As the insurance firm, Palmolive factories, technical school, and Veterans' Fund continued to expand, the number of Roman citizens employed by Caesar grew by the day.
And naturally, something else grew just as rapidly right alongside them.
The administrative burden.
The enormous capital generated by the insurance business was funneled into Palmolive production.
As the Palmolive generated immense profits, those funds were immediately redirected to support the academy and the Veterans' Fund.
And now, there were the Ostia towers to manage.
Overseeing this colossal, endlessly churning river of capital had slowly become the gravest duty in the whole venture.
And the man carrying that immense burden was Felix.
Gaius Julius Felix.
The freedman who had taken the name of the Julii was now functioning as the man effectively running Caesar's whole enterprise.
And recently, strange rumor had begun to circulate among the Caesar's employees.
Every so often, the most capable clerks and managers across Caesar's many ventures would suddenly... vanish.
"Has the new clerk we drew over from Palmolive arrived yet?"
"He is expected to arrive today, sir."
"Send him to my office the moment he walks through the door."
Felix tapped his finger rhythmically against his desk.
"As soon as he gets here, we need to hold a planning meeting at once."
***
Absolutely no one had volunteered to work here.
From storehouse managers running the Palmolive warehouses to assistant instructors at the academy.
Countless brilliant minds had been quietly tapped on the shoulder and 'transferred' to a new division.
The Strategic Office.
From this office, they oversaw the entirety of Caesar's empire, studying prices and trade conditions, then carrying out major financial decisions.
A single sheet of paper signed in this room could dictate the wages of thousands of laborers or instantly mobilize hundreds of supply contracts.
The very existence of this office was an open secret among the ordinary workers, fueling all sorts of rumors.
"Is it true that if you work here, you get special meals prepared by a personal cook every day?" the new recruit asked, his voice trembling with excitement.
"I heard the bonuses and shares here are the highest in the company! Free noble food and endless money? This is almost too good to be true..."
"Why do you think they brought in a cook just for us?" an older colleague asked dryly.
The recruit scratched his head. "Well, obviously to..."
"It's simple. Because once you step through those doors, they don't let you go. You'll figure that out soon enough."
As the newcomer's face went pale, a man strode into the meeting room.
"Alright, everyone. Good morning."
Felix dropped a great pile of papers onto the table with a heavy thud.
"Let's begin the meeting."
***
"Cities all across Italy are already fiercely competing to secure an Ostia tower. We need to make the most of our advantage while this heat lasts."
"Sir Caesar is of the exact same mind. The only question is how we carry it out."
Felix pointed to a massive map pinned to the wall of the conference room.
It was the map he had painstakingly drawn up with Pompey, now covered in a chaotic web of dots and intersecting lines.
It marked the projected locations for the towers connecting Rome to the rest of the peninsula.
"We've established the rough locations for the towers. But we need far more detailed local information."
The Romans did occasionally survey land and draw up maps, usually to settle property disputes or define provincial borders.
However, these maps were typically crude, drawn up on the spot, and there was absolutely no any standard way of mapping.
"Right now, the cities are much more desperate than we are. So let's use that as our leverage."
"What if we demand that the cities themselves draw up the necessary maps and deliver them?" one of the workers suggested. "We simply announce that we will prioritize construction for whichever city completes its preparations first."
Felix nodded at the suggestion.
"Exactly. Whichever city provides the most comprehensive information on their local road conditions, surrounding terrain, and available construction sites will be moved to the front. The moment we announce that, the other cities will desperately scramble to do the same."
"And if we assemble it into one great record..."
"We will possess the most detailed, comprehensive map of the entire Italian peninsula in history. It's something no one has ever achieved before. Word is that several cities have already hired surveyors and are rushing to draw up detailed maps."
It was an truly detailed map covering all of Italy.
Commissioning surveyors to chart something like that from scratch would cost an unimaginable fortune.
But by using the towers as bait, they could force the allied cities to do all the grueling legwork for them, entirely for free.
