Everyone gazed at Yze silently, with their minds constantly turning as they tried to figure out the reason for his sudden change of heart.
The Vanderbilt Lion would never willingly back out of a competition, especially one against his 'friends'. After all, each of the people in this room was a real threat to his dominion over the global market.
The Golden Road was the chance they needed to finally overtake the Vanderbilt business. Yze would be an idiot to let his less-than-stellar descendants handle the business in the Golden Road rather than himself. He was far too selfish to do that.
"You want to create a playground for the children?" the old bald man asked him.
"I do," Yze replied with a devious grin on his face.
They all exchanged silent looks as they tried to decipher the hidden agenda in Yze's plans.
After years and years of getting bested by the Vanderbilt Lion, they knew Yze well enough to know that he wasn't going to make a bet that he knew he wouldn't win.
Even still, no matter how much they thought about it, this proposal was beneficial for them all.
The biggest benefit of it all was the fact that the main man himself, Yze, wasn't going to dip his hands in the Golden Road business.
Even if they weren't going to admit it outwardly, they knew that Yze Vanderbilt had a high chance of dominating the Golden Road market if they had all fought head-on against each other. Some of them were even considering fighting just for the second-place position from the start. That was how much of a threat he was.
But now that Yze promised to stay his hand as long as they stayed theirs, then this meant that they had a much greater chance of finally overcoming the mountain that was the Vanderbilt business.
Sure, they wouldn't be able to use their full resources to conquer the Golden Road, but that also meant that Yze wouldn't be able to use his immense wealth to bully his way through the market.
It would all come down to their descendants and their subcompanies.
It was the battle of the future heirs and future inheritors of these conglomerates.
And as far as they knew, no descendant of Yze Vanderbilt could come close to his brilliance. Not even his direct children showed any sign of becoming a cub that could grow into a lion.
Compared to the other conglomerates who all had a few standout descendants who were already showing their talents in the global market, the Vanderbilt family was sorely lacking in contenders for the competition in the Golden Road.
"I accept your proposal."
"Me too."
"I agree as well…"
Everyone raised their hands to quickly solidify their agreement. They didn't want to give Yze any more time to second-guess himself and back out of this agreement.
After all, this was the chance that they had been waiting for to finally defeat him!
Yze Vanderbilt smiled and raised the glass of mead in his hands, which the rest reciprocated.
"And so it is done. I wish all of you good luck in this competition…" Yze gulped down the whole glass.
The others did too, with each one showing a satisfied smile on their faces thinking that they had the upper hand. They were giddy at the fact that the Lion Vanderbilt had finally shown his weakness. And now, it was time for them to strike.
But of course, none of them was happier than Yze himself.
After all, he had just found out something incredibly amazing just a few minutes ago.
His youngest grandson had allied himself with the Dwarven Kingdom!
This was a feat that even he was unable to do. It was absurd to think that Michael was only a child, yet he was able to do something that even none of these conglomerates could ever dream of doing.
It was so absurd that he had to laugh.
HAHAHAHA…Michael, I knew that you had my killer instinct within you. Show me. Show me more! Show everyone that the Vanderbilt name is never dead.
I will be waiting for you at the end of the Golden Road.
…
…
…
Back in the Nation of Reborn…
After Michael introduced Yuna to the Dwarven King, the plan for the highway was quickly set into motion.
With Yuna's expertise in diplomacy, she immediately outlined a plan to contact Orcus Town and gain their trust. Once that was done, they could connect the concrete roads to the Queens region, opening up the possibilities for expansion.
Of course, Michael first needed to personally visit the town and see the place for himself. He and a couple of the Rebornian Engineers needed to scout the current situation in the area and make plans to reinforce the entire structure to make it less prone to disasters.
"Oh, Biru. I'm planning on connecting the railway to the other parts of the Kings region. What do you think about it?" he asked the Dwarven King.
"Sure, sure! The more tourists there are, the better!" Biru said while wearing a baseball jersey and drinking a beer in his hands.
After seeing the positive feedback from the tourists, Michael planned to connect both electricity and railways to the entirety of the Kings region as soon as possible.
"We'll provide you with all the materials you'll need," Biru promised.
"Wait. You're planning on constructing railways all over the Kings region, and creating another Steam Turbine at the same time?" Yuna questioned. "That would cost too much money."
Yuna estimated that the amount of materials it would take to complete those tasks was already in the hundreds of millions of gold. And she wasn't even accounting for the labor yet.
"Hahahaha! Looks like you still don't know much about my friend here. He's obscenely rich, you know?!" Biru said as he put his arms around Michael.
"You'll save so much more money if you start those projects separately," Yuna said.
In response, Michael looked around the smiling tourists in his nation. "I want them to experience the same comfort as our nation in their own homes. That's my endgame," he said to her genuinely.
Yuna stared at Michael.
He then shrugged his shoulders before walking away. "Besides, it's just a couple of hundred million gold."