Within the mansion back at the village Ki sat with a cup of tea with a calm atmosphere as she sat and Marilyn sat opposite her with a glass of wine smugly as if showing off her older age to Ki.
Ki rolled her eyes at Marilyn's attempts to provoke her and spoke. "It's not that I can't drink it.. it's just that I do not want to and it would be unhealthy to drink all the time with my current body. So don't be so smug."
Marilyn laughed and then put on a light smile as she sipped on the wine once more. "This is good stuff though… I should take some with me next time I need to hide out again."
Ki sighed as if giving in. "Sure go ahead. After everything has been handled go back into hiding and make sure no news leaks out from any of your subordinates during this time once more."
Marilyn nodded and spoke with confidence towards Ki. "Don't worry, nobody would ever think of speaking up."
Ki smiled and felt that everything was slowly falling into place. "After the law department arrives in Wolfden city and completes their business what are your plans?"
Marilyn frowned. "I don't know… to be honest with all this wealth I don't know what to do with any of it… any suggestions?"
Ki thought for a moment and suggested. "I need more intelligence from the underground world so it would be best to start off with something in that area. Perhaps purchasing some homes and turning them into inns or taking up an entertainment based business. Maybe take over the underground auction house after the Wolfden city one has been brought down by the law department? This could help to control the black market more effectively and gain a firmer foothold. If not that then maybe open some gambling halls but set more strict rules to avoid repeated mistakes made like the one we just attacked. I'm sure you can ask for help from your new subordinate who was the previous boss there."
Marilyn's eyes lit up after hearing Ki's suggestions. "That makes sense. If I hold control over the gambling hall or even the underground auction house I can change the rules to how I see fit. That means I don't need to against my morales if I get involved with that part of the underground world. What kind of rules should I set though?"
Ki thought a moment and spoke in a soft voice. "No slavery, nothing good comes from touching it. No highly dangerous and addictive drugs, you don't need the backlash from the deaths and the chaos created by those who have become addicted. Stolen goods are allowed, not everything can be identified as stolen immediately but since it is the black market auction house many illegal trades will be held so it cannot be helped. Weapon and poison trade are allowed to be traded but poisons should be sold in moderation to avoid being tied to sudden deaths, it would be best to keep a record just in case of who purchased what. Animals can be sold if they are in a good condition, if near death,injured, diseased or feral they would only cause problems for the buyer. If it's the gambling hall then the customers can only gamble the money they have brought, no titles or deeds can be used as collateral or loans can be made. If you go into the loan business then you need to be harsh but not too cruel, many take steps to remove limbs as a punishment for not paying back the loans but you can always use the ones unable to pay the loans for different jobs to pay it back over time."
Marilyn liked what Ki had suggested. "I think I can afford starting up one or two small inns and be able to purchase a building for to hold and underground auction and gambling hall with the money we have gained. What about vip treatments?"
Ki looked at Marilyn with a look of approval. "I almost forgot that. VIP rooms should be built for the upper class or valued customers in the auction house. Simple snack servings should be prepared along with some drinks, for the gambling hall a similar treatment should be added to the vip room where the vips can have a private high stakes bet against each other under the supervision of the staff."
Marilyn's eyes closed as she started imagining owning something and how it would look and smiled opening her eyes once more. "So.. what do you think I should name the organisation behind these businesses and the intelligence gathering?"
Ki tilted her head to the side for a moment with her hand stroking her chin while deep in thought and then gave her idea. "It's best to keep the name simple. How about Nox? It's means night, since the underground world is often called the black society I think a name meaning night would work quite well."
Marilyn talked to herself in a quiet voice while mumbling. "Hmm… Nox.. yeah that will work…"
She looked up into Ki's eyes once again and smiled gratefully. "Yes, let's go with that then."
Ki raised her cup towards Marilyn's glass to give it a small clink as they touched. "To Nox's future and if you need further support in expanding to other cities just come to me for to loan some money, you can always pay me back when everything stabilises. I came to acquire quite a lot of spare funds recently so I have enough room to be able to offer you some more support. Also I am sure you will be needing some bottles of wine for your vips? Be sure to let me know what kinds you would like to purchase. I suggest using the cheap stuff and get a couple of good wines for limited purchases. By the way have you heard back from the reaper? Has he returned yet?"
Marilyn shook her head and replied. "He should be arriving sometime within the next week and will then enter a period of training while in seclusion."
Ki nodded and then passed over two small glass vial with a small pipette (or dropper) to Marilyn along with a mask to cover up the top of his face and eyes. "Give him these as they will be useful for training. One will blind his eyes and the other is the antidote if he wishes to take the route of blinding himself to best improve his training. If he chooses not to do so then the mask will come in useful during his time training or will help hide his identity but he doesn't have to keep using this one as it's mainly for training purposes."
Marilyn quickly took them and left the room to go back to her duties before going to meet the reaper and wait for his arrival at the designated meeting location. "Thanks! I will let him know."
Ki looked over and sighed. "And don't worry about yourself as your progress is very fast. Give it another year or two of building up your foundation more and I am sure when we get you a qi art you will soon step into the transcendent realm. I am sure of it."
Marilyn smiled as she closed the door behind her. "I'm not worried, I know my body better than anyone. I know I wasn't in the best state previously even if I have made lots of improvements with my martial arts."
Ki sat in the room finishing her tea with a serene look on her face as she closed her eyes. "Everything is slowly coming together. All I need now is enough time to be able to expand and grow my forces. There is the village project along with the orphanages to begin recruiting talents and promoting my own martial arts. There is the blood shadow elite group which have 50 people within them working under Rashida, there are more than 30 within Marilyn's underground organisation which is called Nox that use the same martial arts and qi art. There is also another potential group to be made if the reaper later wishes to set up their own assassin group, it would be good to slowly grow these forces and not expose them to the world too soon. There is also my own brother and Evie who have a solid foundation built and I believe they possess very high talents, if they grow up well I think they will be a crucial part of my overall strength."
Ki sat back in her chair and smiled. "The world seems to be much more interesting than I had previously thought. I find myself looking forward to the future more with every passing day."
Everything to her in her previous life was uninteresting because she had to spend most of her time to focus on surviving and getting her revenge.
Now that she had passed her first major calamity and everything had been dealt with she felt that she could begin to enjoy the little things in life.
She could enjoy her time training, her tea, building her forces, expanding her businesses and most of all she could begin to build up her relationships with her friends and family and make them stronger than ever.