Creating an Industrial Empire in 19th Century Parallel World Chapter 52 A Worker's Hard Work Must Be Credited

Two hours had passed and the main office was quite busy as Poul and Alia worked together reading docunts on a file the company had stored for two years, including the new one.

Poul hated reading long texts, especially when he had read them before. But he has no other choice, he has to help Alia to cross-reference every file, which would take a considerably large amount of ti. He took a quick look at Alia and saw how she was engrossed in doing her work. There were no signs of exhaustion on her face, no there weren't any signs at all. It was expressionless, he couldn't tell whether she liked her job or not.

"Pass that file," Alia ordered without batting an eye off the file.

"Here you go," Poul handed her the file, and she took it.

"So this is the financial report you have been doing for Mister Morgan. I must say, the numbers are good, indicating good signs of great developnt. But as I stated earlier, your inexperience in handling a company could halt it. Where do you see your business five years from now, Mister Nielsen."

"What's with that question all of a sudden?" Poul asked.

"Just answer the question," Alia replied as her gaze passed by across the page.

"Uh…" Poul pondered over it. "I see that this business becoming one of the richest companies in the world. Supplying dostic and international railroads with our air brakes, locomotive draft gear, our signaling equipnt, and our interlocking systems. We would be the main manufacturer and distributor, and then expand to another venture."

"That's quite ambitious," Alia comnted.

"Isn't that how vision is supposed to be?"

"I know, but with your current system, you two won't get anywhere near it," Alia said. "But now that you have , we can make your vision into a reality."

'She's so cool,' Poul thought, admiring the way how she is committed to making their company succeed despite having ulterior motives. Though the motives are innocuous, surely she was ordered by Caroline to watch them over but that's only it. He may have a general idea of what their aim is. Since she knew that he and Jonathan ca from a modern era with skills and knowledge, she must be waiting for a mont when he decided to build other things than air brakes. Technology that she may think is profitable. Partnering with her would be a good move but Caroline wanted them to work under her, which is not in their vision.

A chemical engineer, and a great one of that, would be a fine addition to the team. After all, most of the technology he had planned to introduce in the future requires her expertise. They can partner but working under soone is off-limits. Poul and Jonathan wanted to create a legacy in this new world, that's their dream, and is what is making them move forward.

A mont later, there was a knock on the door.

"Co in," Poul answered. The door slowly opened revealing Timothy who entered.

"Oh, I see that you are quite busy," Timothy remarked the mont he saw the office almost filled with a stack of files. "Miss Weiss, it's nice to see you again."

Alia only nodded at his polite gesture, her gaze still fixed on the docunts.

"What do you need, Timothy?"

"Oh, I have co for the thing I wanted to show you about, Sir Nielsen."

"Ah, I do rember you saying you'll visit the office at five o'clock. Well, as you can see, the office is quite busy, but it doesn't an that I will not entertain you. Let's talk about this outside. Let's et in the drawing room."

"Understood," Timothy said before leaving the room.

"Miss Alia, I'm going out for a mont. Are you going to be fine here alone?" Poul inquired. Alia gave him a brief nod without looking away from the papers. Poul left and went to another building to et Timothy in the drawing room.

"So, what do we have here?" Poul asked as he glanced at the blueprint being unfolded in front of him.

Poul perused it, and he saw detailed schematics of a train's wheelset. "What am I looking at?"

"I redesigned the bogie, Sir Nielsen. I'm sure you would notice the difference between the mainstream bogie design and mine," Timothy said.

Poul scanned the schematics and he noticed one thing."It has springs, are you planning on building a suspension system?"

"Oh, you figured that out easily?"

"What do you take for?" Poul looked at him hotly.

"I ant no disrespect, Sir Nielsen. Well, you are right, I have just designed a suspension system. I got inspired by the inner workings of the locomotive draft gear. It functions by absorbing the pull, push, and stopping force in between carriages. An idea sparked in my mind, what if we can also absorb the up-and-down shock? Making the ride a bit smoother. You are aware that the rail tracks are mostly constructed on the uneven ground right? And on a winding path."

"I am aware of that," Poul said.

"So what do you say? Sir Nielsen? Do you think it's worth a try?"

"It may have slipped out of my mind but I too have thought of inventing a suspension system. I can help you make a prototype, and if it works, then you will have all the credit."

"Credit? I'm sorry, what do you an by that, Sir Nielsen?" Timothy asked.

"You are the first one who has co up with an idea. If it works you can patent it under your na and you can license it to the company," Poul explained.

"But isn't the employee's invention credited to the company?"

"That is not part of the policy here in my company. Here, if an employee has co up with a technology of their own design, the na of the patent must be that of the employee. I appreciate the sophisticated craftsmanship, and I believe that they deserve to be recognized for their creation."

Timothy couldn't help but smile. "There was so much compassion in those words, Sir Nielsen."

"There will be a lot of adjustnts to your design though. For example, the springs should be here, not there," Poul said, his finger moving across the schematics.

"Oh…I see what you are pointing at," Timothy said. "By the way, Sir Nielsen. I'm not the only one who ca up with an idea. Walter too."

"Where is he?" Poul asked.

"He was probably presenting it to Sir Axelsen at the construction site," Timothy said. "Sir, there's only three days before Christmas and I looked around the place and it looked dreary. The town has been working day and night, I figured if we can liven up the mood?"

"You are right. Fine, I'll convene a eting with Jonathan about this matter."

"Thank you Sir Nielsen."