She understood why he sought her.
"Why…" she began with a heavier tone. "Why did you choose the slums for your market in the first place?"
Her nervousness disappeared as she gazed at him with her clear green eyes.
Cæ's eyes narrowed.
He had explained why from a business strategy point of view. He had explained to her that there was untapped latent demand for secure and functional housing that hadn't been touched due to a variety of reasons.
And yet, it was clear that she wasn't talking about that.
Cæ heaved a sigh. "My motivations are many-fold. Among them is indeed monetary profit, but that isn't all…"
He closed his eyes.
"Do you wonder how I even stumbled into such a niche market of untapped potential in the first place?"
Her eyes lit up with thoughtful curiosity.
"…I was struck with this business strategy after I nearly died as a decrepit structure in the slums crumbled down upon me."
Her eyes widened with a stunned expression. "…What?"
"I returned to the slums after my accident a year ago destroyed my entire life," he remarked with an impassive tone. "That was when the accident happened. Poor infrastructure is a reality of the slums. It is a reality that I have lived in my entire life."
"Y-You… you're from the slums?" she gazed at him, taken aback with the realization. "I-I didn't know that! I'm really sorry for questioning your motivations!"
Cæ hid his disapproval from her.
The fact that she didn't already know about this showed that she had failed to do basic research into him even after he told her that he had a business offer. The fact that she just believed him when he told her that was also not something he was particularly pleased by.
She was gullible.
It was entirely possible that he had just made up that entire story just now as a sob story to get her to buy into his business.
If he were speaking to her for a business role, he would have already dropped her from his consideration. He didn't need someone so gullible and naive in charge of his business.
Thankfully, he was scouting her for a potential in-house product development department in his soon-to-be company. Her gullibility in interpersonal relations would not affect her performance in the role that he was looking to hire her for.
Lead developer in a yet-to-exist Department of Research and Development.
Even though she was in her final year in the Senior Program at twenty-five years old, she was actually probably the best hire he could get his hands on with the little effort and time he had put into finding her.
Of course, the only reason he had found her was because he got himself into the Student Council, which required him to spend a good time of his days each day dealing with the entirety of the mess.
"…I'm sorry for assuming that you did this for profits at the cost of the poor." She lowered her head.
"Don't apologize," Cæ calmly replied.
"No, I was wrong to—"
"You weren't wrong."
She froze as he calmly cut her off.
He steepled his fingers as he leaned forward.
His stoic gaze peered into her stunned green eyes.
"At least, not entirely. I did not undertake this project because my heart was bleeding with empathy for the poor people of the slums."
She did a double-take as he calmly admitted his profit-minded motivations, gazing at him with a hint of disbelief.
"I undertook this business venture with the primary motive of making money," he told with brutal honesty. "I have no intention of deceiving you. So I'm being completely honest with you. I don't particularly care about the people of the slums."
There was no kinship or unity between the people of the slums.
Even as a child, he had fended for himself.
His hatred for the slums growing up and his subsequent desire to move into the slums did not come out of thin air.
"However…" he continued while Celiphaz stared at him, speechless. "Here's where you're wrong."
His eyes sharpened.
"What part of my business strategy sounded like it was 'at the cost of the poor?'"
The question broke her out of her silence as she grew flustered at having been put on the spot.
"W-Well… you're charging them a lot of money, right?"
"The price is high enough that only the top ten percent of the slums can purchase it."
"…Wouldn't you be able to help more people if you lowered the price by half?"
It was the dumbest thing Cæ had ever heard.
"No, actually," he replied with a composed tone. "We already are operating with low profit margins. If we reduced the price any lower, it would be impossible to earn a profit. If we can't earn a profit, then we can't continue our business. If we can't continue our business, then we can't help people with our housing."
She stirred in her seat with discomfort. "Y-You could apply for the extra-curricular program?"
He wanted to scoff in her face.
"A one-time payment will not last long, besides, why will they sponsor a business that deliberately makes losses?"
He already had a deal to get them with the Headmistress, but that was beside the point.
He was also bound by NDA.
He didn't want to find out what that principal would do to him if he blabbed about their deal.
Celiphaz, on the other hand, naive as she was, understood the point he was trying to make.
There was no such thing as absolute charity in the world.
It was foolish to expect such a thing.
"Businesses use their observation and experience to understand people's needs and desires, and then use creativity to come up with a solution that can help them," Cæ explained with a gentler tone. "A lot of problems in the world have been solved because of this mechanism."
