After dinner, the lady of the house went to visit her beloved daughter, while Mr. Wadrick and Lynch headed to Wadrick’s study.
Although Lynch was a bastard, Wadrick could distinguish between personal and professional matters. He wouldn’t hold a grudge against Lynch just because he had rejected his daughter; that was a private issue.
“Care for one?” Seated in his oversized chair, Mr. Wadrick pulled out an ornate single-case from the box of Coluff on his desk and tipped out a golden pure-color stick.
Lynch thought for a mont, then grabbed three and pocketed them.
Wadrick was montarily stunned by Lynch’s almost rogue-like behavior, then burst out laughing. He pointed at him, “Which one is the real you?”
Lynch showed no sha. “All of them!”
The unpretentiousness, the refusal to conceal his own thoughts—this made Wadrick look at him with even greater respect. He knew very well how much these pure-colors were worth outside.
Lynch didn’t know much about this, so he had no idea: every year the producers in the place of origin provided these cigars to their investors with a personal insignia. Only those familiar with Coluff would know this detail.
On the iron outer case, hidden in the filigree beneath the brand logo, there was a line of text no bigger than a needlepoint: Gifted to Mr. So-and-so.
When opened, one of the cigars inside would also be heat-stamped along the edge of the leaf with the sa words, showing exactly who it was ant for.
Not everyone had such a personal marking. These indicated status. Ordinary rich n had nowhere near enough clout to get their nas imprinted on the most elite pure-colors. Only n like Mr. Wadrick, Mr. Patric, the heads of the great financial dynasties, had that privilege.
Such a cigar could, when necessary, be as valuable as Mr. Wadrick’s signature.
Lynch ended up with two extra because he realized how effective they were. Even a governor’s level person would be impressed if given one.
The state election would end in less than two weeks, and Lynch planned to attend the governor’s celebration. Bringing out such a cigar then would work wonders.
From a modern perspective, using borrowed prestige is the most efficient strategy. The fox need not worry about its own reputation, and the tiger doesn’t need to bare its teeth.
Wadrick expertly clipped both ends of a cigar, lit it with a torch, and took a few puffs. Waving away the smoke, he said, “Alright, alright, you’ll have your chance soday. When that ti cos, you owe a whole box!”
If nothing unexpected happened, Lynch would surely have a place in the top federal financial circles soday. This was Wadrick’s intuition and rational judgnt.
He had observed Lynch carefully. Unlike those who climbed the ranks step by step within the system, Lynch imdiately saw how society operated and recognized its invisible barriers.
He understood these obstacles well and cleverly avoided them—that was what made him so extraordinary.
The federation did not lack talented young people. Even purely in terms of ability, Lynch might not be the best. But those others were different.
They couldn’t see through the fog. No matter how capable, they eventually had to submit to the system’s rules and chanisms, exploited and used by their superiors.
An outstanding graduate of the Saint Harmony Society University would most likely have to work for a decade or more, rising from an office clerk to beco a partner in a major branch of a financial group. �
Then, after more years, join the board of that branch, and by his fifties, perhaps beco chairman or vice-chairman.
By sixty or seventy, he might hold a tiny fraction of shares in the entire group—maybe one ten-thousandth or two—after a lifeti proving his worth.
Despite great ability, he would be bound by rules, climbing a peak he could never truly reach.
So might ask: what if one starts a business right after graduation?
The answer is similar. In the federation, big sharks ignore small companies—until they show potential. Then the vulture investors swoop in, used to rgers and breakups.
The federation has more laws regulating finance than anything else. So claim these laws protect investors and entrepreneurs, but in reality, the legislators aim to profit from the system.
For example, laws requiring companies of a certain market value to list publicly.
You can go public and then delist, but you must list first.
This ensures major investors can legally use the law as a weapon to divide the pie. Once listed, shares can be freely traded, allowing these investors to enter boards, gain control, and eventually seize the company.
Or they can make a quick profit during the listing process and then crush the company if it resists.
Starting a business ans accepting capital investnt from the beginning, giving investors majority shares. Many founders realize later that they’re just highly paid employees.
Their company stopped belonging to them at the first financing round, and now holding less than ten percent, they can only sigh bitterly.
Whether climbing the ladder or starting a business, anyone playing by federation rules must accept its constraints. The rule-makers do not easily allow challengers.
But Lynch chose an unimaginable path for his first step. While others hadn’t even looked globally, Lynch’s overseas power had already exploded beyond control.
Even if Wadrick tried to restrain him, he had no effective ans.
This was not like Wadrick’s usual moves—calling to have a promising partner ousted or orchestrating industry-wide boycotts to strangle a company.
Lynch had no boss, and no one controlled his future—not even the president. His main focus was overseas, cooperating closely with federal leaders but moving at a high level where authority checks didn’t work.
Targeting him comrcially was difficult. Deny him products?
He could import from Gephra or elsewhere. Nagaryll isn’t part of the federation, and despite strong control by the Joint Developnt Company, they were unlikely to ban Gephra rchants’ trade.
Such a diplomatic dispute could cause bigger political problems and conflict with many financial groups’ interests, so they couldn’t cut Lynch’s lifeline.
While uncontrollable, Lynch grew ruthlessly in Nagaryll, even orchestrating a nationwide uprising to help replace the ruling class. He bribed and coerced officials, binding everyone to his cause.
He shalessly used the provincial governor’s family as leverage, offering a bright future and gaining nearly everything.
No one could control him. From the start, he never planned to base his critical early growth in the holand but focused on Nagaryll.
So say his offer to export industrial machinery to Nagaryll and help build its industrial base was just a setup for later moves.
Whether true or not, he reaped the sweetest rewards.
He was also planning matters in the Allia region. A young man who saw through everything, operated outside the rules, and grew wildly unstoppable—his future was sealed.
Wadrick believed that as long as nothing unexpected happened, Lynch would definitely have a place in his circle in the future.
This was also why he later agreed to let his daughter give it a try—he had clearly seen Lynch’s path. Though still sowhat risky, the odds were in his favor.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, Lynch wasn’t interested in his daughter. Wadrick was even more convinced that the real reason was Lynch didn’t want him interfering in his business.
The two n, one much older than the other by two or three decades, yet sohow they felt evenly matched—a strange sensation.
Before Wadrick now stood a more perfected version of himself: filled with bolder ambition, more ticulous and effective thods, along with selfishness and greed.
People always say selfishness and greed are bad, but when directed outward, in expansion, even if they don’t beco good, at least they aren’t so bad.
Lynch felt no discomfort about his behavior. Legs crossed, fingers interlocked over his knee, he said casually, “I’ll send you a whole truckload!”
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