Putting the banter aside, Arya looked at her son seriously.
'I'm serious about you taking care of your business Luck, you have dozens of employees now...hundreds if not thousands of people eat in your shops every day!'
Seeing that his mother was back in a lecturing mode, Luck nodded in agreement with all her words.
'You're right mum...you're so right but I'm just a bit busy at the moment...'
'You're busy...' Arya sighed.
'I won't ask what you're busy with, but you better remember to keep your shops stocked! At the rate you're going, you'll run out of vegetables for the shops in no time, and we're almost out of frozen meat! It's not like you can get us meat from anywhere else!'
Luck was stunned by this sudden information.
Knowing that he would be busy with the wall construction work in Gliese for a while, Luck was sure that he had stocked at least a month's supply of vegetables and meat as a precaution.
'Mum...just a few days ago I stocked a month's supply...how can they run out?'
Arya spread her arms as if saying that this is what I was talking about.
'You don't have 1 shop anymore! I'm telling you we serve maybe thousands of people a day! We don't even have a week's supply left, let alone a month's supply!'
'This is what happens when you don't look after your business! What would have happened if I hadn't informed you? Are we going to close the shops because we don't have materials?'
...
Gliese
As soon as he had been scolded by his mother, Luck, realising the stock problem, turned urgently to Gliese.
With determined and swift steps, Luck went to Nikolay's room, knocked on the door and entered without waiting for confirmation.
Nikolay: ...?????
Did I give him permission to come in? I don't remember?
Nikolai was confused, thinking that Luck would not show such disrespectful behaviour.
Could I have let you? Anyway...
'Hello Luck, welcome.'
'I need meat and vegetables! As much as possible!'
Nikolay:?????
Luck's sudden and strange request confused Nikolay, but he didn't show it.
'Sure, but what do meat and vegetables have to do with walls?'
Luck: ?????
'Who said that vegetables and meat have anything to do with walls?'
Nikolai: ????
'I need vegetables and meat personally! Can you help me? I'll pay whatever it costs!'
Seeing Luck's determined and unwavering expression, Nikolai realised that Luck was serious.
'No problem, we can provide you with as many vegetables and meat as you want...forget about the money! You are helping us to build the walls and we are already in your debt!'
Luck smiled broadly, 'Thank you.'
Nikolai waved his hand as if to say never mind.
'By the way Luck, Horace has been looking for you since yesterday, you'd better go and talk to him.'
Realising that he hadn't spoken to Horace for a long time, Luck nodded his head in agreement.
'Thanks for letting me know, how's the Wall construction going?'
'Pretty good! That cement stuff is really good! The construction of the wall will be finished sooner than we expected.'
...
Horace brooded as he sat inside the new shop they were opening in the Blood Adventurers compound.
Where is Luck?
Why hasn't he been here for days?
Did he forget the tables?
When are we going to start work?
Liam and the others had cleaned and re-cleaned the shop in boredom, and now the floor looked polished.
Horace was deep in intense and depressing thoughts when the sound of the shop door opening distracted him
Thinking again that Liam and the others were coming to clean the shop, Horace didn't even look up and said, 'Guys, no more cleaning, go get some rest.'
Luck said in a playful tone, 'Oh? Is that so? Then I'm leaving if I'm not needed.'
Realising that it was Luck, Horace looked up in surprise and looked at Luck.
'Oh...you finally remembered this place.'
'Sorry, you know, I've been so busy with the walls of the compound that this place slipped my mind,'
Luck said sheepishly, playing with his hair.
Nikolai said sarcastically, 'The walls, yeah...how's it going?'
Luck, not noticing Nikolay's cold demeanour, smiled and said, 'Yes, very well! It looks like the walls will be built much faster than we expected.'
'Oh very good...what kind of an agreement did you reach with Nikolay? Sorry I don't know anything as you didn't let me know.'
Luck: (0_0?)
This big man is tripping me like a woman?
'Luck, I thought we had a deal...since you don't know the business system around here, we were going to decide on your deals together.'
With a sudden epiphany Luck realised why Horace was tripping over him.
'Horace, this wasn't a business deal...if I hadn't helped Nikolai with the walls of the compound, the lives of the people living here would have been in danger!'
Horace looked at Luck like he was looking at an idiot.
'Oh is that so?'
'Did Nikolay offer to pay for the repair of the walls, or did you not demand payment?'
'We never discussed payment.'
Horace: ...
'Why did you think that the lives of the people in the compound would be in danger if the walls were not repaired?'
Luck was surprised by Horace's question.
'What do you mean, haven't you seen the state of the walls? They look like they're going to collapse at any moment and dozens of people died in the last red moon!'
Horace pinched the bridge of his nose in anger.
It's true that there were casualties during the last red moon... yes, the walls of the compound are severely damaged, but that doesn't mean the Blood Adventurers' compound is helpless!
You have already supplied them with firearms! And rumours have spread throughout the compound that they are planning to hire mercenaries for the Red Moon!
But now... once the walls are repaired, they won't need to hire mercenaries! All the money will be in their pockets, and it will look like you repaired the walls for free!
As Horace spoke, all these facts hit Luck like a slap in the face.
He had been so relieved that all his hard work and effort had been for the good of the people, but now he felt like a fool.
Luck said in shame, 'What are we going to do? Shall I go and talk to Nikolai about paying for the wall?
Horace shook his head in the negative, 'It's too late for that! We've got to wait for Nikolai to bring up paying somehow... we've got to make him feel indebted to you!
Luck looked confused, 'Why? Let's just go and say what we want...'
Horace chuckled, 'If you ask someone for something, you always get less! But you can take advantage of them if they feel indebted to you!
Luck: (*_*)
A devil! Horace is the devil!