Chapter 960 (1/2)

Several hours later, as he was preparing to eat an extremely early lunch, Evan Crane tapped his newly acquired cigar against the side of his desk.

Tap.

But he only tapped it once. After that first tap, the man paused as he tried to slowly unpack the statement that his subordinate had just reported to him. For several seconds, it was difficult to believe his ears were working properly. Evan set down his cigar. Slowly, he pivoted away from his salmon topped salad to stare at the man. “What did you say?”

“Erickson Steel has packed up its branches and brought all personnel back to its headquarters,” The man repeated. “This didn’t just happen in Zone 1; apparently it happened across every Zone. The Erickson Steel representatives told customers that all previously made contracts can still be redeemed… but only by proceeding directly to Erickson Steel Headquarters to obtain the metals.”

“They…” Evan sat upward, frowning down at his chilled salmon like it could provide him answers. Yet it only sat there. Perhaps it slowly decomposed as the warm room buzzed against its chilled body. “Do they really think people will take the time to traipse over to their headquarters to obtain their metal…?”

“Most people already are,” The subordinate dutifully reported. “Although most people are complaining, there is already a train line in place that-”

“They have a train line!” Evan hissed. He was aware that they had some handcarts operating out of convenience, but if they actually established a train line…”

But wait… the corner’s of Evan’s mouth curled slowly upward into a sinister smile. If you have a train line… doesn’t that mean it falls under the sway of the Zone Transportation Board? Heh, you’ve dug your own grave with this.

Feeling very satisfied, Evan picked up the tobacco and took another long drag from his cigar. The subordinate’s expression turned aggrieved as seconds continued to tick past while Evan inhaled. Then, after almost fifteen seconds, Evan opened his mouth and released a stream of industrial waste directly toward the face of the subordinate.

Tap, tap, tap.

“Alright, here’s what we do,” Evan said. “Even if customers still want their metal, get the bank to send a representative to Erickson Steel. Use the pulling of the branches as an excuse; no matter what, I want to know if there’s something special going on in there. Hehe, I refuse to believe they won’t lose a bunch of business from this idiotic move.

“Then get the ZTB involved. See if they can cause trouble, even if it’s just raising the fare on the branch track. Finally… send over a message from us to Erickson Steel, requesting assistance on a joint venture project.”

“What’s the project?” The subordinate asked.

Evan Crane chuckled. “Let them know that we’ve discovered a method to use Engravings to imbue a Skill into equipment. That should certainly catch their attention.”

After bowing hurriedly, the subordinate left, leaving Evan alone in his office. Enjoying the silence, Evan took a long inhale and then released a thick cloud of smoke.

Tap, tap, tap.

“Well, Erickson Steel, let’s see how foolish you really are…” Then, with relish, Evan Crane began to eat his salmon topped salad.

*****

After an extremely long night of raising objections and Randidly simply laughing them off, Tatiana felt rather exhausted. And, if she was being honest, slightly unappreciated. But in the face of his confidence, what could she say? As promised, they took a brief break to eat a meal and Randidly managed to cobble together a working train car. In the face of results, Tatiana kept her mouth shut.

Finally, Tatiana looked at Randidly and asked. “Alright, so what will you be doing now?”

Randidly rubbed his hands together. “First I want to see what Erickson Steel has managed to come up with since I left. Then I’ll probably spend a fair chunk of time smelting. I’ve certainly missed it.”

Nodding, Tatiana pressed a button on the desk. Only a short twenty seconds later, a young man pushed open the door to her office and bowed to the three of them. Tatiana turned to Randidly. “This is Mark. Since my assistant is busy, he will be the one to show you around the different facilities. If you have any questions or needs, ask him directly. He can get you anything we have here.”

For the first time since Randidly arrived, he appeared genuinely excited as he walked over to Mark. Then, at the last second, he paused and turned around to look at Tatiana. “Oh, one more thing. What’s the name of your receptionist?”

Tatiana blinked. Her head was already pounding from all of the arrangements Randidly had insisted upon these last few hours. And from all of the threats that they had left unaddressed during their planning session. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with his rapidly shifting thoughts. “Ah, the receptionist…? I think her name is Clarry. Why?”

Shrugging, Randidly simply said. “I scanned her a little, and she seems skilled. I just wanted to suggest moving her to a position that takes advantage of her… abilities.”

Tykes’ eyes gleamed as he looked at Randidly. “Mr. Ghosthound, even if you own the company, you can’t talk about entry-level employees that way anymore. It ain’t the 1950s.”

“Don’t even joke about something like that,” Tatiana said, poking Tykes as hard as she could in the side. “Even as a joke, not good to normalize that sort of scenario.”

Tatiana was rather disgruntled that her full strength poke barely managed to make Tykes twitch, let alone driving the smug smile from his face. Then she turned to Randidly, trying to understand what he had meant by that comment. She did her best to give Randidly the benefit of the doubt, regardless of the conclusion Tykes had jumped to.

To Tatiana’ surprise, Randidly blushed slightly. “I looked at her Skills and Level. I just wanted to draw your attention to it, in case you didn’t know. She’s talented”

Then Randidly shrugged and hurried away with Mark.

It seems even our fearless leader can be embarrassed and flustered about things… so long as they aren’t the presiding government of our area, Tatiana thought wryly. Then she cast her mind around to try and recall what she knew about Clarry.

The woman wasn’t someone that Tatiana brought over from the agency, she was just a hire they made as Erickson Steel was expanding a few months ago. So far, she seemed to be performing satisfactorily. But also, even after exchanging a few words with the woman every morning for three months, Tatiana didn’t have a single strong impression of her.

To put it bluntly… Clarry was pretty but bland.

Tatiana looked toward the door. Well, for his sake, I’ll look into it a bit…