Game's Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 131
============================================================
Game's Opportunity Becomes Reality Episode 131
33. Ambition (1)
From the Mage Tower's perspective, when the Lawrence Mage Tower succeeded in securing national contracts one after another deals that would greatly impact sales and publicity if even one were secured competitors were flustered, while the citizens of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts cheered and supported them.
But the most flustered of all would be the Linehart royal house, which had permitted the Lawrence Mage Tower's export of strategic weapons.
This was because the Vanguard equipment of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, while known for decent performance, had always lacked price competitiveness, causing them to lose ground to rivals in exports.
[Sudden popularity? What's behind the huge popularity of not just the Lawrence Mage Tower's Vanguard sets, but also the Force Engines?]
[How was the Lawrence Mage Tower able to land such large contracts back to back?]
And this royal embarrassment was plainly revealed through the media.
Honestly, if exports increase, tax revenue rises one way or another, so from the royal family's standpoint, there seems to be nothing to lose.
But if the Lawrence Mage Tower kept achieving major results abroad like this, the Royal Magic Tower's domestic sales would inevitably decline as well.
Moreover, the Lawrence Mage Tower had been accommodating by reducing its price competitiveness domestically and making other concessions to avoid friction with other Mage Towers at the royal family's recommendation, so no one could even find fault with them.
From the royal family's perspective, the Lawrence Mage Tower's explosive popularity could not help but feel like a burden.
[Lawrence Mage Tower's market cap hits ceiling price day after day.]
[Not only filling the void left by the ruined Anahaim Mage Tower, but surpassing the Hines Mage Tower and threatening the Royal Magic Tower's market cap the Lawrence Mage Tower.]
Naturally, these achievements led to the growth of the Lawrence Mage Tower, and in the end, it surpassed the market cap of the Hines Mage Tower, long regarded as the kingdom's perpetual second place, once again elevating the prestige of the name "Lawrence."
Not only that, the Duke Lawrence's house was being mentioned as a candidate to replace the Duke Anahaim's house in joining Metal Fortress, the maker of the Heaven-Piercing Fortress.
If that too were approved, overtaking the Royal Magic Tower would be all but a foregone conclusion.
In that case, the position of the Number One Mage Tower of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts would shift from the royal family to a noble house.
Because of this, the royal family could not help but voice concerns that the kingdom would end up like the Kingdom of Lucias.
The Number One Mage Tower of the Kingdom of Lucias is the Riverdale Mage Tower, the master school of Adrian's teacher, and one of the largest Mage Towers in the world.
Thanks to that, the Riverdale Ducal House, which owns the Mage Tower, enjoyed power rivaling the royal family even in the Kingdom of Lucias, famous as a powerful nation.
'That must be a headache.'
Princess Diana let out a low laugh as she pictured Crown Prince Michael holding his head.
The Lawrence Mage Tower's joining Metal Fortress was a foregone conclusion.
There was no way to refuse it now.
To cast out a place with the technological prowess to reach for the position of the kingdom's Number One Mage Tower merely because it was burdensome would be advertising that one's own capacity was no greater than that.
'With Second Prince Luke gone, an even greater figure has appeared. And a genius among geniuses with overwhelming public support, at that.'
If Adrian had heard that, he would have shrugged it off as an overestimation, but in the public's assessment, he was a genius without equal.
If a situation arose where Crown Prince Michael and Adrian clashed, Princess Diana would support Adrian without hesitation.
* * *
Princess Diana thought Crown Prince Michael must be quite troubled.
But unexpectedly, the Crown Prince was perfectly composed.
The Royal Palace of Lionel, capital of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts.
"Troublesome..."
King Kalitz, facing many concerns one month before his abdication, let out a sigh as he looked at Crown Prince Michael.
"I had hoped to clear away all potential problems before handing over the throne, but Duke Lawrence is causing trouble. I'll need to think of something."
In response to the King, Crown Prince Michael smiled with an expression that showed no worry or concern at all.
