I don’t understand how anyone could believe this load of dave jelly.
- Unnamed [Watch Officer] upon confiscation of a copy of the [Demon Lord’s] Manifesto
-------
I stayed in that alley until sunrise, which was much longer than I should have. However, without the [Son of Dave] there to point them in the right direction, they had no clue where to search for me.
Not that I had any misguided sense of invulnerability. I was still sure that if the [Hero] managed to stumble onto me, he could turn me into [Demon Lord] paste with a single hammer swing.
I rose unsteadily and began walking back to the inn room I had rented as Jacob Jacobson. Fortunately, I realized my mistake before I made it back there.
Frick. I’m not wearing that disguise. I thought. I changed out of it in case I was caught during my… Operation. I did my best not to focus on what I’d done.
My original plan had been to change back into my Jacob Jacobson disguise, but I quickly realized I had an issue with timing. Jacob Jacobson was now suspiciously missing the entire night that a member of the [Hero’s] party was murdered, and I couldn’t think of a good way to establish an alibi.
In other words, despite my best efforts to try to keep that disguise valid, there was a chance it was compromised anyway.
Boss it is, then. I thought.
And that was how the “boss” of the still-yet-to-be-renamed Faroff Thugs came to be pounding on the door of their safe house early that morning.
“Yeah, yeah, whaddya-“ the previous leader said as he came to the door. He abruptly stopped as he finally saw who it was. “Boss! I, uhh, wasn’t expectin’ ya!”
I was already annoyed by the delay, so I just gave him a flat look in response. “Well, are you going to let me in?” I asked.
“Oh, sure, yeah,” he replied as he moved aside, and I walked past him.
“Someone kicked a hornet’s nest,” I said. “I need to lay low for a bit. I’m using your base again.”
“Oh, sure. Of course!” he replied. “It’s just.. you might not… Wait!” he said as he stood in front of the door to his basement.
I pushed him aside, even as he continued murmuring half-formed excuses. Then, I finally got to see what had him all worked up.
“Good morning, miss,” I said to the woman in the basement who hastily covered herself as soon as I opened the door.
She didn’t reply with anything but a brief dip of her head, so I closed the door.
“Tell me something. Is she a member of your gang?” I asked.
The thug shook his head. “No, of course not!”
“Are you holding her hostage?”
An even more violent shake of his head.
“Then why on earth is she in your base!?” I practically snarled.
“Well. I- uhh, you see-“
I held up a hand. “You know what? I’ve decided I don’t care. You two have five minutes. Get out of here. I don’t care where you go or what you do. Just leave.”
My tone was perhaps a bit harsher than I even intended, and the man scurried down the stairs. I heard some murmurs from the basement, and the woman sounded (rightfully) upset.
I think that was about when I realized how tired I was.
I didn’t sleep at all last night because of… I cut that thought off there. There was no need to rehash the memory I was currently avoiding.
Like magic, the two cleared out quickly.
If that was magic, it’s a pretty lame spell. I thought to myself. What would it be? [Coitus Interruptus]! I shook my head. Nah, that’s too Harry Potter-y. For Placeholder, it would probably be more like-
My thoughts were interrupted as the scowling woman strode past me to the door.
“Katie! Wait!” the thug said as he trailed behind her.
Katie did not seem keen on waiting, which made me feel a bit bad.
“Here,” I said as I pulled a 100-gold coin out of my inventory. I nodded towards the door. “Take her someplace nice.”
He nodded emphatically. “You got it, boss!” he said as he took off after her.
And then, I was alone again.
First order of business… Get some sleep. I thought.
I almost sat down on the bed, but then I eyed it dubiously. I wasn’t about to sleep on the floor, but I also didn’t exactly know what those sheets had been through.
Wait. I’ve slept here before, that means… I shuddered before adding that to the growing list of things I wasn’t going to think about.
I set my cane against the wall without realizing it would have been easier to just stuff it in my inventory. Then I pulled out the sleeping bag I’d purchased as Jacob Jacobson and laid that on top of the bed. I snuggled into it, barely remembered to pull out my wands and cast [Restore], and then was soon in a fitful sleep.
I would have been in trouble if it had been a deep sleep. I wouldn’t have woken to the pounding at the door just a few hours after I conked out.