Every single employee in the room couldn't help but nod in admiration at Felix's ruthless efficiency.
"By gods, I told you he's really good at dumping work on other people."
"We'll begin drafting the official requests immediately."
"It's not just the maps. If we want to construct and operate these towers as quickly as possible, we need to shift as much of the burden as we can onto the local cities," Felix continued.
"I want detailed information on why exactly each city wants a tower. Some might want the political standing of being directly linked to Rome. Others want it purely for trade. Cities in Cisalpine Gaul want it for security. We need to adjust our bargaining to suit each city's desires."
"We'll contact the merchant guilds that carry Palmolive for us to gather the local information."
Over the next few hours, dozens of new proposals and orders were fired back and forth across the table.
The workers rapidly processed the information, finalizing decisions, drafting operational orders, and allocating budgets for the relevant offices.
Once a report was submitted, it was instantly torn apart for feedback, and a revised report was drafted based on those critiques.
When paper was first introduced to the office, the workers had rejoiced at no longer having to lug heavy wooden wax tablets around. But as the sheer amount of work before them began to increase, the atmosphere had grown grim.
"Is this ever going to end?"
***
"Lucius Julius Caesar, it is an absolute honor to finally meet you."
"The honor is entirely mine."
Every day, delegations from allied cities arrived at Caesar's estate.
Rome did not directly govern its allied Italian cities, instead granting them significant autonomy. Naturally, most of these cities modeled their local governments directly after Rome's.
Each city elected four annual magistrates: two duumviri who wielded consular authority, and the other two who served a role much like that of praetors.
They also maintained their own local senates, which oversaw the city's finances just like the Roman Senate.
However, these allied cities had their own proud histories, and their highest magistrates wielded real imperium within their own boundaries.
Consequently, the fierce competition to secure a Ostia tower wasn't just driven by greedy merchants; it was backed by the full political and financial weight of the local senates.
"We have several important matters we wish to discuss concerning the towers. If you have the time..."
"Please, come inside. Why don't we share a meal first?"
Lucius Caesar warmly welcomed every single delegation with lavish hospitality.
After putting them at ease over a lavish banquet, Lucius would smoothly introduce them to Felix.
"This is my closest friend and the man overseeing the whole matter of the towers. You can discuss the practical details with Felix."
"Ah... yes, of course..."
When the delegations were finally escorted into the meeting chamber, every single one of them froze in shock.
"What is the meaning of this...?"
They weren't the only ones in the room. Delegations from rival cities were already seated around the massive table.
"Well, it seems everyone has arrived. Let us begin the discussion," Felix said, clapping his hands together as he stepped up to the head of the table in a crisp toga.
"My staff has prepared the preliminary papers for each of you. Please, take a moment to review it."
Felix smiled softly.
"As I am sure you are all aware, raising a tower is costly and arduous work. Naturally, we must prioritize whichever city proves itself to be the most prepared. Wouldn't you agree?"
"..."
***
"So, what kind of offer did Tarentum put on the table?"
"I heard their local merchant guilds personally guaranteed a large purchase of Caesar's insurance policies."
"This feels less like a negotiation and more like an auction."
"And it's an auction we cannot possibly afford to lose. If a rival city gets connected to the towers before us, our city's trade will suffer a catastrophic blow."
"Exactly. Our merchants wouldn't even be able to compete. We'd have to travel to another city just to get the market prices in Rome."
As the delegations officially entered the bidding war, the struggle to secure a tower grew more vicious by the day.
It wasn't just about connecting to Rome anymore.
The towers could pass information between the allied cities themselves. Who you were connected to, and when you got connected, governed the flow of vast wealth.
Even the cities that had already secured a direct line to Rome threw themselves back into the struggle, desperately bidding to secure more towers.
And there was one man happily feeding the flames.
"I think we should bring the bidding out more openly. What do you think?"
"Openly? How exactly do you mean, Young Master?"
"Every morning, we deliver a detailed daily report to all the city delegations currently staying in Rome."
I stretched my arms high above my head and stood up from the chair.
