A few months ago.
Rain strolled through the black market, passing by various facilities and vendors selling all manner of illicit goods.
As he walked, he found himself drawn to the Information Guild, one of the most renowned sources of knowledge in the market.
Although he didn't necessarily need any information at the moment, he was curious about the guild and its operations.
"Looks fun." He mumbled.
***
"Tell me, Rain," Ben asked eagerly. "Who are you, and how do you know all of these things?"
Rain felt a pang of annoyance at Ben's prying question. He didn't like being interrogated, but he understood why Ben was curious.
"I'm a VIP patron of the Information Guild, Insight," Rain replied, keeping his tone neutral.
"Really?" Ben was surprised. "That would explain how you have access to so much information. But what about your family and whereabouts?"
"That's secret~," Rain chuckled, trying to defuse the tension.
"Okay, okay. I won't pry," Ben shrugged. "But being a VIP patron of [Insight] is pretty impressive. It's one of the top guilds on [Pandora]."
Pandora.
It was the name of the darknet that existed within this world, a seedy underbelly that catered to those who sought to buy and sell forbidden goods and services.
A convenient online black market.
"Indeed," Rain agreed, feeling a small smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
Insight was a relatively new guild, founded only two months prior with the motto "Let's start delving into the unknown secrets."
Despite their lack of credibility, they quickly rose through the ranks and became one of the most trusted sources of information on the dark net.
"Hey, Rain," Ben interrupted, his voice tinged with excitement.
Rain felt a jolt of curiosity. He wondered what Ben wanted to talk about. "Yes?" Rain replied.
"Will we ever meet in person?"
Rain noticed a surge of warmth in Ben's tone.
"Just wait a few months, maybe next year," Rain said, trying to make his tone gentle.
"Okay, sounds good. Hey, we're about to land on the academy campus. Talk to you later!" Ben said cheerfully.
"You too, have a good day," Rain said, as hung up the phone.
Rain raised his head and looked up at the sky only to see it was covered in thick, gray clouds that stretched as far as the eye could see.
The air was humid, and there was a faint smell of rain in the air. Rain could feel a cool breeze blowing past him.
"Looks like it will rain today. Maybe I should go to my home."
Rain arrived home and went straight to his room.
As he lay on his bed, he checked other messages.
["Lily (Scapegoat): I have some details to report. So call me in your free time."]
As he pondered the message, Rain felt a flicker of curiosity.
He knew that Lily only contacted him when something important had come up. He wondered what kind of trouble she had gotten herself into this time.
"It will relieve some boredom." He spoke as he called Lily.
***
Lily was exhausted after the incident in the dungeon, but she knew she had to update Rain about the details of the business.
She also wanted to discuss about Eva's potions.
As soon as she boarded the airship, she sent Rain a message.
It had been a few hours since the incident, and Lily had spent that time recovering and gathering her thoughts.
She collapsed on the bed in her room and couldn't help but replay the events in her mind. "Something isn't right," she thought to herself, "someone is surely pulling the strings from the shadows." She made a mental note to research it further that night, but for now, she was too tired to do so.
Her mana was depleted, and she needed to rest. She curled up into a ball and took a nap for about an hour.
When she woke up, she felt more refreshed.
As the airship approached Dawn City, she washed her face and adjusted her appearance.
The journey from the dungeon to the academy had taken a few hours, and Lily had spent most of that time sleeping.
After the airship landed on the academy campus, the injured students were taken to the infirmary, and Lily headed to her dormitory. It would take her around a few minutes to walk from the campus to her dormitory, that's why she didn't ride a campus bus.
As she walked, her smartwatch rang, displaying the name "Stingy Boss."
She frowned and wondered why someone was calling at this time. "Who's calling at this time?" she grumbled.
When she saw the name, her frown deepened. "This guy really has good timing," she muttered to herself, feeling annoyed by the interruption.
However, she had to pick up the call.
"Hello, how are you, little girl?" The most annoying voice for Lily came from the other side.
"I am very nice, former young master," Lily said with a smirk.
Soon, she arrived at her floor.
As she was 5th ranked among 2nd years. She had a very large space.
