Game Opportunities Become Reality: Episode 132
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Game Opportunities Become Reality: Episode 132
33. Ambition (2)
Of course, I said net profit, but the taxes that will be deducted from this later are no joke.
In the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, companies pay two types of taxes to the royal family: one is the "VAT," and the other is the "income tax."
VAT is fixed at 10% for domestic transactions and 5% for overseas transactions.
Domestically, VAT is included in the transaction amount, but export VAT is processed retroactively together with income tax.
In other words, 5% of the 273 trillion in revenue 13.65 trillion must be paid later along with income tax.
So, it would be more accurate to consider that 13.65 trillion of the 112 trillion in profit I earned doesn't actually exist.
The VAT doesn't matter much since it's calculated based on revenue, but the real problem was the income tax, which is based on net profit.
'I can't disclose my net profit.'
The profit I earned from this deal is an amount that no ordinary Mage Tower could ever achieve.
Who would know that I'm making a huge profit even after slashing prices almost like dumping?
In the end, that means I have to manipulate the documents to a reasonable degree...
I'd need to make it look like there's almost no net profit on paper, so at least the income tax, unlike the VAT, won't be much.
'So, I'm committing tax evasion?'
I can't reveal the tourmaline method.
So I know there's no choice, but the word "tax evasion" still leaves a bad taste.
There's no noble who doesn't keep a separate pocket, but I never imagined I'd become one of them.
I should personally discuss taxes with the Crown Prince later, once he becomes King.
'I've heard that in the Bringham Empire, you can choose to base income tax on revenue instead.'
Surely, I can't hide the fact that the Force Engine's production costs have been reduced forever.
Any organization with even a moderate amount of intelligence must already find it suspicious that I've been aggressively securing tourmaline.
But even if they figure it out, it doesn't matter.
After all, the Force Engine is surrounded by various security systems and can't be disassembled.
It won't be easy for other countries to secure a competitive edge against our Lawrence Mage Tower.
It'll be known someday, but at least for the next ten years, there won't be any problems.
"You're keeping a close watch on the Mage Tower researchers, right?"
That's why the most important thing to be careful about at this stage is technology leakage through people.
Gregory nodded at my question.
"We're watching them without any gaps. But they've already entered into a Mana Contract is there really a need to worry?"
A Mana Contract is a curse that uses 7th Circle magic to place restrictions on one's actions.
It's commonly done in large Mage Towers to prevent technology exposure, and at our Lawrence Mage Tower, everyone involved with the tourmaline Force Engine has entered into a Mana Contract.
"I don't fully trust magic like the Mana Contract. The world is vast and full of extraordinary people it wouldn't be strange if someone could break this magic."
"Hmm, that's certainly true."
I need to monopolize the tourmaline Force Engine technology for as long as possible.
There's no reason to share my gains with others.
Investing a lot of manpower to be extra and even more careful isn't a loss.
"We'll soon be relocating the Mage Tower headquarters and production facilities to Ophelia Island, so please endure the hardship until then."
"Of course, no question about it."
Ophelia Island, floating alone in the Sea of Silence, is not only the world's largest tourmaline production site but also the perfect place to run a secret facility.
Once the island's development is complete, Ophelia Island will become the world's most secretive fortress.
"And I'm sure other Mage Towers will try to stop Lawrence Mage Tower's dominance in one way or another. We can't know what tricks they'll pull, so please keep a close eye on their movements."
"Yes, understood."
The only thing other Mage Towers can do right now is file a complaint with an international body over dumping.
But there's no need to worry much about that.
The international bodies in this world aren't as powerful as those on Earth, and the countries that actually want to trade with Lawrence Mage Tower are relatively small in economic scale and unable to produce Vanguard equipment themselves.
For them, it's a deal with nothing to lose, so they have no reason to protect the interests of foreign Mage Towers.
* * *
"Last year's international orders for Force equipment were just over 8,000 sets! But in this past month alone, Lawrence Mage Tower has swept up nearly 60% of last year's total!"
"Hmm..."
