“Tax evasion aside, how’s your business been doing? That cigarette of yours was pretty much an overnight success. Now, here you are, back on the streets advertising another product,” Cassandra took a silent step towards Steak and Rook. “Oh, but it wasn’t received that well, huh?” She smiled.

Rook balled his hand into a fist, the small knuckles of his hand turning white. It was hard to believe that it was those hands that made those drugs.

“What do you want, lady?” Steak asked.

Cassandra snapped her head toward Steak. Her piercing stare was enough to make him flinch. But he steeled his nerves and stood firm.

“Don’t be disrespectful to the mistress,” Rook placed a hand on Steak’s chest, nudging him to stand down. “We should be friendly to a potential business partner,” the teen flashed his classic fake smile.

“Oh?” Cassandra raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow.

“Well, as you just said, this new product of ours still needs some work. We need testers to point out these problems,” Rook said.

Cassandra raised her hand to the side as if waiting to receive something. After a few moments, Merle, who stood behind them, suddenly appeared beside Cassandra. He dropped a vial filled with clear liquid in her hand. Startled, Rook patted himself down and checked all of the many pockets on his outfit. It was the vial that contained his new drug.

“Hm, if you’re looking for testers, you’re not going to find anyone willing in this alley,” Cassandra sighed. “Robin, dear, you’re crazy, right? Would you try this out?” She asked her sweetly.

“Mmm, nope! It looks yucky,” Robin stuck her tongue out.

“So, seeing how not even the insane want to be experimented on, we can provide you with people who have no choice but to accept,” Cassandra offered.

“What, are you going to force someone to do it?” Steak asked.

“It’s not like you were opposed to it when you were hassling that old man,” Cassandra swiftly replied.

This silenced Steak. He realized that they'd probably had their eyes on him and Rook the moment they stepped into town.

“No, we have people like your young friend here that owe the family. What you want and need are desperate people. Luckily for you two, the desperate people we know also have a history of drug use in the old world,” Cassandra explained.

“Good for nothing junkies in their first life, good for nothing junkies in this one as well,” Robin laughed. The sound she made reminded Steak of the Monkeyhawks.

“What do you want? You’re not giving us these people for free, are you?” Rook asked.

“No, what are you going to offer me for showing you mercy for not paying what you owe? We showed you nothing but kindness,” Cassandra acted hurt, but a wicked smile crept up in her face at the end of her sentence.

Rook focused on not showing any emotion as he thought about it. However, it was hard with Steak beside him flinching and reacting to every little thing. Steak didn’t know that it was easy to know what went through his head by just looking at his face. He was that easy to read.

The short teen couldn’t help himself. He snorted a bit at Steak’s ridiculousness. This reaction prompted a questioning look from Cassandra. She was taken aback that she failed to intimidate the boy. Thank you, Steak. Now, I can think this through calmly, Rook thought.

“How about this? We give you half of our operation,” Rook said confidently.

“Go on,” Cassandra said.

“We sell the products directly to you and you’ll handle the distribution of it. You’ll also exempt us from your taxes. We’ll act as your suppliers,” Rook proposed.

“Quite bold of you to demand something from me when you’re the one who owes me,” Cassandra said.

Robin and Merle brought out their weapons, taking what Rook said as a threat.

“Kill the two of us now and you’ll miss your chance to have a monopoly in this industry,” Rook said.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Hah, do you really believe that you’re the only one who can make these things? Remember, you were a team of twenty people when you reinvented wines and the machinery needed to make it,” Cassandra said.

“Exactly, there are a lot of others out there who can do what I do. After tasting nicotine once again, do you really think they wouldn’t be motivated to make something better than that? Sooner or later you’ll be surprised by how many people are making this stuff,” Rook grinned.

For a moment, Cassandra was silent.

“Fine, I accept,” she said.

Cassandra extended her hand out to him. Her lackeys, Robin and Merle, sheathed their weapons.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Rook smiled and took her hand.

Cassandra squeezed his hand tight, almost breaking it. “Don’t act like you know and understand how people work, boy. You were too young to even remember what the old world was actually like,” she leaned in and whispered.

