King al Saud did not accept my plan. In fact, he was so offended that Artemis and I ended up on the next plane to America. I was supposed to lead the German contingent, but my participation was cancelled.
It's not like my leadership was needed. In my original universe, America, the country with the best military, had an easy time destroying the 4th largest military. It shouldn't be any different this time.
One silver lining was that I heard bin Laden got into another big argument with the Saudi King. The end result was that his citizenship was revoked and got kicked out of the country as well. So, ha, get rekt.
.
Time skip 1 month
[Main POV]
Artemis and I were in a new building in Apollonia. It stood out from the other buildings in the city.
The exterior featured a grand and imposing façade, constructed primarily with marble. It was set on a raised platform, accessed by a wide flight of stairs leading up to the entrance.
The main entrance was framed by a monumental portico with Corinthian columns. The columns supported a triangular pediment adorned with intricate sculptures and decorative elements. Above the entrance, an inscription proclaimed the temple's dedication to the sun and moon: Helios & Selene.
The interior of this Pantheon was a marvel an engineering and architecture. Stepping through the massive silver and gold doors, one would find a vast circular chamber, with a breathtaking dome overhead. The dome used reflections and refractions to manipulate the sunlight or moonlight, displaying marvelous images, as well as providing light.
The floor of the Pantheon was made of white marble, gilded with silver and gold. On either side, there were rivers of liquid gold and silver flowing in and out of the walls.
At the front of the main room was a gold statue of Apollo and a silver statue of Artemis. Both were 40 feet tall, and depicted both gods in full body armor, with their right hand extended, as if they were telling the oncoming traffic to halt. Either that, or they were initiating a high five.
On special occasions, the flamethrowers could activate, spewing fire from their palms (white flames for Apollo, blue for Artemis).
This main room was the only one accessible to the public. Security guards were posted everywhere to prevent trespassing, disrespect, and vandalism.
Behind the main rooms were the bedrooms for the employees of the temple, the treasury, conference rooms, and other rooms. It was in one such room that Artemis and I were meeting.
"You wanted to talk?" I asked.
Artemis nodded, "I wanted to talk to you about my role here at Apollonia. I feel as if I haven't been useful."
"What? No…" I denied, "You've been very helpful."
She looked at me questioningly.
"You were the lead for The Little Mermaid," I pointed out.
"That was almost 5 years ago," she rebutted.
"You defended the Dodona Sanctuary," I remembered.
"You could've done that yourself," Artemis responded, "And that was for a week."
I continued to think. Time to go for broke.
"You were really helpful for emotional support," I said, "I always look forward to our dates."
Artemis blushed and looked away. "You know that's not what I mean…" she quietly said.
If only she said it.
"Baka Apollo," she muttered.
Holy cow, she said it. She knows me too well.
"You know, I actually had an idea kicking around," I said while summoning a file from my office. Taking out the first page, I handed it to her.
"Artemis Enterprises?" she questioned.
"Our charity organization," I answered simply.
"We don't pay taxes anymore, why do we need this?" Artemis asked. "And if it's a charity, why's it called an enterprise?"
"We don't pay taxes, because regular Americans don't know we don't pay taxes," I reminded. "Someone will find out eventually, and when they do, everyone will know. The plan is to use Artemis Enterprises to curry public favor. This way, we'll be able to weather the shitstorm that hits."
"And the name?"
"Americans are proud people," I noted. "There are a lot of people who won't accept charity, but will if it's from what sounds like a multinational corporation. Any other questions?"
"What field will the charity help in?" Artemis pondered.
"Whatever we want. But mostly noncontroversial topics. Natural disaster aid, homelessness and hunger in America, veteran aid, and of course, nature conservation."
I saw Artemis's eyes twinkle at the last one. That was actually the other reason we couldn't officially be a charity.
I planned to use Artemis Enterprises to buy a bunch of land to use as our private parks. Of course, we'd call them 'wilderness areas' that weren't available for the public.
"So, will you do it?" I asked, "Will you be the Chief Executive Officer of Artemis Enterprises?"
"I'll do it," she confidently stated.
"Fantastic, you can pick your staff from Apollo Enterprises. Just not Olivia," I added just as she was opening her mouth.
"Oh," I added, handing her another piece of paper, "here's the first operation Artemis Enterprises can do. We'll start off with a bang."
.
Time skip to the morning of January 1st, 1992
[3rd POV]
It all started when a broke college kid checked her bank account.
Grace expected to have around $10. But she didn't know the exact amount.
If it was over $10.99, then she could afford another drink. If it wasn't, then, it was time to go to sleep.
Opening her Chase Bank app, she blinked twice after reading the amount in her checking account. Rubbing her eyes, and looking back, she was shocked to see $1008.77.
