Chapter 47 - LightThrower

<---Chapter 46 - Innovation|Table of Contents|Chapter 48 - Protests--->

Two weeks later…

Gulak raised its staff, a vicious expression written all over its face as it grinned widely, its sharp yellow teeth on full display. “There is nowhere left to run now, human! You die here!”

“Kyaaaa! Somebody, save me!” A scantily clad girl screamed and cowered, clasping her ears.

“No one is here to hear your screams nor save you, girl!”

Gulak stepped forward, its eyes piercing at the girl with clear desire. The girl shivered even more as she watched the goblin slowly approach her.

“Don’t worry, my fair maiden! I’m coming to save you!” A loud masculine voice boomed into the cavern that the two were in, prompting the both of them to turn their heads towards the source.

Gulak could barely see the entrance of the cavern, the brilliant light shining brightly and nearly blinding its eyes. All it could see was the figure of a human man, along with a fluttering cape from behind. However, it caused him to instantly bare its teeth at the figure in hatred. “Curses! It is you again! How did you find us?!”

“Nothing can ever escape me, the mighty… err… enforcer man?”

“CUT! CUT! CUT!” Merissa screamed with all her might, throwing a book on the ground in sheer frustration. “You dense little fucker! How many times are we going to go through this fucking scene, you little shitbag!”

The vulgarities spewing out from the former slave-turned-clerk captured by Kyle and Sasha were of no surprise to the rest of the crew in the cavern, the lightcapturer operator simply yawning while a goblin wobbled slightly, trying to carry a heavy metal pole high above its head, with a weird looking arctech device at the end that looked like a bowl.

“Stupid Feldon, always ruining my chances at being star!” Gulak joined in the berating of the ‘enforcer man’.

“ARGGHH!” Merissa grabbed her hair, nearly ripping it out of clumps. “EVERYONE, BREAK FIVE! FELDON, IN MY OFFICE, NOW!”

The supporting crew was used to this sequence of events, immediately exiting the cavern and heading for the mess hall. The goblin nearly dropped the metal pole onto Gulak’s head before Gulak grabbed the head and supported it, scowling at the goblin. “Idiot! If you break this device that Kyle crafted himself, it is over for us!”

Back in the newly expanded office, Merissa was clearly exasperated, storming into the room and slamming a book on the desk. The assistant clerks nearby were not flustered or worried at all, knowing that Merissa was on a rampage. And for a good reason too.

Merissa sat down in her chair, glaring at the meek Feldon, who was still wearing the cape. “Feldon. Can you please explain what the schedule is for today?”

Feldon gulped instinctively, nearly stuttering as he spoke. “W-we are to do the final action scene for the film, with Kyle personally coming in to watch the new version.”

“THAT’S RIGHT – THE DEBUT FILM!” Merissa yelled at the top of her lungs. “YOU THINK KYLE WILL BE HAPPY WITH YOUR PERFORMANCE SO FAR?! THIS IS THE FIFTEENTH TAKE WE’VE DONE THIS MORNING! DO YOU WANT TO RETURN TO RAKTOR OR NOT?!”

“Yes, of course I do!” Feldon nodded vigorously, knowing that this was one of his options to return to the city of Raktor.

“Then this is your fucking chance to reinvent yourself as a new person so you can live happily with your family in Raktor! Why the fuck do you keep fucking up a different line every single fucking take! You’re lucky you were handsome when you took on the role at the start – because right about now you look like a fucking pile of steaming hot SHIT!” Merissa cursed louder.

“I’m sorry! Please give me another chance, I promise I’ll do it right this time!”

“Oh yea? Recite your lines for the scenes one more time.”

“Uhhh… ‘I am an enforcer of Yual! Nothing can ever escape my sight!’”

“Good. Fuck up one more time, and I’ll personally stuff the sound recorder pole up your ass.”

***

Bishop Vernette sat gingerly into a standalone velvet chair, with Mason flanking her. “That’s all we need? An empty room?” Mason asked warily. Why do I feel like I’m about to get assassinated here?

