The company building wasn't very far from Sakura Public Academy, but due to the terrain and the speed of the car, it still took about half an hour.
This company was already relatively large. Although still considered a medium-sized enterprise, it was close to the standard for a large one. It was unclear why the building's address was set up here.
When Alistair first arrived in this world, he learned from the internet that this area wasn't the city's center but a relatively peripheral location, not too far from the official boundary between the city and the countryside. Even the few schools in this region were established here because the area 'was once planned to be a central district.'
After all this time, hadn't the noble girls' school, St. Lux Academy, 'capitulated'? They had already begun enrolling commoner students and were even starting to accept male students.
For a company approaching the standard of a large enterprise, having its headquarters located in such a place was strange. However, according to Gōzō Kurakura, it was likely that Alistair's grandfather deliberately placed it here for Alistair's use, and he had simply discovered it prematurely.
"Young Master Koyasu, we've arrived at the company."
The car slowly stopped, and Hisae's voice entered Alistair's ears, interrupting his thoughts.
"Hm."
Alistair responded, opened the door, and stepped out.
The building in front of him looked somewhat out of place compared to the surrounding structures because it was so much taller.
In Japan, due to its geographical location, earthquakes are common. That's why most buildings in the area use wooden structures. Wooden structures not only offer better earthquake resistance but, even if they collapse due to an earthquake, the damage to people is less severe. After all, being hit by a large piece of wood versus a large chunk of concrete rubble presents a massive difference in injury potential.
Additionally, wood in Japan is relatively cheaper and highly cost-effective, so most people build wooden houses. It was only in modern times that various contemporary style residences began to emerge, attracting many people to start using concrete buildings, though they still didn't account for a very large proportion.
The tall building in front of Alistair was made of concrete, but it was still within acceptable limits. The main reason it didn't need to be taller was its considerable footprint. Building it higher would also be unsafe, as concrete's seismic resistance is relatively poor. Who knows when a massive earthquake might hit and cause the whole thing to collapse, directly killing a large number of people, as it appeared to be about ten stories high.
Besides this building, there was an apartment complex not far away that looked quite nice. Was it staff housing? Alistair hadn't looked into it, but it was highly likely. A company this big requires a lot of people; they couldn't possibly recruit people from far away. Although there were trains, it was still inconvenient. Providing staff housing not only wins people's loyalty but also gives the company leverage. After all, if you're fired, you and your whole family are left homeless or forced to move back to your hometown.
And in this day and age, who could make a good living by farming and still afford to come out and work? That's ridiculous.
The farming system in Japan is different from that in mainland countries. They have a cooperative-like system that handles the entire process of selling and distributing money for every farmer's crops. For farmers, this is a mixed blessing: when the system is operating well, they get normal settlements, but when it's not, they are exploited further, and they can't avoid it because the cooperatives must handle everything.
This is often manifest in the form of various kabushiki kaisha (corporations), existing in the form of agricultural companies.
On the other side, there was a park that appeared to be company-built, taking up a considerable area.
Tsk, tsk. If a company offered such generous benefits before I transmigrated, countless people would be scrambling to work here. The last time Alistair saw a company with such excellent, or even better, benefits was in a certain book, referring to CEO Pei, but that was because he had a cheat and 'luck' as his foundation.
Speaking of which, even the big capitalists here know that to better exploit workers, they must provide them with the best environment. Leeks must be harvested in batches, unlike those 'entrepreneurs' from the world he left, who, relying on the abundance of leeks, liked to pull them out root and all. They were truly greedy fools.
Anyway, there was still plenty of time, so he might as well go for a walk in the park.
It was only slightly dim now, not quite night, just the normal time for people to get off work. He could still walk around outside.
"I'm going to walk around the park. Wait nearby; I'll be back in a while."
Alistair closed the door, threw a sentence at Hisae, and walked towards the park.
"It's quite large, and there are many things here."
Alistair sat on a bench in the park, casually observing the environment.
The park had two artificial lakes, one large and one small, with pavilions and stone bridges on the lakes. There were also two small plazas nearby, with plenty of exercise equipment and many wooden rest pavilions.
Well, he didn't know why he suddenly wanted to check out this park, but walking around for a bit didn't hurt. Half an hour had passed; it was time to go back. There was hardly anyone here now, and it wouldn't be fun if he got caught.
Alistair stood up, ready to leave the park and find Hisae, when a peculiar, enchanting sweet fragrance wafted into his nostrils.
Sniff, sniff.
"A strong scent, and a sweet one. Is it perfume?"
Alistair stopped his step and looked around. The scent hadn't been there moments ago; its sudden appearance meant the source had just arrived. The scent was also somewhat like that of a certain fruit or a special pastry. Alistair didn't know of any perfume that could produce this effect, and the sweetness wasn't cloying but rather intoxicating, suggesting it wasn't a chemically synthesized product.
The scent of ordinary perfumes often comes from indole. At low concentrations, it's fragrant, but at high concentrations, it smells like feces, as feces genuinely contain high concentrations of indole. The sweet scent Alistair smelled was gradually intensifying, becoming excessively rich, yet Alistair didn't find it disgusting or cloying. Therefore, this item should not be one of those commercially available perfumes.
And a sweet fragrance of this intensity could not come from any pastries or fruits Alistair knew of. Since it couldn't be possessed by an ordinary person, the 'person' capable of producing this scent was obvious.
Shit, has she been here for a while already?
Alistair silently focused his mind, and [The World] was immediately summoned behind him, awaiting the arrival of the actual entity.
Tap, tap, tap, tap...
The sound of high heels approached. In the dim little plaza, a beautiful woman, dressed like a professional office lady but with a seductive, glamorous appearance, walked towards him.