It also gave rise to a divide between capital and labor that disenfranchised the latter and ultimately led to half the population living in slums, but he didn't mention that.
She lowered her head as she fell into thought.
"People will not help others if people are unable to help themselves by doing so," Cæ kept his tone soft. "You will find one saint in a thousand people, but you will find businessmen everywhere."
He leaned forward. "We have a very small profit percentage for the reasons I mentioned. We are working on a product that the people of the slums need. They need safe housing. They need protection from the elements."
She smiled with a bittersweet smile.
"I appreciate you for being honest."
Cæ nodded. "I don't intend to deceive you in my attempt to win you over. I believe in transparency and honesty in the foundation of our relationship."
She grew flustered by his candor. "T-Thank you. I will… consider what your words."
"Your appetizers, my lady, sir," a waiter better dressed than either of them placed several dishes on the table.
It gave Celiphaz the reprieve as she thought about his words.
She understood that he was going out of his way to show that he was operating in good faith. He could very easily have tried to deceive her by agreeing with her statements about him doing it in good faith.
Even if she found out about the money-minded nature of the company later on, it would have been after he had gotten from her what he needed. And yet, he chose to forgo short-term benefits.
Her eyebrows knitted with a flustered expression.
Didn't that mean…?
"I want to cultivate a long-term business relationship with you," Cæ confirmed her thoughts. "I'm not interested in entering a temporary arrangement with you. If you accept my business offer, you will have to do so with the commitment to our business."
His tone was solemn.
Sincere.
He gazed at her with his dichromatic gray eyes.
For a moment, she wasn't sure what to say.
She gazed away with a flustered nervousness.
"I-I could get a much better job at other magitech companies and firms, you know?"
Nice try.
Unfortunately, she was transparent.
"Then why haven't you?" Cæ raised an eyebrow. "You're in your final year, right? Which means you're mostly done and are probably getting internship offers left and right. You probably have taken at least one for the sake of experience. So…"
Cæ shrugged lightly. "Why haven't you?"
With her status as a senior student of the Elendir Institute of Magic, she could get a posh job with her own office and her own lab to lead.
And yet, here she was begging the extra-curricular sponsorship program for funds to try and start her own venture of some sorts.
From that he could deduce that she had most likely rejected these jobs.
If she was after money, work environment, and luxury, she would have taken them in a heartbeat.
Most likely, there were things she was unwilling to compromise.
His insightful mind had already put two and two together.
"You want to pursue something that puts your full skillset to good use, don't you?"
She winced at his words.
He had hit the mark.
As someone who has specialized in mana-independent engineering in a magitechnological age where magical energy and enchants were the name of the game, she had often been reduced to a minor piece.
She played the side role in projects where magineers and enchanters were up front and center.
She was most certainly undervalued despite putting in an immense amount of hard work to get to the point where she was. Nine years in the Elendir Institute of Magic from the age of sixteen all the way to twenty-five.
Cæ didn't even blame her for not wanting to get a job in such a market environment.
"But that's not all," Cæ continued with an insightful tone. "You dislike magitech industry, don't you? You dislike their shareholder value maximization, don't you?"
She shuffled in her seat uncomfortably. "I-I have seen what they are willing to compromise on. I just… can't work such people. They say pretty things, but when the time comes, the only thing they care about is money."
Her tone was bitter.
A small smile emerged on her face. "You're the only one who has been honest with me. But…"
She stirred with thought, "…I j-just have a hard time believing in what you were saying. I don't trust that this isn't some… you know, marketing trick."
Cæ raised an eyebrow.
His opinion of her had improved.
She wasn't nearly as naive as he had expected her to be.
"Then, why don't you become a part owner in our yet to be business?"
Cæ's tone was entirely composed and matter-of-factly. "That way, you have some say over the way the business is run and our values as an enterprise. Not to mention, you will have much greater agency over the product being developed and will be up front and center, you know?"
"E-Ehhhh?!"
Her nervous reaction drew eyes from those around them, seated in tables that were just some distance away. The students directed a puzzle gaze at her, making her even more self-conscious.
"Ngh…" she groaned with an embarrassed expression as she sank into her luxury chair, wishing that the world would open up and swallow her whole.
Cæ heaved a sigh as he waited for the woman to recollect her calm and composure once more. It also gave her time to think and consider his proposal as she mentally recovered from the psychological blow that her social anxiety gave her.
He simply patiently waited for her answer.
"I… I think I will accept your offer."
A smile emerged on his face.