“Fort Faroff Watch!” came the shout from upstairs and outside. “Open up!”
Yeah… Don’t think I will. I thought as I turned over. No one’s home. Go away.
Unfortunately, they were a bit more determined than I expected. The front door crashed open, and, wouldn’t you know it, I suddenly found myself wide awake.
There were shouts upstairs, and I frantically tried to shuffle out of my sleeping bag.
In the time I did that, they reached the basement door.
Something crashed into it.
Great. They brought a battering ram. I thought as I tried to think of a way out of the mess I found myself in.
The only thing that came to mind was [Sneak]. So, I stuffed my sleeping bag back into my inventory, entered [Sneak], and then watched as they finally battered the door down, and a group of about half a dozen people came down the stairs.
“Basement’s clear!” one bellowed.
The rest spread out and looked for any hint of my presence… which was terrifying, seeing as I was standing right there in a crouched position so that [Sneak] was in effect.
Two of them were even familiar faces. There was the elf who was a part of the [Hero’s] party and-
Theo? I thought as the [Watch Officer] strode closer. What are you doing here?
Unfortunately, neither of us had managed to pick up any telepathic abilities, so he just continued in my direction.
He stopped and bent down… to get a closer look at the cane I had carelessly left sitting there.
I slowly reached over and pulled it into my inventory.
That was finally enough for him to notice me.
Honestly, if I hadn’t been in such a predicament, the way his eyes went wide when he noticed me would have gotten a pretty good laugh. Instead, I kept quiet and made a shushing gesture.
“Everything alright over there?” one of the [Guards] called to him.
“Y-yes,” he replied. “I just thought I saw something.”
“We had to have been close!” the elf groaned. “[Tracking] led off in this direction from the inn, and we even had that anonymous tip!” He paused. “Wait, do you all smell that?”
That was met with a chorus of nos.
“It smells like…” He moved closer to the bed. “Perfume?” he asked. Then he shook his head. “Unless the [Demon Lord] managed to get a lady friend at his age, I think we have the wrong place.”
And so I lucked out yet again as the elf went upstairs and discussed the matter with the rest of the party. Eventually, they decided to post a pair of [Guards] and continue the search in the surrounding area.
Leaving behind a pair of mooks was never going to be enough to spot me, let alone stop me. As soon as everyone cleared out, I snuck past them, made my way to the south edge of the town, and then jumped off the wall. I ignored the fall damage and limped back to the Peasant Forest zone.
Once I get to the zone, maybe I can get some actual sleep. I thought. Then I paused.
“Wait, do I even own the zone?” I asked as I came to a stop.
I frowned as I thought that over. The monster waves have been coming from there, so I have to... right?
That sparked several questions. Chief of which was why the heck the [Hero] hadn’t just claimed the zone to stop the waves in the first place.
My best guess was that they never actually completed the dungeon the first time, but that just led to the question of why they didn’t.
Honestly, I was too tired to care. All I cared about was that entering the zone told me it was in my faction. Once that was confirmed, I found a decent nook, pulled out my sleeping bag, and went to sleep.
My sleep was fitful, but it was hard to tell whether that was from guilt or just from a poor sleeping spot.
When I finally woke sometime in the late afternoon, my entire body was stiff, and it was hard to get up.
“I hate camping,” I muttered. “And sleeping.” I paused. “Actually, I pretty much hate everything that has happened this life.”
I stretched after that, and it seemed to help a bit. Then, now that I had a full night’s sleep... or I guess a full day’s sleep?... it was time to plan my next move.
Without the [Son of Dave], it will be possible to misdirect them. I thought. I could pretend I’ve left town by sneaking out during wave hours and then sneaking back in during the day.
I paused. Or does it make more sense to do the opposite? I could spend my time in the forest and then enter the zone right at midnight.
My aching back didn’t seem to agree with that solution. It also had the downside of keeping the [Hero] here when I would really prefer him on the opposite side of the world from me.
Or, at least, in a different kingdom. I was still convinced that Placeholder was flat.
