The next day, Caesar was overlooking his 2nd floor window looking at the bustling life on the streets. Workers were hunting down carriages and students were walking to their schools, but all of them would work their whole lives without earning the amount of money Caesar earned in five days.
Yesterday, he received 300,000 Parou from Rola and her group selling his Joy to their customers. This was merely the start of their business relationship as he only had 300 grams of Joy yesterday.
But now, Caesar had 5 kilograms ready to sell. By now, the 5 automatons working endlessly in his underground laboratory would have produced 5 kilograms working the whole day yesterday. And they would not stop there. They would continue to produce 5 kilograms everyday.
To make sure that happened, he ordered Silas to retrieve more ingredients from Boban. The fat businessman was strangely agreeable and did not argue much with this request, and gave Caesar 50 kilograms of ingredients.
Caesar took an early hot bath and readied himself for Silas to knock at his door. A few minutes later, a refreshed-looking loyal butler knocked at his door.
He mounted the carriage, not forgetting to get the newspaper thrown haphazardly at his porch.
{Fierce real estate battle from the Krabers and the Yunion!}
{The bigshot manufacturing company, the Krabers, expressed their desire to buy the hottest real estate of this town, First Street, in a bid to expand their business.}
{However, their rival and their only competitors, the Yunion fought back in the auction and skyrocketed its price to 1 billion Parou!}
{In other news, the Yunion company's main building was subject to an unfortunate fire that led to 50% damage. Thankfully, it was swiftly put out by a miraculous rainshower.}
{...}
Caesar read the front page of the news and found a timely event that was advantageous to him. It seemed that the Krabers were busy dealing with their own problems that they have not yet found the news of Berk's death.
Their rival company, the Yunion, was also a bigshot in the corporate world. But just like the Krabers, their main business would be focused on underground and illegal dealings. These companies were both at odds, aiming to hunt each other down and finally take full control of this town.
Because of that, the Yunion would strike at any holes or vulnerabilities that the Krabers had. This meant that the Krabers could not freely spend their resources in searching for Berk and his killer.
This gave Caesar some leeway in dealing with that aftermath. But it was unlikely that the Krabers would put so much of their attention on one lowly drug dealer who did not even have any Miracle powers.
If Caesar had killed a Miracled, then it would be a different story.
The news about the Yunion's main building setting on fire was most likely not an accident, but a planned sabotage done by the Krabers. This must be retaliation for upping the price on the auction.
It was possible that if the Krabers cared about Berk in any way, the orphanage would have already been long gone in smoke.
They arrived at the underground laboratory, where Caesar retrieved the 5 kilograms of Joy. After that, they went straight to the orphanage.
Rola looked stunned to see the mountains of Joy sitting on the table. This was 5 kilograms of Joy, almost equaling to 5 million Parou just sitting at this table.
"This…this is way too much. We will definitely get caught selling this much Joy," Rola complained.
They only sold a little amount yesterday, and people were already going crazy spreading rumors about the new Joy. If they sold this much, it would definitely get the attention of the other organizations.
"Not if you're careful. Only sell bulk in one place, then quickly move to another. Make sure to not sell at the same place, then you won't get caught selling 5 kilograms of this."
Rola still looked unconvinced. The threat of the Capo gang was looming over her shoulders. It was not just her life that was in danger, it was everyone in her group. By letting them sell this, she would be purposefully sending them in harm's way.
"The Capo gang are hiding in their shells waiting until Zaturn is fully healed. They are a small gang with only a few Miracled. With one of them down, they are vulnerable to other organizations picking on them while they are weak."
Rola looked down and thought about it carefully. From her intel that she got from working for the Capo gang, there were only 7 Miracled in their midst, including Zaturn.
Most of the large organizations had Miracled in the double digits, so it would be easy for them to wipe out the Capo gang without much trouble.
