Charisma 100: My Academy Life As A Heartbreaking Commoner-Chapter 202: The Consortium, Part Two

The first few presentations were exactly as boring as Aegis had expected.

House Vance talked about wool futures for twenty minutes. Twenty minutes. About wool. Aegis learned more about sheep-adjacent commerce than she had ever wanted to know, and she’d already learned too much at Lord Pellington’s estate. House Merriwell droned on about shipping insurance rates, complete with charts that no one in the room was actually reading. Someone from the banking sector explained, in excruciating detail, a new lending system that Aegis was pretty sure was just regular lending with extra steps.

She clapped politely after each one. She did not listen to any of them.

What she did notice, about halfway through the banking presentation, was a new notification blinking in the corner of her vision.

[Hm?]

She focused on it, and a small window expanded.

CONSORTIUM PRESENTATION RATINGS

House Vance: ★★☆☆☆ (Adequate)

House Merriwell: ★★☆☆☆ (Adequate)

House Golding: ★☆☆☆☆ (Poor)

[Oh, that’s new.]

She watched as House Pellington took the floor to talk about some new textile treatment process. Lord Pellington wasn’t there himself, thank the gods, but his representative was just as dry and twice as long-winded.

House Pellington: ★★★☆☆ (Good)

[Three stars for that? The bar here is underground.]

More presentations. More stars. Most houses landed somewhere between two and three, with the occasional dip to one when someone clearly hadn’t prepared, and the occasional spike to four when they actually had something interesting to offer. Which wasn’t often.

House Goldspire went up and talked about their new mining operations in the eastern territories. Four stars. Solid presentation, good delivery.

House Stone’s representative discussed trade policy adjustments that would benefit crown-affiliated merchants. Also four stars. More political than commercial, but the room seemed to respond to it. People liked feeling like they were getting insider information, even when they weren’t.

And then, finally, the chairman called her name.

"House Starcaller. Lady Aegis Starcaller, presenting on... alchemical products and services."

[Showtime, baby.]

Aegis stood, straightened her coat, and made her way to the presentation area at the head of the horseshoe. She could feel every eye in the room tracking her movement. Good. That was the point.

Rosalie followed behind her, still clutching the sample case, but her grip had loosened slightly. She’d been watching the other presentations too, and hopefully she’d realized that most of these people were not, in fact, terrifying geniuses. They were just rich people who liked to hear themselves talk.

Aegis reached the front of the room, turned to face the assembled representatives, and let herself smile.

Not her polite smile. Not her networking smile. Her real smile, the one that said "I know something you don’t, and you’re going to want to hear it."

"Distinguished representatives," she began, letting her voice carry through the chamber. She’d practiced this. Confident but not arrogant. Warm but professional. The kind of voice that made people want to lean in. "House Starcaller is a new name in Valdrian commerce. I’m not going to stand here and pretend we have centuries of history or generations of established relationships. We don’t. We’re new."

She paused, letting that sit for a moment. A few people shifted in their seats. Admitting weakness wasn’t usually how these presentations started.

"But here’s the thing about being new." Aegis spread her hands. "We don’t have to do things the way they’ve always been done. We don’t have legacy systems to maintain or old partnerships to honor. We can innovate. We can take risks. And we can offer you things that the established houses can’t, because they’re too busy protecting what they already have."

She gestured to Rosalie, who stepped forward and opened the sample case. Her hands were steady now. Good girl.

"Let’s start with something you all know." Aegis picked up one of the orange vials and held it up so the light hit it. The liquid inside glowed softly, that slightly radioactive-looking orange that meant serious alchemical work. "Fire Resistance potions. Standard formula, reliable effects, nothing revolutionary. You’ve all bought them, you’ve all sold them, you know what they do."

She set the vial down.

"Ours are better."

That got a few raised eyebrows. Aegis grinned.

"Same production cost, same price point, but our proprietary brewing process extends the duration by approximately thirty percent. That’s thirty percent more protection for the same gold." She picked up the vial again, turning it so everyone could see. "If you’re outfitting a mercenary company, that’s thirty percent fewer potions you need to buy. If you’re selling to adventurers, that’s thirty percent more value you can offer. The math is simple. Better product, same price. Everyone wins."

She could see Lord Harbell leaning forward in his seat, his merchant’s brain already running the numbers. A few others were nodding along. Good. She had them interested.

Now to get them excited.