What’s the best way to test that? I asked myself. Go to the ocean and see if I see a ship’s sail first, or the whole thing at once? I paused. Actually, [Message] is an easier test than that. Just send a [Message] at noon; if it’s flat, it’ll be noon everywhere. Unless there’s some weird timezone BS, but how would that even work? I mean, the physics seem to at least try to make sense, so-
I realized I was getting too off-topic and pulled myself back in.
First step, coordinate with Theo to see if there’s somewhere left I can stay in town. Then, try to convince the [Hero] I’ve left town.
I pulled out my wands and frowned as I realized I hadn’t left them charged up, so I had to wait an hour to let my mana recharge. After that, most of my mana was wasted trying to coordinate things.
Most importantly, I wanted to have one last meeting with my cult before I skipped town. I wanted to make sure I left them with good standing orders and put my plan into action.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t put anything together in time with how late in the day it was, so I ended up staying the night in the forest.
Which gave an unusual situation where my cult meeting was scheduled for the early morning instead of night.
------
“Is everyone here?” I asked Theo from behind my curtain. Yes, I was still using the curtain trick. It wasn’t broken, so I didn’t see a need to fix it. However, it was annoying, so I would have to look for an alternative the next time I had to do something like that.
I quickly realized that would be every time I went to a different city.
Why is establishing a cult so hard? I grumbled.
Fortunately, Theo stopped my downward spiral by finally answering, “Yes, the last one just showed up. At least, out of everyone who could make it.”
The “everyone who could make it” part included the fact that I had several of my followers currently in prison “for their protection.”
My gambit to have them say I forced them to try to assassinate the [Son of Dave] had worked, but it definitely left my cult a bit understaffed.
“Good,” I replied. “Just like always, repeat after me…”
“Greetings, children of the flame,” I started with Theo echoing.
“As you have likely heard, the [Son of Dave] is dead. As you may be unaware, he is dead by my own hand.” I waited for Theo to finish that before giving the next bit, and it was good I did.
“We have failed the lord of flame!” came one cry.
“We are unworthy of being his followers!” was another exclamation I heard.
The rest… was just a cacophony, which was impressive. There were only like… 10 of them there.
“Quiet,” I said with Theo echoing. No effect. “Quiet!” I said more urgently. I wanted just to yell myself, but that would have ruined the whole “they never saw or heard me” thing that we had going on.
Then I remembered I didn’t have to use words to quiet a crowd. I flooded the room with my Demon Lord aura, and they eventually stopped whaling.
“I do not hold your failures in this against you,” I said. However, there was no echo.
“Theo?” I asked hesitantly.
“Y-yes, my lord?” came his answering voice from beyond the curtain… and on the ground.
“Has everyone gone prostrate?” I asked.
“Y-yes, my lord.”
I sighed but tried my best to ensure it wasn’t loud enough for Theo to hear. Then, with my face in my hand, I continued. “Stand up, and order everyone else to stand up, but be quiet.”
Theo did so.
“Now, as I was saying, I do not hold this failure against any of you,” I stated.
I couldn’t even see the room, but I swear I could feel the pressure dissipate.
“Our lord is merciful!” one person shouted.
“Hail to the lord of flame!”
“He is truly worthy of our allegiance!”
I let that die down naturally.
… It took far too long.
I need to insulate myself from this BS as soon as possible. I thought. Fortunately, I had high hopes for the organizational changes I planned to implement soon.
Once it was quiet again, I continued. “The target I sent you after was a member of the [Hero’s] party, and he was twice the level that most of you had. Yet, you all worked tirelessly to fulfill your duties as members of my cu-“ Once again, I almost called my cult what they were. Fortunately, “cu” is really easy to disguise as a cough if you’re quick enough. Also, with the delay between Theo hearing it and then saying it, he would have been the only one who heard me anyway.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
However, the last person whose loyalty I wanted to be in question was Theo. I figured I would have truly messed up if I managed to cause him to question me after all of this.
“Yet, you all worked tirelessly to fulfill your duties as children of the flame,” I finally finished. Theo repeated it all. “Well done,” I stated.
More shouting and I had had it.
I forced my aura out.
“We have limited time here. Save your adulation and your fear for another time. They are not what I am here for,” I stated with a now-timid Theo repeating after me. “All of you shall remain quiet unless I ask for you to speak. Am I clear?”