"Is he not a man who elevates the nation's prestige? Duke Lawrence is an absolutely necessary figure to raise our Kingdom of Rhinehearts to an even higher position."
"When the power of nobles grows strong, the royal family suffers."
"Then we simply need to grow as well. I have no desire to become a leader who hinders his subordinates' growth."
"...."
Should this be seen as confidence?
Or perhaps he was still immature?
The King, watching Adrian rapidly growing in power, offered advice to the Crown Prince who seemed utterly untroubled by such concerns.
"People are cunning. When power grows, they inevitably desire higher positions. For now, the strength of our royal family and its supporting factions lets us rest easy, but who knows what will become of those factions later. Nobles, after all, naturally flock to the strong."
Those were true words.
But the Crown Prince, while wearing an expression of agreement with the King's words, showed no intention of accepting his way of thinking.
"If he wants power, I will give him power. If he wants authority, I will give him authority."
"What?"
The King frowned at the response from a Crown Prince he had always considered clever.
But one must always hear a person out to the end.
"All we need to do is ensure the direction in which that power and authority are expressed does not point at me."
"What do you mean by that?"
"He is a truly exceptional man. He surely knows well that fighting among ourselves would only be cutting off our own nose to spite our face."
"...You don't mean "
"The world is vast. There are plenty of places to vent one's lust for power and strength besides this royal family. For instance, that troublesome neighbor who finds fault with our every move and picks quarrels at the slightest provocation or the vast undeveloped lands that lie beyond that neighbor."
The neighbor who picked quarrels at every turn referred to the hostile Croysen Empire, and the vast undeveloped lands beyond it referred to Dragon Land.
At this moment, the Crown Prince was all but revealing his ambition.
"I will raise this nation into an Empire. Once our Kingdom of Rhinehearts becomes an Empire, we can grant Duke Lawrence, Marquis Klein, and others whatever we wish be it the rank of Grand Duke or even that of King. It's because what we hold in our hands is small that we can't help but find capable subordinates burdensome, isn't it? What we should be doing now is not a power struggle of mutual checks. We must grow stronger."
"Mi Mikhail...."
An Empire had his son always been of such a disposition?
To the King, the Crown Prince's demeanor seemed far too dangerous.
"You must not underestimate the Croysen Empire. Though they currently appear to be on the back foot against the Bringham Empire and the Elysian Coalition, they are a nation that has maintained the status of an Empire for over a dozen centuries."
The Crown Prince let out a small sigh as he looked at his father.
"Perhaps it would be best to move up the abdication. Even as King, you are underestimating the strength of Rhinehearts itself."
"What?"
The King was taken aback by the Crown Prince's words, and as if responding to his bewilderment, black smoke began to rise.
-Chuck.
The black smoke soon took shape. As Crown Prince Michael lowered his gaze, a sword gleaming with chilling killing intent was aimed at his throat.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince is crossing the line."
"So it's you. Father's shadow."
A man who appeared with the black smoke and pressed a sword to Crown Prince Michael's throat.
He was the King's shadow and the hidden Grand Master of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts the former Marquis, Gabriel James.
"You do not seem flustered. Did Duke Lawrence tell you about me?"
"Indeed. The Duke and I are quite close."
"For someone so close, Duke Lawrence seemed rather wary of Your Highness the Crown Prince."
"That would be because he sensed this side of me."
Even with a sword at his throat, Crown Prince Michael showed no sign of intimidation, and Gabriel let out a hollow laugh while his gaze grew even colder.
"Enough."
But the King stopped Gabriel.
At that, the sword aimed at the Crown Prince's throat was withdrawn.
"Now I understand why you simply stood by and watched the Second Prince's faction gain ground."
"...."
"If you intended to carry out a grand scheme, you would have had to overcome internal opposition. You purged the opposing factions in advance to push through your will."
The Crown Prince had always had the leeway to curb the Second Prince's faction's rise if he so wished.
But he merely watched as that faction expanded endlessly, and in the end, through a massive purge carried out under the convenient justification of rebellion, he succeeded in filling the royal palace's ministers with his own people.
