Going back to the inn, I gather some materials. Mainly: copper coins, mana crystals and fyr crystals. Since I don't know how to make batteries, this should do. Melting the copper coins into liquid in a heatproof bowl with my Phoenix Fyr, I pour it into a mold that makes it into a thin string like shape.
Cooling it down, I pick it up and bend it to wrap around the Fyr crystal then crack the mana crystals into smaller pieces. Adding some shards of metal and broken copper, I wrap it in cloth soaked in heavy wax with a hole to put your finger through my then make 5 more and put them into a wooden crate in the corner. These are rudimentary bombs. In most militaries, the bombs in this world are either non-existent or are very inefficient and ineffective.
The regular bombs of this world consist of a wick, some ground up mana crystals for the energy production and the thrower would have to light it. That's it. They didn't add in Fyr crystals since Fyr crystals are very expensive compared to the onetime use bombs. These were mostly wrapped in either worn out cloth or overused leather pouches, making them easily fall out of the weak bag or having the bag prematurely catch on fire then blow up the thrower.
With my bombs however, the cloth with wax will temporarily stop the cloth from catching fire and the Fyr crystal will make for a bigger explosion due to its massive Fyr power. The Fyr power is one of the most unstable and strongest type of magic which could sometimes even hurt the user. Luckily for me, I have a little nuisance living inside of my head that gave me Phoenix's Fyr.
Why didn't people think of this? Well, it's because the people who created the bombs, mages and wizards, decided that they shouldn't dull the 'magic explosion device' with regular human creations like wax or any other safety devices.
Even though wizards and mages are like this today, back then, this type of behavior was very prevalent and even commonplace. Today, through the advancements of regular technology mixing with magic and the prevalence of bombs fading into obscurity and newer and better things are invented like siege machines and shotgun-like ballistas, it's not too surprising that bombs were forgotten and replaced.
Well, that's where they're wrong. Why would you throw a modified Minotaur heart to destroy half the battlefield and possibly your own men when you can throw a bomb and only destroy the enemy? What is so much better than a bomb that you forget about them in the first place? What? Magic? Isn't it better to use air magic blow the bomb all the way to the general and execute him? How stupid do the current military leaders have to be.
Anyways, I digress. Stopping my tirade about how idiotic the military is on this continent, I prepare the bombs for use. Coating the wick in a protective jelly-like substance that prevents damage, I get some of the men under my slave-like contracts and tell them my plan.
In 3 days, there is a demon holiday called "Satan Day" where there is a nationwide stoppage of work and any trade to E Mo Zhi Di with all citizens getting a holiday. It's tradition to blow up fireworks made out of crushed, weak Fyr crystals and various powdered dyes and celebrate the birthday of Satan in a fun and festive manner while blowing things up in the sky.
I plan to bring the fireworks closer to the people so it will be a more festive time. Ahhh, I'm such a good person.
Giving my men my newest creation, I sit back on my chair and start thinking about Aya and Karl's work. Both are working extremely hard with the other mana tanks and can grow a whopping 50 grams a day. On the 3rd day of selling in the slums, I realized that selling pure rolls are very inefficient since we were using too much product for too little product. Maybe later, I'll start a premium brand of pure moss that only sells to the wealthy.
So, I decided to mix it with crushed up mana crystals. With mana crystals, the product cost will be cheaper, more cheap, a bit more effective due to the mana crystals filling up your mana capacity and most importantly, cheaper.
3 silver is a lot don't get me wrong but, compared to the amount of moss in it, it's basically nothing. So, mixing mana crystals is the best solution currently. The mixture is very simple, 30% moss and 70% mana crystals. The mana crystals amplify the effects the moss so it should be fine, even though a hit will feel a bit weaker.
Giving each of my 10 employees 15 rolls, I send them off just as usual. By the way, I was thinking about how some people living in the slums can afford to pay 3 silver per day or even more. Turns out, most people in the slums aren't as poor as I thought. They got through life by robbing merchants and other bandits on trails and highways and that provided a hefty sum of money to live a few days or even a week or two to survive on.
