Vol. 4 - Ch. 2 - Executive staff meeting

In the end, the 20 billion G's loaned to the Maguire family was settled on an annual interest rate of 5% after a somewhat one-sided discussion.

In the beginning, I had prepared to hear Bart complain by saying something like, "I will not pay the interest!" But, in fact, he accepted it readily.

On second thought, it might be natural. He'd heard about the conspiracy that Rainer and I had designed and probably recognized me as a merchant instead of his nephew. There was no way he should be able to trust us if he thought about our scheme, which didn't have any interest or principles and would engulf all of the local great clans in the empire. It would be too frightening to accept the loan without any charge from the person you doubt his credibility, and it wouldn't be delightful to act without any reservation with that person.

Besides, the interest rate in the case of West Company was 55%. Even a child could easily guess how exceptional the 5% interest rate was.

I was only involved in the management, meaning as the advisory of the relevant territory, while the leadership of the territory was under Bart and the others. As long as our mutual interest was maintained, this might be the most reassuring composition for them as the feudal lords.

Anyway, it had become possible to make a substantial intervention in this territory. All that was left was to silently proceed with the reformation of this land.

Currently, I was sneaking out of the mansion of the Maguire family to attend the executive staff meeting under the watchful eyes of my mother, Anna.

"This is the financial report of Radol district's main company for this month."

"The profit of 100 billion G, huh. I thought it would be a little more than that."

Radol was still on its way to development. So, the expense was equally enormous. Moreover, that was after excluding the patent fees coming from our company.

The reason for this drastic increase in revenue is most likely......

"The main reason is that the success of the development of power generators and industrial machines has led to the substantial increase in efficiency in various sectors. It's really an unexpected boom."

I gave a big nod to the Sagami Co. executive staff, who excitedly reported to me.

Not long after the Human Slime incident, the development team had developed a power generator. Even after that, the development of industrial machines continued, focusing on the spinning or daily necessities.

The mass production of these products had progressed, and they were selling them like hotcakes to merchants all over the world.

"All of the seven oil fields inside the empire are now under our company. The reserves are substantial, and we have secured plenty of fossil fuel."

At Jude's report, all of the staff inside the conference room cheered at once. No executive staff in my company didn't know the importance of fossil fuel.

We had secured petroleum and electricity. The rest was only to improve our technology.

"How is the improvement of infrastructure?"

"Radol is in a rushing development phase right now. Ninety percent of the major cities in Camelot and Arcroy are already supplied with electricity."

It was as Jude said. The scene in Camelot had been completely changed when I visited it the other day. The cars driving on the beautifully maintained road in multiple lanes mixed among the carriages and the pedestrians or bicycles passing by on the footpath beside them. Although cars were still sparse due to Radol's production capacity, iron objects were running on the road. Almost all of the aristocrats or the merchants visiting Radol were shocked out of their wits.

Streetlights were installed in regular intervals beside modern wooden buildings, illuminating the area even at night. At that moment, you could say that Camelot and Arcroy only recreated one part of the Earth's spectacle.

"What about railroads?"

"Yes, all of the cities in Radol will be completed within the next year."

"There is a request from the Commercial Build to build railroads connecting Camelot and Sutherland. Of course, both the members of our company and the guild will work together for the time being, but you don't need to worry about it as the guild will cover all the construction costs."

For that reason, we would definitely need explosive numbers of people and special machines for the work.

The number one problem was to secure manpower, but following Gill's will, slaves were constantly freed and were now temporarily hired in our company. The cutting of any spies was also going well due to Satori and Aku, who had joined my company.

At present, the slaves had already reached several thousand, and they had joined the company's factory or served in stores. If we could get a part of them to shoulder the construction works, I thought the project would progress much more smoothly.

"Roger. Is everyone okay with that?"

Jude's words were met with silent agreement from everyone.

"Then, the next agenda is the military branch?"

I'm not a non-resisting pacifist who's beyond saving. The reinforcement of the military was indispensable, at least for protecting the territory. Especially when I was against the pair of Amuzreth Kingdom and purebred aristocrats of the empire.

"The number of voluntary soldiers has crossed two thousand. Together with their training, they have participated as city guards or police."

With Theo Gryune as the general, Radol's army was finally taking its shape. We couldn't let the army imitate the police forever. We still needed to urgently secure the manpower.

The liberation of Radol......?

It was an unresolved problem that needed to be cleared up at some point, but maybe, it wasn't too far from the time to execute it.

"What about the manufacture of the soldiers' equipment?"

"Consumable goods, like bullets or small firearms, were stored in magic bags, locked and kept securely in our warehouses. The total number of bullets was approximately one million."

