Walking down the road, I quickly turned into an alley and pulled out my cloak, hiding myself from sight. The moon was coming to full in a couple of days, and I slipped through the shadows of the evening moon as I made my way to the Inn. It was time to meet up with the Lich finally, and I arrived at night and walked into the inn. I sat down in the booth and I leaned forward, making sure my face was not visible. My tail pressed against the back of the booth, and I wrapped it around my waist while playing with the tip.
It was not something I did often, but waiting on the Lich was leaving me a bit nervous. Not because I was worried about the Lich. I was worried about whether the Lich had already left without staying long enough. More things to fence would push me forward quickly in the businesses I wanted to start. Especially a general store where I could have a side selling fenced items. It would take time to set up, and I waited as the bar wench came to me and I ordered from the busty succubus who smiled at me.
She brought the drink and placed it before me, and I left her with a silver coin, and she happily strode off. That was when another person cloaked came into the Inn, and I noticed the slightly blue hands of the Lich I had been working with. They walked over to me, sat down, and looked at the mug before me.
"Where have you been?" The Lich asked, clearly annoyed.
"Things are more complicated inside the city than it might look," I said, my voice cold, "There is another player that has B-ranked power and knows about us. I had to prove I was a B-ranker to keep them off our backs and work with them for a profit. Setting up the businesses to make sure we are not caught is another thing," I sneered, "This is not something we can have working perfectly in just a few months," I finished.
"Understood, but you did not answer the question," The Lich said, and I sneered.
"And? I don't report to you. I finally have a safe place to store things and a more official identity in the city. More goods can now be taken in, so you have a place to unload. Next, I am working on a wholesale distribution network and an alchemical wholesale company so I can get what you all want," I said, my voice growing only more icy as she seemed to act like my boss.
"What's slowing things down?" The Lich asked.
"Are you looking to piss me off?" I asked, "We are in a new fucking city, and three months might sound like a lot of time. But it isn't," I half snapped, "In those three months, I started up a cash business, a place to store our goods, and a temporary place to fence goods with an outsider. That is working at a speed that Mana would have a hard time keeping up with." I let the contempt leak into my voice, "Now what the fuck have you fucks been doing in that time?"
The hostility I showed was meant to let the Lich know that I would explain, but each time they doubted me, I would become angrier. They were not my boss in this, but a mutual partner, and I was not to be interrogated.
"We need some supplies," The Lich said. "There is only so much." The Lich paused, "Recruitment we can do without certain alchemical ingredients, and without those ingredients, we lose more and more of our forces with each capture. We have set up a temporary base as well and require construction materials for making a port and a place for us to study." The Lich said, "We are in desperate need of it. Also, food, we need these supplies. Raids have gotten us enough to function, but we need a base flush with supplies and places to store them."
I leaned back, and I started to understand why the Lich was pissed about how long it took me to respond. Some of the Necromancers were still alive, and that meant they needed food and water. They would need to establish a base, a shelter, and a place to store their belongings, conduct research, and create skeletons from the corpses they had collected. I wonder if there was a difference between pure mana use and using alchemical supplies. If they were desperate for it, it meant they either preferred it or it was a massive difference.
Something told me that it was just a preference.
The Lich understood that although we stood on the same side at this time, it did not mean that we were allies. We were convenient business partners, completely willing to sell the other person out if it became too much of a burden. To make matters worse for the Lich, I was on the stronger side of the agreement because I was not the criminal.
Necromancers being hated everywhere was an extreme demerit to the profession.
I pursed my lips and thought about things, and my current cash reserves, and I asked the crucial question. "What is it that you are bringing to the fence?" I asked, "I can probably get some of the supplies you want. Some will look a little suspicious, but I can probably ride that out by saying that I am trying to get into alchemy or that one of my slaves is. However, that means things will become complicated on my end. But although I still have some gold for these purchases, it does not mean it will not slow down the businesses that will make this all so much simpler for us in the long term." I finished.
"I get it," The Lich said, their voice a little resentful. "Necessary materials mean more power out in the sea and fewer issues later," They said, and I finished my tankard.
The Bar Wench showed up a moment later and looked at us. "Anything else?"
I put down two silver coins, "Two more of the same," I replied, my voice cheery, unlike the conversation I was having with the Lich.
"Alright," She said and headed off, and I leaned back thinking about what the Lich said, and I could not help but agree with the Lich. More power now meant that they could do more for me out at sea in the future, and that would allow me to build a larger scheme and more hiding spots in the end.
When the Bar Wench came back, she put down the two tankards before us and walked off with a smile, and the Lich leaned back. "We need those supplies now and-" I held up a hand, cutting off the Lich.
"You don't need to sell yourself to me at this moment. I agree with you. I will try to find as much supplies I can get my hands on, Get me a detailed list of what you need." I said, and the Lich pulled out a paper and pushed it across the table, and I picked it up.
On the list was a long list of the ingredients and numbers they wanted it in. I read it over, and I nodded to myself as I looked it over before putting it away. The ingredients were going to cost a lot. My liquidation would tank to the bottom, but I should be able to pull it off.
"Alright, I will get as much as you asked for here or more if possible. I will treat this as a minimum list," I told the Lich, and I could see in the body language that the Lich relaxed. But the relaxation was brief as I continued, "Next question is where and when are we going to do the trade, also, what are you bringing?"
The Lich looked around and leaned forward slightly. "We took out a spice shipment from Empire. We can cash that in-" I raised a hand, thinking about it.
Spices, depending on the type, were extremely expensive and were considered more valuable than gold. Depending on the spice. I thought about it and nodded, hoping Carl or Daddy would be able to sell the spices. "Alright, let's do this thing then. Please tell me they are not the most valuable spices," I added quickly, and the Lich shook their head.
"Mostly peppercorn and salt, there are a few crates of other more valuable spices, but nothing like Cinimmon ro vinilla," The Lich said, and I sighed in relief.
Unlike in my past world, where people had spices for cheap, to the point of making ancient kings and queens tremble with envy. This world was much more diverse in spice pricing. It was not as insane as it had been, given the same level of technology in my past world, but there were still some intense bidding wars for things like Vanilla.
If it had been something like that, then I would not touch that shipment with a million fucking mile pole. It would have been too toxic. I might have to let it cool a bit, even with the more manageable spices like salt and peppercorn. I sighed in relief, because I would probably still be able to make a profit, but fencing it would take more time than the last small shipment we had taken.
"Okay, now let's plan when, where, and how we can trade this stuff. I still need to see how I can collect the things you need," I finished, and the Lich nodded, and we went into intense discussions about where we could stealthily move the goods in the capital or if that was even possible.
-----------
Thank you for reading. If you are enjoying the story, please check out my Patreon.
www.patreon.com/madjic
'