"We outline what kind of propositions the other cities offered the day before."
"If they see that, they'll immediately panic and try to outbid them with even better terms."
"Exactly. In the end, we hold all the dice, don't we? The cities are so fearful of falling behind that they'll drain themselves dry to secure a tower first."
Now that paper was entering large-scale production, I didn't even have to worry about the costs.
Come to think of it, gathering the latest news of the day and distributing it to the public every morning...
This was beginning to look very much like a newspaper.
"Understood. I'll have the workers draft the first edition and distribute it immediately. We already know exactly which insulae the delegations are staying in, so it won't be difficult."
"Though, there might be a slight political hiccup if the cities keep escalating their bids like this."
"A hiccup, sir?"
"The people desperately trying to build these towers right now are the local politicians and wealthy merchants. The ordinary plebeian in those cities would care very little."
The commoners wouldn't see the immediate value in these towers.
So how would they react when they realized their local senate was draining their tax money to build one?
I needed to come up with a solution to that problem as well.
"By the way, you've been carrying all this out with terrifying speed lately."
I looked at Felix.
He didn't look nearly as exhausted or overwhelmed as he used to.
I suppose there was a reason he had taken on this monstrous workload with such confidence.
"Exactly how many people did you draw over for this strategic office of yours?"
"Not so many, actually. I picked only the sharpest and most relentless minds from across all our businesses. If you saw how grueling my selection process is, you'd be shocked, Young Master," Felix replied, puffing out his chest with pride.
"I've learned quite a lot from observing you over the years, after all."
"I suppose I have put you through quite a lot, haven't I?"
I couldn't shake the feeling that I had unintentionally molded Felix into a ruthless, 21st-century corporate overlord.
Well, it meant I got to enjoy a relaxing life as a lazy master, so I wasn't complaining.
Even without me personally micromanaging every detail, my ark was steadily being built.
It was physically impossible for me to handle every single task from start to finish anyway.
I established the overall strategy, handed it off to Felix, and his planners broke it down into specific orders for the various divisions.
It might have been an alien concept in Rome, but it was the sort of structure common in the 21st century.
"It was absolutely necessary for my own survival, Young Master."
"Maybe I should apologize to you, Felix."
Felix vigorously shook his head.
"Not at all. In fact, there is an old joke among us freedmen. Do you know what a freed slave desires more than anything else in the world?"
Felix smiled.
"To own slaves of their own."
"Hey now, calling our citizen workers as 'slaves' is a bit harsh, don't you think?" I replied with an laugh.
Though, when you really thought about it... being forced to grind away at a desk job just to survive wasn't that much different in reality.
"Make sure you take good care of their employee benefits, Felix," I added.
"I really don't want to deal with a slave rebellion here."
***
"Alright, everyone! Tonight's late-night ration, no meal is roasted moray eel! Eat up before it gets cold!"
The cook shouted cheerfully, waving a massive silver platter loaded with perfectly glazed eel.
One by one, the exhausted workers peeled themselves away from their desks and shuffled toward the food.
"You have to eat well to work well, right?! If anyone wants seconds, just say the word!"
"..."
No common plebeian could have afforded to eat moray eel.
It was a luxurious delicacy reserved exclusively for the patrician elite. Even most senators only ate it on special occasions.
Yet, despite being served such an absurdly expensive meal, hardly any of the workers looked happy.
They shoveled the eel into their mouths while continuing to discuss work.
"Do you think we can compile the latest offers from the cities and draft the finalized contracts by the morning after next?"
"I already hired a new group of scribes, but I need to submit a budget request to cover their wages."
"Don't we desperately need more hands in our office?"
"Actually, when I was working over at the insurance office, there was this one guy who was incredibly sharp with numbers..."
"If anyone asks, we tell them the work here is incredibly easy and fun. That's the only way we're going to lure more people into here."
Misery loves company. And more importantly, more hands meant less work for them.
Their grim, whispered conspiracies to kidnap new 'colleagues' echoed through the office late into the night.