Within a brightly lit courtyard in the city lord"s castle.Robert had a stack of doc.u.ments and bills which were being sorted through by a few employees of the city lord"s castle placed on the table in front of him.
Michael stood off to the side with his hands clasped behind his back and a dark expression on his face.
Many of the city lord"s castle officials were sitting in the conference chamber with puzzlement on their faces. They didn"t know why the city lord had gathered them so late at night.
However, seeing as the city lord hadn"t said anything, no one else said anything, either. Another curious observation was that Robert was also present, and he seemed to be the instigator behind this impromptu meeting. Hadn"t he been at the Catering a.s.sociation for over a year? Was the city lord going to transfer him back to the city lord"s castle? Or could it be that the things they were going to discuss had something to do with the Catering a.s.sociation?
Many thoughts were running through everyone"s minds. Some of them were already feeling quite drowsy, but they forced themselves to keep their eyes open.
Robert stood up, and delivered his report. "City Lord, all of the bills have been tallied. They are from the beginning of the year to now, and from them, we have calculated that the Catering a.s.sociation has made a total profit of 35,600,000 copper coins from selling the food compet.i.tion rankings, but the balance of their account with Buffett Banks is only 2,000,000 copper coins. After deducting the wages of the a.s.sociation"s employees, there are still 30,000,000 missing."
"30,000,000 copper coins?! How much of that went into their own wallets?"
The quiet conference chamber immediately erupted. All of the officials were completely dumbfounded. They had always known that there was a certain degree of corruption taking place in the Catering a.s.sociation, but they didn"t think that it was this bad! They had almost taken all of the money that the a.s.sociation was making.
However, now everyone knew why Michael had gathered them today. It appeared that he was preparing to make a move on the Catering a.s.sociation. Could it be that Robert was a p.a.w.n that had been planted in the Catering a.s.sociation from the very beginning?
Everyone looked at Robert, and they felt even more reverence for Michael"s wisdom and strategic astuteness.
"Aside from that, the higher-ups of the Catering a.s.sociation share a very dubious relations.h.i.+p with some restaurants as well as the Chamber of Commerce. They"ve been selling rankings for profit for a long time, and have even established prices of each rank. As long as enough money is given, the restaurant would be guaranteed to achieve the ranking that they paid for." Robert picked up a doc.u.ment, and continued, "For ranks 50 to 100 on the Aden Square food compet.i.tion rankings board, a fee of 10,000 copper coins is taken. For 31 to 50, it increases to 20,000, and for all ranks above 30, an increment of 5,000 copper coins must be paid per rank. For restaurants in the top 10, not only do they have to pay the designated fee, their food has to be of a good standard as well. Thus, from selling rankings alone, the Catering a.s.sociation can earn around 3,000,000 copper coins per month, but only a small portion of that actually went to the Catering a.s.sociation."
"So that means the Catering a.s.sociation can make 60,000,000 copper coins per year! City Lord, they must be severely punished for this. Detain all of them, and throw them into Bastie Prison!" a heavily-bearded military official roared.
"That"s not all. Their income stems directly from the restaurants, so in order to protect their profit margins, they"d have to charge higher prices and cut more corners to save on costs. Their behavior is completely ruining compet.i.tion in the gastronomic industry."
"That"s so unfair to the restaurants that aren"t paying for rankings. What"s the point of having an Aden Square food compet.i.tion if this is what it has become?"
All of the officials discussed heatedly among one another.
"This is a cla.s.sic case of a low-ranking official embezzling a huge sum of money, and it"s also why I gathered everyone tonight." Michael finally broke his silence. He looked at all of the officials gathered before him, and continued, "If the Aden Square food compet.i.tion weren"t affiliated with our city lord"s castle, then it can do wants. However, the Catering a.s.sociation is a subsidiary of our city lord"s castle. Even though the agreement we had was that Warren still has full control over the Aden Square food compet.i.tion, and that a large percentage of earnings is to be paid to him as dividends, he has already broken this contract. What he is doing is fraudulous, and he"s able to do this because he has the city lord"s castle as his backer. He is extorting customers and businesses, and bringing the entire restaurant industry into disrepute.
"Hence, I gathered all of you here today so you can work together to control all of the higher-ups from the Catering a.s.sociation, and then launch an extensive investigation into their shady dealings. Anyone who is related to those dealings must be removed from their position, with no exceptions." Michael placed his hands onto the table in front of him, and leaned forward slightly as he looked into everyone"s eyes.
"Yes!" all officials responded in unison with serious expressions.
Cleaning up the Catering a.s.sociation was most likely only the start of a revolution. During the past few years, there had been many officials who abused their power to earn shady income. Many of them paled slightly upon realizing what was about to come upon them, but they didn"t dare to show any dissent.
"Robert will be the leader of this operation, and he has already devised a detailed plan of action. Make sure keep things confidential so the reputation of the city lord"s castle remains untarnished, but return the Aden Square food compet.i.tion rankings to their rightful owners. Make it something that customers can trust, not a money-making tool for dodgy businesses. None of you are allowed to leave the city lord"s castle tonight." Michael turned around, and made his way out of the conference chamber as he said, "Robert, come with me."
Back in his study, Michael looked at Robert with a serious expression, and asked, "A complete change of the team will inevitably take place in the Catering a.s.sociation. However, how will you ensure that the a.s.sociation doesn"t revert back to its ways even after we get rid of the likes of Warren? Everyone changes over time, and the temptation of potential profits will accelerate that transformation. I"ve seen many instances of similar things happening in the past."
"City Lord, I think that if we want to completely eradicate corruption in the Catering a.s.sociation, the key is to begin a revolution. I"ve thought about a few approaches that we could take to facilitate this:
"One. Diminish the power of those within the Catering a.s.sociation by introducing a third-party voting organization. At the same time, we should set up a surveillance organization specifically for the Catering a.s.sociation. They won"t interfere with the a.s.sociation"s work, but they"ll be constantly keeping an eye on the a.s.sociation"s dealings. With the introduction of those two organizations, I believe we"ll be able to completely eliminate the possibility of rankings manipulation.
"Two. Re-introduce a panel of internal inspectors. This panel should consist of 16 people, who will conduct objective surveys, investigating the restaurants in advance before the rankings are released. Based on their findings, they"ll create a preliminary rankings board for internal reference, and if the actual released rankings display a large disparity compared to the preliminary rankings, then something is most likely wrong, and we"ll be alerted to that in real time…
"Three…"
Michael nodded with approval after hearing Robert"s suggestions, saying, "Robert, after sorting out the matters at the Catering a.s.sociation, you should come back to the city lord"s castle. There"s a suitable position waiting for you here."
"City Lord, I still want to stay at the Catering a.s.sociation. I don"t think my grandfather would want to see the Food a.s.sociation that he founded be reduced to such a pitiful state. If he could see the current Aden Square food compet.i.tion, he would be very upset, so I want to stay at the Catering a.s.sociation and see things through to the very end." Robert shook his head with a firm expression.
"Alright, then." Michael chuckled in a resigned manner. He patted Robert on the shoulder, and said, "Do what you want to do. I sampled a lot of delicious cuisine under the guidance of Lorry"s rankings board, so I hope the next Aden Square food compet.i.tion won"t disappoint me."
Michael paused during his departure, and he turned to Robert as he said, "Oh, and that Mamy Restaurant. It should be reinstated, and given the rankings that it deserves."