One hour later.
The employees and officials, who had washed their hands slick with oil from the chicken and finished a simple brushing of their teeth with salt, sat down in their seats.
In the meantime, at the center of the temporary stage, there hung a broad, large hanging banner specially made by Friedrich, along with a large sheet of parchment sewn to match its size.
“Now, then, Friedrich’s presentation will begin. Start.”
“Yes, Mayor. Hans, Anna.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
While the people gathered here had been coming to Firenburg, Hans and Anna had helped Friedrich prepare the presentation materials.
‘The Young Lady and the other Young Masters are outstanding too, but...’
‘The only person who can lead this house, the Konzern, and the autonomous territory is the Young Master.’
As they copied the words written in the documents onto the large parchment in big letters, the two of them realized the value of those words and became convinced that only Friedrich could inherit everything Wilhelm had built. And...
‘He usually seemed so slippery, but he is surprisingly diligent.’
‘I thought she was easygoing, but she is extremely meticulous.’
Hans and Anna had fallen for the newly discovered charms they had found in each other while preparing the presentation.
Watching the two of them exchange affectionate glances as they moved to either side, Friedrich smiled.
‘Since Alfred and Vera were already husband and wife before they entered our house, are these two our first in-house couple? Heh heh.’
He looked warmly at the two youngest employees of the household, who were the same age as him, but only for a moment. Friedrich did not forget his duty and greeted the people before him.
“I do not know whether the meal was to everyone’s liking.”
At Friedrich’s playful greeting, Max raised his thumb high and cheered.
“It was a meal I will never forget, Young Master!”
“I do not think I would ever get tired of it even if I ate it three meals a day!”
When Michael, who was beside him, joined in as if refusing to lose to his colleague, the entire venue burst into laughter.
“Wahahaha! That is just like Max and Michael!”
“It would have felt empty if those two had not come. Haha!”
‘Oh? Max and Michael. I will remember those names!’
Amid the roaring laughter of the people, Friedrich recorded two names in the roster inside his head, and Max and Michael suddenly trembled.
‘Why does it feel so prickly?’
The two seated beside each other, bristling as if static electricity had struck them, quickly looked at one another.
‘You too?’
‘You too?’
Wondering whether they had perhaps been marked, the two exchanged tense glances, understood each other’s thoughts, and swallowed dryly. Friedrich, watching them, moved on to the next step.
“The chicken we shared today is the very future dreamed of by my father, Lord Wilhelm Medichin, Head of the Medichin Konzern, Mayor of Firenburg, Merna, and Jebeck, and Consul of the Etilant Autonomous Territory! And by me, his eldest son!”
“!!!”
Wilhelm, whom Friedrich had indicated by turning his palm upward, rose from his seat and waved a hand, and everyone cheered wildly.
“Waaaaah!”
‘Good grief, that is terrifying. Even a cult leader would weep and walk away.’
The people shouted at the top of their lungs, clapped, stuck their fingers in their mouths and whistled, and fanatically chanted as they remembered the taste of the chicken they had eaten.
Friedrich, whose body trembled on its own at the fervent shouting, quickly came to his senses and continued.
“Then the Mayor will say a few words. Mayor.”
At Friedrich’s call, Wilhelm raised both hands high, then spread them left and right, calming the cheers.
“Everyone who labors day and night for the Medichin Konzern and the Etilant Autonomous Territory!
I have a dream.
That dream, which I wish to share with all of you, is this!
Men and women, young and old! Regardless of status, wealth, or poverty!
Every person living in this Etilant!
Will eat fried chicken once every day!
And chicken made with plenty of pepper once every week!
Deliciously, together with the people they hold dear!”
“!!! Waaaaah!”
There was not a single fool present who failed to understand that the essence of those words was not simply eating chicken to their hearts’ content, but rather creating a world abundant enough to allow such a thing.
At Wilhelm’s simple, clear cry, which left a powerful impression, everyone gathered there shuddered and shouted.
‘In Korean Peninsula terms, it is something like rice with meat soup. I was the one who coached him, but this is embarrassing. Tsk.’
While Friedrich smacked his lips, watching everyone go wild over the showmanship he and his father had plotted together, Wilhelm, in his own way, felt chills run down his spine.
‘To think people can be seized so easily... He may be my son, but even if he had started with nothing but his bare fists, he would have achieved tremendous success. Either that, or he would have become the worst con artist to go down in imperial history.’
Wilhelm admired the propaganda-agitation technique his son had taught him and which he was now using, but he also felt fear.
‘If it fails, we will not be able to handle the aftermath, so it cannot be used carelessly...’
