The old man was pale with fright. He seemed to have grown a decade older with the mere sight of Farmer. However, he had been the leader of the underworld in the city of Yort for the better part of half a century and thus was able to regain his composure fairly quickly.
"Everybody out. The Pavilion is now closed." With his words, the clientele vacated the room swiftly. Partly because of the old man's order; partly because they were worried that Farmer would strike them down. After all, Farmer was clearly insane. A few had the desire to remain behind, but one look at the owner's stern expression dissuaded any of the potential onlookers from staying.
In a matter of minutes, only Farmer, the old man, Garan, Philliam, Triss, and a few trembling guards remained. "You leave too, waitress." Said the old man to Triss with hate in his eyes. Clearly, he was looking for a scapegoat to vent his frustrations.
"Triss is with me." Farmer spoke up casually to defend her. Looking over at Triss, he could see a hint of gratitude in her eyes. "When I leave, I'll need someone to remain as our liaison officer. That'll be her."
"And, pray tell, why do we need a liaison officer?"
"All will be revealed in due time, old man." Remarked Farmer without an ounce of respect towards the owner of the Moonlight Pavilion. "However, first thing's first."
With that, Farmer suddenly disappeared from where he stood and appeared in front of Garan in an instant. With the speed of thought, he clasped Garan's head, pushed it down, plied open his mouth with two fingers, and violently inserted the explosive pouch within his mouth. With a loud bang, Garan's head exploded into bits of blood and gore, drenching Farmer with his remains in the process.
"Whoops. It seems the pop was stronger than what he could take." Despite the damage to Garan's skull, Farmer's hand was completely intact. "But I'm still owed a limb, I believe; I'm feeling like a right arm. However, Garan's corpse simply will not do. Perhaps a surrogate will." Snickered Farmer evilly as he eyed Philliam.
Instantly, Philliam turned green and knelt on the floor to kowtow intensely to the point his forehead bled. "Please, master Farmer, please forgive me! I'm a minister, my right arm is my livelihood! Please allow me to walk away in one piece!" Philliam was pleading and crying like a small child. Truly a pitiful sight.
"Good master Farmer, there is no need to go to such lengths!" Angrily said the old man. Despite his harsh tone, he was putting up a front. He knew that there was nothing he could do to Farmer because his forces were nowhere near his match. In addition, if Farmer dared to cripple the city lord's son, what could he hope to threaten the pirate lord with?
"Do you take me for a fool? Or perhaps as a priest? Your nephews sought to kill me. To leave one alive is already being magnanimous enough." Sternly replied Farmer, hinting that another outburst would end in catastrophe. "But I am willing to trade this maggot's arm for something else." He added as he crossed his arms in contemplation.
"Good master Farmer, this old one is called Ming." Bowed the old man as he introduced himself, grasping this tiny ray of hope tightly. His nephews were his only descendants, and he needed to save the last one. Yet, there was hatred in Ming's heart and he vowed to get revenge if the opportunity ever presented itself. "What is it you desire? If it is in my hands, then I shall happily oblige."
"Your name is Ming?" Asked Farmer in surprise and ignoring the old man's question. "Does your family originate from the Eastern Continent?"
"Indeed, it does." Now it was Ming's turn to be surprised. Not many knew of the Eastern Continent's existence. "A few generations ago we came to this continent. Regrettably, only our name remains of our heritage; all else was lost during the arduous journey."
"This is indeed regrettable." Sighed Farmer. His own master had come from the Eastern Continent and thus that foreign land held a special place in his heart. He would have been delighted to obtain any item from there. Nonetheless, he wouldn't let such emotions preclude him from carrying out his intentions. "Oh, well, such is life. As to what I desire, it is information."
"Pray tell, what kind of information?" Old man Ming breathed out in relief. He was worried that Farmer would demand an exorbitant price in exchange for Philliam's right arm. Asa a minister, it would be catastrophic for his nephew to lose his writing arm.
"All of it."
"Pardon me?"
"You heard me. I want to know every little detail of what happens within this city. I want to know who the key players are, whose pockets are being filled with gold, where the important figures reside at night, what narcotics are popular, who supplies them, what degree of corruption has the city reached, etc… To sum it all up, I want to know everything."
Old man Ming suppressed a gasp. What Farmer was asking was akin to requesting his entire wealth. That information was what helped him maintain his position at the peak of the city's underworld! Furthermore, it had taken a lifetime of painstaking efforts to accumulate.
Pushing down any desire to express discontent, old man Ming lowered his head and led Farmer into a hidden study; revenge could be left for the future. For now, he needed to ensure that his nephew wouldn't lose his arm. In his mind, he was cursing his two idiot descendants for provoking this malignant star that was Farmer.
