CHAPTER 92: Release pandora
The gangster boss bowed his head and offered me his allegiance.
“Good. Get someone to fix you up, here’s a healing potion. I’ll get you here tomorrow same time. Don’t worry about letting us out, we know the way.”
No one stopped us leaving.
The next day as we arrived, the gangster boss immediately vacated his chair as I wordlessly sat down, Sustelia stood next to me. The ex-boss looked much better; a sling supported his arm from around his neck. Even his coat looked cleaned and stitched up.
“You better now?”
“That healing potion you gave me helped.”
I nodded.
“Good. I need you to be operational. Everyone except him, leave.”
What I wanted to say only needed his ears. When everyone left, I started explaining my purpose for being there.
“I’m not going to rain on your parade, I’ve no interests in taking your position or running a gang. I do however have my plans and you are going to implement them as if they are your own. After that, I’ll leave you alone until there’s something else I require.”
“What do you want me to do?”
I took out some small wooden boxes, each the size of my hand, from my satchel and handed them to him.
“You are to take these boxes and leave one of them inside each warehouse belonging to the Berelli Estate. That’s all you need to do. Don’t steal anything from the warehouse or damage them. You have fifteen days. Can you do that?”
“Yes, we can. Why do you need us to do that, couldn’t you do that on your own?”
“I have my reasons.”
“You realise we’ll make enemies if they find out.”
“All the better to keep it low key and use people you can trust to do the job properly. Don’t use guys like Laurel who happily invited me in yesterday.”
He probably didn’t know why I called the guy Laurel, but he got the point.
“Two things. If possible don’t kill Laurel, I would’ve nonetheless found you, even without my coercing him. Also, as compensation for your effort, sell any timber you have stored at any cost. Prices will go up astronomically within a couple of moon cycles. Don’t buy from any suppliers except from me, you’ll more than make up any loss. I’m happy if you want to include your contacts too, there’s an opportunity to earn some respect. The Berelli Estate must stay unaware of your actions. Only you know of this, so I’ll know where to look if the word gets out.”
“I don’t know your name. What do I call you?”
“You know what? Don’t call me anything, I prefer it that way. Besides I’ll know where to find you. My female friend, as you call her, will contact you and pass on my messages. I needn’t tell you that if I must see you to reiterate my message, someone else will take your place.”
In his line of business, he understood my point clearly.
“Why did you include me in your scheme? I didn’t ask for that you know. Besides, I’m technically not even a part of your team?”
Sustelia later complained after we left the building.
“Feel free to complain to the palace guards if you think you can convince them.”
She simply made a humph noise. I was purposefully being a bit obtuse. I didn’t see any problem including her in my scheme as she put it. One day we had tea with the king, another day we bullied mobsters, I didn’t understand her problem.
When we reunited with the others, I made an announcement to Hana, Sustelia and Karato at the inn during dinnertime.
“My business here in Shimmerstal is done. I’m heading back to Obon via Camp Endeavour tomorrow morning. Hana, if you don’t find me in Camp Endeavour I’ll meet you in Obon.”
Karato suddenly remembered a message that he relayed to me with a mouth still full of food as if he feared forgetting it somehow.
“Ah, please stop via the palace tomorrow morning Shane, King Leopold wants to see you before you go.”
I nodded. Hana still busied herself in the labour guild’s commercial law section, reading through all the documentation there with the help of a reading golem I made for her. The golem would record each page, which Ara would later stitch together and then get to know the details pertaining to commercial law. That information would prove to be very useful to me in future, especially in discovering the loophole pathways the nobles tread so well already. I would miss Hana, it seemed she could be stuck there at least ten days with the amount of documentation Hana found there, Karato’s projection was way off. Perhaps it was good that Hana and I be separated for a while, even if small emergencies kept bringing us together as if nature abhorred us being apart for any length of time. Hana kindly reminded me of something.
“Don’t forget to get something for Elle, Antonetta and Haruhime before you go.”
“Yeah, thanks. I would probably have forgotten to do that for them.”
I sighed. Sometimes I suffered from a one-track mind. Sustelia also asked me to do something for her.
“I’m going to stay for a few days because I’m visiting some family. If you can let the Minstrels know, I’ll appreciate it. I’ll catch up with you sometime in future.”
“Are you going to be okay?”
“Thanks Karato, I’ll be fine. I’m not planning to make any detours and I’ll stick to the road.”
