A few months ago.
Rain strolled through the black market, passing by various facilities and vendors selling all manner of illicit goods.
As he walked, he found himself drawn to the Information Guild, one of the most renowned sources of knowledge in the market.
Although he didn't necessarily need any information at the mont, he was curious about the guild and its operations.
"Looks fun." He mumbled.
***
"Tell , Rain," Ben asked eagerly. "Who are you, and how do you know all of these things?"
Rain felt a pang of annoyance at Ben's prying question. He didn't like being interrogated, but he understood why Ben was curious.
"I'm a VIP patron of the Information Guild, Insight," Rain replied, keeping his tone neutral.
"Really?" Ben was surprised. "That would explain how you have access to so much information. But what about your family and whereabouts?"
"That's secret~," Rain chuckled, trying to defuse the tension.
"Okay, okay. I won't pry," Ben shrugged. "But being a VIP patron of [Insight] is pretty impressive. It's one of the top guilds on [Pandora]."
Pandora.
It was the na of the darknet that existed within this world, a seedy underbelly that catered to those who sought to buy and sell forbidden goods and services.
A convenient online black market.
"Indeed," Rain agreed, feeling a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
Insight was a relatively new guild, founded only two months prior with the motto "Let's start delving into the unknown secrets."
Despite their lack of credibility, they quickly rose through the ranks and beca one of the most trusted sources of information on the dark net.
"Hey, Rain," Ben interrupted, his voice tinged with excitent.
Rain felt a jolt of curiosity. He wondered what Ben wanted to talk about. "Yes?" Rain replied.
"Will we ever et in person?"
Rain noticed a surge of warmth in Ben's tone.
"Just wait a few months, maybe next year," Rain said, trying to make his tone gentle.
"Okay, sounds good. Hey, we're about to land on the academy campus. Talk to you later!" Ben said cheerfully.
"You too, have a good day," Rain said, as hung up the phone.
Rain raised his head and looked up at the sky only to see it was covered in thick, gray clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The air was humid, and there was a faint sll of rain in the air. Rain could feel a cool breeze blowing past him.
"Looks like it will rain today. Maybe I should go to my ho."
Rain arrived ho and went straight to his room.
As he lay on his bed, he checked other ssages.
["Lily (Scapegoat): I have so details to report. So call in your free ti."]
As he pondered the ssage, Rain felt a flicker of curiosity.
He knew that Lily only contacted him when sothing important had co up. He wondered what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into this ti.
"It will relieve so boredom." He spoke as he called Lily.
***
Lily was exhausted after the incident in the dungeon, but she knew she had to update Rain about the details of the business.
She also wanted to discuss about Eva's potions.
As soon as she boarded the airship, she sent Rain a ssage.
It had been a few hours since the incident, and Lily had spent that ti recovering and gathering her thoughts.
She collapsed on the bed in her room and couldn't help but replay the events in her mind. "Sothing isn't right," she thought to herself, "soone is surely pulling the strings from the shadows." She made a ntal note to research it further that night, but for now, she was too tired to do so.
Her mana was depleted, and she needed to rest. She curled up into a ball and took a nap for about an hour.
When she woke up, she felt more refreshed.
As the airship approached Dawn City, she washed her face and adjusted her appearance.
The journey from the dungeon to the academy had taken a few hours, and Lily had spent most of that ti sleeping.
After the airship landed on the academy campus, the injured students were taken to the infirmary, and Lily headed to her dormitory. It would take her around a few minutes to walk from the campus to her dormitory, that's why she didn't ride a campus bus.
As she walked, her smartwatch rang, displaying the na "Stingy Boss."
She frowned and wondered why soone was calling at this ti. "Who's calling at this ti?" she grumbled.
When she saw the na, her frown deepened. "This guy really has good timing," she muttered to herself, feeling annoyed by the interruption.
However, she had to pick up the call.
"Hello, how are you, little girl?" The most annoying voice for Lily ca from the other side.
"I am very nice, forr young master," Lily said with a smirk.
Soon, she arrived at her floor.
As she was 5th ranked among 2nd years. She had a very large space.
With a flick of her wrist, she put the call on hold.
