Chương 128: Chapter 129: Business Decisions

"Most of you have probably figured it out by now, but I have secrets I can't share with you." He sat in front of his four senior-most members: Yuna, Toan, Clara, and Mateo. Now that he was bringing someone who represented a potential danger to the circus—Moe—he couldn't keep them completely out of the loop. He couldn't tell them everything about his persona as Eth or Dissent yet, but he could at least let them know the general state of things.

The four in front of him looked unperturbed, as if the information was the most natural thing in the world.

"That's why I'll sometimes make decisions that might not necessarily align with what you guys think might be best for the Ichoris Legerdemain. I'll ask you guys to go along with these strange decisions." The four shared a look.

"Do you remember the VIP named Moe?" The four nodded in unison. He wasn't surprised, considering Moe wasn't exactly a down-low person and showed up to every single performance, whether it be in the slums or in upper Ichoris.

"Well," Evel sighed, "he's gonna work here."

"A-are you sure?" Yuna asked. The expression on her face could only be described as pure dumbfoundedness. Toan chuckled.

"He's a funny guy. I like him." Funny? Toan was probably thinking of someone else.

"Yeah," Mateo agreed.

"How bad could it possibly be?" Clara just shrugged. He looked upon the four souls with a bit of pity. Only Yuna had realized the true danger of the beast known as Moe.

"What about Prachar?" Yuna, his ever-intelligent manager, asked. He'd given Prachar a lot of thought. They represented the future of the Ichoris Legerdemain's expansion to other cities, but they also represented a possible risk.

"Nothing with Prachar will change, so treat Moe like any other member," he replied.

"There's no need to overcomplicate it. Do try to make him feel a little welcome, but you shouldn't have to go out of your way to do so." Evel sighed.

"As you know, Moe is a very wealthy merchant, and the truth is, I need something from him. I hope you can help me out. If all of you oppose, I'm willing to find an alternative solution." He really should have done this before inviting Moe, but he'd gotten caught up in the excitement of finally finding a trail of Dissent. He didn't necessarily need Moe at the circus — there were lots of other ways to befriend him. This just happened to be the easiest.

Still, he owed his closest crew members a little better than that. He needed to give them a choice in how the circus moved forward as well. The four gave him incredulous looks. Do they not believe I'll honor their decision?

"Listen, Eth," Yuna began slowly.

"We started with five of us, and now we have deals with big-name Banners and perform in both parts of the city. I think I speak for everyone when I say we're willing to trust any of your business decisions." Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. The three others nodded in unison.

"I agree with Yuna. When I met you, my dad and I were starving. Now he dances around every week at the performances with a full belly," Clara added, a bright smile on her lips.

"Hell, you could chop off my arm, and I'd still be grateful!" Yuna's head snapped to her.

"Okay, I agree with the general idea, but I very much like my arms."

"I don't have to work in the mines anymore," Mateo added.

"I'd also like to keep my arms." Toan jumped in as well.

"Yeah, you're basically paying us to hang around with our friends all day. Because of the Riak, I'm able to send back my sister; she's finally fully focused on studying to be an actress! Also, I wouldn't be able to make cool art stuff without my hands."

"I have no plans to chop anyone's arms off." The corners of his lips twitched, but he suppressed his smile. He still needed his Eth persona and couldn't get too friendly. He paused. Maybe I can? These thoughts never met his face. In the end, they made it clear that the part they respected was his business decisions. Nothing more.

"Good. Next, I'd like to discuss the management changes going forward." They'd already discussed broad strokes, but now it was time for the specifics. They would train the new workers to know who to ask for what, but how would they do that? Clara's department would split into two, but who would take on the role of leading the clowns? Who would replace Toan as manager of the art department? Their plan involved 'improving the efficiency of communication,' but what exactly did that mean?

The other members, like Evel, had been tasked with reading books built on generations of experience, and now was the time to pool together what they learned. For the next few hours, they mulled over small details while considering how to move forward. It was mostly Yuna and Evel doing the discussing, but the other three listened with great intensity and occasionally chimed in.

Though they didn't have an actual affinity for management, like anything else, it was a skill — and should they get exposed to enough discussion, they'd pick it up without issue. A deep, selfish part of him still wanted these four to be the main people heading the circus. They were the most trustworthy, and he understood their characters enough that it was comforting leaving them in charge. Toan sat on a big rock in front of the circus, his legs hanging, staring at the sky.

Today was the day he was supposed to help Moe get more familiar with the circus. It took a while to figure out why he, of all people, was chosen, and the truth he found out was a little sad: He had the least to do. No longer the manager of the art department, he now had a lot more free time to work on bigger art projects. Yay. But also, those projects weren't necessarily always needed. For now, his work consisted of loitering around the circus and distracting others from their work.

No wonder Eth had given him the task. Eth... His boss was a weird one. One month he was strict and mysterious, the next month he was angry, and now he was all apologetic for nothing. But what did Toan know about someone as accomplished as Eth? He had two main theories he was split between. The first was that Eth had been sent by the heroes of the Imperium to come to the city and rid it of all its corruption. The slums were such a shitty place, but day by day he saw it improve in real time.

First, it was only the area around the circus that was clean, but every week it was like the little halo around it grew wider. Not only that, but he'd hired so many people from the mines and paid them so well. His other theory was that Eth was from a rich family, cast away here to be forced to prove that he could fend for himself. A young heir who had to climb up from the very bottom! It was an exciting thought that he could be part of such a journey from fairy tales.

Maybe after Eth revealed his true self for good, Toan would even be swimming in riches.

"Huehuehuehuehue."

"What are you giggling at?" A familiar voice asked. Toan almost jumped off the rock.

"A-aren't you supposed to be yelling at people or something?" he stammered. Yuna had her arms behind her back and watched him with a curious yet amused expression.

"Turns out I had some free time since the new changes," she replied.

"Moe's still not here?"

"No, not yet," Toan sighed, looking out into the streets. He'd already waited over two hours. Although they didn't know the specific time Moe was arriving, they'd guessed it would be near morning.

"You can do something while you wait, y'know." He sheepishly smiled.

"I have nothing to do." Yuna raised an eyebrow, as if that was the strangest thing in the world. After a few seconds, she scratched her chin and began walking away.

"Huh. I guess neither do I." Toan kept waiting, swinging his legs and daydreaming as he waited for the funny merchant man to show up. About an hour later, the big ol' VIP appeared on the horizon, scuffling over with great intensity. With such a big belly, his running posture was a little off, but his actual speed was quite impressive. Toan jumped off the rock with a grin.

"You're finally here, young'un!" Moe was probably a full decade or two older than Toan, but in terms of experience at the circus, he was the veteran!

"S-sorry," Moe panted.

"B-but I'm ready to start!"