Chapter LXXXI - We the smugglers. (Patreon)

60th of Summer, 5859
A dimly lit building far in the outskirts of town, Casamonu

Business was booming; booming was business for those who dealt in big booms.

Ayda, the current smuggler and former love interest of Shinasi, dealt with many things of great boon to her and her customers. For some it was textiles, for others it was untaxed wine, to others a boom in the form of gunpowder. “Black gold” as it was called, gold for those who wanted a surefire way of blowing someone else to smithereens.

Luckily for Ayda, there was no shortage of people looking for just that, especially in a time of conflict such as the one that Casamonu was going through. “We can barely keep up with all these orders…” she muttered while watching her underlings work away. They were a diverse bunch she had gathered from the backstreets of Casamonu, from those with the lightest of skin to the darkest. “Work faster you dolts!”

Making gunpowder wasn’t easy, especially when they had to work without coming under suspicion from any officials. Charcoal wasn’t hard to find, Ayda had a few members of the Charcoal Guild of Casamonu in her pocket. They’d produce extra, something usually not allowed by guilds to control prices, for her to use. Sulfur was commonly used by the members of the Herbalists’ & Potionmakers’ Guild of Casamonu, who prescribed it as a laxative and whatever else they made up at that moment. She’d get a few thousand prescriptions worth of sulfur from them (thankfully she didn’t actually have to take those prescriptions). The last ingredient that they’d need would be saltpeter, which was also the crappiest part. Thankfully the Gravediggers’ Guild was more than happy to deal with excrement instead of dead bodies once in a while, so Ayda had an entire graveyard which actually functioned as a saltpeter works. The gravediggers had many empty “graves” which they filled with excrement and, through the magical machinations of Mother Earth, that shit would be worth something as it would get covered by saltpeter. Of course, the people of Gemeinplatz knew not what happened under the ground. The whole process of efflorescence was a mystery that nobody really understood, but Ayda did understand that it got her money.

After all the ingredients were together, they’d bring it to the mill that she was in right now where the men would grind the ingredients together under a huge slab of limestone.

This mill was disguised as a standard windmill used for grinding flour, though this wasn’t fully a lie as the men did occasionally use the mill for grinding their own flour. They also had rooms for brewing moonshine on the wings of the building, along with a little armory in case a curious onlooker needed to be dealt with. The best part was that there hadn’t been that many curious onlookers ever since the count left. Ayda loved being able to conduct business without anyone sticking their stinky noses into her kegs filled with booze and powder. Not that anyone would willingly stick their noses into a keg filled with gunpowder, but one had to be safe.

Suddenly, a knock on the door of the mill. A knock that was barely heard by those on the inside due to how noisy the mill is. Ayda nodded at one of the armed workers to open the door. Who could be knocking at the door in this ungodly hour? The workers scrambled to hide, doing their best to throw sheets over their fine work. The door gently opened to reveal…

“A darkskin?” It was someone wearing full black, their faces covered with a hood. Ayda could only see their black hands. They were obviously a fugitive judging from the fact that their master was nowhere to be seen. “Look, you’re at the wrong place. Forget about this place and run away before there’s any trouble.”

The intruder raised her hands and pointed at a worker who was standing next to the mill. “You, brother, are you a slave?”

Ayda was confused at the question. The worker responded before she could vocalize anything. “No, we’re just Miss Ayda’s employees.” His coworkers confirmed the statement by nodding in agreement.

“So, she’s giving jobs to the fugitives?” That wasn’t too surprising for a criminal enterprise. Fugitives were desperate for money, and nobody would believe them if they ratted your business out. “How does she treat you?”

“Equally.” replied the worker, with the hidden implication that she made them break their backs all equally.

“Good, that means we can work together.” The intruder took out a bag of coins that jingled most pleasingly. “Miss Ayda, was it? I’m here to relay another request from Joh- ahem, Isaac Smith. I’m Kyauta, glad to meet you.”

“I’m glad to meet you and your bag of coins.” Ayda took the bag of coins, not bothering to even ask what the job was. This Smith fellow seemed to be very lucrative. Then she furrowed her brows upon realizing a big problem with what was happening. “How did you find this place?”

“That’s a secret.” replied Kyauta with a sly smile.

“Is it now?” Ayda paused just for the briefest of moments before finding the answer herself. “The only one who could have known is Shinasi. He spilled the beans, right? I swear, I’m going to teach that winesop a lesson the next time I lay my eyes upon his lanky arse.”

“I’ll convey your message to Shinasi.” Kyauta refrained from telling the fact that Shinasi had told them about what he and Ayda had gotten up to in such a secluded place.

“You don’t need to, it’s better if it’s a surprise.” Ayda began counting the coins that she had been given. Once again, she was impressed by all the money that Smith had. What was he? “So, what does your boss want? More textiles?”

“We have enough of those. Mister Smith wants all the gunpowder that you acquire in three days’ time.”

“Alright, I’ll get to- all that gunpowder?!” Ayda usually wasn’t one to question her client’s order, but her curiosity was much too strong. “I thought that he was a simple trader looking for cheap goods to smuggle, what does he…” A few possibilities popped up in Ayda’s mind: maybe he was going to begin trading in more illicit goods, maybe he was planning on making the grandest fireworks show or, maybe, Smith was planning on blowing his competitors up.

“All you need to know is that we need the gunpowder ready in storage when the day comes. How much will you be able to provide?”

“You can buy out all the gunpowder currently in storage along with the gunpowder we’ll be able to produce in three days with this money.” Ayda calmed down and returned to her usual self. Questioning the customer wasn’t her job. “Though, you’ll need to retrieve it. I don’t have enough trustworthy men to send up here and carry the goods.”

“No worries. We’ll have lots of people to carry these.” Kyauta turned around, opening the door. “Good night, and see you soon.”

The door closed behind her, leaving the room in total silence as the workers had stopped milling to watch the scene. It was awfully silent, save for the cicadas crying outside. Then Ayda suddenly cried out:

“Get back to work, you dolts! We have a big order to fulfill!”