[A/N: Sorry for the late chaps, I was travelling and just got home.]
Magnus returned home after his tiresome meeting about creating a Gas Company, he was sure to face some problems from the Chinese side as they claimed the whole sea on a historical note, at that time Magnus too will lay claim to the entire sea on a historical claim of his family legacy, then he would bring the matter to the International Court of Justice where the matter will run for years to come, by the time it will resolve, he will have made fossil fuels irrelevent.
Of course, a military conflict was not out of the equation, but one would be the dumbest creature on the planet to fight him at this point.
He met Emma at home, "Love, you need to start preparing. You are going to be the queen consort. Hence, you need to have an image similar to mum's. For this, you need to invent something that can be used in the muggle world. Something they can feel proud of."
"Well, I only know how to make brooms, I have no idea about the muggle science either." She was confused now.
"That's the point. *sigh* This one is going to be hard. Even Rag was able to create things. Wait, I got an idea, we're gonna fool the world. Do you remember the flying needle you made? Make it smaller, strap a spy camera on it, we'll just call it the most advanced drone in the world. Who cares if the people can't have it, as long as they know you made it, they will be WAP boys." He suggested.
"Ugh... I thought I was done with that thing. I just made one for you." She grunted.
Magnus didn't know that, he smoothly caught her and pulled her to his lap, "Really? Was that like a gift or something?"
"Umm... Of course, so what are you going to give me in return?" She asked.
"What do you want?"
"SURPRISE!" All of a sudden the three gremlins barged in.
Emma quickly got up and greeted them. "Look, big brother, we made pancakes today. Mum taught us. Please taste and tell us how it is."
Pancakes made by his siblings? Nothing can be sweeter than that. He took the plate and cut a small slice to bite. However, as soon as it touched his tongue, his eyes widened in horror, ~W-Why the fuck does this have so much salt in it?~
"Aww... Let me taste it," Emma also took a bite and had the same expression. ~My mouth, WATER... I need water.~
Aurelia smiled brightly, "Woah, they like it so much. Let me taste it,"
Magnus picked the whole pancake and gobbled it. He patted their heads with a bright smile, "That was very tasty. But you don't need to put salt or sugar in the batter. There is syrup for that. Now, I need to go out."
He walked to the window, it was on the 3rd floor. He jumped straight out of it and ran to the Thames river. *Splash* "Aaaaaaa... MY TONGUE!"
...
The next day,
Magnus remained in his office. Not the one in the Palace, though, that was only for official king business. For his personal work, he'd sit in the building of Dragon Holdings. His office spanned the entire half of the top floor, giving a panoramic view of the city.
*Ring Ring*
"Sir, the CEO of DailyMart is here to meet you." His secretary informed him on the call.
"Send her in," he responded.
DailyMart was a huge multinational giant right now. To be able to shop groceries from the convenience of your home was a revolutionary concept. The cost was cheaper as well.
The company now not only sends out flyers in newspapers every week but also runs television channels every day where the whole sale list would be shown. The latest offers and biggest discounts get revealed. The company now even started to make original products such as clothing. They had their own farmlands and contracted farmers around the globe too.
They were so efficient because of their state of the art automated inventory warehouses. They were made to be automated and fast with the help of robotic arms used by car manufacturers. Not to mention, each warehouse had a resident wizard posing as the repairman. He would fix any broken machine with a wave of the arm in secret.
But he wondered why the CEO came, the company was doing well. They had no plans of doing IPO before expanding so their evaluation is higher.
Freya was in her late 20s right now and owned 40% of the company. She entered and gave an official bow to royalty, "Y-Your Majesty."
"Take a seat, Freya. I'm not the king here right now, I'm a businessman. So, what brought you here today?" He asked.
She put some documents on the table, "Sir, as you know, we've been expanding the company for a while now. But in America, we are facing some troubles. We're stuck in a price war with Walmart."
Magnus read the documents. It showed how both companies were trying to undercut each other. If one sold toothpaste at 1.50$ then the other would sell it at 1.45$, meanwhile, the normal market price was 2$.
The fight had gone on for so long that Walmart was now selling various items at a cost price, making no profit or very little.
"Can we buy them?" Magnus asked.
She shook her head, "They are a publicly-traded company and hit 1 billion in revenue in 1980. It's run by a family dynasty system and they will not sell it."
Magnus silently thought about it. "How do we pay our delivery boys?" He asked.
"From the sale of items." She answered.
"Hmm, okay. We're going to continue this price war and cripple Walmart until some instigated rumours hit the market and its shareholders start panic selling so we can buy. To pay our delivery partners, launch a new offer, pay 5$ a month and get free delivery for the entire month. Those who don't pay will be charged slightly more delivery charges but the cost of our items must always be lower than Walmart. I think it can be good if DailyMart buys Walmart and gets into physical retail stores.