"One million, huh...... They are still far from being sufficient."

These numbers were nowhere near the point to bear a full-blown war.

"And tanks?"

"Their development was successful for the time being, but whether it's the budget or the manpower, we're not at the level to actually deploy them."

I had already anticipated Leroy's advice. It seemed that even the public roads were still sparsely traveled, and I was well aware that there was no room for tank production for the time being.

However一一

"I want you to quickly make 50 tanks as soon as possible. You can do so by using my pocket money."

Lately, It had been getting livelier as the influence of purebred aristocrats was surging. It was quite an expensive product, but it was much better than crying tears of regret later.

"I understand. I will quickly arrange it. Dammit, you really are rough with your staff."

Leroy nodded and replied while yawning.

Recently, the previously mentioned development of magic weapon toys was in its climax phase, and from the look of it, he wasn't getting enough sleep. He was quite a personage as usual.

"One last thing. It's about the recent movement inside the empire."

"Oh, you mean the Trade Union? I've heard that the number of members is rapidly increasing among merchants centered in the imperial capital."

The initiators were those who objected to the dominance of the Commercial Guild, centering around the wealthy merchants from the empire's aristocrats.

They criticized the monopolization of profit by one group of people in the name of patents and demanded it be set free.

In short, they were trying to say that it was audacious of me to gain the profit by using patents and should let them use technology free of charge.

That was what they wanted to say.

"Apparently, the guild isn't recognizing the Trade Union."

Leroy shrugged sarcastically.

The patent system was the core concept of the Commercial Guild. There was no way the guild would recognize the union. For that reason, a considerable number had withdrawn themselves from the guild, and the number of people joining the Trade Union was increasing.

"So, the influence of merchants is divided into two parts, huh?"

Carla muttered to herself while putting her index finger on her cheek.

"Yeah, a considerable number of merchants have come under the umbrella of the Trade Union instead of the Commercial Guild. It seems like they have become the force that can't be ignored now."

I'd heard it directly from Rainer during the consultation last time, so undoubtedly, it was true.

"Although they are remarkably spouting out pretty words, they are doing as they please together with the purebred aristocrats," said Jude, who began to laugh.

His words were met with words of agreement or ridicule one after another.

"The Commercial Guild and we have decided to take the wait-and-see approach for the time being."

The conference room stirred up. Simply put, if we took the wait-and-see approach, the power of the Trade Union would increase. So, their reaction was understandable.

However一一

"Oh, so are you going to take advantage of this opportunity to purchase the claim from great clans that are facing hardships and forcefully accessing the management of the third territory?"

Jude opened his mouth with a fed-up look.

The fact that he arrived at this conclusion meant he thought of the same idea as Rainer and me.

But maybe he hadn't thought of actually implementing that method, which would bring not a small amount of misery, for sure.

"Yeah. This event will thoroughly raise the value of machinery inside the empire, and the influence of our company will permeate deeply in the great clans' territory. Above all, it's also in our best interest."

"You mean by shunning out the Trade Union from their territory?"

Isn't Carla also a considerably apt person? It seemed that she had been trained well by her brother and the other merchants.

"Well, yeah. I will have feudal lords issue a decree that no merchants belonging to the Trade Union aren't allowed to do any business in their territories. They were almost robbed by the Trade Union once. The feudal lords would happily endorse it."

In short, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It was the same as what those bunch of fellas from the Trade Union were trying to do. We would buy the right to claim from great clans and legally remove them from the business.

What was necessary for that was a colossal amount of money and trust. They had money and authority, but not trust. That was why, as long as they weren't hoping for their destruction, they would take upon our words.

"General, you are thinking about terrifying things as usual......"

Don't be so amazed. If it's that, we can maximize our profit. Normally, feudal lords would hate when outsiders tried to interfere in the management of their territory.

Even if it was for the sake of reducing the influence of the aristocratic faction, the persuasion was pretty tough.

However, the case was different if it was the relationship between creditor and debtor. They would listen to my words without hesitation.

Then, if there was an explosion of riches among the fiefdom of respective territories, as the head merchant, I would gain benefits from the profit. After all, patents incur money for their usage. Simultaneously, the weakening of the aristocratic faction and the Trade Union might also be related to this. I guessed it was killing two birds with one stone.

"What do you think? Would you be able to get their approval?"

"Of course. If it's in our benefit."

Everyone agreed with Jude, one after another.

"Then, investigate the territories that are already in problem, contact their respective feudal lord, and try to negotiate with them."

"Yes, Sir!!"

At my instruction, the executive staff stood up at once and gave a salute.

This way, the intervention of my company in each territory began.

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