Spreading chess

The group of distinguished gentlemen quickly settled down once Castelle presented them with nine more boards to play with.

They quickly got engulfed with the frenzy, playing chess game after chess game with seemingly no intention to ever stop. 

When one of them lost, the other man would brag and ridicule the loser, prompting the losing man to become even more engulfed in trying to learn more about chess to finally win. 

And when they finally won, the euphoria they experienced was enough to get them addicted to the game and chase that feeling once again.

The one who lost, would also want to become better so that they wouldn't lose ever again.

It was a vicious cycle, and it all ended up benefiting the Reborn company.

One of the men approached Castelle. She noted that he was the only man who didn't wear a gentleman suit like the others; he wore a dark robe with intricate runes stitched onto his chest.

"Would you be able to procure one hundred more boards and pieces for us?"

"How many would you like?" Castelle asked.

"A hundred…no, a thousand. At least, a hundred now and more later. Can you do it?"

Castelle seemed to have underestimated how addicted the men were to chess.

"A hundred…would need at least two days, sir."

The robed man nodded while nibbling on his fingernails.

"Okay…as soon as possible. You need to deliver them at the Magic tower in town, you're familiar with that, right?"

Castelle nodded. And just as she thought, this robed man was a bona fide mage from the magic tower! She guessed as much after seeing his weird attire.

"My friends at the tower will love this game, I'm sure of it. This is the perfect game for mages to exercise their intelligence."

Castelle kept thinking that the young master would love to know that his invention was now spreading to the magic tower itself.

"By the way, what's the name of this game again?"

"The game is called Reborn chess!"

…

…

…

More days passed, and something weird seemed to happen in Kingsbridge town.

All of a sudden, a new upstart company called Reborn was starting to take over the gossip and leisure time of everyone in town.

The ladies were all talking about nothing but the miraculous soap and shampoo that was rumored to even make an ugly toad into a beautiful princess after just one wash.

Everyone wanted to bathe with Reborn soap and shampoo. That was the consensus within the women community, which meant that the other soap manufacturers and companies were getting left behind.

"What do you mean you don't know how to make it? It's soap! If they can do it, we can do it too!" said one of the major soap manufacturers to his employees.

"It's impossible sir. It's completely different from what we and everyone else makes. I don't even know if they use the same materials as us!"

The boss of the soap manufacturer had no choice but to bury his head in his desk. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't replicate the scent and lather of the Reborn soap.

"Reborn…where did this unknown company come from?!" cursed the man.

To clear his head, the man walked to his factory where most of his soap was produced.

But instead of seeing hard working men mixing the big cauldrons and fanning the fire, they were all huddled towards one table and concentrated on something other than work.

"Hmm…he should have captured the pawn."

"Yes. Now, his rook is in trouble."

The boss walked over to the table and saw two of his veteran employees playing with some strange wooden pieces on a wooden board.

He was ready to reprimand his workers about lazing off work, but after watching the game for a few minutes, he too was intrigued with its complexity. He wanted to play it too!

"That game looks fun," he said. "What's it called?"

The workers didn't even look back at him and answered his question.

"It's called Reborn chess!"

"Re…reborn…reborn…..sigh…."

The man simply passed out.

…

…

…

"The business is going well, young master. I've been contacted by a lot of wealthy parties looking to buy soap and shampoo by the crates. There's also some merchants who wish to purchase our products hoping to resell them in other towns.

As for Reborn chess, it's spreading quite rapidly as well. Our biggest customer right now is the Magic Tower, with most mages buying one set for themselves. I had to employ about fifty craftsmen from different towns just to accommodate the demand."

Michael sat in his bed and listened to Castelle's report about his secret company, Reborn.

He didn't think it would grow this fast. The demand for his products far exceeded what they could even currently produce.

Case in point, Michael knew that he couldn't produce more soap and shampoo every day. He needed more people—a lot more—to produce the cleaning products that everyone's been clamoring for.

To solve this problem, Michael knew that he had to hire some more help.

"I've heard that once someone tried our product, they couldn't go back to their old soap. Isn't this great, young master?"

But when Michael heard that, he frowned.

"What about the other soap production businesses? What's happening with them?"

"They're not doing great," she answered, confused as to why Michael wasn't happy with this outcome. 

"Not good," Michael uttered.

"I'm sorry, but isn't this supposed to be great for the company? With less competition, we will have more customers in the future."

Michael sighed. "But we're ruining their business and their families. If they can't sell soap, they can't survive. 

I didn't start this business to earn money, I did this so that everyone's life can be more comfortable."

Castelle's heart felt warm as she heard Michael's words. Even though he had every right to be a greedy and ruthless businessman, he still cared about other people.

"Then what should we do, young master?"

"That's easy. We buy them out."

Instead of making the local soap business bankrupt, Michael wanted to absorb them into his company. It was a win-win scenario for everyone.