Even so, the reason Wilhelm was matching his rhythm to his son’s was because he had seen the document Friedrich had shown him before today’s presentation, a document that contained a hundred-year grand plan for the Etilant Autonomous Territory and the Medichin Konzern, and he was certain of its success.
‘The next ten years. If we succeed according to the plan during those ten years, our Etilant will no longer have to fear any territorial domain in the empire.’
The things his son would present here today were only a very small portion of it, but the things they would realize in the future would change Etilant in a better direction, day after day, making it new each day and newer with every passing day.
‘In any case, we are already in a position of riding on a dragon’s back. There is no giving up!’
After steadying his own heart that way, Wilhelm returned to reality and thrust his clenched fist high into the sky.
“Let us all shout together!
Chicken every day!
Pepper chicken on weekends!”
“Chicken every day!”
“Pepper chicken on weekends!”
Wilhelm’s cry soon became a massive echo that shook the mansion. After “Chicken every day” and “Pepper chicken on weekends” rang out several times like the chorus of fanatics, Wilhelm raised his hand and stopped the shouting.
“I swear to all the supreme gods and our great ancestors that what Friedrich presents here today will become the foundation that realizes that future!”
“Waaaaah!”
Wilhelm Medichin sat down amid the fervid atmosphere.
From now on, it was his son’s turn to cool this atmosphere and shatter their fixed ideas.
***
After receiving Wilhelm’s setup, Friedrich stretched his pointer straight from left to right and made everyone quiet down.
“Then, before we discuss the future strategy that will create our abundant future filled with chicken, let us review the current situation.”
When Hans and Anna used long wooden poles raised from below to flip the cover of the large parchment backward, graphs made of circles, bars, and broken lines appeared.
“As you can see, our Etilant Autonomous Territory is one of the territorial domains with the greatest power in the Astella Empire. However, that power originates from the income taxes paid by those connected to the Medichin Konzern, and the merchant caravan tax paid by the Medichin Konzern.”
When the various taxes paid by the Medichin Konzern and the freemen who did work directly or indirectly connected to the Medichin Konzern were combined, they amounted to one third of the autonomous territory’s total tax revenue.
At that fact, the Konzern’s employees showed unconcealed pride, and the officials of the autonomous territory also nodded with expressions that said this was only natural. But the real shock began now.
“However, excessive dependence on the Medichin Konzern will threaten the future of our autonomous territory in the long term.”
“What do you mean, Young Master?”
“Are you saying there is a problem with our Konzern?”
Some looked bewildered, and others even showed resistance, but Friedrich answered without wavering.
“The problem is that the perception that the autonomous territory and the Medichin Konzern are effectively one body is growing stronger.”
“Pardon?”
“How is it a problem that the two are considered one?”
“The Etilant Autonomous Territory exists because the current Medichin Konzern exists, and as the Etilant Autonomous Territory has grown, the Medichin Konzern has also grown. Is it not natural to think that way?”
This time, the officials of the autonomous territory asked with perplexed expressions.
Even several hundred years ago, Etilant had been undeveloped land outside the empire. The driving force that had made it flourish as it did now was the Medichin Konzern, so what was the problem with treating them as a set?
“Because the other powers inside and outside the empire will become more wary of us. To be precise, it would be more fitting to say they will fear us.”
Those who had been tilting their heads or frowning because they did not understand became even more unable to understand once Friedrich corrected his wording.
‘Even so, our Etilant is only one territorial domain of the empire...’
‘Even though we are the empire’s largest merchant caravan, we still have to be mindful of the other territorial domains...’
Among those who could not bear the questions that hovered just beyond understanding, Max raised his hand.
“You are Max, correct? The first person to cheer enthusiastically after eating the chicken.”
“Yes!? ...Yes, Young Master. I am Max Barak, a Chief Agent belonging to the Medichin Konzern’s Central Imperial Trade Headquarters. May I ask a question?”
“We should resolve what you are curious about before moving on. Please ask.”
Only after flinching in surprise did Max answer, ask Friedrich for permission, and rise from his seat.
“The fear you mentioned just now, Young Master—does it perhaps come from the fact that when the Medichin Konzern grows larger, or conversely when the autonomous territory grows larger, the other one can also grow?”
“To be precise, if the Medichin Konzern’s business grows, the merchant caravan tax it pays to the autonomous territory increases. Then the autonomous territory can use that money to expand its army and go to war, so they will fear that. Conversely, as the autonomous territory’s capabilities grow, they may fear that it will support the Medichin Konzern and seize control of the empire’s merchant world.”
“!!!”
As they listened to the exchange between Max and Friedrich, everyone from the higher-ups to the lowest-ranking personnel realized the essence of the problem.
