Birth Of The Crafts-God

"Any updates on the plan?"

Nolan, the CEO of Arkhen Corporation, sat in a room with Böjer, the Oder family's head and chairman of the Prestige Star Ltd. Also present in this meeting was the president of the Versailles Group, Emery, and Böjer's eldest son, Callivan Oder.

Callivan, who stood behind his father, narrated the situation to the duo.

"Voedsel Industries is currently battling it out with the medium-sized market leaders of the FMCG [1] market. We've also made note to contact the other industry leaders ahead of time to prevent a misunderstanding. While the majority of them decided to play neutral, some of them are tacitly cooperating with us. From this, we can assume that Voedsel's domination of the market has struck some figures in a negative sense. It would take a long while before they can strike a negotiation with the industry leaders to quell the situation.

"With the Koper Trading Services is being held down by Mr. Nolan's corporation, the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company has it hands tied down.

"We've also lent the Demolition Knights a large sun of money with a very low interest rate. Thanks to this, they're able to be more aggressive with their expansion and steal contracts from the Blue Fenrir Group. The two sides have had a couple of confrontations in the past couple of days, but nothing against the law. Although the damage to the BFG isn't worth the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company's attention, it's preventing them from having an easy time and to move funds away from the Group to support the other two companies."

"That old bastard should have his hands filled by now. My family might not be among the top four again, but our influence hasn't waned a bit." Böjer proudly said.

The reason the FMCG market's middle leaders were ganging up against the Mertens' Voedsel Industries was actually thanks to Böjer's instigation. Some of these companies were owned by friends of his and allies. After making some promises and offers, these allies decided to aid him. As for the rest, with a bit of support and concessions, they joined in as well, especially after finding out that there was a sizable force going against the Mertens. If it were just them, they wouldn't dare face off against Voedsel Industries which was a true market leader. However, with a plot involved and so many of them gathered, they became confident and greedy.

The top leaders in the FMCG also noticed the situation that Voedsel Industries was in. While some of them stayed away as they realized it was a battle between Baylands city-state's true rulers, others saw it as an opportunity to expand their control and share of the market. Regardless of which it was, it ended up good for the coalition.

"Haha. It was never in doubt." Nolan chuckled before taking a sip from the glass of wine he held.

"What about the lawsuit?" The brown haired man, Emery asked.

Unlike the other two, he wasn't one quick to celebrate any small step.

Being the leader of a foreign company, Emery had to be on his toes and ensure that the Versailles Group didn't lose their standing. What's more, he still had to compete against the other presidents who led the companies branches in different city-states.

The Versailles Group had regional headquarters in three city-states on the Groeten continent, with Baylands city-state being one of them. Below these regional headquarters were the smaller brsnches entrenched within the districts of each city-state. Some of these branch leaders were skilled enough to be promoted to the position of President, but with no space available, they could only manage a branch office.

Naturally, the competition was fierce amongst the presidents as a small mishap could lead to them being demoted and a branch manager being promoted. Due to this, Emery didn't feel like celebrating until they had achieved their goal.

"You don't need to worry about that. I've hired the best lawyers for this case and we've procured quite a bit of 'evidence'. We only need the court to pass the restraining order and have their assets frozen, which shouldn't be a big deal." Böjer said.

"Also, the Dufours have shown interest."

Nolan and Emery were abruptly shocked with their eyes almost spilling out from their sockets.

"Haha."

In the next second, Nolan began to laugh.

"The heavens are on our side."

Whether it was Arkhen Corporation or the Versailles Group, both were just companies. They didn't have a solid foundation or history in Baylands city-state like the Oder family. However, ahead of an entity like the Oder family were the top four families. But even within that ranking, there were differences in influence and power. For instance, the 'newcomer', the Ross family, couldn't even compare to half the value of the third place Mertens family; less could even be said of the top two.

The Dufour family wasn't into vestige-smithing like the Oder family. Rather, they were into the pharmaceutical industry.

In Lucas' original world, there were magic potions that could heal wounds and diseases, strengthen an individual and improve one's cultivation speed. On Earth, there were drugs and medicines that produced similar effects, albeit with a weaker efficacy.

In this world, a similar product existed. However, they were called serums.

No matter who they were —average hyuman or freelancer; human, hyuman or crossbred— everyone needed serums. The Dufour family's business was a giant into the production, distribution and sale of serums. As such, one could imagine how much wealth and influence they possessed when the masses depended on them. They also mined and sold minerals and ores, so although they weren't into vestige-smithing, they could still influence the industry.

Due to this aspect of their business, the Dufours also had close relationships with freelancer organizations.

Thanks to the foresight of the Dufour family ancestors, the family was able to rise to its current position

However, if there was one quality of the Dufour family that stood out and made people cautious when confronting them, it was the fact that they had raised a city lord before and were close allies to the Bergs, the famous city lord family.

"If the Dufours are showing interest, are the Bergs also tagging along?" Emery suddenly asked.

Even Nolan's expression changed after the question.

In terms of influence, only the Bergs family could come close to the Dufours. However, the two were so close that they had never had a quarrel. Sometimes, people often mistook them for having the same ancestors. This was because, whenever one was spotted, the other usually followed behind.

Since the Dufours were showing interest in this matter, who was to say that the Bergs weren't as well?

For Emery, and even the others, this wasn't necessarily good news as it to would mean more competitors. The situation from the last time might even repeat itself.

"Don't worry. They're only showing interest because it would help weaken the Mertens family. They don't want anything to do with the store or its owner." Böjer explained.

"So be it." Emery sighed with relief.

That made sense, after all, unlike them, the Dufours and the Bergs wouldn't want to take the risk to offend a grandmaster.

If the coalition was caught by Lucas' hackers or offended them, they could choke up their actions to suspecting Lucas' identity or not having enough information. But the Bergs and the Dufours couldn't do the same. No one would believe such a shameless excuse from them as forces on their level were privy to information and also had connections to Belfargos territory.

"Anyways, the court hearing is next week. I'll work on my side and try to make sure that we can have their assets frozen after the first hearing. In the meantime, we have to keep the pressure going and force the Mertens to not be able to do much during this period." Böjer said as he stated at the duo.

"Don't worry about it. We're not so useless as to not fulfill such simple tasks." Nolan smirked.

Although the price war with the Koper Trading Services cost them, compared to what they could gain at the end of this, it was nothing. Also, the Arkhen Corporation's main business was in vestige-smithing; purchasing resources from freelancers and reselling to others was just a side business, although it helped them acquire resources as well.

Basically, it was a loss they could manage, especially since their losses were also offset to some extent by the other members of the coalition.

Emery also nodded in agreement.

The Versailles Group was a stellar processor manufacturing company. However, their factory wasn't located in Baylands city-state. The regional headquarters in Baylands city-state was more engaged in designing and selling processors, than making them. As such, their role in this plot wasn't much and was more of financial assistance.

However, if this mission was successful, the main headquarters might decide to construct a new factory in Baylands city-state to support Emery. This would boost the value of the regional company and also aid Emery to expand the business more efficiently. Together with the stellar processor secrets from the Seven Sparks Forge store, it would not be an issue to control 80% of the market or even force out Novanio Tech and the Silverine Factory from the market.

Risks and Rewards came hand in hand.

"Until next week." Böjer smiled.

Just as the meeting was about to come to a close, Emery's eyes widened in shock.

"What the hell did you just say?!!"

Following that, he abruptly disappeared.