Kyle internally groaned as he watch Reese set up the light-thrower machine, projecting a blank white image onto the opposing wall.

“This machine doesn’t look too special – it seems like it is simply a spotlight shining white. We have plenty of that in our arsenal.” Bishop Vernette remarked.

Soon, the image on the wall changed to reveal a title scene, shocking the Bishop and Mason. What frightened them even more was how there was suddenly the sounds of goblin laughter echoing around the room.

Mason retrieved his arctech pistol from his belt, scanning the room and noticing the source was coming from a separate arctech radio. “What the fuck is going on?”

The Bishop did not respond as violently as Mason, enthralled by the opening scene of the Culdao Peaks forest. “This… this is real? Not an optical illusion engraving?”

“Optical Illusion engravings cannot change on the fly, ma’am.” Kyle patiently explained. “In order to achieve this, it is required to update the image multiple times a second. Preferably thirty times a second.”

“Yes, this is the invention of the century, mark my words!” Reese nodded his head vigorously. It’s been two weeks since they set up the company. Reese had completely quit his job as a professor, serving as the co-founder fulltime under Kyle. He didn’t dare stay away from Kyle any longer, especially after the kidnapping.

Mason too stopped and watched the film, but his main interest was in the technology. So it seems that the arctech radio is synchronized with the images shown on the wall…

The film was only a short five minutes, with a blazing-fast story. Mason nearly choked at the end when he saw how gaudy the ‘enforcer’ acted. “That’s not one of ours, right?”

“No. This is simply a demonstration film of what these machines can do.” The light-thrower machine began to wind down, powering off.

The bishop remained silent, pondering while Mason was examining the light-thrower machine carefully. “You… you made this yourself?” Mason asked Kyle.

Reese cleared his throat. “We made it together, just to be clear.”

The bishop motioned to the inquisitor, beckoning him to come closer while she looked at Kyle. “Alvin and Reese, please give us a moment to discuss further before we talk business.”

“Of course.” Kyle left the room, leaving the two of them alone.

“Ma’am, it is fairly clear Alvin has an ulterior motive to all of this. Need I remind you of what happened a few weeks ago with the handguns.”

“It does not matter. The handguns were destroyed – end of story. But what he and Reese have invented here has immense value.”

“Sorry, Vernette, but I don’t see-“

“Mason, this machine could be the turning point. It could even elevate me to a cardinal.” The bishop spoke quickly. “If we play our cards right, the reputation of the enforcers would be improved by miles.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“With the ability to record these uhm.. flims… we can steer public opinion to a more better perspective. Have them understand what the enforcers are exactly doing and so on.”

“But what is the best way to do that? Surely it is not using a gaudy childish film like that, right? Right?”

***

Damian grunted as he lifted up a sack of concrete with one hand, hauling it over to the mixer while another associate poured water. The building was an entire mess, completely hollowed out. It was an abandoned residential apartment, but now the associates and a hired construction crew was hollowing out and breaking down most of the walls to form a vacant space.

It’s been a month and a half since the fall of the Ilysian Punks. In that time, the Seven Snakes had reconsolidated their control in their home district, while slowly stabilizing the new districts they had captured from the Ilysian Punks.

The Crimson Swords debt had been fully paid off as well, a burden completely lifted off their shoulders. Damian chuckled to himself as he recalled how frantic they were when confronted with the million rakel debt. A million rakels? That’s nothing compared to the new year party we just had.

With the new year heralded in with a victorious celebration, the morale of the Seven Snakes were higher than ever before. Now, their gang had progressed so fast over the last four months to achieve even greater heights than he could ever imagine. Loans of a million rakels seemed puny in hindsight, especially while he stood in front of the abandoned residential apartment, the land deed completely owned by the Seven Snakes.

“I don’t understand, why are we building grand steps like those in front of the Magda inside this building?” Niko scratched his head, looking again at the blueprint for this room. A few associates gathered around to check the layout as well, their heads confused by the completely different architecture and room design than they were used too. Putting velvet chairs on large stairs facing a blank wall? What is going on?

