"What was that just now?" Esmeralda asked me as she managed to get her last brain cells in order.

"Isabella de Clare, believe it or not, my best friend forever." I replied while fixing my hair in the new mirror in my office.

"She is… too much." Esmeralda said.

"She can be a handful." I agreed with a smile, "But she is my handful to deal with."

"You sound like you like her a lot."

"When I think about Isabella, Logan, Princess Charlotte, and those people dear to me like Father and elder brother James, I feel a lot of warmth in my heart."

"This is beautiful! Even though you were just fighting."

"Ah! That chick is crazy."

"You think she is really going for Lord Julian?"

"I know she is."

"That's just ridiculous. He is the age of her own father if I am not mistaken."

"No, you're not. Isabella has… well, it's an old story…"

I smiled but fell silent. As for Esmeralda, she kept looking at me with a bright smile, expecting to hear the story.

"Fine… we lost my mother when I was 5 years old."

"I… I am sorry."

"Don't be. It was a long time ago. Back then, I was devastated like any would but Mama Claudia took me and James in their house for a month until things settled. Mama Claudia was my mother's best friend too and she insists that I call her the same as her children call her. By that time, Isabella started acting like an older sister to me and gave me all her toys but all I wanted was my mom back."

As I turned to Esmeralda, she was already in tears.

"You're such a crybaby, big girl."

"I'm sorry. sob!"

"It's okay. At that time, I was volatile to outbursts of emotion but thanks to Isabella and Mama Claudia, it passed. One night when I was crying for Mother to come and get me, Isabella snuck into my bed and pretended to act like a mother. I knew it was her, of course, but I just wanted to believe my mother got back. But after that, she made a silly promise that she would be my mother, and when she asked her maids how, they all said it's impossible unless she…"

"Marries Count Julian." Esmeralda figured it out.

"And thus began my nightmare." I laughed after saying that.

Esmeralda smiled and nodded.

"So, she's such a warm person."

"Too warm in fact? Almost burning hot. You can't imagine how many suitors this beautiful friend of mine has turned down just to pursue my dad."

"I can't still process that last part."

"We just ignore her when she brings it up, she'll grow out of it."

"You think?"

"Eventually. She just has nothing better to do and my father is 49 by now, she's just 22."

"What about your blessing?"

"It's a tradition here in Elgard… if you observe the men of the high society, you'll find that most of the family heads get to have two wives, while the king has three. My mother carried the title of the countess and was the first wife, and Saskia was the second wife. In order to marry a second wife, a man must get the blessing of the first wife."

"So?"

"If the first wife is no longer present, the second wife becomes the first wife but if the first wife had a successor, a daughter or many daughters, they are the ones to give the blessings for their father to remarry or for the second wife to replace their mother's position as first wife."

"I see. That's a different tradition than in Lozan… or anywhere else really."

"Yes, polygamy is only prevalent in Elgard. Something about following the example of St. Arthur and his men who had multiple wives."

It is indeed a strange tradition. While the Temple of Saints opposes the idea of polygamy, here in Elgard it has been a tradition for a long time but it surely is getting less popular with the young generations.

"Well, if the Lord agrees to have Lady Isabella as a wife, I am sure you will be happy living under the same roof as her."

"Oh please, it will be a total war. Saskia against Isabella, heads will roll."

"Sounds unpleasant." Esmeralda said and then remembered the one thing I was hoping she didn't bring up, "What about that thing she mentioned before she left?"

"…" I didn't turn to her, just pretending I was focusing on the papers in front of me.

"She was mentioning Sir Logan, right?"

"Esmeralda, get out."

"Alright."

Now even she is smiling, trying to tease me and all.

Isabella had to bring that up, hadn't she?

I feel like my face is blushing once again…

Urgh!

Stupid me!

Focus! Focus! Focus!

Try not to remember…

"Oh, by the way, that hunky knight just now was Logan, right?" Somehow, I could still hear Isabella's voice ringing in my head.

"Yes, what are you after?"

