The chapter title is unusually revealed from the beginning.
Please wait for future chapters to see what happens.
I won’t be running away from home in this story lol.
A week has passed since the festival commemorating the first anniversary was held the other day.
The festival itself was organized by general volunteers, but the executive branch was also busy making arrangements for its holding, including the use of public roads and various other permissions.
Although they worked entirely behind the scenes, without the executive branch’s cooperation, the festival would not have been a success.
However, the executive branch, which was working behind the scenes, could not simply transition into normal business mode after the festival ended.
A major announcement was made from higher authorities.
The announcement stated that the four cities with teleport gates would be completely brought under their jurisdiction.
Kenerusen was already publicly announced to be under their jurisdiction.
Mikusen had adopted an attitude that largely followed Crown, so this was also readily accepted.
However, regarding the other two cities, rumors circulated that they were at best reserving their stance, if not outright opposing them.
But contrary to those rumors, this announcement was made.
This announcement had been completely stalled at the highest level, making it news to the residents of both cities.
However, the residents of either city did not particularly oppose it.
This news quickly spread throughout each city.
Of course, it wasn’t confined to the cities; it spread throughout the continent in no time.
Although only four cities were announced this time, there are naturally other towns that have already expressed a desire to be incorporated.
Towns in the vicinity of the four cities have now officially decided to be incorporated following this announcement.
Basically, apart from the cities to the east, west, north, and south of the Central Continent, and the four towns with teleport gates, other towns would be left hopelessly behind if they were excluded from the benefits of the Crown’s major merchant caravans.
Since all towns on the continent are coastal, they are not outside the routes.
Furthermore, the major merchant caravans do not transport all their goods to the eastern, western, northern, and southern cities; naturally, they sell these goods in towns along the way.
However, even major merchant caravans have a limit to the amount of goods they can carry.
The question is, how much cargo is exchanged in which town.
For smaller towns, this can sometimes be a matter of life and death.
Even with major merchant caravans, towns are unlikely to be ruined by the actions of a single caravan.
However, if that caravan is carrying popular items that the town’s residents desire, the situation is different.
If such popular items are not dropped off in the town, people may flock to the towns that handle those items.
As a result, even if the town itself is not ruined, its scale may shrink.
Smaller towns are more sensitive to such matters.
This is why they must ensure the distribution of such goods, even if it means being incorporated.
This announcement can be seen as a long-awaited one for such towns.
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A few days after the incorporation of the four cities was announced, a regular meeting was held in the management layer as usual.
Today’s topic was, of course, the announcement made the other day.
“To get straight to the point, it seems to have been met with generally positive reception on both sides.”
“Generally, huh.”
Kousuke chimed in on Alec’s phrasing.
He knew that Alec had deliberately chosen those words.
“There will never be complete agreement on such matters.”
When major changes occur, there will naturally be people who are disadvantaged by those changes.
This is especially true for those who were already making a considerable profit.
If they adapt to the changes, they can even make greater profits, but they are often too focused on protecting their current profits.
“……No, this is also an opinion from our side.”
Kousuke shook his head, bringing his drifting thoughts back.
“……So? Are any problems likely to surface?”
“Not on the surface. Well, even if there were things happening behind the scenes, they would likely be suppressed by the rulers of each town.”
Alec, or rather, the executive branch, believes that since the rulers are completely on their side, the response will be similar to that of Kenerusen.
“How much can you trust that?”
“I’d say about seventy percent.”
“That’s a rather subtle number.”
“In the first place, one cannot completely trust the rulers of this continent. It can go either way depending on the situation.”
If they had principles like the Six Marquises of Kenerusen, they could be trusted to some extent, but otherwise, complete trust would be impossible.
Alternatively, if there were existing nations and a sense of belonging to those nations, trust might be possible, but nations do not exist on the Central Continent.
It is precisely because this is the case that the decision to be incorporated under Amamiya Tower was made.
“It feels a little precarious, but putting that aside, are we okay here?”
Here refers to the city on the Fifth Floor.
“Ah, on that side, there are no objectors. In fact, there are many who question why the announcement wasn’t made sooner.”
Alec said this with a bitter smile.
“That’s quite a bold statement.”
The incorporation of the four towns with teleport gates was decided right before the festival was actually executed.
He suspected they used the festival’s commotion to push the issue, and that suspicion wasn’t entirely wrong.
If one can reach anywhere immediately via a teleport gate, the atmosphere can become unsettled, even if it’s not the same town.
They brought up the matter at such times.
“That’s why there are no particular problems on this side. The current commotion will eventually subside.”
Officials from the executive branch nodded in agreement with Alec’s words.
“So? What are your predictions for how others will react to this?”
“That prediction is difficult at the moment. Ultimately, there is the issue of distance.”
As expected, towns closer to the cities with teleport gates are easier to incorporate, and the farther away they are, the less likely they are to be incorporated.
It’s not that they are aiming for the incorporation of all cities, so there is no particular problem… or rather, the more towns that are incorporated, the more they have to be mindful of unnecessary matters.
“Why don’t we try to encourage the towns to the east, west, north, and south to be incorporated by offering the installation of teleport gates as an incentive?”
Kousuke said this jokingly, and Schmidt reacted.
“I would really like to see that implemented. From a merchant caravan perspective.”
If the number of teleport gates doubled, the cost burden on merchant caravans would be significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated.
However, Alec stopped him with a wry smile.
“Please wait a moment. Regarding those four cities, the matter of the offensive weapons played a role. There’s no need to rush to a conclusion immediately.”
“So, you mean there might be some movement somewhere?”
“It’s not certain. It depends on how they move in response to this matter.”
Alec predicts that if they push too hard unnecessarily at this point, even things that would go smoothly might not.
“Hmm. Well, as long as there’s no damage to our city, I don’t care what happens.”
For Kousuke, the cities on the Fifth Floor were the only ones that mattered; the others were like bonus additions.
He wasn’t adamant about wanting them to be incorporated.
However, he also understood that if they were incorporated, the city on the Fifth Floor would develop, so he didn’t necessarily *not* want them incorporated.
In the end, Kousuke only thinks about the Tower.
But to such a Kousuke, Alec, representing everyone, brought up something Kousuke hadn’t considered.
What Alec brought up will be in the next chapter.
Although it’s called a regular meeting, it has become almost an exclusive conversation between Kousuke and Alec.
Schmidt makes a token appearance.
