Walking back to Happy Bakery is actually... a bit awkward. But not the kind of awkward where you don't talk. It's the kind of awkward where words come out of your mouth at a hundred miles per second, and the other person jumps in the reply, talks over you, apologizes, excuses themself, does it again, and you end up... feeling things for them.

"You really trained your body with runes?" Lucinda's eyes are wide. "That's absolutely revolutionary! How did you even get your hands on all this knowledge?!"

"Well, isn't that a good question," I reply. "I can't say, though. It's a secret. What I can say is that it was pretty painful. However, the teacher said that it created some Aionios muscles in me."

Lucinda's eyes go even wider.

"Really?!"

...

"I thought that baking would be much easier... I didn't realize how stupid that was," the redhead says. "Flaminia really showed me just how green I was in thinking like that."

"It's hard, but, damn, like, you found the solution immediately. Lathering the rune on the pan... I'm not sure I would have tried that."

"Well, you need to try to know if it works or not," Lucinda smirks.

"Wait, did you know that you could theoretically..."

...

"My parents are a bit much," Lucinda says, blushing. "They mean well. They are really good people, but they can be very nosy. Sorry if I left you with them for too long."

"No, no, it's fine. There's no set hour for the meeting. I said I'd drop by Happy Bakery and that we would discuss this at the Three Roses anyway."

"Well, thank you for being patient with them. They know you are good at magic, they... you know."

"Yeah, yeah," I laugh, "they are parents acting like parents. Nothing to be ashamed of. I wish you could have met my mother—she would have grilled you beyond what you could ever imagine."

"What for?" Lucinda appears confused.

"Well, you know, if I brought a girl home, my mother would be... suspicious, let's say."

Lucinda raises an eyebrow in my direction.

...

My palms are sweaty.

Knees weak.

I can already feel people pelting us with confetti.

I look around the room where I’ve gathered all the interested parties, minus Marcella. Money comes and goes; it's the talent that you really have to look out for.

"Luciani," it's Amelia speaking, the oldest of the Saturnia sisters and the most beautiful woman I've seen so far in Amorium, bar the Goddess I met in the Dungeon, "explain yourself. We have work to do."

"Alright," I clear my voice, "I've already presented my general idea. Now, what I’ve been envisioning is a much bigger operation than you are currently doing. We get one big lab and operate out of that. Instead of wasting all the floor space in front of the Pratus, we turn these kitchens into bakery fronts and deliver the food from a much cheaper space, away from the mess.

"Then, I acknowledge that everyone here is great at something, but some of you might work better if employed in different roles. Clodia, for example, would take over the floor and be in charge of the lab operations, overseeing training, floor management, and recruitment. Flavia, who's clearly much better at numbers and deadpans, would oversee deal negotiations, suppliers, and logistics—"

"I've talked to suppliers up until now," Amelia frowns.

"Yes, and while your intimidation factor is over the top, I'm sure your sister knows the numbers better than you."

We turn to the golden blonde, who has just been listening and scratching down notes on a leather pad she brought with her.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"It's true," she shrugs and goes back to calculating whatever numbers she's looking at for a moment, then she raises her head again, points her eyes to the ceiling, thinking, and adds, "he's right about the space too."

"But the position—" Camilla starts complaining when Clodia clears her throat.

"And why should we trust Flavia of all people and not one of ours?"

"Because if we merge, there's no ours and theirs. There's only us. Plus, you'd need to get accustomed to having to train people to higher standards and be less merciful. We'd need a stronger screening process and reassign those with little talent for baking to other positions. The point of hiring people with problems is to give them a job. Not to have them make lumpy bread."

Clodia straightens up at that, looking darkly at me.

"Yeah, yeah. Now, please, let me finish. Amelia would be the second in command after Flaminia since—"

"What?!" Amelia slams her palm on the table.

"Jesus," I sigh, "can't you just listen for a minute?"

"I advise that you all let him finish if you want to get through this," Lucinda says from the side with a stern voice. "This is a negotiation, not a playground for children."

Everyone turns to her, but before they can complain further, I keep going.

