Chương 132: Chapter 133: Grace’s Grace

When Zephyr made the plan to acquire more information from the slums, a part of her knew it was unlikely to yield any real results. There was just too little activity down there; most people's lives were spent in the mines or recovering from the grueling work. So far, at least, based on what Legerdemain gave her, her expectations had been met. Regardless, having a source of information from within the slums was still a good thing.

With a constant stream of information, she could focus elsewhere, not having that doubt seep in from the back of her mind. That is, assuming Legerdemain was giving her the proper information.

"Any update from Lyre?" she asked. During their negotiations, Zephyr included a clause stating that one person from Prachar would work alongside Legerdemain to confirm their information was valid. That clause was merely a distraction; since then, she had hired another person, disguised as a regular employee of the mines, to work within Legerdemain: Lyre. The man in front of her shook his head.

"Nothing, ma'am."

"Nothing at all?"

"She reports everything is as expected, ma'am."

"But they stopped hiring?"

"Yes, ma'am. We offered them a loan like you asked, but they rejected it, ma'am." A thick vein popped on her forehead. Why couldn't he just report everything normally?

"Why did they reject it?"

"I don't know, ma'am."

"Stop calling me ma'am." He froze.

"O-of course, Ma..." Zephyr narrowed her eyes. The man's lips quivered as he shrank back.

"... sir?" He lowered his head. Idiots. Everybody around her was an idiot. Working in Prachar, one of the Banners that prioritized intelligence the most, she was used to interacting with brilliant minds much smarter than her own. At least that way, she could learn from them and continue improving herself. In Ichoris, she felt herself actively get dumber. She took a deep breath. I just have to think of them as children.

"What did Lyre say the reason for the rejection was?"

"She claims it's because they don't want to take on more debt." So you did know... Zephyr overlapped her fingers as she thought. Even ignoring the possibility of finding out about Dissent, she really wanted Legerdemain to ramp up their hiring process. The skill they'd developed in training people was incredible, even by her high standards. They could take a miner with no experience and turn them into someone both capable and excited to work in the circus.

Honestly, she expected Eth to take the loan and ramp up production. She'd pegged him as the ambitious kind, not somebody who took satisfaction in remaining active in just one city. Once again, her bad habit of overestimating others came back to bite her.

"Fine. Tell them we'll give them an investment instead. They only have to pay it back if they succeed, albeit at a higher rate." Once they ramped up their hiring process, she could get a second Prachar employee in there to keep a better eye on them as well. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"Are you sure?" She looked up at the dullard who dared to question her.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"For one, they're just slum rats," he protested.

"Their plays suck, and their audience can't afford to pay well to get in! Why not just spend the Riak on hiring more workers for Prachar?"

"We already have frequent plays in Upper-Ichoris."

"What about more plays?"

"It's not up for discussion," she replied curtly. She almost played with the idea of explaining everything to him, but in the end, it wasn't worth it. Once she got her reward and could advance, she'd be out of this small, inconsequential city for good.

"Yes, ma'am." She took a breath.

"So the play 'sucked'?" He was sent as one of the people to watch the show undercover, so she could get a proper look at how far they'd come.

"Absolutely terrible, ma'am. The quality was low, the acting was shallow, and I even wrote out a list of problems. They'll never catch up to Prachar!" He extended the list forward, his chest puffed out.

"And the audience's reactions?"

"The audience's tastes can't be relied upon, ma'am."

"How did they react?" She calmly repeated.

"Well... they loved it. But that's to be expected from people who've never seen anything as refined as ours. The plot itself was cute, but nothing too powerful. At no point did it resonate with me at all." She heard all about the plot: two lovers who escaped the farm together. She was a bit surprised that Legerdemain would go for something like that, considering their exciting and fast-paced style during their regular performances. But then again, she didn't know much about Eth or his artistic style.

She placed the man's paper aside and handed him another.

"Give them the script for Alaric's upbringing, as well as a few about some of the massacres Ultor committed." The thirty percent of the profit was nice, but this was where their real income would come from. The previous head of Prachar was truly a moron for not expanding into the slums. Redigo and Prachar were squabbling like a bunch of kids, splitting the city in two, when all they had to do was focus on their own strengths in each part of the city, and they'd both be twice as rich.

"Will they want such sad shows?" The man asked.

"I got the impression the play was supposed to be an escape from their miserable lives."

"Probably." She matched his gaze.

"But why not give them a little challenge?"

"This is your proposed play?" Evel scanned through each page carefully. Moe shifted uncomfortably in place. It was titled The Grace of the Oppressed and starred a female lead named Grace, who led a popular uprising against their slavers. An extremely dark and gritty story with a ray of hope at the end, telling the reader that you too can break out of your prison if you rise. Like Moe's previous stories, it was very anti-Banners and focused on the difficult work in the mines.

One thing Evel found strange was that the slavers were supposedly lone actors; at no point was blame placed on a greater organization controlling or funding them. Instead, they were depicted as lone actors who did this out of the malice in their hearts.

"What do you think?" Moe asked nervously. The story was not a comedy, not even close. Yet near the end, during the final battle, as Grace took down the last of the slavers, sword to their head, she said: "I'll show you Grace this one time." The pun was a little cringy, but ultimately not the worst thing. The problem was what came after.

"That's right, my name is Grace, and I'm showing you Grace. Call it Grace's Grace." And of course, immediately after the scene, it went back to being a fully serious, gritty story of suffering and redemption. Evel took a deep breath.

"This Grace line here," he said, pointing. Moe leaned in.

"It could use some work." His mouth fell open.

"Really?" he asked.

"I thought that was the best line of the whole series." Evel shook his head.

"The joke falls flat, and it's over-explained. Everything else you wrote was magnificent, but this reads like an amateur." Moe clutched his heart and staggered back.

"I-I have another joke we could add in there: Wha-what do you call a can opener that doesn't work?"

"Where would you fit such a joke in without ruining the tension?"

"W-we can add a scene! And you didn't even hear the punchline!" Evel had already decided to pivot his approach in handling Moe. He could shower him with praise forever, which might help him befriend the man, but ultimately, that wasn't the type of person Dissent wanted to hire—not based on what Avid told him.

"I have a different idea." A subtle smile danced on his lips.

"Let's make Grace a true hero. Instead of only having her save the slaves in her own district, why not have her save all of them? To tie everything together, let's say there was one big organization or..." He narrowed his eyes.

"... empire that funds and leads all the slavers." A pause.

"Of course, that's only if it doesn't go against your creative vision." Moe's expression fully shifted, and a twinkle appeared in his eyes.

"I think that's a great addition!" He nodded fiercely.

"My great creative vision is more than satisfied!" He scrambled to grab all the pages and quickly made his way out of the tent. Evel studied him carefully and watched the closed curtains for a long while after he left. Moe's enumerations were no doubt related to his contributions in Dissent. Creating such a bold and angering play would surely pay massively. Additionally, hiring another member should also pay pretty well.

The strategy was simple: Give Moe plenty of contributions to excite the greed within him, then snap everything away. Would he then be able to give up his newfound wealth so quickly? Probably not. At least, that's what Evel was hoping based on his understanding of Moe's character. He brought his focus to the other pages on his table: Zephyr's investment and the stories she proposed. He took a deep breath and began reading through the document. Things were moving quickly, and everyone had a different agenda.

If he wasn't careful, he'd be swept up in all the schemes.