"Company ......," Roland whispered.

"What?" Victor was slightly stunned, "if you have any doubts about something, I can explain it again-"

"No," he waved his hand, "it's an interesting plan, at least it doesn't seem to be a problem." How soon will you be able to get the funds in place if you want to do so?"

Victor's eyes lit up with joy, "I knew you would understand it - forgive my rudeness, Your Majesty, if you were also a businessman, your achievements would never be under any big chamber of commerce!"

This metaphor seems to lower the status of the king, but placing the other party at the top of the industry he is good at is a way to express a high degree of recognition in aristocratic etiquette, and it can be regarded as an undisguised flattery.

At this moment, Roland had a completely different idea in his heart: Isn't this a large industrial company in the future?

Settle down with technology, recruit people spontaneously, organize production and marketing, and make profits and losses independently...... He did not expect to hear such a complete conception in the mouth of a contemporary. The biggest difference with the Chamber of Commerce is that the plan merges production and sales, which can be said to be the prototype of modern private enterprises.

This may be a great opportunity.

In the past four years, his territory has grown considerably, but it has gradually revealed its shortcomings, that is, the Administration Office has done almost everything. Any project needs to be controlled by the executive branch, and the bureaucracy, from the number of people to the allocation of budgets, these complicated work regulations take up most of the officials' time. As the scale of the project continues to grow, it will inevitably become more and more bloated and the administrative efficiency will also be reduced.

This can be regarded as a common problem of "state-owned enterprises" - once profits and losses have nothing to do with the participants, stability becomes everything. It has the advantage of being determined by the will of the upper echelons regardless of returns, and it can be used to meet needs quickly in the early stage and be used to tackle risky strategic projects in the later stage, but it does not mean that it can do everything.

This is one of the reasons why Roland has devoted himself to the development of heavy industry and agriculture in Neverwinter, but has paid little attention to light industry—except for the limited working population, the Executive Office can no longer have so many officials to deal with the expansion of industries.

After all, it is simple to give an order, it is just a matter of one sentence, but if it is really to be implemented, even if it is to build an additional steam engine assembly plant, it needs a whole set of people to support it.

And now, he has a new choice.

Before the means such as attracting investment were used, someone took the initiative to send it to him, and Roland naturally had no reason to refuse easily.

Although this "company" has the background of an overseas family, and it will inevitably cause a certain outflow of gold dragons after making profits, as long as its production departments are in the territory of Gray Castle, this deficiency is nothing.

After reaching a preliminary intention, Roland personally sent Victor to the gate of the castle, "When you are ready, I think the new cotton seeds should be able to be cultivated." However, I must make it clear beforehand that if any other merchant intends to follow your example, the Executive Office will sell them the seeds at the same price—the more abundant the goods in the market, the more affordable the price, and you should know this better than I do. ”

"Of course, Your Majesty," Victor's eyes sparkled with confidence, "the Dawn Merchant has never been afraid of competition. My father always said that from the moment we were born, the competition began. ”

When he was about to leave, Roland suddenly stopped him again, "By the way, I want to ask you a question." My minister found out that you had a record of paying taxes to the Changge Fortress six years ago, why? If you wanted to save this amount at that time, it would have been easy for you, right?"

Victor nodded, "But the lord at that time promised that as long as the tax was paid according to the amount, he would provide some convenience and protection for the caravans traveling between the border and Changge. And he did—at the very least, the cost would have saved him from the threat of the beast and the attacks of his peers. I've always felt that paying a small price to get a stable and orderly rule is actually a good thing for a businessman. Unfortunately, there are many people who would rather invest large sums of money in goods that are not worth it, rather than see the rules as one of the costs. ”

Sure enough, he was an interesting person, looking at the back of the merchant leaving, Roland couldn't help but think to himself. If there are such people as examples, the "private enterprises" of Gray Fort should also usher in a period of rapid and vigorous development.

Just as he was about to go back to the office, the nightingale's anxious voice suddenly rang in his ears, "Your Majesty, the lightning is back, and she seems to be in trouble-"

"What's the situation?" Roland asked hurriedly.

"It's not clear...... I just received a summons from Sylvie that she was taken back by Maisie and taken directly to the medical center!"

His heart sank suddenly, "She's hurt, take me over now!"

"Yes," Nightingale reached out and grabbed him, and the two of them slipped into the fog together.

......

After rushing to the medical hospital in the west of the city, Roland saw the little girl lying on the hospital bed.

The moment he pushed the door open, his worries were dispelled - the lightning looked intact, there were no visible scars or blood on her face, and her chest was still heaving, which meant that she was fine. Even if the investigation was in danger, it was safe now.

But he soon noticed that something was wrong.

Nanava didn't feel the slightest sense of relief after completing the treatment, but frowned and looked down at her hands, looking puzzled.

Maisie was even more nervous lying on the head of the bed, wiping Lightning's forehead with her hand, and when she saw Roland, she shrunk her neck into her clothes, looking like she had done something wrong—only then did he notice that fine sweat was constantly breaking out of the other party's face, and a shallow moan was coming out between his slightly open lips and teeth, as if he was immersed in a nightmare.

"What's going on?" Roland looked at Nanawa, "where the hell is Lightning?"

The latter looked up and slowly pointed to his chest.

"Nightingale. ”

"Yes. The nightingale stepped forward, carefully picked up the lightning, and helped her take off her special windproof coat, and then unlined it little by little. Just as she was fading to her collarbone, she couldn't help but stop, "Your Majesty, this is—"

Roland approached the bedside and found a thumb-sized wound on two fingers below Lightning's neck. Compared with the surrounding snow-white skin, this scar is particularly eye-catching, but if you look closely, it doesn't even hurt the muscle layer, it just breaks the epidermis, which belongs to the kind of small injury that will heal itself if left alone.

It stands to reason that healing such a wound is nothing more than a small thing that can be done in the blink of an eye for Nanawa.

But her next sentence made Roland stunned in place.

"I can't cure her...... Nanava muttered, "no matter how much you drive the magic, you can't make the wound go away, it's like my abilities are gone." ”