The rest of the night I spent with good company and had a peaceful sleep.
The next morning King Leopold ushered me into his office himself.
“Come in, come in. It is time we caught up again. Thanks for coming to see me. Karato said you would most likely head off soon, so I appreciate you being here.”
Well, if the king said please visit me, I would probably take it as nothing less than drop your plans for the day and see me immediately. But I wouldn’t say that to him.
“No problem, I always seem to do interesting things when I visit here.”
“Please sit. Don’t forget to take your dathrod when you go. We’ve had a great time showing the knights the creature and I think even some of their strategy on how to deal with monsters may have changed following that. We fed it by the way, it had a voracious appetite. Unfortunately, one of the knights came too close and the dathrod clawed him. Those claws are razor sharp. He lost his arm as a result.”
“Why did he approach the cage?”
“The locking mechanism on the cage could be manipulated from the inside. A few knights noticed the dathrod trying to escape using its claws to pick the sliding bolt. When we tried to fix the bolt, even with our attempts to keep it at bay in the cage, the dathrod launched a surprise attack and the knight’s arm was mauled.”
“Apologies for that, I didn’t even think about a more secure cage. I only intended the cage as temporary storage, although I shudder to think what would’ve happened if the dathrod escaped while at Camp Endeavour.”
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“No need to be concerned, the knight is well looked after. He will still have a good job here; it will be more administration focused though. What are you planning to do with the dathrod, it is a particularly dangerous monster and I doubt you could tame it?”
“For the moment it will stay in storage until I can think of something.”
“I opened my pocket dimension storage and passed the claw of the dathrod to the king.”
“Please give this to that knight if you don’t mind. I’m responsible for the actions of the dathrod since I have subjugated it.”
“Is this what I think it is?”
King Leopold must have noticed at some stage that the dathrod missed a dew claw.
“Yes, it’s the dathrod’s dew claw. It’s worth is unknown and I’m willing to write a declaration stating as much for the knight.”
“You know that knight would probably never make as much money in his life as what that dew claw would be worth?”
“I appreciate that, which is why I’m doing it.”
The king chuckled. He knew I didn’t want to let go of that claw; he could see for himself it cost me something.
“Very well. I’ll do that and convey its significance.”
“I have another issue to raise with you while I’m here.”
I explained the situation of the so-called bandits that I kept in storage and my intended purpose for them.
“Let me make sure I have my understanding correct. You want to turn Lord Berelli’s knights into slaves, and you are worried about the possible ramifications?”
“Yes, but more specifically about the fact I captured them in his territory. If word got out that I was there, it may cause some disruption.”
“Disruption is too nice a word, but I think you underestimate the leverage you hold.”
“In what way?”
“Lord Berelli is clever enough to realise that if he were to protest, news of his knight’s misconduct would surface, especially if you were to protest and insist on a third-party investigation into the situation. If I were you, I wouldn’t hide where the bandits were subjugated. That way you can go through the normal process of creating slaves without concern.”
I thought about the king’s words and decided it was worth the gamble.
“I will do as you suggest. Besides I think Lord Berelli is about to have other things to worry about.”
“That wouldn’t have anything to do with your contact with the Skeleton Gang, I’m curious what your business was there.”
“Skeleton Gang? I don’t recall them. You’re not referring to the bunch I visited the last two days perhaps?”
“Yes, them.”
I wondered how he knew about that. After all, the palace spies stopped following me around, like fleas after a dog, probably following Karato’s report that I knew all about them. That could only mean there were spies in the gangster boss’ gang. That also made sense because no one was privy to our discussion other than me, Sustelia and the gangster boss. The issue was how to come clean.
“I was looking to use unofficial channels to exact some recompense against the Berelli family following their embargo against me.”
“Ah. I see.”
“I thought Karato related that to you by now?”
“I can see your misconception. Karato may keep me up to date, but he purposefully avoids telling me everything.”
I nodded, what more could I say. Then King Leopold let me in on a concern of his.
“We’ve been keeping an eye on the Skeleton Gang for years now. It’s been frustrating, they are the largest gang in Shimmerstal, with the largest influence and we simply couldn’t get close to their leader. So, imagine our surprise when not only do you arrive at the doorstep of the Skeleton Gang, but you also take over their establishment. What’s your plans with it?”
I chuckled to myself, although it could infer I was a criminal, I didn’t think King Leopold took me to be that type.
