Volume 8 Chapter 30 Fighting for control
Freya was a bit impatient.
She didn’t like this kind of banquet because with her status, or even purely because of her beauty, she would always be the center of attention. It would make her deal with countless people and wouldn’t give her the chance to eat her food.
She had been a very active person since she was young and other than learning magic, she also exercised quite a bit because of Xu Yi. So her body was actually much more healthy compared to what she looked like and she needed to eat quite a bit.
This kind of banquet wasn’t just troublesome, she also couldn’t eat her fill, so naturally she didn’t like it.
She didn’t want to come to this banquet, but there was a piece of news from the Frestech Chamber of Commerce headquarters that came in today that gave her no choice. She replaced the Wimbledon City branch manager that had been planning to come.
The reason was just to have a talk with Duke Giarbot at this banquet.
Although she could directly meet Duke Giarbot, conveying the news from her lord father at the headquarters directly to Duke Giarbot, Frey preferred meeting Duke Giarbot casually at this kind of event instead of paying a visit to a great n.o.ble.
Moreover, she represented the entire Frestech Chamber of Commerce on her trip to the Candra Empire, so she couldn’t just meet anyone or it would cause suspicion.
Casually meeting Duke Giarbot at this event and talking a bit wouldn’t cause much worry.
Not to mention that Wimbledon City’s first steel mill was the first steel mill the Frestech Chamber of Commerce helped the Candra Empire build. It represented the ten years of close cooperation between the two sides, so it had a great significance.
As the daughter of the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s chairman, her personally coming represented the importance the Frestech Chamber of Commerce placed on this, which created another meaning.
It was a good thing that because Duke Giarbot sat by Freya, people couldn’t easily come talk to Freya. It allowed her the rare chance to enjoy the food on the table and not have to talk to anyone.
As she ate while chatting with Duke Giarbot, the banquet came to an end. Duke Giarbot then invited Freya to the side to take a short break together.
Freya happily agreed.
After a while, the two of them led representatives from the Candra Empire and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce to a small room.
After taking their seats, Duke Giarbot and Freya casually exchanged a few words before getting to the main topic.
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“Young miss Freya, as for the magic communication technology, our empire must have it. Even if your company isn’t willing to transfer it, our empire has already started researching this technology and I believe that it won’t take long before we make a major breakthrough. When the time comes, even if your company wishes to transfer the technology, it wouldn’t be that important to our empire.”
Freya revealed a faint smile, thinking that this was their threat.
“I just said it, as long as the conditions are good enough, our company wouldn’t mind transferring the technology.”
“But the conditions of your company are……” Duke Giarbot looked at Marquis Askander sitting on the side who shook his head, “They are very hard to accept. Your company is requesting to remain involved with the management of the empire’s magic communication network, that is a condition that we can’t accept. I think that your company should understand that a magic communication network holds many secrets and has great influence on the empire. If a foreign company is involved, the empire would find it hard to be a.s.sured.”
“I understand, but I’ve clearly stated in the proposal that I submitted to you that when it comes to the magic communication network, it can be separated into different systems. Our company will not be involved in the secrets of your empire and you can independently build a secret magic communication system.”
“But it’s very easy for this system to be overlapped with the normal magic communication network.” Marquis Askander cut in, “Moreover, it’s very hard to guarantee its secrecy, so we don’t dare take this risk.”
“It’s actually very easy to solve these problems from a technological standpoint.” Freya said with a serious look, “I think that your empire already has qualified people when it comes to the magic communication network, so I don’t need to say anything else.”
Duke Giarbot looked over at Marquis Askander. Marquis Askander thought about it for a bit before nodding in agreement to what Freya said.
“As for your worry that our company will steal the secrets of your empire, you can be a.s.sured about this. First, our company doesn’t have any ideas about this and second, just like I said, this problem is easy to solve from a technological standpoint. As long as you obtain the corresponding technology, I believe that with the ability of your empire, you will quickly understand it. Other than this, out of the conditions that our company proposed, the most important one isn’t this. Rather it’s the one condition of merging it with the continent’s magic communication system that you’ve never opposed.”
