Volume 3 Chapter 17 - Count Stagg’s request (1/2)

The three of them were stunned at the same time.

Princess Caroline asked in surprise first, “Why? Chairman Xu, since you agreed to invest in the Rudson Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy, why can’t you invest in our Drake Duchy?”

“It isn’t that I can’t, rather mister Anduin’s idea isn’t very realistic. Or perhaps it’s not realistic at this stage.” Xu Yi said.

“Why isn’t it realistic?” Princess Caroline kept asking.

“Because of distance.” Xu Yi said, “Your highness, mister Anduin, I think that you should know that the border between the Drake Duchy and our Lampuri Kingdom is close to a thousand kilometers away from our Banta City. This is a very far distance right now and with our company’s current strength, going to such a remote place to invest isn’t something that is very assuring.”

“Why isn’t it assuring?” Princess Caroline asked, “The Rudson Kingdom’s capital city is also close to a thousand kilometers away, it isn’t any closer than our Drake Duchy. Why do you feel assured investing in the Rudson Kingdom and not our Drake Duchy?”

Xu Yi revealed a faint smile, “Your highness, the Rudson Kingdom and our Lampuri Kingdom are close allies. There is no danger investing in the Rudson Kingdom, so I’m very assured.”

Princess Caroline knit her brows, “Could it be that you think our Drake Duchy isn’t safe enough?”

“I’m not worried about your Drake Duchy, rather I’m worried about your good neighbours.” Xu Yi said with a smile.

Princess Caroline and Anduin understood at the same time.

“So you’re worried about the Sack Kingdom.” Princess Caroline looked at Anduin before saying to Xu Yi, “Chairman Xu, I think that you don’t need to worry about this at all. Although the Sack Kingdom has a hostile relationship with your Lampuri Kingdom, they have always been friendly to our Drake Kingdom. This won’t affect your company investing in our kingdom at all.”

Anduin also said, “The princess is right, even if the Sack Kingdom is hostile towards your Lampuri Kingdom, it isn’t related to your company investing in our duchy at all. This is just a normal business cooperation, the Sack Kingdom wouldn’t move against your company in our Drake Kingdom because of this. If they really dare to do this, this would be considered a hostile action towards our duchy. This is something that the Sack Kingdom has avoided doing for years, so you don’t need to worry about it.”

Xu Yi of course knew that Anduin’s words were facts. The Drake Duchy could survive between the Lampuri Kingdom and the Sack Kingdom for so long, other than them not being weak, it was also because both the Lampuri Kingdom and Sack Kingdom wanted to pull them over, so they didn’t dare easily offend them.

Because the Lampuri Kingdom and the Sack Kingdom were close in power, as long as the Drake Duchy joined one of them, this could lean the balance in one direction and suddenly change the situation.

This was not something either side wanted to see, so the Drake Duchy had always been friendly to both sides.

But Xu Yi rejected Anduin’s proposition not because of a safety issue, rather it was because if he went to invest in the Drake Duchy at this time, it would disrupt his plans for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce.

According to his long term plan, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce wanted to develop first and lay a stable foundation in Banta City.

This was already achieved. Even if Count Stagg had forcefully come and aimed at the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, he couldn’t do anything to them.

Next, it was for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to develop all over the Lampuri Kingdom, spreading the magic machine industry across the entire kingdom, changing the face and national power of the Lampuri Kingdom.

This was actually being hindered for now by the unclear political situation in the Lampuri Kingdom.

So Xu Yi had taken a few steps forward, which was investing in other countries. It would expand the scale of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce and would spread them to more places across the Sines Continent.

Xu Yi had been very discrete with this step. The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had been very careful whether it was investing in the Stantine Duchy or the Rudson Kingdom. Without at least 80% assurance that nothing would happen, Xu Yi wasn’t willing to invest.

So although it seemed like the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had many deals with the Rudson Kingdom and the Stantine Duchy, in reality, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce hadn’t formally established many factories there.

At this time, the Drake Duchy that was far off suddenly invited Xu Yi to invest in them with all his power, so of course Xu Yi wouldn’t immediately agree.

But Xu Yi couldn’t just block them off, since the Drake Duchy was a country that had a border with the Lampuri Kingdom. In the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s long term plan, it was a region they had to cover.

Seeing the sincere expressions that Princess Caroline and Anduin had, Xu Yi thought for a bit before saying, “How about this, it’s not realistic to have our company invest completely in your Drake Duchy, but there’s no problem with some small cooperation. There is a saying in my hometown, don’t forget that eating too much will make you fat. So our cooperation can proceed step by step and after accumulating to a certain extent, we can fully invest. But before this, I hope that you will not be too impatient.”

Princess Caroline and Anduin looked at each other before Anduin gave a nod, “I admit that chairman Xu is being very reasonable. Then chairman Xu, where do you think we should start?”

Xu Yi was a bit surprised, but he quickly came back to his senses. Perhaps this Anduin already knew that he wouldn’t agree to invest fully in the Drake Duchy.