Chapter 17 - Seductive Serpent

<---Chapter 16 - Instituitionalized Corruption|Table of Contents|Chapter 18 - Moonshine--->

A few days after…

Damian gingerly sat into the chair, revelling in the soft smooth texture of the velvet. “Look at me, Keith, I’m the king now. King of the District!”

“You better get out of that chair before Kyle comes back.” Keith sighed as he continued pouring over financial reports and inventory lists.

“What, can’t the underboss relax a little? I’ve been in this gang for so many years – I think my back deserves a bit of velvet.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet. We still owe a debt to the Crimson Swords – they are coming to collect the interest soon. If you are really the underboss, you would be off your ass and checking for opportunities!” Keith shot back, obviously stressed.

“Relax. As long as Kyle is at the helm, we’ll be fine.” Damian’s faith in Kyle was obviously at an all-time high due to the success against the Red Lions. At the start, he was just simply watching and not really fully committed as of yet. Being the underboss of a small gang was significant to him, but not as much as one would expect when the gang was only thirty members strong.

But being the underboss of a gang who took down the Left Paw of the Red Lion? That was different.

“I am flattered by the belief placed in me. But I believe that is my chair.”

Damian immediately shot right out of the chair, quickly stepping out of the way as Kyle walked in. Keith also stood up, but Kyle waved at the both of them to stand down. “No time for decorum. We have issues to solve. We have yet to nail down the exact plan on how to expand our operations. Let’s focus on that.”

Each of them took their seats, Damian and Keith sitting opposite Kyle around the main office table.

“As of now, we only have two businesses under our wing – a pub and a brothel. Which -”

“You mean the Lusty Arcian?” Keith interrupted.

“…. Yes.” Kyle swore they had an obsession with saying the name, but chose to ignore it. “- which is far from enough to generate the profits necessary to pay off the Crimson Swords. We have less than three months to clear the debts, and due to the restrictions of the Alchemist Guild, our potion contracts are severely limited.”

Kyle did not really see a way around the restrictions. Sure, he could ignore the ‘ban’, but only if he had enough power and connections himself. Defeating a subset of the Red Lions was far from becoming dominant enough to ignore such rules, so until then he would have to play ball with Haui.

“We can look for other avenues.” Damian pointed out. “Now that we have a reputation, we can begin to spread our influence throughout the district. Perhaps even begin some additional protection rackets as well.”

“No protection rackets for now. Such an extortive method would only serve to turn the current populace against us. We must position the Seven Snakes as a force for good overall, something integral to the survival of the district. The moment the locals perceive that there are more cons to having us around than benefits, that is the moment we fall.” Kyle elaborated. Perhaps that is why I fell as well in my last life.

Damian scratched his head, not sure of what else to suggest. Protection rackets was his main job in the past under Ulon, and their primary source of income, so he was lost on what to do next.

“What we need to do is a bit of market research.” Kyle continued. “The potions are one good example of us being able to enter the market, but it is limited and hampered by a strong guild. That very limitation allows the price to be far higher than its cost, so products like that are desirable.”

“So basically anything that is prohibited under the Sanctum of Yual, correct?” Keith caught on quickly.

“Exactly. Any leads?” Kyle deferred to Damian and Keith, who were obviously more well-versed in the local area than he was.

“How about guns? We could try to break into the weapons market.” Keith offered another suggestion, but Damian shook his head immediately in rejection.

“I recently heard about two inquisitors just arriving in the Sector. Rumour is they are here about guns, though I’m not too clear about who, why, when or where.” Damian relayed the rumours he had heard over the past few days. He always had his ear close to the ground, having many connections with the locals due to his long years in the gang.

“Then it's best not to try to enter the gun market now until we know exactly what is happening first.” Kyle didn’t want to poke the hornet’s nest, not right after the visit from Sebastian. “We need something far more lowkey, something that everyone is doing and no one would blink twice at the Seven Snakes doing such a trade.”

