Amanda really wished she hadn't set that no assassination policy. Because some of these pompous board members could really vanish and nobody would miss them. Their heirs might even thank her for landing them an early inheritance.
"Miss Samson, these timelines are unacceptable," Jack Frazer, board member and asshole extraordinaire, clamored. "This subsidiary needs to become profitable in the next quarter, or it will look bad for the investors."
The investors could go eat monster meat for all she cared. Amanda held sixty percent of the subsidiary and her Granny another twenty. The remaining twenty were split between the other five board members and a number of minor shareholders. They each held between two and five percent. That made the shareholder's meetings moot as her word was law but Samson's rules prevented one individual to appoint puppets to the board.
She had one seat as the head of the board and the CEO, her Granny appointed someone she trusted, and the remaining five seats belonged to these guys. So far, the board votes all ended five to two against her. She felt tempted to sell five percent of her shares to Robert so he could sit here with her but that was both forbidden by Samson's statutes - he was not an employee anymore - and it would make no difference. The votes would still be four to three against her.
Titania also didn't want to split her shares. Amanda tried to reason with the mentalist but lost the argument.
This was a big test. Or a huge trap. Pick your poison. They ousted Robert from the corporation because of a dated rule, then started to put pressure on her. Because she was next-in-line to inherit control of the conglomerate, they wanted to either break her or make sure she could be manipulated or corrupted.
"Do you have another supplier for the teleportation platforms?" Amanda asked. "Because this is the best our director of logistics could find."
Said director of logistics was one of the five opposing her. She was sure they were dragging their feet and getting bogus estimates but she couldn't call them on that. They set up to fail, now were trying to pin the blame on her.
The subsidiary was profitable - or would be within the year - if Robert could keep exploring the passages. One of them had to lead to a jackpot. Or not. Even so, building a complex right next to the Imperial Academy was a big political asset for Samson. That passage could offer only poisoned sushi as its main product and it would still be worth keeping.
"Well, do you?" Jack barked back.
Amanda tapped the invisible fairy on her shoulder and ignored Jack. "Mr. Burns, is this the best your suppliers can do? Is this the best out of three estimates the suppliers gave you?"
"Yes, Miss," Daniels Burns (she had to suppress a laugh every time she thought about the guy's full name) said.
"Absolute best?" She insisted. He nodded. "If so, I call a vote to approve the purchase of twenty teleportation platforms at the listed best price."
The other directors needed to propose votes, and they would vote on the proposal to see if the vote would take place. As the CEO, she could just call the vote.
Aye and Nays flew around. Daniels' best estimate was approved six to one. Titania's puppet stared at Amanda with shock in his eyes. The remaining board members all stared at her.
"What are you up to, Amanda?" Jack rudely asked as he stood up. "Why did you vote to approve this purchase?"
"Because we need the teleportation platforms to access the passages in the Gurglock Ocean," Amanda replied matter of factually, trying to suppress her giddiness. She had them exactly where she wanted.
"At the projected earnings of that Minotaur Dungeon, it will take longer than the working life of the platform to pay for it!" Jack bellowed.
"If you knew that, why did you vote to approve the purchase?" She challenged.
"Why did YOU vote?"
She once again ignored him and moved the meeting forward. "Let the record show that the board approved the purchase of twenty teleportation platforms at the best estimate price brought by the director of logistics."
It was a steal. The platform manufacturer could give Jack and Daniels fifteen percent of the listed price back as bribes and still profit wildly, with this budget.
"I will contact the manufacturer and place an order, then," Daniels said. Jack glared at him but it was too late.
"No, I'm firing you from the position of director of logistics," Amanda said. "You can remain on the board for all I care, but we will need to recruit another director of logistics."
"What? That doesn't make sense!" Daniels protested. Jack fumed in silence. Amanda enjoyed the glares and scowls.
"Who's the CEO?" Amanda gloated. Now she was smiling but it was wicked, cruel, and didn't reach her eyes.
"We will need to go through the selection process before the new director of logistics can place an order. And this estimate is only valid for thirty days." Daniels explained with a condescending tone.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"The budget for the teleportation platforms is approved and the buy price is set," Amanda said. "In thirty days, the buy order will expire, I know that. What's your point?"
"Unless we use the speedy hiring process, we won't have a director of logistics to approve the order. And in thirty days..."
"Fine. I invoke regulation 5-4-6 article 34 paragraph 2. When the director of logistics is found incapable of approving a buy order, the CEO can approve a buy order for the listed items if it does not exceed the allocated budget."
Jack's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe Amanda was so dumb to do all this to approve the order that would earn them dozens of millions of dollars. Then his heart sank. He sat down on his chair and dropped his shoulders. Amanda had an ace in her sleeve. She had another supplier of teleportation platforms.
The young woman lorded over the fools who tried to swindle her.
"This meeting is adjourned," Amanda said, wishing she had a gavel to bang the table with. "And all board meetings for the next month are postponed."
It was good to be the boss. Amanda could get used to it.
