Chapter 1054: Merchants

"So, this is the city." Maxwell stood in front of the city that was said to be built for the hub. It was still at the level of a village, but there were already a few important buildings that were being constructed.

The roads were also expanded to two sides, one heading to the main city while the other headed to the west.

"There are still a few more cities that can be built along the way, but this city will have direct access to Rune Technology. I believe that the main city will become the main manufacturer of Rune Technology." Theressa nodded her head with a serious expression, seeing the potential of this city.

Suddenly, they heard a loud horn blowing in the distance.

"!!!" Both of them turned around and saw a gigantic carriage that traveled at twice the speed of a normal carriage. And it was actually slowing down, meaning that it wasn't their full speed.

"That's..." Theressa gasped.

"So, that's the rumored train." Maxwell's expression turned grim.

The train was slowing down gradually so that it didn't cause the join to snap or the other trailers to move in an unpredictable way.

They ended up arriving thirty meters from the city.

Twenty people came out of the train as they opened up the trailers one by one. Some workers in the city headed to the train to discuss their goods.

Out of curiosity, Maxwell and Theressa walked to them, wanting to know why they came here.

To their surprise, they saw all the materials inside all the trailers. There were a total of ten trailers, one passenger car, and two pulling cars.

Each trailer was filled to the brim with all kinds of materials, including wood, stones, and other essential items for construction.

"They can bring all this stuff in a single trip?" Maxwell sucked a cold breath. He came to one of the workers, asking, "Hi. What is the cost of bringing all these items?"

The worker tilted his head for a moment. On the one hand, he had heard that this area was off-limits. On the other hand, the fact that they were here meant they were allies of the Marquis. It was probably fine to disclose that information to them.

"Not much. Because some are a bit too heavy, we need to add two low level demon crystals to each trailer, for a total of ten crystals. Pulling all these from the main city costs about eight mid level demon crystals."

"!!!" Maxwell widened his eyes in shock. He converted the crystals into money first while muttering inwardly, 'Judging from the amount of materials, we will probably need more than five expeditions with multiple wagons on each trip.

'While this one is harder to protect, we can simply recruit two groups of escorts instead of recruiting one group five times.

'That cost doesn't include the labor to load and unload the supplies, but it can be ignored for now. In fact, because we don't have to hire them multiple times, it can become cheaper.

'To put it roughly, the cost for transporting all these materials will be about 30% of the original cost... or even less. This is only a prototype, so there's a possibility of further development.'

While Maxwell fell into deep thought, Theressa came over and asked the worker. "How long does it take for you to reach this place?"

"I don't know the exact time, but I feel less than an hour."

"!!!" Both Theressa and Maxwell were shocked by this information. While they had never been to the main city, they knew the location of that city.

According to their calculation, the trip should take close to three hours with a normal carriage.

Not only the cost but also the time had shrunk to an unprecedented level. Of course, because of the needs of the demon crystals as fuels, this would further increase the price of the demon crystals, but at that time, the technology had also become more efficient.

Even then, being able to lower the cost and travel time by half alone is already enough to shock the whole world.

It seemed that they had underestimated the Rune Technology too much. Maxwell and Theressa were able to learn about them, while those merchants wouldn't know about it until it was too late.

Both of them exchanged looks, remembering the same thing. Back then, Matthew threatened Noel that he would come and beg for him to help.

Once they saw the train, they realized it would be Matthew who would come back in tears.

"Thank you." Maxwell patted the worker's shoulder. "I have to go back to work now."

Maxwell became excited. With the help of the train, he could upscale his business even more.

Not wanting to lose, Theressa also walked away.

Both of them were trying to do their best so that the Marquis looked at them in a positive way.

However, their steps came to a halt when the last container was opened, showing yet another new technology.

"Move it down! Slow!" One of the workers shouted while waving his hand down.

Inside that trailer was none other than the truck. It was small enough to fit inside the trailer.

"What's that?" Maxwell asked the worker again.

"Ah! That's a truck. It has the same function as the train. However, the size is different. The truck is used inside the city since it's small enough and able to maneuver around the city more easily." The worker explained.

"What?" Maxwell and Theressa rushed to the truck with their eyes wide open.

The truck had a rather peculiar shape. The passenger area was at the very front and could only hold two or three people. On the other hand, there was a smaller trailer linked to their back like a normal wagon.

Still, because it was considered one vehicle, it would be easier to maneuver on a smaller road.

The cargo compartment could only take about thirty percent of what a single trailer could, but that was still two times bigger than a small wagon or the same as a big wagon that required two horses to pull.

More importantly, there was one thing that they noticed. Most of the parts were made of wood, but the front area had crystal clear glass on it. The two sides also had one, which would expand their field of vision to reduce potential collisions.

However, they saw it a little bit differently. Due to the existence of the glass, the entire truck became fully closed. In other words, even the driver wouldn't need to fear the rain or sun. Yes, it meant they could operate it all the time.

Considering the Marquis managed to move the gigantic train with only a small cost, it wouldn't be weird if the truck didn't cost much.

The people started loading the items into the cargo. Once it was full, the truck began to move. The speed was much faster than a carriage, but once they reached the city, where there were a lot of people around, the truck slowed down and moved around freely, avoiding all the people.

Once he met the first one, he would go out, grab the item, and hand it over before continuing to his new destination.

When they saw it, Maxwell couldn't help but mutter, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I think yes. That truck might be more terrifying than the train. With such a thing, even a small business owner can possess it and utilize it to grow their business. It will also help nobles and common people."

"Ah! You are there." A guy suddenly noticed them and came to them. He looked young and energetic, but he was dressed better than the rest of the workers. "Hello, I'm the driver of the train, Welric. May I know if you two are President Maxwell and President Theressa?"

"Y-yeah. We are." Maxwell nodded, still shocked by everything he saw.

"Thank you very much. The Lord asked me to pass this letter to both of you." Welric handed over the letter. After that, he bowed politely. "Then my job is over. Thank you."

Theressa looked at the letter while muttering, "That young man... His words are a bit crude with a lot of 'thank you' in his sentence. He is doing his best to be polite, so he must be a commoner. In addition, it doesn't look like he's well educated."

"And yet..." Maxwell looked even more impressed. "...He is able to drive this massive train. Even the truck driver should be the same as him. In other words, they can be trained much easier than a coachman. And we don't need to take care of the horses."

"How about opening the letter?" Theressa pointed at the letter, curious about the content.

When he opened the letter, the message was pretty simple.

"I've told you both that you wouldn't be able to acquire the share of the Runegard Company. However, I'm not telling you that you can't make a purchase on the sale items. The truck is still in the testing process, but it'll be available soon in stores."

"!!!" Both of them widened their eyes. This kind of letter was the same as the Marquis telling them they would be given priority once it became official. But that would have to look at their performance.

If they could actually acquire the trucks, their companies would undergo a massive change.

"This... It seems that I have to work right now. Oh wait, should we inform that pushover?"

"Where the hell is he anyway?" Theressa rolled her eyes.

...

Haverlan Territory.

"Hahaha. I got one!" A middle-aged man chuckled while showing the big fish he had just captured.

"Congratulations, Earl Haverlan." Zephyr clapped his hands with a big smile on his face. He couldn't help but think, 'Why am I here again? The Marquis told me to handle Earl Haverlan, but he actually agreed with everything and finished the negotiation under ten minutes. And we now... are fishing on the lake behind his mansion.'