"I will use some funds from Dragon Holdings to cover the extra operational expenses of our warehouses." He planned and wrote things down for her to remember.
She wobbled her head in agreement. "Yes, sir."
"Don't worry too much. They are a publicly-traded company. They have to answer to shareholders, we don't. They can't keep this price war going for too long." Magnus reassured her.
After this meeting, he worked on a few other things until his secretary called again.
"Sir, a man from Oxford is here, his name is... Tim Berners-Lee. He says he has an idea for you."
He allowed the man to come in and pitch his idea. After all, Magnus was renowned around the world as the greatest angel investor. Especially in the UK. All the new companies that were doing well had Magnus' investments in them.
The man entered, probably in his 20s. He was wearing a suit and acted nervously. "Greetings, your majesty."
"Take a seat, Mr Lee. What brought you to me today?" He got to the point.
"I had an idea to develop a network for computers, sir. Just imagine, all your companies and employees are connected to each other. If you want you can search for names of people and projects on it. You can feed data to it for others to use.
"And imagine one day it going universal, the entire world connected to the internet. All knowledge is accessible to everyone. Just a few keyboard strokes further. Although DARPA has made it before, it was strictly for the US Army. I want to make a version for the public. I have a few ideas with which accessing and using the internet can be made easier." The man pitched his idea.
Magnus did learn programming and understood what the man said. But he was not the expert, "I like your idea. But FutureTek is run by Brandon. I am an investor, if you had a company Idea I would've invested. But what you have is a science project. Here, I'm writing this reference letter, take it to FutureTek tower and show it to reception, they will take you to meet Brandon quickly. If he's interested, you will be given a free hand to work on it." Magnus sorted things out.
Tim Berners-Lee was elated with this news. Brandon was famous in the tech world. But he came to meet Magnus because he represented the country.
"Sir, if I can show its usefulness, will you expand it to the whole country?" He asked.
"If it's really as good as you say, I will expand it around the world and even the moon with satellite, whatever it takes. Here, take this letter." He handed it over.
The man bowed and left happily. What both of them didn't know was that this meeting was the creation of history, a meeting that will change the future, ushering the world in the era of the internet.
~Ah, nice business as always,~ he muttered and relaxed in his seat, turning around to look outside at London city.
But what can go wrong will go wrong. Magnus had not really faced many hardships that could be called real setbacks all his life. Yes, he was under mental pressure but he never faced something he could not deal with.
He didn't know that there were things in his body that were changing and they were not for the better. For everything in the Universe has a price, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
[A/N: Sorry for the late chaps, I was travelling and just got home.]
Magnus returned home after his tiresome meeting about creating a Gas Company, he was sure to face some problems from the Chinese side as they claimed the whole sea on a historical note, at that time Magnus too will lay claim to the entire sea on a historical claim of his family legacy, then he would bring the matter to the International Court of Justice where the matter will run for years to come, by the time it will resolve, he will have made fossil fuels irrelevent.
Of course, a military conflict was not out of the equation, but one would be the dumbest creature on the planet to fight him at this point.
He met Emma at home, "Love, you need to start preparing. You are going to be the queen consort. Hence, you need to have an image similar to mum's. For this, you need to invent something that can be used in the muggle world. Something they can feel proud of."
"Well, I only know how to make brooms, I have no idea about the muggle science either." She was confused now.
"That's the point. *sigh* This one is going to be hard. Even Rag was able to create things. Wait, I got an idea, we're gonna fool the world. Do you remember the flying needle you made? Make it smaller, strap a spy camera on it, we'll just call it the most advanced drone in the world. Who cares if the people can't have it, as long as they know you made it, they will be WAP boys." He suggested.
"Ugh... I thought I was done with that thing. I just made one for you." She grunted.
Magnus didn't know that, he smoothly caught her and pulled her to his lap, "Really? Was that like a gift or something?"
"Umm... Of course, so what are you going to give me in return?" She asked.
"What do you want?"
"SURPRISE!" All of a sudden the three gremlins barged in.
Emma quickly got up and greeted them. "Look, big brother, we made pancakes today. Mum taught us. Please taste and tell us how it is."
Pancakes made by his siblings? Nothing can be sweeter than that. He took the plate and cut a small slice to bite. However, as soon as it touched his tongue, his eyes widened in horror, ~W-Why the fuck does this have so much salt in it?~
"Aww... Let me taste it," Emma also took a bite and had the same expression. ~My mouth, WATER... I need water.~
Aurelia smiled brightly, "Woah, they like it so much. Let me taste it,"
Magnus picked the whole pancake and gobbled it. He patted their heads with a bright smile, "That was very tasty. But you don't need to put salt or sugar in the batter. There is syrup for that. Now, I need to go out."
He walked to the window, it was on the 3rd floor. He jumped straight out of it and ran to the Thames river. *Splash* "Aaaaaaa... MY TONGUE!"
...
