Mammon observed his gathered men and women, or managers as he called them now, with satisfaction. They had met him in record time - it took less than half an hour for everyone to show up after he made the call for a meeting - even when some of them had been working on the other side of town. Mav and the other three were here, and the last member was a young, taciturn girl of indeterminate age.
The others had vouched for her abilities to carry out the dirtier aspects of their jobs, even if Mammon hadn’t had the pleasure of speaking with the hooded person herself. He didn’t even know her name, and none of the others knew what she was called either. They just knew her as the silent girl.
“Thank you for joining me on such short notice,” Mammon addressed, “I’m glad to see such punctuality from my managers.”
Then again, Mammon highly doubted that any of them would be late. The five people gathered here were all present to witness what Mammon did to the poor fool who chose to run away after his acquisition of power. She, like the only survivor who sent that assassin after Mammon, were enjoying their time as advent gard art, displayed profoundly behind a large glass wall behind his office for all guests to enjoy. The soundproofing he had commissioned with skilled Earth mages had done wonders to tone down the horrible screams, and how he could gaze at his work without the auditory assault. He could get used to how useful magic was.
Mammon focused his attention back on the managers. He could see them glancing at the squirming bodies behind him every now and then, and at the conspicuous empty display spots next to the completed art work. The message was clear, there was always room for more decorations to adorn the demon’s office.
“Please, have a seat, make yourselves comfortable,” Mammon continued, “I have an important announcement to make.”
They sat down on each of the specially procured chairs and faced Mammon. Their attention was singularly focused on him, and no one spoke; they knew how serious their boss could get when there was serious business to conduct. Each man and woman in the room understood that Mammon’s cheer was a mask to hide the insanity that bubbled just underneath the surface.
“Now, I know that all of you have been working very hard in the last few weeks to grow our little community of criminals and thieves, but I think everyone present understands that we are fast approaching what we can eke out of our current situation.”
Mav, the Bookkeeper, and the silent unnamed individual nodded, seeming to understand what the demon was saying. The other two, on the other hand… well, their job was to provide muscle, so Mammon chose to tacitly ignore the two siblings.
Mammon nodded. “Now, others might have been happy with the little kingdom that we’ve built here, but I am not one of those people. Our enterprise can grow so much more, just look at how much we’ve managed to grow in the short time that I’ve been with you all.”
More nods, this time from everyone present. And it was true, with Mammon managing the situation, he was able to grow the small street gang into something much more formidable. Rival gangs and organizations were quickly swept up by sheer force, led by Mammon himself, and the “examples” that he set whenever he went to battle quickly made joining his forces the more logical choice. In just a handful of days, Mammon had turned the small time group of thugs into the defacto leader of every illegal operation going on in this town, and his managers had been kept busy with the expanded infrastructure.
The five of them were only able to keep peace between all of the new members due to Mammon’s own presence. Everyone living in the slums had seen first hand what would happen to people who displeased the demon, and ignoring the instructions of his chosen five was a fast way to end up as the star of one of his many live exhibitions. His rule was already close to absolute in the underworld, and although Mammon supposed that it was a good start, he did miss flexing his artistic talents. But that was a sacrifice he was willing to make in exchange for loyal peons.
“So what’s the plan, boss?” Mav, the only one among them willing to speak up during official meetings, asked.
“I know that most of you don’t venture into the noble quarters much, but I think news about the state of the barony’s impossible to miss even this far away.”
“Aye, we heard.” Mav continued, “It’s why we’ve been able to expand this fast without any pushback.”
Mammon nodded. “Good, but unfortunately, as great as it is for our operations here, it’s not so great for the health of the town as a whole. You’ve seen how desperate some of the working class folk have gotten, and it’ll only be time before something gives.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Mav gave Mammon a questioning look. “You… care about the citizens? No offense, but you don’t strike me like the type, ma’am.”
The demon chuckled. “I might not care for each individual citizen, my good Mav, but the town as a whole? That I care for a lot.” Mammon took a sip of his drink before continuing. “Revolts means losses of life, which leads to losses in productivity, and that’ll cut into our finances. No cooperation can operate without people, and thus, I care about people.”
