In terms of ranking, the tropolis faction should have first priority for this kind of request. For example, the Legacies should have the right of first refusal. aning, they got to choose first if they wanted to do this or not.
Unfortunately, they had no one to fight for them in this eting. The Duchess was nowhere to be seen. And now, Zenthaven City and Bonacore Town were taking this chance to further their respective factions.
"The Aubert company is willing to provide any Conglorate of our top-of-the-line delivery service," said a monarch from Zenthaven City.
As soon as he said that, the other companies and territories began to give their own offers to the Conglorates.
Magical Horses, Beastly Mounts, Flying Carpets… everything was laid out for the Conglorates to pick.
Gabriel's father stroked his beard as he considered all of the offers. To say it simply, he was disappointed. As a Conglorate, they didn't lack any magical items or beasts that would help them deter those Ersatz rats.
He looked at his fellow Conglorate masters, and they too weren't satisfied with what was being offered.
However, beggars couldn't be choosers. The Main Arm of their Conglorate companies couldn't invest too much resources in New Sparta.
So like it or not, they would have to make use of the lower quality porters here.
"Zenthaven City monarch, please tell the Aubert—"
But just as he was about to say those words, the door to their underground eting suddenly bursted wide open.
Then, a stately woman walked forward, her heels clacking on the cold hardwood floor.
Everyone's eyes widened.
"Surely you all aren't having fun without , right?"
Duchess Regina strided into her designated spot with grace and class, attracting everyone's attention towards her.
She exuded a kind of confidence and aura that impressed even the Conglorates. They'd heard about the infamous tropolis Monarch even in the Upper Echelons, but this was the first ti they'd see her up close and personal.
"What did I miss?"
The Zenthaven Monarch clicked his tongue. "You don't get to ask that after being late for almost half the eting. Conglorates, this is a disrespectful conduct unbecoming of a monarch."
Then, with a much more subtle voice, he added: "And what are you even doing here? I thought you were going to retire?"
Duchess Regina leaned her head on her hand as she sat on her seat. "Oh? Did you miss already? I already rejected your courtship thirty years ago. Are you trying again after all this ti?"
The Zenthaven Monarch blushed, before he quickly averted his eyes away from her. He could never have the upper hand when talking with her.
"Duchess Regina," Gabriel's father said, addressing her. "Before you arrived, we were talking about a porter contract regarding our needs. Fast transportation is key, and Zenthaven City is willing to provide us with that."
The Duchess' eyebrows raised, a smile curving on her mouth. "Oh, is that so? Any chance our tropolis can help with that?"
Gabriel's father shook his head. "It is unfortunate, but like the Zenthaven Monarch stated, you are already too late. I have already decided on having them as the Vanderbilt's contracted porter. To go back on my word is unbecoming of our stature. But maybe the other Conglorates will be willing to consider your offer."
The Duchess was then handed paper contracts from the other Conglorates.
None of them were alluring. They were way too strict and heavily favored the Conglorates.
It even said here that if one of their products were destroyed or stolen during a delivery, then the tropolis faction would be the one responsible for replacing or paying for the damages.
This was unfair.
The tropolis faction was currently the strongest territory here in the Lower Queens region. They didn't deserve this.
But that was last year.
If the Conglorates still thought that the tropolis faction was at the top, then they wouldn't be so hard on the contract like this. They would actually want them to be their porters.
But it was clear that their ruthless business mindset already analyzed that the tropolis faction was already out of their pri spot. They were no longer the juggernaut that they were just a year ago.
There were many factors that caused this. First, it was the fact that none of the tropolis faction were able to have a good showing during the Archery Competition. The famous Legacies were nowhere to be seen.
The only exception would be the Reborn company. But in truth, the only thing valuable among them was the demi-human Maugnetic. And she would be wasted as a porter.
And second, Duchess Regina was also showing signs of loosening her reign. There were plenty of rumors of her retiring. If that were true, then the tropolis faction would plumt even more. Without her strong direction, the other territories could quickly overtake them at the top spot.
The Conglorates didn't want to have a contract with the tropolis faction knowing that the Duchess would retire soon. It was like betting on an injured horse.
Of course, none of these reasons were outright stated during this eting. It was just a silent understanding amongst the leaders and owners here.
Regina stayed silent, before shrugging. "I hope you rember those words…"
Her tone had a sense of foreboding for the Vanderbilts and the other Conglorates. "Okay, let us continue with our discussions," said Gabriel's father.
Seeing this, the Zenthaven Monarch and the other territories inwardly celebrated. This would decline tropolis' strength even more, giving them more chances to take over!
But in the next instant, sothing changed.
The five Conglorate Masters suddenly turned serious as a figure appeared right next to them.
These were their respective soldiers and agents. And it seed that they had sothing to tell their Conglorate Masters.
Their whispers were unintelligible to everyone in the room. But everyone could tell that sothing big had happened while they were all in this eting.
Gabriel's father took a deep breath, his eyes widening as he listened to his guard.
"...are you sure? It seems like a lie. Has this been verified?" he asked silently.
He looked at the other Conglorate Masters a few ters away from him. And judging from their expressions, it seed that they were also receiving the sa information as him.
The guard leaning in his ears nodded his head. "Yes, Master. We have secretly studied the tal contraption. It doesn't use any kind of magic of Aubility Power."
"...what was it called?"
The guard lowered his voice. "An Automobile, sir."
Gabriel's father couldn't believe it. According to what his guard told him, it seed that this 'automobile' could go twice as fast as even the fastest magical beast.
It wasn't even a living creature. It was a construct! One that needed no feed nor mana crystals to function.
Of course, his first instinct was to dismiss this as nothing but a lie, a myth told to disseminate misinformation.
But he was being told that half of everyone in New Sparta saw it with their own eyes.
During the celebrations after the Archery Competition, these Automobiles suddenly roared from the horizon and raced towards New Sparta like lightning.
Their guttural roars attracted attention, and it wasn't long before there was a large crowd outside the Colosseum trying to see what was happening.
The group of boastful n and won inside these automobiles were more than happy to show off their newest items. They raced through the open plains at top speeds, so even taking random people out for a joyride!
It wasn't long before everyone's spies were alerted to this. In fact, the Vanderbilt spies were probably the ones who saw it first as they zood from the horizon.
And with a little bit of investigating, they quickly figured out what an automobile was.
It was a transport vehicle that was completely chanical. It didn't need magic nor Aubility Power to operate. It simply needed so kind of black oil.
Upon being told this, Gabriel's father imdiately realized the implications of this.
This… this was what he'd been looking for this entire ti!
One of the biggest reasons why they kept on delaying their delivery was because the bigger the product, the more magic they emitted.
A Pocket Dinsion with a warehouse full of tal ores could fit squarely on soone's ring. However, it was also emitting a magic signal as big as a warehouse.
So, they had to use smaller Pocket Dinsions in order not to attract the Ersatz assassins.
The safest option would be to use normal horses or carriages. But that was way too slow.
The Automobile solved all of those problems. Not only was it faster than magical beasts, but it also didn't emit any magical signal because it didn't use any magic to function!
If they could have that automobile, they could easily cut down their delivery ti by more than half!
This was a ga changer! He had to have it!
But when he looked at his other Conglorate counterparts, he saw their eyes gleam with the sa realization that he had.
He was going to have to compete with them.
"Where do we get this automobile?" he hurriedly asked his guard.
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