"What? But what—"
"You are dismissed, esteemed board members. I expect you to be civil and respect everyone's times. No more official deliberations for today." Amanda said as she left the room through her private door.
It was very, very good to be the boss.
*
*
Robert entered the gym laughing. Spidersilk fluttered in front of him, re-enacting the board meeting. The fairy found the rite most peculiar and interesting. He searched for his teacher. Noah was with Caroline in the workshop. He was making her burn her essence to expand her channels.
"Robert, welcome," the masked professor said. The phantom eye only they could see zipped to and fro and studied the student from top to bottom. It would be interesting if not for the tendrils of cursed energy floating around. That mask's magic crept Robert to no end. Even Spidersilk hid behind his head when the eye glanced at her.
"Noah, thank you. I'm here today because I need your help to create a junior enterprise. Can you be my sponsor?"
Every Academy junior enterprise needed to be sponsored by a teacher.
"Your sponsor? What kind of company do you want to create?"
"An enchantment manufacture. We will make enchantments to sell on the market."
Noah gave it some thought. "You better ask Andronicus to be your sponsor. If I'm helping you manage the enterprise, I can't help you craft anything. And by the look of it, you already have some business you wish to undertake."
"Yeah, Amanda asked me if I could sell her twenty teleportation platforms."
"Do you know how to make teleportation platforms?" Noah asked, the eyebrow above the floating eye raised.
"Not yet."
"It takes years to learn how to do that. Do you have years before the deadline to deliver the platforms?"
"Not really, no. I need to deliver at least two in two months. But I have nothing if not time to learn," Robert replied.
"Do you have the schematics for a teleportation platform?"
"I was hoping you could help with that. I found none in the three libraries I have in here," Robert tapped his head. "Hey, can you get me access to the Imperial library?"
"That's not happening. You should not get anywhere close to the Imperial Palace unless you are a late three-star."
"Not quite there yet... Okay. I'll get the schematic somehow."
"Don't tell me. Go find Andronicus, fill the junior enterprise with him, and submit to the Administration. Take Andronicus with you, otherwise the bureaucrats will sit on your application for weeks."
Robert grinned. "I'll stop bothering you, then."
"Godspeed!"
*
*
Andronicus went on board before Robert even finished explaining what he needed. They filled the form and took it to the Administration.
"You wait here," Andronicus pointed at a bench. "I'll go in here and submit our form. Are you sure you don't need any budget allocation from the Academy?"
"Do we really need to pay to use the workshop at the gym?"
"Yes, you need to rent the equipment if you are working on the enterprise's projects."
"Fine, see how much it would cost to rent the workshop for eight hours a day for a month, and get a loan on that amount. And if there's a discount for using it in the night, take that."
"I'll see what I can do," Andronicus said and vanished behind a door.
Robert sad and fidgeted with his fingers. Spidersilk sat on his shoulder.
"How important is money for you humans?" She asked. "And why is your money all counted in numbers? It's so weird."
"It used to be counted in coins of different sizes and names. It's like the money you fairies are used to. Let's see. I know. Think that this project will cost us a few lost mittens so we can get several worn socks."
Spidersilk's eyes went wide. "Several worn socks?"
"Yeah. Maybe even a handful of Santa hats if we play our cards right."
"No way! A fairy can live in luxury for life with a Santa hat. You gotta be kidding me."
"It is what it is," Robert said with a grin.
*
*
With his company registered and valid, Robert signed the contract with Amanda. She commissioned twenty teleportation platforms at a price one dollar lower than the estimate brought by Daniels.
Now all he needed to do was to learn how to make those damn platforms. Robert went to the winner of the three estimates Daniels brought and searched the facility in the liminal void. When he found some manager in the bathroom, he pounced on the guy, dominated his mind, and took him to the liminal void with his pants down. But he was still sitting on the grayscale toilet, so any mishaps would not ruin anyone's reputation.
There, he raided the guy's mind for knowledge. Who was who in the company, his involvement with Jack and Daniels' scam, and whatever crafting knowledge he had. He learned the location of the vault where they kept the precious schematics. All of them. With that information, he erased the guy's memory of what happened and banished him back to reality. He made no changes to the man's mind (other than removing some memories) so his code still applied.
Robert raided the vault, copying the schematics, stealing the parts he needed for the platforms, and erasing any trace of his passing. The fact they had the parts ready pointed at how confident they were that they could scam Amanda. Robert thought of that as payback time.
Since the guy who could craft the platforms wasn't working right now, he went to the man's house. It had less security than the factory but more than an ordinary residence, even more than Robert's apartment at the arcology. He doubted he could abduct the guy without anyone knowing.
Robert used his secondary talent and pounced on the guy anyway. He raided the man's mind for all the knowledge he had on crafting Ethertech devices, carefully recording everything. The VHS tapes didn't have a higher limit on capacity anyway.
Then he returned the man to his bed without the memory of being abducted.
*
*
Robert went to the ATA in the dead of the night. He requested for a consultant and placed the teleportation platform parts in the blitz auction. It sold items in minutes. Then he bid on his own listings and bought them.
Robert placed the parts in his dimensional storage along with the receipt.