Chapter Text
The situation I found myself in was definitely strange. I mean if you think about it every situation when you should be dead, but mysteriously waking up would be bizarre. I didn`t even wake up as a newborn which would at least be logical from some religious standpoints. No, I woke up in a body slightly older than I was. The another problem I had was that my memory wasn`t working properly.
Okay, the period between death and reincarnation was quite easily explainable by the theory that the mind simply doesn`t remember a state of non-existence or that the afterlife is so unbelievable that my mind decided to delete these memories to avoid overcooking itself.
But other memories were also blurry. The only theory for that was that the memories were blurry because whoever decided to reincarnate me here decided to write my memories over previous owners. And what the shocker, when the 1 and 0 are interloping with each other it becomes an unreadable mess.
The last problem was that my thoughts were now spelled in two different languages in my mind. And the second had zero connections to any known language in the remnant. Finding that was quite easy since most of the languages in Remnant have similar vocabularies. By checking some words, I found that language has zero similarities to any from remnant. That wasn`t good since it meant that the world I am in has zero or almost zero similarities to the Remnant, and if I couldn`t able to decode memories of that body, I would have to learn everything from almost ground zero.
Well, how I can decipher my memories? I saw currently two options. The first one is to look around the room I am in, hoping that associations of the room would bring back some of the body`s memories, and I could use them to decipher the rest. Or second option: if my age and body's age differ( which is quite likely) I could use it as a key to deciphering the rest. But first I should look around the room probably.
The room I was in was quite interesting. Firstly it was a very expensive room with a large king-size bed, quite masterfully made furniture and a huge shelf of books with expensive covers. Secondly based on the room design it was aristocratic(or at least of a wannabe aristocrat) interestingly not a warrior aristocrat since I haven`t seen any weapons( except one short saber) nor trophies, but I have seen a map meaning the owner probably came from seafaring mercantile aristocracy.
Which is rare since aristocracy mostly came from warrior classes. Interesting does that mean that he is an exception or country I am in, structured around trade( probably of marine variation)? Well, I should probably look at what is on the bookshelf.
Okay, we have a lot of books on history, some books on organization and economics, a couple on shipbuilding, even loads of different philosophy( or probably philosophy they always have some strange titles) books, and …… Oh "Tractatus de principiis magicis" or "Tractats on principles of magic". Well, shit, this world has magic, remind me of what happened last time people had magic: some witch got sad that her husband died and gods won`t resurrect him so she decided to start a rebellion against all-powerful fucking gods. You know that rapier on the wall starts to look more attractive as to pierce my throat and try my luck with another world. Stop did I have some association? I should try and restore my memories.
2 hour later
It seems that I managed to restore most of my memories. So let's recon: My name is Whitley Schnee, I am sixteen years old, I am a son of Jacque Schnee and Willow Schnee, and I have two older sisters: Winter and Weiss. I am(at least was before death) heir of the Schnee Dust Company the biggest dust producer and distributor of Remnant (also the least moral company in it) and I died trying to do the right thing and save the citizens of Mantle. Yup, as soon as I start doing things that could be called moral( if trying to save my family name by any method is any opposite) universe decides to kill me( honestly it was my fault I shouldn`t have run to the computer to start evacuation).
And I got sent in the body of the heir of Brudanian-Gurlan Trading Company. Well, let's hope that it is a very moral and humane company. Sorry, who am I lying to? That company has freaking colonies( I am pretty sure that they use slave labor not only de facto but also de-jure there.), and also uses Brudanian Royal Bank to do money laundering, oh did I talk about genociding native populations in colonies or is it already obvious?
Well talking about changes to my "Emploi": Now my name is Ceriel (yes without surname), my mother is a mystery (small change from the previous situation) but my father is Claremont the chairman of BGTC, I am now 17 years old and I am also a privileged. What does this mean? That means that I have a magical talent and I am also part of the Brudanian Royal Cabal.
Well goodbye to my hope to not get involved with this magical scheiße! You know all of it sounds like some kind of tragi-comedy on a multiversal level, which is surprisingly quite a logical explanation for what is happening. Go to theatres to see "Misadventures of Idiot Whitley Schnee" in which we put him in shitty situations and treat him like it is his fault. Yeah, because it is funny as fuck, isn`t it? Isn`t it !? Probably for everyone except me! Okay, I need to calm down. Inhale - exhale, Inhale - exhale, Inhale-exhale.
