Chapter 767: Road to Redemption
Please note that the following vignette is a bit…different from the others.
…
Collateral Consequences #3: Beaver Bros.
At the corner of a street known as the Aristan District, sat a rather questionable looking office building with a rather questionable looking sign.
If one were to take the time to read this aforementioned sign, they would see the words: “Beaver Brothers: Private Investigators and Courier Service”.
A rather strange mixture of businesses, but then again, the people who owned this building were a strange mix themselves.
The owners of this business and building were three individuals by the name of Victor, Simos and Graff.
The three of them were all former criminals, who collectively decided to retire from that lifestyle after having survived a deal that went so wrong that literal demons from hell crawled out to punish them.
Well, the trio had no idea if those monsters were actually demons but they didn’t want risk dealing with them ever again, hence the need to retire.
The trio didn’t really have any skills that were marketable and they weren’t exactly the most martially inclined individuals. After all, two of them were sect exiles due to incompetence and laziness, while the third never really learned any combat arts that were worth a damn.
Despite this drawback though, the newly minted trio managed to pool enough money together to buy a building from this strange artist that had apparently decided to go on a journey after being inspired by a shooting star, and start a modest business in the world of private investigation. Unfortunately for them, business was rather slow.
“You know…I always figured a ‘normal’ life would be more hectic…I think it’s somehow even more boring than a slow crime day,” Simos griped.
“Yeah…at least we’re not baking in the sun while waiting for a mark to walk by,” Graff added.
“True…how much longer until Victor gets back?”
“I think like…ten minutes? He had to go to the other side of town.”
“Damn.”
When the trio decided to open a private investigation office, they figured the money would come rolling in as soon as they opened their doors. After all, Pearl Tusk Harbor was a big port town with all manner of people and goods coming in and out on a daily basis. There had to be at least a dozen or so people who needed someone or something found in a timely manner, regardless of their intentions.
But alas, that wasn’t the case.
Despite being open for weeks now, the trio had only gotten one case that was relatively low paying in nature, since it was just about the missing pet of an old lady. Evidently, they didn’t factor in the possibility that any big organization that had money and would need services like theirs, would’ve probably cultivated their own investigation force for the sake of convenience.
Due to work being so slow though, Victor decided to add courier services to their sign, since his bloodliner skill made him able to store a lot of items in his teeth anyways.
This turned out to be a business savvy desicion on his part, as there were a lot more people in need of porters than there were people in need of private eyes.
The money wasn’t enough for the trio to elevate their standings in life, but it was enough to keep their office building warm and their bellies full. Then again, that was last could be done because they managed to make friends with the owner of a lovely restaurant that specialized in coffee and pasta.
Speaking of…
*Ching-a-ling*
“Hey guys, I’m back,” Victor said as he walked through the officer’s main door. “Any new cases while I was away?”
“Welcome back, and nah. We haven’t had anyone walk through those doors other than you.”
“Hey, Victor. How was the job this time around? Was it at least interesting?”
“Eh, not too bad. Just had to distribute a literal ton of onions between a bunch of restaurants in the market district and in Ignition Street.”
“Wait, Ignition Street? That means…”
“That’s right, bitches!,” Victor said while focusing his aether to one of his teeth.
Understanding the implications of Victor’s words, Simos and Graff proceeded to perk up immediately and sat upright for the big moment.
“I got to stop by Ignacio’s!”
“Hell yeah!”
Before their very eyes, a giant plate of spaghetti covered in a delicious red sauce and powdered cheese materialized out of Victor’s teeth. Alongside it were three steaming mugs of black coffee.
“Hell yes!”
“Thanks to whatever deity invented pasta!”
“Pfft! This all Ignacio’s doing and you know it.”
“Hell of a twist right there, turns out he’s a god of pasta!”
“Hah!”
On the night the three of them decided to give up a life of crime for an honest living, the three of them had stumbled upon a cafe in the middle of nowhere that specialized in foreign foods they had never heard of before called pasta and coffee.
While they didn’t know whether or not to attribute the deliciousness of the meal that evening to their life changing decision or Ignacio’s skills, they were hooked as soon as they took that first bite of spaghetti.
Ever since, the three of them would regularly get Ignacio’s pasta and coffee at least once a week…if they could afford it.
“Can someone get the plates?”
“On it.”
“Hey, did you get this with extra spice?”
“Of course I did!”
“Hell yeah.”
*Thud.*
“Huh?”
As the trio sat down and got ready to eat dinner for the evening, the sound of something hard hitting the floor suddenly caught their attention.
Turning towards the source, they discovered that someone had dropped a rather heavy looking package through their door’s mail slot.
Unsure of what to make of it, the three of them decided to investigate the package in a most professional manner.
“Three, two, one, not it!”
“Not it!”
“Dammit!”
Having drawn the short straw, Simos went over and checked to see what was dropped off at their door.
He was initially rather flippant and annoyed about the whole thing…until he saw the seal on the package.
“Uh oh…guys?
“Huh? What’s the matter?”
“Take a look at this package.”
“What’s…oh.”
“Oh…come on.”
The seal in question was one they recognized as belonging to a certain opera singer/underworld fence that was tangentially related to why they had to give up their life of crime in the first place.
Not sensing any ill intent from the package, the three of them decided to open it up to figure if it was worth the trouble or not.
*Thud.*
“Huh.”
When they saw the literal gold brick fall out of the package and onto the ground, they figured they could at least read the letter.
“Well…maybe it won’t involve those you-know-whats?”
Spoiler alert, it did.
________________________________________
*Bing-Bong*
We now return to our protagonist, who is having a bit of mental breakdown.
Thank you.
*Bing-Bong*
_______________________________________
[Milord? Are you okay?,] Nepherage asked.
‘Uh…yeah…kinda…just…not sure how to feel about all…this.’
[You mean the fact that your attempts to cover up our wanton paths of destruction had lead to sudden and dramatic changes in society in the immediate area?,] Razorstella followed up.
[Or are you referring to the guilt you’re feeling after handing over the schedules of all of those assassination targets to their respective assassins, after wiping out the latter’s memories about our existences and suggesting that they don’t to anything until after y’all made it to port,] Screamira added,[all because you didn’t necessarily have a horse in either race and you wanted to see who would survive what?]
‘Y-yeah, more or less that.’
[I don’t see the big deal,] Spring Brawler commented.
[Me neither,] Hurricroak agreed.
[Y’all…are…weird…]
…
“Xiao Liu, are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just…thinking about stuff.”
“Hmmm.”
Shortly after the S.S. Nimona made landfall, the Zhen Clan had to deal with the logistical bullshit that was figuring out the next leg of their journey, namely the purchasing of supplies and finding a caravan that was heading back to Stone Claw City.
It was incredibly easy to find a caravan heading to a port town, trying to find caravans heading to a frontier town was a lot harder.
So much harder in fact that the Zhen Clan agreed to spend the night in Pearl Tusk Harbor until they could find a caravan train heading that way, or at least organize their own.
Either way, like it was the trend at this point, the younger generation was allowed to go and do whatever until the evening, when it was expected that they would be marching out…hopefully.
Regardless, Zhen Liu used this opportunity to tour through Pearl Tusk Harbor, one again.
Or to be more accurate, Jinju Ren, Jin Fang and Rianna took this opportunity to have Zhen Liu show them what sort of collateral consequences he caused the last time he was here, while also doing some shopping.
Their reason for doing so?
They found his squirming to be adorable.
“Wait, I thought slavery was banned on Stampeding Bison.”
“It is.”
“So…why did you buy that collar?”
“No reason.”