"Nothing. Just… maybe my first act as your stepmother is to do some matchmaking."

"Shut up! Get lost!"

"Oh my, that's not how you speak to your stepmother, Viv. Then again, I remember a few years ago how you were always Logan this and Logan that."

"Oh God!"

"I mean you are single now, just tell me and I'll arrange things for you."

"Esmeralda, go tell Jane to hurry up with the gun thing."

"Alright, adios!"

Stupid Isabella!

***

Time passed and Vivian was now sitting with Oscar, who offered her a few files about the new employees.

"Management-wise, we don't need a lot. Our business model doesn't require that much management staff, however, we only have Jane and Voros as technical staff, both of them will need a lot of assistants and we will need to diversify our staff. Metallurgy and Technology are already covered, this leaves what?"

"Magicraft but that's even rare in the conglomerate since House Moore is forbidden from associating itself with Magic. Any junior alchemist would suffice though."

"Junior Alchemists, all the ones I know won't work for me." Vivian said and kept thinking of names.

"Let's not dwell on that now. Metallurgy and Technology are the most essential fields to have. We are even lucky to have a metallurgist or we would have settled for a normal blacksmith. With them, our current models can bear fruit." Oscar pointed out.

"You are right. Fine, let's focus on finding assistants for you and assistants for Jane and Voros as well as some marketing agents and good negotiators."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"It will be easy to find ones for me but for Jane and Voros, I'll have to do some digging. How about I publish a job advertisement in the guilds?"

"This will expose the fact that we have a Metallurgist. I don't want to draw attention to Voros this early. Maybe a month from now can be the right time."

"Whatever you say. I'll do it the old-fashioned way with some legwork."

"Thank you, Oscar. I am relying on you a lot."

"Just doing my job, director."

"Director, huh? I like the sound of that."

Being called "Director" had a different ring to it than "Lady" or "Miss" as people would usually call her.

"The other thing is the budget we have. We have one Fire Voucher worth a million pounds and around a hundred gold."

"The Fire Voucher? That's the 1000 gold Father gave me. So all we did was to spend the money given to us by the directors."

"Indeed. It's a full Fire Voucher, not like the other ones given to us by the directors. I say if we find the right buyer, we can at least make 10% profit on that voucher."

"Another 100 gold, you mean? That can be of help."

Vivian took out a piece of paper in front of her and laid it down on her desk.

A Fire Voucher, now this is something to behold. Some may argue that the Fire Vouchers are the true muscle of the Moore Conglomerate, the economy within the economy, and the most destructive weapon wielded by the Moores.

A Fire Voucher is a monetary bond that comes in two forms. Major Vouchers are worth more than a million pounds and Lesser Vouchers are worth less than a million. These vouchers can only be issued by the Directors of the Conglomerate, while all the Lesser Vouchers can be issued by the department directors, the Major Vouchers can only be issued by the General Director, the Count of House Moore.

Understanding these Vouchers is understanding the real power House Moore and its Count wield. A unique idea that was introduced many generations ago, the Vouchers are actually nothing but money bills in the Moore Conglomerate. As bills would usually get traded between many holders, the Vouchers weren't any different from that. But their advantage is that they guarantee their holder a share in the Moore Conglomerate or any of its subsidiary businesses anywhere in the world.

The unique thing about the Fire Vouchers is how they are issued and what they do. As mentioned earlier, only the Directors of the Moore Conglomerate can issue them, which means one has to pay their worth to get them whether it is in gold, cash, or property. The papers that document the worth of that share are enchanted with a simple Magic that identifies its holder and self-destructs when the bill's worth is yielded, thus the name of these vouchers.

On top of it all, every Fire Voucher can yield profit to its holder. While the profit itself isn't as impressive as a regular share in the Conglomerate, the Moores guarantee that they will suffer all the losses for the Voucher Holders if the shares were to drop drastically.