The next day,
Magnus remained in his office. Not the one in the Palace, though, that was only for official king business. For his personal work, he'd sit in the building of Dragon Holdings. His office spanned the entire half of the top floor, giving a panoramic view of the city.
*Ring Ring*
"Sir, the CEO of DailyMart is here to meet you." His secretary informed him on the call.
"Send her in," he responded.
DailyMart was a huge multinational giant right now. To be able to shop groceries from the convenience of your home was a revolutionary concept. The cost was cheaper as well.
The company now not only sends out flyers in newspapers every week but also runs television channels every day where the whole sale list would be shown. The latest offers and biggest discounts get revealed. The company now even started to make original products such as clothing. They had their own farmlands and contracted farmers around the globe too.
They were so efficient because of their state of the art automated inventory warehouses. They were made to be automated and fast with the help of robotic arms used by car manufacturers. Not to mention, each warehouse had a resident wizard posing as the repairman. He would fix any broken machine with a wave of the arm in secret.
But he wondered why the CEO came, the company was doing well. They had no plans of doing IPO before expanding so their evaluation is higher.
Freya was in her late 20s right now and owned 40% of the company. She entered and gave an official bow to royalty, "Y-Your Majesty."
"Take a seat, Freya. I'm not the king here right now, I'm a businessman. So, what brought you here today?" He asked.
She put some documents on the table, "Sir, as you know, we've been expanding the company for a while now. But in America, we are facing some troubles. We're stuck in a price war with Walmart."
Magnus read the documents. It showed how both companies were trying to undercut each other. If one sold toothpaste at 1.50$ then the other would sell it at 1.45$, meanwhile, the normal market price was 2$.
The fight had gone on for so long that Walmart was now selling various items at a cost price, making no profit or very little.
"Can we buy them?" Magnus asked.
She shook her head, "They are a publicly-traded company and hit 1 billion in revenue in 1980. It's run by a family dynasty system and they will not sell it."
Magnus silently thought about it. "How do we pay our delivery boys?" He asked.
"From the sale of items." She answered.
"Hmm, okay. We're going to continue this price war and cripple Walmart until some instigated rumours hit the market and its shareholders start panic selling so we can buy. To pay our delivery partners, launch a new offer, pay 5$ a month and get free delivery for the entire month. Those who don't pay will be charged slightly more delivery charges but the cost of our items must always be lower than Walmart. I think it can be good if DailyMart buys Walmart and gets into physical retail stores.
"I will use some funds from Dragon Holdings to cover the extra operational expenses of our warehouses." He planned and wrote things down for her to remember.
She wobbled her head in agreement. "Yes, sir."
"Don't worry too much. They are a publicly-traded company. They have to answer to shareholders, we don't. They can't keep this price war going for too long." Magnus reassured her.
After this meeting, he worked on a few other things until his secretary called again.
"Sir, a man from Oxford is here, his name is... Tim Berners-Lee. He says he has an idea for you."
He allowed the man to come in and pitch his idea. After all, Magnus was renowned around the world as the greatest angel investor. Especially in the UK. All the new companies that were doing well had Magnus' investments in them.
The man entered, probably in his 20s. He was wearing a suit and acted nervously. "Greetings, your majesty."
"Take a seat, Mr Lee. What brought you to me today?" He got to the point.
"I had an idea to develop a network for computers, sir. Just imagine, all your companies and employees are connected to each other. If you want you can search for names of people and projects on it. You can feed data to it for others to use.
"And imagine one day it going universal, the entire world connected to the internet. All knowledge is accessible to everyone. Just a few keyboard strokes further. Although DARPA has made it before, it was strictly for the US Army. I want to make a version for the public. I have a few ideas with which accessing and using the internet can be made easier." The man pitched his idea.
Magnus did learn programming and understood what the man said. But he was not the expert, "I like your idea. But FutureTek is run by Brandon. I am an investor, if you had a company Idea I would've invested. But what you have is a science project. Here, I'm writing this reference letter, take it to FutureTek tower and show it to reception, they will take you to meet Brandon quickly. If he's interested, you will be given a free hand to work on it." Magnus sorted things out.
Tim Berners-Lee was elated with this news. Brandon was famous in the tech world. But he came to meet Magnus because he represented the country.
"Sir, if I can show its usefulness, will you expand it to the whole country?" He asked.
"If it's really as good as you say, I will expand it around the world and even the moon with satellite, whatever it takes. Here, take this letter." He handed it over.
The man bowed and left happily. What both of them didn't know was that this meeting was the creation of history, a meeting that will change the future, ushering the world in the era of the internet.
~Ah, nice business as always,~ he muttered and relaxed in his seat, turning around to look outside at London city.
But what can go wrong will go wrong. Magnus had not really faced many hardships that could be called real setbacks all his life. Yes, he was under mental pressure but he never faced something he could not deal with.
He didn't know that there were things in his body that were changing and they were not for the better. For everything in the Universe has a price, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