“Hmm...”
“That could happen...”
Some frowned, and others showed grave expressions. To those people revealing pessimistic emotions, Friedrich poured out even more unpleasant words.
“Until now, the autonomous territory and the Konzern have climbed upward while relying on each other. However, the better the Konzern’s goods sell and the thicker its loan ledgers become, the stronger the wariness of other territorial domains toward the autonomous territory quietly grows. Conversely, the more the autonomous territory’s political influence within the empire increases, the more difficult the Konzern’s business has gradually become. For example, starting from two hundred years ago, when House Medichin and House Berstein entered the Imperial Diet, and from one hundred years ago, when the Etilant Autonomous Territory obtained imperial voting rights...”
Since Friedrich even presented objective evidence based on documents from the Etilant Autonomous Territory’s official document archive while declaring, “We are now in a crisis,” not a single person could refute him.
‘I feel bad, considering how hard everyone worked to lead the autonomous territory and the Konzern this far, but...’
A powerful shock was necessary in order to improve their constitution going forward.
That was why Friedrich steeled his heart and preached the theory of crisis so harshly.
‘As Friedrich says, we are now in our greatest crisis. We have to solve this problem somehow.’
Wilhelm, too, had clearly recognized the seriousness of the issue after seeing the problem he had sensed organized into concrete documents, so he kept nodding.
‘What will be revealed here today is only a very small portion of it, but...’
In the document Friedrich had submitted separately to him, the methods for solving the problems currently faced by the Etilant Autonomous Territory and the Medichin Konzern were organized clearly and systematically.
‘This father of yours will support you with all his strength.’
When Wilhelm looked at him with a pleased expression, Friedrich suddenly shuddered.
‘Why does it feel so prickly?’
That flinch lasted only a moment.
As if fanning the sense of crisis rising in the minds of everyone present, including his father, Friedrich continued to unfold his theory of crisis.
“For now, we are all right because there are many people whose noses are hooked by the loan ledgers at each of our branches. But if Flandern enters the banking business, a crisis may begin not only for the Konzern, but also for the autonomous territory. What do you think, Mayor?”
“Friedrich is correct. We at least confused Flandern by showing a conciliatory attitude toward them during the legislative process for the Patent-Intellectual Property Law, but that is merely a stopgap measure. Therefore, a more fundamental countermeasure is necessary.”
‘Thank you for the assist, Father!’
His father trusted him completely and lent him strength.
Feeling grateful to that father, Friedrich lifted his lowered head.
‘Hm? That person is...?’
What Friedrich saw after lifting his head was Michael, who had raised his hand beside Max.
‘Those two seem to have joined the company at the same time... Shall I test him?’
‘What is with that frightening expression?’
Michael grew frightened when Friedrich raised his lowered head and grinned at him.
Then he received a question he had not expected.
“You are Michael, correct?”
‘How does he know Max’s name, and even mine? Surely...?’
It would have been impossible unless Friedrich had remembered the things they had shouted in their frenzy over the chicken.
‘Damn it!’
Michael was so horrified that Friedrich had not missed even such a trivial detail that he forcibly swallowed the curse trying to burst out from within him and answered.
“Yes, Young Master. I am Michael Khan of the Eastern Trade Headquarters. May I ask a question?”
“Questions are a good thing. Please ask.”
At Friedrich’s ready permission, Michael rose from his seat.
“As you said, Young Master, the close relationship between the autonomous territory and the Konzern is a problem.”
“That is right.”
“However, I do not believe the autonomous territory and the Konzern can be separated and managed independently. It will be difficult, but if possible, I believe we must grow both the autonomous territory and the Konzern while gradually lowering their mutual dependence and also finding ways to share benefits with the surrounding territorial domains.”
‘Max was impressive, and this Michael is quite useful too.’
Max Barak, who had intuitively and sharply pierced the essence of the issue.
Michael Khan, who pursued a sound long-term strategy.
‘If the two of them make up for what the other lacks, they will be fantastic. I need to learn more about them.’
Friedrich graded Max and Michael, whose names he had engraved into the roster in his head, as “people worth working with.”
At that moment, Max and Michael suddenly shuddered.
‘Why does it feel so prickly?’
‘What is this unlucky feeling?’
While the two felt uneasy over the inexplicable sense of anxiety, Friedrich finished organizing the roster in his head and answered.
“I also believe that is the best path. What I will reveal from now on is the plan that fleshes out and refines that idea. There is quite a lot, so please sit and listen.”
At Friedrich’s answer to Michael, everyone swallowed dryly.
Just how much was there?