For now, the whole [Communication Center] thing was still brewing and people didn’t know much about its limits yet. However, it was enough to make people’s hearts pound in excitement, not having any problems on spending 1 gold to test things out!
Some went outside the barrier, some went all the way to the extension. It was then that they realized that the one gold charge could actually go such a distance!
Finn smirked when he saw his increasingly fat wallet.
Ah, people’s exploratory desires are so good.
After watching the fun for a while, he shifted to the final item he received after upgrading: The [Outer Roads].
These were roads that would be able to withstand high traffic, even if they were beasts, and the smoothness of which would make travel so much faster and easier, thereby saving up precious time and stamina.
For obvious reasons, this was something that would not just be helpful to the inn, but to territories in general.
It was just that the cost was high and Finn, who knew that upgrades of the buildings and the rooms would require a lot of money, was reluctant to shoulder the cost.
Not to mention, he also had to consider the repairs of the barrier in case of larger mobs. He had the extension to worry about now as well.
Anyway, he was very reluctant to empty his wallet for a road that he didn’t really need anymore, especially since he had guaranteed guests now. At this point, this was just for convenience.
Not to mention, roads towards other directions might also be built. He might as well establish the fact that the funding had to come from the connected towns early on, to manage expectations and to hasten future negotiations.
The guilds, unsurprisingly, were very tempted. It was just that they had already spent a huge amount leasing land here, so they couldn’t easily jump at the opportunity.
That said, it was really so useful. Even if they did not go to the Inn, having tens of kilometers of proper road was set to make everyone’s lives easier.
At the same time, they knew the other parties (maybe even enemies and rivals) would also be able to take advantage as well, which was another point of reluctance.
"I won’t stop you from asking for tolls," Finn told them. "This construction really won’t be cheap."
He wasn’t a hero, nor was he doing charity work. People could travel even without the roads; this was just for convenience and luxury. It was perfectly fine to ask for some payment, as long as the price was reasonable to recoup the costs.
His words made several calculations run through people’s heads. However, it was really difficult to monitor this. It wasn’t like they had the resources to set up booths and guards along the roads, nor was it safe to do so.
Finn smiled. "I can help with that," he said.
Since the roads were part of the system infrastructure, he could actually have some control with it. He could set it up in a way that if people wanted to use it, they would have to pay one gold, regardless of their point of origin.
To avoid complicating things, he’d charge it as a daily payment so the users would be free to head in and out whenever they found something interesting or had to fight monsters they encountered. This would reset at midnight, though.
With the upgrades, the system gave him a lot of conveniences. In this case, the gold would be automatically deducted to people’s wallets and straight to Finn’s.
Of course, since this was a joint venture, much of the money would head to the people who actually invested in it, but it’d end up in his wallet first as the system’s host.
At the same time, since it was in his wallet, before the guilds took it, he could treat it as loaned funds.
Anyway, he could easily monitor the number of users of the roads through the system, so he didn’t have to worry about accidentally cheating his partners or something.
"You can choose to take it from me in the form of gold, or you can choose to deposit it as Inn expenses for your people."
The adventurer elders were faster to decide in this case. Since adventurers went through danger zones on a daily basis, and they had always wanted to encourage those who liked the safe zones to venture out, they immediately thought of a way to maximize this system.
"Then for adventurers, use the money as a rebate! They can use it as a consumable in the inn!"
This was a poisoned elder who had just healed himself at the clinic. It felt like he bought another life, and had naturally become more open-minded about things!
There was more appreciation in investing for the future as well.
One gold might seem like just one digit, but that was still an equivalent of 10000 danas discount! This was not a small amount!
Mercenaries refused to lose. "Us too!"
The elder rolled his eyes and then looked at the redhead. "Finn! Can you make a record of the adventurers who stay here? For every 3 days they stayed and fought monsters, the guild would sponsor one day camp stay!"
"Us, too!" The mercenary exclaimed, as if afraid to be left behind, regardless of the troubles that could come after.
Thanks to this, more mercenaries would slowly venture out of the danger zones as well, inevitably decreasing the number of beasts that the safe zones had to worry about.
While they were discussing, there were actually plenty of people around trying to listen in.
When they heard that there really would be a road, and part of the income might fund their stay as a reward for doing a good job, they were all fired up.
While listening to people’s opinions and requests, Finn received another notification in his head.
[Hearth Mission Activated]
Information: Achieve 100 Attribute Points on Comfort, Cleanliness, and Ambiance
Reward: 100,000 Hearth Points, Building Upgrade Voucher!]