After ironing out more details about their deal, Steak and Rook were free to go. They left Spawnharbor in a hurry, now that they knew the Murder of Crows had their eyes on them.

Cassandra and her men remained in the alley. Not one of them dared to move unless Cassandra did so. Not even the impulsive Robin wanted to test her patience.

“Raised that boy into a fool, didn’t you, sis?” She whispered to herself.

Shortly after, Cassandra melted into the shadow beneath her. Not a trace was left that she had been there.

“Alright children, we’ve got a new market to seize,” Cassandra said from the shadows.

Robin looked around, trying to figure out where her voice came from. Merle walked up and gave her a light smack in the back of her head, snapping her out from her tomfoolery.

***

In a nicer district of Spawnharbor where the regular people lived and worked, Roald’s squad prepared to raid a house. It was in a neighborhood beyond Cassandra’s reach. A month after Casssandra got a hold of the distribution of Rook’s drugs.

“We’re breaking the door down!” Roald shouted.

Gasps came from the onlookers behind them, a completely different crowd from the ones living and frequenting the red-light district. It was a mix of crafters, merchants, and other kinds of specialists who never dared to become a combat-oriented class like the others.

Roald had received a report from the local doctor in the neighborhood that his squad was assigned to. The woman said that she got notified by one of her skills that two people had died in the house next to her clinic.

The squad captain stood next to the door and pressed his ear against it, trying to listen if there was any movement inside. The silence was broken by the crackle of the fireplace.

He tightened his grip on his warhammer, then he swung at the door. All it took for him to take it down was one hit.

As soon as the door fell, he and his team went in and scanned the entire place. It was a medium sized house, reminiscent of the old world they used to live in.

“Hey, Cap, I got two bodies in here in the bedroom,” Dick called out.

After confirming that no one else was inside the house, Roald and the rest of his team went to the bedroom.

The architecture and the furniture of the place wasn’t the only thing that was like the old world. Two bodies laid on top of the bed with their eyes wide open. Drool and vomit came out of their mouths.

They were a couple that met after they had been transported to Spawnharbor. Both of them were adventurers by trade, evident from the armor and weapons displayed in their closet.

“Were they poisoned?” One of the newer recruits of the team asked.

“Nah, this looks like a classic drug overdose,” Dick replied.

“Check the area, see and collect any suspicious items lying around,” Roald ordered. “You, go call for two stretchers and a medic,” he pointed at the rookie.

Dick picked up a wine bottle that had the emblem of the Murder of Crows on it. Next to it on the table was a packet of powderized pills.

“Cap, check this out,” Dick called out with a grin on his face.

Roald checked the bronze cups strewn about on the floor. There was a bit of wine left inside it. Peering inside, he found a white powdery substance at the bottom of the cup.

“These fools were getting cross-faded,” Dick laughed. “Guess there’s no killer in this case.”

Dick pulled out a cigarette from the breast pocket of his uniform and bit on it. He patted each and every pocket he had, trying to find a match to light it.

“What are you doing?” Roald asked without a hint of emotion in his voice.

“Hm? You want some, Cap?” Dick offered him a stick after successfully lighting his cigarette using one of his Skills.

Roald walked up to him and pinched the end of Dick’s lit cigarette with his bare hands.

“Are you seriously going to smoke at a crime scene?” Roald asked.

“What, they both died from an overdose. It can’t get any deeper than that,” Dick shrugged.

“There’s a chance that it can be much deeper than that,” Roald emphasized. “We’ve got to go over all of the details.”

“Both the bottle and the pills had the crow insignia on it. We can’t really do anything about them, can we?” Dick glanced at the dead couple. “Shame, the woman was a looker,” he said under his breath.

Roald kept quiet for a bit, not letting his anger take over and cloud his leadership. But what Dick said was true. They couldn’t go confront the Murder of Crows about this case, especially without his superior’s approval. And with the power they currently have over the economy of the city, they’ll be reluctant to do anything that might cause friction with the group.

When he saw Dick reach for another cigarette, Steak and Rook’s face popped into his mind.

“They must have something to do with this,” Roald muttered. “I have to find a way to stop this before it gets any worse.”