Chapter 178 Competition Rises

It was a warm afternoon today. Marco had just finished off one more reading of the Bible, before packing up his dozens of coins donated to him in a briefcase and storming off back to Vice's house.

Marco found Vice in his room, slowly taking out 10 coins at a time inside the glass jars, counting them up, and placing them inside onto a wooden chest in an orderly fashion. The two have been running their successful little operation for about a little over a month now, operating every day of the week.

"Hello Vice, how has the counting been going for you?" Marco asks. Vice stops counting for a minute to turn around to face Marco.

"Never better Marco. I never would have thought counting money would be this fun!" Vice replied truthfully. Marco smiled at his response.

"Well, I got some more jars filled with money here. I hope you have time for 4 more." Marco then placed the briefcase on the bed and opened it up. They then took out 4 glass jars and placed them on the table, next to the other glass jars.

"Say, do you need any help with that? I can chip in if you need me," Marco asked.

"Of course! Help yourself!" Vice replied, accepting the helping hand.

The two started to take the coins one by one and place them inside a few wooden chests. These wooden chests were specially made to hold coins in them, without having them make the jiggling sound coins make when they move around, making the duo a hot target for every criminal in a 15-meter radius.

'1,510... 1,520, 1,530... I counted 1,533 over here! what about you?" Vice asked Marco.

"I got around counted 585 here. That would mean we have made..."

"2,118 coins so far... If I am right." Vice filled in. Being the man given the job of counting, his mental calculator was allowed to grow in effectiveness. A precious time saver for Vice.

"That sounds about right... So what does that leave us?" Marco asked Vice.

"Well, considering that about 500 copper coins equate to a silver coin, this batch should give us 2 silver coins and 118 copper coins so far. Add that amount to the last 3 weeks and we have already made..." Vice went silent.

"How much Vice? How much did we make?" Marco asked. Vice's head turns to meet Marco's eyes.

"12 silver coins and 90 copper coins."

"All in?" Marco asked. A large smile forms across Vice's face. He starts to chuckle in laughter.

"Each," he mutters. The single word ushers in excitement for Marco, for even he, didn't know he could have made that much money in such a short amount of time.

"YES! HELL YEA! See! I told you it was profitable. That is amazing! How much is that in total?" Marco asked, a little curious.

"24 silver coins and 180 copper coins. That is about the total amount we have made after subtracting from all our costs," Vice replies.

"Do you know what I think Marco, I think we two go somewhere special! I never thought I would have been able to make THIS much amount of money," Vice confessed.

"I mean... I don't want to rush it. I am thinking of saving the money for something else."

"Ah! I see. Well, that is your choice, Marco. I guess the only thing left to do now is to go deposit these in the bank?" Vice remarked.

"Yes, I guess so Vice. Say, want to help me pack them?" Marco asked.

"Sure! I am happy to help!" The two started to pack the wooden chests inside of two black leather briefcases. They then changed into a suit and tie, to make sure to look formal when visiting a bank. They have seen the others wear one into the building and thought it was some sort of necessity.

Marco got dressed in a yellow suit, with a black shirt and a matching yellow, while Vice wore a bright red suit, with a white shirt and a black tie. Once the two were suited up, they walked out of the room and left for the bank.

Since almost all the good banks were located Downtown, they were to take a tram over there. As they walk down the smooth paved road, their ears pick up the sounds of a man, speaking in a similar fashion that Marco had just a day ago.

This grabbed the duo's curiosity, who walked over to see what was up. There was a crowd gathering around inside a building, while someone on a stage, wearing a white shirt with a light blue tie, brown pants, and brown calfskin shoes, read out about the bible to the crowd that had gathered. Marco and Vice, after listening in for a few minutes, left the scene.

"Looks like someone is copying us," Vice remarked. Marco nodded in agreement.

"Agreed. I mean, I expected some of them to pop up. Just not this early," Marco replied.

The two continued to walk down to the station, which wasn't all that far away. However, as they were enclosed at the station, they heard another one! The two made sure to check again, and what do you know, they found another man, wearing the same clothes, muttering the same things that the other guy had said.

The two didn't stick around for long, however. They soon walked over to the station and waited for a tram. The two sat alone on a lone bench, just waiting for a tram to come. Considering barely anyone else was around, the two started to cover with each other again.

"Damn it. It appears that someone had caught on to our business," Vice commented.

"I know. It appears that we got ourselves some serious competition on our hands. Though, I wonder why they are all wearing the same outfit." Marco pointed out. The question got Vice into thinking why.

"Who knows? Maybe it is some personal branding? It could be a way to distinguish themselves from us? Maybe it is to look more... professional among the crowds. Who knows?" Vice suggested.

"Maybe they are all working together, maybe?"

"You think so?"

"Probably, I don't know. I was just guessing off with the uniforms," Marco replied.

"Well, whatever it is, I don't think we should be worrying about that now. What we should be worrying about, is whether they will eat into our pie."

"Oh, they definitely will. Though, I think I have a few ideas on how to prevent that."

"You do? Already?" Vice asked, a little surprised that an idea already popped up into Marco's head so quickly.

"Yes. I do. I was thinking we can improve the... customer experience."

"Customer experience? Like what?" Vice asked.

"Well, you know how those people are forced to stand as there are no chairs to sit on?"

"Yes?"

"Well, what I am thinking is we conduct the business in a bigger place and fill the room with chairs so that people can sit and listen. Since most of them will stay for hours, I am sure that they would be glad to have such a service," Marco suggested.

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ "That is pretty good. Anything?" Vice asked.

"Oh, I got plenty," Marco replied. He went on to spill his ideas to Vice, who listened in very carefully.