While it might sound like a more dramatic replacement for the bank notes or any regular old cheque, the Fire Vouchers have the ability to yield profit without suffering many losses and have the backing of Elgard's wealthiest family. Moreover, it boosts the Moore's influence by making it a lucrative way to gain investments and expand on a wide range.

Count Julian prides himself on a time when King August III went to campaign in central Albion, he replaced a lot of funds with Fire Vouchers in order to travel safely and lightly. By the time the King had reached his destination, which was Buren at the time, Count Julian had already used all that money to expand some of the projects he was working on and almost tripled the amount he received from the King. And while the terms of the Fire Vouchers allow the Moores to benefit with that money, the yield received by the money's original owner isn't big compared to the profit made in exchange for not sharing any losses.

In other words, the Vouchers are something akin to "Give us your money, we make a big profit, we give you back your money with a little extra, and if it goes wrong, you won't suffer a loss."

On top of that, only the Moore Signet Ring, also known as the Fire Brand, which is the seal of the family, is the only object in the world that can create these Vouchers and lay the enchantment on the paper. Its holder is none other than the Conglomorate's General Director, Count Julian.

As for the other directors, they bear the Lesser Signet Rings. Unlike the main ring, these lesser rings can only establish Lesser Fire Vouchers from a Major Fire Voucher. For example, if a Major Fire Voucher is worth a million pounds, a Lesser Signet Ring can turn that Major Voucher into 10 Lesser Vouchers worth £100,000.

The Signet Rings in general have a unique runic structure which allows them to keep some sort of runic script that carries the details of every transaction they ever made. And since every Voucher contains pieces of such script, when the paper is taken back to a ring, this script gets recorded and until all the Directors make a board meeting with the head, they transfer these runic ledgers of transactions to each other by lining the rings side by side. This way, all the ledgers are stored and shared between all directors to eliminate any sort of corruption.

As for viewing these ledgers, the Moore family has a secret method that allows them to see the history of all the ledgers and keep them all in a safe storage that only the family head knows about. On top of that, the fact that these vouchers are limited to elite investors, noble houses, and influential guilds, adds an extra layer of exclusivity and intrigue.

Some organizations and families have gone as far as purchasing these vouchers as a form of guarantee for their own future. With the limited yield these vouchers give, they can insecure the survivability of their clan or kin in the shadow of the Moore Conglomerate or use them as a form of retirement fund.

Whether it was investment, insurance, or safekeeping, these Vouchers have become very essential to many people and the only way to render them useless is by the destruction of the Moores or them going bankrupt. A situation that many in the Empire and its neighboring nations would try to prevent at all costs.

And that's all there is about the Fire Vouchers. No one really knew at that moment but that Five Voucher was about to give Vivian an idea that she never thought she would have.

"Call Jane for me." She spoke to Esmeralda who immediately went to the new workshop that was set up for Jane.

A couple of minutes later, Jane was standing in front of Vivian trying to look nice enough since Oscar was also present.

"You told me this morning you were facing a problem making the kind of bullets I asked for?" Vivian asked.

"Yes, Director."

"Found any solution yet?" Vivian asked.

"Unfortunately, I didn't. I was thinking of speaking with Mr. Voros but I have no idea how to communicate with an eccentric character such as him." Jane replied.

"Excuse me, Director. You never told me creating weapons is something we will do." Oscar intervened in the conversation with a concerned face.

"It is not, Mr. Oscar. It is a personal project. I just aim to develop my firearm." Vivian replied.

"While it is a relief, I think it is a bad idea. Arms development is the only thing worse than arms dealing. Archester is already prevalent with thugs wanting to carry concealed guns." Oscar said as he seemed to have had a bad experience.

"Will get back to you on that." Vivian said and turned to Jane, "Explain to me the problem you're facing."

"Well, the problem isn't technical but rather… it's you, Director."

"Oh!" Vivian raised her brows with a bit of shock, "I guess I am that much, huh?"

"Excuse me, Director, I didn't mean to offend your person. I only meant that your request is very specific. What you asked for is a pistol that can be reloaded in a matter of seconds by breaking its muzzle open."

