Chapter 15: Rolling Stones

“Knives are selling good, boss.”

I let out a small sigh, patting Dum on the shoulder. “Selling well.”

The man gave me a toothy smile. “Whatever you say, boss.”

This was why I never hired minions. You do one nice thing for them, and suddenly they feel like it’s okay to snark at you. “As long as we keep expanding our market.”

Dee, who’d just pulled the cart back inside the warehouse nodded. “Been a lotta interest, people starting to grumble too. Muscling in on their business.”

I nodded. “Please, as if I’d stop my plans just because a few smiths complain.”

“Lots of guilds have a deal with the adventurers guild.” Dum shrugged. “Old Boss never wanted to mess with them much.”

I cast an eye to Blue, my lizard demon. Currently, he was napping next to the warm bricks of the forge. “See where that got him.” The boys both laughed.

There was an awful racket coming from inside the foundry itself. Part of me wondered if Coaline and Mr. Burns were actually working in there, or if they were trying their best to kill each other again.

I couldn’t see them at the moment. But even if I could, I doubted I’d be able to tell with those two.

“Anything else to report?”

Dum shook his head. “Been looking for the rest of the things you need, no luck.”

I sighed. “My kingdom for a table saw.” At his slightly downcast expression, I patted him on the shoulder again. “It’s nothing to worry about. I expected that I’d have to build most of the tools I needed.”

There was a screech as the Rel came in through the side door of the warehouse, cap tucked low. I glanced over as she pulled the rusty door once, cursing at the hinges before finally managing to pull it shut.

I’d trade my kingdom for some WD-40 as well.

She flicked out her pocket watch, glancing at the time before striding over to me. “Lady Via.”

Rel had come a long way from the scared girl pretending to be a boy. She’d found her confidence, the ease of her bearing. Honestly, her new self-assurance would almost worry me a bit.

I caught her cheek with my hand. “So quick to hurry back.”

You know, if she didn’t blush so much more now.

“O-of course, my lady.”

I smiled at her, moving back towards the forge. “So?”

“Oh, yes!” She clapped her cheeks once, returning back to the competent minion I’d begun relying on more and more. “Some of the other gangs of the North Side are moving into the docks.

I tilted my head. “… So?”

Rel glanced over at the boys. Dee just scratched his head and shrugged.

“They’re muscling in on your territory,” Rel said.

I gave a little laugh. “Rel, we don’t have any territory.”

Dum leaned forward. “We don’t?”

I huffed, crossing my arms. “How much money did your old boss pay you?”

Dee and Dum looked at each other. “Handful of coppers a week. Maybe a silver if we had a big score.”

“And you’re making more now, aren’t you?” They nodded at my words. “Because we’re not wasting our time with petty protection rackets and breaking into people’s houses. Take from those with nothing and you’ll get nothing.” I smiled. “We’re after much more lucrative marks.”

A look of understanding went across the big men’s faces. “That’s pretty smart, boss.”

I nodded. “And that’s why I’m the boss.”

“Yep.”

“Lady Via…”

I glanced over at Rel. She was tugging at her sleeve, glancing off to the side. I sighed. Reaching out, I cupped her cheek again. Rel started. Honestly, I wouldn’t do it so much if she wasn’t so easy to surprise! “Didn’t I tell you to always be honest with me?”

Rel nodded, eyes lighting up. “Yes.”

I waved my hand. “Well?”

Rel rubbed her cheek where my palm had just been. I raised an eyebrow, and she blushed again, glancing to the side. “They’re… hurting people.”

I blinked. “The other gangs?”

Rel nodded. “The Red Scars kept a pretty light hand on things here. But the people coming in aren’t going to be so kind.”

I looked over to the boys for confirmation. Dee stepped forward. “We didn’t have many people, just Boss and the five of us.”

The other three of which had long since vanished. I wished them the best of it.

“Boss thought it’d be best not to ‘over-extenduate’ us,” Dum said. “Gotta make sure we didn’t bite off more than we could chew. But new gangs coming into open territory? S’always bloody business.”

“And where there’s blood, the newcomers will want to make sure they get their share of coin.” Rel crossed her arms. “Unless we do something.”

I ran a hand through my hair, catching a lock around my finger. “Why didn’t they do this before?”

Dee shrugged. “Wasn’t worth it. Blue was all friendly with the Knives, see.”

I sighed. “And then he just up and vanished one day.” At the answering nods I tilted my head back, looking towards the ceiling of the warehouse. We’d just finished rethatching it this week. And there was still a lot of work to be done.

I looked back at my Minion and my two other minions. Rel looked at me hopefully, while the boys… well, they certainly looked excited to bust a few heads. I guess they didn’t sign up with me to be pack mules, no matter how good the money was.

I flicked my hair. “I suppose it would be a shame to have to relocate so soon.”

Rel’s eyes sparked. “Lady Via!”

“Yes, yes.” I waved a hand. “Go grab a few daggers from the rack in my room. Boys, are you happy with the new clubs?”