Okay, so what do we have now? I am an heir to an extremely large company. I mean that's actually not that bad since it was what I specialized in my previous life. I still have some of the body's memories which allows me to quickly adapt to this world. I would need to get insight into the current situation in the world as soon as possible. Also, I would need to quickly get a grasp on how the magic works, I don`t want everyone to suspect me. Language problem I don`t have, Ceriel knows quite advanced brudanian and some other languages.
What else? Paperwork probably. I would need to quickly master the company's paperwork and documentation. Also, I would need to remember as much information on the company's board, the history of the Nine (The continent on which Brudania is placed) and other places, government structure, cabal structure, diplomatic relationships with the company and country, and another load of extremely important things. Mid-short-term goals set? Good, time to set short-term. That means going out of the room and talking to the closest people.
As I open the door I get greeted by quite a sterile corridor. Seriously, why do people have such a big fetish for those white marmour corridors? They could be pretty to look at a tour (at least that is my theory), but living with them is simply atrocious! Their sterility puts a lot of pressure on you and color gets annoying quickly! Well enough about coridors. I decide as I continue to have a stroll through the mansion. On the walls, I could see different portraits and pictures.
Well at least most of them are portraits of ships and places from around the world, and not portraits of sad excuse of a family especially one very distinct person(Claremont gets one point over Jacques already and I didn`t even meet him.). The most logical move right now is to find some stuff, but of course, there are problems with that since with those memory problems I couldn`t orient myself in this mansion(which begs the question about how big said mansion is? Is it bigger than a Schnees one?). So I decided to walk straight ahead hoping that the mansion wouldn`t have an overly circular design.
Well for once the universe (or multiverse? or God? Whatever is actually true) decided to be on my side and after a couple of minutes of senseless walking, I finally met the head-butler Gilroy. Light-brown hair, 150ish cm in height which is slightly below average for the place he is in, approximately 45 years old if Ceriel`s memories are correct, looks 50, probably non-confrontational but is surprised to see me. I should probably hide my annoyance and play as I am happy to see him too(don`t get me wrong I am happy but not that much). So I decide to put on a smile, relax my left hand, and slightly focus sight on him.
-Young master! What an unexcepted sight! You are waken up! Is everything alright my lord? - He says excitedly. Which is probably how he truly feels. But I need to be careful not to reveal any changes to him( or at least for changes not to be atypical for the situation I found myself into).
- And could you perhaps enlighten me on how long I have been asleep? - In a happily-curious tone I say. Quite a predictable question to ask, but it is for the better since a more bizarre question could give me away.
- You have been asleep for 3 months and 10 days master. - Replied the Servant little more restricted this time, but I could feel a little suspicion in his tone. Okay but what might cause it? Definitely not the question itself since the period of my hibernation suggests at least some type of coma (or similar condition). What else might cause this type of reaction? Was my relationship with him strained before? That might not be true because he seems genuinely happy that I woke up. Maybe my nonverbal was strange? Yes, it could be it. But what was wrong with it? Probably overemotional expression? Yes from what I could salvage from memory of Ceriel he was not very emotional.
- Could you perhaps prepare some tea for me? I would like to rehydrate myself after my sleep. Could you also prepare some snacks perhaps? I am genuinely furnished.- I ask in a more strictly calm tone heavily restricting my hand movement. That seems to be the expected thing from me since I didn`t exactly plan to restrict my hand. Probably Ceriel's body has some natural instincts that persist. If you think about it, it is apparent that if the memory was written over other neural functions could be also affected by same thing. It seems that the tone and answer I gave were excepted by Gilroy if we take his facial expression as the main indicator of this.
- Right away sir! - He responded with a slight hint of relief and guided me to the nearest room before running off to prepare previously mentioned things.
When he returned I had already managed to prepare for the next conversation. Firstly I shouldn`t show too much emotion. From what I managed to recollect from Ceriel's memories was the fact that he was always less emotional( or borderline psychopathic honestly) and even though he preferred to imitate emotions during meetings with other people, he didn`t do that with most of the mansion stuff. Secondly, I should probably play as if I have some form of amnesia, I would be able to get away with strange questions and behaviors(as if I technically didn`t have one). And finally, I should try to get as much information on Claremont as possible( if he is at least a somewhat responsible parent he would try to visit me as fast as he can).