In the study, only a single marble desk lay at a side. However, Farmer could tell with a single glance that the walls were lined with hidden passages. Corridors from wherein the old man's spies could bring him reports, no doubt. Harrumphing loudly, he impolitely sat at the desk and instructed old man Ming to bring him what he wanted.
In less than an incense stick of time, droves of boxes of reports and documents pertaining to the last few years of activities in the city of Yort were brought and placed on the large desk in front of Farmer. Without waiting for clarification on the box's organisation, Farmer poured out everything and began reading them all.
For the better part of the night, Farmer read everything. Even though his speed at devouring documents was heaven-defying, there was such a massive volume of information that the Sun had begun to rise from the East by the time he had finished reading everything. Old man Ming had long left him alone and only the light of a few candles kept the pirate company as they shone upon his pondering expression.
Resting his head on his hands, Farmer closed his eyes and visualised the information as a vast web of connections. In his mind, he formed a detailed and complex web wherein he was the centre, from where could effectively control the entirety of Yort's underworld with a single tug of a string. Truthfully, the information provided by old man Ming wasn't sufficient to perform this, but he had filled in the necessary blanks by inferring many crucial pieces of missing intelligence.
As such, he was now in a position to completely control the city. In a matter of minutes he was able to come up with four different plans to achieve supremacy in Yort in mere days. And he promptly discarded each one. Although they had almost absolute chances of success, he felt that it would be far too boring if he acted in accordance to them.
Thus, he set his mind in motion and formulated a subpar scheme that had at least a dozen loopholes which could potentially lead to his loss if his enemies took advantage of them. Smiling to himself, he rose to his feet and faced the reports in front of him. For a moment, he was taken back in time to a long-forgotten moment very similar to this one.
A similar study… Hundreds of reports… The desire to dominate a city…
Shaking his head, he quickly discarded those painful memories and proceeded to leave the study with steadfast steps. On his face there was no sign betraying the state of his turbulent heart.
He came into the main hall where the gambling had taken place but a few hours earlier and which had now been scrubbed clean of any human remains. In addition, he noticed that Philliam was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he couldn't detect his presence anywhere in the pavilion. He'd probably left as soon as Farmer left to the study. Now, only old man Ming, five guards, and Triss remained. Judging by the waitress' calm expression, she hadn't suffered the mistreatment of anyone, despite the obvious distancing between her and the rest.
"I trust everything was to your satisfaction." Said old man Ming with a fake smile plastered on his face.
"Just barely." Lied Farmer dejectedly which caused old man Ming and his guards to pale in fright. "But it suffices for now. In the future, Triss will come back to request additional help." Turning towards her, he added. "Come, let us leave."
No one barred his and Triss' exit as they both left the Moonlight Pavilion. Once the door closed behind them, old man Ming breathed out in relief and a few of his guards almost fainted. The pressure Farmer had exerted on them wasn't something that they could easily put up with.
Outside, Farmer led Triss back to the Little Garden in silence. He gave the impression of one who was deep in thought, but only he knew that he was struggling to keep his emotions in check. The past was too painful to dwell on. By his side, Triss was too afraid of the pirate to interrupt his trail of thoughts; even though he would have actually appreciated something to distract him.
--
Eventually they arrived at the inn, only to find Zed and his granddaughter awkwardly glancing at each other whilst Jona was gorging on a bowl of soup apparently in deep thought. However, a strange pungent odour was coming from the bowl. Farmer chuckled to himself because he could imagine the reason behind the awkwardness; to call Jona a poor conversationalist would be to compliment him and he was also the kind of guy who had no filter between his brain and his mouth. Whatever thought crossed his mind, his mouth would blurt out. This meant he was brutally honest, and that would, sometimes, offend others. Add to that the fact that he always wanted to be involved in whatever he could be of help, this made him a nuisance in the best of cases.
"Captain!" Seeing Farmer walk in through the door, Jona rose to his feet in a sign of respect. "It's good you came back safely. Who's that girl with you?"
"At ease, Jona." Waved Farmer. "She's someone who will help us conquer Yort. Her name's Triss." After the brief introduction, he turned to face Zed and had to force himself to not burst out in laughter because the old man looked to truly be at a loss. "I trust Jona didn't embarrass me during my absence."
"Good Farmer, he has not." Bowed Zed courteously. "He has even been helping us with managing this humble establishment."
"Yes, I have, captain!" Exclaimed Jona. "I was just going over the menu with them and, I have to say, there's much left to improve! It's a good thing they have me around."