"But Fire Resistance is just the appetizer." Aegis set down the orange vial and picked up a blue one. "This is our advanced aether restoration potion. For those of you who’ve ever had to chug a standard mana potion in the middle of a fight, you know the problem. The crash. That thirty-second window where your magical reserves are technically refilled but your body feels like it’s been hit by a cart. In combat, thirty seconds of impaired function can get you killed."

She held up the blue vial.

"Our formula eliminates the crash entirely. Faster absorption, longer-lasting effects, and when it wears off, you feel fine. Not great, but fine. No vulnerability window. No thirty seconds of praying nothing attacks you while your hands are shaking." She smiled. "For combat mages, for adventurers, for anyone who uses magic in high-pressure situations, this isn’t just a better product. It’s a lifesaver. Literally."

More murmurs now. The House Goldspire representative had stopped looking bored and was actually paying attention. The Stone representative was still stone-faced, but she was taking notes. Aegis could see pens moving across paper all around the room.

[Good. Now for the finale.]

"But those are just improvements on existing products," Aegis said, setting down the blue vial. "Incremental upgrades. Better versions of things you’ve seen before." She reached into the case and pulled out one of the gold-and-silver vials, and she made sure to move slowly, to let the liquid catch the light as it shifted and shimmered between colors. "This is something new."

Every eye in the room was on that vial now. The murmuring had stopped. The room was quiet.

Perfect.

"We call it Aether Surge." Aegis held the vial up, turning it slowly. "And it does something that, as far as we know, no other potion on the market can do. It temporarily amplifies magical output by forty to fifty percent."

She let that sink in.

"For approximately one minute," she continued, "a mid-tier mage can cast with the power of a master. A journeyman can punch above their weight class. Someone who’s running on empty can squeeze out spells they shouldn’t have the reserves for." She lowered the vial slightly, meeting eyes around the room. "The applications are obvious. Emergency combat situations where you need more firepower than you have. Critical spellwork that requires extra juice. Any scenario where the difference between success and failure is just a little more magical power than you can actually produce."

"Side effects?" someone called from the crowd. Aegis was pretty sure it was the Goldspire representative.

"Fatigue afterward," she said, nodding. "About an hour of reduced capacity. You’re not going to be casting anything impressive for a while after the effect wears off. It’s a trade-off, not a miracle." She smiled. "But for that one minute? You’re operating at a level most mages spend years trying to reach. And then never do."

She set the vial back in the case, carefully, almost reverently. Then she spread her hands again and addressed the room.

"House Starcaller isn’t trying to compete with established suppliers on their own terms. We don’t have the history for that, and honestly? We don’t want to. We’re not interested in doing what everyone else is already doing, just slightly cheaper. We’re interested in doing things no one else can do at all." She let her gaze sweep across the room, making eye contact with as many people as she could. "We’re looking for partners who want to be part of that. Partners who see the value in innovation over tradition. Partners who want to be ahead of the curve instead of behind it."

She gave a small bow.

"Thank you for your time. House Starcaller looks forward to working with you."

She stepped back.

The room was quiet for a moment. One heartbeat. Two.

Then the applause started, and it was loud. Noticeably louder than it had been for anyone else. People were actually clapping like they meant it, not just going through the motions.

The notification in her vision updated.

House Starcaller: ★★★★★ (Exceptional)

[Five stars. Maximum rating. That’s what I’m talking about.]

She caught Serilla’s eye across the room. The pink-haired woman was clapping with a grin on her face that was equal parts impressed and turned on, and she mouthed something that looked like "show-off."

Aegis winked at her.

The formal portion of the meeting wrapped up about an hour later, dissolving into the kind of informal mingling that was apparently mandatory at these events. Servants circulated with wine and little foods that were too small to actually satisfy anyone but too fancy to complain about. Representatives clustered in groups, making deals, trading gossip, and pretending to like each other.

Aegis found herself near one of the tall windows with a glass of wine in her hand and Rosalie beside her. The alchemist had finally stopped looking like she was about to pass out, which was progress.

"You did great," Aegis told her. "Seriously. The way you laid out those samples? Very professional. Very ’I know what I’m doing and you should trust me.’"

"I barely said anything. You did all the talking."

"You stood there and looked competent. That’s half the battle with these people. They want to feel like there’s substance behind the sales pitch. You were the substance." Aegis took a sip of her wine. It was good wine. Expensive wine. The kind of wine that wanted you to know how much it cost. "Besides, I couldn’t have done any of it without you. The products sell themselves. I’m just the pretty face."

