Duke Stelmane sighed as he looked at the aftermath of the fight. His castle roof was destroyed, with pieces of glass and rubble strewn all around the courtyard. The walls had a gaping hole in the middle, allowing rudely-awakened people from the city to peek at what happened in the castle.
"This is what happens when a boy is given too much power for his own good," Duke muttered under his breath.
Unfortunately, these kinds of things happen quite often in the Queens region. Inheritors and heirs of large companies tend to be managed by the founders' children and family members unprepared for such a large responsibility.
There were only very few exemptions where successions became a good ending.
It seems the golden-haired boy in front of him was one such example.
Even though Michael was from the Vanderbilt family, owner of arguably the richest business in the whole world, he seemed to keep a good head over his shoulders and created something as amazing as the Reborn company.
The Duke even heard that Michael wasn't given any special attention by Yze Vanderbilt. It was clear too, since the Reborn company wasn't influenced by the Vanderbilt way of business. It remained Michael's accomplishment, and his alone.
Not even his tremendous magical talent could be attributed to the Vanderbilt family. They were not known for their mystical or physical aptitude, only for their business acumen. Yet Michael showed a feat not even a Tower Master could replicate.
It was truly a god-given talent all on his own.
Michael's presence was like a bright sun in the darkest of nights. Everyone could see it.
All the other guests approached Michael and congratulated him on his victory. Currying favor with a ranked 450 company was the best thing they could have ever thought to do.
Of course, the Duke didn't waste any time and approached Michael.
"I will announce it here in front of everyone. Angora City requests the Reborn company to become its sponsor!"
No one was surprised by this. They would have treated the Duke as a simpleton if he didn't ask it after they saw what Michael and his company could do. Even some of the companies who treated Reborn as their 'rivals' couldn't help but accept the fact that they were on a completely different level of their own.
"Wait a minute," Yuna said, interrupting. "Sponsoring Angora City will certainly help you and everyone else. But what about the Reborn company? We will be tasked with the burden of supporting the entire capital city. What compels us to agree to your proposition?"
Yuna looked back at Michael and winked at him.
He smiled, letting her do her thing. This was exactly why she was here in the first place. As a diplomat, she knew exactly how to negotiate a much better deal for Michael and the Reborn company. She knew how to put the right amount of pressure into the Duke so that he would have to relent on benefits that could truly help Reborn.
The Duke smiled and nodded in understanding. "Very well," he said. "I am willing to lower the income tax of Reborn to ten percent."
The rest of the guests gasped, almost salivating at that offer. Their companies had to pay 25% in order to operate in Angora City.
But Yuna remained steadfast. She stared at the Duke without blinking. "Are you sure that's your offer?"
It was already quite a generous offer, but the Yuna wanted more.
As the Duke remembered the fact that the Dragonborns defeated the Stone-Cold 6, that they had automobiles in their possession, that they could produce the only Mithril Artifacts in the world…and most of all, they had Michael Vanderbilt leading them on…the choice was simple.
"No taxes for the Reborn company," he declared.
Everyone went into an uproar. They couldn't believe it.
But for the Duke, it was the only way to build a good relationship with the Reborn company.
He wasn't thinking about today, tomorrow, or even a year after. He was thinking about ten years after or a hundred years after!
The potential of Michael and the Reborn company was limitless. Duke Stelmane wholeheartedly believed that they would reach global heights in less than a hundred years. His intuition told him so.
And if he built a relationship with them this early on, then as the Reborn company soared into the skies, Angora City will be pulled up with it.
He was the only one who could see that as impressive as that 450th ranking in the Golden 500 sounded, it was still a gross underestimation of the Reborn company. The article only took into account their business in Angora and Neo Orcus City, completely disregarding the entirety of the Kings region.
This meant that their true rankings were well above that.
Yuna looked back at Michael and nodded with a smile. This was the best deal they were going to get.
Michael approached the Duke and held out his hand, and the two shook hands, symbolizing their agreement.
…
…
…
As the night wore on, the guests slowly departed from the castle back to their headquarters in the city. But of course, that was not before they approached Michael and made some sort of agreement for cooperation.
Sheina got down from the castle walls and helped Michael deal with all the gritty details. She began to take orders of automobiles, liquid concrete, armors and weapons, and even batches of chocolate bars.
Of course, they were willing to pay a good amount to have it delivered as fast as possible. The guests argued against each other as to who would get to order first, to which Sheina had to assure them that everyone would get their products regardless of who ordered first.
Meanwhile, Michael and Yuna were at the Duke's castle ironing out all the details of their cooperation.
Since the Reborn company would sponsor Angora City, this meant that Michael would have to help in improving the City itself by increasing it up to the famous Reborn standard such as creating a plumbing system for every building, an electrical infrastructure, and a railroad system.
The Duke felt his head spin once Michael explained how electricity worked. To make him understand better, they planned for the Duke and his wife to travel to the Nation of Reborn and see everything for himself.
They also talked about the Golden Road, which would directly cross Angora City and act as a node for all the other branches to connect towards. For example, the road would branch out to the East and West to reach the other territories near Angora City.
"Now, I'm sure that you've heard about Batchrock town," the Duke muttered seriously, with the oil lamps flickering in the wind.
"It's been conquered, right?"
Duke Stelmane nodded. "I have just received word. It's official. An Oscorpe subsidiary has taken control of the reins. Do you know who the Orscorpe corporation is?"
Michael shook his head, only hearing about the name in passing conversation.
"The Oscorpe Corporation is the second largest business in the entire world, second only to your Vanderbilt family. You can even say that they are rivals through and through. They have stayed in Yze's shadow for too long, and now, it seems that they want to take Yze's title away for themselves."