Reincarnated as the Baron's son: My Infinite Card Upgrade System-Chapter 83: Completed project.

The next day, Alaric and his men began connecting the wires to the huge generator.

The wires spread across the ground at a safe distance from the people. While half of the workers were at the generator, the rest began implanting the wood into the ground to act as a table line.

Of course, Alaric and his followers were there to observe the whole process—all except Hina, who had gone to inform the Count about the progress.

According to their calculations, they should be done powering the entire county in less than a few days.

But as they had guessed, their project did not go unnoticed.

It caught the attention of the people—and then people Alaric would rather not have.

The four merchant brothers.

Wilson, Grunt, Tim, and the youngest, Fred. They were known to be quadruplets, yet they looked nothing alike.

The four of them appeared before Alaric again, for the fourth time in four days.

"Alaric Montclair, you’re quite the stubborn man, aren’t you?" Tim spoke. He had a walking stick assisting his weight.

Alaric simply stared at them with an uninterested expression.

"What is so secretive about what you’re doing that you felt the need to hide it from us?!" Wilson spoke next.

This time, Alaric couldn’t help but sigh.

"Why would I let you see what I’m building? If you learn of the blueprint, there’s a good chance you won’t need me anymore and will proceed to build it behind my back. Hence why I’m doing it in private," Alaric replied.

He lied.

The only reason he kept it private was that he knew one of the merchant brothers would be plotting something.

If they had free access to the project, it would only be a matter of days before one of them decided to destroy the whole thing. Alaric didn’t trust them and didn’t plan on taking any risks.

"Isn’t that selfish?" Grunt added. Being the shortest made his words feel even less impactful.

Alaric stylishly pointed at the man. "Come on now, you didn’t seriously just ask me this. As a businessman, isn’t it normal to always think about profit in any step you take?"

One of the brothers clicked his tongue in frustration. For some reason, Alaric’s smartass remark was pissing him off.

This brother was Fred, and he was known to be the main man behind every single illegal business happening in Ernesto.

"You must be so confident to think we would agree to work with you on this if you don’t even let us see the process," he finally spoke.

When Alaric looked at him, he immediately smirked.

"Yeah, sure, Fred."

Before Alaric could say any more, Ava showed up behind him.

"Lord Alaric, it’s ready," she informed.

"Ohhh, about time." Alaric clapped his palms together with a smile. "Pardon my initial words to you. You can come and scout the area."

The moment they heard his words, all four of the brothers smiled.

If it was indeed true that there was a way to create a machine that could make nighttime look like morning, then by all means, they wanted to be first in line.

"Now you’re talking!" Wilson smiled, instantly moving forward.

His brothers followed behind him.

As they got closer to the site, their eyes widened in shock.

Not only was the wheel massive, but they could also see the way people were digging rods closer to buildings. Workers roamed the site, with logs being transported.

"This..." Grunt was the one holding the most infatuation.

Seeing so many people work together in peace and harmony was a rare case. Even he, as a merchant, knew how hard it was for people to work for him obediently.

Now spreading his hands while standing on top of a rock, Alaric spoke to the merchants...

"Welcome to my power plant! The age of magical technology has begun!!!"

They were impressed—no use hiding it.

Hell, even Fred couldn’t help but bite his finger in frustration at how impressive the sight before him was.

"I... it’s ready for distribution?" Wilson asked.

"What? Of course not. I’ll only be extending it to two streets. If you want it connected to the houses, you know what that means—you have to pay up."

The merchants gasped.

"This can all be avoided. I’m willing to extend it throughout the entire county. If you agree to sign my proposal, that is all I ask."

One of the brothers wanted to speak, but Tim, the oldest, stretched his hand to the side to stop him.

Then he spoke—

"You’re quite the businessman. Or maybe you’re just manipulative. Either way, I respect that. But surely you don’t expect us to just take your word for it. How are we sure all of this even works?"

Alaric smiled. "Would you like to come test it out yourself?" he asked.

The brothers looked at each other before nodding.

"Excellent. Come with me."

Alaric led them towards the waterwheel, where the wire could be seen sticking out of the water and gently placed on the dry planks.

The closer they got, the more impressed the merchants seemed to be.

Once they reached the wires, one of them asked...

"You expect me to believe this is supposed to light up the sky at night?"

"I don’t expect you to do anything. If you doubt, please touch it."

Wilson stared at the wire for a while, then he noticed the wheel had begun to roll.

Three of the brothers hesitated. One did not.

"You say it like it’s supposed to scare us. I’ll touch it, call your bluff. Tsk!"

Alaric and Ava stepped back, allowing Fred to have free passage to the wire.

"Lord Alaric, I think we should stop him," Ava whispered.

"Nah nah, sush, watch."

Once Fred reached the wire, he smiled before grabbing a bunch of the wires.

Alaric was in shock. He hadn’t expected Fred to grab more than one wire.

"Wait!" He tried to warn him, but it was already too late.

As soon as Fred grabbed the wire, a huge rush of electricity passed through his body as he was electrocuted.

His hair stood up as his clothes burned before his body was sent flying far away.

The remaining three brothers watched in shock, their jaws nearly dropping to the ground.

They had just witnessed their brother vibrating before getting thrown a large distance.

"Oh... dear." Alaric smiled nervously. "Well, he got the proof he wanted. Or are you still in doubt and want to give it a go as well?"

Wilson took a second to move closer to Alaric.

"What type of man are you?" he asked.

"A talented one that just wants to help the people of the kingdom," Alaric replied.

Wilson smiled, but not the kind that could be classified as warm.

"You’ve managed to convince me. Sure, I’ll work with you. Let’s make this deal happen."

"Excellent," Alaric smiled. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Then he proceeded to pull out four contracts from his shirt, carefully stretching them out for Wilson.

"Now, if you would just sign this contract, we’ll be good to go."

He even brought a pen.

Wilson was surprised Alaric was that prepared. Though it didn’t bother him.

"Very well." Wilson grabbed the contract.

The next thing he needed to do was convince his three brothers to sign it.

Alaric did not plan on interfering with their family issues.

Instead, he went back to the project to finish up.

The wires he had connected to the generator numbered in the hundreds. These wires were then connected to poles placed next to two buildings.

Alaric used the permit he got from the county to request that the people inhabiting the houses evacuate for a limited time.

Once they were out, he ran the wire from the pole all the way inside the house, where he added the bulbs he had made with glass and magic crystals.

The moment he connected the bulb to the wire, it glowed, lighting up the whole house.

He did the same for the other house, even adding three streetlights, each one connected to a glass bulb.

As long as the water was moving, the wheel would rotate, generating electricity from the generator to the wires.

From the wires, the electricity networked through the poles and then into the houses.

This was an entire ecosystem.

And Alaric was damn near proud of it.

...

It was nighttime.

Alaric watched from a safe distance as people gathered around the streetlights.

Just as he had promised, the whole place felt like the sun never went down. It was simply spectacular.

As he watched, Sima showed up.

At first she contemplated touching his shoulder for a while, but once she noticed she could not go along with it, she spoke...

"The Count would like to see you," she said.

Alaric looked at her with a smile.

"About damn time. I won the bet, did I not?"

...

[A/N: Thank you all so much for this month. I achieved 1k unlocks of privilege. Something a failure as myself has never gotten before. I don’t know how to say thank you, but, I truly appreciate it, alot. Thank you.]