Chapter 327: Alcom´s board of directors
"If you see a maid, give way"
This is a superst.i.tious saying pa.s.sed down among the drinkers of urban commerce. Of course, this maid is Marifa. Nowadays, Tin and other maids are added to this group. Even so, the roughnecks who just came to Comer to make a name for themselves and the rare fools who mess with them get into trouble. And later, when they hear this superst.i.tion in a bar or some other place and learn what it means, they clutch their heads and lament. 「If I had known, I would not have done such a foolish thing」. The slums in the eastern part of Comer――Yuu was there on the street. And right behind him, the demoness Nepora and the tiger beastman Melanie followed. As soon as the slum dwellers saw Yuu, Nepora and the others, they fled like spiders into the back alleys.
"They"re so rude"
"Shall I go and get them, Master?"
As if the frightened inhabitants were disrespectful, Nepora and Melanie glared at their surroundings.
"No, it"s not disrespect, it"s.......I mean, aren"t they intimidated by you guys?"
Yuu"s question was half right. Tin and the others had mercilessly disciplined the idiots who tangled with them on the street while delivering donations to the orphanage. The other half was in awe of Yuu"s control over the slum mafia. As a side note, Marifa would normally be by Yuu"s side, but the reason why Nepora and the others are there today is because Marifa has recognized their daily efforts and has now promoted them from slave maid apprentices to slave maids. Considering the future of Yuu today, Marifa offered her role to Nepora and others with the thought of her intestinal failure.
"It"s because Melanie went wild to test her power
"Hogee!? Nepora, don"t say such unreasonable things in front of Master~"
"Isn"t that the truth? Even so, I don"t think Master will bother to visit......"
There is a swordsman"s air from Nepora with no expression.
"I said I don"t need a welcome because I"m annoyed"
"Nihihii. Nepora~, Master said this――"
"I was wondering if that was the case. As expected of Master, he is very considerate"
Melanie"s mouth dropped open at how quickly Nepora had changed.
"What are you doing? I"m leaving you"
"Wa, Wait~"
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A three-story building in the corner of the slum, in a state of disrepair that is not very clean. However, this building is the headquarters of the mafia that controls the back side of Comer City. In a room on the third floor of the headquarters, all the executives of Alcom were gathered. The security company Alcom was initially active only in Comer City, but when Yuu destroyed Lawrence, a criminal organization that had made a name for itself in the Udon Kingdom, it took control of eight cities, including the royal capital of Tenca.s.si, where its headquarters were located. The reason why they could not take over all of Lawrence"s territory was simply because they were short on manpower. Anyway, with the addition of Comer City, Alcom has expanded its power to nine cities and has quickly become the leader of the underworld of the Udon Kingdom.
"So, when is Boss coming?"
A man sitting slumped in a chair with his legs spread wide open speaks to Einal.
"It"s not even time for the appointment yet"
"Is he really coming? I"ve heard a lot of rumors about your strong boss"
A different man from the previous one poisoned him and the people around him agreed with him, agitating with their mouths.
"You newcomers are getting a little overzealous, aren"t you?"
A man who used to be a mafia boss in Comer City admonished him. As the man said, the people who were making the noise were the newcomers, the bosses of the organizations that had been active in the underworld of the cities that Alcom had absorbed. In other words, they were competing against Lawrence.
"I don"t care if you"re new or not, we"re just as much executives as you. We"ll say what we want to say"
"Aahh. You"re the same rank as us? What a joke. I don"t want you to misunderstand, but you are the executives who are in charge of managing each city, while we are the center of Alcom. Be an executive"
The only female executive in the room lays down on the sofa and mockingly tells the men who are shouting. The rest of Comer´s executives must have the same idea as her, but they didn"t raise their voices and remained calm.
"Sweet, sweet, sweet! The newcomers are getting c.o.c.ky. Why don"t we just chop off their heads!"
"What intensity. Don"t bring your face closer. Your face is scary"
Einal has no choice but to move his hand away from the terrified man"s face. Half of the man"s face was seared. The right half of his head was hairless, the eyelid of his right eye was almost completely blocked and the melted skin from his cheek to his lips gave him a strange appearance. This was the same as Yarmila. He would dissolve his face in acid to make an example of those who didn"t listen to Lawrence and those who challenged him. This man was sanctioned by Lawrence, yet he continued to fight Lawrence. Most of the newer officers here are the same way.
"Tsk. How did you guys really manage to crush Lawrence with such a naive idea?"
The man was taken aback by the fact that he couldn"t even feel the anger, let alone the murderous intent, of the other old leaders.
