Chapter 11: Tão Years - Part 2
3rd POV
It was 1990. It was August 1, 1990, the 10th birthday of Pietro Sollaris Black Lestrange Grindelwald. Our protagonist was not mistaken in thinking of the ripples he would cause in the British wizarding world thanks to his inventions. Let's follow a chronological order of events that brought chaos and fun (at least the Goblins did) to British magical society.
In 1988, a comic book store was opened in the diagonal alley. A week went by with no movement in the shop as muggleborns doubted quality comics produced by wizards and thoroughbreds despised muggle culture in general. It took another 3 days before a young mestizo from a pureblood family walked in and out with some of the copies.
At the same time dozens of young people turned to the store and every day hundreds of manuscripts were sold. The company Soley Inc. began to attract the attention of many nobles who wanted to be part of the profit margin of this new commercial medium. But after a few stock sales denials, they gave up. Disdain for the services sold was the main thing, since even if they sold well, they still shouldn't be successful permanently.
Such disdain disappeared when he heard that the comics began to be sold in other magical communities. In less than 5 months more and more members of the sacred 28 started to pay attention to the new product being sold and began to hire talented people to write and design stories that would later be sold.
If Pietro paid attention to this he would be very happy. After all, competition was one of the basic needs to maintain the quality of products and the variety of topics that could be addressed in the comics was enormous... the market soon began to vary and no longer become static.
1 month later Soley Inc. released its first enchanted article. A golem emulating one of the infamous Pokemons. Animated fictional monsters that acted exactly like their comic book counterparts.
As soon as the news got out, product sales became preposterous. In less than a week every child born in magical Brittany had at least 3 pokeballs with their respective monsters. Even though no one got the main monster of the series, Pikachu, everyone was excited about the new products.
The people who started copying the Soley inc. they finally realized that all that comic book axé was just to promote this new product and began to hire people again, this time to unravel the magic used in making these golems and future replication.
Unfortunately for them, they couldn't do anything even after weeks of testing. Trying to dismantle the golems ended up with the entire arrangement burning out and making replicas impossible.
3 weeks later the mamodo golems were announced and in less than 1 week, everyone had their grimoires and mamodos, even adults faced each other with the arrangement of this toy. The spell book evolved the more the mamodos were used and new spells began to appear, making the piece things approved by everyone. Mainly because such toys started with the witches' core exactly like a wand. Unlike a wand, the spells were weak and required little energy so that boys with core and still in formation could use it without problems. If anything, grimoires and mamodos could be used to alleviate cases of accidental magic by channeling children's feelings into their pet golem.
In the same week other forms of golems were sold. Yu Gi Oh! were very well sold mainly because of the variety of cards that could be used. The cards functioned like pokeballs and held monsters that could be used in duels... There was also no limit on how many cards you could buy and card games began to become popular among young mages with proper control over their magic.
But the waves are not over.
In December 1989 a new company announced a different product. The floating board, or MagiBoard as it was named, began to be sold by MagiSports and became widely popular.
The main feature of this artifact was the consumption of magical energy. Consumers complained that children under the age of 11 would not be able to use the product and even those of that age would not be able to enjoy it for long. The company simply announced that this was the original intent as channeling magic to the plank would help young magicians build up their magic reserves while also preventing mages from becoming lazier than they already were.
That ad embarrassed most of the magical population because nothing was said was a lie. The advantages of MagiBoard were exposed and orders for new products were again absurd. Parents who wanted their children to train withthe artifacts, children who would like to float and glide along the road at high speeds, teenagers who used it as an alternative means of transport to brooms.
MagiSports became popular in a short time.
Now the old wizards were driving her crazy. Was the economy really sagging that much? It seemed that wizards are more avid fun hunters than many muggles. By gods old and new… Life was indeed a constant eye-opener.
Gringotts, management salon
Pietro had gone to Gringotes after all of his MagiTecCorp products had been produced in large enough quantities. The Goblins were irritated when they couldn't get a piece of the MagiSports company, but the young Lord Black had specified in a contract that he knew his only link to the Gringotts institution would be the company Soley Inc.
