Chương 44: - A Kingpin
'White Spice?'
Lia's mind turned the word over and over again. Clearly the word held a large significance to their negotiations, clearly seen by Rian's expression.
But no matter what potential connection Lia made, she came up with nothing.
'Just what is this?'
Both Cain and this man - Wallace, had mentioned it to her before, yet she couldn't place their reasoning behind it.
To Wallace, it seemed as though the man had given up the secret to his entire existence, yet to Cain it sounded as if it was a meaningless word. A word that held no significance to him at all.
Yet here they both were, questioning Wallace on his business. A business that revolved around two words.
White Spice.
"Clearly you are a bit confused about this. Perhaps some details may have evaded you?"
Before Lia could further question what meaning this word had, Wallace spoke, drawing her back to the conversation at hand.
"Yes. I have a general idea of what it is, yet I know nothing about its significance."
"Obviously, otherwise you wouldn't have asked your former question. The one regarding the spiders. However, that information is something I cannot share, but I can give you the general idea of White Spice and what it does. I hope that will suffice."
Thinking for a moment, Lia said nothing, her mind twisting the gears, wondering how to proceed.
"That will do fine."
"Good. Now, White Spice - as I've said, is a drug. A type of synthetic drug that increases a person's energy, as well as their durability."
"Durability?"
"Here's a good example. The main customers of this drug are the miners within the silver mines. Rian here was a major customer of mine for a while, before he eventually quit the drug and came under my service like many of his brethren."
Hearing his words, Lia gave Rian a strange side glance, secretly questioning that, if at one point, he was just like the addicts she had passed on the street.
Which, now that she was thinking about it, made sense considering she was speaking to a Kingpin of a drug trade.
'This man was helping them? More like getting them addicted to his product.'
A small ounce of hostility rose within her, directed towards the man.
As if reading her thoughts, Wallace shook his head calmly as if to die down the flames that were currently about to rage.
"Don't worry. The drug was never made to be addictive, but merely a type of steroid that helped them survive in the mines."
"Steroids are addictive."
"True, but only a small portion of the drugs I make have that trait. It's one of my main sellers, 'buy but never die.' Works well."
Attempting to change the conversation, Lia threw out all thoughts of the drug and focused more on its involvement in the mines.
"You were saying?"
"Oh, right. Sorry. My main point I was trying to get at here was that, during the time when the spiders started attacking, the drug was still pretty addictive. However, when I found the miners - specifically Rian over here, they were currently in combat while also being forced to mine heavy amounts of silver. Imagine the strain that would put on the body."
Letting his words sink in, Wallace could see Lia trying desperately to envision just how much pain the miners had to be in to have to deal with both lugging around pounds upon pounds of silver, while also dealing with the threat of spiders on a day to day basis.
In the end, Lia appeared to have given up trying.
"You can't imagine it can you? That's fine. Not many can. My point here is this. They needed my help, and soon, with the help of my steroid - White Spice, they found the energy to balance both mining and fighting. Of course…"
He said, trailing off as he motioned towards Rian's gauntlets.
"...I did give them a few tools to help now and then. But as the story goes, I eventually found a cure for my drug addiction, and the miners no longer needed to feel threatened. With the help of Rian, he and I worked together to fix the mines and the expectations that were weighted upon them."
"How did you do that?"
"Simple really. We split the miners into two groups. One would do the mining, while the other would fight. One would take up arms against the spiders, while another would take on the weight of two, in exchange for that protection the first group would offer. And with the added effects of my non-addicting drug, the miners would work for longer without breaks, while the second party could fight for longer. In the end this worked quite well, however…we soon ran into a little problem."
"A problem? Everything sounded so merry and joyous two seconds ago. What changed?"
It was Rian who answered this question and not Wallace, shocking Lia.
"The higher ups. They wanted more and more, constantly under the idea that we could work under these conditions, since we were doing fine of course."
"Suddenly the load became too heavy for both Rian and the miners to handle, as well as issues on my side and the goals I hoped to achieve. So we came to an agreement. I would deal with the higher ups, and offer them jobs in my service. It all worked out well for both of us, but one thing stood in our way."
Thinking through the story so far, lining it up with what Rian had told her not too long ago, one world came to mind.
"The Den."
"Correct."
Wallace affirmed her suspicions, leaving all the lines and gaps to fill, creating the connection she was looking for.
"So I hired mercenaries, who obviously failed. Then I tried Hunters, and the first batch that comes happens to be you, a group that wiped the floor with those spiders, and now has my gratitude. With this, Alan's threat of killing you, would have been disastrous for us. So we - well I say we but you miss, got rid of him."
Now the dots connected, the reason for the notice, the constant spider attacks, and the strange but unquestionable grip the miners had on the situation, when one would normally have fallen long by now.
"So what happens now?"
"Simple. With the spider's den gone, we can now free the miners ,who will of course come into my service securing jobs for them, and the higher ups of the Mining Group will be left to rot in dust. No one will step in those mines again."