"I"m not sure what you"re annoyed about, but don"t act like that when Satou-san comes"
"Hehee. I wonder if that"s the case. If the boss is as naive as you, I"ll have an idea"
"Stop"
"Alcom is a big organization. There is no organization in the Udon Kingdom that can compete with them. But, you know, it"s a rapidly growing organization, you know? If they find out that you and your bosses aren"t afraid of them, some of them might even think about taking over"
"There"s no one here who would think such a foolish thing. Rather, don"t call Satou-san boss. Because he"s an investor in Alcom, we unified it with Satou-san. I don"t care what happens if you accidentally call him boss later on"
Einal warned them, shaking his body exaggeratedly, but this had the opposite effect.
"Hee. Isn"t it interesting? I"ll definitely call him boss. On the contrary, I"m going to make you look away from there, so watch me!"
The newcomers began to make bets to encourage the man. The old-timers turn a blind eye to these people and Einal sighs loudly.
"Einal-san, Satou-san has arrived!"
The one who jumped into the room was Basil, a recent newcomer who had risen to the level of having subordinates, although not quite an executive.
"Huhh. Finally the boss――haaa!?"
The man who had been turned into an ugly man by the acid smiled fearlessly as he looked back at Einal and the others, but Einal was already gone. The executives, led by Einal, were standing upright and standing by, clinging to the wall. Even the female executive who was relaxing gracefully on that sofa was doing the same. Their expressions were different from before, their faces were tense and full of tension.
"Satou-san, this way"
Basil, who had a strong face, lowered his head to guide Yuu.
"I"ve been here many times, I don"t need a guide. And you"re in a good position now, you have subordinates, right? Don"t be so c.o.c.ky"
Basil glances at Nepora and the other maids behind Yuu and deceives them with a friendly laugh. Even if Yuu is good, Nepora and others do not allow it.
"I"ve been waiting for you, Satou-san. I"m sorry to be here in such a rundown place. So, Alcom, now that our house is bigger, shall we renovate it or even build a new one?"
After Basil, Einal spoke to Yuu with an amiable smile on his face.
"You can leave it as it is. If people like you get a little big, you"ll think you"ve become great. Don"t forget the beginning"
"I don"t think we"re big enough"
Some of the executives lined up by the wall were laughing and sweating cold. They are probably the ones who advised Einal to renovate or build a new headquarters.
(Wh............What the h.e.l.l is going on)
The ugly man couldn"t control the trembling in his body. When he glanced at the newcomers, he saw that they were trembling and frightened as well.
(I, I"m......a man who has endured Lawrence"s torture. What you see in front of you is a kid, no matter how you look at it. And yet......and yet)
The fearless smell of blood. A fearsome smell of death. You can"t believe how twisted the boy in front of you is. It"s still more convincing that he was described as something in the shape of a person.
"Hey, you guys should say h.e.l.lo. Satou-san, these are the newly appointed executives"
"Ha......first......as it is......I......I, I´m"
The ugly man was too afraid to speak. The others would not even open their mouths. In fact, he wouldn"t even look at Yuu.
"Wahahaa. Where"s the might you had earlier?"
In response to Einal"s concern to ease the situation, the ugly man shouted in his mind, 「Don"t say anything unnecessary」. He took a deep breath to avoid being noticed and greeted him again――
"Nice to meet you, Bo――"
"Ah?"
"――N, Nothing"
"You should at least make eye contact when you talk to people"
"Hii"
He didn"t mean to scare him, but every time Yuu spoke, the man got scared.
"No, it looks like he"s nervous when he meets Satou-san"
"Nervous? Don"t lie to me. I"m sure you guys have been calling me naive, unafraid and a little s.h.i.t"
You can hear the air creaking behind Yuu. The reason for this is not from Yuu――but from Nepora and Melanie who are standing behind him.
"You didn"t mention the little s.h.i.t, did you?"
Einal spoke to the new executives hiding behind him, but they only trembled slightly and did not reply.
"Eh, then, let"s have the Grand Executive Meeting of Alcom――what the h.e.l.l is wrong with you people?"
The host, Einal, was disgusted by the newcomers sitting on either side of him. Having survived in the underworld, they have an excellent sense of smell for danger. They instinctively know that the safest place to be is near Einal and they all take their seats near him. However, none of the old officers laughed at this.
"Einal, start"
"Oops, I"m sorry about that. Well, then――"
After regaining his composure, Einal began to report on Alcom"s income and expenditure. Territory from the royal capital to the southern part of the Udon Kingdom, from the royal capital to Comer City――expanded the security company Alcom. The income and expenditure had become tremendous. Alcom"s main business is security, but that alone is not enough to feed the rapidly growing Alcom staff. Illegal drugs, human trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, etc., are prohibited by Yuu, but there are a wide range of other activities such as gambling, eating and drinking, brothels, construction and even money lending. In addition, they have partnered with Mago and other large merchants to open stores so that they do not have to compete for the market. From the point of view of the aristocrats who governed the cities, there was no one to complain because Lawrence, who had been doing whatever they wanted, would be removed, public safety would be improved and tax revenue would increase. Even if they did, they would keep their mouths shut if they knew that Alcom"s backer was Yuu. No one would think of interfering.