Lily approached the door of her room. She whispered a few words in a forgotten language, and the door opened with a hiss of steam.
As she stepped inside, the room's enchantnts responded to her presence, casting a warm glow over the space.
As she entered her bedroom and sat on the bed, she felt relaxed.
With a flick of her wrist, she removed the call from the call.
"Ooh, using the forgotten language to open your door now, Lily? Trying to impress , are we?" Rain teased on the phone.
Lily rolled her eyes, she didn't expect that Rain would know she was unlocking her door lock through the password.
Even though she put the call on hold, Rain found out about it.
She let out a small laugh. "Oh please, Rain. As if I care about impressing you."
Rain chuckled on the other end. "Sure you don't. So what's the reason for this call? I'm quite busy, you know."
Lily cleared her throat, switching to a more professional tone. "Actually, I wanted to discuss the progress of the business. I have a few updates and ideas I'd like to run by you."
Rain's tone beca more serious as well. "Alright, go ahead. I'm listening."
Lily proceeded to go over the progress they had made so far, detailing the challenges they had faced and how they had overco them.
She also presented so new ideas she had co up with to improve the project even further.
Apparently, after signing a contract that gave Rain a 55% share in the profits, Lily began working on a plan to launch rchandise for his streaming business and other things. As per the contract, she also had to invest half of the cost.
Here's how the process went:
-Research and planning: Lily researched the market to identify popular rchandise items and created a plan for what products to launch, how much to price them, and how to market them to Rain's audience.
-Product developnt: Lily sourced or created rchandise items, such as t-shirts, mugs, or stickers, and designed them to align with Rain's branding and aesthetic.
She also licensed every song Rain released, so soone doesn't post it or plagiarize it.
She also asked Rain to beco a model and do advertisents. But Rain refused.
-Marketing and promotion: Lily created a marketing strategy to promote the products to Rain's audience, including social dia posts, email newsletters, and special promotions or giveaways.
-Sales and fulfillnt: Once orders ca in, Lily handled the sales and fulfillnt process, including processing paynts, packaging and shipping the rchandise, and handling any custor service issues.
Throughout the process, Rain covered half of the costs and sotis even provided extra money as a salary for Lily.
And at the end of the day, Rain received 55% of the profits from the rchandise sales as per their agreent.
The net profit of the first month was more than 50,000 gold coins. As per the contract, Rain got 27,500.
After that month, Lily started expanding the business and entered other fields.
She also had to find a company as it was becoming hard to handle alone.
With Rain's sponsorship, she invested in that company. However, in the end, she beca an employee of the Rain.
As the call continued, Rain listened attentively, occasionally asking questions or giving feedback.
After Lily was finished, there was a mont of silence as Rain considered everything she had said.
"Hmm. So you are saying to invest in that potion business?" Rain asked.
"Yes!" She nodded eagerly.
"Contact Mark. I will give you his contact details. Just tell him, "His friend will help in the potion business, this is the opportunity"." He said.
"Do you take as a weirdo? He will think of as a weirdo if I start babbling like that." Lily grumbled.
"Okay, I will tell him to contact you, Happy? I will just cut so of your salaries as you aren't doing the work." Rain lanted.
"Huh? Why?" Lily asked in a confused tone.
"Isn't contacting potential business partners and clients your job?" Rain asked back.
"It is. But you also have so responsibilities as the boss. You should do so work too." Lily controlled herself to not yell on the call.
"I will do it next ti~. Have a good day~" Rain said in a mischievous tone and hung up the phone.
On the other side, Lily was fuming with anger.
"That bastard, pushing responsibilities on every ti!! I will quit!!" She was determined.
Just then her smartwatch rang. As she checked it was a ssage from Rain.
[-Contact Info
Na: Mark
Email id: ███████████
Post: Manager in Alchimystic]
She couldn't help but blink her eyes a few tis.
"Isn't Alchimystic firm being run by the Hols family? Isn't it on the top position?" She mumbled.
"But that stingy guy break off with his family, how does he still have good relations with them?" She was confused. She decided to postpone her resignation for so ti.
Reviews
All reviews (0)