Chapter 2

Whether he's even human, I couldn't say.

But their village's situation, does he really not know it?

If you want to get rich, first you build a road. Right now their village doesn't even have a road that runs through.

Plenty of people still have roofs that leak when it rains, and he wants to talk about how everything's all-natural.

And there's no shortage of nearby villages in exactly the same shape as theirs.

"Don't bother with him. Tomorrow we'll go scout another village."

"Yes, Mr. Johnson."

"Also, notify Brightvale. Tell them our investment project is terminated."

Eugene nodded. "Got it. I'll take care of it right away."

Once Eugene had done as I said, half an hour later a knock came at the door, and Curtis Mason showed up with someone in tow.

The man beside him I recognized too. He was the mayor of Brightvale.

Mayor Doyle glanced at my laptop screen. I reached over and closed the lid. "Mayor, what brings the two of you here?"

There was a smile on his face as he spoke. "Mr. Johnson, today was just Curt getting too worked up. His words, the way he handled things, weren't quite appropriate. But you can't cancel your investment in Brightvale over a little thing like this."

Curtis jumped in at once. "Right, Mr. Johnson, you're not that petty, are you? Besides, I posted the video of the assembly online so everyone could weigh in fairly."

"You've seen the talk online by now, haven't you? Everyone's saying your way of investing isn't fair. Us villagers, we live and die by our land. You take our land away, how are we supposed to survive?"

"Don't you think your way of investing goes a little too far?"

Hearing all that nearly made me laugh out of sheer anger.

Eugene couldn't hold back. "You talk without any fear of biting your own tongue. According to the data, your village pulled in under a hundred dollars per acre per person last year. Living off the land all year round, you people would starve to death. Where do you find the nerve to say you survive on your land?"

"And those things you said online, which of them is even true?"

The mayor spoke up right away. "Let's set the online stuff aside for now. We can clear that up later. Mr. Johnson, this time we came to bring you a new investment arrangement, one that all of us can accept. Take a look."

"Clear it up?" I asked.

The mayor reached over and gave Curtis a shove. Curtis said at once, "Mr. Johnson, I've got tens of thousands of followers online now. That video I put up on a whim, it's already past five million views. Everyone's watching this closely. If you can accept our terms, then naturally I'll go online and clear up all the facts."

That was plainly a threat aimed at me.

Eugene heard it and was furious, ready to open his mouth.

But I held him back. "Fine. Show me your terms."

"Curt, hand it over."

Curtis pulled out a sheet of paper covered in crooked, sloppy writing, and leaned in near my ear. "Your ten million has to go into the village account, with me and the mayor jointly overseeing it alongside you. Every dollar of profit earned from here on stays put, not a cent leaves. Each year the profit gets paid out to the villagers as dividends."

"And, for me and the mayor overseeing the account, a salary. Ten thousand a month, each."

When Curtis finished, a faint smile touched the corner of my mouth as I looked at the two of them. "Not a cent of the profit can leave?"

"That's right. If you agree, tomorrow you go online and clear everything up."

"And if I don't agree?"

Curtis's face darkened. "If you don't agree, then I've got no choice but to let the folks online keep judging for themselves."