Volume 6 Chapter 17 Risk
Mendis took a cup of the Moon Shadow Blueberry Drink out of the refrigerator and walked out of the door of his shop.
When he came out, he felt that strong heat that made his body that was cooled to just the right temperature under the Magic Air Conditioner suddenly be covered in sweat.
“This damn weather……” Mendis couldn’t help mumbling. He quickly took several steps and came under the shade of the tree by the road. He walked under this line of trees as he came to another shop that was not far away.
The sun at noon really was hot and there wasn’t anyone on the street at all. Other than the sound of cicadas chirping, this normally lively street was strangely quiet at this moment.
When Mendis came to the door of the shop he was heading too, he heard the sounds coming from inside.
When Mendis walked through and looked in, he shook his head as he said in a loud voice, “I say, Ren, it’s fine if you’re not taking a nap on this hot noon, but why are you using these old things again?”
The owner of the shop Ren turned to look at Mendis when he heard this and gave a laugh before putting down the red piece of iron in his hand. He threw it into the solution used for cooling it which created a large patch of smoke that filled the room.
Ryan and Mendis were blacksmiths in Cramer City before, building iron things for their entire lives.
They thought that their lives would continue like this, but they never thought that with the appearance of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce several years ago, all the blacksmiths would be replaced with production magic machines, which made them lose their jobs.
It was a good thing that the two of them were smart. After learning that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had started the small company support plan in Banta City, they went up by themselves. They obtained the support of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, buying several production magic machines from them and opening these two small scale component production factories in Cramer City.
After several years of development, their two factories were the top supplier of magic machine components, controlling over 40% of the component market in Cramer City.
The current them compared to when they worked so hard as blacksmiths had increased their incomes by over a hundred times, as well as having their work become much easier compared to before.
Ironing iron in the middle of the day like Ren was currently doing was already something that existed only in their long lost memories.
So the two not only did not feel dissatisfied that the Frestech Chamber of Commerce made them lose their blacksmithing business, they were grateful towards the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.
“I was bored so I wanted to see if my skills had regressed.” Ren opened the Magic Refrigerator near him and took out a bottle of cold malt liquor before pointing it to Mendis.
Mendis waved his hand and raised the cold drink in his hand.
Ren knew the habits of his old friend, so he didn’t say anything and closed the door of the Magic Refrigerator. He took the remote behind him and pressed it, causing the Magic Air Conditioner on the wall to let out a soft sound. There was a cool breeze that came out and it didn’t take long before the heat of his blacksmithing had disappeared from the room.
Mendis looked at the Magic Air Conditioner hanging on the wall and shook his head with a sigh, “It’s still your Frestech Brand Magic Air Conditioner that is better. My shop’s Amphil Magic Air Conditioner isn’t as cold as yours.”
“Who told you to not listen to my advice and insist on buying that Amphil Magic Air Conditioner. It is cheaper, but what does it matter if you can’t use it?” Ren gave a soft snort.
“It isn’t that I can’t use it, it’s just not as good as the Frestech Brand Magic Air Conditioner.” Mendis gave a bitter laugh, “I bought it back then because the cover for the Amphil Magic Air Conditioner was made by our shops, so I wanted to show my support for them.”
“Che, it’s something that you use yourself, why do you care that much? Our shop has also received quite a few orders from the Sorns Chamber of Commerce for their Magic Kettles, but do you see me using their Magic Kettle in my house?”
“This fellow, you are a fanatic supporter of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, you think I don’t know?” Mendis rolled his eyes at Ryan and then after hesitating a bit, he sat up and came closer to Ren, “I say, Ren, you support the Frestech Chamber of Commerce this much, when they were inviting other companies to invest in the Marlow Empire, why didn’t you go with them?”
Ren looked at Mendis in surprise, “Are you joking? You can’t see what kind of fellows followed the Frestech Chamber of Commerce? Even the weakest among them is countless times stronger than small merchants like us, what would I follow them for? To eat their dust?”
“Ke……I didn’t mean that, but……” Mendis looked at the door before lowering his voice, “Her majesty and the parliament have announced that they would start cooperating with the Marlow Empire’s Marquis Southgate. They wanted the large companies of our Lampuri Kingdom to seize this chance and enter the Marlow Empire to invest, are you interested?”
