Enlightened Empire

Chapter 428: The Other Side

When Alcer left the promenade for the side road that led back to his familiar neighborhood again, he breathed a deep sigh of relief. Finally, he was back home. At once, he felt the pressure in his head and chest ease. However, he was still troubled by the meeting in the ale house.

What to do?

Even after he had spent his entire walk back in thought, he still hadn't come to a decision. While he felt like he deserved to own the business he had built by his own so far, he also wanted to help Kyunya get back on his feet, since he sympathized with his story. Still, that was no reason to hand over so much of his business to workers he didn't know, was it?

In the first place, he was sure that at least Mallku would do fine either way. Those two were friends, right? Surely, he wouldn't just let his friend starve to death. Was it really Alcer's responsibility to take care of them, to his own detriment, just because he could?

Then again, he didn't even know what he would do with all the money once he got rich. Not to mention, getting a loan from the central bank was certainly the easiest and safest way to go if he wanted his business to succeed.

He really was getting tired of thinking back and forth. Now that he had finally returned, he threw all thoughts away, at least temporarily. For now, he would just get home and relax after his long walk and even longer discussion. Anything else had to come once he was in a better state of mind.

At last, he could see his little house in the distance, slowly getting larger, though never larger than the extended shack it was. Once he made it big, the first thing he would do was to move into a more spacious home. However, as soon as he made the decision, he was reminded of Master Rimaq in his big manor, and his mood soured again.

Once again, his thoughts began to spin, and so he failed to notice his surroundings. Just as he was about to step into his open yard, a shriek made him turn in shock.

"Stop, young man! Are you so deaf that you won't hear me!?"

Behind him, Alcer saw a weather-beaten old face he would usually avoid whenever he could. Before him stood Anka, the resident shrew. Not that he minded the old woman during ordinary times. After all, despite her abrasive way of talking, she had helped him a lot when he had been less fortunate in the past. However, he really couldn't stand the constant nagging, nor her repeated attempts to marry off her niece to him ever since he had returned from the war with the questionable label of 'hero'.

"Ah, good afternoon, Madam Anka," Alcer replied weakly, as he tried to turn back towards his home. The plan was simple: Keep walking and enter the door before the woman could react. However, the plan shattered on the shrew's determination.

"Halt, I said!"

This time, Alcer had no more choice but to stop and turn around once more.

"I'm sorry, madam. I'm a bit tired these days," the insincere veteran apologized for his cowardly behavior. Meanwhile, the old woman walked into his yard as well. As she closed in, the broom in her hand began to emanate a malicious aura.

"I hear you are a big man now, getting your own workshop built and all," she said, while measuring him head to tow like an ox for sale. However, Alcer wouldn't be roped into her plans.

"That's an exaggeration," he lied. "For now, I'm still a penniless retiree. I'm sure your precious niece will find someone better than me."

I have seen through your ploy, witch! You won't burden your niece with a good-for-nothing, will you? Now show your disappointment, and be gone from this place!

However, the calm shake of Anka's head once more disrupted Alcer's escape strategy.

"No, I didn't mean that," she said, before she added: "Although you young people should meet up once, at least."

"Yes, maybe one day," the insincere Alcer replied in a much better mood. Now that the old woman didn't want to sell him off to her niece anymore, he no longer had to be so impatient. Thus, he replied in a friendlier tone: "Then what can I help you with, Aunt Anka?"

"Some suspicious stranger came here this morning, stood in front of your house, looked through the windows. All in all, like a bandit or other such lowlife. I came out to drive him away, and before I could hit him, he handed me this."

As she spoke, Anka held a small piece of paper out towards Alcer, who took it dutifully.

Tasa Bank, Alcer read quietly. You people keep appearing everywhere.

"You know the man?" Anka asked. Her broom was half raised, as if she would go out to hunt down the banker herself if Alcer didn't exonerate him right away.

"Ah, yes I do. He works for the Tasa Bank, so he shouldn't be anyone dangerous," he saved the man's life. "Thank you for giving it to me."

"He also said that... you should make your decision quickly," Anka tried to quote the man, while scratching her long, grayed hair with the broom handle "He said, their funds is limited and they cannot wait on you forever? It was something like that, I didn't quite get it. Does that mean you have business with this bank?"

"Ah yeah, something like that," Alcer replied thoughtlessly, which he regretted right away.

"I knew it," Anka shouted. Her judgmental look from before had returned, yet now she was even nodding her head, apparently happy with her purchase. "You will surely be a great man in the future, hero."

"Yes, thank you, madam," Alcer said while his eyes scanned the surroundings for an out. Before the situation could get any worse, his brain worked at high speed, until it found a suitable path of escape. "Since this bank business is an urgent matter, I have to go now take care of it. So please excuse me."

Thus, before the woman could sell off her niece again, Alcer had turned around and entered his home. When he heard his door close shut behind him, he sighed in relief once again. After he had thrown the blanket with his prototype and patent to the side, he took off his wet overcoat, and then sat at his only table, on top of his only chair.

Again he fell into thought, as he had done so many times today. All the while, he was turning the bank's card in his hand. The added time pressure didn't exactly make things easier for him.

For today, maybe it was better to take care of his social obligations and free up his mind first. He had to start untangling the mess in his head somehow, so he may as well start with his old subordinate.

In Saniya, every neighborhood was different, with different characteristics and different atmospheres. Alcer knew that well. Even so, he was still shocked when he entered the eastern dock district for the first time since he had enlisted in the army all those years ago. While there had been quite a few layabouts on the promenades, things were even worse here.

Beggars and thieves competed for the cramped space. The roads were dirty and cracked from the constant movement of people and goods. At least the rain had stopped, so the puddles of water weren't overflowing anymore and no longer turning the crooked road into a river.