“Smuggling is an option. Human trafficking pays fairly well, the slave trade being ubiquitous in Raktor. Even small thug outfits here do it.”

“Out of the question – that would also incense the local population, and we don’t have the manpower to operate in other districts either. Operating there would also piss off the gangs in charge, far too dangerous. However, you mentioned the small thug outfits here. How many of them are there?”

Kyle was aware of the existence of other smaller groups of criminals in the district, though he was not sure of the scale.

“Well, it can be assumed that every block has about one to two. Our district has about fifty four blocks occupied, with another twenty abandoned, now occupied by squatters and others. Many small outfits flock here because of the lack of enforcement, primarily from us rather than the enforcers.” Keith replied.

Such a high ratio of thug outfits would be unheard of in the other districts. Kyle sighed at their abysmal lack of influence, contemplating his next step. He had initially improved the performance of the brothel thanks to the addictive stamina potions, so the logical next step would be to improve the performance of the pub.

“Keith, any financial report on the pub?”

“Yes, sir. But the report doesn’t really make much sense. Some months the pub reports a one-to-one ratio of revenue and operating cost.”

“Down to the last rakel?”

Keith nodded, his response throwing off alarm bells in Kyle’s head. Someone has falsified the accounts. Kyle assumed it was Ulon, but he could not rule out the possibility that the pub’s manager himself was also involved.

“Let’s check the pub that we own first before making our next move.”

“You mean the Seductive Serpent?”

“… who the hell is coming up with these names?”

***

Unlike the brothel, which was run by the competent Slavin, the pub was an absolute disgrace, a place fitting of the name ‘watering hole’. The décor was shabby, lighting dim and flickering, and the entire place stank to high Sanctum of Yual. Empty cups were barely cleaned, with some cups being left on tables from what seemed to be weeks ago.

Dried residue of piss and vomit could be seen lining the crevices between shoddy wooden planks, and Kyle found it hard even to find a piece of wooden furniture that did not have some sort of large crack along its length.

Near the rear of the pub was three long thick ropes, hung from corner to corner in a drooping curve upon which a few Seven Snakes member were clearly sleeping on.

“Do our members not have beds?” Kyle asked Damian as he noticed Niko dangling on the wire, snoring away peacefully while a dribble of vomit seeped from his mouth, piling up in the belly button of another blackout drunk below him.

“They do, but many prefer this idea of hanging over a rope.” Damian shrugged, before walking up to what could be barely described as a bartender and slapping him awake.

“I…uh…who… what?” The bartender groaned as he rubbed his cheek gently, before collapsing off the rope onto the floor in shambles, struggling to get up. Kyle’s impression of the man had already dropped significantly. I can’t have my bartenders getting drunk themselves.

“Keith, check the finances. Where’s the manager?”

“Uhh, sir, this is the manager.” Damian pointed to the obviously drunk bartender, who was now staggering all over the place before banging his head on the wall and collapsing.

“That’s not good.” Kyle’s gaze slowly turned dark, a simmering rage building within him at the sheer incompetency witnessed. Compared to the Lusty Arcian, this pub was a hellhole in itself.

“Sir. There’s no financial record kept here. Everything seems to be written on this notebook.” Keith handed over a stained yellow paper notebook, filled to the brim with the tabs of each customer. Kyle flipped through the book quickly, noticing almost nine-tenths of the customers were Seven Snakes members, causing his heart to sink.

Furthermore, none of the Seven Snakes members had actually paid off their tabs. The operational cost seemed to have been entirely fuelled by the loan taken out from the Crimson Swords. This isn’t even skimming off the top in some self-interested scam – it’s a complete self scam!

Kyle nearly wanted to tear the entire place apart. “There is nothing seductive about this place at all! Why is it called the Seductive Serpent?!”

“It used to be, back in it’s heyday.” Damian pointed out. “Sir.” He added quickly as Kyle threw him a furious glare.

