I get off the train and look at the sky and release a sigh. I've returned to the underworld and am about to meet with the devil. Yasaka and I decide to accept the deal and open a new power plant in the underworld.
We will charge the same as the power plant in Europe and will open more after a full year of running in the underworld. Why? We want to see if they can be trusted to protect the power plant.
That is one of the few requirements we put into the agreement. They need to protect the power plant from those who want to sabotage or destroy it outright. Of course, I will make sure to place surveillance devices at every corner and even the non-corners of the power plant to ensure nothing gets through.
I am even planning to install hidden turrets, patrol drones, and traps to deter any infiltrators and spies entering the perimeter.
The builder has already created the building for me. I only need to make the reactor, so I bring the androids with me, along with some of the apprentices, to learn how to make sure it works and to teach them how to make one.
They only know the basics, but they are slowly getting there. According to the calculations, they should be ready to attempt building a smaller reactor in 5 to 7 years, depending on their progress.
We enter the car to prepare for us. I greet the devil who will take us there and watch as our car moves. I am making an energy reactor in the Sitri Territory. They want the energy to power hospitals in the territory.
The Sitri Territory is known for its hospitals and healing facilities. They are the best at it and use their water and ice-based spells to help in the hospital. They cannot heal with their magic, but they can delay the injuries long enough for the doctors to treat them.
Because of their lack of healing spells, they have the same thing as the mundane people have. That is why the hospital has many medical machines, which require a lot of electricity. With the underworld having only two Energy Production companies, they can set the price to their heart's content.
I understand the reason why the Four Satans decided to come to my company. With us offering them cheap energy, the other companies need to lower their prices to compete with us. After the first year, we can build more power plants and further reduce electricity prices.
It is not my plant, by the way. It is the request from Serafall herself. The Satan of Foreign Affairs herself is saying that we need to reduce our price further when we open the 5th power plant. It is as if she wants us to hold the monopoly over the energy business in the underworld.
Yasaka and I are suspicious of this, but we decide to go through with it because we can't think of anything that could screw us in the short or long run. We have a few theories that give them an upper hand, or explain the reason for this written contract.
The biggest one is that they try to reduce the profit we generate from each plant. That is true, but we still generate a lot of money per year even with the reduced price. The other one is that they want to compete with us by learning how the energy reactor works and copying it. This one makes sense, but I don't mind.
If they are able to create a copy of the energy reactor, they will retake the energy monopoly in the underworld. However, we are still holding the monopoly in the mundane world. We have already created a network to ensure we retain control over energy in the mundane world.
That is one of the steps we need to take to uplift humanity. It will be in the long run, because humans cannot accept change too quickly.
All in all, this deal will not screw us in the long run. Even if they can create a better one, they need to offer humans better energy reactors and lower electricity prices to compete with us. It will help push the plan even without them knowing about it.
"Sir, we arrive."
I snap from my thoughts and smile at White. We leave the car, and I can see a massive facility in front of me. They are going all out, huh? The devil who takes us to the facility gives us a tour, and after half an hour, they give me a room to make the reactor.
I look at White and a group of androids, then nod my head.
It is time to get to work.
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|3rd POV|
Serafall hums a little as she reads the report about the new power plant. Her smile gets bigger at the report telling her about the two noble lords complaining about the new power plant. However, after her last visit, they will do nothing about it. All they can do is formally complain and ask her to remove them.
She knows they will go to the gathering and make their complaint to the other noble lords. However, she is not too worried. A lot of noble lords do not like them either because they keep raising electricity prices every year, even when demand does not increase, since Devil Race rarely experiences population growth.
The only problem that can come up is how they will use the fact that the one owning the company is human, and that most of the old noble lords look down on the human race, even when the said human can fight the Satans and even win against some of them.
Truthfully, she doesn't know if she can win against Ryan. She read the report about Ragnarok and how Ryan is the key figure in the war. He is the reason why Ragnarok failed. She also hears that the legendary figure who fought the Long War against Indra in India is connected to him.
It is a rumor, but she knows that a rumor is important information in her line of work.
She also heard that he was the reincarnation of past Heroes. She doesn't believe this rumor to be true. It might sound arrogant, but she has a very good spy network. She makes sure to check his background and spy on him from far away.
All of her agents come to one conclusion: he is not someone with the spirit of a hero or a descendant of one.
Even with that news, she still doesn't know if she can win against him. He has the blessing of the Three Heavenly Divines, and she knows he is holding one of the Sacred Swords of Japan, which are effective against demonic creatures. That alone already makes her uneasy, but there is also the fact that he is somehow a dragon, or at least partially a dragon.
She asks Tannin about it, and he can safely say he is a dragon-human hybrid. The last time Ryan was in the underworld, he fought and showed her how powerful he is and how fast he can grow.
Lastly, he is tied to that white dragon. The dragon's name is Grandeeney, and Serafall knows that she has a very close connection to Ryan that she is willing to come when he summons her. Dragon is a prideful creature, and she cannot summon them without asking first.
So, yes. She would rather not fight him.
That is why she prepares a plan in case the old bastards try something stupid and show them that while they prefer democracy, Devil Race follows the strong, and that is how it is written in their DNA.
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