Immediately sobering up, Grace checked her account history to see a deposit of $1000 from Artemis Enterprises, precisely at midnight. Clicking on the deposit, she saw a small message.
:: Hi Grace! Apollo and I would like to wish you a Happy New Year! I hope you had a great 1991! – Artemis from Artemis Enterprises ::
Grace was stunned, simply processing the message. She was broken out of her stupor when she heard a shout.
"I got a thousand dollars!!"
The people at the party produced a drunken cheer. Then someone else shouted, "Me too!!"
Everyone immediately started checking their phones. They each found an extra $1000 deposit from Artemis Charities with the same message (except with different names).
Word spread, and it was the first thing reported on the days 8:00am news. By the end of January 1st, everyone had heard the news.
While many already had positive views of Apollo and Artemis, this officially launched them into the status of legends.
.
[Main POV]
Olivia, Artemis, and I were watching the morning news from my office. Everything was going according to plan.
"You know, if you wanted to raise your public opinion, we could've come up with something that cost 250 billion dollars," Olivia dryly stated.
"113.7 billion dollars," I corrected, "we did this using IRS info. So, only people who filed their taxes got the money."
"Still a heck of a price to pay," Olivia countered.
I shrugged. "It's less than a quarter of what we should be paying in taxes, so in a way, we're saving money."
"Speak for yourself," Olivia said with a sour look on her face, "I didn't get a tax exemption, so I still have to pay."
"Oh, yeah, about that," I remembered, "this is long overdue, but Olivia, you're getting a raise."
Early on, I doubled Olivia's pay to 2000 dollars a month. She was still able to survive with the free apartment, free car, free food, free utilities, immortality, and everything else that she got from being an employee at Apollo Enterprises, but I figured I should still pay my Chief Operating Officer more. I had janitors that made more.
"Sweet, what to?" Olivia asked, popping a piece of gum into her mouth.
"1000x, so two mill a month." I heard a choking sound. I turned to see Artemis giving Olivia the Heimlich maneuver.
"Two million dollars a month?!" she exclaimed. "That's crazy!"
"You're right, that's too low, let's add another zero at the end," I calmly stated.
I heard a thud. Looking up, I saw that Olivia had passed out and Artemis was dragging her over to the couch.
"—listen Peter, I understand many Americans will appreciate the extra $1000 in the bank account," I heard some commentator on ABC news say. "But we shouldn't be happy about this, we're talking about a multinational corporation that has an effective monopoly in the industries that they operate in. They make up over a quarter of the American economy, and frankly, should be paying their fair share."
"Well, we have the results of a morning poll conducted by ABC news," the host chimed in, "To the question, do you approve of the actions of Apollo and Artemis Enterprises, 99% people polled answered a resounding 'yes.'"
"Yeah, turns out people love it when you bribe them with money they never should have had," the commentator retorted. "And I don't know who does your polls Peter, but 45% of people also answered 'yes' to if Apollo and Artemis should be made King and Queen of America –"
I snorted and flipped the channel. Most people expressed a positive response to the money. While $1000 wasn't going to change lives, it was equivalent to $1,890.46 in 2023, and neither number was insignificant.
Not only that, but I also noticed a sharp increase in YouTube Premium subscriptions, electronics sales, and Artemis Enterprises was going viral.
So a lot of the money was coming back to me anyway.
1992 looked like a good year. Apollo Enterprises was set to start online ordering and deliveries through an application called 'Amazon.' The next books of Harry Potter and A Song of Ice and Fire were coming out. And we were going to release Grand Theft Auto in the summer, with Toy Story being released in the winter.
In terms of anime, another season of Pokemon, Naruto and Haikyuu were set for release. It was also the year we'd release season 1 of Log Horizon.
I wasn't sure how people would take it. MMORPGs weren't really a thing. Would the release of Log Horizon kick start the creation and playing of such games? Or would the audience simply interpret it as a fantasy setting? Whatever the case, the story was interesting.
I also wondered if this show would cause others to also create isekai. Maybe this world's isekai would be less… …degenerate.
Oh, I could not have been any more wrong.
.
.
.
AN: I can see a lot of you guys taking this latest move the wrong way.
Some may see giving away a buttload of money away as a dumb, and while I've done my best to justify it, I can't totally disagree.
But Apollo's going for the 'Bread and Circuses' strategy that the Romans used. In fact, I based this move off of Caesar's will, where he gave every Roman citizen about 3 months wages. Now, ($1000 < 3 months wages), but it's still something.
And there's no better way for people to love you when you're giving them free money.
Also, at this point, Apollo Enterprises is rich. Like stupid rich. I made a spreadsheet based on the 2023 scenario, but let's just say it's enough.