Recipe for Disaster (II)

Filled with people both proud and poor, the Imperium is a land of ambition, glory and a belief in the power of the mortal spirit.

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Leon
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:52 pm
Title: Freelancer
Location: Gel'Grandal
Character Sheet: viewtopic.php?p=11831#p11831
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3838

16th of Ash

The chirping of crickets accompanied the cool evening air. Leon sat on the stool outside of the Tanzer estate’s greenhouse. It took a while for him to get Natasya to trust him. Leon needed to gain the trust of her butler, Frank Wolf. Frank turned out to be Katya’s former mentor. After much discussion, Frank reluctantly agreed on the terms. The terms were simple: Frank would turn a blind eye to their drug-making production within the estate grounds in exchange for Billy and his crew to take care of maintaining the estate grounds. A cut of the profit would also be invested into the maintenance of the estate. Leon took the cigarette he had tucked between his ears and lit it. Taking a long drag, the embers burn lightly. He exhaled slowly and let the ring of smoke rose into the evening sky.

“Yo, there you are.” Billy exclaimed, dragging another stool and sat down beside him. He took the cigarette tucked between his ears and lit it.

“The princess’ off to her quarters?” Leon jokingly remarked.

Billy made the ‘sound asleep’ gesture and chuckled. “Well, it’s been a long day.” He took another drag, “To be honest, I couldn’t live this kind of lifestyle. Sure, they got big swat of land, a house that could fit the whole of Little Lioren, eat all the best kind of food.......” he paused, looking at the distance, “.....and yet, lack the warmth of home.”

Leon nodded silently as he exhaled another ring of smoke. “But I’d rather be wealthy and lonely than poor and lonely.” He argued

“I’m not arguing with that.” Billy replied

The two sat in silence, looking out at the distance, enjoying the cool air. A pair of light slowly approached the estate grounds in the distance. Both Leon and Billy looked at each other, reached for their guns and stomped out their cigarette. After a few moments, the familiar sight of the supply truck came into view. They could make out the familiar figure of Katya. The two jogged toward the supply truck.

“Leon, the old man ends his regard.” Katya greeted them as she hopped off the truck and made her way to the back of the truck.

“Which old man?” Leon asked knowingly.

Katya stopped in her tracks and looked at Leon in disbelief, “You’re joking, right?”

Leon chuckled and tapped her shoulder, “Let the captain know I’ll be giving him a discount on the next batch of repairs and a seventy percent discount for maintenances.”

Katya smirked and continued walking, “I’ll be sure to tell the captain.”

From the back of the truck, two officers in civilian attire rolled empty LAF drum barrels. Two others were passing medium size crates. Billy took the crowbar and pried open one of the crates. He inspected the content. “Good, good. Now we got the lime juice and the other components. Perfect, just like ordered.” Billy remarked. “Thank you for your service, detective.” He half-bowed.

Katya scoffed and hopped back on the truck as they finished unloading the goods.
word count: 524
User avatar
Leon
Posts: 50
Joined: Sat Oct 02, 2021 10:52 pm
Title: Freelancer
Location: Gel'Grandal
Character Sheet: viewtopic.php?p=11831#p11831
Character Secrets: viewtopic.php?t=3838


“So....” Billy began as he pulled down his makeshift mask and placed the metal pole that’s used for stirring on top of the L.A.F’s 33-gallon drum. “...is it a war for the Cause or your personal war?”

Leon pulled down his makeshift mask. “Hmm?” he asked and walked around his drum toward Billy.

Billy extended his arms as wide as he could, “This. We’re not talking about cooking for your run-of-the-mill street seller. The gross profits alone would be enough to buy out a medium size business or a small noble house.” He took the cigarette tucked in his ears and lit it, “And that’s not including the production line that you were building.”

Leon stood beside Billy, took his tucked cigarette from his ear and shrugged. “I got no idea what you were talking about.” He replied, evading the question.

Billy slapped him on the back, “Fucking soldatz......” he took a long drag, “Mirabella, Alexei, Tommy, Katya, Herr Guthenberg.....”
Leon looked at him with a confused face and shrugged.

“Still doesn’t rang a bell?” Billy took another drag, “Your cousin and your protege. Former members of the Jaeger Crops or should I say, Jaegers who were still alive. Lastly a former gunrunner and smuggler.”

