The group of distinguished gentlemen quickly settled down once Castelle presented them with nine more boards to play with.
With an almost frantic excitement, they quickly got engulfed in the frenzy, playing one chess game after the other with seemingly no intention of ever stopping.
When one of them lost, the victor would brag and ridicule the loser, prompting the loser 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 of victory once again.
The ones who lost would also want to become better so that they wouldn't lose ever again.
It was a vicious cycle, and all of it ended up benefiting the Reborn company.
One of the men approached Castelle. She noted that, unlike the others, he was the only man who didn't wear a gentleman's suit and instead wore a dark robe with intricate runes embroidered onto his chest.
"Would you be able to procure one hundred more boards and pieces for us?" he asked.
Castelle tilted her head. "How many would you like, exactly?"
"A hundred… No, a thousand. At least, a hundred now and more later. Can you do it?"
Castelle seemed to have underestimated how much the men had gotten addicted to chess.
"A hundred… would need at least two days, sir."
The robed man nodded, anxiously nibbling his fingernails.
"Okay… as soon as possible. You need to deliver them to the Magic Tower in town. You're familiar with it, right?"
Castelle nodded. And just as she thought, this robed man was a bona fide mage from the magic tower! She had guessed as much after seeing his peculiar 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 could already imagine how pleased the young master would be 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, had started to take over the gossip and leisure time of almost everyone in town.
The ladies were all talking about nothing but the miraculous soap and shampoo that, according to the rumors, could transform even an ugly toad into a radiant beauty after just one wash.
Every woman in the town wanted to bathe with Reborn soap and shampoo. That was the consensus within the women's community, which meant that the other soap manufacturers and companies were struggling to keep up.
"What do you mean you don't know how to make it? It's just soap! If they can do it, we can do it too!" snapped one of the major soap manufacturers to his employees.
"It's impossible sir. Their formula is completely different from what we and everyone else make. I don't even know if they use the same ingredients as us!"
The boss of the soap manufacturing company had no choice but to bury his head in his desk. No matter how hard they tried, they simply couldn't replicate the scent and lather of the Reborn soap.
"Reborn… where did this unknown company even come from?!" the man cursed.
To clear his head, the man decided to walk to his factory where most of his soap was produced.
But instead of seeing hard-working men stirring massive cauldrons and stoking the fires, he found them all huddled around a single table, concentrated on something other than work.
"Hmm… he should have captured the pawn."
"Yes. Now, his rook is in trouble."
Frowning, the boss walked over to the table and saw two of his veteran employees engaged in some strange game of wooden pieces on a wooden board.
He was just about to reprimand his workers about lazing off work, but after watching the game for a few minutes, he, too, was intrigued by its complexity. He wanted to play it too!
"That game looks fun," he admitted. "What's it called?"
The workers didn't even turn to look back at him and answered.
"It's called Reborn chess!"
"Re…reborn…reborn…..sigh…."
The man muttered the name under his breath before he simply passed out.
_____
"The business is going well, young master," Castelle reported. "We've been contacted by a lot of wealthy parties looking to buy soap and shampoo by the crates. There are 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 even had to employ about fifty craftsmen from different towns just to accommodate the demand."
Michael sat on his bed and listened to Castelle's report about his secret company, Reborn.
He hadn't expected it to grow this fast. The demand for his products had 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 had been clamoring for.
To solve this problem, Michael knew that he had to hire some more help.
"I've heard that once someone tries our product, they never go back to their old soap. Isn't this great, young master?" Castelle added with a grin.
But when Michael heard that, he frowned.
"What about the other soap manufacturing businesses? What's happening with them?"
"They're not doing great," she answered, confused as to why Michael wasn't happy with this outcome.
"That's not good," Michael muttered.
"I'm sorry, but… isn't this supposed to be great for the company?" she asked hesitantly. "With less competition, we will have more customers in the future."
Michael let out a sigh. "But that also means we're ruining their business and their families' livelihoods. If they can't sell soap, they won't survive."
"I didn't start this business to earn money, I did this so that everyone's life can be more comfortable."
Hearing his words, Castelle felt a warmth spread through her heart. Even though Michael had every reason to be a greedy and ruthless businessman, he still cared about others.
"Then… what should we do, young master?"
"The solution for this is simple. We buy them out."
Instead of driving the local soap businesses into bankruptcy, Michael wanted to absorb them into his company.
It was a win-win scenario for everyone.