Chapter 235: The Age of Steam (3)
Several hours before Guillaume arrived at the carriage depot in northern Paris. Dawn.
Knock, knock, knock.
After the sound of knuckles rapping on the wooden door, a deep voice followed it into the room.
“Is the owner in?”
“Tch.”
André, the director of the carriage depot in northern Paris, clicked his tongue and straightened up from where he had been bent over the table.
How dared someone steal this precious time when he was in the middle of something so important?
If he didn’t build his deck in advance—
How was he supposed to avenge yesterday’s defeat in the duel later on?
Even now, when he thought of the bastard who had won yesterday’s duel smirking as he swept up the coins and saying, “Oh dear, Director, I guess you just don’t have much talent for cards,” André ground his teeth.
To put it bluntly, how had that bastard’s victory been a matter of skill? André had no choice but to lose because the other man spent a third of his wages drawing cards. It was pure card luck, that was all.
Knock, knock, knock.
At the sound of someone outside pressing him again, André hastily gathered up the cards spread across the table and rose to his feet.
He had posted it in huge letters outside: Business begins at 4:00 a.m.
Even so, every now and then, ignorant people like this still barged into the office.
Bang, bang, bang.
“Hey! Is the owner in there?!”
“Tsk, tsk. Ignorant fool. You’re going to break the damn door.”
Muttering under his breath so softly it wouldn’t be heard outside, he slowly stood up, opened the door a crack, and spoke through it.
“We’re still preparing to open. Come back in two hours.”
“Just let me talk for a moment—”
“We open in two hours. That’s all.”
André said that to the shadow faintly visible through the crack in the door, then hurried to shut it.
Thunk.
“Let’s have a talk, owner.”
But the unwelcome guest clearly had no intention of letting André go. He jammed his foot into the narrowing gap of the closing door.
Then he forced the door wide open with sheer strength.
“Uh, uh, uh!”
No. Was this even possible? He had been a coachman himself, and one who had used his strength, too—
That thought vanished from André’s head the instant he saw the man’s forearms.
“…Are you a soldier?”
“You’re roughly right. More precisely, a former soldier.”
“No, but what business would a soldier have here…?”
“Let’s talk inside first.”
As the man stepped forward and the light from the lamp inside the office fell across him, something at his waist flashed beneath those fearsome arm muscles.
That’s a sword, right? Yes, that’s a sword. A sword.
“Of course, of course. Heh heh.”
“Thank you. You’re a very considerate man indeed. Hahaha!”
The former soldier—though who knew what he did now, walking around wearing a sword—laughed heartily as he strode into the office.
“Hm. Doesn’t seem like there’s anything particularly dangerous here.”
As he began sweeping the office with his eyes, André slowly and carefully opened his mouth.
“Um, so… what brings you here, sir?”
“Ah, it’s nothing much. Someone I serve might visit this place later, so I came in advance to look it over.”
“Someone you serve?”
“Oh, these are cards from Ears of the Nation?”
Though André had asked him a question, the man seemed more interested in the cards on the table than in answering it.
“Yes, that’s right, but…?”
“Mm! Very good. I hope you keep buying a lot of them.”
“Pardon?”
Just what sort of person wore a sword and then advertised card scraps? Curiosity welled up inside André.
As if he had noticed that, the man slipped a hand inside his coat, pulled out a small rectangular scrap of paper, and handed it to André.
This was… a calling card?
“…Department Head, Ears of the Nation Private Security Company, Nicolas Oudinot?”
Then the one he served was… ah. Um. Ah.
The hand holding the card began trembling.
“Well, it’s not certain he’ll come, so there’s no need to be that nervous. Hahaha!”
Seeing André like that, the man seemed amused and slapped him on the shoulder with a hearty laugh.
Of course, André found it not amusing at all. Not one bit.
Several hours later.
Dressed in the finest clothes he owned and newly clean-shaven, André glanced nervously at the young man before him again and again.
And for good reason.
“Good day, Director. I’m Guillaume de Toulon, owner of Ears of the Nation.”
“I-it-it is an honor, Your Excellency! I am André, the humble operator of this small carriage depot.”
“Come now, there’s no need to speak so formally.”
“W-would that truly be all right?”
“Of course. I’m not here today as an official. I’m here as a merchant, just like you, Director.”
“…A merchant, you say?”
“Yes.”
“For what, specifically…?”
“Would you be willing to hand over this carriage depot to me? I’ll pay a very satisfactory price.”
“I must refuse, Your Excellency.”
“Huh? Why?”
It was the family business founded by his great-grandfather, passed down through his grandfather and father before reaching him.
And it was also the livelihood of countless coachmen, employees, and horses.
No matter that André was the director and held the authority to decide, the reason the answer had burst out of him so reflexively in that brief instant was because all of that weighed on his heart.
Damn it. Even so, I should have answered more gently.
André cursed himself for the reflexive answer he had just given and shut his eyes tight.
Huh. Strange. I even offered a generous price.
Don’t tell me my grand plan is about to sink here and now? Director, sir… please give my cerebral dream back…
As if sensing what I was feeling, Department Head Oudinot, standing behind me, whispered into my ear so others couldn’t hear.
