NOVEL WEB Chapter 115: Competition Teams_1
The Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce was an organization similar to a merchants' association. Merchants could join by paying a membership fee and subsequently enjoy many preferential treatments from within the chamber.
Sometimes, merchants engaged in similar businesses would collude, amassing fortunes by manipulating the prices of specific goods. It was a prime example of concentrating resources to achieve significant results.
With support from the Silvermane Principality, the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce was the dominant force in the Wildwind Highlands, wielding influence that could not be ignored.
Therefore, as the head of the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce's branch in Nuta City, Branch Head Gale generally received considerable deference, even from the nobility.
However, at yesterday's Temple meeting, Count Theodore had chased him from the conference table, leaving Gale feeling utterly humiliated. He had also seized the opportunity to inflate the price for repairing the road between Nuta City and Storm City, intending to profit from the war.
When the Lord's Mansion sent someone to find Gale, Branch Head Gale was mobilizing the chamber's road repair team. He was arranging manpower, preparing tools and vehicles, and also performing a checkup on the Heavy Tamping Golems and preheating their Magic Energy Cores.
Gale was convinced that Count Theodore had no choice. He believed the Count could only accept the road repair fee he quoted: 5 Gold for every hundred meters.
Therefore, when meeting the soldier sent by the Lord's Mansion, Gale stood arrogantly beside a four-legged Heavy Tamping Golem. He believed Count Theodore had finally bowed his head to him.
But he had never expected that the message the soldier delivered was not the Count's agreement to the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce's price for them to start work immediately. Instead, the message stated, "Tomorrow morning, in the southern suburbs of Nuta City, Count Theodore is organizing a road repair competition and requires the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce's repair team to participate on time. If you are late, it will be treated as a forfeit."
What a joke! Gale thought. Where on the entire Wildwind Highlands is there another proper road repair team? No, who in the Wildwind Highlands, so lacking in awareness, would dare to snatch business from me, Gale?
"What happened? Who wants to compete with my repair team?" Gale demanded.
The reporting soldier answered, "It is the Lord of the Eternal Domain, the Beast Tamer from the Thunderous Swamp, Knight Yan Xing—a close friend of Count Theodore. Tomorrow morning, Knight Yan Xing's repair team will compete against the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce's team. The competition involves building a rammed earth road 100 meters long, 3 meters wide, and 1 meter high, with a maximum of 50 people on each side. Count Theodore will act as the judge for this competition. My lord will also announce, after the competition is over, which repair team will take over the road repair project from Nuta City to Storm City."
Lord Yan Xing of the Eternal Domain! Gale remembered the knight who had taken his seat all too well. Wasn't he supposed to be investigating the assassination of Priest Temple? How did he end up snatching the road repair business as well? Is investigating cases so leisurely? And to think those Swamp Werewolves could repair roads. If you asked them to dig a hole, I bet they couldn't even make it square. Is Count Theodore pulling him into the competition to force me to lower my bid?
Gale felt it was very likely the Count had organized tomorrow's competition for this very purpose.
Hmph! You all think road repair is so simple, especially finishing it in such a short time.
"I understand." Gale, not believing anyone in the Wildwind Highlands could compete with him in this industry, said casually to the soldier, "Relay this to the Count for me: Tomorrow morning, I will lead the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce's road repair team to the southern suburbs for the competition. If I win tomorrow, the hundred meters of new road built during the competition must also be included in the project cost."
As the president of the Nuta City branch of the Golden Oak Chamber of Commerce, Gale could naturally sense the undercurrents swirling within the city. Yesterday, at the Temple, various factions were already preparing to besiege Count Theodore. It was merely due to an unforeseen incident that Theodore had escaped disaster. But no one would miss the chance to partake in the carving up of Nuta City. Count Theodore was getting old. Everyone was considering what position they wanted to occupy in the Nuta City of the near future.
After sending off the messenger soldier, Gale continued his preparations for the road construction.
He was confident of victory.
「Meanwhile」
Yan Xing was in his estate's barn outside Eden City, transferring a new batch of engineering vehicles. He also hurried to train the peasants in driving them.
But then he realized that operating this construction equipment was not as simple as he had imagined. Even when he tried using the manual, the digger's bucket jittered as if it had epilepsy and nearly flipped him over!
Not to mention those peasants, who could only kowtow in worship, shouting, "Lord Yan Xing, your magic is limitless; Lord Yan Xing, your might is unrivaled!"
Eden could only praise Lord Yan Xing's mighty and powerful alchemy golems, while also worrying whether his estate would be torn down by these machines.
Hibel, who had come to protect Yan Xing, was equally astonished by these steel golems. She could roughly discern the function of these alchemical machines, but she couldn't understand what exactly had happened in the Thunderous Swamp for a group of barbarians to produce so many miraculous things. Please read this chapter on its original platform—M|V|L1EMPYR.
And then there were the bicycles.
Seeing Werewolves riding these two-wheeled vehicles not only without falling but also speeding along, Hibel thought, If our own infantrymen could mount these things called bicycles, it could greatly increase their mobility. This Yan Xing from the Northern Thundering Swamp is truly mysterious. What else has he not revealed yet?
In the open space of Eden's estate, Yan Xing was being watched as he tried to operate various machines. He found the controls of the road roller to be simpler.
Start, move forward, reverse, turn...
Since it was not for compressing a paved surface, some functions were not immediately needed, making the operation less complicated. The machine weighed 12 tons and was not fast, but it was forgiving of errors. As long as one was brave and careful, just driving it around in circles would be enough to get started.
To secure the 7,500 Gold project, the machinery had to be road-ready by tomorrow morning. Yan Xing instructed the selected peasant drivers to head for the southern outskirts of Nuta City, the site of the competition. They would learn as they went; he didn't believe they couldn't grasp it by the time they arrived.
Among the remaining vehicles, the tri-wheel dump trucks were the quickest to master. Driving a tri-wheel was even simpler than driving a road roller. The road roller had barely left the estate and was still in sight when the five Werewolves chosen to drive the tri-wheel dump trucks were already speeding off.
With the road roller, the tri-wheel dump trucks, and the iron shovels indispensable to the peasants of the Eternal Domain, Yan Xing was equally confident about tomorrow's competition. He was as merry as if he had already pocketed the 7,500 Gold Coins.
HAHAHAHA...
Huh, what's Hibel doing, battling with that bicycle?
While everyone in the estate was excitedly watching the Werewolves drive the tri-wheels, Hibel was pushing a bicycle, trying to ride it like the Werewolves. But just like all beginners, she was somewhat afraid of the two-wheeled vehicle, unable to coordinate her hands, feet, and balance.
Hibel, in her full suit of armor learning to ride a bicycle, looked rather comical.