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Translator: Kazumi
Editor: Kabur & Silavin
A week has passed since the recent festival commemorating the first anniversary.
The festival itself was organized by volunteers from the public, but the government was also busy granting permission for the use of public roads and other various permits.
Although their efforts were completely behind the scenes, the festival would not have been a success without the cooperation of the executive branch.
The executive branch, which had worked behind the scenes, could not just shift into normal business mode after the festival was over.
A major announcement was made from the upper management.
***
The content of the announcement was that the four towns with transition gates were to become fully affiliated with the administration.
Originally, it was announced that Kennelsen would become an affiliate.
As for Mixen, it was also readily accepted since it had almost followed Crown’s lead.
However, as for the other two towns, there were rumors that they were at best withholding their attitude, if not feuding with each other.
However, contrary to the rumors, this announcement was made.
This announcement, however, didn’t last long in the minds of the residents of both cities, as the conversation had been completely stopped by the upper echelons.
However, there was little opposition from either side.
The story soon made its way around the respective towns.
Of course, it was not limited to the towns, but quickly spread throughout the continent.
***
Although only four cities were announced this time, of course, there are towns that had already expressed their desire to join.
The towns located around the four cities became official members with this announcement.
Basically, aside from the towns around the coast of the Central continent and the towns with the four transfer gates, the other towns would be left critically behind if they were to fall out of the benefits of Crown’s Grand Merchant Corps.
There would be no possibility of other towns to enter their route aside from towns on the continent located along the coast.
And not all the goods carried by the merchant corps could be transported to each town, east, west, south, north, and south, and of course, those goods would be handled at each town along the way.
However, there was a limit to the number of goods that could be carried by a large merchant corps.
The question was how much cargo to exchange in each town.
For small towns, this could sometimes be a matter of life and death.
Even with a large trading company, it was unlikely that a town would be destroyed by the actions of a single trading company.
But it would be a different story if that trading company was carrying a popular commodity that the town’s residents wanted.
If the merchant corps did not drop such popular products in the town, people may go to other towns that sold those products.
As a result, the town may not collapse, but its size could decrease.
The smaller the town, the more sensitive it was to such things.
That was why they had to ensure the distribution of such products, even if it meant joining the company’s umbrella.
This announcement could be said to be a long-awaited announcement for such towns.
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A few days after the announcement of the four cities’ joining the organization.
A regular meeting was held as usual on the Administration Floor.
The subject of today’s meeting, of course, centered on the announcement that had just been made.
“Before I go any further, I’d like to conclude that it seems to have been generally received favorably on both sides.”
“Generally, yes.”
Kousuke butted in on Alec’s wording.
Of course, Kousuke noticed that Alec was deliberately saying it that way.
“I don’t think you’ll ever get a perfect agreement on something like this.”
When major changes occurred, there would obviously be people who would be affected by the changes.
If they were making a good profit, that would be even worse.
If they could change themselves to match the change, they would make even more money, but they would be too busy defending their current profits.
“…No, this is another opinion from our side.”
Kousuke shook his head, returning to his detached thoughts.
“… So? Is the problem about to surface?”
“In the open, no. Well, if there are problems behind the scenes, they will be contained by the rulers of the respective towns.”
Alec, or rather the executive branch, was reading the situation as being similar to Kennelsen’s, since the rulers are completely on our side.
“How credible is that?”
“Well, I’d say about 70%.”
“Another tricky number.”
“You can’t trust the rulers of this continent completely, It can go either way, depending on the situation.”
If they held some kind of creed, like Kennelsen’s six marquises, they could be trusted to a certain extent, but if they didn’t, they couldn’t be trusted completely.
If there were a country and or had a sense of belonging to something similar like a country., they would be able to trust it, but there was no such thing as an actual Country on the Central continent.
Most of the places in a similar situation had already decided to become part of Amamiya Tower.
***
“I feel like it’s a little dangerous, but anyway, is everything okay over here?”
By ‘over here,’ he meant the 5th Floor city.
“Yeah, there’s not much opposition over here, in fact, many people are wondering why we didn’t announce it earlier.”
Alec said with a wry smile.
“That sounds absurd, hearing it again.”
In the first place, the decision to bring the four towns with transfer gates under the banner of the tower during the festival was actually decided just before the festival was to be carried out.
He suspected that they had brought it with them to take advantage of the festival’s excitement, but he was not wrong.
If they could go right away at the transfer gate, even if they were not in the same town, they would be in a cheerful mood.
That was the time Alec brought up the subject.
“That’s why there is no problem, especially on our side. The current commotion will eventually subside.”
The officials in the executive branch nodded in agreement with Alec’s words.
***
“So? How do you forecast the others emerging from this?”
“That reading is difficult to make at the moment. After all, distance is an issue.”
As expected, the closer a city was to the transfer gate, the more likely it was to join, and the further away it was from the gate, the less likely it was to do so.
They weren’t aiming for all cities to be affiliated, so it’s not really a problem… The more towns that become affiliated with a city, the more extra attention will be required.
“Why don’t we use the installation of the transfer gate as bait to encourage the cities surrounding the sea to join?”
Schmidt responded to Kousuke’s teasing remark.
“I’d love to see that happen. From a business unit point of view.”
If the number of transfer gates were doubled, the cost of arranging the merchant team would be drastically reduced.
But Alec chuckled and stopped before he could say anything.
“Wait a minute. As for the surrounding cities you were referring to, the reveal of the weapon seems to have shocked them. We don’t need to draw any conclusions right now about them.”
“So, does that mean there’s going to be a move somewhere else?”
“It’s not definite. It will still depend on how this case goes.”
Alec believed that if he poked around too much, things that were going to work out might not work out so well.
“Hmmm. Well, as long as there’s no damage to our town, I don’t care what happens.”
For Kousuke, it was as if everything but the 5th Floor city was an added bonus.
It was not as if he wanted them to be part of his organization anyway.
But Alec did know that the 5th Floor city would develop further if Kousuke became involved, so it was not as if he did not want Kousuke to become a part of it.
In the end, Kousuke was only thinking about the Tower and its residents.
However, Alec, on behalf of everyone, suggested something that Kousuke had never thought of before.
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