[CEO's Cheat Sheet]
Asset Valuation: The process of determining the fair market or present value of an asset.
Market Flooding: The act of introducing a massive oversupply of a product to the market, drastically driving down its price.
Outsourcing: Hiring external labor to drastically expand production and reduce a company's operational bottlenecks.
"MOVE! LET ME SMASH THIS TILL IT BLEEDS MAGIC!"
Ornn Coppervein raised his massive steel hammer high above his head, his eyes gleaming madly at the pulsating blue glint behind the crumbled stone wall. The workaholic dwarf was absolutely ready to tear down the entire ancient foundation of the castle just to excavate the raw Mana Stone vein in one go.
"Hold your swing, Mr. Ornn," Stephanie interrupted calmly.
Her voice wasn't loud, but Revista, who was standing loyally right behind Stephanie, immediately moved.
The silver-haired man casually raised one hand and caught the thick steel handle of Ornn's descending hammer. The lethal, bone-crushing swing was stopped completely dead in mid-air, as if the hundreds of pounds of dwarven steel were made of nothing but soft cotton.
Ornn snorted in sheer disbelief, violently trying to pull his hammer back but failing miserably. Revista's grip was like an immovable mountain.
"What is the meaning of this, Boss Lady?!" Ornn grumbled loudly. "We are looking at a literal mountain of infinite money! Let me mine it!"
If you excavate everything now and flood the market, the sheer oversupply will cause the price of these stones to plummet to the value of street gravel, Stephanie thought, her analytical brain already assessing the macroeconomic impact.
"Patience, Ornn," Stephanie said, stepping forward. She gracefully took a small chisel from Ornn's leather tool belt and carefully chipped off five pure, fist-sized chunks of the blue crystal.
She held the warm, pulsing blue stones in her delicate hands. Raw Mana Stones this pure usually start bidding at a hundred gold coins per piece in the capital's black market. I need fast and safe liquidity right now without attracting the unwanted attention of corrupt, greedy nobles.
"System," Stephanie called internally. "What is your immediate offer for these five pure stones?"
[Ding! Assessing Asset Quality...]
[Quality: SSS (Pure/Flawless).]
[System Offer: 3,500 WP for 5 Raw Mana Stones.]
Stephanie smiled in deep satisfaction. Three thousand five hundred points. Fantastic early-stage capital. "Deal. Sell them."
The five stones in her hand instantly dissolved into brilliant blue light particles and vanished into thin air. The balance at the corner of Stephanie's eye skyrocketed. She immediately opened the System Shop.
[Current Balance: 3,564.5 WP]
[Purchasing: Basic Soap Manufacturing Blueprint (200 WP)]
[Purchasing: Salt Purification Blueprint (300 WP)]
[Remaining Balance: 3,064.5 WP]
Two thick, glowing parchment scrolls dropped neatly into Stephanie's hand. She handed them directly to Ornn.
Ornn furrowed his thick red eyebrows, reading the complex parchments in utter confusion. "Soap? Salt? Boss, did you hit your pretty head on a rock? We just found a legendary magic mine, why in the name of the forge are you ordering me to build outdoor furnaces to boil animal fat and seawater?!"
"Mana Stones can only be bought by a handful of ultra-wealthy nobles, Ornn. Selling them in bulk now will only invite military intervention from the capital to seize our land," Stephanie answered, her eyes glinting with terrifying cunning. "But soap and salt? Every single human on this continent needs them to survive. Build the factories in the castle's backyard. We are going to produce basic necessities and absolutely monopolize the common market first."
Ornn scratched his itchy beard, his eyes slowly widening as he realized the sheer, unadulterated genius of his new boss's long-term business plan.
"Alright. Makes terrifyingly good sense. But Boss, a dual-factory line needs a massive amount of laborers. Those two dumb thugs will die of pure exhaustion in two days if they have to chop wood, boil fat, and mold soap all by themselves."
