Chapter 31: Failsafe

The factory churned with a never-ending rumbling sound. Soot and fumes blanketed the entire factory floor, with large arctech furnaces melting metal, slag drifting on molten rivers. Assembly lines formed as dirt-covered workers moved their hands through the same mundane motions, twisting and screwing appliances before them.

On an upper floor, there were offices filled with arctech designers, working hard on improving engravings incrementally through every iteration. The manager at the head of the office made a simple modification to the engraving, passing it down to the next guy who calculated a very specific parameter before handing it over to the next person. It was like a human calculator, with each designers simply focusing on one parameter.

In the middle of this chain was a young man, his eyes clearly glazed with boredom as he barely gave a glance at each of the prototypes in front of him. They were basic household appliances - right now, a simple heated kettle that didn’t require an arctech stove. He sighed as he scribbled down a few numbers on a piece of paper, before checking another variation of the same kettle.

The hours passed slowly, his mind numb from the monotonous work. As he slowly walked out of the factory, he began to wonder why he even decided to become an arctech designer. Whatever happened to all the cool equipment that he could have been making? Instead he was some glorified single equation calculator for a fucking kettle.

However, tonight was going to be different. As soon as he turned the corner, Karl was already waiting for him with a wide grin, along with three other workers from the factory floor.“Ready to party it up, Gordon?” Karl patted his shoulder.

Gordon was a bit stunned before he nodded resolutely. He had been enticed by the raving stories Karl had talked about the glamorous casinos, brothels and pubs that he had never been to before, so they agreed to head over to one of the casinos Karl knew.

“Don’t you worry, I know a guy in there? He’s the boss. I already got word from him they set up everything for us, the full VIP treatment.”

“I... I don’t have that much money.” Gordon stammered.

“HAHA! Don’t worry, that guy used to be one of our factory workers! Can you believe it? He’s one of the top dogs right now. Here they come.” Karl laughed it off, while Gordon was shocked. A luxurious arctech wagon drove up to the factory, turning heads and eyes towards them as the wagon stopped right in front of them.

Niko was already in the back of the wagon, beckoning for them to enter. The five of them entered the wagon, which was coated in the most luxurious surface Gordon had ever seen. He had never imagined a simple word from Karl was able to acquire all of this.

Karl noticed the surprise on Gordon’s face, nudging him as the wagon sailed off to the casino. “Surprised? It’s easy to get into the good life just like that.” Karl handed him a bottle of unlabelled beer still in its glass bottle. “Homebrewed by the Seven Snakes themselves, we even got our own brewery!”

“Isn’t drinking alcohol illegal under the ban...?” Gordon asked worriedly, having never flouted the law before.

Karl laughed, slapping Gordon on the back. “Hey Niko, tell him how many times you’ve been caught drinking over the last two months.”

“Zero,” Niko replied with a smirk on his face. Just at that very moment, the wagon stopped near an enforcer patrol, causing Gordon to clamp up slightly, trying to hide the bottle of beer in his hands.

The enforcer patrol spotted Niko in the wagon, the two enforcers walking over to the back of the wagon. “Having a good night out eh?”

“Of course. Looking forward to seeing you at the dice games.” Niko tossed a bottle of beer each to the enforcers, who simply smiled and slipped the bottles under their uniform before walking off.

Gordon’s eyes shone like diamonds at how easily Niko handled the enforcers. He had no idea it was this simple to live the high life. What the hell has he been doing all his life, aiming to be some no-name arctech designer trapped in a dumb office?

“Ah, he’s too loud. Shut him up.” Karl ordered the three factory workers, who began to force open Staten’s mouth. One worker held open the mouth while another took out a crowbar and positioned it against Staten’s bleeding lower gum. “Every time you shout, this is going to happen.”

The scream was horrendous as the crowbar ripped out a tooth from the gum, causing Staten to spasm in the chair. “Stuff this in his mouth, don’t want the blood to get all over here.” Karl threw a cloth over. “Now, nod your head for yes, shake your head for no. Remember, dear little Rachel is waiting for you. This doesn’t need to get any bloodier.”

Staten nodded his head vigorously, completely powerless to stop any of them. “Good. You will resign effectively tomorrow and name Gordon as your successor. If by any chance the enforcers hear about this, or Gordon does not become the manager, you can forget about seeing Rachel, got it?”

Karl smiled as Staten nodded his head in acknowledgement, while another factory worker took out a Healing Potion and stuffed it down Staten’s mouth, forcing him to drink it. The wounds were immediately cleared up, though his tooth was still missing.

The next day, Staten held a general meeting, announcing his resignation due to health issues and appointed Gordon as the factory manager. There was a mixture of shock, surprise and anger, but Gordon felt a rush as he took up his new position at the head of the office. Just like that, he became the manager in charge of designing the products for the factory.

He immediately fired all the existing foremen on the factory floor and instituted Karl and the three workers as their replacements, ensuring they had total control over what the factory could produce.

Near the end of the workday, a man accompanied by five Seven Snakes members, including Niko, marched in, meeting with Gordon. The man walked right into Gordon’s office without hesitation, glancing around the room. “Manager Gordon, how do you like your new office?”

“It’s brilliant, sir.” Gordon got up and bowed immediately, knowing from Niko that this man was Kyle, leader of the Seven Snakes.

“Let’s get straight to business. I need you to produce these parts for the Seven Snakes. We’ll handle the cost, along with an added benefit.” Kyle handed over a few of the requested prototype parts that he himself had made. Gordon eyed the parts, noticing they were mostly defensive armour pieces with basic arctech engravings. Is he trying to outfit an army or something?

The armour pieces were all designed to be concealed under normal clothes, while Gordon noticed that there were three sets ordered that had a much different engraving style with a note that requested him to personally produce these parts. “Sir, these engravings are...”

“Proprietary. I will work together with you to make these specific parts.” Kyle wasn’t about to let Gordon learn too much about the new optical illusion engraving that he had modified from Gulak.

Gordon nodded, still checking over the entire order. However, there was a snag. “Sir, the factory owners are still unaware of this takeover and will still have quotas on the production of other products to fulfil.” Gordon tried to explain before he glanced at Kyle’s piercing eyes.

“I’ve been told you are a brilliant arctech designer. The money is there for the taking; it is up to you how much you want to make.” Kyle replied nonchalantly. “Do this well, and there will be better contracts in the future. I look forward to our cooperation.”

The group of the Seven Snakes left, with Niko patting Gordon on the back and handing him a set of documents before leaving.

Gordon read through the documents, his eyes widening as he read the details on it. “This... this is revolutionary! The factory can be fifty percent, no maybe even a hundred percent more efficient with implementing these methods!”

Back in the office, Keith was already about to burst his top at Kyle spending money to fund the factory production. “I know what you’re planning, but we don’t have enough money to pull it off! That armour production is going to cost millions at this rate – arctech gear isn’t cheap. Our associates won’t have enough arcia energy to fuel the use of the equipment, which means they might need fuel packs. That’s going to be another money sink...”

The Euria Seeds cash revenue was enough to offset the debt, but it wasn’t in the tens of millions yet. However, Kyle was unfazed, simply smiling at the frustrated Keith.

“Oh, don’t worry, money won’t be a problem very soon.”