Volume 2 Chapter 45 - There are benefits to building roads (1/2)

After half a month of training at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, of the eighty seven small companies that qualified, there were only sixty three companies in the end that signed the support plan agreement with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

According to the the contract, they would get some production magic machines from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce by paying for installments and they would use them to make the component the Frestech Chamber of Commerce designates for them. Then they would sell those components back to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and they had to sell it at the set price of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

Although these conditions seemed a bit overbearing, if one thought about it carefully, the conditions the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gave them were very reasonable.

First the price the Frestech Chamber of Commerce set gave the sixty three companies plenty of space for profit. If one roughly calculated it, a small company could earn at least five hundred gold coins just based on the component order from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

And if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce ordered even more, the small companies would naturally earn more money.

Not to mention that this contract only lasted for five years. That meant that in five years, these small companies wouldn’t have to follow the set price of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce when selling these components to them, rather they could set their own prices.

So in less than half a month since the small company support plan was announced at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s product announcement, there were suddenly sixty three small companies in Banta City that were responsible for making magic machine components.

It was different from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce workshop that took up a hectare of land, these small companies only needed to rent a small work space for their workshops.

Many small companies only needed to rent a small warehouse. They could put the production magic machines they bought from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in there and hire a few people before starting production.

Because the production magic machines were rather loud and adding in the fact that rent was expensive in the city, most of the small companies rented warehouses outside Banta City.

Moreover, because they components they made were mainly sold to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, naturally they picked locations that were close to Sandton Manor.

The originally peaceful Sandton Manor that could be considered a resort was completely polluted with noise, as if it had become a large work site. Xu Yi’s heart couldn’t help filling with a bit of regret when he saw this.

He had planned on moving all the factories to the Falling Rain Valley after the roads were finished and turning this Sandton Manor into a research center. They would focus on studying and developing all kinds of magic machines for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

With the beautiful environment here, it was very suited for researchers to gather.

But because of the circumstances, the area around Sandton Manor had turned into a small industrial district.

And Xu Yi was certain that as the Frestech Chamber of Commerce developed, this industrial district would expand and it would never return to the same peaceful environment from before.

Thinking of this, Xu Yi couldn’t help complaining a bit about the Amrit Chamber of Commerce.

If they had finished connecting the Falling Rain Valley a bit sooner, Sandton Manor wouldn’t have become like this.

“I say, chairman Xu, doesn’t it seem wrong to blame me for this?” Towards Xu Yi’s complaining, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Moon Cruise couldn’t help feeling aggrieved, “It’s clearly because of the strict quality requirements you have for this road and our Amrit Chamber of Commerce has to follow your orders. In order to maintain the quality, we specially lowered the speed and strived for perfection. Now you’re coming here and complaining that it’s slow, this really isn’t right.”

“I’m just casually speaking, don’t mind it.” Seeing chairman Cruise looking a bit dissatisfied, Xu Yi’s expression changed into a smile as he said, “Quality is first, everything else can come after. This is our Lampuri Kingdom and the Sines Continent’s first public road, if it is built well, the Amrit Chamber of Commerce will leave their mark in the history of the Sines Continent. If it isn’t done well, you will leave behind a mark of infamy. I had a strict requirement for quality all because I was thinking about your Amrit Chamber of Commerce.”

“I’m more clear on this than you.” Chairman Cruise replied before his expression became serious, “That’s right, it’s very important if this road is built well or not. Not mentioning something like leaving a mark in the history of the Sines Continent, just talking about the present, chairman Pompeii of the Fersen Carriage Company has contacted me, asking me about how much it cost to build this road to the Falling Rain Forest. Based on his meaning, he might be wanting to invest in building a public road.”

“Fersen Carriage Company?” Xu Yi was surprised. After thinking about it, he said with a nod, “That’s right, their company’s business is in public transportation, so they want the roads to be better and it isn’t strange for them to care about the roads. But building roads is something the Lampuri Kingdom’s government should care about, it’s not something he should care about.”

“The problem is that everyone knows that the kingdom is lacking in finances. Even if the king wants to fix the roads, he can’t take out that much money.” Chairman Cruise helplessly spread his hands and said, “So chairman Pompeii has asked me this time how much money it takes to build this road and after I told him that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce is investing in this, chairman Pompeii didn’t keep asking me about this topic.”

“What? Was he scared by the price of building the road?” Xu Yi asked with a smile.

Chairman Cruise rolled his eyes at Xu Yi, “Nonsense, building this road that’s only fifty kilometers long already cost your Frestech Chamber of Commerce several hundred thousand gold coins. If one wanted to connect the cities of the Lampuri Kingdom with roads, it would cost tens of millions of gold coins. Do you think that every company can take out that much?”

“One company can’t take out that much, but it won’t stop ten, one hundred, or even a thousand companies from doing it. With everyone working together, naturally this road network can be established.” Xu Yi said in an uncaring voice.

“You think it’s that easy? Other than your Frestech Chamber of Commerce…...which other company would take out money to do a thankless job like building roads?” Chairman Cruise said.

“That isn’t certain. Didn’t you say a few days ago that chairman Morgan looked for you to build a road from one of the mines under their company to Banta City?”