So when Gilroy finally sets the table I decide to strike up a conversation.
- Could you please stay with me for a while? I might have a couple of questions. - I initiate adding a hint of curiosity in my voice.
- As you please my lord. What question you might have? - Calmly asks Gilroy interested in what I am about to say.
- Could you please bring me insight on what happened while I was asleep? I also might have some issues with memory so don`t judge my questions too much. - I explain calmly waiting for an answer.
- Well the events that happened were quite significant. Firstly situation with BGCT intervention in the Adran-Kez war spiraled out of hand. Even though originally said intervention was largely a humanitarian mission to help civilians in Adopest, it quickly turned into a conflict with the Adran army because some person gave the orders for company troops and large parts of BRC to attack the Adran troops during the parade in honor of Richard`s Tumblar victory in elections for prime minister. The main suspect in organizing this attack is officially your father who was another candidate. - He continued to calmly tell me when I cut him off.
- Sorry for cutting you off but how could my father be the second candidate if he is Brudanian? - Genuinely I asked him since I am pretty sure most republics require citizenship to be a candidate for government position.
- Well Adran's constitution which where developed a couple of months old during the time of the elections had a loophole where you don`t need to have Adran citizenship, you just need not have any other. And your father might not had citizenship of Brudania - Explained the butler almost unfazed by me cutting him off. But interestingly enough he used past tense over Claremont meaning he either died or acquired Brudanian citizenship. I could pretty surely bet that he is probably dead which means that I might be CEO or chairman of this firm. Also, him saying that Adran's constitution was a couple of months old might imply that Adro might have just had a revolution then. Which seems strangely obvious to me.
- That explanation is good enough you may proceed. - I calmly replied
- The forces of the company and cabal lost the engagement even though one regiment managed to win the fight in the outskirts of Adopest. Your father died so as an entire higher echelon of the Brudanian cabal including grandmaster. So during peace negotiations, BGTC was presented as the losing side. Which had a lot of consequences for the company including but not limited: to losing a lot of contracts with different nations, reparation for Deliv and Adro, significant loss of reputation, loss of a lot of influence in Brudania, and finally crash of companies stocks. The position of chairman for a time of your inactivity was assumed by Lord Syk. Royal Cabal is currently headed by Mernix Bomhoff but since you are the legitimate successor of the previous grandmaster you will probably change him in this role. - Continued to explain head-butler when he stopped seeing me in a state of total shock which I couldn`t control. No seriously how the fucking hell I could be both grandmaster of BRC and heir of BGTC? It doesn`t make any sense. Who the hell would allow a person to get so much power in a country?
- Oh of course amnesia. Your father made a deal with the previous grandmaster so that you will be the next one. In exchange, 5% of the companies stocks was given to the grandmaster, and another 10% was given exclusivity for a BRC member. That deal is indeed very unorthodox, but you could say mostly fair. - Explained Gilroy which made more sense.
- Yes I assume it is right. May I also ask about the current company situation? Who owns the stocks? What about the reparation we must pay? The situation in colonies? - I asked curiously feeling myself in my element. After all, I was bred to be a CEO, so dealing with company politics and finances was my forte.
- The company is currently facing probably its hardest crisis. Even the sinking of the Eighth Merchant Fleet by Gorgantis wasn`t as big as we currently facing. Stocks plummeted up to 40% of their previous value. The contracts with Deliv, Adro and Novi were terminated, and diplomatic relationships with them are almost beyond saving. The sum of reparations for the Deliv and Adro is in the range of 500 millions to 700 millions of adran crana. The merchant families that previously were the company's main investors and supporters are displeased by their financial losses. Some of them are even already planning on plundering some of our warehouses like the Follin family.
The stocks are mostly distributed like this: 40 percent are your stocks, and another 30 percent are shared between merchant families biggest of them is the Follin family represented by Micenth Follin famous slave rights activist, 15 percent are property of different royal cabal members, and excluding grandmaster biggest stockholder is Agnes with another 5% percent of company`s stock she actually had 3,5% percents of stock before the crises but managed to buy another 1,5 percent when stocks dropped, and the last category is other stakeholders which have 15 percent of the stocks.
