Randidly scratched his head awkwardly Well no one can be good at everything if this doesnÆt work I can just proceed directly to TatianaÆs office from the outside Or send her a message to come fetch me although that feels a bit embarrassing
Nope All I have is my word Randidly said And then he laughed to himself because hundreds of miles away from Donnyton and that lingering violence a receptionist at the door of a business he owned stopped him dead with a simple request for proof This place didn’t care about the turmoil in his chest And he didnÆt have the heart to force the issue publicly as he understood she was just doing her job
A job that was likely listed under the security guardÆs job description yet it was clear that man had no intention of assisting the young receptionist
Strangely Randidly felt oddly liberated by the fact that the demonstration of power he had made with images in Donnyton meant nothing here Even more strangely despite RandidlyÆs frank admission he had no proof the young woman continued to look at him The two stared at each other bright yellow and emerald considering each other Then after nodding to herself while keeping her eyes fixed on him she picked up a phone at her desk and dialed a number
A few seconds later she tskÆd in annoyance and set the phone down Ms Tatiana is in a meeting but I can take you up to wait outside her office for her to finish
As if finally catching onto the fact that this was not going the way that he had expected the security guard looked up and frowned meaningfully at the receptionist With a practiced motion he adjusted his belt and sniffed loudly
thanks IÆd appreciate it Randidly said slowly following the young womanÆs gesture and heading toward the stairs Behind his back he felt the young woman stick her tongue out at the security guard behind Randidly and then follow him down the hall and into the stairwell Scowling the security guard watched both of their departing figures without saying anything With light steps the young woman caught up to him and moved swiftly upward
For the eight flights of stairs up to the top floor of the Erickson Steel administrative building both of them remained silent In fact Randidly was quite content to send out waves of Aether continually monitoring the type of people that were housed in this building It was immediately clear to him that Tatiana had down an impeccable job in personnel selection Even after casually scanning he felt several individuals using management or planning Skills that were over one hundred
That Level wasnÆt much compared to Randidly but since Erickson Steel was a relatively new company to have so many talented individuals under its roof still seemed impressive As they moved up the stairs Randidly idly watched the bobbing of the young womanÆs ponytail as his brain gathered and sorted information
When they reached the top floor she held the door open for Randidly After a brief pause he walked through onto a plush carpet that felt exceedingly delightful to feel on his bare toes He stretched his toes wide and pressed them deep into the soft maroon cloud on which he was currently floating
The receptionist’s eyes dipped down to land on his feet Her gaze lingered there so long that Randidly tilted his head to the side and twisted to look at her Randidly smiled slightly unsure of what to say in the face of her frank observation
Her immediate reaction to being caught staring at his feet was to blush Ah Well whatÆs the point in having stuff like this is someone doesnÆt enjoy it right Please have a seat on one of these couches When Ms TatianaÆs meeting is over you can head on in the rest of her schedule today is free
Are you a gambler Randidly asked lightly
The young woman blinked The bright amber of her eyes flickered in confusion
With a small smile Randidly gestured to himself I understand what I look like ItÆs a tall order to go out on a limb and believe that IÆm the mysterious and absent founder of the company the titular Erickson I would understand it if we had met before but you are a new hire right ThereÆs no way we have met Yet you brought me up here clearly angering your coworker downstairs So are you a gambler
The young woman grinned at him Maybe weÆve met and I am simply such a minor character that youÆve forgotten
I would remember you Randidly said calmly He turned his Aether scan toward the young woman Instantly he felt her Class and Level Meticulous Technician Level 37 But RandidlyÆs attention was immediately drawn to the fact that her Careful Preparations Skill was at Level 179
Minor character huh
The young womanÆs smile shrunk Then she shrugged ThereÆs something about your eyes It feels like you arenÆt someone who would lie At least thatÆs what I believe And besides with the System what about life isnÆt a gamble
Then she closed the door and left Randidly alone with the plush carpet and his delighted toes Shaking his head Randidly turned and headed toward TatianaÆs office If nothing else he needed to let Tatiana know that it was a waste to have such a talented individual working as a receptionist And the fact that she had managed to get to Level 37 meant that she wasnÆt a slacker when it came to fighting
As Randidly approached TatianaÆs office he immediately sensed that it was her and Tykes within As such Randidly knocked briefly on the wooden door and then calmly opened it to step through
Both bodies within turned quickly to face the surprise intruder at the door but the harsh rebuke that Tatiana was preparing for whoever dared interrupt this meeting died immediately when she saw who pushed open the door Baloo
Randidly winced Seeing his reaction Tykes chuckled and stepped closer to pick Randidly up in a bear hug Man itÆs good to see you Means that we can stop playing around with these fucks
Grinning at them both Randidly said with amusement So we have a problem with the competition After your messages I was worried that they were interfering with us directly But after looking around the factory honestly it seems like we are doing well So whatÆs the problem
If it was as simple as another business just suppressing us and looking for the formula donÆt you think I would have solved it myself Have some faith in me Mr Ghosthound Tatiana said his name with a conscious effort Then she shook her head Competition and pressure we can handle WeÆve dealt with it so far But recently theyÆve changed their strategy
What we canÆt compete against is tariffs Because Erickson Steel isnÆt constructed in the Senate approved industrial districts of Zone 1 raw material suppliers are taxed when they sell to us a foreignÆ business interest We can pay a little extra for the materials to compensate them for that but that tactic has been slowly bleeding us of our liquid funds While we’ve been petitioning to change the law we were blindsided by another rule they are trying to pass
Tykes grimaced There is a bill proposed that would require all foreign business interests to employ government licensed quality control agent as we are making industrial grade metals In all of Zone 1 Erickson Steel would be the only company affected by this bill We are being targeted by someone with political power in this Zone
Chapter 959
So Randidly frowned at Tatiana and Tykes The two both wore extremely depressed expressions as they explained what Erickson Steel endured over the last few months They want us to move the headquarters
Maybe at the beginning but now that they own our debt they have gotten greedy Tatiana said grimly They want control of production luckily they canÆt change the terms of the mortgage without us having a legal out but theyÆve done their best to eliminate our options And as long as everything runs under your name
They own our debt Randidly looked over at Tykes Are we deeply in debt I guess the new expansion is pretty big Well anyway if they are so obviously refusing to be civil why do we even bother paying this targeted tax
If we donÆt the suppliers canÆt do business with us Tatiana said In addition the government would take any excuse to send investigatorsÆ to Erickson Steel headquarters and look over the process When they talk about the Erickson Steel formulate they treat it like a national treasure that we are selfishly using for our own gain If we even stick a toe out of line