“Is he trying to build a theatre or something? Doesn’t look like any of the ones I’ve been too.” Another associate replied.

“Who knows, maybe Alvin finally went full loony.” Niko murmured.

“Alvin? Who’s Alvin.” One of the newer recruits cocked his head in confusion.

“Oh boy, I remember the good ol’ days when I was just like you…”

The layout of the building was weird and novel to the associates – a theatre at the very top while there were to be multiple restaurants and shops along the way. Kyle mentioned to Damian that this was called a ‘hypermall’, but Damian had no idea what the fuck that meant, nor what does ‘hyper’ mean.

Regardless, most of the current income of the Seven Snakes was thrown into this, plus every available associate that were not working in other businesses. However, even that was not enough, prompting the Seven Snakes to issue daily jobs to those in the district who wanted it.

Plenty of homeless squatters and poor folks took up the work immediately. For those who were on the weaker side, Keith hired them to handle the logistics and negotiations with potential tenants who would set up a restaurant or shops in the ‘hypermall’. The new clerks formed the basis for administrative capacity within their business. The transition to legal businesses had begun.

Keith frowned as he calculated the potential legal earnings from the theatre, working out the total footfall. It doesn’t seem viable at all; why did Kyle choose this location of all places?

Kyle too dropped by from time to time, bringing along Gordon and Eric Dicar to see the construction. “What?! Who would use a heat engraving system in a shop?” Gordon exclaimed, knowing that such luxury was only reserved for the nobility.

Eric was not too concerned about that, but more of the hidden pubs that would be embedded into the area. “You’re planning to sell alcohol in your new ‘theatre’ too?!”

Kyle pointed out a map, showing them the nearby buildings. “The location of this theatre is slightly out of the way of the centre, but there are more than enough roads leading towards there. We’ll charter regular wagons from each of the districts we control to this hypermall, boosting people’s collective recognition of the place.”

“The lightshows that will be held in the new theatre will give us a first initial boost. The objective of the entire hypermall is to elevate the local residents to a higher standard of living.”

Gordon caught on to what was happening. “You want to make our district the envy of everyone else in the South Sector.”

“Exactly. Once we complete this project, it will demonstrate our willingness and the ‘need’ for our inclusion into the local society. Running pubs and brothels don’t exactly fulfil that goal completely.’” Kyle nodded.

This had always been the plan since he caught wind of the development of the ‘camera’, reported to him by one of his associates who saw the pub fight.

This allowed him to establish a privately owned film company headed by him and Reese, making his position much more legitimate. The money used to build the new hypermall was less legitimate, but the locals would not care about it if it improved their standard of living.

If everything played out correctly, Kyle could create a chance for himself to garner reputation on a more legal and genuine basis. He understood that positions obtained solely by violence was untenable. A crime lord is always actively balancing the scales between reputation and illegal deeds, never going too far into either side.

Furthermore, such an economic project would give him the necessary resources to fight toe to toe with the Ardent Cretins in the near future. Despite having defeated the Ilysian Punks, Kyle was well aware that he did not do it on his own. Any direct physical conflict with the Ardent Cretins would result in complete failure. Only an economic war within the Sector, or external benefits can give me the edge necessary to compete.

“This will put us into the spotlight, potentially endangering all our other operations!” Eric frantically pointed out. “Everyone knows that you are the leader of the Seven Snakes as well – would the enforcers not simply investigate and dig up the evidence?”

“Ah, I have already reached a mutually beneficial deal with the enforcers under the name of our new private film company. That reminds me Gordon. I need you to handle filming tomorrow.”

“Filming? In the city? If you’re planning on filming the production lines, I can assure you it is absolutely boring.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, we would never film anything that boring. Instead, we’re filming a protest.”

<---Chapter 46 - Innovation|Table of Contents|Chapter 48 - Protests--->