Mixed Blessing System

"Oh?" Annaliese's eyes widened in surprise. 'That sounds true...'

'But where did he learn these things from? How did my negligent brother-in-law from until recently become so smart?' She looked at him with curiosity but was pleased that he had such good ideas.

She then decided to ask. "All right, I understand your point. But how are you going to develop this business? I mean, I don't think it will be cheap to do such a thing at a fast enough rate that other local powers won't take over your business before you develop it."

"Hmm, that is indeed a problem..." Then, he got serious, considering the possibilities at hand. "Besides me directly earning the coins to develop my business, I can only find a financier interested in becoming my partner."

"Financier? That's not easy to get without having great contacts and guarantees." She said, remembering that in this world, it was not common for people to invest in strangers without a background to support them, as in Lothur's case.

Lothur was currently part of the Frost family, but as a son-in-law of that house, no one would think Viktoria's family would support him. In this case, Lothur being a member of that organization was irrelevant to this matter.

"I know, but I'll still have to try something as that's the quickest way to settle this."

On Earth, money loans were how small businesses became prominent in a few years. That was worthwhile for projects with great potentials, such as the one Lothur was planning.

After all, the simple annual profit of a business could take many years to enable massive business growth.

Knowing this, he did not mind getting a partner to share his future profits. Of course, it would be better if he had the coins needed for this initial investment, but since he did not, agreeing to pay the interest on a loan was already the best thing for him.

"If I can't find someone with the intelligence to invest in my business, I will have to do it independently."

"It will take much longer for me to develop it to a good level, but it is possible."

"I just need to increase my strength and carry out missions."

"It's just that I would have to wait a long time to launch my business. I definitely can't give room for competition. So I would have to take an aggressive approach, taking all potential customers already at an early stage."

"Oh? You're truly bold, haha." Annaliese laughed graciously, finding it fascinating how her brother-in-law viewed these matters.

"Well, since you believe so strongly that this will work out, then try to meet Coroner Klossner in the sub-office for local crimes."

"Individually speaking, he is one of the wealthiest people in this city and is potentially the best candidate to invest in your business."

"Oh? Is that true?" He turned to her with interest.

"Hmmm."

"Not only does he have the ability to finance you, but he is also someone who has a good relationship with our family. In other words, the chance of your business causing problems for us will be less if you get a deal with him and not with some organization rival of our family."

"That also means that if your business develops, you can contribute to the family, improving your image to my mother."

"Coroner Klossner also has a reputation as a brilliant man. So, the chance that he will see potential in your business may be greater than with other members of the local bourgeoisie."

After advising Lothur on that matter, the two arrived at one of the local carpentry shops, a noisy place where wood splintering could be seen in the corners of the floor.

At the same time, several semi-finished items were there, among them chariots and small boats.

"Young master, young miss, how can I help you?" A tall, robust, shirtless man approached the two to attend to these potential customers.

Lothur then said. "We are searching for a carpenter who can help me build something special..." He then took out a scroll from his spatial ring, which had parts of the design of a new type of carriage.

As he took it and looked at that piece of paper, the carpenter looked at it strangely and said. "I'm sorry, we only produce items from our catalog." He pointed to a painting on one of the side walls in that area.

"That project of yours looks quite interesting, but it won't be easy to produce. I've never seen a carpenter build such strange things, and it will certainly take a lot of work time."

"Young master, I advise you not to waste your time with this." He handed the scroll back to Lothur, looking at the couple in front of him with a mournful expression. 'Who is going to waste their time with a joke like that? I estimate that even creative carpenters would take hundreds of hours just to build one of these parts successfully...'

'Those youths may be rich, but no one would be willing to spend that many coins on something that probably has no use.'

This man had not seen the complete design of one of the cars of Lothur's future transport company but the parts that would be part of it. However, he could tell from his experience that it was more or less a carriage design.

In any case, far-fetched, frilly projects like those were not uncommon to appear among wealthy young people with a lot of time to spare. The problem? Well, they always lost interest in those nonsenses that led nowhere.

After all, there was no point in spending hundreds of thousands of coins on things that could easily be replaced by items worth thousands!

So, even if the store behind that man accepted orders outside their catalog, this person promptly refused to serve Lothur.

It would be a waste of time!

"So, that's how it is..."

...

After some time, Lothur and Annaliese had gone through half a dozen local carpenters' stores. As expected, they had the same result at each of those places.

"Lothur, I think it's almost time for us to return..." Annaliese said in a low voice, feeling bad for their failure.

"Hmm, let's just try this last location. Maybe there is someone here who has a genuine interest in his own profession." He said in a slightly annoyed tone.

He knew it would not be easy, but not even one of the people he had talked to in the last 50 minutes showed any curiosity about his project. How was this possible? How could carpenters not be interested in a completely new project?

It was as if they all wanted to continue with what was already known without stepping forward to create something uniquely new.

'It's no wonder that even with so many possibilities brought about by spiritual energy, most people in this world live in medieval conditions...'

'These people are too comfortable to change!'

While he had an irritated expression, Annaliese took one of his hands and massaged it, trying to calm her brother-in-law as they entered the last store.

In that place that was not much bigger than Lothur's room, they found a single person, a young man who looked malnourished, sitting on a stool while manipulating strange items.

This person had a large round lens in his right eye as he worked on an item, seeking millimeter precision with his slow, smooth movements.

Seeing this, Annaliese shook her head, feeling their last chance would fail.

All the carpenters they had encountered seemed like strong people with years of experience. So, how could this frail young man, who looked like a weirdo, help them?

'Sigh... Lucky we'll have one more training session to clear the frustrations from your mind.' She looked at Lothur silently.

"Hello, I was wondering if the owner of this store could help me regarding this project." Lothur waved the same scroll as before, but the young man there did not even look at it.

"What is this project of yours about? This store only produces unique things, so I won't waste time looking at something ordinary." He said in an immature tone.

"Oh?" Lothur said in interest at that person's apparent arrogance. "I think my project is quite unique. At the very least, it has never been done in this world, and the number of carpenters capable of making it possible must not be high..."

"What?" Finally, the young carpenter looked back, stopping his movements on the piece he was working on.

He then stood up in a leap and took the project from Lothur's hands. "Give it to me here."

"Hmmm."

"Hmm... Really..."

"Very different..." He walked from side to side, making several hand gestures as he tried to assemble the parts on that paper in his mind and visualize the final product.

"This is a very different carriage... What is its purpose of it? Carrying people or materials?"

'Finally, someone who sees more than just a difficult job to do!' Lothur felt better and explained. "I won't go into details since I don't want to spread my idea to someone who doesn't have a Blood Contract with me yet."

"But what you are looking at is the project that will revolutionize transportation in Concordia!"

"This can either carry people or material goods."

...