One week later.
I was cooking a vegetable-meat soup at Bumi's house after coming back from an hour or two of opening the gambling stall.
We could go on more, but we risk some people's suspicion, so we stop quickly. We also occasionally change locations every day to lay low from the previous ones.
"Is it finished?"
Bumi asked from the side, practicing his Earthbending abilities by repeatedly hammering the ground with different limbs and feeling their vibrations like I told him.
I too have learned some of the basics of Earthbending three days ago and have been practicing since then. I discovered that I also have a great talent for Earthbending, even more talented than Bumi, I might say.
But not equal to Toph, if my observations are right.
That's not much of a surprise, since Toph's blindness is a disadvantage with an advantage when she becomes an Earthbender.
Blindness gives you enhanced senses, especially the sense of touch. It helped her learn the seismic sense, which made it possible for her to detect anything that constitutes a vibration, like people's movements. It's essentially sonar but through land and metal.
And that's what I've been trying as I was sitting here, cooking lunch for the two of us. As Bumi trains with his Earthbending, I feel the vibrations of his moves.
It's coming to me naturally, and I could feel my understanding of my bending deepen as each earth's vibrations reach my senses.
Finally, I gave him a reply.
"Not yet."
As I was training and cooking the lunch, I couldn't help but think of my plans.
I came to learn that the date is exactly 0 AG. The genocide finally happened, and it was massive news throughout Omashu. It was like how historians describe the invasion of Germany during World War II, absolutely no one was happy. Not even the thugs on the streets of Omashu.
Then two days later, another massive piece of news came out, the Fire Nation had started a worldwide invasion. It's said that they immediately captured a major city in the west due to its close proximity to their mainland, which had caused a massive panic over here.
Meanwhile, as someone who had seen the show, I knew that the Fire Nation wouldn't be able to touch Omashu right now but one hundred years later.
They might have the most perfect element for war and have the most advanced military machines, but they still have a low population and military personnel compared to the Earth Kingdom which is a continent itself. They also have to worry about water tribes in the south and especially the north and so their forces are spread too thin.
I know they have a long term plan for doing that.
But they're not the only ones.
For now, I want to take this slowly and build my personal strength and wealth.
After one week of opening the gambling stall, we had already accumulated over 1,700 coppers. That amount was already deducted by our daily expenses. We also received some copper with a gold edge that was worth a lot more than a normal one. They were worth 50 coppers per one, and we had 6 of those.
Some rich guy found the game interesting on his way, so he decided to play a couple times, and that's how we got it.
We had already gotten so much money on our hands, so we plan to lay low tomorrow and not open, since some eyes might have caught us. We're still kids, and having this much money will spell disaster when others find out.
We could protect ourselves because we knew Earthbending to some extent, but that's not what I prefer.
So tomorrow, I'll go on taking a look for some affordable houses that can be rented or bought since this tiny and crumbling house can't be our home forever. I also plan on recruiting more for the group, and no one would join if this is what they see.
"It's ready."
"Finally!"
I announced, and Bumi immediately stopped what he was doing as he sat with a bowl in hand.
We soon ate with Bumi, being talkative as he was, talking nonstop while I just hummed most of the time. I prefer to eat in silence, but I didn't bother stopping him since it's not much of a bother.
Over the past days, our relationship has already developed, and Bumi was now even calling me bro most of the time. We may be different in terms of personality, but we work perfectly well, and if he's the same as the canon Bumi, I can confidently say that he has my back and I do the same for him.
But I need to change a little bit, since what we have to do to make my plans come to reality may need him to be ruthless, though not cruel.
For now, I don't need to worry about that. We still need to develop our groundwork and turn it into a full-grown organization, a hidden one, before we could think about controlling Omashu or the entirety of the Earth Kingdom and defeating the Fire Nation.
"Hey, Bumi, do you know any place where we can rent a house?"
"I know a perfect place for that! Although I don't know the price, but from what I saw when I was walking past them, they seemed well created and made, so they might be pricey…"
"Don't worry about that, we have a lot of money now, and we will continue to have more. I still have many money-making ideas, and to do those, we need new members. Speaking of it, do you have any ideas where we could find any?"
Bumi processed my words for a few seconds before showing a look of surprise about my words.
"We are recruiting more?"
"Yes, we have to expand this, Bumi. Remember you told me you planned to be something big someday? This is it, but we can't do that with the two of us alone."
"I trust you on this one, bro, but sadly, I don't know any place where we can find potential recruits. There are many thieves like me roaming the streets, but those are rare to find due to city guards always on patrol. The security will probably become even tighter and tighter now that the war with the Fire Nation is announced."
I nodded.
"Here's the plan, Bumi. We're going tomorrow. You are going to look for recruits, preferably kids around our age, but not straight up toddlers, all right?"
Bumi nodded with excitement, probably because all we did day after day was cheating on our customers and training. Well, despite being a genius, he's still a kid at the end of the day.
"I will join you soon after I look around the houses. But for now, after we finish eating, let's bury our money underground to keep it safe while we're away."
"Brother, can we eat at that soup shop again after that?"
"Of course."
How can I not agree? I loved that shop and their pretty workers as well, even though they liked to treat us like kids… Well, we're one, but it's weird because if I had my former body, then I would have long started flirting with one of them.