Leon took a long drag and puffed it, making a layer of rings. “As I told you back then. I’m working together with Guthenberg to build our own gang.”

Billy scoffed and took another drag before looking back at the boiling mixture on the 33-gallon drum. “I’ve known you since childhood. You’re betting all-in on this end goal of yours.” He waved his hands and took another drag.

“Yeah, you’re right. Going up against the five families ain’t a walk in the park.” Leon added

Billy stubbed his cigarette on the side of the L.A.F gallon drum, “That’s concerning, coming from a Jaeger. I thought you guys were like the Ministry’s special forces.”

Leon took one final drag and stubbed his cigarette. “Well, we don’t have the same resources, network and backing as before.”

“But still.....” Billy paused as he picked up his metal pole and stirred the content of the drum. “Did you ever tried going against them, when you were still active?” he asked.

Leon sighed as he took his metal pole and checked the content of his drum. “Never got a reason to. They always kept their house in order. But even if we were to clash with them, it’d be hard to wiped them out in a night. Probably give it a season or two.” Leon shrugged and pulled up his makeshift mask.

The two continued stirring until only the soil, leaves, twigs and other non-soluble materials floating. “You still remember what we need to do after this?” Billy asked as he pulled down his makeshift mask.

“Now for the good stuff. After we change into our kitchen uniform.” Leon chuckled as he donned the leather apron and gloves. He then picked up a medium sized container and began scooping out the non-soluble materials out of the dark brown liquid opium solution.

The two of them then wrapped a piece of cloth around their head, covered their nose and mouth, and put on the makeshift gas mask. Billy grabbed a glass container filled with white powder (mixture of the so-called lime juice and Billy’s secret ingredients) and handed it to Leon. “One container for each 33-gallon drum.” He informed Leon as he poured the content of his glass container into the drum. After giving the solution a few more minutes of continuous stirring. After a few minutes had passed, he doused the fire underneath the drum with sand.

“And now we wait.” Leon exclaimed as he took off his gas mask and took a deep breath.

“Yes, no we wait.” Billy nodded, “Did Natasya’s old man knew about the real use of poppy before planting this much?”

Leon shrugged, “He might. Considering the butler was Katya’s mentor, the late-Lord Tanzer wasn’t as noble and squeaky clean as Natasya thought he was.” Leon took another cigarette from his pocket and offered one to Billy, “So...” he continued, “We got the production and storage down. What’s the plan on distribution? It’d be ironic to depend on the Grim family for distributing and transporting, considering we could be going to war with them later on.”

Billy took a long drag and seemed to be in deep thought, “You remembered Gurth’ak and his cute little friends?”

“That Gurth’ak? The goblin who led an army of grackles?” Leon replied, astonished at Billy’s suggestion. “You’re not thinking of having those wretched little beasts be our runners.”

“What?” Billy half-shouted, “You think I’m crazy?”

“So why are you asking about that little fiend all of a sudden?”

Billy shook his head, “No....no....no. I was just thinking about using the same method they used but on a bigger scale. Do you think we could replicate it with Herr Guthenberg’s current network?”

Leon took another drag. It’s true that they could somehow replicate the system that the goblin used, using Guthenberg’s current network. But that would render the current network ineffective, as they need to use all their current manpower just for distribution. Billy’s men were already occupied with the production and maintenance of the estate’s grounds as per their agreement with the Tanzer household. Afterall the opium production and manufacturing are their bread-and-butter. He hadn’t gotten the other businesses up and running.

“What about your former lover, Nina?” Leon asked, breaking the silence.

It was Billy’s turn to look at Leon in disbelief, “You’re thinking of using those poor orphans as our runner?”

“Employed as our runners. Employed.” Leon repeated, making his point clear.

“That’s the very definition of child labor.” Billy argued. “Paying them wouldn’t make a difference. It’ll affect them in the long run.”

“Well, I’m not saying to employ the lot of them. Just those old enough and willing.” Leon countered.

Billy sighed, “That doesn’t make your point any better.”

“Come on, would you rather those poor orphans joined the River Rats and die in a gutter somewhere or work for us?”

Billy took out a vial from his pocket, emptied the content into his hand and snorted it. “You do it. You talk to Nina. I’m not going to be the one to talk to her and gave those children false hopes of a better life.”

Leon puffed another layer of ring of smokes. “Fine, I’ll talk to her. I’ll just employ those old enough.”
word count: 1141
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