While I do have to see Scorpion quickly I also need to shut down this protest or whatever it is quick! Wait no. I can't do that yet. I need Scorpion to tell me his plan first. I'll take a peek at the war-hungry people though. If it seems like they're literally about to march off then I'll have to put a stop to it regardless but if it seems like I have a bit of time then I'll go see Scorpion to hopefully figure out what he's scheming.

So worried about the now very possible upcoming conflict between Whitebridge and Blackbridge I rushed towards the voices that were still chanting.

"War! War!"

"Yeah let's show those Blackbridge thugs that Whitebridge doesn't just sit still and take punches!"

"Yeah! War! War! War!"

Jeez, they seem so angry. They weren't this angry when I left. What could've caused this? It must've been something big. I'll have to find out what happened later. For now, I just need to make sure they won't start charging towards Blackbridge when I'm in the middle of talking with Scorpion.

I soon got to the source of the incensed yelling and was shocked at how many people were there. I even saw some familiar faces.

Is that Darius? and I think there's also that blacksmith dude. What was his name? Dave? Yeah, I think it was Dave. What the flip are Darius and Dave doing here? I mean obviously, they're taking part in this angry mob thing that's going on here but I don't know. I just feel like Darius and Dave aren't the types to get riled up like this. Whatever happened must've involved them. That's the only explanation I can think of.

I looked towards the front of the mob. They seemed to be crowding around someone.

"Right war! Those people from Blackbridge are all criminals and thugs! Even burning down a building! They obviously think we're pushovers but we'll show them otherwise! We need to convince the guards that Blackbridge needs to be taken down!"

Burning buildings? What the heck has been going on?! That's a much bigger deal than what I did in Blackbridge. I just helped people and then blamed the bad stuff on Whitebridge but now actual buildings are being burnt down?! Also, that voice sounds kind of familiar. Hmm.

"Yeah, you're right! We need to show those jerks who's boss!"

"Indeed!", said the same voice that spoke before.

There's that same voice again I swear I know that person.

I edged closer to the crowd and jumped up to look at the faces of the people near where I'd heard the voice in hopes that if I saw the face of a person I recognized I could connect it to the voice. Sure enough, I ended up seeing someone that I knew wearing a familiar suit.

What?! Why the heck is he here?

The person noticed me and headed over to me, the crowd parted and let him through.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

"Well hello, Jameson. Let's talk."

"Yes. Lets."

Then I followed Scorpion away from the crowd of previously angry but now just mostly confused people.

"Who's that person? Why's Hank going with them?", a voice that sounded like Darius's said.

"Yeah, I don't know Darius. What do we all do now?"

Oh, I almost forgot that I'm in disguise. Thankfully Stella didn't seem to be in the crowd. She might've accidentally exposed me. Then there would've been trouble. Well, I guess Patrick also could've been a problem but I have a feeling nothing short of a nuclear bomb would get him to emerge from his potion shop, granted I could be wrong about that.

I'm still kind of surprised that people are that upset. I mean people clearly know about the existence of the ABW since people became hostile when I asked about it a while back when I was searching for their base. I guess either these people aren't aware of the ABW or the general population only knows that they're criminals but doesn't know what their mission is.

If they were aware that the ABW wanted to incite Whitebridge into fighting against Blackbridge I'm sure they'd see this for what it is, a scheme to do just that. Whatever the case I'm sure the Guild will interfere soon so that a war doesn't actually break out. Even if those people did go to the military I'm sure that the military wouldn't do anything since they're not stupid. So what's Scorpion's aim here? He doesn't seem like the type to not plan for complications but it would be great if he just made a stupid mistake.

Soon Scorpion had reached where he wanted to go and he turned around to face me. We were now in the alley where the ABW base was.

"So I take it you've finished checking out all of the mines?", Scorpion said.

"Yes. I even found a way to improve the one in Yarthaw."

"Ah, that's the closest one right?"

"Yeah."

"Good job. You're now promoted I suppose. Since you've done what I asked for. There's not much to do now except sit back and watch as I rake in the rewards. I might even give you a small portion."

"If you don't mind me asking how are you going to make money? I mean they're just fighting and it honestly doesn't seem like the military will step in. At least from my perspective."

"Oh trust me they will. They might not want to attack now and that's fine. I mean I wanted them to attack as well because that would produce the best results but soon they won't have a choice. Hehe."

Think James. Think. What could he be talking about? Connect the dots. Okay. War so people are fighting. How does war use money or gain money? Well obviously if you're on the winning side your side would get money but that wouldn't help Scorpion that much. So it has to be something that's used in war. Something that the military needs to buy for the war. Weapons. It must be weapons.

Ah. The mines! The metal must be used for making weapons. Clever. Clever. Although considering the power Scorpion has he probably doesn't need much money. I would've figured that he just wanted money but maybe he really does want to make Whitebridge better so maybe he's selling cheaper weapons to Whitebridge or just giving them away?

In a horribly twisted way, he is helping Whitebridge then but I have a feeling this is the kind of help that no one wants to receive. On the other hand, maybe he just wants to watch the world burn and make some blood money while doing it. Whatever the case I know his plan now or at least enough of it I think.

I bet Blackbridge is on their way here now. I fully believe that Scorpion's plan to make Whitebridge and Blackbridge fight would've worked without the Guild and me because now I can expose it to everyone and they'll realize that they don't have to fight because it was all Scorpion's doing.

Wait that makes me think of something else. I bet Scorpion also leads the ABB then or at least knows the person leading it. So the ABW was in charge of making Blackbridge angry against Whitebridge and the ABB was in charge of the opposite. Clearly, some other people from the ABW helped to stir trouble at Blackbridge because I don't think I did enough to make them angry to the point where they'd consider starting a flipping war!