Zeraki and Tara showed up at Ola’s place with a heap of books. Hadiza took one look at them as they entered her workshop and demanded they all go out to shop for new clothes. Zeraki’s pants were even showing signs of wear and tear at the knees while Tara had patches on her dress.

They took a commuter train heading to the central business district and while traveling, Zeraki thought about Tara’s take on his conundrum. She had been surprisingly passionate about it. About what it meant to be free.

Zeraki smiled at the memory of Tara doing a little dance in the carriage and then she said, ‘I believe that was freedom’.

‘I don’t get it’ Zeraki honestly replied.

‘I am me. I got things I like. I got things I hate. The reason for my stances are as irrelevant as my little jig earlier. There was no tune playing so why was I dancing? It makes no sense.

And that’s why I reckon I am free, and this carriage isn’t. This carriage needs to be pushed for it to be anything. I just am. I laugh because I can and sometimes, it happens on account of hearin’ something funny. But I don’t need something funny to laugh. This is how I live my life. I want to stay me even though everything around me is trying to force me to be something else.’

If Tara was right, then didn’t it mean that he had always been free and that the fact that Guilt and Wrath had an effect on him now meant shackles were being put on him?

————

(Ola’s P.O.V)

The Ruler’s Nexus currently only has two children organizations. The Ruler’s Delight and the Ashen Throne. The Ashen Throne is a shadow organization at its infancy and I had initially thought that it would take a long time for it to be of any use.

My friend has changed that assumption. Last night, I stayed up fleshing the mathematical formula that I would be using to conceal my messages. I admittedly had to make use of the child’s power to run the numbers because I wanted to be done by midnight.

I’m currently looking at the map of Astrohelm. I doubt there’s anything I’m missing. The Ashen Throne has Nell as its face. She’s the woman from the furniture store and someone that has the capacity to comprehend a little bit of my superior intellect.

I do suspect she cheats to keep up but that’s irrelevant. If she had the foresight to feel it necessary to cheat in order to get in my good graces, then that just shows she possesses more wisdom than intellect.

Anyway, the formula has three variables. One variable shall be filled in when I visit one of the branches of the Ruler’s delight. The second variable shall be filled in when I make an order. The third variable shall be filled when my total bill is deducted from my Ruler’s Credit card.

There shall be spies spread throughout small organizations including the Ruler’s Delight branches to act as smoke screens. Letters shall be sent by these spies to the furniture store containing harmless mundane knowledge. This shall serve to create an image of a mediocre, incompetent spy organization whose messages are easy to intercept.

However, once the initial interceptions are done by the various powers in the district, they shall conclude that its worthless to even bother. The spies at the Ruler’s delight branches however will note the variables for the mathematical formula and send it to Nell. I intend to use a different branch every time so there won’t be a consistent letter with the same type of message from a single branch. No one will ever know that I’m the true Ruler of the Ashen Throne.

Once Nell receives the variables, she shall input them into this mathematical formula. What this formula does is it select letters from a newspaper or magazine to assemble a message.

The magazines or newspapers to be used are determined by the days of the week.

Monday, The Screamer newspaper is used. Its a business paper with advertisements and business news like the rankings of companies.

Tuesday, Innovation Weekly is to be used. Its a business newspaper focused on technology and innovative solutions.

Wednesday, The Magazine is used. Its an idle light read with ranking of beauties and the brands they represent, places to go for holidays and other such consumer advertisements.

Thursday, The Screamer once again. Friday, Innovation Weekly. Saturday, The Magazine. Sunday, no message is ever sent on Sunday. I like even numbers and also Sunday is the day of Midnight. Church day.

Nell shall keep track of spending and cover the cost for the moment. Once I establish the Ruler’s Treasury, she should be capable of exchanging accumulated Ruler’s credit for Blackmore currency.

I have to visit Nell to give her a quick lesson on the mathematical formula today and leave her the task of sending a letter. My friend is ready to advance to his next sequence and I need information. I believe the Gracie Family has what I need and I intend to trade for the information, formula and ingredients. In exchange, I shall give them Valentino Extractor targets within the Derby.

Having Nell as the single point of failure is a thorn in my side but redundancy this early would create more problems that it solves. I made a single addition on how to structure my sentences when writing a message. An abstract form of security but it shall suffice for now in reducing the chances of Nell ever assembling a faulty message.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

I left my office at early morning and found an empty house.

“Where has my council gone of to?” I asked my body guard.

“The Central business District, Miss Ola.” She responded. Her name is Amber and legend has it that she’s good at what she does. I have yet to see her in action though. Whether she gets rid of threats before they rear their heads or no one has realized how much of a threat I am to make a move on my life remains unknown.

———

My meeting with Nell took an hour. Other than teaching her how to use the formula, I had her keep track of my council. She was to protect them without them knowing they were being watched. My friend will take notice of them, I have no doubt about that. The child won’t, which is okay.

