Exploitable Weaknesses by Brian Keller (best interesting books to read txt) 📕

scripted as the Standard Option and described a limited partnership that was percentage-based. In this option the Guild would play no role in site selection, commerce or management of the business. The Guild would be responsible for all construction, both the floorplan design and the costs. The business owner would have input on the floorplan, in so far as to assure that it met the requirements of the business. All taxes and levied fees would be Guild expenses rather than being charged to the business. The Guild would then charge thirty percent of net income which would compensate for the construction costs as well as cover the taxes, fees, and monthly rent. The duration of the contract would be for no less than ten years but could also be written with no expiration date. This could even allow the contract to be inherited.

The limited partnership option appeared to be an excellent choice for those merchants wishing to start a business but without the coin to cover the initial costs. He could see where the Guild might be left holding a considerable debt, but if a business were successful, over a relatively brief time the Guild could begin to show a tidy profit.

The second option appeared to be more of a straightforward lease agreement. In this, the prospective business owner would bring a proposal to the Guild. The Guild would offer a selection of available sites and if one was deemed acceptable, the business owner could begin construction. All costs, taxes and fees would be the responsibility of the business owner. The Guild would then collect a flat rate rental fee each month but would also monitor the goods or services being offered.

Cooper could see where problems might crop up, but nothing that couldn’t be easily managed. They did have Enforcers, after all. Cooper stood and returned the papers to Birt offering a few words, “The first option will seem appealing at first, but I expect that the business owners will eventually chafe at being charged thirty percent of net. I know I would. We might consider a renegotiation clause for once we’ve recovered our construction expenses. Also, because the agreement can be written without expiration date, and thus can be inherited, the same might be said for any outstanding debt. Fathers may not wish to place their sons at risk in that way. Some form of “Death Clause” could protect our interests in the property, while protecting a beneficiary from a father's debt. Other than those points, I don’t see problems cropping up that we can’t sort out.”

The following morning, Cooper supervised the work on the vault for less than two hours before he’d decided that this project would proceed just fine with periodic checks. The foreman had asked several of the right questions yesterday and this morning he’d only had one question, and that had been about the width of the footing. That meant the man was already thinking about the width of the walls and the weight of the structure. They’d be turning the project over to the masons as soon as that part was completed and Cooper would have little more to contribute at that point. Cooper found Dailen and updated him, then strapped his leather bracers onto his wrists and pulled his sleeves down before he returned to the Waterfront.

He hadn’t even reached the boardwalk and he’d already noticed the increase in soldiers. He thought about the last time he’d seen so many Guards posted. He mused, “They must be increasing their control of the Waterfront. Not as many as were positioned around the Guild. But then again, a few shiploads of Lukasi merchants don’t pose the same threat.” Most of these men looked younger than he remembered, or at least less accustomed to wearing armor. For the first time he wondered how many guards and soldiers lost their lives during the Guild raid. He’d never heard anything about that. In all the battles described in the history books, he remembered there were always large, round (and probably exaggerated) reports of each side’s casualties. Even many of the Guild workers, being Guild recruits who’d failed at some point, were probably better fighters than many of the City Watch; but the odds of a dagger versus a heavily armored foe seldom favored the dagger. Cooper thought, “The students were being trained in archery, even though it wasn’t in preparation for fighting the Army. That training needs to continue when we get rebuilt. Our arrows pierce leather armor just fine. At close enough range, they’ll punch through those metal shells as well. If all goes according to plan, there should never be a need to worry about the Guard or the Paleros Army but it only takes one decision to change that.” He was determined that the raid on the Guild was one bit of history that wouldn’t be repeated.

He’d reached the boardwalk and cursed himself for daydreaming. He had allowed himself to be spotted and almost boxed in, but not by guards or soldiers. He’d almost forgotten about the group that looked like rival Guild members. He saw three of them now. They’d spread themselves out along the boardwalk, dressed as sellswords, but it was a simple thing to recognize the differences. No sellsword moved like that. They moved through the crowd like he did, losing themselves for a moment then exposed long enough to catch a glimpse before disappearing again. One of them was moving to block his path back into the neighborhood while the others closed in from the sides. “Surely they didn’t intend on attacking or killing me right here on the boardwalk at mid-morning! With all the soldiers around?!” The thought crossed his mind that maybe they were some kind of special warriors employed by the city, and trained like he had been. “Send a thief to catch a thief”, he’d read that somewhere, but now the notion made his blood run cold. No one had drawn