Theo repeated that, and then there was no response.
I figured out why after a brief delay. “You may respond to that, but do so quickly.”
“Yes, lord of flame!” they shouted in reply.
“Good, now we can finally get to the purpose of this meeting. It is time for the children of flame to be a more organized… organization.” I wished I had a better word there, but I couldn’t exactly call them a cult. “To that end, I am establishing a hierarchy.” I waited for Theo to finish.
“At the bottom of the organization, we shall have the Acolytes of Flame. That rank will be for those who are not yet fully trusted. They will still be required to swear an oath to the children of flame, but they will be denied access to most of our information and not allowed into any sensitive meetings.” I paused. “None of you in Fort Faroff will be at this rank. You have all proved yourself far beyond that.”
There was a brief cheer, but I imagine the rest of the cultists glared the culprit down quickly.
“Above them, we shall have the first full members. Children of Flame. That is for those who have proved themselves a true follower of… me.” I had to pause for that one. I still felt weird saying that, but with my otherwise distinct lack of allies, I wasn’t going to look a gift cult in the mouth. “They will require more restrictive oaths, but they will be allowed access to any information that we have gathered that isn’t sensitive.”
“In the middle of the organization is the level you have all attained,” I stated. “Brother or sister of flame.” I paused. “That rank is the highest non-officer rank that is attainable. It is for those who have proven themselves in their devotion to me with their deeds.” I let Theo catch up. “Your tireless efforts to… remove… the son of Dave were enough to convince me that you all are worthy of that title. Brothers and Sisters of Flames will be afforded a small stipend from our funds, depending on our available amount.”
It was also the starting level where I was planning on instituting basically “retirement benefits,” but I figured that would be something I would have to hammer out with leadership first.
“Above them are the officers of our organization. They will be appointed either by the existing leadership or by me. Appointment will be based on merit, desire for the position, and loyalty. The officer ranks will go Priest of Flame, High Priest of Flame, and then the position that shall be directly beneath me and responsible for all of our workings.” I paused to let Theo catch up.
“Speaker of Flame,” I stated. “It is the highest position of your order, and there is no one more worthy of having that position first than the man who has been an invaluable asset by my side this entire time.”
One more pause.
“Theo Blair,” I stated. “I name you as the first Speaker of Flame. Continue to serve me well.”
That wasn’t repeated immediately. Instead, I was treated to a somewhat muffled voice from the floor.
“My lord! I humbly accept!” Theo stated. “And I swear to you that I will serve you always, that I will lead the children of flame to the best of my ability, and that I will guard the secrets you give me even at the cost of my own life!”
“Good,” I stated. “Rise, first Speaker of Flame. I accept your oath and your loyalty. Serve me well until your dying breath.”
There was a brief pause before Theo whispered. “My lord… shall I accept the advanced class?”
“The advanced class?” I asked back.
“[Speaker of the Flame],” he replied. “Shall I accept it now? Wait, what am I thinking?! Of course, I acce-“
“Hold for a bit,” I cut him off. I… didn’t realize I could create classes like that. It made sense once I thought about it. I mean, [Watch Officer] and [Soldier] were advanced classes that didn’t use to exist. However, I didn’t realize that all it took was… having an organization dedicated to it with a defined hierarchy.
I’ll have to keep that one in my back pocket. I thought.
“I’m assuming that accepting that will remove your [Watch Officer] class,” I said.
“Yes, my lord. System has informed me that if I accept, I will remain level 5, but all of my skills related to [Watch Officer] class will be refunded.”
“Is there a time limit when you have to accept it?” I asked.
“System… did not tell me,” he stated hesitantly.
“Good, we can use that to our advantage. Once you accept that class, you will have to leave the Watch, and now is not the time. I want you to-“
I belatedly realized I was having a whispered conversation through a curtain with one man while the rest of my cult was waiting.
I cleared my throat.
“We will go over the details of that later. For now, continue relaying my orders to the rest of the children of flame.”
“Yes, my lord!” he replied.
----
The orders I had for them were fairly simple.
1. Prioritize the secrecy of the organization above all else.
2. Recruit new members where possible. For this, I told them to look to the desperate, the poor, or those who might otherwise already be willing to go against the established rule of law.
