Seven #3
"Your efforts are appreciated, and Vikoria has bidden us to help where we can.
Now, as for where to find Khortz…" She gave me directions, and off I went.
I had to hire a cab, carriage, or whatever they called the horse-drawn equivalent of the buckboard wagons I'd grown up with.
I noticed that there were internal combustion trucks, and even cars, obviously powered by a thinner fuel sludge variant, just as I'd run into in all the larger cities in the Seven Worlds.
However, here, the mix was still fairly even, which made me wonder just how poor this city might be.
I'd been to Port Saligar, which was also on Savoy, and there weren't any horses on the streets in that city.
I was dropped off at an intersection not far from where I was going, and after that, it was just a matter of walking the rest of the way.
To be honest, it was kind of boring. I wasn't doing great things or fighting great fights; I was just trying to help some people out, and the exciting part was over.
In some ways, it was almost like being a wage-slave engineer again.
I had to laugh at that. I was a million realities and who knows what else away from what I'd once been and where I'd once lived. How could any of this be boring? When I came to the right place, I stepped inside.
"Who are you and what do you want?" an orc sitting behind a desk asked. There were two others who just happened to be lounging about the room.
"Will. I'd like to talk to Khortz about a business proposition, and if he needs to know more than that, I'm Bazz's father-in-law, and a business acquaintance of Makill's."
"Never heard of them."
"Yeah, well, I've never heard of you, either, but you're not paid to hear of people, you're just here to answer the door. Now, pick up the phone and tell him what I just said. This is about making money."
"Maybe I don't like your attitude."
"Fine, then I'll do it." I reached across the desk and grabbed the phone.
"Hey! D—"
I vaulted the table and put the handset to my ear as I grabbed him by the throat, shutting him up.
"I'm busy, Russo," an annoyed voice said.
"I'm Makill's stepfather, and Bazz's father-in-law, and I'd like to talk some business."
"Where's Russo?"
"I've got him by the neck. Not gonna kill him, though—wouldn't be polite. I do think your guards down here might be in for a bit of a tune-up, though."
"Put Russo on!"
I handed the phone back to Russo and let go of his neck, then turned to the approaching guards and held up my hand, making them pause.
"What, Boss? He's a catfolk, tawny, bigger than me, he's wearing a couple swords, and he's got a lot of attitude. Want me to have Itkan and Eines teach him a lesson? What? Okay…"
Hanging up the phone, he shook his head and motioned the other two back. "Boss says twenty minutes. You can either wait or come back, but he's got something he can't just walk away from."
"Well, I hope she's cute," I said with a shrug, and the two orc guards laughed. "Any place I can get a quick bite to eat?"
"Jaffer's, just down the street."
"Anybody want anything?" I asked, looking around.
"You half strangle me, and now you want to buy me lunch?" Russo said, looking at me sideways.
"Business is business. No hard feelings. Offer's for you two, as well," I said, motioning to the others.
"I'll go with him," one of the guards said. "What do you guys want?"
Ten minutes later, I was sitting in a chair, eating a very late lunch with the guards. The sandwich I'd gotten, more of a pita wrap or a gyro, was pretty good, and it took the edge off. I'd just finished up when Russo's phone buzzed, and he picked it up.
"Got it," he said and turned to me. "That door, he's upstairs."
Nodding, I got up and opened the door, went up the stairs, and came out into a room that reminded me a fair bit of Bazz's office. There was an orc sitting behind a large desk who looked to be a bit younger than Bazz, though older than Makill, and he had a very large orc bodyguard.
"Hi, I'm Will," I started off. "I'm Dani's widower, I'm partnered with Makill on a cargo ship, and I let him do the planning for my other one. Bazz married one of my daughters, which you may have heard of, as I suspect you know him. I wanted to talk some business."
"Dani? That worthless flipskirt? I told Guntz to dump that bi—"
He stopped because my pistol was in his face, and one of my swords was out and pointed at his bodyguard. The only reason I hadn't pulled the trigger yet was because Fel had sent me here.
"You can say whatever the hell you want about me, Makill, Bazz, or any of them, but you say one more bad word about Dani, and I will decorate the wall behind you with your brains, kill your bodyguard, and then go downstairs and kill the other three on general principles alone.
"Am I clear?"
I was surprised when Khortz suddenly smiled. "Damn, you really are one of us! I apologize profusely. I knew Dani, and Makill told me all about how you killed that bastard king three times. Guntz would have been proud of that."
"Then why did you just say what you did?" I asked, pulling the pistol out of his face.
"Because I wanted to see if you cared, that's why. I know Makill and the others have forgiven you, because it wasn't your fault—hell, I know Bazz blames himself—but I wanted to know. If you hadn't come at me, I was sure as hell going to come after you."
I nodded and put my pistol away.
"Must say, I'm surprised at how fast you move. Never seen that before."
"I'm a champion."
Khortz snorted. "I've met champions, Will, and I've seen them fight. No, that was a step above. The kind of step a man who's still pissed takes. The kind of man with principles who isn't afraid to go all in. Which makes it a bit curious that you're here. Why is that?"
"Mind if I sit?" I motioned towards one of the chairs.
"Not at all."
"I came here on the way to Rossiya for other business.
I was deadheading on my cargo ship with a large delivery of equipment that a group of Vikoria's followers bought for their community.
They told me they were being strong-armed, and about to be extorted as well as other things, by some asshole who'd set up shop. "
"Why not go to the sheriff?"
"He was involved, obviously. The sheriff was also paying off the mayor, who was more than happy to look the other way."
"Ah, so you dealt with it?"
I nodded. "I gave the sheriff the option to get out of town, after removing his pawn and a few others."
"And that involves me how?"
"I'd like to think I know how orcs do business.
If you come in and set up shop there, sure, you'll be doing things, but you won't be strong-arming the locals if you find yourself with a nice deal that'll also be helping them out.
You'll branch out into some legitimate businesses, make some money off everyone's vices, and if any of the locals need to hire some muscle when idiots come to town, they know they can trust you, because you're all about the community, right? " I said with a smile.
"I'm guessing you're talking about Mulberry? Because that's the only large settlement of Vikoria's around here."
I nodded.
"Why would I want to set up business there? That's pretty small pickings, Will."
"Two reasons. The first is, they're putting in a cannery, and they've got a lot of plans for growth, which is why when the new sheriff came in, he brought in some toughs to carve out a piece of that business for himself."
"Okay, so a cannery would definitely put them on the map in a decade or so. What's the other reason?"
I smiled. "They've got an interesting idea about canning the concentrated juice of Trevia berries. It should last longer, thus making it a less seasonal product."
"And that interests me, why?"
"With the amount of production they'll be doing, they're going to have a lot of fodder that'll need to be hauled away. They'd be willing to sell it quite cheaply to someone who might be a bit more community-minded."
"How cheap are we talking?"
I got out the sheet and passed it over to him. I watched as Khortz scanned it, then blinked.
"They're giving prices by the ton?"
"They're planning on growing a lot."
Khortz laughed. "As bribes go, this has to be a novel one. Do they really think they're going to make any money on this?"
"They feel that they should be able to make a little—enough to cover expenses, and hopefully a small profit.
It's more that they realize that sooner or later, someone's going to come to town, so why not someone they can work with?
Vikoria's got no problems with smugglers, and neither do her followers. "
Khortz looked back up at me. "What do you get out of it?"