"And that's not all! The volume of Force Engines they've sold exceeds last year's entire international order total! They're completely shaking up the market!"
A virtual conference room with multiple holographic screens floating about.
Among the figures dressed in old-fashioned attire, one red-haired man stood out, voicing his argument with strong conviction.
"What does the Imperial Crown Prince of the Croysen Empire wish to say?"
"We must impose sanctions on them! Otherwise, the international market will fall into the hands of a single faction!"
Eight of the operators from the world's top-ten Mage Towers by market capitalization were present at the meeting, and all fell silent at the Crown Prince of Croysen's Imperial Mage Tower assertion.
Some sympathized with the Crown Prince's forceful demand for sanctions, while others showed a negative reaction.
"Do you have a good idea in mind?"
Hydewarf, the Tower Master of Goldenforge, the foremost Mage Tower of the Elysian Coalition, who had shown a positive response agreeing with the Crown Prince, expressed interest.
In response, the Imperial Crown Prince of the Croysen Empire curled his lips into a smirk and replied.
"We simply impose anti-dumping duties."
"Isn't anti-dumping duty ultimately levied by the purchasing country? From their standpoint, they can buy Force equipment cheaply, so they have no reason to go along with our opinions."
"Isn't it simply a matter of making them go along?"
"What?"
"The countries purchasing Vanguard equipment are, after all, nations of middling national strength."
"..."
"If everyone present here applies pressure together, it will be easily resolved. We merely seek fair trade what's the problem with that?"
An extremely radical opinion.
But it was, in fact, the simplest way to resolve the situation.
Indeed, his argument wasn't wrong.
"So you're proposing we pressure other nations to extort money? Your Highness, you lack dignity unbecoming of your station as Imperial Crown Prince."
Among those present, one person unflinchingly rebutted the Croysen Empire's Crown Prince none other than Olivia Riverdale, the Duke of Riverdale and Tower Master of Riverdale Mage Tower of the Kingdom of Lucias.
"Oh? Dignity, you say? Seeing how you side with a fellow disciple, it seems Duke Riverdale has no need to remain in this seat."
As a man steeped in male chauvinism to the bone, the Croysen Empire's Crown Prince found her defiance deeply grating.
So he shot back at her with an overbearing attitude.
"By what authority does the Imperial Crown Prince judge that? Do you think yourself the master of this room?"
"What?"
"Both of you, enough."
As the two raised their voices, Cordelia Winfred, the Marquis of the Bringham Empire's second-ranked Mage Tower, stepped in.
Since the Tower Master of Bringham's first-ranked Imperial Mage Tower was absent, she could be considered the representative of the Bringham Empire in this meeting.
Even the Crown Prince of the Croysen Empire, the epitome of male chauvinism, could not disregard a female Marquis of the Bringham Empire.
"Personally, I find it difficult to accept Your Highness's proposal. We may request voluntary participation in the name of anti-dumping, but pressuring other nations for sanctions is an unacceptable act of illegality."
With Marquis Winfred of the Bringham Empire also opposing the Crown Prince's opinion, no one else came forward to advocate for it.
"Indeed, that's going too far."
"Agreed."
With his opinion dismissed by the two women, the Crown Prince of Croysen gnashed his teeth and retorted.
"So we're just supposed to sit back and watch?"
"If they're doing business at a loss, they'll collapse on their own. If not, that means they possess cost-reduction technology we don't know about, so we should settle it through technology."
"Hahaha, are we running a business or playing a sport? Talking about fair play."
The Crown Prince of Croysen let out a hollow laugh, as if baffled.
In response, Duke Olivia Riverdale and Marquis Cordelia Winfred both wore expressions of "isn't that obvious?" which only deepened the Crown Prince's scowl.
"If this were a gathering to plot schemes, I wouldn't have participated at all. Alternatively, offer a different opinion that we can all accept."
In truth, neither the Riverdale Mage Tower nor the Winfred Mage Tower were towers that focused on exporting Force equipment, which was why they could afford such a relaxed reaction.
But the Croysen Empire, which had been enjoying considerable profits by exporting cost-effective Vanguard equipment based on cheap labor, took a heavy hit.