With a flick of her wrist, she put the call on hold.
Lily approached the door of her room. She whispered a few words in a forgotten language, and the door opened with a hiss of steam.
As she stepped inside, the room's enchantments responded to her presence, casting a warm glow over the space.
As she entered her bedroom and sat on the bed, she felt relaxed.
With a flick of her wrist, she removed the call from the call.
"Ooh, using the forgotten language to open your door now, Lily? Trying to impress me, are we?" Rain teased on the phone.
Lily rolled her eyes, she didn't expect that Rain would know she was unlocking her door lock through the password.
Even though she put the call on hold, Rain found out about it.
She let out a small laugh. "Oh please, Rain. As if I care about impressing you."
Rain chuckled on the other end. "Sure you don't. So what's the reason for this call? I'm quite busy, you know."
Lily cleared her throat, switching to a more professional tone. "Actually, I wanted to discuss the progress of the business. I have a few updates and ideas I'd like to run by you."
Rain's tone became more serious as well. "Alright, go ahead. I'm listening."
Lily proceeded to go over the progress they had made so far, detailing the challenges they had faced and how they had overcome them.
She also presented some new ideas she had come up with to improve the project even further.
Apparently, after signing a contract that gave Rain a 55% share in the profits, Lily began working on a plan to launch merchandise for his streaming business and other things. As per the contract, she also had to invest half of the cost.
Here's how the process went:
-Research and planning: Lily researched the market to identify popular merchandise items and created a plan for what products to launch, how much to price them, and how to market them to Rain's audience.
-Product development: Lily sourced or created merchandise items, such as t-shirts, mugs, or stickers, and designed them to align with Rain's branding and aesthetic.
She also licensed every song Rain released, so someone doesn't post it or plagiarize it.
She also asked Rain to become a model and do advertisements. But Rain refused.
-Marketing and promotion: Lily created a marketing strategy to promote the products to Rain's audience, including social media posts, email newsletters, and special promotions or giveaways.
-Sales and fulfillment: Once orders came in, Lily handled the sales and fulfillment process, including processing payments, packaging and shipping the merchandise, and handling any customer service issues.
Throughout the process, Rain covered half of the costs and sometimes even provided extra money as a salary for Lily.
And at the end of the day, Rain received 55% of the profits from the merchandise sales as per their agreement.
The net profit of the first month was more than 50,000 gold coins. As per the contract, Rain got 27,500.
After that month, Lily started expanding the business and entered other fields.
She also had to find a company as it was becoming hard to handle alone.
With Rain's sponsorship, she invested in that company. However, in the end, she became an employee of the Rain.
As the call continued, Rain listened attentively, occasionally asking questions or giving feedback.
After Lily was finished, there was a moment of silence as Rain considered everything she had said.
"Hmm. So you are saying to invest in that potion business?" Rain asked.
"Yes!" She nodded eagerly.
"Contact Mark. I will give you his contact details. Just tell him, "His friend will help in the potion business, this is the opportunity"." He said.
"Do you take me as a weirdo? He will think of me as a weirdo if I start babbling like that." Lily grumbled.
"Okay, I will tell him to contact you, Happy? I will just cut some of your salaries as you aren't doing the work." Rain lamented.
"Huh? Why?" Lily asked in a confused tone.
"Isn't contacting potential business partners and clients your job?" Rain asked back.
"It is. But you also have some responsibilities as the boss. You should do some work too." Lily controlled herself to not yell on the call.
"I will do it next time~. Have a good day~" Rain said in a mischievous tone and hung up the phone.
On the other side, Lily was fuming with anger.
"That bastard, pushing responsibilities on me every time!! I will quit!!" She was determined.
Just then her smartwatch rang. As she checked it was a message from Rain.
[-Contact Info
Name: Mark
Email id: ███████████
Post: Manager in Alchimystic]
She couldn't help but blink her eyes a few times.
"Isn't Alchimystic firm being run by the Holmes family? Isn't it on the top position?" She mumbled.
"But that stingy guy break off with his family, how does he still have good relations with them?" She was confused. She decided to postpone her resignation for some time.
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