“Interesting way of looking at it,” Mav muttered, “But you’re right. So what’s the plan? Send the girl over and get rid of the ministers?”
Mammon glanced at the girl in question, the glint in her eyes and increase in pulse was the only indication that she wanted to go out in the field. She returned the demon’s stare and gave him a small nod, indicating her willingness to do what was needed.
“No no,” the demon explained, “That’s a great way to cause chaos and disorder, and doesn’t solve the issue at all. Other sycophants will only fill in the missing minister’s places, they’re awfully hard to kill off completely, but more imporantly, such an action willl disrupt the trade and flow of coin. I can’t allow that, so we only go that route if all else fails.”
The girl backed down and frowned slightly.
“We’ll still need your help though,” Mammon continued, “No assassinations this time, but we need information on the state of the baron and his son. There’s rumors abound, but we can’t trust any of that. Do what you must to find out the truth.”
“Anything?” the girl whispered. Mammon almost jolted in surprise when he heard her speak, he was almost certain that she was mute, but apparently not. Her voice was raspy and course with disuse.
Mammon quickly composed himself and smiled at the girl. “Well, use your best judgement. I’d say to avoid making too much noise, but, well, I don’t think you’ll have trouble on that part. So yes, anything is fine, we can cover up a few disappearances easily enough. Just get me that information, and make sure that it’s accurate.”
She nodded and sulked back in her chair, clearly lost in thought. Mammon still couldn’t make heads or tales on the strange silent girl. She must be some kind of child soldier or the like prior to joining up with Mav, but no one knew her past and she didn’t seem to have any friends in the conventional sense.
“Anyway, that leads me to my second point,” the demon continued, “Once we have an understanding of the situation around the baron, we will need to put someone to replace him of our choosing; we need someone who has our best interests in mind. I don’t think I need to explain why none of us would be able to fill in that role, yes?”
“Aye,” Mav answered, “I don’t think the locals or the capital would look too kindly on baroness Brick.”
The woman gave him a sour look but didn’t speak up. Mammon chuckled and continued. “Percisely, and I have the perfect individual in mind.” The demon took out a piece of paper and showed his managers the drawing. “This man, one Amon, has just arrived in this town recently and has been winning the hearts of the upper class. He has no real ties to this place, but more importantly, he is someone I am very familiar with. Put him on the seat as baron and I will ensure that he will have our best interests in mind.”
The gathered men and women looked at each other before nodding slowly. If Mammon had to guess, they probably assumed that this Amon individual had a private visit from their boss, and each of them knew just how convincing the demon could be. Of course, he would never reveal the truth, at least, not until he was sure where he stood in the world.
“Alright, so what’s our job in the meantime?” Mav asked again, speaking for everyone in the room. Mammon would have to do something about the shy nature of everyone else present, it’d be very bad for productivity if even the people in charge of his various operations were terrified of speaking their mind with him. Maybe he did go too hard on the initial introductions.
“Continue with your current operations but also do what you can to help prop up Amon, spread rumors of his virtue, maybe things like how he’s secretly a foreign royal or what have you. Make it seem like he’s the ideal candidate to replace the worthless baron and his corrupt ministers.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Mav said, “That kind of work’s right up my alley. I’ll get it done. Any timelines?”
Mammon shook his head. “No strict deadline, but the more you do now the better for the future. Our goal is to just get him in a position of power, and he can handle the rest on his side. The truth doesn’t matter as long as he gets there.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
“Alright, you have your instructions,” the demon finished, “Get them done.”
They left quickly after that, all quick to get out of the demon’s sight. That left the demon alone - well, he had his artworks to keep him company, but they could hardly provide him with any meaningful dialogue, even if they could still think coherently at all at this point. That left him with the time to really contemplate his position in this world. The demon was making his first motions to step out of the shadows of obscurity and he knew that it would only be a matter of time before the other world powers noticed his rise.
There was also the problem with his powers. As far as he knew, the way that he manipulated mana was unique, as was the way that he manifested that mana. It wasn’t too big of a deal currently, he was able to get away with it thanks to the very limited knowledge of mages that most citizens here had, but there was no way that using his abilities wouldn’t raise questions when more educated people saw them. There was just so many unknowns, and he could only hope that his plans were enough for what was to come.