Corpo Age

Chapter 204: Afternoon Tea

“Joey, it’s been a while,” I stood up and greeted the bald man.

His entourage went out back to their waiting area, leaving him alone to approach our table. He nodded amiably at me with a smile, shook my hand, and then Claire’s. We exchanged pleasantries, with Claire complimenting Joey on how well his business seemed to be doing, and how well his attire fit him. It took almost a full minute before we took our seats.

“I’ve got to take the call from the Lion City banks,” Claire declared. “Please excuse me.”

Beating a hasty retreat, the number of people at the table swiftly reduced to two. We didn’t let it bother us and proceeded with our conversation.

“It’s been a while since we’ve met in person. You’ve changed quite a bit,” Joey said as he directed a look at my arms.

I had previously sported Nova Tech cyberarms that had a metallic finish. While as pleasing aesthetically as it was, according to corporate standards, it was unbecoming. Only low-level brutes flagrantly flaunted their cybernetics. The executive caste idolized achieving the perfect human form, not a cyborg form.

The synthetic skin I covered my cybernetics with was just the bare minimum. Those who had both wealth and adhered strictly to this ideal even invested heavily in fully functional biological alternatives. They strove to perfect their biological body by editing their genes. This fad resulted in several major breakthroughs, most famously the life-prolonging treatment.

“Just some overdue upgrades. Had to make sure I looked the part for today’s celebration, right?”

He nodded in reply. “Appearances are important, but I’m not sure that it matters for you anymore.”

Neither of us said a thing for a brief moment as the waiter brought in refreshments. I only responded after we all had a chance to take a sip of our drinks.

“What do you mean? I’m planning on expanding to Aegis soon, so I’ll have to make many new connections. First impressions are always important.”

“Oh, come on, Rollo. We both know you have something to do with why the bunch from High Gate are so quiet even after our ceasefire has expired.”

“You’re overthinking things, Joey.” I let out a chuckle. “We’ve discussed this in our group meetings and have agreed it’s mostly because they have learned it just isn’t profitable to continue their feud with us.”

This time, it was Joey’s turn to let out a cackle.

“Ha, very persuasive. That is, only if I didn’t know those guys for so long. Knowing how to take a loss is the last thing I’d expect from the High Gate Group.”

I kept up the act of not knowing anything. We didn’t have the fancy device to prevent eavesdropping deployed. I couldn’t be sure no one was listening, and there was no need to reveal anything.

When our ceasefire with the High Gate Group had expired, no signs of another round of aggression appeared. In fact, it was the opposite. I couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but I believed it was due to the influence of bigger powers.

Those who paid special attention to our company may have realized something was up, and the select few who were observant mainly consisted of high-level corporations. Joey was the exception due to our close relationship. It wasn’t surprising they all noticed the irregularities.

It wasn’t surprising that those in the know stayed clear of me in fear for my guardian angel. Even those uninvolved with my little squabbles against Nova Tech would have noticed how much attention my company was drawing. Several A-Class corporations or higher should be snooping around, and they should all have noticed how none dared to take any drastic action against us.

For better or worse, this situation brought about peace for my company.

“People change in the face of benefits, Joey. Speculating won’t do us any good. Why don’t we move on to more productive topics?”

Joey smiled, glancing down while he ran a hand through his bald head.

“Sure.”

“I’ll need your guidance on how to get started in Aegis. Could you brief me on the representatives who are attending the party tonight?”

“I’ll do what I can, but do be warned. My connections can only get you so far for this. Aegis is still the territory of the consortium. Everything there is under their purview.”

“That’s fine and all. The real estate isn’t the part I’m too worried about. It’s the dock that I told you about. I want to build my own ships.”

“Again, the best I can do is share my connections with you. My company only leases our vessels as our interests up there are much smaller. We’ve opened a few restaurants across several stations, but each shop is localized. We don’t require that much traffic to purchase our own spacecraft.”

“Still, your connections will speed things along. I thank you for that.”

We continued going over some of the intricacies of operating in space that we would have to pay attention to. Obviously, if I planned on operating in places without artificial gravity, I would need to train my employees on how to take on the new environment. I wouldn’t have to go through as much trouble if they would stay put in Aegis. After all, that place was a bona fide city in its own right, almost indistinguishable from many metropolises.

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Our talks went on for hours and evening approached.

“Well, I’m sure there are many things I’ve failed to mention,” Joey humbly said. “You’ll inevitably have to learn as you go if you plan on operating outside the main hubs. Just beware of the other corporations. There are numerous mid-sized companies up there, and they will attack if they smell blood.”

“I’ve heard rumors about that, but space should be large enough for us all. I’m sure it’s possible to avoid conflicts with them.”

“Space may be enormous, but valuable resources are limited wherever you go. Anyway, it’s about time to start heading to the venue, yes?”

I glanced at the time and nodded. “Yeah, let’s start heading over. It wouldn’t do for the hosts to be late.”

