Defiance of the Fall

Chapter 81: Subjects

“What the fuck are you doing?” Zac loudly exclaimed, shocked as the two demons fell lifelessly to the ground.

“These two were snooping around the shipyard on their breaks. I’m not sure what their goal was, but we couldn’t have them walk around as they wished. These two will also set an example for any other curious individuals,” the demon tartly explained, as he brought out an axe identical to those Zac use from his pouch.

With two swift swings he decapitated the lifeless bodies before he slammed the axe into the thin wounds on their chests, effectively masking their true cause of death. Zac mutely looked on having some problems processing what was happening. Was the demon framing him right in front of his eyes? Ogras felt Zac’s stare and glanced at his direction, giving a slight shrug.

“It’s better if you killed them. It will remind the others that you are not to be provoked, and you don’t take kindly to people looking into your business. If it was found out that I killed them just because they were looking at some humans at the shipyard I will start losing my grasp on the other demons.”

Zac silently stared at the two demons on the ground, a cold feeling gripping his heart. He felt he had grown a bit lax against the demons, particularly the one in front of him. While Zac believed it was in Ogras’ interest to keep Port Atwood and Zac protected for at least a decade until he could try to usurp it, he couldn’t be sure of the demon’s plans.

This was a person who had no problems betraying those close to him without batting an eye as long as it benefitted him. Besides, he couldn’t be sure whether Ogras’ story was true. For all Zac knew he happened upon a clandestine meeting, and Ogras killed his allies rather than letting his plans be exposed.

But Zac also realized that might just be how the multi-verse worked. Might makes right, and benefits trump friendships. He knew that he had grown callous as well, as he wasn’t about to clamor for justice for these two or start some sort of investigation. There was no benefit to it, and he’d rather just bear the blame so that people would keep away from his Shipyard. Getting tired from the whole situation he could only move on. It was a bit annoying to be framed for the murders, but he had already killed hundreds of demons, what was two more to the tally?

“How are the fortifications coming along? And where are the crystals?” Zac asked as he put away his axe, not bothering with the two fallen demons any longer.

Ogras, looking pleased that Zac wasn’t making a big deal of the situation, swiftly took out a few Cosmos Sacks from a pocket and threw them over.

“The wall will be done with a few days to spare, and the mining operations are proceeding splendidly. Now that there aren’t a dozen main branch assholes embezzling a part of the cake, the daily output is above expectations. We have mined and refined a total of 109 344 crystals so far, meaning slightly more than five million Nexus Coins. A few issues have cropped up though.”

“What now?” Zac asked with a grimace. He should have known it was impossible to only get good news.

“First of all the lizards down in the tunnel are getting more aggressive, and we don’t possess as much manpower as we did, making it hard to keep them at bay. Secondly, I have run into a snag with the Gnomes, but we might be able to turn it into an opportunity. But most importantly, I’ve run out of moving pictures.” He said

“Moving pictures?” Zac asked confused, to which Ogras fished out Izzy’s portable video player from a sack, waving it at Zac. Zac had completely forgotten she had brought it with her when the group went camping, but it seemed that the demon had found it while idling in his camp.

“I have watched everything inside this device, and I must say that this planet is pretty interesting making all these things. I bet we can make some money if we figure out how to turn the moving pictures into Crystals and sell them. Is there any more than what’s contained in this device?”

Zac was stumped, his mouth curving a bit upward. He knew that the demons didn’t use much technology as it was frowned upon on their homeworld just like large parts of the multi-verse. The demons were very much in favor of the System, which put them against the so-called Technocrats, and they disdained to use devices that weren’t created with fractals and inscriptions.

“There’s enough for you to watch until you die even if your longevity gets a few upgrades. I don’t have any more with me though.”

“Then we need to quickly beat the beast hordes and find human settlements.”

“Uh, yeah. How are you charging the player anyways? It should have run out of power long ago. And what about the merchants?”

“Any decent lightning mage can charge up the energy containers on this type of device. Even normal cultivators can do it when their fine control of cosmic energy gets high enough” Ogras waved dismissively. “And it seems we might have pushed the Sky Gnomes a bit too hard. I’ve had a talk with Calrin and they might actually go under if we keep forcing these prices.”

“We pushed them?” Zac asked pointedly, as he stored the little information nugget that one could use cosmic energy to charge devices. Perhaps he could even resurrect the car with some training.

