The Rembrandt Company is in a part of downtown.
Despite the drastic growth, there haven’t been store expansions, so it is not standing out anymore because buildings have increased in numbers.
Even with that, because of their fame over time, just the mention of the Rembrandt Company is enough to know it is that place. It is functioning as a sort of landmark plenty well.
“And here I thought they would finally be expanding… A road?”
“Isn’t this way too wide? It is most likely that. The weaklings flooding around the place are getting annoying, so he tried cleaning up at least the ones at the front?”
“I am gonna smack you, you idiot! As if Rembrandt-san would do something so cruel!”
“It seems he has been expanding paths here and there in the streets, but…that goes for Patrick-sama’s place as well, huh. Then does that mean that’s the intention of the city?”
“But it is a road, you know? It would be one thing if it were the Couple Company, but what’s the point of putting one in front of the Rembrandt Company?”
On that day, there were more people than usual in front of the Rembrandt Company.
Tsige has recently been doing construction work in the limited times of the night, and it wasn’t strange for blocks, that one would not go in a short while, to change into roads.
Tsige was turning into a city that people would get lost in unless it is a place they walk by every day.
Some people began calling it the magic city.
Even though the sun was barely beginning to rise, there were already a lot of curious onlookers. It might not be such an unnatural sight from Tsige that’s turning into a modern city.
“Hey! Move away, move away! This is still our time! The sun is still at that position!!”
The craftsmen group that were borrowed from the Bronzeman Company were daily labourers that have been employed by a subcontracted company an indefinite amount of times.
The mages that were in charge of the materials were pushing away the curious onlookers, and gathered in the middle of the road.
The job that’s in the number one spot of ‘best paying jobs at present’; the magic construction team of Tsige.
The crowd of people surrounding them from afar had their eyes glow.
The combination of magic and construction that’s worth seeing even in the eyes of novices was in a sense a free show.
The craftsmen didn’t show signs of being bothered by the eyes of the onlookers. They promptly do the manufacturing process with coordinated movements. A single unfamiliar building was made around the middle point of the road in the blink of an eye.
A peculiar hut that if Makoto were to see it, he would have thought of the resting spots in the countryside for tourist busses.
But for the people of Tsige that have never seen a building resembling this, they would go ‘it isn’t this’ ‘it isn’t that’ as they exchange guesses, and it turned into a sort of discussion gathering.
“Tch! Something like this will do for now. Next will be in front of the Kuzunoha Company! This is the last one! Leave the collapsing for after you get the gold!!”
“Just warning you here, but if you show something as pathetic as the dwarfs over there who are adjusting stuff, the boss will snap! Don’t lower your guard!”
The magic construction team said this and disappeared into the Kuzunoha Street.
The center of the city alone was still in the test phase tonight.
Express carriages, that were inexistent in Tsige before but were prepared for the assumed future size, were running.
It was a remote city that had strong individuality to begin with, but this was also the day that it was heading towards becoming an untrodden big city.
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“How about we do this here like this…and how about increasing the entrances to 3 more?”
“…No, if we do that, it would clash with the cargo staff here. The traversal of horses, golems, and luggage carriers are on the verge of bursting.”
“The leeway will be gone. Hmm…”
“Uhm, representative…”
“What?”
“I think it is unreasonable to bring such minute time management into the circulation of goods. Even if a road exclusive for carriages is made, there’s accidents and irregular events that could happen. It is true that Tsige has high technique and the amount of accurate clocks has increased, but if we are to make promises, it would mean that we have to hold the mentality that every second counts. And if we were to delineate the operation plans in such detail…it would be suicidal.”
“…”
“If it were in terms of the goal to aim for in the future, then I would be impressed by your foresight, Representative. However, I think it is impossible to take these in now.”
“…”
The meeting room of the Couple Company.
The Don of the goods circulation of Tsige that can even be counted in the top 5 is currently in the middle of a big reform.
They are not simply riding on the flow of things, they are precisely tying up the important points of the city, and are trying to remake the movement of people and things into a more systematic one.
Golems with high output and high endurance that can serve as a replacement for horses, a route construction principle that will be running around the city like a spider web, and the idea of an exclusive route for carriages that’s a completely different concept from the Golden Highway that connects city to city.