Rosalie’s cheeks went pink.

"You’re not just a pretty face."

"Aw." Aegis put a hand over her heart. "You think I’m pretty?"

"That’s not what I—I meant—you’re also smart, and charismatic, and—" Rosalie took a large gulp of her wine. "You’re impossible."

"I’ve been told. Multiple times. By multiple people. Some of them were even being affectionate when they said it."

Movement in her peripheral vision. Someone approaching with purpose.

Aegis turned to find House Stone’s representative walking toward them, and up close, the family resemblance to Talia was even more obvious. Same cheekbones. Same sharp yellow eyes. Same way of holding herself like everyone else in the room was slightly beneath her notice.

"Lady Starcaller." The woman’s voice was cool and polished, like a knife wrapped in silk. "An impressive presentation. House Starcaller seems to be making quite a name for itself."

"Thank you, Lady...?"

"Cordelia Stone. Princess Talia’s aunt."

[Ah. So this is the aunt. The one who probably reports directly to Duchess Evangeline. Great. Wonderful. Love that for me.]

"A pleasure to meet you, Lady Cordelia." Aegis kept her smile easy, relaxed. "I hope House Stone found our presentation informative." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Informative, yes." Cordelia’s smile was the kind that didn’t reach her eyes and wasn’t trying to. "Though I must admit, I find myself curious about your intentions. A new house, rising so quickly, making such aggressive moves in both commerce and politics..." She tilted her head slightly. "One might wonder what you’re really after."

[And there it is. The fishing expedition.]

"Economic opportunity," Aegis said smoothly. "Same as everyone else in this room."

"Is that all?" Cordelia’s gaze flicked to Rosalie, then back to Aegis, assessing. "I’ve heard rumors, you know. About your interests. Beyond commerce."

"People do love to gossip. It’s basically Valdria’s national pastime."

"They do. Especially about ambitious young women who seem to want more than their station should allow." Cordelia’s smile sharpened, just a little. "I hope you’re not planning anything foolish, Lady Starcaller. Some prizes are simply out of reach for certain people. No matter how clever they think they are."

The words hung in the air between them like a challenge.

Aegis felt that hot flare in her chest again. The same one from Lord Pellington’s estate. The urge to say something cutting, something that would crack that superior mask and show Cordelia Stone exactly who she was dealing with.

She could picture it. Leaning in close. Whispering something about how she’d already had Talia screaming her name, multiple times, in multiple positions. Watching those yellow eyes go wide with shock and fury.

It would feel so good.

But this wasn’t the place. And Cordelia Stone wasn’t some minor noble she could afford to antagonize. Not yet. Not until she had all her pieces in position.

So instead, Aegis smiled her most charming smile, slid an arm around Rosalie’s waist, and pulled her a little closer.

"Lady Cordelia, I appreciate your concern for my wellbeing. Truly. But right now, all I’m planning is to capitalize on some economic opportunities and maybe drink more of this excellent wine." She raised her glass in a small salute. "House Starcaller is focused on commerce. Nothing more, nothing less."

Cordelia studied her for a long moment. Those yellow eyes, so much like Talia’s, searching for something. A crack. A tell. Some sign that Aegis was lying.

She didn’t find it.

"I see." Cordelia inclined her head slightly. "Well. Best of luck with your ventures, Lady Starcaller. I’m certain we’ll be seeing more of each other in the future."

She walked away without waiting for a response, her posture perfect, her stride unhurried.

Aegis watched her go, her smile still fixed in place.

"That was terrifying," Rosalie whispered once Cordelia was out of earshot.

"That was politics." Aegis took another sip of wine. "Welcome to the nobility, Rosalie. It’s all smiles and veiled threats and trying to figure out who’s going to stab you first."

"I think I prefer my cauldrons. Cauldrons don’t threaten me."

"Smart woman. Stick with the cauldrons."

Aegis’s eyes found Cordelia across the room, now chatting with the Goldspire representative. The two of them looked cozy. Probably comparing notes on how to keep upstart commoners in their place.

Two days until the betrothal ceremony. Two days until she’d have to stop playing coy and actually make her move. Cordelia clearly suspected something, but suspecting and knowing were two different things. And by the time she figured out what Aegis was really planning, it would be too late to stop her.

[Let her wonder. Let them all wonder. They’ll find out soon enough.]