Elias stood at the mine entrance, inhaling the fresh scent of his new cement and the faint, sweet smell of efficiency. His MAOI System currently displayed a massive green bar labeled "Transportation Logistics," followed by a tiny red bar labeled "Fuel."
MAOI Critical Alert: [Resource Scarcity: High] Charcoal Reserves: 2 Days. Production Rate: 4% of Optimal Smelting Requirement. Immediate Action Required.
"The transportation is fixed, but now the bottleneck is the smelting process," Elias grumbled, turning to Kaelen. "We need an industrial supply of charcoal to feed the new blast furnace designs I'm sketching. The current foresters are too slow, and their kilns are useless."
Sir Kaelen looked out at the dense, ancient forest that surrounded the barony. (Internal Monologue: "He conquered stone and water. Now he turns his terrifying gaze upon the very trees. Is there no natural beauty safe from his hunger for percentage points?")
"My Lord, the foresters are a stubborn, traditional folk," Kaelen advised. "They manage the timber as their fathers did. They will not take kindly to a nobleman dictating how they burn their wood."
"Nonsense, Kaelen! They understand profit, don't they?" Elias's eyes gleamed with a predatory light. "We're not dictating. We're offering an Optimized Contract."
Elias and Kaelen traveled to the edge of the forest to meet with Haldor, the grizzled, muscular head of the local woodcutters. Haldor and his men, smelling of pine and sweat, regarded the Baron with suspicion.
"We heard you're building devil-machines that pull water uphill, Baron," Haldor said, arms crossed. "We also heard you cut the miners' pay while making them work faster."
"I raised their pay by ten percent while multiplying their output by three hundred percent. That's called a mutually beneficial arrangement where the machine does the heavy lifting," Elias corrected smoothly. "Now, I need a twenty-fold increase in charcoal delivery. What is your current system?"
Haldor proudly explained their process: they clear-cut small patches, use inefficient earthen kilns that lose a lot of heat, and wait weeks for the charcoal to finish.
"Useless! Sub-optimal!" Elias threw his hands up. "You're wasting half the heat and half the trees!"
Elias immediately projected a blueprint for a Brick Beehive Kiln—a simple, enclosed structure that maximized heat retention and minimized smoke, allowing for a faster, higher-yield batch of charcoal from less wood.
"I will supply the cement and the expertise to build three of these superior kilns. In exchange," Elias announced, pulling out a freshly written contract, "you will deliver twice the charcoal in half the time, and I will pay you sixty percent of the market rate for the increase in yield."
Haldor frowned. "Sixty percent? Why not the full price?"
"Because," Elias explained with a truly heinous, yet logical, smile, "I am providing the Capital Investment (kilns, cement, design), the Optimization Technology (the blueprint), and the Guaranteed Purchase. You are simply providing the labor and the wood. Sixty percent is an excellent return for zero risk on your part. Refuse, and you'll keep making that tiny profit while my mine starves for fuel. Accept, and you'll get rich with minimal effort."
Haldor and his men looked at the sleek, efficient kiln blueprint, then at Elias's greedy, unwavering face. The logic was sound, and the promise of wealth was intoxicating. They shook his hand.
MAOI Alert: [Contract Signed: Labor Optimization Achieved] Profit Margin: Critical. Exploitation Level: 75%.
On the walk back, Kaelen was visibly distraught. "My Lord," he said, his voice laced with confusion. "You are becoming rich by making people's lives easier. Yet, you pay them less than you should. Where is the honor in a contract that is so… perfectly calculated?"
"Honor is a variable, Kaelen. Cash flow is a constant," Elias lectured. "And I'm teaching them a valuable life lesson: if you want more profit, you need to own the means of optimization. I'll be rich, they'll be less poor, and the barony will produce what we need. Everybody wins, statistically speaking."
Elias stopped, his eyes drifting to the shimmering MAOI.
"However," Elias added, his smile vanishing. "Duke Vesper is not a statistician. He is a greedy, entitled warlord. He will not accept that a 'Scum Tier' Baron solved his own resource problem with efficient forestry."
As if on cue, a courier on a lathered horse galloped down the new cement road. He carried a seal belonging to Duke Vesper.
The seal wasn't a tax notice. It was a Writ of Eminent Domain.
"My Lord! Duke Vesper has used his influence with the Royal Court to claim the East Forest—the primary source of timber—for 'Royal Preservation!'" Kaelen announced, snatching the writ. "He claims your new kilns are a fire hazard and illegal deforestation! He has seized your lumber!"
Elias read the writ. It was legally complex, full of bureaucratic malice, and effective.
Elias, however, just started to laugh—a high, manic sound of pure excitement.
"He used bureaucracy? Against me?" Elias wiped a tear from his eye. "He thinks he can seize my timber? Fine. He can have the raw wood. But he can't seize the design! Kaelen, call Haldor back. We're not building more kilns. We're building a Better Kiln. And we're going to build it so fast, and so efficiently, that Vesper's entire legal team won't be able to keep up!"