"Flaminia has gotten skills that will make this business unique. Flam, you'd teach those same skills to Amelia and any [Baker], say, around level 25. We'll slowly build up a special division for highly magical food."

Flaminia looks understandably reluctant to give away her secret weapon, but she nods slowly, not protesting. Now that Amelia just heard what's at stake, having probably received word of Flaminia's new golden skill, she stays quiet as well.

"So, this is just a proposal. No one has to accept anything. If you want, we can all go back to what we were doing before this, ok? I don't plan on forcing anyone. What I plan to do, however, is to establish the greatest baking business in Amorium in case you were to decide to join hands. If you do, we will do it exactly as I’ve just described."

"I accept," Camilla, with her short-bob cherry-blonde hair, says from the side.

"You haven't even heard what he's planning for you," Amelia scoffs.

"I don't need to," Camilla looks at her sister, disgusted. "I know what I want, idiot. And aren't you happy you get to stay with your girlfriend at work? Maybe you two can go in the storage room during breaks and—"

That's when the first teacup – not that I had seen any at the start as I would have hidden them – flies through the room.

...

"Recapitulating, in Human-from-where-I'm-from-terms, I would be the Chief Executive Officer, the one taking big decisions and getting daily reports from everyone. Obviously, I will be on the floor when needed, but I also need to take care of the big-picture stuff. Clodia, you'd be at Human Resources—well, Elven Resources, I guess. Training, recruiting, making sure that everyone's got the right role and that they are happy with it.

"What about me?" Flaminia asks.

"Chief Baking Officer—normally, it would be Chief Technology Officer, but this is a bakery, I guess. So, you'll be in charge of all decisions regarding pastry, bread, cakes—everything. Do you feel up for it?"

Flaminia’s eyes widen a little, but she bites her lower lip and nods.

"Great. You'll be the first ma—woman on the front. Amelia will be your vice."

I turn to the short Elf, who's looking at me expectantly.

"Camilla, if we go forward, you would be my Chief Operating Officer. You'd be in charge of everything. No more democracy in the bakery; you call the shots and answer only to me. You would strategize the biggest changes with me but then also take care of the rest by yourself."

Camilla looks pleased by the role and just nods back.

"So, is everyone on board?"

Everyone looks at each other, and then the hard question drops.

"What about the money?"

...

Very few of them are pleased with what I’ve just said.

"It's the most financially sensible profit distribution," I say with a strained smile.

Flavia puts her leather-bound pad down and, for the first time, speaks out loud.

"I think those numbers are fair."

"Fair!?" Amelia shouts. "I opened this bakery with all of you as an equal partner!"

"Your job is the second most replaceable after mine," Flavia says. "He's making sense."

"How does it make any sense?!" Her sister keeps shouting.

"Joey, Flaminia, and Camilla have the roles that can't be taken by anyone else—that's why they get 15%. You and Clodia perform vital roles that, however, could be taken over by other people because your skills are either secondary or complementary. I would argue that even asking for a 5% profit split to you would have been ok. But 10% each is sensible."

"You are getting 5%!"

"Yes. Because my role has yet to be proven useful. Joey could have asked Clodia's mother to do it in my stead, and it would have made more sense. The fact that he's showing this much consideration is a great sign of goodwill."

Is Flavia... I trail off my thought because Amelia looks like she's about to pull her hair out.

"25% going to Clodia's mother is the only thing I have a problem with," this time, it's Camilla speaking.

"Well, she's buying her stake," I smile, "and we need that money as liquidity."

"So, is she the one registering the business?" Camilla asks.

"No, I am."

Everyone looks at me before turning to Lucinda.

"Joey," the redhead starts, "you will find problems with that. If Aureamanus were the one opening the business and then giving a stake to you, it would make the whole process much simpler."

"No, can't do," I say with a smile, "I gotta do this. She's an investor. I am the one who needs to take responsibility for this. At least in name."

"Amorium will not give you a business license," Flavia says with a cautious voice.

"Because I am a Human, I guess," I say, shrugging, "I have already thought of that. I'll find a way."

"I don't think you will," Flavia reiterates, distress seeping into her tone.

"We shall see, then," I reply with a strained smile.