It made the little ones greedy and more squeamish, but who expected the brat of a decaying family to be so cunning? The Goblins certainly weren't expecting it.
But the gains they took from Soley Inc. mitigated their anger somewhat. After all, easy money was getting into their pockets every day, even if it was 3%, there was no expense on the part of Gringotts with production and hiring employees. If they knew that Pietro also had no production expenses except maybe the materials for making golems the poor Goblins would return blood.
"Well known, Blacktooth, let your enemies die in misery while their coffers are filled with riches." The young businessman spoke.
"And may your business prosper and your opponents fall lifeless, young mage." He retorted the creature. Blacktooth had to admit he liked the new young Black Lestrange. He wasted no time and wasted money as easily as he earned it, something the goblin had yet to respect. It took courage to end the money of a family as old as the Black family. "Have you come to buy something from us, mage? I must say that I never expected to have a client as long-winded as you. Interestingly their expenses are so scary that even their profits are not able to keep up."
"Hahaha, my goblin friend, I don't deserve so much praise from you." The young man looked embarrassed, but soon recovered. "But this time with taking money from Gringotts and not the other way around."
"Oh... A deal with us... you must know that earning money from a goblin is almost impossible, right?"
"I know, but I'm really good at impossible things, if you haven't noticed..."
And that could not be refuted.
"I believe the MagiTecCorp papers have been resolved?"
"Yes, the bank's lawyers did a good job registering their new company... But since there's no name on the tenure agreement... I wonder why."
"Well, that's one of the reasons I came here… Let's sort this out first. Blacktooth, I would like to go through an inheritance ritual."
The goblin was surprised again. He already knew that the young man was a Black and a Lestrange, but he didn't know any other heritage. Was it a kind of joke? But his client didn't seem like the type to make jokes. It was none of his business anyway.
"Snowfang!" Blacktooth yelled as another goblin quickly entered and waited for instructions. "Bring a shaman and an inheritance ritual kit. Quickly."
"Yes sir." And the goblin is gone.
"I'm curious about the reason for this request Lord Black"
"Well, I don't like beating around the bush, you know, and you'll find out sooner or later anyway. He founded Gellert Grindelwald's great-grandson and he was the person who emancipated me and made it possible for me to inherit the Lestrange and Black houses... at least their coffers, that is."
Blacktooth widened his eyes in disbelief, but soon recovered. That Lord Black became even more interesting... his king should have known about it, but there was time.
"May I know what your policy is regarding this inheritance in question?"
"I don't mind exposing myself. In fact, after today, revealing all your information about me is irrelevant. But I would like you to wait at least a week. I guarantee you won't regret it."
"I believe that, young mage..." smiled the creature with its frightening appearance.
Half an hour later the inheritance ritual was over and no surprises for both of them inside the room. Blacktooth had to praise the young man in his heart. Revealing that information will cause terrible waves in magical Britain, if not the entire magical world.
"Well, now that it's done, I, Lord Black, assume the name Grindelwald and from now on I'll be called Pietro Sollaris Black Lestrange Grindelwald, so told, whatever. Linus. Nox." Pietro declared and magic acknowledged his claim. As soon as that was said, he wrote his name on the ownership agreement of the newly created company and smiled.
The goblin was surprised again by the young man's frankness. No useless conversations or so-called silly social obligations... If he didn't know better he would think thatthe wizard was a reincarnated goblin warrior. That and he freaked out with the little rogue's wand. Was... Was it Silver Goblin and Orichalcum? But how?! He also noticed that the wand basically became a silvery pink bracelet that clung to young Black's wrist... a wand... Did he make a wand out of magically conductive wood and metal? That was unprecedented.
But Blacktooth knew better and pretended not to. Wizards were somewhat possessive of their wands.
If he knew the young man rarely used the tool, he might rethink his statement.
"So, young Black, what other subject do you wish to discuss with the bank?"
"I want to sell to Gringotts bank, firsthand, significant quantities of my new products, created for the MagiTecCorp company." He said and showed a significant amount of artifacts taken from a ring that the goblin suspected was a space artifact.
"This is the WizPhone." The young man started. "As you may know, most people in the wizarding world use owls to communicate with each other. But owls are not safe. They can be intercepted, followed, killed... many variants, right? But this artifact here will make today's information technology much easier."
