Volume 2 Chapter 57 Two more identities
“I’m not thinking of doing anything.” Seeing the inquisitive Seveni, Xu Yi casually responded, “It’s just recruiting a hundred elves, is there anything strange about it? Don’t forget, our Frestech Chamber of Commerce has over five hundred dwarven workers right now. The worker cards that these dwarves have, it was something your highness personally issued for me.”
Seveni’s expression wasn’t as relaxed as Xu Yi’s as she shook her head and said, “Elves are different from dwarves. Although dwarves can’t be considered to have a close relationship with humans, it isn’t that bad. Moreover, there are quite a few dwarves that live in the human world, so humans can accept dwarves much more easily. But elves used to be the rulers of the continent and although it’s been several thousand years since the race wars, there are still many humans who are still wary of elves.”
“You’re thinking too much.” Xu Yi said with a frown, “There are so few elves on the Sines Continent, I estimate there are less than ten thousand in the Lampuri Kingdom alone, so what is there to be worried about? Not to mention that elves have much lower fertility than us humans. According to what elder Illusia said, their tribe has only given birth to two elven children in the past ten years. You think a race like this is worthy of humans worrying about or being wary of?”
“I don’t think so, but some humans do. I am not worried about these elves, rather some people using this as a pretext to attack the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, causing trouble for you.” Seveni said with a serious face.
Xu Yi smiled, “The people who want to attack our company will always be able to find excuses, they won’t care about an extra few elves. Then again, your highness is supporting our company, so you can’t just sit by and not care, right?”
Seeing Xu Yi’s smiling appearance, Seveni rolled her eyes at him, “Chairman Xu, do you know that I’ve kept away quite a bit of trouble away from your company already?”
“Of course. Your highness is the saviour guiding the way for our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, I’m very clear on this. I really wish I could pull out my heart to show you my gratitude.”
Seveni’s face turned a bit red and reprimanded Xu Yi. When her face became serious again, she asked Xu Yi, “Alright, you should pay attention to this problem. I came this time mainly this time for the order of weapons and armours.”
“I also thought so. Your highness can be assured, currently we’ve finished eight thousand sets of armour. If you give us a few more months, we can complete over fifty thousand sets of armours.” Xu Yi said.
“This speed isn’t bad.” Seveni nodded, “But I came this time not to add onto the order, rather I wanted to revise the order a bit.”
“Revise?” Xu Yi saw the unnatural expression on Seveni’s face and knew that this revision wasn’t small.
As expected, Seveni paused for a bit and an apologetic look appeared in her face before she continued, “Although the army was very satisfied with the quality of the first batch of armour, some people made suggestions that production of large amounts of armour can’t be held by a normal company and needs to be controlled by the royal family and the army. So…..”
“So you’re not allowing us to make armour anymore, rather you’re changing the order to production magic machines?” When Seveni hesitated, Xu Yi casually asked this.
Seveni looked at Xu Yi in surprise, “Chairman Xu, you’re reactions are really fast.”
“It isn’t anything, I’ve heard this request countless times.” Xu Yi gave a shrug, “Everyone doesn’t hope that the things they need are controlled by others, they are most relieved as long as they control it themselves. I understand his majesty and the royal army’s worry, this is very normal.”
“That means……chairman Xu agrees to this?”
“Of course, why wouldn’t I?” Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Then again, do I have the right to disagree? Alright, your highness, you don’t need to be sorry to me because I understand that the military is the foundation of a country, they definitely wouldn’t let a small company like ours control it. Even if you didn’t request this today, I would have found a chance to discuss this problem with you eventually.”
Seveni nodded, “Chairman Xu truly is a wise person, you don’t need me to explain anything. Since chairman Xu understands my meaning, then I’ll give the request the military headquarters has for you. We’ll retain the order of fifty thousand sets of armour, but the military headquarters wants to raise a special order with your Frestech Chamber of Commerce. They hope that your Frestech Chamber of Commerce can build a special factory that produces weapons and armour for the military headquarters.”
Xu Yi wasn’t surprised by this order. He stroked his chin in thought before asking, “Your highness, building a complete military factory is a very troublesome matter, other than the machines, it also requires a large amount of manpower. Could it be that you can find that many workers?”
“We can’t.” Seveni honestly shook her head, “So we need the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s help to solve these problems.”
“Relying on us?” Xu Yi pointed at himself, “Honourable highness, do you and the military headquarters think this highly of us?”
“Is there any difference? Anyway other than the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, there is no other company that can do this, right?” Seveni said with a faint smile.
Xu Yi thought about it and could only helplessly admit this was the truth.
“Alright, then what should we do?”
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It should be said that Seveni was mentioning the king and the military headquarter’s request to cooperate with Xu Yi.
