I am a little bit taken aback, when Ham, one of my new loyal customers, come running to me, urgently telling me that trouble was on the way. essentially, roughly about all shop owner in Station Ail and Wail, especially those that were considered well enough to live comfortably. Who is also been monopolizing 80% of the town economy. They named themselves the Station Ail and Wail chamber of commerce, all of them collectively were upsets at me, for taking all their customers.
And for that, all of them, collectively gathered themselves to confront me about it, not complaining or anything formal like that, they wanted to strong arm my business out of the town. What made their attempts sounded so sad, is that for a few days that they had planned these thuggish attempts, all of the bigger and powerful Scavenger groups in the town, refused to be hired by them. The chamber of Commerce tried to turn to the town council for help, but their protest, fall short in the votes, 3 out of 5 council members voted to stayed out of this farce that they were making fuss about.
"So…you were saying that…. since everyone don't want to be a part of their plans to shoo me out of the town…they wanted to deal with me themselves?".
"Yes, a few minutes ago, the Meat shop owner, Darel stood in the middle of the market and gave a long speech… claiming that you are an outsider…your stall permit should be taken away… your food comes from the devil…something like that…". (Ham)
They even do that, that is definitely annoying. Right now, those Chamber of Commerce folks were still walking towards my stall, they have about 60 meters to go, but right now, they were all in the middle of catching their breaths. At the same time, I already sold out my burgers for today, Only the Barter Trade counter was still busy as usual.
"So…How did the people react?".
"Everyone ignored them…not a single person in the market even looked or listened to them… heck, even those poor scraping scavengers don't want to be hired by them, despite being offered dozens of coins…". (Ham)
"Those poor scavengers are doing the right thing…and everyone better be that way…it's all thanks to Boss Azra that all of them even got a chance to eat a proper food…". (Cheese)
Bear, as well as the other customers were nodding their heads, complimenting their fellow towns people for doing the right thing, by not be apart of bringing harm to Azra Family Co. business.
"I knew shit like this would happen…those greedy pigs would always do things like this…. Look, Azra, we all loved your foods, and above all…we all know that the stuff that you were selling…is actually very expensive and very high quality….and we all very grateful to you for that….". (Bear)
Being a rather well-known Scavenger, Bear felt like he had to speak out about something, so while he was talking everyone around us give him the space to speak.
"But, at the end of the day…. Those guys, those fat pigs…. They lived here and they owned the market… a lot of our jobs comes from them, and we too use their service on a daily basis as well… Sure, we like you, man… but, Unlike you and your stall… they are here forever, whether we like it or not… we do business with them at all time… compared to your stall… that one day might just not be here anymore… you got what I'm saying?..". (Bear)
Shyly, Bear scratched the back of his head. I looked all the people around me as well, and they to wore the same heavy expression as his.
"Hey, man…I get it… I understand…".
"Still, at the very least… we still appreciate and respect your kindness for all of us….and we don't take that lightly… but do consider our position as well… so for this matter… all of us…the common folks in town… we all decided to sit on the fence… no one will come to their side and harm you and your family….so, ultimately…you need to handle this with them…yourself… try get the town council involved in this if you can… as long as you come out intact after this, then it is all good… if you decided to open your shop elsewhere, just tell me the locations…I bring my entire group to dine there…Okay..". (Mohawk John)
"Sure, Thanks John...".
Mohawk John is also one of my loyal customers, one of the big spenders, he is a leader of 50-man Scavenger Group called The Mohawks, whenever he came by, he would order at least about 100 Coins worth of foods and waters. He kindly laid out everything for me, the entire town felt bad about this, but at the same time, they cannot stop this group of affluent merchants as well, as these merchants were also their clients and a place where they always do trades.
So, the best that they can do, is just step out of the way completely, they all refused to be apart of the plans to kick me out. This is the least that they can do for me, which is for me, it was a very reasonable course of actions from all of the townspeople, I am an outsider, these people live here, do business and make a living by using those Chamber of Commerce services. The people decided not to interfere are already helpful enough for me, at the very least, just dealing with these greedy merchants, who is clearly do not fit in these harsh worlds, I can handle them myself.
As we all were waiting for the Chamber of Commerce troops to arrive, A beautiful woman, with a glossy black hair, and just mesmerizing figure, clad in a body tight black leather jumpsuit, and a cybernetic right arm, comes running towards Natasha, who stood behind the Barter Trade Counter.
"Natasha!! …I've heard what is going on, and I rushed here myself… are you okay?". (Selene)
Worried, Selene stood besides, Natasha.
"I am fine, Selene… Thank you for coming here, for me… still, will you be fine? Standing here, on this side of the stall?". (Natasha)
On the contrary of Selene expectation thinking that Natasha would be in a trouble, Natasha was calm, and instead she worried about Selene, after all, she comes running here, in front of everybody eyes, and then went straight behind the counter and openly worries about the Madam of the stall that were about to be stormed by The Chamber of Commerce.
"Oh, dear! ….um…I…". (Selene)
Realizing what she had put herself into, Selene was taken aback, stuttering on her words.
"It's fine, Selene… as you can see, I am fine here…don't worry about me…My husband, Azra will know what to do….". (Natasha)
"I..". (Selene)
Selene tried to say something, but Natasha cuts her off.
"I know…and I understand everything, Selene…it's Okay…". (Natasha)
Natasha gently comforts Selene, patting the back of her hand. Selene belonged to an All-woman Scavenger group, a group of undesired women, who already got the lowest reputation in the town. She cannot afford to be seen standing beside the enemy of the biggest scavenger group clients. If those people saw her, not just her will be affected, but so does her group. For Selene, it breaks her heart to not be able to help her close friend who is about to face a big trouble, and it is even more hurtful to see that close friend, accepts that she cannot help her.
"Selene, right?... Hi, I'm Azra, Natasha husband…".
"…. Hello, Azra…nice to meet you too.... Um…". (Selene)
"It's okay…we understand… this is a complicated matter…and by the way…you should stay with those crowd over there… if those fatties see you over here…thing will be more complicated, for you…Don't worry about Natasha... she is my wife… and I will protect her myself…".
I put my arm around Natasha waist, showing how calm, we are to her friend Selene who are clearly troubled. Selene was a little bit stunned when I introduce myself to her nicely, her eyes darted all over the place, but instantly settled at my arm that is currently hugging Natasha side, and Natasha who also loving my gesture, further highlight those brief tinges of jealousy in her eyes. Of which I found that hint from Selene, quite interesting.