"Is this a 2-way mirror?" The goblin questioned with some displeasure at the young man's elaborate chatter. Where was his direct personality? Return my compliments, brat.
"Of course. I'm not that stupid to create a sales pitch for a mere two-way mirror. Besides, where do you see a mirror here, old man? It's clearly a genuine WizPhone."
"I don't know what a WizPhone is, brat." He grunted.
"Why don't you let me explain... anyway... A WizPhone is this wonderful multifunctional artifact. Here, take this one and put a drop of blood.
The goblin proposed and as soon as he did the artifact's screen lit up.
Looking at it right now it didn't really look like a two-way mirror. It was made of thin clear glass covered in stiff leather with a black Sol logo on the back. It was the size of a small brick and looked light. After the artifact activated a series of information simply appeared on it.
{Blacktooth, account manager, magic signature registered in MagiWeb... registration successful....}
"What is it?" asked the surprised goblin.
"MagiWeb is a wireless magic network system that basically performed a registration of your magic signature so that anyone with your name can call you." Explained the young mage. "The system consists of a limited-use AI that basically creates a sort of contact list that can be accessed simply by saying the name."
"Are you saying this thing can connect me to anyone in the world with a similar artifact and all I need is the person's name?" Blacktooth began to breathe quickly.
"Yes."
"Do you know how important to Gringotts the existence of such an artifact?"
"Yes, for that reason I decided that they would be my first clients. Each of these beauties costs about 20 gold galleons..."
"Wait...it's very cheap."
"I didn't finish, look, the ARTIFACT costs 20 Galleons. The services he has is another story." Pietro spoke. "This is also one of the reasons I want you as my first clients. Since you control the accounts of almost all wizards I would like you to be my collectors. WizPhone's services are very varied, from text messages to video calls. Not to mention the possibilities for creating social networks that will be explained in the manuals that come with the product... Each of these services will be charged monthly. Information on the witches' expenses would be sent to Gringotts and you would be responsible for transferring the money to my beloved account."
The young man's explanation was quite straightforward. The company used the Goblins to collect the debts that users of the required services... But what did the bank gain?
"What do you have for us?"
"You would buy my products and not have to pay for the services for a period of 10 years, after which you would have a 30% discount." Young Black revealed. "This is non-negotiable Blacktooth, my expenses to develop this thing were tremendous, you saw it for yourself as you are responsible for my accounts... Besides, I have already given you and the bank enough advantages."
And he had given. Blacktooth had to report this to the king first, but the perks would guarantee a deal beyond a shadow of a doubt. He also knew the boy was serious and would no longer make room for negotiations. Trying might even backfire. But he was horrified.
He realized that everything had been planned by the boy from the beginning. The fact that the Black family and the Lestrange family have insufficient money together for this daunting project; the need for a new market that would revolutionize the wizarding society... He even created artifacts that would benefit thewizards in addition to amusing them just so there is no dissension. And now the final piece of your plan. A new market, completely monopolized, totally open to exploitation... He wasn't sure, but he theorized that the young man had thought of everything to become the only one capable of taking advantage of this market.
"What would happen if a wizard didn't pay for services?" The goblin asked only for conscientious disenchantment.
"The services would be canceled and only returned after repayment of the debt and interest for an extended period, of course."
"Sure."
"And... If someone wanted to replicate your project...
"Impossible. No. Actually, it's not difficult to create a WizPhone, but what network does it work on? It cannot be replicated. Not now and not ever, at least if wizards remain as dumb as they are." The young man revealed to the manager's horror. Yes, a scary young man. "Even if they had access to my projects, replicating would be extremely difficult. 10 years just to deconstruct the rune sequence and let's not even talk about the construction of the artifacts and the network... AI then... Not in 100 years of magical innovation would it be possible."
"I see. I accept the agreement. We will sign the contract as soon as I speak to King Goblin... I believe the other branches of the bank will be able to make our agreement?
"Yes, the network signal works all over the world and the Gringotts institution from all countries will benefit from the agreement."
The goblin smiled happily and nodded before leaving.
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