Bab 18: Negative Influences
That same evening, Shui absented himself from watching the slaves at dinner, which was his or any other servant's responsibility there.
The slaves were their master's property, so in Mero's absence, he or Amir had to watch the captives.
The two could alternate this surveillance, so this middle-aged man used the fact that Amir was nearby to go to the family he was building in Cusca.
He walked more than half of the city until he reached his target: a simple but spacious house on one corner of a quiet street.
Several children could be seen running around, working less physically demanding jobs there.
In this society, children up to the age of five usually stayed in the family home and from then on would start helping their parents in some way.
Girls would start helping their mothers with household chores, washing, cooking, and organizing the house, while boys would learn their fathers' trades.
If the father were a stone-breaker, then the boy would slowly learn that trade, first just by watching his father while carrying tools. But the day would come, around the age of 12, when they would work almost the same as an adult.
Some children on the street where Shui had just entered a house were carrying tools for their parents or siblings, while other older ones were using handcarts full of things.
Shui had not paid attention to his surroundings since that was the typical scene one would encounter in this place full of popular housing.
He walked discreetly into a main doorway house with the street and came upon a kitchen where two small children and two adults stood.
Clay pots were burning on the wood stove, and the herbs of the spices had their fragrances wafting through the air.
"Shui, are you back?" A woman next to the wood stove asked as she turned around and saw that man playing with the children, rubbing his hands through their hair.
"Yes, but I just came to talk to you briefly... I will have to go back later today. My master sends a new person, and I must be careful." He said as he sat down in a chair.
"Someone new?" An old woman sitting around the only table in the center of that dining room asked.
"Yes, my master put a slave to manage the place... In short, the guy is crazy." He laughed bitterly.
The two women there looked at him strangely since this was indeed a strange circumstance.
"Anyway, our business will have to be slowed down. The damned slave has made several changes to the store that will make it difficult to pick up items." He explained.
"Can't we just keep buying the minerals at below-normal prices? Even if he's organizing things, he won't notice if we follow what we've done so far." The woman cooking suggested.
"Yes, if it's worked so far without anyone noticing, we should try at least." The old woman agreed with her daughter.
Shui looked at these two, his wife and mother-in-law, and sighed.
In this society, men ruled the world, and women served as good wives, mothers, and housewives. But there were those few who escaped the norm and became something more.
Some would become prostitutes. That was the most likely fate for someone outside the norm. But others, like this mother and daughter pair, would become outlaws.
Women like them were not common, even among the most daring. Even more, they were usually meticulous and always had help. So hardly anyone would identify them as criminals.
But they existed and could even have whole circles of men and other women working for them!
Such was the case with the mother of Shui's wife, Khaa.
This old woman had convinced Shui to search for his freedom as a servant by teaching him some practices she had developed during her younger years.
She had been a prostitute in the capital of Noskain, where she had often served nobles and important people in this state. That gave her chances to talk with intelligent people and learn many things.
In her old age, she had been using many of these skills to try to buy her family's freedom and future.
Because of this, Tenur thought Shui was a genius for this time.
But despite being 'directed' by this woman, Shui genuinely wanted to be free of servitude and achieve the status of a free man, perhaps even a nobleman!
Despite Khaa's manipulation, this man had made most of his choices himself.
Shui then said. "I don't know. I feel like that damn slave has me in his sights... Even Amir is looking at me differently."
"Is Amir around here?" The old woman asked.
Amir was not part of the group manipulated by this woman. But he was the servant Mero usually sent from his home to this post to pick up results, give orders and bring resources.
So these people knew him well.
But Amir had never noticed any of their movements, and his current behavior was bizarre.
"Yes, Amir is here to assist the damn slave... Anyway, I don't think the situation is good for us. We'd better take a break from our..."
"No, we must continue." The old woman demanded. "Go to Nail. He'll help you resolve the situation."
"Nail?" Shui asked, frowning his eyebrows.
Nail was the eldest son of Khaa, brother of Ife, Shui's wife. But this servant of Mero did not like that man at all due to that individual's schemes always getting out of hand.
But Khaa trusted her eldest son, who obeyed her without question.
"That won't work. Lord Mero values this slave too much. He even seems to prefer the damned Tenur to me..." Shui said in a disgusted manner. "So if something happens to that damn thing right after he gets here, we'll be in trouble."
"So what do you suggest, Shui? My mother is right. Suppose we don't take advantage of the situation in this store while Mero isn't paying attention to her. In that case, we will lose our only chance to achieve nobility." Ife said as she distracted herself from the food cooking.
As said, Shui was not far from reaching enough to buy his freedom and start his own business. In fact, he already had enough coins to buy his freedom, but it would do no good to be a free man without means.
Being Mero's servant, he at least had the opportunity to continue diverting resources from that store.
But a free man wouldn't have much to do if he didn't have the resources to start his enterprise.
So Shui continued to work for Mero. He and his family wanted to finish collecting enough coins to start their own business in Cusca.
Unlike Mero, who understood nothing of local business, Khaa and their family knew their way around and knew how to become successful locally.
They were so close to reaching the point where they could finally get started that that ordinarily cautious old woman wanted to take a chance.
Shui then replied to his wife. "A slave will never be someone who can be trusted, so we can't try to bring him to our side.
But precisely because of that, we can cause trouble for him and easily blame him for something..."
"Oh? Are you thinking of making Mero himself get rid of this slave?" That old woman readily understood what was on her son-in-law's mind.
He might not be as smart as she was, but as someone younger and who had learned from her, Shui was pretty clever!
"If we get rid of him, we can continue our previous plans without any worries!"
...
At the same time, the local ruler was lying down in a prominent estate in the center of Cusca while someone shook a large fan.
Meanwhile, a well-dressed woman was sitting next to him, with her thighs supporting his head and her giving him grapes in his mouth.
This man had some simple makeup on his face, but it showed the difference in status from ordinary people.
Cusca was a small city, but even so, this place had nobility, rich free men, and mostly envoys and travelers.
So even though this place was small and without many people to generate a good flow of coins in the local commerce, there were consumers with purchasing power.
Among these was this man, the leader of one noble family of the Cusca region, responsible for the southeastern border of Noskain.
"My master, what have you done today?" The woman asked, trying to pull a topic with that man.
"Nothing relevant..." That man said while having his eyes closed, trying to relax. "I just heard a strange report. The Touma family store has been closed for two days in a row, which has never happened before.
I wonder what it could be..."
"Is that a problem?" The woman inquired.
"Not at all. It would be nice if they didn't open anymore, hahaha." He said, considering that his family sold similar things to Mero's store.
Unfortunately, the Touma family was bigger than his, and he couldn't just attack that place!
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