“Are you crazy?” Ren put a hand on Mendis’ forehead, “What nonsense are you saying without a fever? Her majesty and the parliament are summoning the large companies, how is it related to people who can only fulfill small roles like us?”
Mendis snappily slapped Ren’s hand away and argued, “I’m not crazy! Although we only play small roles, that is unrelated to investing in the Marlow Empire? Did you read the «Lampuri Weekly»? The first group of companies that went with the Frestech Chamber of Commerce has already started the production base on Marquis Southgate’s territory. As long as we go now, we’ll be able to start producing soon and it isn’t as hard as you think.”
Ren was surprised as he looked at Mendis with knitted brows for a while.
“You’re serious?”
“Nonsense1 Otherwise why would I not be taking a nap at home and coming to see you?”
“This……”
Seeing that Mendis was serious, Ren put down the alcohol in his hand and fell into thought.
After a while, he gave a nod, “Mendis, I admit that this is a very good idea, but don’t you think that this is too risky? We’re not familiar with that place or the people there, so it will be hard to deal with any accidents. Moreover, not to mention compared to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, we’re countless times weaker than any of the companies there, so what would we go there for?”
“Risk?” Mendis gave a laugh, “Ren, after several years of comfort, did you completely change? If you want to talk about risk, wasn’t it risky when we ran off to the Frestech Chamber of Commerce in Banta City? But don’t you see how we’re living now? Let me tell you, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman Xu isn’t wrong at all. This world will keep changing and if you learn to take risks, you will be eliminated!”
Ren was silent.
Although he had been old friends with Mendis, they had different personalities.
Mendis’ personality was well known, he was willing to bravely try new things and liked taking risks. He was someone who was calm and liked safely walking on the existing path.
When the two decided to join the small company support plan, it was Mendis who urged him on.
Now that Mendis was here to ask him to invest in the Marlow Empire together, he also felt that this was very risky.
But in his heart, he felt that this was indeed quite a good idea.
The Marlow Empire was much bigger compared to the Lampuri Kingdom, exceeding them in both market and opportunities. If they could seize these opportunities, their future prospects would be countless times bigger than staying in a small Cramer City.
Seeing the change in expression on Ren’s face, Mendis knew that he was a bit moved and began persuading him even more.
“Look, the first batch of companies entered the Marlow Empire, they were all specialized companies like the Cantona Chamber of Commerce that work with agricultural magic machines. The only component company that went is the Ireland Chamber of Commerce. You think that the Ireland Chamber of Commerce alone can provide components to all those companies? And to make those companies run all the way here to buy components, that wouldn’t make sense, right?”
“Un……” Ren couldn’t help nodding, “Then you mean…..if we go there now, we can provide components to the companies that the Ireland Chamber of Commerce can’t satisfy? But we can’t make that many kinds of components right now……”
“That isn’t a big problem. We can just take the first step and seize this opportunity. Those magic machine companies will be used to using the components from us and they won’t buy components from other companies. Then again, we aren’t that bad. Didn’t the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s engineer give our component a second grade evaluation before?”
“Un…..Let me think……” Ren lowered his head to think again.
Mendis silently watched him being filled with expectation.
Ren’s calm personality was a very good supplement to him, these two had worked well together and gotten through many problems over the years.
This decision to invest in the Marlow Empire was a big risk for Mendis, so he hoped very much that Ren would come with him.
Other than hoping to bring his old friend alog, it was because Ren could help him solve many problems.
When Mendis patiently waited for Ren to make a decision, there was the sound of a car stopping outside the door.
The two were surprised and looked outside at the same time.
If they didn’t make a mistake, that should be the sound of a Magic Sedan stopping. It was completely different from the transport Magic Cars that they were used to.
A person that could take a Magic Sedan, even in the Lampuri Kingdom that was already filled with Magic Sedans, wasn’t a normal person.
Who would come here in the middle of the day?
A thin person had a smile as he entered the front door to appear in their vision.
Looking over the two, he reached his hand out and said with a smile, “I am the Ireland Chamber of Commerce’s vice chairman Kovacs, may I ask which one of you is chairman Ren?”
Mendis and Ren both looked at each other.