While Cæ grew consumed with the identity of the target of his vengeance as well as the immediate future that awaited them, the Elendir Institute of Magic and Colohen City had not moved on from the very recent shocking events that had happened.
A battle between two master mages.
That too within the city.
That was not something that happened regularly.
Because it was an event with two master mages involved, the scale of the battle had been so great that it could be seen from across half the city, vast as it was.
After all, how the hell could anyone miss a cloudy, fog of pitch black darkness spanning an entire district and reaching the clouds?
How could anyone miss Headmistress Lenolia's storms of light and wind?
The sheer power that the two master mages had unleashed was so great that it had been recorded and documented by many sources, and news of the anomalies had spread throughout the entire city like wildfire, and the local and even national media gobbled it up like the gossip-hungry vultures they were.
[Storms and fog of light and black! Just what happened in the outer city of Colohen City?]
[Police Commissioner Randal Velyn holds a press conference over the recent anomaly in the slums]
[Official accounts state that the anomaly was the result of a battle between master mages]
[Headmistress Lenolia of the Elendir Institute of Magic issues public statement—Insists on self-defense]
[Anti-Magic Movement decries the dangerous display of magic and pushes for stronger anti-magic regulation]
[Elendir Mage Association insists that Headmistress Lenolia has acted in accordance with the rules and regulations of the association]
[Minister of Magical Affairs promises a thorough investigation into the incident]
[Deceased aggressor master mage confirmed to be Master Mordir, known magical leader in the Colohen Underworld.]
[The Elendir Inquisition has dispatched inquisitors to identify any magical crimes committed in association with the recent anomaly]
The Elendir Institute of Magic was flooded with a frequent and constant presence of police, investigators, and the press that sought to learn more about the situation from the primary participant.
"Man…" Feidin murmured with a stunned expression as he skimmed through the articles on the screen of his magiputer. "…They really went crazy, didn't they?"
His curly hair was messy, having not been tended to, with how busy he had been managing the day-to-day operations of Trinity Housings. He shifted his glasses as he studied all the recent news that had come up on the recent anomaly in the slums.
"…I hope Cæ is okay," Seliphaz murmured with a worried tone, sweeping a tuft of her blue hair behind her ears. "He has returned very few calls in the past few days, and so much has happened…"
VMMM…
The mechanical and magical hum of all ten production lines chugging out haven units rang in the air. The bright light of the morning Sun illuminated their empty office on the second floor. Only the two of them came to the office every day to do their work as stakeholders in the company and to ensure that everything worked like it was supposed to.
And yet, despite the bright light and their casual clothes, the mood in the air was anything but casual and bright.
"It's probably because so much has happened in so little time that we haven't heard much from him, barring short texts and brief calls where he was clearly unwilling to reveal anything," Feidin mused with a knowing expression. "Ah, well, I have trust in him. I'm sure he has done everything in his power to make sure that Trinity Housings is served well."
Seliphaz raised an eyebrow as she glanced at him through the edge of her circular spectacles with an askance look. "I agree with that, but I find it surprising coming from you when you were the one who had an issue trusting him with how many secrets he had hidden from us."
"Yeah, but that was before he came clean and told us everything," Feidin reminded her. "Besides that, Cæ is frankly a really good leader. Goes out of his way for the success of the business and is extremely invested. Understands his limitations and is willing to entrust to others tasks that they are more capable of doing than he is. Like me managing all the operations and you handling R&D. Not to mention…"
He threw her a meaningful gaze.
"He's a genius at what he has to offer, and I don't say that lightly."
Feidin's eyes grew hazy as he thought back to his mini-housing units enterprise, the main reason that Cæ had wanted to partner with him anyway. If he compared Cæ's strategizing, insight, and commercial brilliance to how Feidin had gone about things, he had to admit that he was downright pathetic compared to Cæ.
To be able to squeeze out commercial success from the slums as a market was just truly remarkable. His advertising strategy, his sales campaigns, and his ability to get the best deals from partners were quite special.
"Then there was the restaurant he worked at before that, which he claims to have helped thrive when it was on the verge of closing down," he scratched his messy, curly hair as he squinted in recollection. "What was it called? S-Selgiv's Ristorante?"
"Selvig's Ristorante," Seliphaz corrected him, before falling into thought. "It's true that Cæ has a gift for entrepreneurship. He told me that he intends to start many, many businesses beyond just Trinity Housings."
Feidin frowned at that. "He did tell me that as well, but, to be honest, that just sounds like a pipedream, no offense to him."
As someone with a background in business and as someone who was connected to the business world, he knew that there was essentially nobody who had started a large number of successful, concurrent, and meaningful businesses simultaneously.
That was just impossible.
One business alone was a full-time job.