“I’ve largely left them to their own devices, I didn’t intend bringing them down. Even if I did, it wouldn’t be long before another gangster group popped up. I thought it best to keep them under my thumb, that way it was easier to keep on top of the developments I couldn’t see coming in the past.”
It was King Leopold’s time to surprise me.
“Would you mind if I worked with you on this issue? Keeping one step ahead of the game always proved difficult. You’re in the best position to extract information we couldn’t get if we tried.”
“I have no issue with that. I would only ask in return that while they have usefulness, we don’t shut them down but give them purpose to continue helping us.”
“I think that’s a good idea. Very well. Let’s do that.”
“I have a personal request. You remember Sustelia, whom you met the other day? She’s my contact with the Skeleton Gang. I need to keep her here in Shimmerstal for a while. Would it be possible to keep her here until I can find a better way to keep an eye on the Skeleton Gang?”
“No problem, I will sort something out. That aside, what are your plans for the Berelli Estate?”
“I’m planning to break their monopoly on the wood trade.”
“I have no doubt you can do that, but how will that impact the rest of the kingdom?”
“For at least two moon cycles, Lord Berelli will be unable to meet his wood supply contracts. During that time, I’m going to use that opportunity to take over his part of the market. I will not only meet his supply, but I’m also going to undercut his prices, no less thanks to the extra slaves Lord Berelli just supplied for me.”
King Leopold looked thoughtful for a moment as if contemplating something. Eventually I had to ask.
“Is there a problem?”
“No. Sorry Shane, I am just thinking of something.”
“Karato mentioned you have done something similar with the dark elves?”
“Correct. They’re adapting well now. I’ll probably let them free in a few years’ time if they behave themselves.”
“Remember that enslaving people, no matter the reason, comes with the responsibility. The palace keeps an eye on those activities by insisting people register their slaves. Even if we miss the bad situations like Hana, it at least creates the means to track down the perpetrators and those supporting them.”
I could feel the reproof and I acted within my own power. He could have taken more draconian action against me, but he only advised me to do the right thing. I promised to register them with Mr. Papadopoulos. When I eventually followed up on my promise the bald-headed demon slapped me with a fifty silver per slave processing cost, knocking me back with a whopping fifty gold registration fee. If I reserved any doubts about enslaving those tree huggers, I lost it on the receipt for that bill. In fact, I promised to make them work for every copper.
Feeling satisfied with my visit to the palace, I left after retrieving the dathrod, and having to briefly spar with some of the knights, insisting I have a quick bout with them. Afterwards, I stopped to pick up some gifts on the way through for the others and bought many stall meals as I could as impromptu meals stored in my transfer storage. Thinking of meals, I remembered to pick up some rations.
Missing from the adventurer supply shop armoury, was Tobias. He of course was operating with the Red Sparrows in Obon’s Adios Dungeon. I purchased some rations, other odd and ends we needed to replenish our gear and headed for the adventurer’s guild. As soon as the guild master heard I was in the building, he insisted I visit his office and have some tea. We caught up on the news having a good discussion on general topics until I had to be rude and tell him I still had some distance to travel.
Before leaving, I thanked him for allowing Olivia to travel with my team and finally, from there, I stopped over to review the quest board. It was obvious that since the monster attack, the focus of the adventurer guild quests shifted to the less dangerous areas in the east and the south. That of course meant any quests in the west garnered better rewards. Some of the quests wanted plant materials only found in the Blister Oak Forest in the west so after retrieving the materials I had, I pulled off a couple of quests and headed for the counter. Also on the quest board, a request for ironwood, which I gladly supplied to the happy congratulations of the guild counter attendants.
All in all, I walked out of there with about fifteen gold, not a bad haul for an adventurer. I didn’t need to do quests given my income from other revenue streams like the woodcutter camp and the palace weapon sales. That didn’t include the huge benefit I was getting from the counterfeit gold arrangement with the guild which brought me hundreds of small gold at a time. I had quickly reached the point where earning money wasn’t a problem for me but rather finding how best to invest it to better help people improve their circumstances. As an added side benefit I offered to take Olivia’s mail through for free, which they happily passed on to me.
I still needed to do a few things before I could finally head out. I stood in the doorway planning my next move while watching the abundant traffic trundling past the adventurer guild. Looking for a carriage to take me to the rest of the day’s destinations I was startled by a voice.
“Are you an adventurer sir?”