"And if you're worried about other organizations finding out that you're selling Joy, don't worry. Just secretly show them this…"
Caesar then showed a crude stitching of a cross inside a circle. This was the Krabers' logo, which looked like what you would see down the sight of a sniper gun.
"If they see this logo, they'll be scared shitless so much that they'll run away from you. Just don't advertise that you're from the Krabers company."
Caesar was taking advantage of the Krabers' horrifying reputation. This would effectively shield them from any prying, but only for a short period of time.
Once the Krabers finished their business with the Yunion, then they would be able to crack down on anyone impersonating them.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Rola asked.
Rola subconsciously started to listen to Caesar's words more seriously. She started to trust his judgment a little bit. If he was able to survive this long while angering underground organizations, then he must be competent albeit a little bit crazy.
"Yes. And this time, you won't sell 1 gram for 1,000 Parou. You will sell them for 2,000."
"What?! Are you crazy? Nobody would buy that; it's too expensive!" Rola shouted in surprise.
The standard price for Joy was 1 gram per 1,000 coins. One company tried to sell their improved Joy for 1,050 coins, but no one wanted to buy them. Now, Caesar wanted to sell them at twice the price?!
"They will. That's the reason why I limited the amount one person could buy to 2 grams per person. After experiencing the pure Joy, they must be going crazy wanting to buy more."
Rola wasn't there when they sold the Joy, so she didn't know the kind of reaction their customers had. But Uver, the man with the droopy eyes, clearly saw their fervor.
"That's true, Rola. I saw one man scouring the sewage trying to find his dropped bag that I sold him. If I didn't help, he would have searched all day long," Uver said.
Ybarra and Mitre nodded in agreement. They didn't know what was in the Joy, but they knew that it elicited some strong feelings from those who consumed it.
"Make sure to label it as 'Pure Joy'. By now, the rumor about yesterday's sale would be spread all around. Some would be willing to spend 2,000 coins per gram just to try and disprove those rumors. And once they try it…"
Caesar didn't have to continue more as it seemed that it was enough to convince Rola. She started to plan out the locations they would hit, and how many they would sell at a time.
Soon enough, all 21 of them left to sell 5 kilograms of Joy. Now, all Caesar had to do was to wait and reap the rewards. It didn't have to take long, he estimated. They would probably sell out by late in the afternoon.
—--------------------
It was now noon, with the sun in the sky at its zenith. Rola and her group returned carrying bags and bags of cash. Caesar was surprised. They exceeded his expectations and sold out earlier than he expected.
"Sorry we took so long. We earned so much money that we had to hide some of them while we sold more Joy. It took an hour for us to retrieve all of them and return here," Rola said.
Ybarra put down the final bag on the floor, with a few cash notes slipping out. Most of these bills were made out of 10,000 Parou bills, and a few P100,000 bills and most were P1,000 bills.
Their main customers were rich clients looking for a good time, some addicts who were looking for a fix, and some who heard about the rumor about the pure Joy. And all of them were floored when they consumed it.
As soon as they approached them with a red powder in their hands, they forked out their cash as fast as they could.
"It's all 10,000,000 Parou in cash. You can count it, everything is there," Rola said with confidence. Despite the bills looking dirty and ragged, it was still viable.
Caesar smiled and replied casually, "No need."
Caesar didn't have to count it because he already confirmed it once he saw a change in his vision.
[Caesar's status]
[Title: Crook]
[Lvl. 3]
[Exp to next level: 5,000,000/5,000,00 C]
[Vitality: 15+9.5]
[Strength: 13+9.5]
[Dexterity: 14+9.5]
[Intelligence: 9,999]
[Level Up!]
[Caesar's status]
[Title: Crook]
[Lvl. 4]
[Exp to next level: 5,000,000/15,000,000 C]
[Vitality: 25+9.5]
[Strength: 23+9.5]
[Dexterity: 24+9.5]
[Intelligence: 9,999]
[Loot Box unlocked!]