usually anticipated in advance, but Satou almost always returns 'we don't need to make a profit' on those or offers a solution with his cheat abilities. It was mostly the same for the Web Novel.
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I think we can all agree there would be a massive drop in profits for the company if Satou disappeared.
My vague impression from the LNs is that at this point the company would still be at least break-even if they continued to sell the products that are now produced using materials from the labyrinth and other non-Satou materials. And end to the good times, but not disaster.
No new mining or farming villages, only a trickle of new products without Satou to whip up manufacturing tools and aids, and the company would lose almost all of its influence with both Nanashi and Kuro gone. They might also gradually lose product lines where they depend on tools and equipment from Satou that they can't duplicate.
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Referenced by U unknownmat
