As Bunvers and I are sitting in my office, one of the employees from the base floor opens the door and comes in.

"Headmaster! Important news! The Emperor has sent an ultimatum to us! We either cut down our influence or he will start doing it forcefully!" As the employee is in a state of panic while saying that, I calmly smile.

(Finally he made a move. Sadly, forcing my hand right now is not a smart thing to do.)

"Send an order to every city. Cut all trade within the cities but keep our inter-alliance trade going. Make sure we starve this Empire. If any sort of conflict starts anywhere, employ all the mercenaries and soldiers on guard duty in every city. It's time for a coup. Also, send saboteurs to the other companies in the cities, just to be sure." The employee carefully writes all my words on paper, bows and then runs off.

(I wanted to let my forces build up for a little while longer but I guess I have to show myself since I am not letting an Emperor stop me.)

"The Emperor is going to feel like it just woke up a dragon it shouldn't have even thought about. But what are you going to demand from him?" Bunvers asks calmly while drinking tea.

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"One simple thing. Everything he owns. He either gives it or I take it. An ultimatum to answer an ultimatum. If he demands something from me then I demand something from him." I smile as I answer Bunvers.

--- A few days later ---

"Headmaster, all the mercenaries and soldiers are on guard duty now. It won't be long until the Emperor has to react to our demands." The same employee who told me of the Ultimatum reports in again.

The employee hands me some papers and then leaves the room.

(Is this... A list of the cities and how much we have control over them in percentages? All are over half. I guess we just have to wait then.)

After about three hours of looking out the window, I grow tired of it and decide to go for a walk outside.

I wave goodbye to the front desk receptionists and then immediatly head towards the shopping district.

As I reach the shopping district, I see our stores doing extremely well and the stores which didn't unite with us are basically mostly closed down except a few resisting ones.

A few familiar faces are also walking around going from shop to shop.

I also walk into a few of the more interesting shops around and luckily nobody knows who I am otherwise it would probably be a huge commotion.

After wandering through the streets enough, I head towards the city walls just because I want to see the view from ontop of them.

One of the guards tries to stop me from going to the city walls but after I show him who I am, he immediatly allows me to go up.

(This looks better than from my office. I can actually see the wind moving the grass from this height.)

After admiring the grass and wind for long enough, I go back to my office and start sorting through the papers once more.