Reborn as the Genius Son of the Richest Family

Chapter 269: Branching out the Golden Road

With the success of the Golden Road connecting Angora to Neo Orcus, Michael felt it appropriate to finally expand further out to the Queens region.

ChatJK4, can you show me an optimal route for the Golden Road that will efficiently go through all the territories in the Queens region?

[Understood, Michael. Generating a map for you…]

After a few seconds, Michael saw a topographical 3-D image of the Royal Continent, specifically the lower part of the Queens region containing Angora City and Neo Orcus.

Right now, a yellow path representing the Golden Road connected the two Reborn-influenced territories into a sort of high-way.

Then, a glowing yellow line flowed from Angora City to further northwards—about a monthʼs worth of travel—to a small named location called Batchrock town, the supposed territory that was recently conquered by Flamecorp, a subsidiary of the Oscorpe conglomerate.

Now, if he was being selfish, he would want to connect the Golden Road directly to Batchrock Town in order to force a confrontation between the two of them. After all, Michael knew for certain that the leader of Flamecorp was in possession of a GodForge piece.

But if he were to do that, it would mean that he would be missing out on the ten or so territories on the left and right sides of Angora City.

Although those places were smaller and arguably less ʼimportantʼ than Batchrock town, Michael needed to spread Reborn there too.

After all, the main reason he was doing all of this in the first place was to spread the comfort and pleasurable lifestyle that only the Reborn company could give to the people of this world.

If he were to abandon them, then that would be tantamount to abandoning his core principles.

ChatJK4, please make a blueprint for the Golden Road to branch towards all these territories on the East and West sides of Angora City.

[Understood Michael. This is the most strategic course of action that you could take.]

Why do you think so?

[By spreading your influence and completely conquering the Southernmost tip of the Queens region, there would be no way for your opponents to flank your territories.]

As usual, ChatJK4 was right. Michael should have thought about the military aspect of expanding the Golden Road. The Queens region was totally different from the tame and docile territories of the Kings region. This place had competition. And they wouldnʼt back down so easily once they saw Reborn coming, as evidenced by what happened with the HammerStone company.

Alright, thanks ChatJK4. Iʼll have our Engineers start the construction right away.

Michael spent the rest of the day conversing with the Rebornian Engineers, who quickly fulfilled his wishes and began their construction in the East and West gates of Angora City.

He thought he would have had to ask for permission from the Duke, but it seemed he had already sent a letter giving Reborn the authorization to do whatever they wanted in Angora City, which may or may not have caused the royals to panic because Michael was now essentially the acting Duke of the city itself.

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The appearance of automobiles caused a boom in the commerce of Angora City and beyond. Products were being delivered faster than before, rare items which were so hard to obtain could now be purchased in the Reborn Department Store, and more people were traveling to other places in the Royal Continent because of the Golden Road.

Those in the Queens region travelled by automobile or train to the Kings region, and vice versa. This created a lot of opportunities for businesses to thrive, further driving the economy of the territories involved in the Golden Road.

Eventually, this caused other territories in the East and West side of Angora City to become slightly aware of what was happening.

The newspaper article had already created an intrigue among them, but the increased activity in Angora City certainly caught their attention.

One such group took particular attention.

This group—for lack of a better term—were unscrupulous in their ways to obtain a living wage.

If you were to ask them what they did, then they would answer that they were in the security business, protecting merchants, travellers, and other such visitors from meeting a terrible fate in the woods.

As long as people paid a good amount of coins, then those tourists could be assured that they would not be attacked deep in the night while they camped.

Of course, they didnʼt have to tell anyone that they were the one who attacked people in the night. It was already implied.

They were the so-called Bastard Bandits who lived in the SouthTip Forest, the large patch of greenery that separated Angora City from the rest of the Queens region.

Despite the dangers of wild animals, occasional monsters, and dangerous cliffs, the Bastard Bandits had made a home for themselves in the SouthTip forest.

They had claimed it to be theirs, despite having no jurisdiction or credentials to back it up.

And because of that, they charged a ʼmeaslyʼ toll on anyone that tried to travel through the SouthTip Forest. If they were obedient and paid their fee, then they would find their journey in the forest to be safe and boring. If they didnʼt, then they would find their products stolen or their lives taken.

They had made quite a living doing this, living quite lavishly in the caves of the forest.

But recently, they had noticed that there was a large influx of carriages coming from the north to the south, specifically the famous Angora City.

This was an anomaly.

It was already deep into the winter season, which meant that travel shouldnʼt be too welcome among the populace.

Now usually, this would have been a cause for celebration for the whole troupe. More tourists meant more tolls, and more tolls meant more money for them to warm their bodies with booze.

However, a few observant bandits noticed that despite the large influx of carriages coming from the North, there was a distinct lack of carriages coming from the South.

It was as if they reached Angora City and chose to never come back at all!

The Bastard Bandit leader immediately tasked his men to capture one of the travellers and question them for information.

They laid in wait in the snowy bushes as a single carriage led by two horses came trotting past their hiding spot.

”Halt!” they shouted.

The horses were immediately startled, neighing crazily and standing on their front legs.

The man in the carriage peeked out of his window and saw the snowy bushes suddenly stand up, revealing themselves to be bandits who had camouflaged themselves with pure white gear.

The sharp weapons they held in their hands immediately was enough to make the man in the carriage consider a surrender.

”Whatʼs the meaning of this?I paid my fees!” he shouted to them.

”Donʼt worry, weʼre not going to hurt you,” one of the bandits said. ”Weʼre just here to ask some questions.”

The bandits approached his carriage and forcefully opened it, letting the cold breeze of the air enter.

Then, one of the bandits stepped foot inside and sat on the opposite side, meeting face to face with the merchant.

”First of all, an introduction is in order. I am Sleazy. And you are?”

The merchant eyed the man suspiciously before answering.

”Iʼm just an ordinary merchant. I sell chocolates.”