System vs Rebirth

Chapter 1153: Back

”Weʼre finally back.” Anna stretched her body. ”To think that driving for too long will make you stiff…”

Noel walked out of the carriage while saying, ”This is not our car, so of course, itʼs not the best.”

”Fair enough. I canʼt expect too much from a carriage that we bought out of nowhere.” Anna chuckled.

Noel looked at the mansion with a serious face.

Noticing his worries, Anna said, ”Donʼt worry. Iʼm sure that Tristan is fine. Letʼs ask Dimitri about it. No, if Iʼm not wrong, Andreas is to go back after this, right?”

”Yeah. The escort is only necessary until they meet Duke Lorelei. Iʼm sure that Duke Lorelei will provide an escort or even come with them personally. Even without him, he will probably ask two grandmasters to help.” Noel nodded.

”See? Thatʼs why itʼs going to be fine.”

”…” Noel smiled wryly. ”Now that I think about it, where is Dimitri? He usually senses us from afar and greets us…”

”Ah.” Anna almost forgot that Dimitri would always be ready in front of the gate unless he was doing something. ”Heʼs not in the mansion?”

”If youʼre looking for Dimitri, he is on the north. There seems to be some trouble in the demonʼs territory.”

”Charlotte?” Noel raised his eyebrows while turning to the side, finding Charlotte coming from the garden.

”Welcome back, my lord and my lady.” Charlotte politely lowered her head.

”Weʼre back.” Anna waved her hand with a smile. On the other hand, Noel crossed his arms. ”Is there a problem in the north?”

There was only one problem in the demon territory, which was the transport of the ancient demon. It was a precious material, so it was a bit concerning.

”I donʼt know.” Charlotte shook her head helplessly. Her job was to manage the internal matters, not the external ones anyway.

”Itʼs fine. Knowing Dimitri, he will probably be back soon.” Noel nodded. ”By the way, have you heard anything from Tristan?”

”He has sent a letter. It should be in your office. Andreas was the one who brought it here.” Charlotte explained.

”I see.” Noel nodded. The fact that he could send a letter meant that he was fine.

”I believe that Rose will be able to answer any of your questions. Iʼll need to head to the temple because they want an arrangement for priests and knights. After all, weʼre only one month away from opening the city. There are a lot of people asking Balott about the cityʼs housing. A lot of them love to have a taste of this cityʼs technology.” Charlotte smiled.

”Ah! Yes.” Noel nodded. As Charlotte said, spring was about to arrive. They started building this city right after spring arrived, so now that the one year was almost up, he had to prepare for the grand opening.

”If you donʼt mind, please visit Andreas on your way back. Tell him that weʼll leave two days later, as I have to take care of all the arrangements for the grand opening first.”

”Understood.” Charlotte nodded.

Once Charlotte left, Anna couldnʼt help but say, ”Two days later, huh? Will we have enough time?”

”I think? The journey shouldnʼt take more than a month. So once weʼre back, weʼll be busy with the grand opening.” Noel shrugged while opening the door.

”Indeed. Itʼll be quite hard. Then again, they wonʼt try to sabotage us all of a sudden, right?”

”Not at the moment. With the grand opening as well as peopleʼs realization of the rune technology, if they try to sabotage the city, those people will be angry. Itʼs not just a matter of our allied force but also of the merchants or any important individuals. Even the royal family shouldnʼt be dumb enough to offend those people just to provoke us.”

”Fair enough.” Anna contemplated for a moment. ”In that case, we can get an insane amount of money from the grand opening.”

”Yes. Balott and his team will be extremely busy. The residential district will be filled with people.”

”But itʼll be troublesome if a wealthy merchant tries to buy everything…” Anna frowned.

”Of course. Thatʼs why Iʼm planning to discuss it with Balott right now, especially about the restriction and serious background check. I donʼt want them to monopolize the housing market in the city. Besides, weʼre also developing a lot of cities at once, so thereʼs not a single merchant in this kingdom who can actually monopolize it.”

”In that case, Iʼll call Balott for you.”

”Also, send a letter to Tristan to get ready for an influx of Rune Technology sales as well. You probably need to get prepared as well.”

”Me?” Anna tilted her head in confusion.

”Youʼre going to be the head of the Ardagan familyʼs charity foundation.”

”Charity foundation? I know that the Ardagan family has been doing charity, but is now the right time? I think itʼs fine if we wait for another two or three years. Once the cities are built, the financial situation will be more stable.”

Noel waved his hand. ”Itʼs better to do it as soon as possible. There are three benefits. First, the people will trust us more, stopping the royal family from doing anything reckless.”

”Potential for rebellion, I presume?”

Noel winked his eye. ”And the second benefit is that people will have Rune Technologies soon. But if we can create a good brand, people will trust us more.”

”I see. That alone is enough to speed up the creation of the foundation.” She nodded.

”Lastly, even if we only give people clothes, it means that they will use the remaining money they have to pay for something else, such as food… with a bigger amount since the clothingʼs budget will go toward that. It means that more money will be thrown into circulation, which will boost the economy no matter how small it is. Besides, itʼs better to spend money than just collect it.” Noel shrugged.

”Fair enough. But if weʼre going to provide charity or build some housing, why donʼt we use the bricks produced by the Lesen family? Theyʼre the number one producer in the north before fighting us.” Anna suggested.

”Once she contributes a lot, thatʼll definitely be an option. No, itʼs more like she must have thought about it if she is indeed capable. She is racing against time to produce a policy for the development of this land. After all, business cooperation will help the Lesen family in the long run more than straight cash.” Noel smirked. ”That was the reason why I pumped up her reward last time.”

”Bringing out her greed? Youʼre a bad guy, you know that.” Anna smirked.

”And you should stop smiling.”

”Hahaha. Alright, alright. Iʼll be heading out now.”

”Yeah.” Noel nodded while walking toward his office. There were indeed a lot of problems he had to handle, especially since he also needed to recruit someone well-versed in the laws. He wondered who he should send to recruit this person.