About the relationship with the government: King Liva II almost openly stated that he would try to oppose the company and already started some reforms in the country. He even tries to push an increase in tax rates for the company. Mernix Bonhof also always presented himself as a royalist and even after you may assume the position of grandmaster he still will remain one of the strongest people in the cabal with his experience. The situation with the council is better since most of them have additional paychecks from a company. And the people never liked our company very much, to begin with, but since most of them work for it they need to support publicly most of your decisions.
The colonies are on the border of rebellion especially Brudania-Fatra where their gubernator is actively thinking about mutiny. With other colonial properties situation are tad better. - Calmly explained Gilroy the situation of the company.
You know I have given Claremont some points. Fuck that null his point and put him on the bottom of the list below Willow, below Jacque, below Siena Khan, and even below fucking Weiss!!! How the hell you could manage to drop the ball so badly!?
Why the honest fuck you even decided that it is a cool idea to start engagement after you lost the elections against an army that just won the war, on their fucking territory, with your much smaller contingent!? And now I must deal with your bull-scheiße! You know what! The reincarnation reroll using sharp tools is now looking extremely attractive! King hates us! Most of the cabal is either extremely pissed off that their strongest part died, or happy since they could advance themselves and gain influence which I am an obstacle to, or rather a combination of both! The merchant families are pissed and already planning to plunder the warehouses!
And how I should clean this mess while trying to also pay that amount of reparations? I can`t even print that since: first I don`t have control over the bank probably, and secondly the sum is in adran krana! That's just impossible no fucking company ever survived shit like this! SDC started to crumble from the embargo and that is 10 times worse! Okey breath in-out, in-out, in-out.
Well if anything cheap stocks may be a good opportunity to move from being chairman to full-on CEO. I would just need to buy more than 5 percent. Also, I would need to get the position to calm everyone down so they do not abandon the company. Probably also fix relationships with the king, and organize a plan to restore BRC to at least its previous strength. Fix relationships with Adro and Deliv, and ideally manage to get reparations frozen for some time. Also, think about how to calm everyone down in colonies. Yeah, that is definitely not an impossible task. Who am I fucking lying to? It is almost impossible.
Why the hell I must always carry this type of burden? Why the hell I couldn`t just have a normal life without all this bullshit? Is this some type of punishment for me existing? Was I not meant to exist so this is how the multiverse punishes me? By giving something to uphold while others hypocritically gain benefits from it? While they tell how hard they try to save everything, it is me who doing the work. When they decide to abandon their duties it is I who pick them up. When they ruin everything that was built by the ancestors and treat me like it is my duty to restore its greatness(or at least prevent its total fall). If I shouldn't have even been born, why do you treat me like their mistake is always my problem? Why do they get to be known, to be someone others give a damn while I am always in the dark? Is that time something is different? Is that time something is different?
But it is, isn`t it? They are no longer here. Claremont is dead. My previous "family" is in another world. I could finally try to be someone. I could become the greatest BGTC CEO! I could become somebody great!! Somebody about whom people care!!! Then it is set! No retreat into non-existence, and no running away from this reality!! I will become someone who is remembered!
Young master were contemplating. It was obvious by him staring at the wall without moving. Well, the young master was always a contemplative person. Even from his childhood that he got from his father. But right now strange was that in his eyes were no longer void but something else. The young master wasn`t the same after the incident when he was lost to sleep. Is he even the same young lord? His movement was less mechanical than before. He showed at least some hints of emotions. So should he even serve him if it is not who he needs to care about? Lord Claremont asked him to serve him and his son as payment for saving him from the streets of Pyre.
- Excuse me I spaced out a bit. Could you please tell me when will be possible to organize the meeting with shareholders? - Politely asked master Ceriel.
- I would be able to organize a meeting approximately a week from that day. Will it suit you, my lord? - I replied.
- Yes it will. Thank you. You are free to go. I would serve tea for myself and communicate with you when I would need the table cleared. - He politely asked.
As I decided to leave I found it interesting that I don`t remember witnessing his shadow when he started contemplating. Could it be? But how?