Dee grinned, flicking out his nightstick. “Been loving ‘em, Boss.”

I hummed. I swept up my cloak from the workbench, casting it over my shoulders. “How do I look?”

Dee and Dum glanced at each other in confusion. “Like… the boss?”

I tapped my cheek, glancing down at my outfit. It was still just my undersuit and the black cloak overtop. Sooner or later I would have to get some actual clothes. But for now, “It’s missing something.”

I cast an eye over my workshop, looking at the various bits and bobs I’d collected over the last two weeks and change. My ad hoc generator was still sitting in the corner for where I was working out some… connection issues. Then there were various bits of scrap metal yet to be fed to the foundry imps, and some other trinkets that my jellyfish demons had tossed up onto the shore.

Then my gaze landed on a familiar shape and I smiled. “Dee, Grab me that leather belt from yesterday, would you?”

“Course, Boss.” He lumbered over to a small chest in the other corner of the warehouse, going through the fabric there. I’d gotten some simple leather belts made for both of them along with the outfits, along with making the pants bigger than necessary so Dee and Dum could cinch them shut.

So, as was tradition, the pants fit perfectly, and the belts were too small.

Dee came back, handing me a length of leather that I wound twice around my own trim—thank you very much—waist, before clasping it shut. Then I slipped the rusty sword and scabbard into the belt.

Rel had polished it up nicely after beaning Dum over the back of the head with it. Unfortunately, she told me that no matter what she did, she still couldn’t get the sword itself out of the sheath.

It looked nice though.

“There we go.” I did a little spin, cloak flaring villainously. “Much better, don’t you think?”

“Yeah.” Dum grinned. “Looks dangerous.”

“That’s rather the point, yes.” I crossed my arms, putting on my evil smirk #4. And yes, before you ask, I did practice them. Every night in front of a mirror.

Being a villain was two thirds nefarious plots, but the last third was all theatre.

Rel came out of my room a moment later, several daggers sheathed at her waist. I could see a few more hidden under the folds of her vest.

“Hope you practiced drawing those,” I said.

Rel smiled and nodded. “Only cut myself the first dozen times or so.”

I blinked, opening my mouth to say something. But then she pulled off a glove, revealing a bandaged hand.

Instead I just sighed. “What am I going to do with you people.”

Rel giggled, putting a hand over her mouth. She’d been less guarded around me since yesterday. “As long as you don’t throw us away, you can do whatever you wish, my lady.”

I huffed, trying to ignore my face heating up. Thank god for my tan. “Just tell me what we’re dealing with already.”

Rel continued to smile. “Of course.” She crouched forward, drawing a crude map of the old docks in the dirt with her dagger. “The Red Scars didn’t have much territory, pretty much just this slice near the wall.” She outlined it. “No one else really wanted to fight on it. We’re about here, by the by.” She added a dot representing the warehouse.

“And who’s coming to take this little bit of nowhere?”

“We got, sorry, we have two gangs.” Rel scratched two crude arrows in the dirt, one coming from the south, the other moving in from the west. The southern arrow was much closer to our location. “From the west we have the Black Tongues. They’re pretty small time, same as the Scars.”

“Bit bigger,” Dum added. “But they never pushed in on us before.”

“Right.” Rel nodded, twirling the dagger across her fingers. “From the south is the bigger problem. The Tarnished.” The boys let out a hiss.

I smirked. “Here’s the part where you tell me why I should be worried?”

Rel rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Well, they’re a pretty big gang, probably figured they’d just run over the Black Tongues and anyone else who tried to move in. They’ve a couple of rare classes too, and the boss of the Tarnished is level ten.” She leaned forward. “Rumor has it he’s working toward his second class.”

A Gang boss only at level ten? Was this the tutorial or something? “So.” I let my smile grow. “What you’re saying is that if we beat the rust out of these ‘Tarnished,’ the other gangs will leave us alone?”

Yes, yes, silver didn’t rust.

Rel blinked. “Ah… pr-probably?”

You didn’t see anyone correcting me though, and that’s what really mattered.

“Excellent.” I whistled. Blue perked up from his place by the fire, before bounding to my side. On all fours, the Demon came up to my sternum, and outweighed me by at least 15 kilos. He really was a fearsome looking beast.

Then I scratched him under his jaw, just how he liked it. Blue let out a happy little trill, hind leg thumping against the ground. “Who’s a good boy! Yes you are, yes you are!” Blue butted his head against my stomach. “Want to go for a walk, boy? Want to go tear up my enemies for me?” He perked up, slitted pupils flaring in excitement. I grinned. “That’s what I thought.”

Dee and Dum threw open the doors to the warehouse and the five of us made our way out onto the street. I cast one last glance over my shoulder as Dee started to push the double doors shut. “Hold down the fort, General Tock.”

My spider automaton skittered out of the shadows at the last second, giving me a jaunty salute right before the door slammed shut.

“Well.” I turned back towards the dilapidated docks of Silverwall. “Let’s go meet the neighbors, shall we?”