Stephanie fell silent. That was a highly valid operational bottleneck.
Right at that exact moment, Vespera ran up the stairs, panting heavily, her face pale.
"M-My Lady!" Vespera called out in a panic. "Down the hill... near the ruined outer gates! There are hundreds of people gathered! They are refugees from the northern villages destroyed by the Winter Tide last night. They are freezing and begging for food!"
Stephanie raised an elegant eyebrow. She didn't see a humanitarian crisis.
I see a massive outsourcing opportunity.
"Perfect timing," Stephanie muttered, a predatory smile forming on her lips. "Revista, prepare my wolf. We are going to meet our future workforce."
The outer gates of Winterhaven Castle looked like a tragic death camp. Hundreds of men, women, and children huddled miserably on the thick snow in tattered, frozen clothes. Their lips were blue, staring desperately at the towering, albeit ruined, castle.
Suddenly, the terrifying sound of heavy, monstrous footsteps pierced through the wailing wind.
Vortigern, the giant Frost Wolf, stepped majestically out from the stone gates. On its broad back, Stephanie sat with a perfectly straight, aristocratic posture, wrapped elegantly in a luxurious white wolf-fur coat.
Beside the terrifying beast, Revista walked with lethal grace. Scorching, suffocating heat radiated from his muscular body, literally melting the thick snow into steam with every step he took. His red eyes glared at the crowd, daring anyone to make a sudden move.
The refugees immediately shrank back in sheer terror, mothers hiding their children's faces at the sight of the monster and the deadly-looking man.
"Listen closely!" Stephanie's voice echoed with crystal clarity, amplified by a slight, invisible wind magic from the System.
"You came to my land seeking charity. Unfortunately for you, I am not a kind, merciful goddess. I do not hand out free food to beggars."
Desperate wails and heartbroken sobs immediately broke out among the freezing crowd.
Stephanie let them cry for a few calculated seconds to let despair set in, before raising her hand.
"But!" Stephanie cut in sharply, her voice silencing the entire crowd once more. "I am the Lord of this territory, and I deal in absolute equivalents."
Stephanie looked down at the sea of desperate people before her with the cold, calculating gaze of a CEO giving orientation to a new batch of factory hires.
Time for mass recruitment.
"If you are willing to pledge your labor to me—working twelve grueling hours a day in my production lines, following every single one of my rules without argument or delay—then in exchange..." Stephanie pointed an elegant finger toward the large stone barracks in the castle's outer courtyard, which were already beginning to be warmed by Ornn's newly dug Ondol trenches.
"...you will receive three full meals a day, thick warm clothes, and a sturdy roof over your heads that absolutely no blizzard can penetrate."
Silence. Dead silence.
The refugees looked at each other with wide eyes, as if entirely unable to believe their own ears. In this brutal kingdom, nobles usually let commoners freeze to death, or worse, turned them into permanent slaves without guaranteed food.
An old man missing one leg crawled forward, his hands trembling. "Y-You... My Lady will feed us? J-Just by working?"
"A fair, binding exchange of value for actual labor," Stephanie answered firmly. "Those who agree to my terms, step to the right. Those who prefer to keep their pride and freeze in the snow, walk back to the north."
In less than a minute, the entire crowd—without a single, solitary person left behind—shifted frantically to the right. Some of them sobbed uncontrollably, bowing their heads onto the freezing snow while shouting frantic words of gratitude to Stephanie as if she were a true, living savior.
Stephanie smirked, gently petting Vortigern's thick fur.
With 3,000 WP in fresh liquid capital and hundreds of incredibly cheap laborers whose absolute loyalty she had just bought with the mere promise of a warm plate of food, the impenetrable foundation of her monopoly business empire was finally ready to be built.
[Nymphaearoot the Author]: Don't call her Princess, call her Madam Director! Winterhaven's soap and salt factory is ready to operate! But, when do you think Stephanie's father (Duke Malakor) will realize that his banished daughter is building a business empire?