If you encounter a generous commissioner, that's fine, but if you encounter a stingy and miserly commissioner, they'll only exploit these workers with the cheapest pay.
A commissioner as generous as Ichihime is still very rare.
Tazuna has worked for so many years and has only encountered such commissioners a few times.
"Because this factory is very important to the Land of Demons, I don't want to waste time on unnecessary things."
Compared to the funding required to establish the entire plan, whether it's this large factory or the salaries paid to Tazuna and others, it's just a drop in the bucket.
"Is that so?"
"So, Mr. Tazuna, does this mean you've agreed?"
Ichihime asked.
"Yes, Miss Ichihime, I have no issues on my end."
"Then, do you need to go back and discuss it with the other workers?"
Ichihime asked thoughtfully.
"No, no need, before coming here, they've already told me their bottom line. With such generous remuneration offered by Miss Ichihime, I have no reason to refuse."
Tazuna replied like this.
"Since Mr. Tazuna agrees, everything else is negotiable. I will also draft the other contracts as soon as possible."
"Other contracts?"
"Yes, every worker will have a contract that is exactly the same."
"Ah?"
"Well, my subordinates recently received some unfavorable news in the Land of Waves, so it's preemptive."
"Unfavorable news?"
Tazuna didn't know what Ichihime was talking about.
Just as Ichihime was about to speak, the conference room door was suddenly pushed open.
A ninja of the Land of Demons rushed in, seemingly bringing unusual news.
"Miss, we've already clarified the matter. The pirates that attacked us on our way to the Land of Waves are indeed related to the Daimyo of the Land of Waves... uh!"
After finishing his statement, the ninja of the Land of Demons noticed other people in the conference room.
Ichihime frowned, glaring fiercely at the reckless ninja who barged into the conference room, seemingly annoyed that he uttered these words in front of others.
"I'm sorry, I didn't say anything just now. Miss, I'll leave now, please continue with your work."
The ninja of the Land of Demons smiled awkwardly, exiting the conference room in a hurry and shutting the door tightly.
"Well, Miss Ichihime, just now..."
Tazuna began to speak.
Ichihime took a deep breath and said distressingly: "It's not much of a secret. When coming here, my fleet was attacked by pirates three times. Although we successfully repelled those pirates, they caused me certain losses."
"No, but that..."
Tazuna's concern wasn't about the pirate attacks but the latter statement by the ninja of the Land of Demons about the connection between the pirates and the Daimyo of the Land of Waves.
"That was merely my subordinate speaking nonsense, forgive him. Anyway, let's finalize the contract matters first; I have important things to handle, so I'll excuse myself."
Ichihime bowed apologetically and quickly left the conference room, leaving Tazuna and Kich looking at each other.
…
After Ichihime left, Tazuna signed the papers and didn't stay for long, leaving the ship with Kich and heading back home.
On the way, Kich hesitated several times before finally speaking quietly in Tazuna's ear:
"Hey, Tazuna, you heard it too, right? The message accidentally revealed by Miss Ichihime's subordinate. If our hearing isn't failing..."
"Such things could have been mistaken by Miss Ichihime's subordinate; shadow-chasing events shouldn't be fully believed."
"But, Miss Ichihime is wealthy and powerful, she likely receives information we're unaware of. Moreover, Miss Ichihime was attacked by pirates on her way to the Land of Waves; you can verify the truth of this by doing a bit of investigation."
Kich said.
Tazuna didn't speak, looking heavy-hearted and preoccupied.
Kich also quietly fell silent but hadn't anticipated that those rumors detrimental to the Daimyo could very well be true.
If that's the case, it signifies that the Daimyo of the Land of Waves deceived everyone, treating the people like puppets for trickery.
◎
"Miss, there wasn't anything discovered wrong just now?"
The Jonin of the Land of Demons who rushed into the conference room earlier stood in front of Ichihime and began enquiring.
Ichihime glanced at him and said: "Relax, everything was presented naturally, with no room for improvement needed. Anyway, the seeds of doubt have been planted; now it's just a matter of waiting for them to take root and sprout."
Deliberately revealing such information to Tazuna is something Ichihime had arranged beforehand.
The rumors in the Land of Waves town unfavorable to the Daimyo and aristocrats were also spread secretly by her people.
The influence of the Land of Demons in the Land of Waves isn't deeply rooted. If they want to win the support of the people here, liberate the ideology, then the first thing to do is to cause the people of the Land of Waves to have a crisis of trust towards the Daimyo.
This is similar to the situation of the Land of Rain during the Third Ninja Realm War.
During wartime, the Daimyo of the Land of Rain abandoned the people, ingratiating himself to external enemies, causing public outrage. Now, the political environment of the Land of Rain is extremely chaotic, with governance shifting from the Daimyo to Hidden Rain Village.
"That's good."
"So, have the messages been found out?"
Ichihime turned her head to enquire.
The ninja of the Land of Demons nodded and answered earnestly: "Yes, although there are still some things under investigation, I've obtained the basic information. We can proceed at any time to open an attack breach here."