3. Gather any useful information and share it among the followers. Specifically, I asked them to gather information about basic classes.
4. Give the children of flame 10% of the profit from any business they run. With the somewhat belatedly thought of add-on, that children of flame should help each other’s business wherever possible.
5. Purchase and charge magicite crystals.
Number 3 was a big one because I was able to have as many sub-classes as I wanted, and that was a potential gold mine. Even if I only got something simple like the [Guard’s] [Halt] skill, that was still extra power I could get at practically no cost.
Number 4 was the primary way I planned to sustain my cult from a capital standpoint. I was also going to help them with an injection of capital from my 2 million gold, but I figured that the cult needed some way to earn money… especially since number 5 would be expensive.
I wasn’t quite sure how much magicite the time mages went through during my failed ritual, but I was sure that I was going to need as much help as I could get on that front.
That also made me realize that I was crowdfunding time travel, and it was tough to keep from cracking up after I came to that conclusion.
I managed to keep a lid on that until I finished detailing the restructuring of my cult. The problem was that that was only organization 1 of 3.
Fortunately, the second one was handled in the same meeting.
Every secret evil organization needs a public face, right? And so, that’s how the “Embers” also came into being.
The goal of the Embers? Go around healing, or more specifically [Restoring], people in return for donations.
That idea came to me after I realized that the church was practically non-existent in Gram after Pride was done with them. Not only would it be the perfect façade to justify the acquisition of large amounts of magicite (we could claim they were magic stockpiles for emergencies), but it was also the perfect opportunity to seek out the disenfranchised and recruit them to the children of flame.
With that, I wrapped up the meeting. I was planning on having an hour break and then having anyone who wished to join the newly formed “Embers” meet back in an hour. Theo had one last surprise for me before that could happen, though.
-----
“Now, everyone. Just like we rehearsed!” Theo called to the crowd after I’d dismissed them.
“Titus is!” Theo shouted.
“THE LORD OF FLAME,” they called in perfect, creepy unison. “THE TRUE AND UNQUESTIONED RULER OF PLACEHOLDER. THE GREAT ONE WHO SHALL LEAD US THROUGH THE BURNING FIRE AND GUIDE US TO THE GLORIOUS NEW AGE.”
“We are!”
“HIS LOYAL AND HUMBLE FOLLOWERS. HIS HIDDEN BLADES IN THE DARK. THE ONES WHO WILL BRING FORTH HIS GREAT WILL.”
“Everyone else is!”
“AN ACCEPTABLE SACRIFICE. ALL WRONGS WILL BE RIGHTED BY OUR AWESOME LORD. COMPARED TO HIS MAGNIFICENCE, EVERYONE ELSE IS NOTHING!”
When they were finished, I couldn’t see him, but I could practically feel Theo beaming as he turned to me.
“How was that, my lord?” he asked. “We all memorized the great sayings that you prepared for us! It will be how we end all of our meetings now!”
I was trying desperately not to die of cringe.
That was what I wrote on my Manifesto? I gagged. That’s 10,000 times worse when it’s said out loud, and it wasn’t even good when I read it silently! Oh god. What have I done?
Fortunately, my [Actor]-induced façade somehow remained.
“Yes, Theo… good job,” I stated.
“I live to serve, your lordship!”
“Yes, yes, very good. Now, make sure everyone leaves, and then we need to talk for a bit.”
He did so, and once he gave me the all-clear, I moved out from behind the curtain.
“I want you to take that class you’ve been offered, but only after I’ve been gone for at least a few weeks,” I told him. “You’ll need to retire from the Watch, so you’ll need to come up with a good excuse for that as well. Likely that you came into a large inheritance or something like that.”
He gave me a confused look. “But, I haven’t inherited-“
I flipped him a 100,000 gold coin.
His only response was a look of pure shock.
I chuckled. “You have now. Running this branch of the children of flame will be a full-time job after it gets off the ground. You might also want to start a store or something as a front.” I shook my head. “That’s not as important as the next thing I’m going to tell you. But first… Theo, do you have any spell points available?”
“Yes, uhh… 5,” he replied. “I haven’t learned any magic because none is needed for the watch.”