“Sir, if this doesn’t work, shall we just force it through?”
“Department Head, have you gone insane?”
“My apologies. That’s how acquisitions are done in England, so I thought perhaps it might help you as well…”
Strange. I distinctly remembered founding a private military company, not hiring a band of contract thugs.
It was obvious the man had turned strange after spending months in England, where they shoved three-year-old children into chimneys to clean them.
I should send him on leave to Marseille or Toulon so he could get some warm Mediterranean sunlight.
I waved a hand and pushed Department Head Oudinot back, then rubbed my chin.
“Director.”
“Yes? Ah, yes! Your Excellency. Please speak.”
“I have absolutely no intention of causing you any harm if you refuse to sell. But may I ask what reason led you to make that decision?”
“Mm.”
The director bit his lip at my words, then began speaking slowly.
“It is the family business my great-grandfather built and my father entrusted to me. No matter how much gold you offered…”
“And?”
“…From the coachmen who work here, to the errand boys, even to the horses—there isn’t a single one I don’t think of as my own flesh and blood.”
“So you are uneasy about leaving those people in my hands.”
“My apologies.”
Well, that was understandable. If someone came and said they wanted to acquire my shop, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it either.
“Ahem, sir?”
“Hssss.”
“I apologize.”
I really needed to tell Pétion to put Department Head Oudinot on leave immediately. All that back-and-forth shipboard life between England, America, and France must have worn him down. His head was full of nothing but malice now.
Whew. Still, how was I supposed to persuade this man?
If he were the sort who chased only money, I could just stuff his pockets and be done with it, but he didn’t seem like that type.
He was closer to the type who regarded his business as part of his own body.
Did that leave only a gamble?
“Director.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
“I’ll speak plainly. In the near future, I intend to drive every carriage depot out of Paris.”
“…What?”
The director’s face went blank at my sudden words.
“This time, our company has created a carriage powered by steam. Ah, since horses don’t pull it, I should call it an automobile. In any case, an automobile.
It doesn’t need troublesome care like a horse, and it doesn’t leave filth behind either. It doesn’t need breaking in, and it doesn’t disobey people, either.”
I want to fill all of Paris with those automobiles.
The director’s face stiffened.
“…That automobile of yours. How fast does it go?”
“Right now, around 20 kilometers per hour.”
“Ha! A mere 20 kilometers. Your Excellency, horses can easily run at 60 kilometers. That lump of machinery does not yet look capable of driving out horses.”
“Well, for now, yes.”
I shrugged and turned my head to look at DuPont.
“Doctor DuPont, how long do you think it would take to raise the speed to an average of 40 kilometers?”
“Uh, even so, wouldn’t it still take a few months… sir?”
“And 60 kilometers?”
“Durability’s the problem, but aside from that, it should be possible within ten years… sir.”
I turned back to the director again.
“Did you hear that? Ten years, he says. Now then, will horses be able to run at 80 kilometers ten years from now? No matter how much you improve the breed or create new horse breeds, do you think that would be possible?
But machines can do it. Thirty years from now, they may well be able to clear 100 kilometers per hour, and a hundred years from now, they may surpass 300.”
“……”
“Director, the age has changed. The Age of Steam, the age of machinery, is only just beginning to stir.
And that means the age in which beasts like horses and oxen serve as humanity’s source of power is coming to an end.”
“Are you declaring war on me?”
I nodded readily.
“You caught me. But hear me out.”
“Hear what? There’s nothing more to hear!”
“Horses may no longer be needed, but people still are.
You need coachmen, but I need drivers instead. In place of trainers, I need mechanics.”
Let me make you an offer.
“I will retrain your existing workforce without reducing personnel. I will also keep you employed in your current position. Use automobiles in place of carriages.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Then I’ll probably try to acquire some other carriage depot instead. Yours is not the only carriage depot in Paris, is it?”
“……”
André closed his eyes for a moment.
Why his business of all businesses?
Should he truly follow what this young man said? Or should he refuse?
If one called him generous, then yes, he was generous.
If André followed what he said, then at the very least, André and the people he employed would be able to ride the tide of that changing age.
If one called him cruel, then yes, he was cruel.
If André followed what he said, then at the very least, André and the people he employed would no longer be able to move on their own initiative, and would instead have to move according to the orders of Ears of the Nation headquarters on Grenelle Street.
Tap, tap.
As he slowly drummed his fingers on the table, André thought.
Life and pride were equally weighty things, but if he had to choose one, there was only one he could choose.
“I will bring the seal, Your Excellency.”
“You’ve made a wise decision, Director.”
As André put the seal he had used on the contract back into his drawer, he spoke.
“There is one thing I am curious about, Your Excellency.”
“Please, go ahead.”
“When you think about it, Your Excellency possesses immense wealth, do you not? In that case, wouldn’t it have been cheaper for you simply to build a new automobile depot from scratch?”
“That may have been true.”
“Then why are you using such a troublesome method?”
“Well, let’s say it’s because of my values.”
“Your values?”
“The lives of all people who work hard are worthy of respect. And—”
As I slid the contract into an envelope, I said,
“Even if there are differences in how much we earn, we should at least all live like human beings together. That is my creed.”