Within this mess were the dockhands, an army of workers who were struggling to move crates from one place to the next. They traveled from the distant forest made up of ships and their masts, to the warehouses all around him, and from there into the city, along the promenades and into every shop in Saniya. Meanwhile, these workers with their precious cargo had to be on the lookout for all those who seemed to just sit there with nothing to do for the day, those who were eyeing them from every corner at every moment. Most of them were just trying to survive, of course, but many would also use every chance to fill their bellies for a day, even if they had to kill a man.

This place, the place where Alcer had been working until he had joined the army, was the beating heart of Saniya, which pumped lifeblood in the form of goods into the arteries called promenades, and then further into all neighborhoods, to support the entire city. Apart from Rapra Castle, it was possibly the most important place in all of Saniya.

However, not much seemed to have changed since his departure years ago. Unlike the rest of the city, which was beautiful and new, this place still stank of fish and rust. The roads were still too narrow for all the goods to travel through, and there was still much vermin around, of both kinds. Of course, the roads had been expanded here just like they had been in the rest of the city, maybe even more so. Yet despite that, the harbor had only gotten busier and dirtier with the unstoppable growth of the city.

Although a frown developed on his face, Alcer ignored the familiar sights and stenches as he made his way towards the north side of the neighborhood. Here, he would find the cheap shacks of the dockhands, where a day laborer could pay two copper to spend the night with a leaky roof over his head.

Of course, he always retained his vigilance, watching dark corners and staying away from people as much as possible. He had come in the evening, since he knew from Killari that Kichka was working the morning shift these days. However, maybe that hadn't been such a good idea in retrospect. By the time he went back, it would be dark, which meant the thugs, pickpockets, and beggars of the harbor would be even more unscrupulous than they were already.

Despite his worries, Alcer reached the crooked shacks unharmed. Maybe they had been scared off by his sturdy frame for now, or maybe they had simply seen his cheap clothing and deemed him an unprofitable mark.

Most of the overnight shacks were newly built, though one couldn't tell from their outward appearance. In the wet, wind-swept environment, where salty rainwater would beat against the walls without cease, it took only a few years to turn these shoddily built wooden huts into barely standing, wind-swept shacks. Inside, he would find rows upon rows of workers, trying to rest up for their next shift at work. However, before he could even step inside, he had already found who he was looking for. Rather, he had been found by the very same.

"Captain? What are you doing here?"

When Alcer followed the sound and looked down, he spotted a familiar face, sitting huddled up inside a mangy blanket underneath the shack's short overhang.

"Kichka?" Although he looked in even worse condition than Kyunya, wrapped up in a blanket out in the open like this, Alcer still recognized his old subordinate, much to his surprise. What were the chances that they would meet just like this? Though for now, there was a more pressing question to be answered: "What are you doing out here?"

"No money," Kichka said bitterly. "Don't even have two copper to rub together these days."

"What are you talking about?" Alcer asked, still too confused to even consider helping up his subordinate. "Killari said you were working as a dockhand. How come you have no copper?"

Right away, Alcer thought of the worst, dice games, or wine. Although his downtrodden subordinate relieved his worries, his actual answer wasn't any better.

"I did, but the bosses didn't like me no more," Kichka whimpered, as his body curled up underneath the blanket. "You don't know how it is, captain. Damn war ruined me. Every time I'm in one of those damn warehouses, where one thing lies on top of the other all in a mess, those boxes start to look like that damn rainforest from back then."

Iskay Island, Alcer thought. The place where we fought together.

"Every time I enter one of those place, my chest goes tight and I get no air," a distraught Kichka continued to explain. "Whenever I heard something fall over or someone bang against anything in the warehouses, I'd go down for cover. Just like we used to do in the war. It happened a few times, and one time I dropped and broke some Chutwa glaze. So I gained a reputation. Those big bosses talk to each other, you know? Now no one wants to hire Kichka the madman."

Alcer was in shock. Was this how this city treated its war heroes? What was the veteran's office even good for then?

"Why didn't you ask for help? You could have come to me, or at least Killari."

"Can't involve the police, captain, even if he's your friend. It's better for both of us if we stay away from each other. But don't worry, captain. I'll get by. There's plenty of veterans at the docks. Lots of them work for young master Ekkoko now. We look out for each other, and we don't need anyone's help. We make sure that none of our own have to starve. They'll help me while I get that damned head of mine in order again."

Even now when he sounded hopeful, Kichka still had tears in his eyes. Even worse, it sounded like he had gotten himself involved with one of the local gangs. Originally, Alcer had just come here to check on his friend and maybe offer him a job in his bayonet business. Now however, Alcer was determined to get his subordinate out of here, before he got himself killed, or lost his mind.

"No, you'll come with me," he said, determination in his voice. At the same time, he pulled Kichka up by his arms.

"I really don't need it, captain." Although the homeless veteran said so, he still obediently followed his old captain's orders and stood up. "Don't worry, young master Ekkoko will take care of me. I know you don't have much money yourself, so you don't need to waste your time with me."

However, Kichka's consideration only made Alcer laugh.

"Hah, looks like you're not that well informed here. I'm also a big boss now. I came here today to hire you, so you won't need to rely on that young master whatever. Just rely on your captain instead. So come on, we're leaving. That's an order, soldier."

"Understood," he said, before he added in a whisper: "Thank you, captain."

After they had taken a few steps, Alcer saw his new companion make some hand movements towards a suspicious figure, who promptly retreated into a dark side alley.

With his new companion in tow, it appeared as if Alcer at least didn't have to worry about getting robbed anymore on his way back. Thus, the two safely left the harbor, and returned to a more pleasant neighborhood.

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