?"And with the sad part out of the way, it is now my pleasure to introduce our new Chief Executive Officer. Some of you probably know him already."
"Please, give a warm welcome to Julian Nergiar!"
After a lengthy talk in front of all of Dark Dream's employees, Nick introduced their new CEO.
Julian.
Some of the employees felt a bit strange while they applauded, but most of them were actually quite excited.
Naturally, when they heard that their previous CEO had died, they felt scared and sad.
Wyntor had built Dark Dream from the ground up, and with him gone, the employees didn't know what would happen to them.
Would Dark Dream be sold?
Would they have to work for another Manufacturer?
Would they get killed?
But when they heard that Julian bought 60% of Dark Dream, they felt quite excited.
Everyone knew Julian, and everyone liked being in his presence.
And now, they could work under Julian!
Additionally, Julian was a Specialist!
While it was still possible that another Manufacturer could kill most of Dark Dream's workers and get it disbanded by complaining to the city about a lack of security, it would become much more difficult.
A Specialist was terrifyingly powerful.
A Specialist was so powerful that they could capture an Expert without them even being able to kill themselves.
One had to remember that fighting amongst Manufacturers was illegal and that the entire war thing had to happen in secret.
So, if one of the attackers got captured and delivered to the guards, whoever sent the agent would have to pay absolutely brutal fines.
These kinds of fines were not based on the damage done or by the agent the Manufacturer had sent but on what it would take to give said Manufacturer a fitting punishment.
If a Veteran from Kugelblitz was found to have been sent to attack Nick, it might very well be possible that Kugelblitz would need to pay over 500 million credits.
That obviously wouldn't kill them, but it would cause them a lot of damage.
Because of that, having someone like a Specialist present was insanely advantageous.
The Extractors knew that which was why they were so excited.
Having Julian as their CEO would give Dark Dream even more security than having Wyntor as their CEO.
Julian walked towards the front and waved at the 100 or so gathered people in front of him.
"Thank you for your warm welcome," he said with a smile. "I'm looking forward to working with all of you. I consider several of you friends, and I'm excited that I can help all of you to achieve your dreams."
Julian gave a long speech in front of the gathered employees, after which he walked forward to greet each and every one of them one by one.
Surprisingly, Julian knew the names of over 60 of the employees, which positively surprised everyone.
While he was greeting them, Julian also told them that he wanted to meet each and every one of them for a personal conversation.
Within the next week, everyone should come to his office at some point. Of course, only when they had time.
Julian would be in the office most of the time, and if he wasn't present, he would tell his new assistant when he would be back.
Wyntor had been an Early John, which meant that he had still needed to sleep, eat, and drink.
Since Julian didn't need that, he could spend much more time working.
Sadly, the employees couldn't talk for very long with Julian.
They had to return to work.
After a while, Julian and Nick left the big hall and walked towards the seventh floor.
Nick had a neutral expression on his face as he walked past several mouths growing out of the walls in the stairwell.
Julian had already "fully integrated".
The walls and ceiling of the entire building were covered with smiling mouths.
Yet, nobody noticed.
Nick was the only one who could see them.
It was quite ironic.
A Specter was running a Manufacturer.
Nick was not sure if he had done the right thing, but he had already made his choice.
And now, he had to see it to the end.
Several weeks ago, Nick had thought long and hard about what to wish.
He wanted to kill Wyntor, but he also didn't want to lose Dark Dream.
"I wish for us to be allies."
That was Nick's wish.
Julian had been quite surprised by that wish, and he had asked about what Nick meant specifically.
"Simple. I help you, and in return, you help me, which makes me help you, which makes you help me, and so on," Nick said.
After talking some more, Julian had gotten a new appreciation for Nick.
Usually, Julian killed most people after granting them their wish.
Sure, he would still lose some Zephyx after killing them, but it wouldn't be as bad as when he killed the person before fulfilling their wish.
There were a select few people who had won a bet against Julian and lived to tell the tale, but they were all rather weak.
They were the only ones who knew about the city's true ruler, but they couldn't tell anyone.
If they tried to tell just a single person, they would die.
In a way, they felt cursed.
They were the only ones who could see the truth, but they could never tell anyone the truth.
Nick had joined these select few, but compared to them, Nick had a more personal connection with Julian now.
They were going to be allies.
Julian would help Nick become more powerful and increase the power of Dark Dream.
In exchange, Nick would be Julian's employee and do what he said.
Of course, owning a Manufacturer also gave Julian something.
He would earn a lot of money, and he would also have an official job.
Everyone believed that Julian was working for one of the Manufacturers, but all of the Manufacturers thought he was working for one of the other ones.
And since he now had his own business, he no longer needed to be afraid of being found out in this way.