The ad campaign continued for a week.
The advertisement campaign had the agents painstakingly spread awareness of the haven unit throughout the district locality. With each passing day, it became increasingly evident to the people of the slums that whatever the little house-shaped box was, it seemed to keep those who stayed in it dry and, presumably, safe.
The price tag was what truly stunned the residents of the slums.
Despite possessing the refinement of something that clearly came out of the inner city, it was somehow still in the triple digits.
It drew their curiosity and fascination.
Especially when almost every night came with a storm that brought with it heavy rains and powerful winds, often leaving them wet while making their life miserable.
It was virtually impossible to get a good night's sleep in the monsoons.
"It's time."
Cæ's calm but determined voice drew the attention of all the people seated at the table in the conference room. "A week of our little makeshift ad promotional campaign will yield most of the value that we can possibly squeeze from this tactic. With each passing day from this point forward, we will get diminishing returns for a rather hefty hourly wage rate for the agents of our ad campaign. And so…"
His attention shifted from the reports in his hands to the people seated across in the conference room in the headquarters of the company.
"…We will now commence our sales operations."
Across the rather bland, white conference room were more than just his other two partners, Feidin and Seliphaz, the former of whom wore a serious formal work attire for what was surely shaping up to be an important day.
Even Seliphaz had donned a formal white shirt and skirt, propping herself up in a manner befitting one of the owners of the company.
"Feidin," Cæ turned to him. "How many haven units do we have in our inventory at this very moment?"
"About three hundred and twenty-eight, if we include the ones that were used for the advertisement that will soon be fully restored to brand-new quality," Feidin answered with a serious expression.
"That should be enough to sustain the initial wave of demand, but it will not be enough once the product truly begins to propagate," Cæ muttered to himself before his attention returned to Feidin once more. "And what about the acquisition of other factories?"
Feidin heaved an exasperated sigh. "I have compiled a list of production plants in Colohen City and in smaller towns nearby for cheaper prices and Seliphaz has marked all the factories whose production lines meet the conditions needed to produce the haven model. The issue isn't the availability but the price. We don't have the magicapita to spend on anything until we earn some revenue!"
Cæ understood the sentiment.
If not for the fact that they had gotten a rather generous sponsorship from the Elendir Institute of Magic and the fact that their research and development costs had fallen due to Seliphaz using their labs, they would not have been able to remain afloat for so long with such expenditure.
Of course, the former was something that he had worked for himself, but that didn't reflect as a merit on the company as a whole.
The time had come for the company to justify its existence.
To justify the year and a half that Cæ had invested and the year that Seliphaz and Feidin had invested in it.
"We will earn revenue soon enough," Cæ promised. "From tomorrow, as I mentioned, sales will commence. Once the earliest wave of slum residents with enough money and desperation try our product, it will serve as a very natural form of advertisement. Far more so than any commodity gets natural advertisement in the inner city."
In the inner city, there was a virtual ocean of commodities in the supplier market. Each commodity that was purchased was not aggressively advertised simply due to the sheer abundance of supply.
"In the slums, however, people are more concentrated due to the infrastructure being smaller," Cæ explained knowingly. "Privacy, unless you are willing to lock yourself in a small hut the entire day, isn't really a thing either. Thus, when a resident of the slums purchases and uses a haven, the entire street will be able to evaluate the merits and the sheer value proposition of the haven units for themselves. With each person that uses it, it will be reinforced over and over."
This was a compelling rationale that allowed for natural and more effective advertisement as well as sales.
"With three hundred and twenty-eight, we won't be able to sell more than six in each district," Cæ remarked with a vaguely displeased expression. "Still, it's good enough for a start. What you need to keep in mind is that this is just the beginning. Once our product and its undeniable value proposition become absolutely clear, demand will spike. Especially since we're in the monsoon season. Once we capture that market and have people live in the haven units permanently, they will surely become our regular customers."
Dlint nodded eagerly, his fingers intertwined as his arms rested on the table. "I do believe that once residents of the slums actually start using the haven units, they will fall in love with the model. I have used it for a week in the slums, and it was so much more comfortable than anything that I have had in the slums for much of my life. There is no doubt in my mind that everybody will come to realize this."
"If I may," an impassive female voice interjected. "I would like to object."
The people gathered around the table in the conference room turned towards the woman with knitted eyebrows.
The middle-aged woman had a plain disposition and an unassuming appearance with brown hair that was tied up in a simple knot while she donned a simple white shirt and trousers. Her eyes were lacking in vigor even as she directed a pressing gaze at Cæ.
