The silence perated throughout the mahogany-paneled War Room for so ti, before Ragnar finally voiced his projections for the upcoming fiscal quarter with an impassioned speech.
"Gentlen, we are at the dawn of a new market cycle! The invasion from the West Saxons has brought us an unforeseen opportunity for aggressive expansion. Nottingham is under siege, and the rcian Ealdorman is... well, let’s just say his contract has been terminated.
If we take advantage of this upheaval to secure the coal supply chain; we will be able to benefit from this crisis and establish a Logistics Hub, with our Directorate at the center of the trade network! Imagine a new England with City Titan at the core of its power grid!
For this vision of the future to beco a reality, I need every one of you to seize this opportunity that lies before us! For a Greater Directorate!"
Every man within the War Room of the Departnt of Security was an ambitious man... or at least, a man who enjoyed a steady paycheck and dental benefits.
Not a single one of them was displeased with this plan that would allow their Director to effectively privatize the Midlands in the future.
As such, when Ragnar finished his speech, it was t with the corporate motto of the Iron Empire from all of the officers present.
"Efficiency is Victory!"
Seeing the officers pound their chests in a unified salute and scream the motto of his company, Ragnar was pleased; it would appear that the core of his middle managent had aligned with his vision in the upcoming hostile takeover.
Though Ragnar did not doubt their loyalty he was an exceptionally cautious man and had to prepare for the event that he would be subjected to industrial espionage.
As such, he was closely examining every mber of his staff through his monocle before nodding his head in approval.
After witnessing the scene of his officers co to terms with his business plan, Ragnar pointed towards Nottingham on the map before sharing his and Elfwynn’s strategy with the high-ranking officers who made up the core of his military hierarchy.
"Our ’Consultants’ have long since infiltrated the mining guilds of Nottingham. When the city falls and the Guildhall with it, we predict that King Aethelwulf of Wessex will try to nationalize the mines. As such, we will... ’acquire’ the Guildmasters and bring them to City Titan, where we will coerce them into granting exclusive mining rights.
In na only, of course; the real power behind the pickaxe will be as Director, and by extension, all of you as Regional Managers. You all do not need to worry about this operation’s success as it is left to the Departnt of Human Resources (forrly the spy network).
"As for your jobs, it will be to ensure that our Security Forces are prepared and amassed at our Southern border for the three-prong audit through Derby, Leicester, and Lincoln!
After we have seized those assets, we will rally with the forces of Unit Alpha and march on the West Saxons in Tamworth, which will allow us to seize the capital of rcia, and declare our rger complete."
Hearing Ragnar’s plan for invading the Midlands and restructuring it, the Officers were all impressed.
By the ti they were able to invade West Saxon-occupied rcia, they would have roughly 15,000 "Security Contractors."
They would be able to split their force into three Divisions of 5,000 n each to advance on the three locations; each Division would have enough firepower to successfully liquidate any feudal army they might co across.
The strategy itself was planned by Ragnar, considering General Bjorn was currently overseeing the forces stationed in the Humanitarian Aid Train, the young Director had to design the operation entirely by himself.
As an avid fan of RTS gas from his past life, he was more than capable of devising a Zerg Rush such as this.
The officers comprised of the core of his military hierarchy all agreed with the strategy, and though a few of them added so minor inputs regarding supply chain optimization, the invasion plan was mainly complete.
As such, after a thorough discussion, the Officers were eventually dismissed, and Ragnar found himself alone in the War Room staring at the map.
One day soon, the Midlands would be his, and his plans for unifying England into a United Kingdom of Industry would be one step closer to reality.
After looking over his battle plans one more ti, Ragnar rolled up the map and stashed it away in a fireproof safe.
He then left the headquarters of the Departnt of Security and returned to the Governor’s Mansion, where Gyda and Magnus were waiting patiently for him to attend dinner.
The mont Ragnar sat down at the head of the table, he overheard Gyda’s voice call out to him.
"So, how did the Board eting go?"
Upon hearing these words, Ragnar smirked before tussling Magnus’s blonde hair. Afterward, he took a sip out of the black coffee filled in his skull chalice before responding.
"You do not need to worry so much; everything is going according to the projections. Soon enough, we will corner the market."
Elfwynn, of course, had no idea what the young couple was conspiring about this ti.
Instead, she spoke up voluntarily for the first ti in a while with a broad smile on her face.
"I made a breakthrough today!"
Hearing Elfwynn openly declare such a thing brought a great sense of surprise to both Ragnar and Gyda, who had not expected her to solve the ventilation issue so quickly after they had given her the blueprints. They thought it would take a while before Elfwynn would leave her comfort zone and modify the steam pumps. As such, Ragnar imdiately took a sip from his chalice before replying to Elfwynn.
"I am glad to hear it. So what is this little breakthrough of yours?"
Elfwynn was all too eager to announce her discovery and how she achieved it; as such, she quickly began to spit out the events of what happened as rapidly as a telegraph machine.
"It’s the Airflow Valve! I was talking to one of the miners, and he ntioned how the canaries always faint near the lower shafts. So I realized... we don’t need more pumps; we need Exhaust Vents! If we drill a secondary shaft at a 45-degree angle, the heat from the steam engine will create a natural updraft, pulling the bad air out!
I tested it on a small scale model, and the smoke cleared in seconds!"
Ragnar nearly choked on his coffee when he heard Elfwynn explaining the principles of thermodynamics with such excitent.
Gyda, on the other hand, was smirking at Ragnar’s surprise and began to encourage Elfwynn to continue with her report.
"That’s good, Elfwynn; I rember when I first heard of your engineering skills years ago, the rumors that were flowing about then was that you couldn’t tell a hamr from a horseshoe, and you spent most of your days embroidering handkerchiefs..."
Ragnar glared at Gyda when she reminded him of Elfwynn’s original skillset; every ti he looked back on those days, he began to cringe at the wasted potential.
If he had not audited her education, that talent would have ended up marrying so dull Ealdorman, and the Directorate would never be able to achieve anything significant in mining.
Luckily for him, he was able to reinvent her career path through many performance reviews.
After listening to the two won criticize the feudal education system, Ragnar coughed a little before addressing Elfwynn’s innovation.
"Elfwynn, my dear Chief Engineer..."
Elfwynn perked up her head like a erkat when she heard Ragnar address her in such a manner.
"Yes, Director?"
Ragnar took another sip from his coffee before finishing his train of thought; the whole scenario impressed him.
"If you value your stock options, you will do best to patent that design imdiately..."
Gyda chuckled as she witnessed Ragnar’s greedy expression; as for Elfwynn, she was confused; after all, Ragnar was the one who encouraged her to share information freely with the team.
However, she quickly realized she might have accidentally invented sothing valuable and began to smile before nodding her head in agreent.
"Okay, I will file the paperwork with the Patent Office tomorrow!"
Seeing that Elfwynn had agreed to his request, Ragnar smiled gratefully before reaching across the table and patting Elfwynn’s shoulder while praising her.
"Good asset!"
This action, of course, brought a proud smile to Elfwynn’s face as she basked in the validation of her ntor. Gyda, of course, would not miss the opportunity to make fun of Ragnar and quickly muttered under her breath.
"Capitalist..."
This statent instantly disrupted Ragnar’s actions and brought a frown to his face.
As such, he withdrew his hand from Elfwynn’s shoulder before awkwardly digging into his al of roasted pork and potatoes.
After which Elfwynn began to pout at Gyda for disrupting her mont, the al continued in awkward silence as the trio enjoyed the gourt cuisine made for them by the talented chefs of the Directorate’s cafeteria.
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