One needed to constantly be on the job at all times, around the clock. In many ways, it was even more taxing than a full-day wage job because working time never ended as a serious business entrepreneur. One often would need to get up in the middle of the night to deal with some crisis that had occurred, while there was no such thing as private time or a break.
The fact that Cæ wanted to run many such businesses, something that was an odd goal to him from the very start, was just impossible in the eyes of Feidin.
"You can either work on one enterprise very well, or do ten different enterprises very poorly," Feidin remarked with a knowing expression. "If you spread your efforts very thin, you will not give any of them the time and energy they deserve, and they will crash and collapse."
Seliphaz pondered those words as she took a break from her design of her magiCAD program, where she designed the next haven prototype. "But Cæ doesn't spend his time on all or even most parts of the business. He leaves to you and me, he was responsible for the original idea and then sought us out to take care of precisely these parts of the business while he focuses on strategy and his creative solutions that he's good at."
Feidin nodded. "That's true, but can he really do that for every business? Maybe, but that seems extremely hard in and of itself. I don't mean to toot our own horns, but we were godsends to Cæ, given that both of us were just right for the roles she wanted us for, and we agreed relatively quickly. But…"
Feidin shook his head. "He won't get so lucky each time. But the more the magicapita and power he gains as a businessman and as a mage, he will have an easier time, I suppose. But the real question is why the hell he wants to even start so many commercial ventures? It doesn't even make any sense. Who randomly decides to create a certain number of businesses for the sake of creating businesses?"
Seliphaz shrugged, heaving a soft sigh. "I don't know. He didn't tell me about that; it seems very personal to him. It must be related to why he's so relentlessly driven."
They were both aware that there were things that Cæ was quite secretive about, his most personal stuff, which he had all the right to be, of course. But compared to Seliphaz and Feidin, who were open books, it did stand out.
"Regardless, if he wants to start multiple businesses, he's free to. But I, for one, will be spending all my time focusing on the Trinity Housings alone."
His attention returned to a spreadsheet of graphs featuring multiple different parameters of the operations and finances.
He carefully monitored their production rate, daily sales, revenues, and expenses, while keeping a close and wary eye on their debt financing, before nodding with a satisfied expression.
"Business has been great. They really, really like the haven units. Word must have spread to every corner of the slums by now," Feidin grinned with a hint of excitement. "With this degree of entrenchment in our very first monsoon season, we're bound to eventually dominate this entire market. By the time we have other competitors, we will be unstoppable and will monopolize the lion's share of the market. And this is all before we go public!"
Before Seliphaz could even join in, a third, familiar voice chimed in.
"I don't know if I want to go public yet."
STEP
Cæ floated to the first-floor office, landing with a gentle step.
He donned a simply gray shirt, matching his eyes and hair, and casual trousers. He directed a calm, sweeping gaze between the two of his partners.
"Sorry for not being easy to reach in the past few days," Cæ apologized with a stoic tone. "I have been… busy, dealing with stuff."
The legal battle had truly consumed his time and attention, and he didn't want to return to them empty-handed before he truly had a proper solution. And by the time he had a proper solution, the fiasco master mage attack had also consumed his time and attention, and then there was the revelation of the identity of the culprit responsible for Lilia's death.
And then there was preparing for the Senior Program, which was starting the very next day.
"I've been very, very busy." Cæ heaved a deep, heavy sigh.
"Well… I don't blame you," Feidin raised an eyebrow. "But next time, a little more assurance than just 'I'm fine' would help. We didn't even know you were alive until you called us back and let us know you were fine. To be honest, I'm not sure why you insisted on even being part of the security force in the first place."
"Experience for combat," Cæ's tone was heavy. "I need power. Combat power. And that only comes with real-life experience."
His eyes were intense.
A sharp edge of peril flickered in their depths.
"…Cæ," Seliphaz murmured with a worried expression. "Are you okay…? You seem… angry."
Feidin turned to gaze at him with furrowed eyebrows. "…To be honest, you have always been intimidating, but now you're actually scary. Is everything alright?"
His expression crumpled with a hint of grave severity.
"No, it isn't."
His tone was heavy.
"I am dealing with some really personal issues," he heaved a shaky breath. "Rest assured, it won't affect my business performance as your partner. In fact, I got rid of the legal battle jeopardizing our partnership with the Elendir Institute of Magic—"
"We're not asking as your business partners."
Seliphaz's tone was almost hurt as she gazed at him with her blue eyes of concern.
"We're asking you as our friend."
Cæ's hardened expression softened.
"I know, but…"
He shook his head.
"It's not something that I can reveal to the two of you."
What was he supposed to tell them?
That the company that destroyed his life, killed the woman he loved, and evaded justice was omnipresent around him in Elendir, and was now something that he would have to live with until he killed the founder and CEO and destroyed the company?
He couldn't.
This was his burden to bear.
His alone.