With the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s current abilities, investing too much into the military business was not a good thing because it was easy to make certain people vigilant.
But helping the royal army create a military factory like this, it was easy for those people to accept.
After this matter, Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce would have a deeper relationship with the royal army and would gain many advantages.
In terms of benefits for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, other than the large amount of income from the fifty thousand sets of armour, there was also the income from the large amounts of magic production machines and technical guidance.
The more important thing was that through this cooperation, Xu Yi had obtained the rights to mine another two Magic Crystal mines from the royal family.
Like this, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had three iron mines and five Magic Crystal mines.
These mines, especially the Magic Crystal mines, didn’t seem that valuable, but Xu Yi was very certain that as magic machines became even more popular, the price of iron and Magic Crystals would increase.
So Xu Yi wasn’t in a rush to mine these mines now, he just temporarily put them aside and waited for the right time to mine them.
Other than the benefits the Frestech Chamber of Commerce gained, Xu Yi had also gained some very practical benefits.
First, because of this cooperation, the king had given Xu Yi a special reward.
This meant that Xu Yi was finally no longer a normal citizen, but rather a respected lord of the Lampuri Kingdom.
Although this title didn’t have any land and was one of the lowest noble titles, it meant a change in his identity. It meant that he went from a normal citizen to a noble.
Next, the military headquarters had given Xu Yi a special advisor status in the royal army.
Although this was an empty title, it meant that Xu YI was still a part of the royal army and received some special benefits.
Of course, whether it was the identity as a lord or the special advisor of the army, their uses couldn’t be seen now.
To Xu Yi, his most important identity was the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman. What he cared most would always be the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s development.
Entering July, the weather began getting even warmer. The sales amount of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s new generation Magic Fans and Magic Air Conditioners began to explode.
Compared to last month, the Magic Fans sold over twenty units halfway into the month, already surpassing last year’s sales numbers.
And the Magic Air Conditioner sails also greatly expanded.
Last summer, the Magic Air Conditioner only sold a thousand units.
But halfway through July this year, they had already sold over three thousand units.
Moreover, this was just in Banta City alone. If they added the sales numbers in the surrounding cities, it was close to ten thousand units.
This also didn’t include the store that Victor’s group of three had set up in Anvilmar City. It had to be known, based on this small store, they had sold five thousand units just this summer.
Even when exchanging an old one, the Magic Fan still earned close to a gold coin in profits.
A Magic Air Conditioner had a shocking fifteen gold coin profit margin.
Just based on these two things, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s profit in the past half a month was close to two hundred thousand gold coins.
Not to mention that the Magic Refrigerator was quickly entering the markets of Banta City and the surrounding cities. In just over ten days, they had already sold over thirty thousand units.
A Magic Refrigerator cost around four gold coins, which meant that they earned around thirteen to fourteen gold coins per unit.
With thirty thousand units in sales, that was a terrifying profit of over four hundred thousand gold coins.
“Your Frestech Chamber of Commerce really develops fast.” Banta City’s City LOrd Count Sean was looking at the tax revenue forms for the first half of the year and he shook his head. He looked at Xu Yi and said with a sigh, “Last year your Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s six months of tax revenue was less than twenty thousand gold coins. But this year, just last month you paid around forty thousand gold coins, which means that your company earned at least two hundred thousand gold coins last month. This month your Magic Fans, Magic Air Conditioners, and the new Magic Refrigerators are all selling well, so I think that your company should earn at least five hundred thousand this month.”
Xu Yi just smiled, neither confirming or denying it.
“Lord Count, this is just this month. Right now the people of Banta City and the surrounding city are buying what they need, but next month, I promise that the sales for our products will be very bad. Perhaps we might not even reach a hundred thousand next month. I am currently worried about what to do.”
“You’re worried? Shouldn’t the chairman of the other companies commit suicide by jumping into the river?” Count Sean scolded with a smile, “Alright, your company making money is a good thing for our Banta City. Right now the people of Banta City have stable work, can earn money, and everyone’s lives are getting better, so my job as the City Lord is much easier. Speaking of this, this is the merit of you and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.”
Xu Yi waved his hand, “How could that be? Banta City’s current state is all because of the Lord Count’s wise leadership, it’s not related to my Frestech Chamber of Commerce at all.”
“Stop flattering me?” Count Sean reprimanded, “At least the several dozen small companies from your plan aren’t related to me, as well as the industrial area around the Sandton Manor.”
“How is it not related! If it wasn’t for the Lord Count’s support, how could the plan have passed? How could the industrial area have been built? The Lord Count is being too modest!”
Count Sean smiled and shook his head. He flipped through the papers on the table before taking one out to throw in front of Xu Yi, “I didn’t call you here to just praise you, rather I wanted to raise some money from you.”