Marquis Askander was silent for a bit before saying, “Realizing long distance communication on the Sines Continent is a benefit for our empire, so we are not opposed to merging into this system. Of course, we request that our empire’s magic communication network will keep its independence, so that it can be separated from the continent’s magic communication network at any time.”
“That is only still a technology issue, so it isn’t hard at all.” Freya paused before continuing, “Since the Lord Duke is also here, I’ll make it clear. In fact, what our company desires is that your Candra Empire will go all out in laying down the magic communication network.”
Marquis Askander revealed a displeased look, “Young miss Freya, do you think that our empire isn’t already doing this? The magic communication network is this important, how could we not treat it as such?”
“Is that so?” Freya revealed a smile and didn’t refute this.
In fact, in these ten years, the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had been vigorously promoting the magic communication network in every country of the continent. However, up to this point, not a single country had reached the Frestech Chamber of Commerce’s initial goal.
There were many different reasons, but the main reason was that the countries weren’t that enthusiastic.
Even in the two powerful empires, they never placed importance to this and there would be contradictions in many places that caused delays.
The reason for this was related to the issue that the Candra Empire’s people had just mentioned.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce laying down the magic communication network was a good thing, but the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had always kept control over these magic communication networks that made the countries dissatisfied, so they never placed importance on them.
Not to mention that even if the Frestech Chamber of Commerce invested manpower, funds, and technology, the main investment for these magic communication networks came from the countries themselves.
For these countries to invest large amounts of manpower and funds, but they were unable to control this magic communication network, naturally they didn’t find any enthusiasm for it.
So in fact, the Candra Empire’s request from an objective view was a very reasonable request, which was something that Xu Yi and the Frestech Chamber of Commerce had already expected.
Xu Yi gave Freya the full rights to handle this matter, which also meant that he was already willing to give the control of this magic communication network to the Candra Empire.
But Freya didn’t plan on giving the Candra Empire their wishes that easily. Without getting enough benefits for the Frestech Chamber of Commerce, she wouldn’t accept that easily.
She had contacted the Candra Empire side many times over the past few days and had never relented on giving up control, which was to force the Candra Empire to give better conditions.
Duke Giarbot looked at Freya and thought that while the parliament and the magic machine industry department weren’t prepared, there was no meaning in delaying this matter.
The Frestech Chamber of Commerce had the absolute advantage when it came to technology, so the Candra Empire didn’t have the rights to ask for many conditions.
“Young miss Freya……since this magic communication network is being laid down in our Candra Empire, there should be no doubt that it should be controlled by our empire. We can’t compromise on this point.” Duke Giarbot’s expression remained stern and his voice was firm, “Of course, your company has paid a large price to help our empire lay down this magic communication network, so the empire should give you a suitable form of compensation.”
Freya looked at Marquis Askander before looking at Duke Giarbot. After a period of silence, she gave a sigh and shook her head.
“Lord Duke, Lord Marquis, actually I don’t understand. Your Candra Empire has the confidence to develop military magic machines without the help of our Frestech Chamber of Commerce, so why aren’t you confident that you’ll be able to protect the privacy of your magic communication network after you receive the technology from our company?”
Duke Giarbot and Marquis Askander’s expression changed at the same time.
After a while, Duke Giarbot narrowed his eyes and shook his head with a smile, “Young miss Freya, I’m afraid there are a few problems with your example. Our Candra Empire has already signed the «Continent Peace Convention», how could we be developing military magic machines independently?”
Freya revealed a smile, “Are you really not?”
After saying this, Freya took out two sheets of paper from her bag and handed them over to Duke Giarbot.
When Duke Giarbot took it, his expression changed.
Marquis Askander took a look and found that there were two images on these two pieces of paper.
The first one was a beautiful girl’s image who looked to be around twenty years old.
The second was a landscape portrait which showed a valley.
After seeing these two images, Marquis Askander’s expression also greatly changed.
The faces that had turned red because they were acting angry had already turned pale when they looked at Freya again.
Freya found it very interesting seeing the changes in expression of the two Candra Empire senior ministers. After a while, she asked with a smile, “The two of you, has big sister Teresa been living well?”