"The slaves" housing has finally been allocated"
"Don"t patronize me, you"re the one who suggested it"
"No, No, I don"t mean that"
The slaves that Einal is referring to are the slaves that were lent to him by Yuu through the negative legacy of Balue. After all, because of the number, Einal had a lot of trouble allocating suitable jobs and housing.
"Eh, I"m sure there were some parts that were difficult to understand in the explanation I gave earlier, but if you could look over the doc.u.ments I handed out――"
The old executives were familiar with the doc.u.ments distributed by Einal, but the newcomers" eyes swam at the sight of a proper income and expenditure report for the first time. However, the numbers on the report were figures they had never seen before, so they couldn"t help but swallow their saliva.
"――That was my report. I"d like to take a break here"
As if he had been waiting for those words, there was a knock on the door. Einal looked at Basil, who was standing by the door, and had him open it. It was a girl in a maid"s uniform that came into the room. She was pushing a wagon with a pot of tea, cups and tea cakes on it. The girl pushed the wagon with a sense of trepidation. All the adults, even the strong ones, were gathered in one place. It was understandable. But――
"Aaah! Yuu-niichan~"
When she spotted Yuu, a smile appeared on her tense face. This girl is being taken care of at an orphanage in the slums. When she turned twelve, she asked the sisters to take care of her and now she is working at Alcom. As the girl was serving tea and tea cakes with her sluggish hands, Melanie began to help her without needing to be instructed by Yuu.
"Thank you, Melanie-oneechan"
The remaining Nepora never leaves Yuu"s side and pays attention to Einal and the others. If it had been the other way around, Melanie would have stayed by Yuu"s side as well. When the girl came near Yuu, he glanced at her.
""What"s wrong? Is Einal bullying you?"
"Boo!?"
Einal, who was drinking tea, sobbed.
"What"s that? Einal-san has been good to me"
"I"m kidding"
Einal wipes his dirty mouth and sighs tiredly, 「Please don"t make jokes that aren"t funny」.
"Now, Satou-san will speak to you from here"
After the break, Einal resumes the meeting. The tension level among the executives is even higher now that Yuu is going to speak.
"You know that the population of Comer is still growing, right?"
The executives from Comer nodded, the discovery of the C-ranked 『Bewitching Tree Garden』 , the merchants flocking to the potions and gold that Yuu handled. The population of Comer City continues to grow as people continue to bring in money and money continues to bring in people. Even now, construction work is going on day after day to expand the housing. Naturally, some of Alcom"s men are involved in the construction.
"You also know that Muss"s idiot was promoted to Marquis, right?"
All the executives nodded at this. If they don"t know this level of information, they can"t make it in the underworld.
"Now that the Goffa territory is bigger than his father"s, Muss is hard at work. He plans to develop the villages into towns and towns into cities and cities into big cities and so on. If he had antic.i.p.ated this and saved money by cutting back on the number of Comer guards, he would be a great guy......, but things are not that simple"
Everyone nodded and agreed with this as well. If it were that easy to develop a territory, all the n.o.bles would have taken it up. You can"t just put up a box and call it a day.
"We"re going to build a special zone in the northeast part of Comer City"
"The northeastern part of the city is the part of......that is being developed the most, right?"
"Yes"
"What"s this special zone?"
The room buzzed with unfamiliar words.
"There are various types of special zones, such as tax incentives, deregulation and support for new industries"
The executives" mouths began to water. They smelled a tremendous amount of money coming from the special zone.
"But, Satou-san, the n.o.ble――Marquis Muss, is going to take the lead on this, right? Is there any room for us to get involved?"
"You fool. I"m not sure what kind of pathetic thing you´re saying when we"ve been given this information in advance"
The only female executive smiles fearlessly.
"You!! You"re carried away!"
"Oh well, I"m just pointing out the facts"
It was thought that this would lead to a fight, but as if they had remembered, they straightened up and gave Yuu a pasted-on smile.
""Excuse me""
"What? Is it over?"
The two executives were smiling, but sweat was pouring out of their bodies.
"We"re going to get Alcom involved in the Special Zone. Why? Because I"m funding most of the costs for this special zone, at Muss"s insistence"
"Seriously......"
"Why would I lie about that?"
"So it"s not just security, it"s also a gambling den?"
"Casinos"
"That"s a lot of money"
The quick-witted ones are already playing the arithmetic and getting excited about the expected amount.