She happened to be the hired CFO of the company, running the finance department, overseeing accounting, record-keeping, managing the debt financing with the line of credit that Cæ had set up with the city bank, and overseeing taxation.
"Mrs. Meriam," Cæ remarked with a knowing expression. "What objections do you have to anything that has been said?"
"I believe that this company is overly optimistic and overly inefficient with its operations," she remarked. "I agree with Director Feidin's criticism of the state of affairs and would take them even further when I say that such an irresponsible manner of handling the company's magicapita will most certainly lead to the company's demise."
A wave of faint displeasure washed over the gathered management and owners of the company as she plainly insisted that the worst would happen.
Her clinical gaze fixed itself on Cæ.
"You, Mr. Cæ, are the problem."
The air tingled electrically while many of the other members stirred uncomfortably.
Meriam, however, didn't back down from meeting Cæ's unnervingly intense dichromatic gray eyes.
She didn't so much as flinch even as his piercing gaze bore heavily on her.
A small, indistinguishable smile cracked at the edge of his mouth uncharacteristically for just the briefest of moments.
People were very rarely unfazed by his stare.
His scars, strangely light gray iris, the intensity of his gaze, and the severity of his body language made him an intimidating person to interact with. It had taken Feidin a whole month to fully relax in his presence,e while Seliphaz had needed half a year to grow fully comfortable with him.
Meriam, however, simply couldn't be bothered.
She spoke her mind bluntly and unapologetically without any care about whether people would like her or not.
It was why Cæ had hired her in the first place.
He appreciated someone with a spine.
"Elaborate," Cæ replied with a calm tone. "What about my behavior do you find problematic?"
She simply gazed at him for a moment. "…To start, I think the centralization of decision-making in this company is not good. There are three owners, but many of the most important decisions are clearly largely made by one and only one person. And even though you do own a majority in the stake, I think it isn't good for the company to be so overdependent on the whims and fancies of one and only one person."
Cæ stirred at her words silently, waiting patiently for her to complete her point.
"Secondly, your unilateral decision-making would not be as problematic if you were more open to sharing information and heeding the advice of others," she continued. "You have not divulged the reason we have signed a partnership agreement with the Elendir Institute of Magic, even though it was clearly not in the company's interest. At the same time, you have taken unilateral decisions despite the objections and disapproval of your fellow co-owners and the management team of the company."
She was on a roll.
"Thirdly," she continued unperturbed, "you yourself are not absolute in your dedication to this company. You have spent at least half of the past year in your personal endeavors as a mage enlisted in the Elendir Institute of Magic. I understand you are ambitious, and I respect that. But the fact of the matter is that the company suffers as a cost, and that impacts all of us."
Feidin stirred at those words with a mixed expression while Seliphaz knitted her eyebrows with a displeased expression.
Meriam paused, having rattled off at least three heavy criticisms against Cæ, waiting for his response.
It wasn't just her who was waiting for his response.
Dlint gazed at him with a scrutinizing gaze, ready to judge how he responded to criticisms from his underlings. The two of them shared a common background, which had led to having a similar perspective, but that didn't mean that they would always agree with each other on everything in the future. It was good to understand how Cæ dealt with harsh but real criticisms of his behaviors as the CEO, founder, and largest owner of Trinity Housings.
Seliphaz gazed at Cæ with a neutral but nervous expression, shifting her round spectacles while Feidin folded his arms, gazing at Cæ with a thoughtful expression.
He didn't like that he entirely disagreed with everything Meriam had brought up.
Cæ heaved a sigh.
A flaw in his leadership, irrespective of Meriam's criticisms, had become clear to him.
He had been too detached from how his partners and subordinates felt.
He hadn't been careful about earning their confidence and trust.
He had operated like a one-man show and had partially treated others like a cog in the machine of the Trinity Housings.
He hadn't even realized it until he studied the reactions of people to what Meriam had said.
They weren't necessarily in agreement with everything she said, but there were clearly some parts of her message that resonated with them.
"…It seems I have a long way to go as a leader of people," Cæ remarked, closing his eyes.
His response elicited a positive reaction.
"I will endeavor to improve as a leader," he replied. "To be more open about my choices that affect all of you, and to be open to your thoughts and opinions. However…"
He opened his eyes.
"That does not mean that I will uncritically accept all accusations," Cæ announced with a stronger tone. "I do not believe that I'm the cause of a wide variety of problems. There is a reason I have taken greater initiative and control when it comes to business strategy: because that is my strong suit, and it pertains to the slums, of which only two people here have great experience. However, I understand that talk is cheap. And so…"
His eyes sharpened with determination.
"I will prove my words with results."