As we departed from the cafe, our personnel quickly swarmed each of us. They had to ensure all business was taken care of before the party got started.

“Rollo, I just finished speaking with the Bank of Lion City,” Claire reported. “I’ve scheduled a meeting for next week.”

As always, the bank called everything we went up in rank. They explained various new services we could access and how to go about various matters, such as the hidden perks. They simplified the process of how to employ the assistance of the ECPD or the justice system. Now that D-Class enabled my company to operate in space, I expected their explanation was related to that.

I quickly deliberated if I should go in person. It wasn’t possible to send a body double as the bank’s verification methods would likely see through mere holographic images. Their security involved taking DNA samples, and wasn’t worth fooling.

As smoothly as all our business was going, it didn’t mean we could neglect them. Maintaining a business was harder than founding one. We had to monitor the situation and innovate to keep our market shares.

My time is probably better spent overseeing how our game and translation software is going. As soon as they stabilize, we plan to launch several lightweight games to build up our catalog. We had a perfectly working platform that was our communication app, the EchoHalls, so it was time to connect all our software products to one platform.

I also have several projects waiting for me. There’s no time to spare.

“I think I’ll skip out this time. You can go if you want or send someone else in our place.”

“Hmm, I’ll go.”

Once we settled the matter of visiting the bank, the other employees brought several reports to my attention. The daily summaries could be skimmed as the others were hired to ensure they were in order, but the report on our new aircraft was different. As the creator, it was up to me to oversee it.

The tests were over by now, and the aircraft itself had been thoroughly examined. Thanks to how simple I kept it, no alarming issues arose. It was a good first test before I embarked on more ambitious designs.

The matter I paid the most attention to was how much I could reduce the noise of the flight. Even with sound dampeners, it was almost impossible to eliminate all sound. The motors, air turbulence, and vibrations were unavoidable. For full-sized aircraft, reducing the sound wasn’t that important compared to avoiding radar and other forms of detection. However, drones were a different matter.

The drones I envisioned could operate in confined spaces. That meant the volume of its flight had to be reduced to a soft whisper at the minimum. I planned to combine all the detection tools I had used so far onto this drone platform. It would become a lot easier if highly mobile drones could deploy the Nyes for me or even project holographic images for distractions.

With various reports to go through, it felt like I had reached my destination in no time. We arrived back in the same SocialCorp facility I had once visited with Joey. It was a giant holographic chamber that acted as a venue for various social events.

The last time I was here, it was to celebrate some other company’s promotion to D-Class, too. How time flies.

The previous time, the scenery to set to that of an outdoor field. This time, we had something a little more formal. A grand ballroom straight from the Victorian era. Having dealt with projections so much myself, my new optics could easily see through this commercial-grade holographic, but that wasn’t useful for today’s event.

As the hosts, Joey and I were the first ones to arrive. We had our people swiftly complete any final preparations as we awaited our guests to arrive. That didn’t take long to happen.

Joey was well-connected, and we had our allies from the West Coast Agroindustry to count on. Those important allies showed up first.

“Congratulations, Mr. Halls. With how fast your company has been rising, I wouldn’t be surprised if you held another promotion celebration next year!”

“That’s right. By then, the bunch in High Gate Group would be even more reluctant to start something with us.”

Like the ballroom parties I had seen in movies, people began to crowd the area around the food and drinks tables. Before I knew it, the entire place was packed. Not only did our allies show up, but their respective connections did as well.

While I had called on Joey’s connections, many others who were acquainted with my allies eagerly showed up as well. I was told it was a common scene. Many people liked to make connections with up-and-coming D-Class corporations.

For the smaller companies, it could mean obtaining a new source of raw materials if we engaged in mining. Those who already had interests in space wanted to buy our excess quota for the commercial transport capacity of the space elevator. And of course, some wanted to seek space-related business partnerships.

Operating in space was expensive. Partnering up to diversify the risks was a basic strategy among corporations.

As many people came to congratulate me, the conversations were kept shallow. I had either just met them or rarely spoken to them. The norm was to socialize first before proceeding into business matters in the later part of the party.

Before we made it to that, the anomaly I had been informed about just a day prior had arrived.

A man walked in alone, and he drew everyone’s attention. The fabric of his attire screamed wealth, and his hairstyle was unique. He only had a thin but long ponytail that ran all the way down to his waist. However, it was the small badge on his chest that drew everyone’s attention.

It depicted a sword with a cherry blossom tree in the background, showcasing his affiliation with Ferrumus Corp.

As the person who had the most contact with the A-Class corporation, Joey stepped forth to greet him.

“Welcome, Kai of Ferrumus Corporation. I’m honored to see you today.”

The thin man only nodded in response before beginning to scan the room. As I suspected, his wandering gaze stopped when his eyes landed on me.

No one present dared to greet him upcoming witnessing how he had brushed Joey off. This meant no one dared to stop him as he cut straight through the crowd towards me.

I tried my best to suppress a sigh.

Oh dear, here we go.