It was a plan far beyond simply striking down political enemies.
But if the Crown Prince had been preparing a grand scheme, then it was a measure that made everything understandable.
"That's right."
And as the Crown Prince conceded to the King's words, that speculation became fact.
The Crown Prince looked at the King, whose mind seemed complicated, and spoke firmly.
"So don't provoke Duke Lawrence any further and make him build a wall against the royal family. Leave the kingdom's future to the young."
A reaction implying that Duke Lawrence was absolutely necessary for the grand scheme.
The King covered his forehead with his palm.
Wondering what to do about all this.
As a father, he couldn't understand the Crown Prince choosing to walk a dangerous, rugged path when a stable one lay before him.
* * *
"Unexpected. I thought the royal family would definitely try to interfere."
I, who had been calculating the profits from this order, questioned the royal family's unusual silence.
"Could it be that Crown Prince Michael stopped them?"
"Why do you think that?"
"Hasn't he always supported and pushed forward his lord? In fact, even when the King raised the domestic sale price of Vanguard equipment, I recall the Crown Prince voiced his opposition to the very end."
At Gregory's response, I stroked my smooth chin.
Certainly, starting from entrusting Princess Diana to me, I could feel that he wanted to solidify his connection with me even further.
Although there were many parts of his behavior that I couldn't understand, which heightened my wariness, in the end he had never once harmed me.
Even when I introduced Gregory, the person I was now conversing with, as the new Aura Master, the King had been displeased, but the Crown Prince welcomed it greatly and even promised a Title.
"Is that so?"
"Since the Crown Prince will soon become King, wouldn't the royal family follow his position?"
That made perfect sense.
"Well, from my standpoint, as long as no one interferes, I'm thankful so if the royal family stays quiet, I appreciate it."
Gregory, still finding all of this awkward since starting his activities in the open, nodded with a forced smile.
I returned to organizing the profits from this order.
[Vanguard Equipment 5,000 Sets]
[Force Engines 4,000 Units]
This time, I succeeded in drastically lowering the production cost of Force Engines using tourmaline.
As a result, this led to reduced production costs for Vanguard equipment, and with overwhelming cost-effectiveness, I was able to secure an unrivaled advantage in bidding competitions against other Mage Towers.
Generally, Mage Towers are known to make a net profit of about 5 10% when producing and selling Vanguard equipment.
However, since overseas sales were far more competitive than domestic ones, it was common to take a reduced profit margin of around 2 3%, but from the perspective of other countries, I was taking no profit at all...
Rather, I succeeded in winning the order by offering a price so low that others would wonder, "Isn't he taking a loss?"
[Vanguard Equipment Set Sale Price: 45 Billion]
[Force Engine Sale Price: 12 Billion]
Considering that the domestic sale price of Lawrence Mage Tower's Panther 1.5 reached 55 billion, this was a price so cheap it could be called betrayal.
But there was no help for it.
The domestic price was set high because of the King, after all.
The minimum bid from other Mage Towers competing for overseas orders was around 47 billion per set of Vanguard equipment.
And since I offered a price 2 billion cheaper than that, it was only natural that I won the order.
'Thanks to dropping the Force Engine production cost to the 20% level, I'm still making plenty of profit.'
A Vanguard equipment set consists of Force Armor and a Force Sword.
Each piece carries a Force Engine one in the armor and one in the sword so each Vanguard equipment set carries a total of two Force Engines.
'A normal Force Engine costs about 13 15 billion to produce, but I can now produce one for 3 billion per unit.'
As a result, even selling Force Engines at 11 billion leaves an 8 billion profit per unit, and even selling Vanguard equipment at 45 billion leaves about 16 billion in profit.
So calculating the profit against revenue gained this time looks like this.
[Vanguard Equipment 5,000 Sets]
Revenue: 225 Trillion
Net Profit: 80 Trillion
[Force Engines 4,000 Units]
Revenue: 48 Trillion
Net Profit: 32 Trillion
[Total Net Profit: 112 Trillion]
Isn't that incredible?
It's truly money that brings nothing but laughter.