"The route is clear all the way out, we'll arrive in an hour."
"Okay, thanks Hanna."
It was amazing how fast Tia had gotten used to working aboard a Lynx transport, especially as she had been granted a personal Lynx she had turned into her own office. Writing on a tablet with a special pen, Tia used a special kind of shorthand she had perfected by simply talking to the writing implements and adjusting the output until it matched, making her able to draft long agreements in just a few minutes and when she was satisfied with them, she could have the 'printer' create countless copies in mere seconds.
(This technology really is handy once you get the hang of it…)
Sitting perfectly steady, Tia's spare pens didn't even move as the Lynx caught air time, but as it started rapidly slowing down she did feel a slight amount of movement make it past the stabilizing system.
"What's happening?"
sensing they had come to a full stop, but she hadn't heard the gun turret on the Lynx deploy, Tia realised something unusual was going on.
"I'll check it out."
Loading her rifle, Hanna stood up and was about to get out when a voice came through the transport's intercom.
[Hello? Could I get a lift? Are you occupied?]
Sharing a glance with Tia, Hanna opened the Lynx's hatch and exited the craft to find a certain knight captain.
"Hello there."
Seeing someone emerge from the Lynx after she had used her necklace to stop it, Anastasia was about to apologise and walk away when she recognised the other person.
"Oh I'm- wait, you're Hanna. Good to see you again."
Standing by in a bit of awkward silence, Anastasia eventually decided to reiterate her earlier request.
"Could I get a lift? If I'm not intruding."
Before Hanna could respond Tia's voice was heard from inside the Lynx.
"Yeah, that's fine."
And so the decision was made, and Anastasia boarded the Lynx together with Hanna, leaving her sword and shield in the equipment rack by the rear door and sat down between Hanna and Tia as the Lynx got underway again.
"... This Lynx seems different compared to the others."
"That's because it's my personal office and transport, what are you doing all the way out here?"
Stopping her work for the moment, Tia put on a polite smile as she struck up conversation with the knight captain.
"I'm currently off duty and traveling around the place to fight monsters in this territory as training. Using this necklace Mac gave me, I'll use his transports to move around from place to place."
It had been a few weeks since Anastasia took a leave of absence to focus on her personal development, and while her subordinates had been understanding, the nobles she reported to were less so. Now forced to do their actual work, Anastasia's superiors had implored her to return to work fast, but she was taking her sweet time.
The reason for the disconnect was simple: while her superiors had little combat experience, the knight captain's subordinates understood when she told them her sixth sense was screaming at her to rapidly improve. Although the irregular monster surge had all but passed and all seemed fine, Anastasia's instincts were screaming at her. Something was coming, and she trusted that sensation as it had saved her life countless times already.
"I felt it was time for a change in scenery, how've you been doing Tia? Is business still booming?"
"Actually I'm on my way to meet your mother to discuss a major buyout, the nobles haven't been appreciating the fact that my product is more popular than theirs."
Accepting Anastasia's half awkward redirect, Tia smiled as she continued.
"They were all for fair market competition until they started losing their steady income, then suddenly it's all complaints and threats."
"Sounds like them alright, I remember all those nobles, they would only ever seem to butter Mother up whenever they needed something or they needed to pay taxes… Half of them would secede if they could survive without the Victoria family backing them, and most of the other half aren't any better."
The Victoria family's problem had begun when the time of the first king came to an end and he left behind his young heir. During the brutal war against the demon king which had immediately predated that event a lot of power had shuffled around, alliances had broken, friends had turned bitter enemies and the Victoria family, former outcasts half exiled to the western border had been instrumental in winning the war and stood as one of the 3 custodial families when the first king never returned. Over time the Victoria family had managed to cement their position, and eventual intermarrying with the royal family made them dukes, so a dukedom had been granted to them, pushing out and demoting other nobles to make room for them.
"As the Victoria's we're the youngest of the 3 ducal families, and being the youngest we aren't always respected by our subordinates, even though they're mere bugs compared to our glory… Pardon my tone."
Remembering the company she was in, Anastasia reigned herself in slightly.
"So I assume Veronica wouldn't necessarily take the side of her subordinate families?"
Reading through the lines with a polite smile on her face, Tia continued to probe for information.
"That depends on what you're offering, my mother is far more… 'Diplomatic' than me, she's hesitant of the consequences of slighting the other nobles when we might need their help some day, though I personally doubt they'll ever come to our aid."
Anastasia had known for all of her adult life that she didn't have the patience for politics like her parents or older brother, but she knew them and she could mostly predict how they would act or decide.
"What's your proposal?"
"... It's a buyout."
Seeing Anastasia willing to help her, Tia was taken aback but nevertheless handed the knight captain an initial draft of the proposal she was planning to present.
"This sure is ambitious."
Ignoring the very fine paper with perfect typeface and spacing for the moment, Anastasia read the proposal and was immediately impressed.