“Very good. [Teach Spell]. [Message] Theo Blair,” I stated. “Learn [Message].”
“Of course, my lord,” he replied.
Theo Blair: Of course
“But, how will that be of any aid to you or the children of flame?” he asked.
“It’s quite simple,” I replied. “You will [Message] me in case of an emergency or if I ask for regular updates.”
“Of course, but what is so important about that?”
I leaned in. “No one in Placeholder can [Message] me because they do not know my true name.” I paused to let that sink in for a bit. “My true name, according to the System, is Titus Null. That is the only name that will allow [Messages] to be sent to me, or for [Scry] to take hold of me. If you must choose between saving your life or letting that become known to anyone, I expect you to choose death.”
“Of course, my lord!” he replied immediately. “I will take this knowledge to the grave!”
I nodded. “Very good. Now, I need to prepare for my meeting with the Embers.” I paused. “Actually, before that, there’s something I should see about first.” I pulled my wands and mirror out. “[Scry] Samson Stonebreaker,” I cast.
As the [Hero] popped into view, I was surprised to see that he was in the forest, not in the city as I expected.
Nothing much happened for the first few minutes, but then I hit the jackpot.
“And you are sure that there’s no sign of him?” Samson asked as he stooped down to check the ground.
“It’s like I said,” the elf replied as he walked up. “[Tracking] ends here. So, either he’s still around here, or…”
Samson sighed as he pulled up some grass and let it fall. “He [Teleported] away. That seems more and more likely.”
“But, if he can [Teleport], why didn’t he do that earlier?” the human mage asked. “There were times that we almost had him.”
“Because he knew that we could hunt him down easily in an open zone,” Samson replied as he stood back up. “As long as we had Dave with us, that coward knew he didn’t stand a chance of escaping. Now, though…”
“Should we just wait for the next [Son of Dave] to arrive?” the mage asked.
Samson shook his head. “No, I think I might know where he’s headed. And even if he’s not going there, it wouldn’t hurt to beat him there anyway.” He paused. “Get ready for a trip, everyone. We’ll claim the earth dungeon before the [Demon Lord] does.”
Well, that just bought me a couple of weeks. I thought. I was a bit confused, though. Yes, they found my campsite, but that wasn’t the end of the trail. I walked back to the city after that.
Does that mean… I almost bust up laughing but managed to refrain since Theo was still there. [Tracking] only shows where I’ve been. So if I double back, that just shows as a part of the trail.
That gave me many more ways to fight against that skill, but the main one still beyond my reach was [Teleport].
“Theo, I know Gram isn’t the place to get a better staff, but do you happen to know where else I might find one?” I asked. “Are the dwarves still the best at that kind of thing?”
Theo looked deep in thought. “Probably, so I think your lordship should try Jenkins.”
“Jenkins?” I asked. “… The janitor who killed me last life?”
His eyes widened. “Oh, my apologies, my lord! I forgot that you were not alive during its founding.” He cleared his throat. “After the death of Titus the… after the death of your last incarnation-“
Good save. I thought.
“-It was decided that the nations needed somewhere to come together so that we could… focus on you as the real threat to Placeholder,” he finished apologetically.
“I’m aware of that. So… Jenkins?”
“Jenkins was established as a sort of… neutral ground for all the nations,” he said. “The idea is that the nations could mingle there, and learn from each other. Eventually, it was given authority for self-governance, and the Jenkins faction was created.”
Huh. But none of that counted as a pivotal moment? I thought with a frown. What’s the criteria, then?
I shook my head. That was a tangent I didn’t need to go down at the moment.
“Alright, so where is this neutral city?”
“It’s in southern Pumil, in territory that Gram used to occupy,” he stated. “If we had a map, I could show you-“
I waved him off. “That tells me what I needed to know. Time to head north,” I stated. I pulled out a hooded cloak. “Well, after I finish up everything here.”
I still had my second quasi-evil organization to set up, after all.
I met the volunteering cultists in disguise, mostly just a hooded cloak so that they couldn’t see any of my features. I was surprised that five people had volunteered, about half of my remaining cult.
Theo also showed up, but he would be more of an… administrative role in the Embers.
“Hail to the lord of flame,” I stated in a gravelly voice once everyone was ready.
