It wasn't long before the contract was signed as pens ran across paper, producing a scribbling noise in the otherwise silent office.
"…And there we go," cæ murmured, putting the pen aside.
"It will be a pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Cæ," the Headmistress remarked with a composed tone and a perfunctory smile. "The Student Council will reconvene soon and immediately begin planning the execution of the program aggressively. I regret that I have only given them a few months, at most, to handle the planning and execution of the program. Naturally, I don't expect the most perfect and excellent of results with such time constraints."
Cæ nodded. "I am confident that the agreement acknowledges that when it comes to defining the success of the execution of the program under my leadership. I will do my best, though. But with such limited time, we will not be able to achieve the most optimal result."
The most optimal result would be getting their hands on the thousand most talented magical individuals in the slums. However, this would mean conducting a magical aptitude test on literally every single member of the slums.
That was just impossible with so little time for preparation.
A little less than half the entire city was in the slums.
From a logistical point of view, or from that of a point of view of labor or capital, it was simply not feasible.
While the Elendir Institute of Magic was indeed rich, it was not rich enough to be able to fund a city-wide operation.
Additionally, while it was rich, it had massive expenditures that drained away at all its magicapita.
In other words, it was simply not possible to extract all the valuable talent from the slum in one go, unfortunately.
Headmistress Lenolia clearly has a good understanding of this constraint. "As the appointed leader of this program, you will be in charge of virtually everything regarding the strategizing. You may set what you think are realistic objectives and pursue them however you wish. I don't care about the means, I only care about the outcome. Ensure the Elendir Institute of Magic is flushed with more talent than we know what to do with. As long as we outcompete the other branches of the Elendir Institute of Magic significantly, I will be satisfied."
She willingly revealed some of the underlying motivations behind her program.
Cæ raised an eyebrow. "…Do you hope to have the slum students ready for the Elendir Magic Contest?"
She nodded plainly, unsurprised that he had figured out part of her motivations. "I do indeed think that improving our talent pool in the Elendir Institute of Magic will help us outperform the other branches by the time the Elendir Magic Contest rolls around more than a year from now. Ideally…"
She leaned forward with steepled fingers. "I'm hoping for a talent like yourself. It's unfortunate that you are passing the Apprentice Program so soon. If you had stayed for another two years, we could have easily won the apprentice tournament. Perhaps I should have just offered you money to delay your graduation instead of going through something as tedious as the Outer District Talent Acquisition Program.
Cæ scoffed. "There is no way that I would ever be willing to delay my graduation by such a degree, Headmistress."
She smiled with an amused expression. "I am aware. I do not regret that in particular. I think you will be a magnificent asset for the Senior-level competitions. Please train your magic hard for when the time comes."
Cæ shrugged.
He did plan to train his magic hard, but not to perform very well in the magic competition, but simply because it was important to his goals and objectives.
"You are going to be a very busy man very soon, Mr. Cæ," the Headmistress remarked. "For the next two months, at least, you will be extremely busy. Make sure that you do not fall behind on your obligations."
Cæ nodded. "I will be sure to keep that in mind, Headmistress Lenolia."
The meeting soon ended as Cæ departed from her office with a determined expression. He already knew what he had to get to before the first student council meeting commenced.
"I need to ensure that we have a stable line of credit for our debt financing before this stuff swamps me," he muttered to himself. "Thankfully, Feidin and Seliphaz have already gotten to hiring production operators for the manufacturing lines, so I don't need to get too heavily involved in that."
He immediately returned to his dormitory, changing into a suit before grooming himself as well as he could and departing from the Elendir Institute of Magic again.
It was only a few hours before he found himself seated in a luxurious chair within a posh window office in the large skyscraper of Colohen Bank, towering over the cityscape that stretched as far as the eye could see. Opposite him was a middle-aged man garbed in a crisp custom-tailored suit, his salt-pepper eyebrows raised as he skimmed through the Cæ's debt application form.
Cæ's expression was calm.
His body language was composed.
"I must say…" the tone of the bank manager opposite him was mixed. "When I heard that a student of the Elendir Institute of Magic sought a loan from us, I was definitely interested. But this is…"
He placed the credit application form on the table neatly as he steepled his fingers, leaning forward, "…Is not what I expected, I must confess."
Cæ raised an eyebrow as he studied the man opposite him. "Then what did you expect, Mr. Kinstin?"
He shrugged lightly. "Something a little bit more extravagant and flamboyant, perhaps. But regardless, I didn't expect a student of the Elendir Institute of Magic to be targeting the Colohen Slums as a market segment. I must say…"
His eyes sharpened a little as his tone grew a little less friendly, "It doesn't inspire the greatest confidence in me, Mr. Cæ."