"A break action, yes."

"Well, that's a problem since you also want it to be a secretive weapon. Aside from the loud bang which is impossible to solve without arcane means, your design for the bullet cartridge will always leave traces behind."

"The metal case you mean?"

"Yes. Leaving empty metal cases all over the place will be an indication of how our technology works. It will expose the design of the bullet, the idea behind the primer, and with enough skill, the mix of gunpowder we are using."

Vivian thought deeply and realized it wasn't something she could afford. If she revolutionizes firearms ammunition technology, she will be the first one to regret it. She needs it exclusively for herself for the time being or else the scale of power in the world will tilt greatly towards whoever gets that technology.

But just then, she saw the Fire Voucher in front of her and had a stroke of genius.

"If metal cartridges were the problem, why not regress with technology a little bit." Vivian thought out loudly and then looked at Vivian, "We'll use this paper."

In her hand, she had a Fire Voucher that was worth a million pounds.

"Put that down, Director." Even Oscar was a little bit scared when Vivian held the voucher this recklessly.

"No, I'm not using… whatever! Just hear me out." Vivian said and looked at the paper, "If my guess is correct, the paper that created these Fire Vouchers is a form of flash paper. Its scientific name is Nitrocellulose. A very volatile material that when lumped together, combusts like gunpowder."

"So…" Jane thought with a frown, "You want us to make the cartridges with paper instead of metal?"

"If you can. I am not a chemist but you'll need to get the formula right for this one. If my memory serves me right, flash paper can be made by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and sulfuric acid."

"Write that down." Oscar directed Jane.

"And here's the fun part, flash paper, if used as propellant for firearms, is much more powerful than regular gunpowder. On top of that, it makes way less smoke."

"That's like a dream come true." Jane said with all smiles.

"There is a downside. It is very volatile to make so if the formula isn't done right, it can explode just by room temperature." Vivian gave the warning, "Also regular gunpowder is way cheaper and can be made easily while flashpaper will need a chemist nearby."

"I think Mr. Oscar and I have some friends in the Third Academy who may be willing to take the job. They are good enough to eliminate these risks." Jane said.

"Good." Vivian became relieved, "But if we are going to make paper cartridges instead of metal. We will face other problems."

"Yes, the metal case was going to protect the gunpowder from getting wet, I don't think any paper can solve this." Jane said.

"True, but we'll still need to change the whole structure of the gun now. The blast chamber would need to endure more pressure and somehow we'd need to fix a primer behind every cartridge to ignite the whole thing." Vivian said.

Vivian realized that the paper cartridge technology was the best option for now, however, fixing a primer to every cartridge manually would take a lot of time and be a pain in the ass. Something similar to the cap and ball revolvers.

"If it is the ignition pod, I think Voros is the right man to solve that problem and I know a few good techniques myself." Jane said and then had an idea, "As for the igniting mechanism, we can just use a Firespark rune."

Vivian blinked a few times.

"A rune… as in Runesmithing?"

"Well, runesmithing is a bit grand to call it and I don't think you can conjure up one good runesmith like you did with our master metallurgist, but since the Firespark is a cantrip, we can just hire any third-rate wizard to a lay a few runes. They charge only 100 pounds for a Firespark. Pretty damn cheap if you ask me." Jane added.

Vivian was somehow conflicted since this thing was now involving magic and she knew almost nothing about how magic works. Also, House Moore is forbidden by a royal pact from harnessing the power of magic. The problem is that the old Vivian took a hostile stance towards magic and didn't even like it to begin with. Nadia, on the other hand, was trying to sway the head they shared toward seeing what this magic could do.

"Alright. Do what you must but leave magic as the last option for now. When can I see the results?" Vivian asked.

"I'll go redo the design for the last time before going to see Mr. Voros. By tomorrow, I will try to prepare some paper cartridges to test fire. If we are in luck, it will all be ready by tomorrow afternoon."

"Tomorrow's afternoon, huh?" Vivian smiled, "I am relying on you, Jane."