I was worried so I asked, "Are you sure that won't be a problem? What if they try to cause trouble later?"
Ms. Kitsumi replied firmly, "They wouldn't dare to. They know they don't have the authority to mess with national interest."
"Well, as long as you're sure."
"I am. Now that that is out of the way, tomorrow we can see the proposed sites. That way on Monday we can put in the work order."
"Ok, sounds like a plan."
Since our plans for the day were completed, we parted ways. I decided to check out the park that was nearby. There was a parking structure next to the town hall, on the other side of that was a park.
The park was long and narrow as it followed a small river down stream until it met the ocean.
I spent the rest of the day walking on the paved walkways, sitting on the benches, and getting a meal at the small cafe on the edge of the park.
The cafe had a mascot, it was a bear, I think, with a star on its head.
The cafe had an assortment of refreshing meals and drinks to choose from. It was a really nice thing to have so close to a park.
I had a pleasant interaction there talking to the shop workers and some of the other customers. They were very nice, friendly, and curious about who I was.
Even when I mentioned that I was planting to open a factory in town. They were happy, and even eager to get new jobs in town. They were a stark contrast to the old men in the town hall.
When I asked about it, they laughed and said that that was so like them. That they were just old men trapped in the past. Most of the town was fed up with them, but a small town doesn't like conflict or confrontation.
So, they would rather just stay out of the way, than try to talk to them about it.
I get that, I don't like conflict either. I could have gone with Layla to confront her family about their actions, but I would rather have Layla stay with me, than to try and start a fight.
I don't know how often interventions work, but I don't think I have even seen one go well. Though to be fair I have only ever seen them on Metube and that probably isn't a good metric.
After being enlightened by the locals and spending time in the park, I made my way back to the inn.
At the inn I had dinner and went to sleep. I only hoped that Kitsumi Kiyo would be up earlier tomorrow.
…
Saturday morning, I was awake early like usual and had breakfast when they served it.
Breakfast was a nice omelet and little pancakes. When I was half way done eating I saw Kitsumi Kiyo come into the dining room.
It seemed like she was prepared for a day of work.
Once the two of us were done eating and ready to leave we left.
The first place we visited was right down the road from the inn. Ironically it was only a few hundred feet from where I had tried to go to the beach.
In that massive wall there was a square hole big enough for the smaller box trucks to fit though. Attached to that hole was a massive pressure lock door, in the event of a tsunami, the door would close the hole right up.
On the port, on the other side of the wall, was a business. It was supposed to be a water treatment plant, but that clearly wasn't the case. We asked one of the people working and they explained that the water treatment plant had been destroyed by the tsunami many years earlier.
The new business was a fish farm. They had been operating for a few years now. It seemed like the town hall hadn't yet updated the information.
Luckily for me the proposed space for my factory was relatively untouched. It would seem that because the space had been vacant since the port was built the locals had been treating the lot as free parking.
People had been taking their families here since there isn't really an ideal beach. Instead they have been coming here to fish and catch crabs.
It was Saturday, so there were quite a few people. They were bundled up trying to fight off the cold winter sea breeze. They even had little charcoal grills out, to grill any fish they caught, or any mochi they fancied.
Ms. Kitsumi and I walked around the lot talking about the possibilities.
It was an empty lot, so the sky was the limit. Well, metaphorically speaking, you couldn't build anything that could compromise the integrity of the wall in the case of a tsunami.
That was kind of a deal breaker. Because the infrastructure needed to make RAM is quite extensive. This was my initial first choice but this kind of kills the deal.
The other choice in this town was the one to build another port, but that falls under the same problem that this one does. Plus there is no way I can currently afford to build my own port.
The only other option is the old fuel supplier.
But that is an old business that will likely need a lot of work to get up and running again. Plus I will need to have everything built to code and specifications for the government to sign off on.
Since I used the government's money, they will be looking over my shoulder to make sure I am doing everything by the books. An annoying stipulation but well worth it.
There was only one more stop to make and it wasn't even an hour since we had breakfast.
The old fuel supplier was in the next town over, which means we have to go through the same shenanigans as before.
At least we could look at the property today and worry about the documents on Monday.