Cæ's gaze grew heavier as the bank manager openly expressed his disdain for Trinity Housings.
And yet, his body language remained composed.
"There is a reason that companies avoid the slums, Mr. Cæ," the man remarked. "The purchasing power of those mongrels is beyond salvation. Any business endeavor into the slums is almost guaranteed to fail. I find it hard to believe that your company can be profitable, and consequently, I find it difficult to believe that you are a prime borrower, Mr. Cæ."
Cæ needed to exert great self-control to keep his inner anger from reflecting in his eyes. It was hard enough keeping it in check regularly, but with the manager's thinly-veined disdain and derision for Trinity Housings, it was even harder.
"I am not interested in debating you about the veracity of my business," Cæ's tone was chillingly calm. "I have adhered to all the protocols and have presented our financials, nascent as they are, and have pointed out our sponsor and partner, the Elendir Institute of Magic. I have laid out the business model and the rationales behind it. I do not believe that we need anything more."
Mr. Kinstin gazed at him with a superficial smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You're correct. The point of this interview is simply to ascertain certain details, and it will contribute to whether or not we will accept your application. Normally, we would not bother with such protocols at all for a student of the Elendir Institute of Magic. But in this particular place, there were some red flags that were flagged that have led to this interview."
Cæ simply gazed at him with a serious gaze.
Most likely, if he weren't a student of the Elendir Institute of Magic, he would have been rejected then and there.
He heaved a sigh.
"The market that we're tapping is largely untapped and uncontested," Cæ began. "I have a great understanding of the nature of the demand for housing in the slums of Colohen City. I am confident that we will be able to achieve a remarkable degree of success."
The man shook his head. "It's easy to say these things, Mr. Cæ. Unfortunately, we are unable to ascertain whether or not you will be able to repay your loans. Especially since you have applied for one for larger and more complex credit lines, I am unable to simply process your application and approve it at the soonest."
Cæ's expression hardened.
Despite laying out the rationale and the business strategy as clearly as he could, the manager simply couldn't bring himself to believe that one could make large profits while selling in the slums exclusively, of all places.
Cæ heaved a soft sigh, closing his eyes. "I suppose this means that I'm rejected, then?"
Mr. Kinstin shook his head. "Not quite. While we have yet to verify all financial statements and other details you have presented here, I can tell you that we are inclined to offer you a loan in our Retro-Variable Interest Rate Program."
Cæ raised an eyebrow.
"The way the program works is that the final interest rate will be decided after your first financial year," the manager explained. "Should your business prove to be successful, we will retroactively charge a low interest rate by the end of the year. Should your business venture, as we fear, fail to perform, then our interest rate will retroactively be set high, and you will be expected to pay a rather large sum of money as interest on the principal."
Cæ's expression grew surprised. "…There is such a thing?"
"It's a rather niche style of credit-lending that we seldom use," the man smiled superficially. "It is something that we're generally inclined to offer when the profile of our potential borrower has clashing prime and sub-prime elements. For instance, your identity as a graduate of the Elendir Institute of Magic and your experience with the Student Council are what we would consider high-prime profile elements, but the market segment of Trinity Housings is what we would consider a red flag. And so…"
He pulled out a little pamphlet from his drawer, offering it to Cæ, "We can offer you flexible interest rates depending on how well your company does. Of course, we're still bearing the risks, so the threshold of magicapita we will demand as collateral against the loan will be rather severe, in addition to the entirety of the company. Of course, once we have confirmed your profile as high-prime status after your company has earned enough revenue, the collateral conditions will be rescinded."
Cæ's expression stiffened with reluctance.
Unfortunately, until they proved themselves in the market, nobody would believe that any value of any sort could be extracted from the slums.
His eyes sharpened with determination.
He intended to prove all of them wrong.
But in order to do that, he needed a line of credit to fund their working capital for their operations.
"Fine," Cæ remarked with a steely tone. "I accept these terms and conditions. Just get me the damn loan already."
"Of course, I will procure the registration form right away. We will take a week to verify all the details, but as long as nothing is out of order, we will approve the application soon enough."
It wasn't too long before Cæ took the plunge, heading back to the Elendir Institute of Magic with a heavy expression.
The stakes had been raised even higher.
He needed to succeed at all costs.
"…I will have to dedicate everything to ensuring the success of this business in the near future."
The next few months were crucial to his plans of the future.
And for his ultimate objective.
If he couldn't pull this off, he had absolutely no business talking about changing the world.
"Time to go all out." His eyes blazed with determination.
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