Steel, Guns, and the Industrial Party in Another World-Chapter 589: Night Talk
Chapter 589: Night Talk
TL: Rui88
Night had fallen. In a manor in the southwestern suburbs of Crystal Shine, the lights in most of the buildings had been extinguished. Among the few remaining specks of light, one came from a room on the second floor of the manor’s main house. It was Gerd Rodney’s room.
The master of the room was sitting on the sofa, carefully reading a stack of documents in his hands. His eyebrows sometimes relaxed, sometimes furrowed, showing the fluctuations of his inner emotions.
Just as he put down one piece of paper and was about to read the next, a knock, “thump, thump, thump,” sounded at the door.
“Come in!”
The room door was opened, and the sound of two people’s footsteps entered Gerd’s ears.
He put down the documents in his hands, stood up, and said to the visitors, “Father, brother, you’re back?”
“Yes, we’re back. We saw your room was still lit when we entered the main gate, so we thought we’d come in and see what you were doing. I trust you don’t mind.”
The short, stout figure in the lead spoke. He was Gerd’s father, the current King of Ordo’s younger brother, Prince Jassim Rodney. And the tall, thin figure following behind him was Gerd’s younger brother, Jassim’s second son, Yuriko Rodney.
“Dear father, dear brother, of course I don’t mind. It’s just, weren’t you attending an all-night banquet? Weren’t you supposed to be back at dawn?” Gerd opened his arms in welcome.
“Oh, don’t mention that damned banquet.”
Yuriko waved his arms and complained, “Someone got drunk and acted crazy at the banquet, ruining the atmosphere for everyone, so we came back early.”
Gerd teased his brother, “That’s really unfortunate! I remember you were planning to use this banquet to pay court to a certain young lady, weren’t you?”
Yuriko spread his hands helplessly and said, “I’ll have to wait for the next opportunity.”
Prince Jassim walked over to his eldest son’s side, saw the stack of documents on the table next to him, and casually picked one up. “What are you looking at?”
Gerd replied, “Oh, these are the revenue statistics for the several factories that have recently opened.”
Yuriko leaned over and looked at the paper with his father. He saw it was covered in neatly drawn tables, filled with words or numbers he didn’t quite understand. Some places also had other types of patterns, such as wavy lines or something that looked like a sliced pizza.
Yuriko looked confused. “What are all these? They look like the evil magic runes described in novels.”
Gerd shook his head. He was a little helpless with this brother of his, who was a bit of a “good-for-nothing.” “Yuriko, if a scholar of mathematics saw this paper, even if he had never seen it before, he could guess what it was for with his knowledge. I often advise you to get more acquainted with this great discipline that provides insight into the essence of the world, but you…”
Yuriko held his head and begged for mercy, “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Spare me, my dear brother. My head hurts just thinking about those inexplicable formulas and numbers. We are Rodneys, aren’t we? Our task from birth is to rule, not to research.”
Gerd frowned. “You’ll suffer a great loss sooner or later with this kind of personality.”
“Alright, I don’t want to see my two sons arguing in front of me. If you must argue, go and argue somewhere I can neither see nor hear.”
Prince Jassim stopped the brothers’ argument.
He looked at his eldest son. “Dear Gerd, how are those things brought back from the Northwest Bay? It looks like you value them quite a bit, still dealing with factory matters so late at night.” ᚱᴀＮȮᛒÊʂ
Hearing his father’s question, Gerd’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Oh, Father. The technology and equipment Count Grayman gave us are extremely useful. They have already started to generate profits for us. Paper, canned goods, the market demand for them seems endless. Not to mention salt, which can even be used to pay our army’s wages. The spring-loaded carriages are also very popular with the nobility. As for coal briquettes…”
Just as Gerd was about to list them one by one, he was stopped by his father. “Alright, alright, it’s good that they’re useful. You don’t need to give me such a detailed introduction.” Prince Jassim squinted his eyes, his face wreathed in smiles. He hadn’t seen his son so excited in a long time.
“Alright, but you must hear this number.” Gerd held up the paper in his hand. “If everything goes smoothly and our revenue can grow according to the current trend, the new technology from the Northwest Bay will bring us an income of 500,000 silver shields next year. And this is the net profit after deducting all expenses.”
“Five… 500,000 silver shields?” As Gerd expected, his father’s eyes widened.
This was undoubtedly a huge income. As the king’s younger brother, Prince Jassim knew that the royal family’s annual income was around 5 million silver shields last year. Last year was not so good, only a little over 4 million. What? You build a few factories, and you can match one-eighth to one-tenth of the royal family’s income?
It was simply too incredible.
“This is thanks to Count Paul Grayman having already paved the way and cleared all the thorns on the road. According to him, the current market is far from reaching ‘saturation,’ so he is very happy to let us, his partner, walk on the road he has paved and share his channels and customers. Or rather, we are also one of his production bases here. After all, he has a twenty percent stake here.”
“Partner?” Yuriko, at the side, snorted. “If I remember correctly, the Grayman family should be a vassal of the royal family…the Schroeder family, right? It’s a bit too much of a compliment to call him that.”
“Yuriko!” Gerd scolded his brother, but he did not continue to criticize him. Instead, he continued to speak to his father.
“Our income will not stop at this level; it will continue to grow. The recent war in Horn Bay may cause some trouble, but it doesn’t matter. The Northwest Bay is building a merchant fleet that can sail to the far east, no longer relying on the middlemen of Horn Bay. And we have also introduced their shipbuilding technology. The traditional shipyards in Port West are being rebuilt, and we can also get a share of the shipbuilding industry. I estimate…”
Gerd paused for a few seconds, calculating in his head.
“In five years, the income brought to us by these new industries will be on par with the royal family’s traditional income…of course, this is an optimistic estimate.”
“Oh!”
Jassim was captivated by the grand vision his son had painted. Although he was not concerned with the specific details of the new industries, as long as they could bring in profits, it was a good thing.
Chapter 589: Night Talk
Comments