It took Wolfe until after midnight before he finally got all the creation of the cards, cubes and transfer funds finished, so that business could begin as usual the next morning.
There was going to be a mountain of empty mana crystal in the morning, but there were already plans for it. They were normally recharged to be used to store currency, but that wasn't the only thing that you could do with the material.
It also made wonderful batteries for magical electric devices like power tools. Now, no sane person would use a hundred credit crystal to power their hand drill, no matter that the crystal and the battery were roughly the sa size. Instead, they would use a charging inscription and a regular battery.
But with so many now in surplus, and the intrinsic value gone, there were a number of manufacturers that saw an incredible market for them.
Especially the electric bicycle and motorcycle manufacturers.
Gormana was densely populated, and from what the people in Morgana Fortress had learned, they preferred two wheeled transports to get around town as much as possible. Morgana Fortress also favoured them, and bike couriers were the normal ssengers within the city.
So, with a number of new workers, which the manufacturer intended to recruit from the lowest floors once the Advisor had renovated them, they would be able to expand for export.
Exporting raw materials like food was a last resort to the people of the Fortress City. Raw materials were cheap. But the knowledge and skills that went into making complex items added layers of value and employnt for countless workers around the world.
Compared to the Fortress, Gormana had a hundred tis more people. Even if they had a small market gap, it would be easy for the workers here to slip in and make a profit, as long as they could get the goods moved.
That was Wolfe's plan for the morning after breakfast. He would work on building the airport, while the Witches would work with the advisor on the lower levels of the city. At the mont, he was trying to explain why so of her more wild plans simply wouldn't work.
"I think that we should go for sothing unique and amazing. How about a replica of the Royal Portal Auditorium, with its minarets and towers?" She suggested.
"This is a place for landing airplanes, they need a low angle of approach and smooth air, we can't have tall towers creating buffeting in the wind and getting in the way of their landings." Wolfe reminded her.
"Then can we at least do a nice grotto style? With entwined bushes making up the ceilings?"
"You do rember that this place gets seasons, right? How about we put the bushes over a glass enclosure to keep the passengers and the cargo out of the rain?" Wolfe countered.
"Oh, I like that. You can watch and sll the leaves in the rain, but not get your stuff wet. That could be good for visitors. Then they will just have to get to the building, but I hear that the humans have options for that." The Advisor agreed.
It took them far longer than Wolfe had expected to find a way to replicate the design that the Fae Advisor was after, but suited to use by humans and witches who didn't enjoy all that nature had to offer. The easy part was the awnings, their answer to getting goods into the building without soaking them.They were just on extendable poles, so the planes could pull up next to the building, the awning could be extended, and all work could be done under cover and out of the direct sunlight.
But from there, it turned into chaos, as the practical considerations of a cargo transfer and trading station did not mingle well with the look and feel that she felt needed to be present in any building of her new and improved city.
The final answer was to have two levels. One would be for the market, the passenger airline portion of the operation, and the other businesses that were likely to want to set up at the airport.
The other half would be underground, so that the cargo storage, sorting and shipnt could go directly to the underground highway network.
She was unhappy about that as well, as the design was strictly functional, but once she had finished improving the future stop for Morgana Fortress, it was good enough that they could call it done.
"Now I just need to link the road to sowhere else. I was thinking to have the route between here and Sylvan Coven be an express route near the coast, stopping only at the Academy, and then having the other villages branch off in a loop, so they can get to the Fortress easily, or to each other, but silently encouraging them to end up at one of the three major cities.
Wolfe took out a map to show the Advisor what he ant, and she drew a few changes onto his intended route.
"Done this way, it will more naturally funnel traffic into the Sylvan border region, which will lead them to Forest Grove and Sylvan City, while the south and east will naturally end up at Morgana Fortress.
I know that they're supposed to have their own airports, but are they big enough for the huge cargo planes?" She explained.
"Most of them, definitely not. But we have smaller sizes for more routine shipnts and smaller passenger flights. The Demons have beco huge fans of those, and I hear that they're planning a bulk order once the larger planes they ordered are all delivered."
The Advisor laughed and shook her head. "The Fae call the idea Debauchery Airlines. I can't believe that the Incubus Kingdom was the one that decided to monopolize air travel in the Demon Realms, and managed it based on the promise of discounted flights to the land of lust."
Wolfe shrugged. "If it works, it works. It's still no match for the portal system that they have set up all through the Realms, but per passenger, it's cheaper."
The Fae's face took on an eager smile as Wolfe touched on a bit of magic that she had an enthusiasm for. "People don't realize that just because the portal is open doesn't an that it costs nothing to move through it. Every person passing through destabilizes the portal a little more, and you have to work to keep it balanced.
If you're an invading army and don't care where you end up the next ti you try to go sowhere, that's all well and good. But if you want to visit the sa city every ti, soone has to keep the portal working smoothly, and that's a highly skilled trade."
And that was half of the reason why Wolfe hadn't tried to establish a network here. The other half being that he wasn't personally skilled in Portals, or any sort of Space Magic, and he would have to blunder through emulating others' spells with the assistance of Elental Affinity, which made it even more mana inefficient.
Hopefully, the people of this world didn't go all portal crazy in the future. The airport was looking spectacular by the ti that they finished, and it would be an incredible gathering spot for rchants from all over this side of the Continent, with the capacity to land and stage multiple cargo and private jets at a ti for international events.
Reviews
All reviews (0)