Chapter 37 - Volume 2 (1/2)
Isaac’s scheme to identify which district allowed the outsiders to infiltrate the city without his permission was cut short before it even started. The ten thousand Giga bounty had motivated the syndicate members to action.
The commoners of New Port City are a group of exploited, weak individuals who earned just enough to survive another day. But the members of the syndicate were group thugs who were confident of their fighting capabilities. They spent their days fighting against mercenaries as sport to pa.s.s their time.
Isaac looked down at the corpse, wounds covering every inch of its body. He sighed and spoke to Cordnell.
“Give them their reward.”
“Y, yes.”
Cordnell nodded as he shuddered from the shock of seeing a dead body for the first time. Watching the group of thugs yell and scream with laughter around what is now a bag of meat had made Cordnell see for the first time the true nature of New Port City.
The syndicate members left with the corpse, stating that they will clean up the mess themselves. Cordnell left the area too, stating that he was feeling faint.
Isaac spoke to Rizzly.
“Where did he disappear to?”
“According to my scout, it seemed like he was going toward Soland’s district. But he wasn’t sure because of how fast that man was caught.
“He seemed pretty slippery on my end. How did they get him?”
“They threw tens of nets at him from the rooftops on both sides of the alleyway, pinning him on the spot. They swarmed at him afterwards. They never had intention of capturing him alive, opting to kill first instead.”
“Well, I understand using that strategy considering they’ve fought against many mercenaries in the past. Maybe I should have just asked him.”
“Shall we perform an investigation now?”
“No, don’t bother. It’s not like this will be their last time.”
“True. It’s doubtful they’ll give up after just a single failure.”
“This is starting to p.i.s.s me off.”
As someone who has earned the infamy of Crazy Terrorist with his guerrilla and urban warfare, sabotage was in the realm of his expertise.
The acts of sabotage from Port City and Count Milros were starting to stress out Isaac because of how childish their attempts were.
“Are they really oblivious or are they not doing it because they have a different objective?”
Their acts of sabotage included coaxing the workers to negligence, faulty construction, stealing building materials, inflating the construction cost via overuse of materials, delaying s.h.i.+ps which carry the construction materials and ruining some of the materials through poor maintenance from the warehouses. It seemed like they were making continuous attempts at sabotage, but it wasn’t effective enough and became even more futile when bosses of each syndicates would knock on his door and tell exactly what they were ordered to do, making it simple to retaliate.
“What is their goal?”
Isaac asked to Cordnell who was complaining about the increasing cost of the construction.
“It’s obvious! We’ve spent so much of our investment on pointless expenses!”
“But the construction is almost over though?”
“We went over the budget long time ago.”
“Still, what they’ve done is too weak…”
“This is weak? Then what would you do, Sir Isaac, if you were the ruler of Port City.”
Isaac didn’t even make a consideration before answering Cordnell’s question.
“That’s obvious. I’d cause arson on the warehouses containing our construction materials along with the construction site itself, burning it all to the ground. Not that pitiful little pranks they’ve been doing.”
“Uhuh. Just thinking about that made my brain freeze. But wouldn’t it be difficult if we increased security?”
“Plus I’d a.s.sa.s.sinate any who are co-operative to me. If that doesn’t work, I’ll start killing the workers at random. I’d be screwed if n.o.body wanted to work for me despite how much I was willing to pay.”
A chill went up Cordnell’s spine hearing Isaac’s brutal method. It was something he’d never considered.
“Would they ever do that?”
“That’s why I don’t get it. That’s exactly what I’d do.”
One of the most extreme methods to achieve result was terrorism. And its effectiveness matched its brutality.
Isaac had no choice but to suspect Port City had something else in mind, not performing these extreme methods when it was clear they would be in trouble if this project were to ever finish.
“Well, just thinking about it won’t bring up the answer, and I’m bound to find out in the future. What happened to the order I gave you by the way?”
Cordnell sobbed at Isaac’s question.
“Well they are all quite famous in their field of work…”
“I don’t need people that are that famous. They just need enough fame for people to think ‘Ah! That guy!’ when they hear their name. If that’s too difficult, then you can bring in those that have fallen from their peak.”
“But why do we need so many people? I understand bands and theatres but why are you inviting artists such as painters and sculptors too?”
“What are you going to tell the guests who got bored of gambling? Just tell them to go home and sleep?”
‘I understand you’re bringing in bands and theatres to hold the guests in the city but…”
“It’s the same thing. I will sponsor artists in poverty with my money in return for the rights of their works. Once I have enough of their works, I’ll open a museum or a gallery of my own for tourism.”
“Heh, I didn’t know you were so interested in such things, Sir Isaac. There are many n.o.ble who support artists but you’d be the first one to help the artists to this level.”
“Hm? This isn’t support but investment.”
“Huh? How can it become investment?”
“If just one of the artists I’ve been supporting becomes famous, all of the works he had made previously will increase in price with him. Buy cheap and sell expensive. It’s basic business.”
“Do you realise how long that will take for your investment to pay off?”
“The Ceta District will continue to be mine even if I were to be relegated as the Lord’s Representative. I’ll just live rich for the rest of my life. Well, it doesn’t matter even if none of them becomes famous. Just the reputation that I support poor artist will be enough to make it worth it. It’s not bad to have the City of Art and Culture added to City of Gambling right?”
“That’s true but that’d only happen if you succeed!”
“I’m saying it because I’m confident. No, it has to succeed.”
“Che, I don’t understand where you get that confidence from.”
“You’ll know if I’m right when the time comes. Just finish the construction and make sure you find the bands and theatres that will perform our opening ceremony and use the Seven Grand Merchant Guilds’ connections to send invitations.”
“Wouldn’t it look rather shabby? The only things in construction are the casinos. The rest are still the same. We don’t have the funds to construct hotels and theatres with what we have left.”