“Then at least for our members to continue drinking here, the alcohol must at least be somewhat passable.” Kyle took a seat on one of the creaky barstools, motioning to Damian to serve a mug. Damian immediately knew what to do, heading back into the storehouse to crack open a keg. “You seem to know your way around the back.”

“I used to work here first as a bartender before joining the Seven Snakes.”

As the beer sloshed out of the keg and into the mug, a rancid smell filled the room, causing even the usually stoic Kyle to cringe up in disgust. “I think the beer is fine, been drinking it for three years, you know? Better than the swill we get at the squatters area.” Damian remarked, handing the mug over to Kyle. “Don’t judge a beer by its err… smell. And colour.”

Kyle grimaced, slowly sipping a mouthful and drinking it, his eyes closed. “Any other types?”

“We got ale as well.” Damian repeated the process, with Kyle taking yet another swig. Kyle sat in silence, his eyes still closed in what seemed to be deep contemplation. Damian watched expectantly as Kyle did not seem to show any further disgusted reaction, buoying his hopes of validation.

Instead, Kyle opened his eyes and stared at Damian, before letting out a deep sigh, his anger seemingly lost. “Remind me not to trust your tastebuds ever again.” He did not really blame Damian for it, seeing as Damian would have never tasted better alcohol in the first place. Kyle was simply far too used to hypercontrolled alcohol, brewed in microgravity to maximise yeast fermentation to an extremely controlled process with a replicable taste.

“Hey, come on! You might be the boss, but I won’t have my taste insulted. Plenty of other folks in the district love this!” Damian took a stance, standing up. As strong as his belief in Kyle was, there was just some things he would not budge on.

“Then why are these ‘plenty of other folks’ not patronizing this pub?”

“Well, we pretty much serve the same thing as other pubs.”

“Really? Show me.”

Without warning, an impromptu pub crawl began, with Kyle sampling various nearby pubs ran by locals. The other customers gave them a wide berth, recognizing their recent victory against the Red Lions. Even though Damian was in the midst of trying to prove a point to Kyle, he relished in the influence and reputation that he had garnered himself.

Keith too was amazed at the attention and respect that they were receiving. He was never one to stand in the spotlight, but for the young man craving for validation, the attention soothed his ego in just the right way. This isn’t so bad – I can live with this.

On the fifth pub, Kyle knew he had lost the argument with Damian. Every pub indeed had a similar tasting beer and ale to what the Seductive Serpent served. However, it was a good thing. This means I have caught a potential market.

Just as Kyle was about to conclude the pub crawl, the bartender of the fifth pub stopped him momentarily, offering a new drink on the house. “Got a new supply coming in recently. It’s leagues better than the beer, give it a try.”

Kyle glanced at the drink, noticing it was a distilled hard liquor. “Moonshine? You made this yourself?”

“No, I’ve been getting supply from this thug outfit. Bunch of ragtags in the abandoned blocks.”

“What’s their name?”

“Oh, I don’t really know…” The bartender shrugged slightly, prompting Kyle to retrieve a few dozen rakels, placing it on the counter. With a swift motion, the bartender grabbed it and slid it into his own pocket, before leaning over and whispering.

“From what I know, they ain’t a part of any gang, you know? They do their own thing, the whole works – brewing, supply and even scouting. Apparently the leader is an expert in alcohol brewing. Heard he even had done proper university research on it!”

“Any ideas where they are?”

“Oh, I didn’t ask, but I’m sure you’ll find them around the area. Considering that you haven’t encountered them yet, I’ll say the crew is top notch too. Their scout is really good at observing and planning routes. Never heard of them being accosted by any enforcer either.”

Kyle was intrigued, immediately tipping the bartender again to learn more information. As soon as he got all he needed, he patted Damian and Keith on the back, prompting them to take their leave.

“Time to go. We got some moonshiners to catch.”

<---Chapter 16 - Instituitionalized Corruption|Table of Contents|Chapter 18 - Moonshine--->