Influence Will Be Immense

Market!

Viscount Rost felt that this was the key.

A very, very long time ago, people's settlements were generally located near rivers and lakes, or around springs. Such places provided water for drinking, as well as irrigation, fishing, and hunting, satisfying their basic needs for survival.

As these settlements grew more prosperous, some gradually began to produce more food, creating a need for trade.

When people chose locations with convenient transportation, places that two or even multiple tribes could easily reach, markets gradually took shape.

As these markets continued to expand, they became towns and great cities, and this continued to the present day.

In other words, the vast majority of towns in this world originated as markets with convenient transportation. Military fortresses built at strategic passes were the ones established for other purposes.

The establishment of the Ultra-High-Speed Rail Transit System meant that every station was destined to form a massive market.

The importance of markets to these nobles was self-evident.

That was also one of the core selling points for getting them involved in this industry.

Especially now, when most nobles had suffered devastating losses because of Steel Futures, land prices had fallen to rock bottom, and planting crops on their land was highly likely to result in losses, they desperately needed this new type of market.

Even setting everything else aside, if they built a factory around such a market, the goods it produced could be sold across the entire realm. What an enormous competitive advantage that would be.

Once this was announced, the nobles along the route would probably become the ones most eager for these markets to be built.

They might even come to blows over who got the first construction site. As for what price they had to pay? That was no longer important.