After my final meeting with Nell, I came back home and summoned my lawyer, Mr Lanre. He makes use of information gathered by the Ashen Throne and has no idea it belongs to me. How could he? They approached him and he gave them the task to be on the look out for ‘natural disasters or fires’. Basically anything that results in damage to property.

My instructions to Mr. Lanre were simple. He is to buy out any property that’s burning or in the middle of being damaged. The more damage a building is taking, the more the value drops.

“Good afternoon, Miss Ola.” He says after walking into my office.

“Good afternoon, Mr Lanre. Bring me up to speed.”

“Gladly.” He sat down and passed me the files of properties he’d bought.

In only three days, he already secured twelve locations. One, I’m impressed. Two, these were all from a single district. How were there so many disasters in only three days?

“I was lucky last night,” he responded to her unasked question, “There was a gas leak at the Carnival of Dreams Circus last night and the neighboring properties got caught up in the mess. I bought six properties in one night!”

“Marvelous work Mr Lanre! I want construction work to begin immediately. Can you handle that or is it beyond the scope of your capabilities?”

“I know someone in construction I could introduce you to, Miss Ola.”

“Then I look forward to meeting them.” I smile at him. My smile is genuine. He is a good lawyer, albeit I suspect he’s an Extractor. I wouldn’t put it past him to attempt to manipulate me with whatever abilities he has. That is why my meetings with him are done in my office where there are no shortage of Midnight’s charms.

*Sigh

The child broke her charm of concealment and is using one of my jewelery as a replacement. I have to make a trip to the church but this time, I intend to have her entire workshop sanctified. That’s going to take a lot of silver but I believe it’s worth it.

After Mr Lanre left, Amber and I headed of to the Midnight church that was in the outskirts of Astrohelm. Sanctification was a complex affair handled only by the bishops.

————

(Amber’s Soliloquy)

{ Section 5 is made up of five people I’ve personally vetted and made sure that their stupidity isn’t a knife dangling over my neck.

See, I don’t like being around people because everyone has the capacity of being stupid. What differentiates us is our ability to reign ourselves in.

You walk on the bank of a river and some gearhead decides to squeeze through, pushing you off the bank. You get taken by the current and die.

A kid sits by the bay of a lake, dangling his legs over the edge and enjoying the sun. A friend decides it’s funny pushing him off. He drowns. Apparently, he couldn’t swim.

A man with a sweet tooth drinks sweet alcohol on his lonesome. Some people that know him and don’t like him much decide to prank him. They secretly put salt in his drink. The man drinks it without batting an eye. They get pissed off then decide to see how much he can take. So they add more salt to his next drink. Then some more to the one after that. The man suddenly collapses and dies. Apparently the man lost his ability to taste salt a long time ago. He died from consuming too much salt.

A kid is out drinking with his chooms. They see a slug and his chooms dare each other to see who could swallow it. The kid wants to show off, so he swallows it. He collapses and permanently loses all motor functions. Apparently the slug had microbes that had the tendency to burrow into the brain and do considerable amounts of damage.

People are stupid. We all have intrusive thoughts. Out of a hundred, it only takes one person, indiscipline enough to be weak to his own stupidity and cause damage to themselves or others. Often, it’s others that pay the price for another’s stupidity. }

( Amber’s POV ) - Mid-day

“How’s the weather looking today, Nickolas?” Amber asked as she took a seat on a high leather shoe-shine chair.

She pulled up her maroon pleated leather skirt, exposing her combat boots and skin tights underneath then covertly slipped Nickolas a gold coin. He quickly pocketed it and started undoing the laces to her boots.

“Been a slow morning, ma’am.”

Nickolas slipped one hand into a compartment underneath the platform on which Amber had placed her feet. Through the gaps on the small platform, Amber could see small bones belonging to different animals: A chicken’s femur, a mouse’s skull, different types of teeth amongst a few others.

Nickolas grabbed a handful. Shook his hands like he was shaking dice. Then threw them back. Through the gaps, Amber saw a rat skull and three teeth.

“You oughta carry an umbrella, ma’am. Might be a bit drippy come three on the cogs.” Nickolas said with a business smile as he pulled out shoe polish equipment and began cleaning her shoes.

Amber leaned back and looked towards the furniture store across the street. Section 5 was one of the few premium units under Saikhan Security company. They were tasked with protecting miss Ola Ashwood and so far, she was getting her rubies’ worth. Two assassination attempts in only one week and it would seem an assault awaited them at three o’clock.

Amber had on a head-piece that was a band around her head. Streams of white glass beads dandled on both sides of her face attached to her headband. This was a traditional accessory that was in line with company policy to stay true to their heritage.

She leaned her hand on the seat’s arm support, and began idly fiddling with the beads in her headband. The material used on her maroon coat allowed for flexibility at the elbows. Corporate yet functional, and she was glad for it. Security was a hard career to maintain a prim corporate look.

Three beads to her left side and four beads to the right progressively turned dark while she fiddled. By the time Nicholas finished polishing her boots, the beads had turned completely black.

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