NOVPUBNow that this was done, my next step was 82’s trading department. Since I already knew someone there, I didn’t hesitate and directly knocked on her door.
“Come in, Tila.”
She was now used to me visiting her and even knew who it was from behind the door.
“Ulum, my friend! How are you on this beautiful day?”
“It’s raining.”
“Any day becomes beautiful when I can see you!” 𝑛𝘰𝑣𝑝𝑢𝑏.𝘤𝑜𝘮
“Quiet. Let’s start now.”
I chuckled and we began our usual session. I moved closer and took hold of her hand, the girl shivering at the contact. I had to admit it, her willpower was high, and, despite clearly having trouble, her problem was getting better quickly. We could now hold this position as long as necessary. I tried a few things, like using my other hand to cover both of ours, or even caressing the back of her hand with my fingers, and she managed to take it all.
“You’re doing amazing, Ulum. I’m so proud of you.”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child.”
Even though she rebelled, I knew she didn’t hate my praise.
“My rebel friend, should we go further today?”
“…What further?”
“Should I try touching another part of your body?”
Just the thought of it made her tremble. Yet, she ground her teeth and nodded.
“Yes. Do it.”
I kept one hand locked with hers and approached the second to her face. Her eyes started to shake so hard it got me worried, but I went forward with it since she looked so determined. Softly, I caressed her cheek, appreciating the soft and bouncy feeling.
“Ughh. Ack. Huuuhhh.”
She hated it a lot but tried to persevere through it as long as possible, taking long breaths to try to calm down. Unfortunately, after a few seconds, she couldn’t take it anymore.
“Enough.”
She moved away from me, taking her hand back, and panted hard.
“You’re progressing so well, darling. You’ll be over it soon enough.”
She choked at my words.
“Puhh! Cough! Cough! Who are you calling darling!”
“You.”
“Tsk! Stop your nonsense. Darn it, it’s impossible to do anything serious with you.”
“But you still love me.”
“You don’t need anyone to love you, you already love yourself enough as it is.”
“So true! Hahahaha!”
She shook her head at my reaction and sat back on her desk chair.
“I’ve had enough of your silliness for today. Stop laughing and leave now.”
“Hahaha… Haaah… Sorry, you’re starting to get it. Your retorts are becoming better.”
“It’s not like I could ever win an argument against you.”
“It’s my job, after all. Does that mean you’ll be under my thumb for the rest of our lives?”
“In your dreams.”
“Hehe. Anyway, I’ve got another business with you today. Official business.”
She suddenly sat straight in her chair and took on a more serious expression.
“What is it? Did you get into trouble in the market?”
“Is that the first thing that comes to your mind? It’s not like that, you know everyone loves me.”
“Are you still dreaming?”
I ignored her last comment and continued.
“I’m planning on building a selnic factory. What’s the process for this?”
“A selnic factory? You?”
“Me.”
“Why?”
“Why not?”
“You’re so annoying sometimes, Tila.”
“Well, I don’t know what to answer. I want to open one to earn more money, of course.”
“You need capital to do this. What money could you have?”
“Hey! Our market stall is doing great, you know?”
She snickered.
“Sure, sure, you’re doing great.”
“…How much money would I need to build a factory?”
“How would I know?”
“Isn’t it your job to know these things? Slacker!”
“Who are you calling a slacker, silly girl?”
She frowned but then smirked immediately after.
“If you want business advice and business permits, you need to book an appointment beforehand.”
“With whom?”
“Me.”
There was a moment of silence before I faked tearing.
“Oh my sel, you’ve grown so much since I first talked to you. I’m sure you can leave the nest now that you’re so good with your jokes. Sniff. I’m so happy for you, darling.”
This made her sigh.
“I’ll never be able to reach your level of nonsense, that’s for sure.”
“You never know. From my point of view, it’s just a matter of time.”
“You’re having a terrible influence on me. Okay, let’s get serious now. I don’t know how much building a factory costs, but I can find out. The permits aren’t free either. You’ll need to buy the land too. That’s going to be expensive.”
“How much?”
“Let me see.”
She turned around and took out some documents from a drawer. After reading them for a while, she looked back up at me.
“The license for building a selnic factory is 30,000 lods. There isn’t much industrial land for sale and the smallest and cheapest one will cost 450,000 lods. I need to ask other people for an average price of building a selnic factory, but considering how much raw material costs these days, it’ll probably be in the hundreds of thousands too. Just for the infrastructure itself.”
“Wow.”
“I told you it was too much for you.”
She was right but I was probably much closer to being able to afford it than she thought. My current budget was close to 200,000 lods.
“What about loans?”
“I don’t recommend it because interest rates are so high.”
“How high?”
“The lowest you can probably get is 13%.”
“That’s insane.”
She scowled at my rude words but didn’t scold me for it.
“Yes, it’s not worth it.”
The domes were a society with a lot more inequality than one might think. It was mostly due to the prices of critical goods being so high. When someone needed to spend so much of their income on food and water, they had a hard time saving any money and investing in their future. With banks giving such high interest rates, the message the rich were sending was clear: “You stay poor and we stay rich”.
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