"So you'll be saving them?"
"I wouldn't call it saving. I'm no savior."
"Because you're turning them into your drug makers."
The last words Lia said came suddenly, quicker than she could hear them, silencing the room.
Lia didn't mean to hold it back for so long, but all she saw in front of her, no matter what Rian said, was a drug dealer.
Even with all the good he's done, he was someone who could have possibly led many to their deaths at the hands of addiction. At the hands.
Lia just couldn't reason with him.
Given that the White Spice did help the miners, and Wallace had done a great deal for them, Lia was not set on forgetting that. However, she just couldn't sympathize with him.
An awkward silence filled the room, as Lia stared into the eyes of Wallace, whose own turned from logical to pitiful.
'He's pitying me? For what? Stupidity!'
The anger Lia felt was like a bile rising in her throat, not foreign like the anger she felt from Cain, but her own, simply amplified by Cain's natural habit of raging.
A trait that could or soon will come back to haunt her.
Interrupting her thoughts of anger, Rian spoke, his voice quiet but calm and clear.
"A job is a job Lia. In this case, many of us have families we need to protect. Families to provide for, and if we were servicing people who didn't care about our lives over a few ounces of silver, then we will certainly take a man up on his offer of care and stability. Especially when we had none."
Hearing this, Lia's rage went from a burning fire, to an ice cold bucket of water.
'Damn it. How could I be so foolish?'
Rian was right. The miners needed a place to go, and a place that would provide for them with safety and care.
A place they wouldn't survive in the mines.
"...sorry."
Lia said meekly, hanging her head by her side.
"It's fine. Normally those who say such things are those who truly care. And for that, you and I - those drastically different in many ways, are the same in that regard."
Nodding her head, Lia agreed, now seeing the care within the man's eyes. A care she mistaken for pity.
"What about the higher ups - the owners? Won't they try to stop you?"
And just like that, Wallace dropped yet another bomb shell on Lia, with the answer to a simple question.
"Don't worry about that. My sister is many things, but being the overseer of the mines, she won't intrude. I can assure you."
"Your sister?"
"Half."
"Oh…I see."
Taking a glance at Lukali seated next to her, Lia collected her thoughts once again, before slightly bowing before Wallace.
"If that is the case, and you truly have everything taken care of, then my friend and I shall leave."
Helping Lukali up, who struggled to stand on one of his feet, Lia headed for the door, only to stop at the sound of Wallace's voice.
"Now hold on. I still have one question left."
Smiling to herself, Lia didn't bother to turn around.
"And what's your question?"
"You know so much for someone I've never once met before. You have information that you even question at times, as if you were wondering to yourself, 'why did I ask that?'"
Half turning her head, Lia's eyes came in contact with Wallace's, as they both shared a glance, their minds in the same place.
The battle of words was still on.
"So what does that mean?"
"Well, for one it means that I would like you to answer this 'kind' man's question. I see that something is wrong with you, no disrespect of course. But I would like to know…"
Taking in a deep breath, Lia prepared herself for the question she knew would come.
"...whose the one pulling your strings?"
Taking a glance at Rian, Lia checked to see if he would answer for her, or if he would hold this information close.
Thankfully, to her it appeared to be the latter, something she could have entrusted to a friend.
"Before I answer, tell me one more thing."
"A bit late but that's fine."
"What about your little drug business? You said that it would hinder your goals in the future, as well as the miners' conditions. So my question is: What will happen to your goals?"
"By all means this is a question I'm ashamed to say I should have answered before."
He said, chuckling to himself, shifting around the papers on his desk.
"Of course my goals will not change, as I hope to bring about a new era of peace in this dark place. Neverdark…such an ironic term or a group of people who could care less about one another. In my mind this place is just full of shadows. So I'm sad to admit it, but I had to step into the darkness once or twice in order to achieve what I wanted."
"So you're telling me that your goals were never to start a drug business in the first place?"
"Yes. A simple byproduct of my goals and the path I took to achieve them."
"So what now?"
"Well, now I will be liquidating all my assets, both in the mines and out. And I will shift my focus onto something greater. Something…"
He took a moment to look out the window, over the city - which Lia was surprised to see and to have not noticed it before.
"...brighter. I think it's time I stepped out of the shadows."
"I see. Then I wish you luck."
"Thank you. Now, back to my original question. Who is pulling your strings, hero?"
"I wouldn't call myself a hero."
"Then what are you?"
Lia shrugged, smiling to herself.
"Just as a person looking for some entertainment in the world."
The answer shocked both Wallace and Rian, as well as Lukali, who had barely been following along with the conversation.
"Entertainment…but that's-"
Before Wallace could finish, Lia interrupted him, giving him his long awaited answer to his long asked question.
"You asked me who was pulling my strings. Well I'm very sorry to tell you this-"
Lia could already see the face of Wallace twisting, knowing full well what her next words would be.
"-but I'll have to skip that question."
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