Moreover, the relationship between the Croysen Empire and the Kingdom of Rhinehearts was literally that of mortal enemies.
It was only natural that he was this agitated.
'Just what the hell is that bastard anyway.'
He, who attended this gathering as a businessman rather than a mage, didn't know, but in the magic world, Adrian was the hottest and most popular figure.
Even setting aside Duke Riverdale, who openly supported Adrian as a fellow disciple of the same school, Marquis Winfred was the teacher of Count Elfried, the head of the Bringham Empire's intelligence bureau, so she had heard quite a lot about Adrian.
And since she hadn't suffered much damage herself, she decided to side with the person her disciple had shown interest in.
But because of these two, public opinion in the meeting room flipped, and the Crown Prince of Croysen ended up in the position of the villain driven by emotion.
'Damn it!'
And so, in a place Adrian knew nothing about, the fate of his Mage Tower was decided leading to a not-bad outcome in the form of "close monitoring of the situation."
'The Kingdom of Rhinehearts. And Duke Adrian El Lawrence.'
But because of that, the Crown Prince of Croysen came to harbor an even greater animosity toward Adrian and the Kingdom of Rhinehearts.
* * *
[Kingdom of Rhinehearts raises this year's economic growth forecast from +3.2% to +4.5%.]
[The Kingdom of Rhinehearts, with a population of 180 million, closely trails the economic power of the Croysen Empire, which has a population of 620 million.]
[Per capita annual income: 45 million Lute in the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, 21 million Lute in the Croysen Empire.]
[The Croysen Empire is a great power, but is it not a developed nation?]
[The sight of the Croysen Empire's regular assembly, where anti-Rhinehearts sentiment has reached its peak.]
[How is the Empire's lack of growth the Kingdom of Rhinehearts' responsibility?]
The Kingdom of Rhinehearts and the Croysen Empire were once both under the same umbrella the Calvados Empire.
But when the Calvados Empire collapsed at the hands of the dragon race due to its own wrongful actions, those who formed a faction centered around the Croysen people became the Croysen Empire of today, and those who formed a faction centered around the Rhinehearts people became the Kingdom of Rhinehearts of today.
From the start, their peoples and spheres of activity were different, so even though they had belonged to the same nation, the sense of kinship was never very strong.
Rather, the Croysen Empire, which rapidly grew its power on the back of its large population, attempted to forcibly annex the sparsely populated Kingdom of Rhinehearts on numerous occasions, turning the two into bitter sworn enemies.
[The Croysen Empire distorts history once again. Claiming that Carle, a traditional festival of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts, is their own because the Rhinehearts people once belonged to the same nation...]
[The Croysen Empire denies past wrongdoings. Denying the tragedy in which poison was released into the Randel River, turning the east into hell, as if it never happened.]
The period in which the Kingdom of Rhinehearts was able to make a name for itself as a great power was not very long.
That was because they had been harassed by the Croysen Empire for such a long time.
Still, they held on stubbornly and built up their strength, and by this day, they were finally able to claim the title of a great power.
I'm not sure if this comparison is apt, but if forced to compare with Earth, the Kingdom of Rhinehearts would be South Korea, and the Croysen Empire would be Japan + China.
"Why are they throwing a fit again?"
That neighboring country has been acting up a lot lately.
Denying past wrongdoings, distorting history using the same worn-out repertoire from who knows where to provoke our Kingdom of Rhinehearts.
And even I was included among their targets of attack. There was so much unheard-of rumor and abuse that Gregory and the other Blue Moon members got worked up, saying they'd go find and kill the malicious commenters.
But since the Croysen Empire had always been intensely jealous of the Kingdom of Rhinehearts' growth, I tried to brush it off as just an annual ritual.
But then...
"Your Highness, the Crown Prince?"
[It is reported that the Pieren Viscounty in the east of our kingdom has been occupied by the army of a Margrave of the Croysen Empire. We need to hold an emergency meeting, so could you come to the Royal Palace right away?]
The pot calling the kettle black this time, it was worse than usual.