Chapter 211: Charity

“Greetings everyone.”

The room fell silent, as a man in a business suit stood on a slightly elevated platform, staring into the eyes of all the guests in attendance.

“I must once again thank you all on behalf of Syma for the time that you have taken out of your busy schedules to attend this meeting.”

The man spoke while slightly bowing his head.

“The pleasure is ours.”

One of the guests who sat at the right end of the room added in a polite tone, to which several nodded their heads.

This was a meeting that had been organised by Syma, where the founders and the leaders of different businesses across the world were currently present.

The majority of them were the Alchemy guilds and banks that were below Syma in the world economic rankings.

On the orders of Julien, Syma had begun its charity campaign across the world, giving away highly expensive potions at a cheaper rate which was closer to their manufacturing cost.

The potions in the premium segment stayed the same, but the lower ones that were used by the masses were made available at rates that could even be considered as selling potions for free.

Not only the guild, but even Syma Royal Bank had begun a similar campaign.

Loans were given out to the masses at cheaper interest rates.

Many of the poor and underprivileged were even given zero-interest loans, with their repayment extending for more than a year.

Seeing such a charity campaign organised by one of the major economic powerhouses in the world, the other guilds and banks felt that the leadership of Syma was going crazy.

But little did they know that this was just the beginning.

Syma had then gone on to bring many other smaller guilds and banks under their umbrella, promising them various privileges in return for participating in the charity campaign under Syma’s name.

This had led to even the poorest of the poor being able to prosper and come out of their deprived state.

As for the loss suffered by Syma and the others who had willingly participated in such a campaign— it was recouped from the potions that were sold at premium prices to the royals and nobles around the world.

Syma had always been creative in their potions, resulting in many of the new potions being manufactured by Syma Alchemists’ only.

This forced the wealthy to buy them at whatever price the guild charged for the potions.

Many wanted to force Syma to stop their overpricing, but none wanted to offend the guild at the same time— as doing something like that would result in their own demise.

Syma was valued by every empire, irrespective of their race, so no one wanted to let their enemies have the advantage of having a guild like Syma under their own umbrella.

At the moment, Syma was independent, but if someone tried to force their hand, then the outcome was a given.

Syma would tilt towards whoever would protect them, making things harder for the others.

As for the guilds and banks that had participated in the campaign, not all of them had done so from the goodwill of their heart.

Many wanted to get closer to the top leadership of Syma, so they were ready to suffer some losses in their profits.

“You all have been called here, as we at Syma have decided to help the adventurers’ guilds and the mercenary guilds around the world by providing them with basic potions for free.”

“What?”

“Won’t that increase our losses?”

The room erupted in questions, as the attending guests found it illogical to give away potions for free to the adventurers and mercenaries, who were one of their biggest sources of income.

“Please maintain silence.”

At the speaker’s words, the room went silent, though the confusion etched on everyone’s face was easy to see.

“There will be a definite quota for each guild, as we want every person working there to benefit from our campaign. After the quota ends, the potions will then be sold at regular prices, though discounts would still be given.”

“And for how long?”

A man sitting in the middle of the room questioned, as many others nodded their heads in agreement.

They couldn’t just give away the potions for free—

“For the next three months, all basic potions will be given out for free. And before any of you find this being forced upon you, please do not worry, as Syma will be paying fifty percent of all your expenses in the given time. You will get the goodwill of the people while not suffering a significant loss at the same time.”

On the words of the speaker, many were relieved.

Even if they wanted to establish a good relation with Syma, it didn’t mean that they would sacrifice their business on a charity campaign with no end in sight.

Though bearing fifty percent of the expenses sounded like a lot, in reality, it was not.

The basic potions were easy to make and didn’t require rare materials for mass production.

That was why they were the main source of income for many, as the guild could charge the prices on their own, while the manufacturing cost stayed very low compared to the profits that the guild could make.

The premium potions weren’t something that everybody could manufacture.

And the cost of manufacturing them was much higher than the basic ones, along with the skills of the alchemists involved in their production.

Premium potions indeed gave a lot of profit to the guilds, but the costs too were significantly higher.

That was what made the basic potions a very lucrative choice for small guilds, as many cultivators were below the Gold rank, meaning there were countless buyers for basic potions… The mercenaries and adventurers required them the most, as those individuals were always involved in operations that injured them on a daily basis.

But—

Why was Syma going to such lengths just to help the masses?

It had been a long time since Syma had started their charity campaign, and after today’s meeting, it would be boosted to another level.

Just what was the leadership of Syma thinking?

Was this simply a charity, or were there greater motives behind it?

The questions were many, though the guests in attendance didn’t raise them, as that would equate to insulting the intelligence of the guild.

All guests were here for some motive or the other, while some had simply attended the meeting as spies, relaying the information to businesses that could be called the direct rivals of Syma—

The other major economic powers that had stood in the top rankings for centuries or even more.

The meeting had just begun, with many other topics of importance yet to be discussed.

Was it worth their time—

None knew, but everyone here wanted to bet on the crazy leadership of Syma.

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