But Boban now had to worry about getting the ingredients for Caesar. He had the rest of the ingredients in his storage, and although it would hurt his pocket, he was ready to part ways with it and give it to Caesar.
In his mind, he could always get back the ingredients after he killed Caesar. Or, he could make Caesar produce his pure Joy like he was a golden goose designed to keep working until Boban could swim in his own money.
Although humiliating, he had to succumb to Caesar's demands for today. He still had a few days left until everything was moved out to a safe location.
The problem now would be the Water of Life. He didn't have any connections with priests, so he couldn't just straight to a church and ask for 5 liters of the Water of Life like he was asking for a sermon.
He could ask those underground organizations for it, but he would only end up in their debt. That was never a good idea. He could ask the Capo gang since they have a few priests in their payroll, but it seemed that they were going through a no-contact rule for some unknown reason.
The only way that Boban could think of was just through a simple transaction. He was a businessman, and negotiating was his pride and butter. He could easily buy the friendship of a few priests, which would be easy considering most of them are sinful and have connections with the underground.
And so he went. He got his personal carriage and went to the nearest church, which was only a few hundred meters away from his mansion.
When he arrived, he didn't see any junior priests sweeping the floor, nor any nun singing their praises. It was empty.
He opened the double doors and saw that most of the ritual candles were unlit and there was no priest hanging around listening to confessions.
There was only one person in the church, who was kneeling on the pew with his head looking down. The man seemed to be begging for good health considering half of his face was covered with bandages.
Boban cursed himself for not having any connections with priests. If he did, he would have known their schedules and didn't have to wait here like an idiot.
He sat on one of the pew mirroring the pew where the bandaged man sat. he decided that he would wait for at least 5 minutes, only then would he leave. At least, he wasn't alone.
But then, just as he sat on the pew, the bandaged man stood up and got ready to leave. The man saw Boban, and his only right visible eye flashed in recognition.
"Boban?"
With this question, Boban looked closer at the bandaged man's face. It took a few seconds but he finally got a hit on his memory. He realized who it was not because of the man's face, but the man's signature cologne.
"Zaturn?"
Zaturn was immediately overjoyed. If an acquaintance could recognize his face, then that meant that the damage done to his face was not that bad. Unfortunately or fortunately, he didn't know the truth.
"*Oh Bobannnn,* I didn't know you were a man of faith,"
"I'm not. I'm only here because of some kid. He has ruined my life, and I will not stop until I torture him for all of eternity," Boban said, striking the pew.
"Me too. I lost my beautiful face because of this…this…unsightly kid!" Zaturn wanted to strike the pew, but he remembered his hand was injured. "At least my face is still beautiful, right?"
"Uh…sure."
Boban felt like he had discovered a new comrade in his problem. He was glad he wasn't the only one plagued with a kid problem.
"Can you believe this kid? He hit me in my throat! I could have lost my ability to sing!" Zaturn vented.
"Can you believe this kid? He scams me out of my ingredients, and he has the gall to ask for something impossible!" Boban vented.
They didn't know how similar their problems were.
"I'll give him credit. He was smart to invent the new pure Joy," Boban said.
"Oh, my problem kid also claimed that. He may be smart, but I hate his damn sly smile!" Zaturn added.
"Oh, I hate that damned kid's smile too." Boban uttered.
Although it looked like they were conversing with each other, they were only venting to themselves without listening to each other's words. If they had, they would have realized sooner.
"That damned Caesar," they both shouted.
They looked at each other and all they could utter was, "oh…"
A look of understanding flashed on both of their eyes. Their problem was one and the same, Caesar. And they both thought of the same quote, 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.'
"HAHHAHAH"
"HOHOHHOH"
They both laughed in the empty church, with it echoing back to them. And this was the start of a very focused alliance hell-bent on destroying their greatest enemy, Caesar.
—----------------------
Silas dropped off Caesar in front of his house without much trouble. Caesar looked through his window and noticed that he had an unexpected visitor waiting on his porch.
"I'll be waiting around, sir." Silas said as he directed the carriage away towards the resting area for carriages.
The visitor turned around as soon as she heard footsteps walking near her. Her eyes lit up when she saw Caesar.
"Caesar!"
"Erica, what brings you here?"
Erica was back at Caesar's house not one day after she left with a lot of Joy in her pockets. Although she was hesitant from the start, it seemed that she was completely hooked into this new sensation called Joy.
"I…I was wondering if you have more Joy in stock…," she said with her cheeks red.
Erica looked at Caesar and saw his completely haught face. She could already hear his words, 'addicted already?'
So, before Caesar could judge her, she stated her reasoning for coming to visit him.
"It's not for me, my subordinates want more after giving them a taste. I came here to ask for them so that they won't deplete my stock."
Caesar smiled as he heard that his product was spreading faster than he could produce it. This was good news, and as more and more people know about it, then it will continue to grow exponentially.
"Don't be embarrassed. Even if you consumed all of your stock today, I won't shame you. I would instead give you a free discount."
Hearing Caesar's words, Erica felt slightly more optimistic. She was worried that she was getting too addicted.
"But unfortunately, I have depleted all my stock," Caesar said.
A look of disappointment gleaned over Erica's face. This not only meant that she would have to use her stock to appease her subordinates, but she also wouldn't get a refill anytime soon.
"I currently don't have any place to process the Joy as the old one was too small."
Erica's business sense lit up and she immediately knew what Caesar was hinting at. Caesar wanted to buy a new place to make his product!
And who better to ask where to buy the best place but one of the most prolific real estate agents today.
"I can show you ten different places today. I can assure you that they will all be big and clean. You can produce Joy there any time you want!"
Caesar nodded. His old sewer factory was getting too small, and even his lab equipment had already deteriorated up to the point that it couldn't be used anymore.
And with the advent of his automaton in the very near future, he needed somewhere that he could at least fit them in.
Erica couldn't be more excited showing Caesar the potential places where he could set up his lab. They took Caesar's personal carriage and let Silas direct them to each location.
Erica was surprised that Caesar got his own carriage, but didn't question it much considering the wealth Caesar amassed. She even commented that she wanted to acquire one herself, but just couldn't get the time to pick out the best one.
The first place they went to was the center of the town where most offices and factories were located. This was the hotspot for most of the workforce, which was unfortunate given the amount of smoke in the air.
"This factory was just newly built with electricity and water supplied directly from the town water tank," Erica said as she toured Caesar on this factory.
The place was big, too big even. This was a place that was fit for hundreds of workers working together. Caesar was a one-man army, so he didn't need this big of a space.
"That's okay. The next place would be something smaller and just perfect for 10 people."
They traveled again, but this time, they went to the south side of town 30 minutes away.
The first thing Caesar noticed was the crowd of people walking around. This part of town was mostly residential, and the house density in this place was so bad that there were barely any alleyways between houses.
There was even a rumor that because the houses were so fitted together, you could hear your neighbor's heartbeat.
"Now, this factory is small but it has adequate space that you need, the only problem is…" Erica's words trailed off as she looked around the room.
The place was perfect in terms of space, but it has one glaring problem. It had no privacy. There were holes at the top of the walls where your neighbors could tip-toe and peek at the operation any time they wanted.
This was a dealbreaker for Caesar. Automatons were fairly unknown in this town, so there would be some outcry and publicity if even just one of his neighbors found out.
"This is the last place that's available. What should we do?!"