“I didn’t see you stop me. In any case from what I understand the Merchants have made some truly troublesome enemies, and they have managed to put pressure on the Thayer Consortia even through the Mercantile System. Calrin is unable to make a profit as it stands, and The Ruthless Heavens might actually revoke their license,” Ogras sighed.

“So we need to lower our asking price? Are you sure it’s not a business tactic? That little guy seemed to be pretty thick-skinned.” Zac asked, not relishing the thought of lowering the price. A difference of only a few Coins per Crystal would turn into a huge amount when put to the perspective of the whole mine.

“It doesn’t look like he’s lying, he is truly fearing for his life from the look of his eyes lately. But that doesn’t mean we need to just throw away money. We’re not a charity. I’ve worked out a deal that I think will benefit you in the long run instead,” Ogras answered, the greedy face once more showing.

“We only demand 42 Nexus Coins per Crystal, in return Calrin hands over 25% of the Consortia to us.”

“That’s a lot of profit to give away for a run-down shop where I’m the only customer. And what do you mean to us?” Zac said unconvinced.

“What we’re investing in is not the shop itself, but their Mercantile License. They are notoriously hard to acquire, and very sought after since they give access to the Mercantile System, allowing you to trade with the whole multi-verse. In a normal situation, you’d have to pawn off a whole continent to get the license, but now we’re in a position to snatch up a stake for just a few million Nexus Coins.

“If we help them get back to their feet and help them grow, more and more coins will enter our pockets. Imagine your whole planet full of branches selling all the essentials to billions of people, and all that profit entering into your pocket. Then we can even expand to other planets, the income only becoming larger. Progressing and becoming stronger gets insanely expensive as you get to higher ranks, and this can help out a lot.” Ogras got more and more animated as he launched into his business plan, and Zac was starting to get excited as well. If it was as he explained this was a great opportunity to make some money.

“What about their enemy, won’t they become our enemy as well? What do you know about them?” Zac still hesitated, as he had enough things on his plate. Adding some formidable foe into the mix wasn’t an option, even if it meant giving up potential profit.

“It’s a powerful family on a top tier C-Rank world. They are located in another universe though, and I don’t think they will start a search for your planet, even if it’s for a Mercantile License. Besides, The Ruthless Heavens obscure your planet for a hundred years making it almost impossible to find.

“Therefore I wouldn’t worry too much about it, but if they do come knocking we can just throw our shares to them as a greeting gift, feigning ignorance of the conflict, and then sell the Gnomes out,” Ogras said dismissively.

Zac was hesitating a while over what to do. The enemy of the Thayer family sounded troublesome, and he didn’t want to bring that kind of headache to Earth. But they were protected for a hundred years through the System. Even after that, it was not like they could easily find Earth even if they wanted to, and transportation costs would likely be huge. They might deem it not worth the trouble, and get the license from someone else. There must be more struggling corporations to exploit in the multi-verse after all.

After some time Zac agreed, and Ogras veritably dragged him to the storefront to sign the documents at the consortium without pause. It appeared that Ogras’ initial plan was an even split of 12,5% stake each between the two, but after a glare the split was changed to 20-5.

Zac still let the demon get some stock in the corporation. He figured it would tie the demon to Zac’s wagon, and hopefully it would make him work more diligently if he had some stake in its success. Besides, it wasn’t bad to give something valuable to the demon, as he could threaten to take it away if needed.

Zac was in dire need for some talented people working for him after all, and Ogras was by far the best option for now. Zac already knew he wouldn’t be an active ruler, sitting on his throne and making decrees. He wanted to leave the island as soon as possible to find his family. After that perhaps even explore the multi-verse. And he needed to get stronger, which he couldn’t do from a throne room. Therefore he needed subjects, or at least employees, that could look after his little island kingdom while he was gone.

The Sky Gnome looked ready to vomit as he signed the documents after a great deal of hemming and hawing. He only looked a bit better after a promise that Zac would help give the consortia a strong position on Earth. Of course, it was Ogras that was promising things far and wide, and Zac only looked on helplessly. He had no idea how to do that, and he didn’t even know if there were any towns left.

Next, he ordered some demons to collect a large amount of meat for the salamanders. They had obviously warmed up to Zac when he had fed them various corpses, and perhaps it was possible to bribe them on a larger scale. If not it would at least keep the monsters satiated so the mining operations could go on unimpeded.

Finally done with everything he wanted to do Zac once again returned to the caves. The next time he emerged would be to meet the hordes of beasts.