The only reason they live in the slums is because most of the time, buying a house or renting a room in the inner districts would warrant the suspicion of the royal guard and patrols. I mean, how do you buy a house that costs nearly 5 gold when your income reports state that you make 0 copper a year?
What kind of magic did you do to gain 5 gold out of nowhere when coincidentally, these 2 merchants both lost their goods that amounted to 5 gold combined? What a funny joke... please follow me back to the guard tower so you can tell more of your jokes to our captain.
Heading to a bar that's owned by Paul, I walk in while acting like a regular person going about his day. Day drinking the pain away with all of the other sad SOBs, I order a mild drink and start my quest for information. Going up to random men in different tables, I order them some drinks and make some light talk.
"How's your day?" Or "Advanced happy Satan's day!" And then progressing towards more sensitive topics slowly but, surely asking about when the big boss arrives here and if he does, what does he do?
Most of the men couldn't answer as they are mostly drunk during the day but asking the bartender, he gives an anxious look around. Seeing that there's no one around and that suddenly 3 pieces of silver appear in front of him, he starts speaking with a whisper.
"The big boss... this is his biggest place and he regularly comes here for celebrating Satan's day"
"Oh? With who?"
"His family... his wife, children and other relatives"
"I see... will anyone else be here?"
Seeing his anxious expression, I slide another 2 silvers his way before getting another answer out of his mouth. Despite being worth quite a lot, these 5 silver I used is very much worth it and is a major factor when considering my plans. While I want to capture Paul alive, I can do whatever I want to his bodyguards and family members. The problems lie with the civilians and the local poor people.
While the guards wouldn't care too much about 1 or 2 drunkards dying in a bar shootout that was most likely a gang related incident between Paul and his rival, George, it will be a problem if more than 4 people die since that's quite a big incident. Even though they don't want it to, it will probably get out to the commander of the slums district and they will be forced to investigate.
"No... he usually closes the place down for privacy"
Haha, what a great set of circumstances. Him, with family members and his high ranked officials and bodyguards... what a catch. It might not be a stretch to see Ross become one of the youngest commanders at a mere 26 in 1 or 2 years. Obviously, despite being 24 this year, he is shaped like a 70 year old duke who ate his fortune away.
Getting what I needed, I head over towards George Pillar, another gangster that rules the west side slums with not an iron fist like Paul but, mostly takes care of them from robberies and most of his more severe crimes involve loan sharking and maybe an assassination here or there.
George really hates me since I got most of his people hooked on products from Michael & Chul's Mossy Emporium but there is only one thing he hates more than me, Paul. Whenever the name Paul is mentioned, he gnashes his teeth in anger and holds his two horns to calm down. A fun fact: all of his closest men and henchmen aren't allow to be named Paul. However, his hatred is quite justified.
A few years back, Paul and George were on the same mercenary band that took a simple job to assassinate this guard commander in another city called Guilu. However, during this job, they were caught by accident when the wife of the commander was having an affair and caught some of the men acting suspicious by waiting around his house and not moving. She then told her husband about the possible attempt on his life.
She was having an affair but, she still didn't wish death on her husband as the only reason she was cheating was because her husband couldn't get it up. Hearing about the affair, the husband was furious but hearing the latter part of the story, he couldn't help but forget the affair and focus on more concerning matters.
Reporting the attempt on his life to his superior, they gave him a protection detail which were able to overpower the mercenaries and capture most of them. The only person they couldn't get was Paul. Why? Because Paul pushed George to the ground into the police while running away.
Spending 30 years of hard labor in a mine and coming back to see Paul getting richer than he ever was, he swore to take his revenge by taking his territory and his wealth. Though his plan of taking all of Paul's wealth didn't work out, he did steal a chunk of Paul's domain and made it his own.
The only thing is, George is an ambitious man and even though his head is shiny and his age pushing 60, he still didn't give up his dream of taking Paul down and is still plotting various attacks on his territory to expand his own.
And now, I'm about rile up the hyena to attack the lion whilst I, the fox, waits in the bushes while silently helping the hyena. I can't wait for Satan's Day.
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(A.N) yooooo! Another chapter! Betrayed George? Satan's birthday? Hope you enjoyed and as always, vote, library and support with anything you can. Anything helps and is greatly appreciated, peace ✌️!