"The content of the special zone will be aimed at the aristocracy and merchants, the so-called wealthy. We"ll be dealing with people who have money. Naturally, those who work there will be required to have a certain level of appearance and manners. Einal――"
"Yes"
"Select personnel from Alcom. Security, lodgings, casinos and brothels――"
"Yes!!"
The female executive stood up and raised her hands. Even the executives who had known her for a long time were stunned by her appearance, which was so far removed from her usual elegant appearance.
"Einal-san"
"What is it?"
The ugly man whispered to Einal.
"I don"t know why she"s so uptight. No, I understand that money is involved. It"s a lot of money. But she"s not only in charge of Comer, she"s also in charge of the brothels in nine cities"
"Do you know how many brothels she owns?"
The ugly man looks at the female executive"s face, thinking 「What are you saying?」, he tells Einal that in his thirties, he wouldn"t say forty at most.
"Wrong. The correct answer is sixty-something and we don"t even know the exact age. The next thing we know, she"s ruling Comer"s brothels"
"Sixty!? Th, That"s ridiculous"
"I want a membership card"
"A membership card? Why don"t you just buy one? How much money is it?"
"You can"t get it with money. In Satou-san"s country, there"s a salon where women can get ma.s.sages and cosmetics. Dozens of women went to Satou-san"s country to try out the effects on the human race. When they came back, they were amazed. They had always been young, but now they looked like that even with light makeup"
The ugly man tried to steal a glance at the female officer without being noticed, but as Einal said, the effect could only be described as astonishing.
"So. The membership card for the salon is limited to only one hundred. It"s terrible because Satou-san gave it to some royalty and big merchants, isn"t it?"
"What......ah!"
The ugly man realizes. It"s so effective. Rumors quickly come from the Udon Kingdom――no. It will be known to the royal aristocrats of other countries. However, only those with a membership card can use it and only a hundred of them. Would those who have more than enough money to buy and sell such membership cards for money or goods?
"Yes, they would. Nowadays, I hear that there are b.l.o.o.d.y fights going on everywhere over the limited number of 100 salon membership cards. If we from the underworld where to get involved in that kind of thing, we would die――no, we"re not going to just die. That"s why she wants to earn points and get a membership card from Satou-san"
"Oh, I see. That"s――ugee!?"
"What――hyaa"
Nepora and Melanie looked at Einal and the ugly man――glaring at them. In front of Yuu, he didn"t make his voice angry, but his eyes told them to be prepared later.
"I, I"ve been listening to you all along!"
"Hee"
"It"s true!! We were just talking about how much money we would need for the building and equipment even if we could get the people. What? What!!"
"E, Eeh! That"s right!!"
"You don"t have to worry about money"
As Yuu says this, Melanie places a rectangular bag on the table and opens it. At first glance, the contents look like a leather bag, but the people here immediately――it"s an item pouch. Melanie picks up one of the item pouches and turns it over. Immediately, a lot of gold coins rained down on the table.
"Melanie-san, wait a minute. If the rest of the item pouches are gold too, the floor will fall out"
Einal stopped Melanie as she was about to reach for the next item pouch. The executives were attracted by the small pile of gold coins, but Einal picked up one of them.
"All I see are Samwana gold coins"
Einal noticed that the gold coins were uniformly issued by the Samwana Kingdom.
"You noticed well. Here are the gold coins issued in the Kingdom of Samwana――there are silver and bronze coins in other item pouches"
"May I ask why?"
"The gold content is low"
That"s all the executives can guess. Even though they are a member of the Ream Alliance, they do not adhere to the gold content of their gold coins, which is set by the treaty. And there are only a few reasons for not abiding by the treaty. Either there are people in the upper echelons of Samwana"s monetary inst.i.tutions or the royal family who have been plundering the money or the kingdom"s finances have deteriorated to the point where it can no longer honor the treaty.
"All future payments are to be made in Samwana currency here and no payments are to be accepted"
"Are the silver and copper coins also mixed?"
"No, it"s an insurance policy. If the Kingdom of Samwana is in financial trouble, not only gold, but also silver and even copper coins will eventually lose their quality"
"Haaa~. I guess the bad money goes to the merchants and the good money goes to us. Satou-san, you"re evil, aren"t you?"
Basil, who was listening to the conversation near the door, muttered admiringly. Yuu"s expression was one of indifference. He was inwardly pleased to be called evil.
"But why is the slum that is likely to be crushed first due to the redevelopment of Comer? Maybe Satou-san turns his hand to Muss――wait"
The magic bullet released by Yuu hits Basil"s nose.
"Ouch. Please stop~"
Basil runs away with a pitiful scream and Einal covers his face with his hand, 「Why do you say such an extra thing?」.
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Author note:
Samwana Gold Coin: Appears in chapter 257 and 322. The gold content is not up to the level set by the Ream Alliance.
Basil: A man from Alcom who had his front teeth knocked out in chapter 210.