Prince Kaelen's empire of scale began to wobble.
His aggressive acquisitions inflated prices. Labor revolts erupted in districts he controlled. Smaller merchants banded together to resist his monopolistic pressure.
Princess Lysera's fate-driven investments produced impressive short-term gains, but began collapsing as Vahn's restructuring altered baseline probabilities she relied on.
Prince Halvar lost half his capital to speculative overreach by day eighteen.
Whispers spread.
Not of Vahn's power.
But of his method.
"He doesn't take," one merchant said quietly. "He fixes."
"He doesn't threaten," another whispered. "He removes the reason to resist."
By the final week, Vahn formally registered his enterprise.
Continuum Exchange Consortium.
No grand announcement.
Just a name.
By the end of the trial, the results were undeniable
When the imperial arbiters tallied the sealed ledgers, silence fell.
Vahn's holdings exceeded the second place contender by nearly forty percent.
