“I have good news, young master. Each and every one of the soap businesses accepted our offer,” Castelle said, bowing towards the young master as he relaxed under the sun on the roof.
“That’s good, that’s good,” he replied leisurely.
“From my estimates, our production of soap and shampoo increased by almost two thousand percent. We can now create thousands of soaps and shampoos every day because of the infrastructure of the companies under our banner.
They already started to sell it to the market and it’s being sold out the minute it showed up in their wares. Peddlers have already started to sell it to other towns and it’s starting to catch on as well.”
There was admiration and excitement in Castelle’s voice. She would have never thought that giving away the secret formula for the soap would end up becoming a huge boon for their company.
She looked at the young master as if he had gold hands, and everything he touched became gold.
Of course, Michael didn’t think he was doing anything special. He was simply following the business practices of conglomerates back in his previous world.
“How much did we earn?” Michael asked.
Castelle smiled and turned towards the door. They watched as a maid hauled a wooden chest up towards them. Judging from how much trouble she had pushing the thing, Michael knew that it was heavy.
The maid then opened the wooden chest to reveal the thousands upon thousands of gold coins inside. Its luster reflected onto Michael’s face, briefly turning his face yellow.
“Even when we paid for all the expenses, we still netted about 15,000 gold coins.”
Michael tried his hardest to keep calm, but when he converted the gold to US dollars, he had to take a deep breath.
150,000 dollars. That was what he earned…in a single day…
“I guess I’m rich.”
…
…
…
Because of the increased production of Reborn soap and shampoo, the company’s reputation skyrocketed to the moon.
It’s been noted that people were showering and washing their hands a lot more often because of Reborn soap and shampoo, which in turn, lessened the spread of disease and sickness.
In a matter of two months, Reborn company captured the hearts of everyone, whether they were male, female, old, or young.
Most women used their soap, and most men played their new board game.
In Kingsbridge town, the Reborn company became a hot topic in newspapers and gossip. Everyone was wondering where they came from and who was responsible for creating such amazing products.
There was a lot of speculation, ranging from the owner being a wizard from the future, a sage who lived in the mountains for a thousand years, or even just a simple man whose genius knows no bounds.
And despite almost ruining local soap businesses into bankruptcy, nobody seemed to hate the Reborn company. Even the ruined soap companies started praising Reborn for their generosity.
This increased the mystery surrounding the upstart company.
They were the talk of the town. Everyone in Kingsbridge knew about the Reborn company and was using their products religiously. And soon, it would spread to other neighboring towns and cities as well. It was only a matter of time until they completely carved a large portion of the market for themselves.
But of course, none of this went over the heads of the largest company in Kingsbridge.
“Our survey concludes that the popularity of our company went down by at least 30 percent because of this Reborn business.”
“Does anyone have any idea where these upstarts came from? Is this a ploy from our other rivals?”
“No. They’re feeling the same as us.”
A group of old, distinguished men in suits sat at a long table and looked over the reports in their hands.
It was clear that this meeting wasn’t planned, with most men looking quite haggard and sleep-deprived. Most of them hadn’t even buttoned their vests correctly.
It was already midnight, with the room only lit by torches and candles, but they still weren’t done discussing plans about what to do with this new Reborn company.
“What’s the problem here, gentlemen? Why are we worried about a soap company? It wouldn’t affect our important businesses in Kingsbridge,” a young man said, clearly a bit more inexperienced than the rest.
The one to answer his question was the bald old man opposite him.
“The problem is that they are starting to gain popularity within the people. Right now, they’re just producing soap and shampoo. But what if they start to produce other products? Most people would immediately try out their products because of their popularity within the people.
Look what happened with their new board game. It immediately got accepted by the majority as their new pastime.
That spells trouble for us. We can’t have them take away our customers or else our business will fail,” the bald man said, his words getting angrier as he went on.
“What will we do?”
That was the question on everyone’s mind. And there was only one person whose answer mattered in the room, and that was the owner of the largest company in Kingsbridge and the towns neighboring it.
He was sitting at the very end of the table, showing his different status.
The man stood up, with his back straight and his posture solid. He was the only one who had his suit completely clean, with no crease or speck of dirt, unlike the others.
“We can only do nothing,” he said plainly.
“But Bart, this will affect the inheritance. Don’t you want to fight for your father’s entire wealth?” the old man with a beard asked.
“I have no plans to fight in the succession of the Vanderbilt company,” Bart replied.
Yes. That was right. The owner of the biggest company in Kingsbridge and the current rival of the Reborn company was none other than Michael’s father.
After all, this business was what made the Vanderbilt name famous in the first place. It’s what made them the richest family in the world.
To be more exact, it was Bart’s father, or Michael’s grandfather, who built the Vanderbilt name and turned it into the global powerhouse it was now.
And currently, there was a fight for the inheritance of the entire Vanderbilt company.
To figure out who best to succeed him, Michael’s grandfather gave away sub-companies to his children and let them manage them in their own way.
Bart received all the Vanderbilt businesses in Kingsbridge and the towns closest to it.
Their other relatives received the companies abroad or in different countries. They all managed the Vanderbilt name to maintain its supremacy over every business in the world.
But despite managing different companies and being in different places, there was one goal in common for the descendants of the Vanderbilt name:
Whoever blossomed their company into a powerhouse was the one who would inherit the entire Vanderbilt wealth!