“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.” - Aristotle, Greek Philosopher

The Crime Lord class had two main branches that I could specialise in. There was the ‘I work alone’ pathway that led to me becoming an Assassin, Master Thief or Spy. The other pathway was called ‘Criminal Network’ and it led to things like Assassin‘s Guild, Spy Master and King of Thieves. Basically, my choice was between improving my individual power or relying on minions to get things done. Personally, I liked the idea of having other people doing things for me, rather than risking my own neck all the time. So I decided to specialise in the Criminal Network branch. This choice unlocked my first skill, ‘Recruit Underling.’

There were a lot of options for underlings greyed out in my Tech Tree that I guessed I needed to level up to access. At level one, I could recruit one underling. My choices were Recruit Thug, Recruit Informant or Recruit Thief. It was the whole assassin, spy or thief choice again. I could see a lot of really cool options greyed out further up the Tech Tree, but those three options seemed to be the main branch types of my Crime Lord class.

Apparently, the way my Crime Lord class levelled up was through controlling the local area either through theft, murder or trading information. Now, that sounded a little bit evil to me, but I figured this class was just a tool and that it could be used for good or evil just like a scalpel or any other tool. It didn't make me a bad person just having this class. It was what I did with it that mattered, right?

So I considered the fastest ways to level up without going on a stealing and murder spree. No, I had to focus on my survivability first. I could focus on levelling up quickly later. What did I need right now? Right now I needed information. So recruiting an informant or spy was my best first choice. I selected Recruit Informant and waited for something to happen. Nothing did.

Was me being a cat breaking the system somehow? I mean, how could a cat run a criminal organisation? Did I recruit humans to inform for me or were cats going to be working for me?

I realised that I had made a stupid mistake. I only learnt the skill Recruit Informant. I hadn’t actually used it yet. I facepalmed myself with a paw.

I decided to get out of my roof-hole-house before I recruited an informant. I didn’t want to break the thinly tiled roof by having a human up here or something silly like that.

So I tiptoed to the edge of the roof that overlooked the narrow alleyway behind our building. It was dark. The door of a nearby tavern opened and the laughter and camaraderie of sailors momentarily spilled out into the night. I glanced over the shadowy structures of the Port District. In the distance, the light from signal fires around the bay rested on the calm waters of the harbour, allowing ships to come and go quietly during the night.

I concentrated on using my Recruit Informant skill and waited. I wondered if a cat or human would show up. That’s when I realised I’d need that Minor Telepathy spell to communicate with whoever I summoned. But I hadn’t figured out how to use magic yet. The whole thing was looking like it was going to be another failure when a scruffy-looking black cat slipped into the alleyway below me.

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“Boss?” I heard it say. It was trying to find me.

“Up here,” I meowed back. It took the little black cat some time scrambling up trash, gutters and the crumbling brick wall, but it finally reached my rooftop. It was a kitten like me, but it was roughed-up and less well-looked-after than I was.

“What’s the job, boss?” It softly mewed. I was a little disappointed it was a cat. I thought a human informant would be better. Or would it? I mean who would suspect a cat of spying? And besides, maybe human underlings could be recruited at higher levels.

“Um,” I said.

“What?” It said back, taking a seat a few roof tiles away. It started licking its paws and claws, cleaning itself.

Great start, Sooty. I mentally slapped myself. Okay, time to boss.

“What is your name?” I asked my first informant.

“My name’s Scout.” It said as its tail flicked.

“Okay, Scout. Tell me what you know about this area.”

I had a long conversation with Scout. Lovely gal really. A bit rough around the edges, but it was a rough around the edges kind of a neighbourhood. We were living in the Port District of the capital city of this kingdom. The city was built on the ruins of a much larger and older metropolis. The houses were constructed out of the ancient stones that were left over from the skeletal remains of the previous civilization that controlled this location. The city was strategically situated around a large natural harbour, a small mountain range and rich farming land, making it a prosperous region for trade, fishing and agriculture.

By day, the local area would be surrounded by dockworkers, fishermen and sailors who industriously clogged the jetties and loading areas of the nearby harbour. By night, the bay was full of hundreds of small timber ships that would huddle together, sheltering from the frequent storms that roamed the coastline. As Scout talked, I surveyed the forest of tall-masted sailboats that swayed gently on the water. Shipbuilding was a major industry in the city because of the cheap lumber that arrived daily on wagons from the forested mountain region to the north.

Poorly paved streets twisted around the shanty apartment that we called home and between the nearby warehouses like wild roots that ended in dead ends or secret shortcuts through the city. The back alleys and byways were jealously guarded by local gangs in poorly disguised turf wars that were largely ignored by the underfunded local police.

I found out that I needed a hideout if I wanted to keep Scout in my criminal network long-term. The amount of underlings I could recruit depended on the size of my hideout and my level. Also, I’d be able to recruit specialised minions if I had purpose-built areas in my hideout for my minions to work. Places like workshops, alchemy labs and black markets would give my organisation access to unique trade goods and the ability to craft rare items.

Scout wasn’t a normal cat. She had some of my memories and the memories of a local cat. Her cat’s body was created out of nothing when I used my Recruit Informant skill. She was like a magically-summoned person-creature. She started out with the same attributes that I had when I summoned her. So she had an 11 Intelligence but pretty low physical stats like me. This was good news and bad news. If I improved my attributes, I could have very strong minions working for me. But right now, all my minions would be weak, because I was weak.

I invited Scout back to my mother’s hole in the roof, next to the warm chimney. Mumma Cat was really nice about me having a friend over. It might have been because Scout was so small like her babies, but she accepted Scout right away. I needed to get my own place though. I had an empire to build.

So I snuggled into the purring pile of bodies with Scout. Today was a good day. I was growing my criminal network. I had a good understanding of the local area, and I was getting stronger. Tomorrow, I was going to find my hideout, level up and master magic.