Chapter 1513: Are We The Baddies?

I was led to the top floor of the building where the manager’s office was supposed to be.

Stepping inside the plush office, I found the target of my ire quite easily enough, my Nekomata lover looking quite smug as she stood at the window looking out at the street like she was in some period drama acting like the villain CEO.

She turned to me, her smirk still plastered on her face while her tail waved behind her lazily.

"Ah, there you are~ I have been expecting yo--"

"Hands on the table and stick out your butt," I interrupted her, not giving her the satisfaction of playing out her role.

She was surprised by my command at first but she quickly got over it and obeyed my instructions, her hands placed on the table and her back arched with her butt sticking towards me.

Crystal left the room to preserve some of Emilia’s modesty as I rolled up my sleeves and stood behind the mewling catgirl.

I took my time in rolling up her skirt until her bare bottom was visible, looking prime and ready for my punishment.

I gave her bottom a resounding slap which made her arch her back even more as the sound of the slap echoed around the room.

Her butt jiggled tantalisingly from the impact which made me give her other cheek a smack as well, watching in satisfaction as she howled with a mix of pain and pleasure.

With her punishment met, I took a step back and allowed her to recover, my Nekomata lover rubbing her butt with her hands while mewling cutely at me.

"Mnngghh... Boss... Did you have to do that?"

I tilted my head at her, "Was that not enough? Do you prefer another form of punishment instead?"

She quickly shook her head, "No, no, no! That was good enough, Boss! I’ve learned my lesson!"

"Oh? And what lesson did you learn?"

"Uggh... That I shouldn’t make such grand arrangements behind your back before springing it on you without at least some kind of warning?" She answered it like I have already taught her this lesson before, which in actual fact, I have.

This wasn’t even the first time I spanked her for doing something like this, the last time was when she sprung a surprise book signing session on me which I was totally convinced would reveal my actual identity, only to reveal that I was simply signing the books behind a curtain which hid me from view of the attendees so my identity remained hidden anyway.

Yeah, I gave her a good spanking for making me worried for that one...

I then dropped off the boxes of food that I’ve received from the Amrap sisters on the table, "Here you go. I got this from the Barker sisters for you, since I figured you might not have eaten yet."

She gasped, already forgetting that I just spanked her a few moments ago as she rushed over to pick up the box of smoked meats.

"Waaahhh!! I love you, Boss! No one knows me better than you! Here! Here!"

She took out an entire stack of gold coins and placed them on the table proudly, sliding it over to me.

Emilia... That box of food doesn’t cost a few million Creas ok? What am I even supposed to do with this money? Keep it...

That actually reminds me...

"Emilia? Don’t you have classes right now? Why are you free to be here?"

She giggled, "Nyahaha! Like as if I was going to let a pesky class stop me from coming to our store’s grand opening, Boss! I took a leave of absence from the professor of the class! It’s just maths class anyway, I can afford to miss a class!"

Right, I guess for a merchant like her, missing a maths lesson is like having me miss a lesson on noble etiquette. Which actually feels odd for me to say now that I think about it...

"Just don’t make it a habit, alright?"

"Nyahahaha! Don’t worry Boss! Even if I end up flunking the class, I can always just smooth things over with some Creas dropped in a few places!"

She really just casually admitted that she was going to bribe some people I see...

Oh well... She knows what she’s doing so I can leave it to her I suppose...

Putting that aside though... I had another question in mind...

"I heard you expanded the store at the last minute... What did you actually do?" I asked.

She looked up while munching on some of the smoked brisket that was inside the box I gave her, "Hmmm? It’s nothing much~ You know how we already have a storefront here, right, Boss?"

I nodded, "You pointed it out to me when we first got here. But if I remember correctly... It was just a small store right?"

"That’s right, Boss~ I wasn’t sure how big of an operation I could do here without stepping on any toes... But since I got your blessing to be as ruthless as I want... I just went ahead to take over several businesses here all at once and drove out the competition to establish a monopoly on several goods and move a big chunk of our operations here!"

I blinked at her, having no idea what she just said.

Emilia simply giggled at me and moved to rub her face against the side of my chest, "Nyaaaa~ Basically... This building was owned by another business and we were renting it out... But I went ahead to do some... ’Convincing’... So now we own this building and a warehouse down the street. I also managed to acquire a few airships that now work primarily for us in goods transportation after the original owners had a... Shall we say... Accident?"

I sucked in a breath and turned to her with wide eyes.

She giggled again, "Nyahaha~ Don’t worry Boss~ No one died. At least, no one that will be missed died~"

That doesn’t sound that reassuring... But I guess... I trust Emilia to do what is needed so I’ll just not question it...

I’m sure whoever died because of her most likely deserved it.

Thus, I decided to change the topic, "So... What do we actually sell here?"

"The bottom floors are the general goods section while the upper floors are the specialty stores! We have a wide array of goods and services! Basically, whatever you can get within the Academy, you can most likely find it here! And whatever you can find outside the Academy... You can also find it here!"

I blinked at her, "Wait... If you can basically find everything here... Why would anyone else need to buy from the other stores in the market district?"

"Nyahaha! Exactly, Boss! Once we have expanded ourselves even bigger... We would effectively be able to dominate the entire commercial district within the Academy itself! We would be the only store around here with our store fronts occupying every street corner! Only the small, extremely specialised stores that we aren’t able to replace will remain! But every other market will be occupied by us!"

...

I just realised...

We’re basically the big department store that moved itself into a small town and pushed out all the local markets aren’t we?

I never actually thought about it until now...

I mean... I know Emilia was basically dabbling in almost every market she could get her hands on... But I didn’t know it would be to this degree that she could buy out or just push out the competition if she really wanted to...

It seems like I’ve really underestimated the sheer scale of what this company she set up was capable of... All this time, whenever we came across a small store of ours that she had set up... She was basically just holding herself back and preserving the status quo...

Not because she was unable to make waves but because she didn’t want to change the city or the town too much until it was too different from before... Just so that she could let me experience what the location was like before she moved in...

There was just one thing I had to make sure though...

"Is the Chancellor alright with this?"

"Nyahaha~ Unless she wants the city to riot, she has to accept it~ We’ve already given out enough samples and gathered enough support that if she were to try and remove us, the people who have come to support our presence would definitely push back and... Hehe~ Have a high chance of getting violent~"

Wait... Why is she so sure that it would... No... She did not... Did she actually sneak in our own people into this place just to influence the market here as well?

Emilia... You’re scary... And that’s so hot...

I suppose that’s how she was able to create a world wide business empire in such a short time...

That and because she has my family support I guess?

Still... You’re scary, Emilia...

And I just gave her two spanks earlier...