The proposal outline was simple; Red import consortium would buy the nobles out of their unprofitable coal mining operations and have them placed in a thrust directly supervised by the Victoria family. The Victoria family would oversee and manage these mines and the Red import consortium would purchase the full output of the coal mines as the workers were gradually reeducated and the entire profession of coal mining was slowly phased out.
In short Tia was declaring the end of coal mining, and the nobles could get out of the business and receive a year's worth of profit in pure gold, or they could continue to clutch their unprofitable operation while the dukedom left them behind.
"What do you think?"
"Ambitious, like I said. Bold even."
While Anastasia believed this was far more than some of the subordinate families deserved, there was a decent chance most of them wouldn't accept this offer to get out in time.
"But most of them have too much pride to accept this."
"Sure they don't, I can increase the amount of gold until their pride disappears."
Coming to terms with the fact that she had nearly infinite funds at her disposal, Tia had been a bit overwhelmed at first, but she was slowly getting a hang of it.
"That doesn't seem like that great of an idea, in my opinion… Speaking of, have you heard from Mac? It's been a bit since he set off to reclaim the first banner."
Switching topics without much grace as she started getting bored looking at contracts and legal agreements, Anastasia started playing with her hair as she brought up Tia's boss.
"No, not really. But no news is good news, it seems like he's doing alright."
The way Tia saw it, R3D would've contacted her or just revoked her access if anything happened to Mac, so a lack of updates would mean he was making progress and was as on track as he could be.
The gods knew Mac had the attention span of a hummingbird, but as long as he remained on task everything would be fine.
Entering the Veronica government building with Hanna and Anastasia silently following behind, Tia was led to a meeting room where the head of the Victoria family and 3 other nobles were already gathered.
(The Wolfsbane, Honeydew and Ural family representatives, so not one of them could be bothered to show up in person even though my operation is quote: 'grievously affecting the stability of the territory'.)
"So, how does the Red import consortium plan on compensating us for this grievous loss in taxable income?"
Tia hadn't even gotten the chance to sit down at the meeting room before compensation was demanded, not that she had expected anything else. Sitting down across from a silent Veronica, Tia glanced at the group of nobles before she made her announcement.
"I'm here to offer a buyout, Red import consortium will purchase all coal mines in the Victoria dukedom to be placed under the direct control of the Victoria family. This will provide you nobles a way out of your failing business, the Victoria family a steady tax income source and Red import consortium a steady source of coal."
Presenting the actual numbers Tia felt the attitude change as the nobles read the amount of pure gold Red was offering for their failing mines.
"And why exactly would I stop mining for coal in this territory?"
Finally speaking up Veronica silenced the room, she had read through the proposal and saw the larger picture, Tia could see that much in her eyes, and she was now starting to play things out as they needed to happen.
"Because it is killing your citizens."
That statement didn't warrant that much of an explanation, still Tia continued.
"Coal dust slowly poisons everyone who comes into contact with it, from miners to craftsmen like my own father."
"So we should just buy your product instead, for all time?"
Understandably the Wolfsbane representative was the first one who saw this as a blatant attempt for Red to take over an essential trade, then when the coal mines were shut down and shuttered they could start setting prices as they saw fit.
"No, I'm pretty sure Mac's plan is to teach you how to make my product yourselves. But in the meantime I have this agreement here."
Taking out another legal contract, Tia slid it over to Veronica and waited for her to read it.
"What is it?"
Perhaps impatient with Veronica's smirk, the Wolfsbane representative snatched the paper and started reading the already signed exclusive sourcing agreement that made the Victoria family able to purchase Red import consortium's synthetic coal at the grand total cost of 1 copper coin per ton until the dukedom itself is able to meet its demand with a domestic products of equal quality.
"WHA!?-"
Seeing his already unprofitable holding was about to lose the last of its value, the Wolfsbane representative hurriedly signed the agreement to sell their coal mine as he hurriedly left to inform his family about imminent change in market conditions. Seeing one of the players leave the table, Tia suppressed a knowing smile as everything was going to the plan. Still keeping calm, the Honeydew family representative read over the newly presented agreement, then looked at his own and frowned.
"I understand that this plan to phase out coal will be for the good of the dukedom, but the compensation you're offering simply isn't enough."
Seeing Red import consortium was planning to sell their synthetic coal by the ton, the representative had realised his coal mine would be a component in that supply chain and dug in his heels for a higher payout.
"Of course we can discuss a higher payout-"
"In that case I also need to renegotiate for my family."
Ignoring the other representative cutting her off, Tia didn't feel the need to suppress her smile any longer.
"- But since I've been allocated a fixed budget for this acquisition any increase in purchase price will have to come at the expense of my other deals, since the Wolfsbane family has already locked in their rate they'll be exempt for this."
Having successfully pitted the two remaining belligerents against each other, Tia leaned back as they started bickering and eventually signed before leaving.
"... That was impressive."
Finally speaking up after the remaining representatives had left, Veronica showed a smile and appreciation.
"I aim to please."
Having also witnessed the entire negotiation from start to end, Anastasia saw Tia in a new light. Sure Anastasia sensed no magic might from the beastkin woman, but her own experience as a knight captain told her to never underestimate Tia again.