“Hail to the lord of flame,” they replied uncertainly.
“Who are you?” Theo asked, just like I’d told him to.
I gave a dismissive shake of my head. “It is best that you don’t know my name. The less time I spend here, the better. The lord of flame himself wouldn’t have asked me to teach you if he had other options.” I gave a mirthless laugh. “You all better be quick students.”
It didn’t take that long. I used [Teach Spell] with [Restore] and [Heal], and then they were all offered a new class almost immediately.
It wasn’t quite the one I expected, though. They received a dual-slot class [Agent of Flame].
The neat thing about that one? It let them switch between [Brother of Flame]/[Sister of Flame] and [Ember Healer] at will for their class display.
I was slightly jealous.
However, that was just organization 2 of 3. I still had one last one I needed to take care of.
To do so, it was back to the bad part of the town as “the boss.”
It took an annoyingly long time to track down the thug leader because his house was still under the watch of the Watch, so my first words for him were a bit terse.
“Get everyone ready to meet as soon as possible,” I told him.
“I can have the gang ready to meet in a day or two,” he replied.
“Not just your gang,” I replied. “Everyone. And make it tomorrow. 9 PM.”
His eyes widened, but I didn’t accept his pleading for more time… partly because I had wasted so long looking for him that I got to spend another night outside on the hard ground.
Fortunately, he understood what I meant by everyone, and we were able to gather not just his gang but all the gangs of Fort Faroff for the next night.
“Thank you all for coming,” I said as I stood in front of them. “I hope to make this quick, so I will get straight to the point. You all now work for me.”
That, of course, got the expected derision.
“Who died and made you [King]?” one particularly tough-looking thug shouted.
Which made him the perfect target.
I [Flash Stepped] over to him and beat him to the ground in a few seconds with [Elemental Strikes]. Then, I repeated myself while I planted a foot on his back. “You all work for me. Anyone else object?”
There probably would have been objections if I hadn’t also accompanied that with a flare of my aura. Instead, protests died down quickly, except for one.
“No way I’m working with those guys!” one particularly plucky thug shouted while pointing at… some other group.
I laughed. “Oh, no. You misunderstand. You’re free to have whatever petty squabbles you want amongst yourselves. In fact, if you want to each claim your own ‘turf,’ I won’t object to that.” I pulled my foot off the thug I was standing on and continued. “The only difference between what you’re doing now and what I’ll have you doing is who’s in charge.” I chuckled. “And what type of revenue streams you’ll be pulling in.”
I pulled my cane out and pointed it at a thug at random.
“You there,” I said. “Tell me how your group makes money.”
“We… err… rob people?” he replied.
I scowled. “Is that it?”
He nodded.
“And that’s the problem with your gangs,” I said with a sneer. “You left the organized part out of your organized crime.” I walked back up to the front while spinning my cane idly.
“Tell me, how much money do you think you could get if you left behind petty crimes and started doing this intelligently,” I said. “For example, let’s say you rob a store. Great! You made some money. In return, you now have the Watch after you, and the store goes under, leaving you with one less target.”
I shook my head. “No. What you do is offer the store protection. They pay you, and in return, you keep their store safe.”
“We ain’t no bodyguards,” I heard one person grumble.
“No, no, of course not,” I replied. “And that’s where you misunderstand me. You aren’t offering them protection from other criminals. You offer them protection from you.” I shook my head as I realized I would have to explain extortion and racketeering to a group of hardened criminals.
When did this become my life? I asked myself before continuing.
However, I still kept in character.
“To pull it off correctly, you want your ‘leader’ to have a squeaky-clean record. Don’t let them get their hands dirty with anything,” I said. “They’ll be the ones going around offering their ‘services.’ Then, if anyone refuses, that’s where the rest of you come in.”
I strolled around and poked at different thugs with my canes.
“Maybe some merchandise goes missing,” I said as I poked the first one.
“Or maybe some of their employees get harassed or mugged,” I said as I poked the next.
“Or there could even be a break-in,” I said as I poked the third and final thug. “Use your imagination. It doesn’t matter. The result is a stream of money without you lifting a finger.”
I had them there. I could practically see them salivating at the prospect.