The elderly representative has brought out these many revolutionary ideas, and the Couple Company shook.
The representative Capli Tradd was more energetic than anyone, stood at the forefront of the company, and suddenly said ‘a station!’.
Since that day, there was no rest for the executives.
Time with their families, using their time for their hobbies; there was no such thing for the people working in the companies of Tsige, more so with the executives of big companies.
In the case of the Couple Company, as long as you do the job you have to do, they are decently generous with their rest times, but the ability requirement is high to begin with.
But the actual state of things is that you have to make desperate efforts to accomplish the order, and the reality is that no matter young or old, men or women, married or unmarried, the company has become their house.
“Ma’am, please reconsider.”
When in internal meetings of the Couple Company and when with only relatives, the representative is called as Ma’am.
She is not a gutsy mother or anything, but the consideration and tolerance she has when interacting with the employees has brought about that way of calling.
But there’s times when she would show manliness that even men would lose to, pulling the company along with the employees, and it just showed the very vitality to bring up a big company like this.
“…Right. Covering everything all of a sudden would be impossible even if it is just this scale.” (Capli)
‘Even if it is just this scale’.
It is true that for the Couple Company that has circulation routes that run through the whole city of Tsige and outside, the range here isn’t that big by any means.
But the precision that’s asked for and the amount of points that must be covered is on a whole different level with the new component that is the station.
“It is vexing though.”
The words of the executive, that was overflowing with loyalty and has been supporting the Couple Company with their all for a long time, had created a change in the attitude of Capli that is the very embodiment of foolhardy.
“But…” (Capli)
“!”
“I would like to implement the ideas of the station and the time table no matter what. I want to begin it at once so I can gather all kinds of information and its know-hows.”
“Ma’am…”
“…Then, let’s divide day and night.” (Capli)
“Day and night? What do you mean by that?”
“People will be the main point at noon. The transportation of goods will be mainly divided in the morning and night. If we were to reduce the amount as a whole a bit… How’s that?” (Capli)
“!! Aah, if it is that, we might be able to do something depending on the routes taken. The lack of breathing room is still a worry, but we are employing more people and investing in equipment at the same time so…”
“Yeah. Then, let’s go with this. But if we are to decide for a time table, and operate on fixed times, I honestly think that it would be difficult to make it practical with our calculations alone.” (Capli)
Capli takes memos and mumbles about the time table, the serials of the carriages, the several routes that they will be going through, and their management.
As if saying it is giving her a headache.
At the side there’s the other members downed, but there’s one young and promising executive doing their best with a wry smile as they nod.
When a memo was filled, it would be adjusted, and the memos that would be filled in messy black had increased in numbers that it was silly to even count them anymore.
“…Yes. It is too much of a new way of doing things that the work it entails can’t be settled as side-work. There’s a need to raise people specialized for this.” (Capli)
“I don’t think a scholar would be able to take the job for the missing number specialists.”
“I think it will require a specialization that’s different from accounting. Just what kind of abilities should we even be looking for in the scholars…?” (Capli)
The worrying conversation continued.
“A new aptitude… When it comes to abilities, the staple is obviously…” (Capli)
“Orphan children. But with the fact that we don’t even know what aptitude we are searching for, this is…”
“Troubling…” (Capli)
“Even for Ma’am who reached the idea of a station?”
“!!”
The executive said this with the intention of being a light joke, but Capli opened her eyes wide at those words.
“Ma’am?”
The conversations with the representative don’t have much landmines, so her rare reaction agitated the executive.
“That.” (Capli)
“?”
“The trigger for the idea of the station. There might be a hint there.” (Capli)
“You had something like that?!”
“Yeah… Okay, I will intrude today.” (Capli)
“You said something unreasonable there as if nothing, didn’t you, Ma’am?! You must not! Troubling outsiders is just…!”
“It is okay. They are the main culprits after all. Then, I am sorry, but I will be leaving things to you here for a bit. I’ll be going!” (Capli)
“Wa?! Take a short rest before going out. You haven’t rested for two days, you know?!”
“? I will properly go in a carriage, so I won’t collapse!” (Capli)
“That’s not the problem!”
The one who has the most vitality in the company is the representative.
That’s a classic scene in the Couple Company.