Chương 65: Businessman Eth

"I'm gonna fucking kill him this time," Blake muttered as he impatiently paced before the Redigo building located on the eastern side of the slums. He had just returned from the small task assigned to him in Upper Ichoris, snooping around Prachar based on a tip. The plan had been to meet up with Graham after, then party all day. But no. Apparently, the piece of shit had no intentions of ever following through. Blake checked his pocket watch.

1: 32 The sun was just overhead and blared down on him, the heat only adding to his frustrations. They had agreed to meet up just before 1 o'clock. Graham hadn't always been like this, but over the recent week or two, it was like he enjoyed showing up late. Was it really only to get him angry, some part of an annoying bit, or did he really just not respect his time that much?

Piece of shit probably thinks my time is worthless. Amidst his cursing and pacing, he didn't hear the door creak open.

"Ready to go?" Graham's cheery voice rang out. Blake's head snapped to Graham, and he opened his mouth to speak.

He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. He's doing this on purpose. Taking a few deep breaths, Blake calmed down his roaring heart and forced a small smile.

"Yes, I'm ready to go." He answered, as calmly as he could.

"Man, the veins in your forehead are really–""Shut. Up."

"Whoa, someone's a little angr–""Graham, let this be my last warning to you. If this showing up late bit continues, I will throw away all shame and plead like a little bitch to my brother to beat your ass. This is the last time I'll be warning you." Graham tossed him a piece of paper. Some sort of form. As Blake read it, his breathing calmed.

"This time, I was actually busy," Graham smirked.

'This time'...

"Don't try to weasel yourself out of this with a lie."

"Compiled all the information myself," Graham boasted.

"That literally means nothing coming from you." Graham paused, then replied a bit more seriously this time.

"It's real. Corienne was the one who actually figured it out. I just helped her organize it." Blake took a sharp breath and looked at the paper again, this time properly reading through the details. In his hands, he was holding a form detailing Prachar's finances. How much they made, how much they spent, how much they gave in taxes, how much they should have given… He swallowed. How much they would owe should their fraud ever be uncovered.

"So are they just fucked?" He looked back at Graham.

"Prachar's branch head doesn't know she's been caught yet. Not that it would make a big difference anyway. Within a few weeks, we can probably expect completely new management. Our little feud might just be over." The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Damn." As the two biggest Banners in Ichoris, Prachar and Redigo had been competing fiercely for years for each well-paying task that came their way. The competition forced them to constantly undercut each other and provided a very business-friendly atmosphere that helped the city grow. For the short term at least, it seemed Redigo would completely dominate. Competition was good for the city, but for Redigo, a monopoly would be by far the best-case scenario.

"Now, Tempor never allows one Banner to get a monopoly in a city, so this won't last forever. But as of now..." Graham looked toward the city proper.

"We pretty much have free rein."

"Shit, we really gotta celebrate hard tonight."

"Corinne said she's hosting something in the main city later tonight, but there's always room for a little pre." As the two discussed their plans to party, a figure was caught in the corner of Blake's eyes. An average-built man approached, wearing a well-fitted, yet cheap suit, and a black top hat with a red band that partially masked his auburn hair. His intense eyes matched the deep red of his hair, and a thin, vertical scar cut across his cheek. A mysterious aura continuously emanated from him.

Vertical cheek scar, tophat, suit… Blake shifted his eyes to meet Graham's, as they both realized it at the same time. The person approaching was none other than the man they were supposed to look into, Eth.

"Could you deactivate your ability? It's considered a bit disrespectful around these parts." Graham stepped forward and politely asked.

"Apologies, but I'm on a strict training schedule." He replied coldly. Not an inkling of remorse matched his supposed apology. Blake and Graham shared a look. Some people were just too unreasonable.

"Is there a reason you've come to Redigo?" Graham offered a forced smile. Blake smirked. He actually liked the guy. It was someone who was able to piss off even Graham.

"My name is Eth, and I'd like to make some purchases."

"We don't sell anything here. You can visit the markets for that, and if you need anything specific from the military, you can create a task at the auction house."

"No. I'd like to purchase a few people's debt." Eth reached into his coat and pulled out a thick pouch of coins, extended it forward towards Blake directly. Blake grabbed it and took a quick peek inside. Sure enough, it was filled to the brim with coins. One thing was suspicious: the bag felt too light…? Did the man really not expect them to count and look for fake coins? No, wait, it felt just right.

Suddenly, the weight seemingly increased even more, and the bag slipped out of his hands, not having expected the change. Both the bag and the piece of paper were scattered across the floor. Blake scratched his head.

Wow, I'm really unfocused today, can't even hold up a bag correctly. That piece of shit Graham is completely destroying my flow. As Blake leaned down to collect all the scattered, Eth leaned down to help.

Huh. I guess he's not that much of a piece of shit.

"Here." Eth offered the form with a certain gleam in his eye. Blade snatched it out of his hands, then finished collecting all the items.

"There should be 1235 Riak worth of coins in there. I'd like to pay off the debts of Mateo, Yuna, Toan, and Clara."

"No last names?" Graham confirmed.

"If you find any with duplicate names, I'm willing to give descriptions as well." Graham nodded.

"As long as the quantity is right, we have no issues. Do you want the debt to be transferred to your name?" Although rare now, it used to be a much more common practice. Sometimes, businessmen did this to transfer their debt from Redigo to themselves. That way, they had a worker who could never leave. It was a ruthless practice, but considering Redigo themselves did the exact same thing, Blake couldn't fault him too much for it.

"Yes."

"Wait here." Graham walked inside the building, while Blake continued to stare down the businessman. His face looked a little familiar, as if they had come in contact earlier, but Blake couldn't figure it out in the end. Neither of them attempted to make conversation. Before long, Graham returned empty-handed.

"Everything looks good, you're good to go." Eth nodded and immediately began walking away, skipping over any confirmation of any sort. At the very least, the man seemed confident and bold. As his figure created more and more distance, Blake whispered to Graham.

"You think we made a mistake?"

"What?"

"Lying about what we found on him the first time around. He actually does seem quite intimidating, so maybe the guards weren't completely wrong."

"His aura didn't look particularly powerful…"

"Yeah, but look at how confident he was. Unless he's a moron deluded by his own power, he must have something to back it up. At the very least, he may have some connections we're unfamiliar with." Graham didn't reply immediately.

"I wanted to get wasted…" He trailed off.

"Do we just say fuck it and ignore him? With the good moods due to this Prachar thing, I'm sure they wouldn't mind too much." Graham sighed.

"No, you're right. There's clearly something going on with this man. Having him on our mind will just sour the drinks anyway." They shared a disappointed look. It seems they would be spending their afternoon figuring out who this 'Eth' person really was.