Farmer immediately paled when he heard his subordinate's senseless claim. How could a poor pirate like Jona understand the intricacies of high-class cuisine? In fact, he wasn't even allowed into his ship's kitchen because of his penchant for mixing the most unbearable of flavours together; once he had tried to convince Lampa that hardened leather marinated in a concoction of poisons would serve as a true delicacy and was promptly walloped fiercely by the angered lieutenant. His palate was monstrously appalling in its perversion!
Laughing to himself, Farmer ordered Jona and Triss to follow him up to their chamber; leaving behind a visibly shaken Zed who promptly proceeded to throw away the contents of the soup bowl as if his life depended on it. Once they arrived, Farmer set an array that would stop any prying eyes and ears from partaking in their following conversation.
"The reason I've brought you both here is because you will both be tasked with the necessary steps for putting my plan into motion." Explained Farmer as he lied down on his bed. "Each of you will carry out my orders to the letter. I cannot stress this enough: to the letter! Am I clear?"
"What are your orders, captain?" Respectfully asked Jona. Triss merely crossed her arms and leaned against the door. She was here already, her position was evident.
"Do you remember a few years back when we were in the Isle of Randa?"
"How could I forget, captain? That was my first proper mission under you."
"It's good you remember." Nodded Farmer. "You're going to do the same for today."
"What happened on the Isle of Randa?" Curiously inquired Triss.
"How dare you interrupt the captain?!" Chided Jona. The captain was a sacred entity for his crew and thus he couldn't keep himself from shouting at Triss. In addition, she wasn't well known to him, hence he felt that he needed to show her the order of seniority.
"At ease, Jona." Sighed Farmer. How could he not know what was going on in his subordinate's mind? "Jona will spend most of today going to a list of taverns and restaurants in the city to befriend a few key figures of the city guard." He explained casually. However, he left out that Jona would be selling out bits and pieces of misinformation during his mission in order to confuse the enemy.
"And you're trusting me with this information?" Triss was genuinely surprised at Farmer's candour. "Aren't you afraid I'll betray you?"
"Of course not, because I know you will betray me." Almost as if it wasn't a big deal, Farmer dropped such an impactful truth on the other two's minds. After a second of silence, Jona reacted and eyed Triss coldly. She, in turn, paled in fright. "Don't misunderstand me, I'm ordering you to 'betray' me. Old man Ming right now wants to have his revenge against me, but doesn't dare to out of fear of my retaliation. You're going to go back to the Pavilion and sell him as much information as you can about me; all of it true. Hells, you can even make some stuff up and embellish some details if you want. That's your prerogative."
Without waiting for an answer, Farmer pulled out two parchments he'd prepared beforehand and tossed them out to Triss and Jona. The contents of the paper were detailed lists of his plans in the coming days as well as a list of targets and where to locate them for Jona. "Memorise these instructions and destroy them. Don't let anyone get their hands on them." He said sternly.
In truth, this was one of the dosen loopholes he'd left in his scheme. He wasn't certain that his enemies wouldn't find a way to get their hands on these papers. If they did, it would make things more interesting. Even if they didn't, there was still much for them to exploit.
"Now, begone from here. If there's something you don't understand, figure it out by yourselves." Waving his hand towards the door, Farmer led his subordinates out.
Once they left his room, Farmer made his way to the rooftop of the inn speedily. Up on the roof, he let loose his spiritual sense and detected only one spy observing him. He was a new one, different from the ones tailing him from the day before. Judging from the imprint he'd left on the others, they were currently at a building in the northernmost part of the city. Nightsky's lair, no doubt; probably updating their employer of Farmer's doings.
Disappearing from his spot, Farmer moved to silently stand behind the lone spy and knocked him out with a well-performed strike to the back of the head. He didn't intend to kill the spy, only incapacitate him for long enough for his subordinates to leave the inn without being followed. Certainly enough, both Triss and Jona left the building without any of Nightsky's forces having any knowledge of this.
As soon as they disappeared in different directions, Farmer pinched the spy's inner thigh, waking him up. The startled spy didn't realise that Farmer was guilty of his sudden bout of unconsciousness, thinking only that he'd fallen asleep. Cursing at his apparent lack of professionalism, the spy turned to face the inn, only to see Farmer meditating calmly on the roof. This was great for the spy, if Farmer had run off whilst he was asleep not only would his life be forfeit, so would his family's!
Meanwhile the spy was thanking the gods for his fortune, Farmer was smiling maliciously to himself. His subordinates would follow his instructions to the letter and his plans could be carried out. At the same time, Farmer was curious to know what was going on in Nightsky's lair where an important meeting was taking place, no doubt.
In fact, Farmer didn't know how much he'd shaken the officials of Yort during his stay.