“But… we all have records,” the leader of the Faroff Thugs replied. “How are we supposed to make this work?
“Would all gang leaders please raise their hands?” I asked.
About 7 of them raised their hands. I tossed each of them a 10,000 gold coin.
“There. Pay off the fines for your crimes and then use the rest to get your enterprise started.” They were eying the coins suspiciously, but that cleared up once I continued. “Consider that a loan. I expect all of it back sooner rather than later. I’ll even be a nice guy and forego the interest.” I gave a dark grin. “Though, if you want to lend out the extra yourself, make sure you charge as much as possible.”
That got some nervous chuckles out of the crowd.
“What do you get out of all of this?” one asked.
“Simple,” I replied. “10%. I want you to set aside 10% of your profits for me.” After a brief moment of pause, I added. “Also, if you run across an organization called the Embers, or the Children of Flame, they’re under my protection. You are expressly ordered to leave them alone. Are we clear?”
They looked back and forth at each other, but they eventually all agreed.
I gave a wide shark-like grin.
“Then, welcome, gentlemen, to the Syndicate,” I said.
-------
There were a few logistical issues that I had to sort out after that.
For the Syndicate, there was the fact that I was going to be leaving town soon, which meant I had to give them some way to leave me my money.
The answer to that was simple once I stopped thinking that I had to do everything myself. I mean, I had an entire other organization I could employ for that.
So, I coordinated it with Theo, and we established a dead drop that the Syndicate would leave my earnings at. Then, someone from the Children of Flame would be the one to grab my money sneakily.
Theo would also be the one in charge of handling the money that the Syndicate brought me.
Another more urgent issue was that it was late when I started that meeting, and I barely made it back outside of the zone before midnight. That would have been a disaster because it would have screamed to the [Hero], “he isn’t actually making a play for the earth dungeon,” and my couple-week head start would have vanished.
The final issue was transportation. Namely, how the heck would I get all the way up north to Jenkins?
That ended up being easier than I expected. The answer was hitching a ride with a military transport. It turned out that most of the [Soldiers] in Fort Faroff weren’t permanent residents, so when their stint was up, they got to head back up into civilization as a new group was shuffled in.
They also let civilians travel with them as long as they paid a fee.
The caravan did get a bit suspicious about the increased number of monster attacks they had along the way, but dealing with them was Gram’s army’s primary purpose at that point. If anything, they were excited because they would get a massive bonus with all the monsters they took down.
So, we made it to the next town with the soldiers in good spirits. They moved on after a day or so, but I decided to linger.
We were in a town along the path to Fort Faroff, and I remembered what the [Hero’s] party had mentioned about another [Son of Dave]. So, I spent my time making discreet inquiries, setting up the next branches of the Children of Flame and the Syndicate, and then preparing.
When he finally came through town, I was ready.
-------
August 17th, 289 AA
As planned, there were multiple disturbances across town the night I went for the [Son of Dave].
And thanks to my prep work, I found out that my target was sleeping in a guarded room in the town’s military barracks.
Honestly, he would have been safer if he had been sleeping in the middle of the barracks along with the rest of the [Soldiers]. Not even I was crazy enough to try to kill someone in the middle of all that.
I was crazy enough to try to take down the two level 15 [Soldiers] guarding his room, though.
I snuck up to them and prepared my solution, which was the same as always. Daves.
I burst out of [Sneak] with a dave in each hand, and I shoved one onto each of the [Soldiers’] faces before they could cry out.
Unfortunately, I underestimated how much HP a level 15 [Soldier] would have. They didn’t go down nearly fast enough, and I had to resort to [Fire Strike] punching them before I finally KOed both.
Needless to say, that was loud. I heard the entire barracks come to life as I frantically kicked down the door to kill the [Son of Dave].
The door flew into one of several waiting [Soldiers] who immediately rushed out and surrounded me.
I had been played.
“You honestly think that this is enough to stop me?” I bluffed with a mix of both of my auras thrown into the mix.
They hesitated for a brief moment, but that was all I needed.
I saw the [Son of Dave] come out of the room with a sword in hand; that was the only confirmation I needed.
I slipped a wand out of my inventory and said two words.
“[Hell Blaze].”