Chapter 508 (2/2)

After a bit of thought, Randidly produced a pair of darker leather pants that he had received from some nice old man in Donnyton, and a forest green shirt. It wasn’t so fancy that it was uncomfortable, but it also wasn’t just a workman’s shirt. All in all, Randidly was quite proud of himself.

It wasn’t the finery that he had seen Donny strutting around in, but he also didn’t seem like he was an Alana type, that spent all his time working without a thought to aesthetics. Even though he knew in his heart that Alana learned those habits because she was so furiously chasing his Level of strength…

Randidly shook his head, and then slapped his cheeks. No point in dwelling on that now.

Now was time to be charming.

There was a squirming feeling in his gut.

*****

Ricky Stain smiled, pleased with his small kingdom.

Although he had struggled for a year just to obtain his Tier 1 Citizenship, in this small steel working community it was like a king’s crown. Everyone treated him with respect, and those who didn’t were thoroughly taught a lesson by those who did and wanted to earn a few extra points with him.

Because of his citizenship, he had access to raw materials and areas that the others didn’t and with the information he had, he began leveraging his already respectable savings. Within a month, Ricky had become a local Hegemon and was now spreading his fingers more actively into the darker side of the business boom.

The truth was that Ghost wanted drones, and he wanted people working to make them and improve their own Skills. Because the directive came from Ghost, a lot of the military was very hands-off in their handling of the metalworking community Ricky dubbed Stein. In fact, aside from the wandering sheriff or ranger, there were only two police officers who were regularly within Stein’s limits.

And those visits were weekly, at best.

As such, a rough sort of hierarchy was already starting to form. Ricky intended to be on top of it. Which was why he was throwing this party, hoping to rope some of the influential workers in more fully and to pry others away from the influence of the staff at the factory.

Because aside from Ricky and the military, there was a third faction here: the so-called “Analytics Team”. This was headed by an annoyingly present man Foreman Davey. Ricky had some thoughts about striking against the man, teaching him a lesson, but the rumor was that he was above Level 30.

Ricky shivered. He didn’t mind offending some citizenshipless individuals, but a Tier 1 citizen that was Level 30… Ricky wasn’t so far gone to think his influence could intimidate that man. And who knows what forces Ghost had put at his disposal.

No, better to attempt the soft method, and go for the workers.

There were 5 that he was interested in specifically. Tooya and Diego, a pair of tan-skinned brothers who had been particularly recalcitrant to his advances, but were both known to be womanizers. A tall, grey-haired woman named Sonya who had a dozen or so female assistants, offering them shelter from the harassment of the male-dominated factory.

There was a suspicious old man named Gregory, who would only smile in the presence of money. And finally, there was the intense, pudgy man Baloo Erickson. Each individual had their own benefits associated with them being pulled into Ricky’s sphere of influence, but Baloo’s was the most compelling. The man had been selling his unique Erickson Steel for a few days, and already some outside sources queried whether they could get it for cheaper than the exorbitant $20 an ingot that Foreman Davey was selling it for.

Around Ricky were tables of food, some musicians, a few of his preferred cronies who looked the right mixture of intimidating and enjoyable for a party, and several women hired from an escort service run out of West Providence. The guests would be arriving soon, so Ricky snapped his fingers and the girls moved out, talking with some of the men, while others began dancing to the music.

It had to be fun, it had to be enjoyable.

It had to be alluring.

Smiling dreamily, Ricky imagined that tonight would be a night he wouldn’t forget. The night that Ricky became the Steel Baron of Stein, and everything finally fell into place for him. He couldn’t imagine what could go wrong.