Ch70.Business.

I am currently sitting on barstool inside my nightclub, chatting to one of my DJ's right before the event starts, I usually appear a few hours early to check on everything and make sure that everything is in order. Things have changed quite a bit since the initial opening and, even though there have only been two more events since the grand opening, we have been making certain adaptations here and there in order to increase profit margins as well as improve our customers enjoyment.

The dialect between my 'waiters' and the customers have been slightly altered to better deal with 'stuck up' people and they have been told what type of people to approach and whom to avoid completely.

The Alcohol service has mostly remained the same besides the implementation of a 'Tab' system, this allows people the option to open a bar tab using something valuable as collateral, they will then be able to order as much alcohol as they want without having to pay until the end of the night.

This tab system has not yet become very popular, but in time, people should realize how much easier it is to open a tab at the beginning of the night, they can then start 'buying' more alcohol during the event, since they won't realize how much they have actually been paying until it is too late.

Drugs are basically handled the same, it's just that we now work off a inventory based stock system, this means that people aren't able to buy too much at one time and we monitor how much each person has bought and, if possible, how much they have consumed. I still don't want people taking too many drugs home, even though the initial version of the Encryption has been successfully created.

The problem with our current Encryption method is that it can still be cracked by people well versed in Alchemy, assuming they have enough product to experiment with. I, therefore, have been trying my best to limit the output of the drugs into the market. Oga has recently mentioned that he has just made a major breakthrough in this regard, so hopefully, I will be able to put down all of my worries soon enough.

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Now I am still contemplating on whether I should branch out and start selling these 'party' drugs on the street or if I should rather use an entire new, different batch of drugs for those purposes. I mean the options are potentially limitless, but I don't know what effect these drugs may have on this City, and how it may affect my profits.

Sure, I will be making money on the selling of the drugs, but what if someone in an important position becomes addicted, thus influencing the work he is currently doing, this could potentially cause me more losses than the profits I make from actually selling. This is a bit of a tricky subject and will require quite a bit more research into the subject matter before I decide on what to do.

Other than drugs, I have been making quite a bit of progress in regards to the Rune Devices in the Club, I have been trying a few different holographic ideas, trying to bring about the perfect 'trippy' vibe. This is actually much harder than it would seem, since I don't want to overpower people with too many lights and colors, but on the other hand I still need the club to be bright and colorful… So yeah, a bit of a delicate balance that needs to be kept up at all times, while constantly adjusting to the 'traditions' and tastes of this world.

The music has, surprisingly, been progressing quite drastically since the initial opening, the DJ's have been tasked to completely understand a few different genres of Trance, Disco, Electric and basic Clubbing music while learning how to manipulate the music Rune Devices in order to keep the music flowing according to the mood of the guests.

This has been quite a difficult learning process for these clan members of mine, but after months of hard work, they have become pretty decent at it and I am very much looking forward to my future as 'THE BOSS'.

The DJ I am currently talking to, Grido, had been with the Clan since just about the beginning, joining shortly after I took over from what's his name. Grido is someone who, after showing excessive willingness to do anything for the clan, was rewarded with a Rune Injection, although he only has the Rune to gather Magical Energy, this is more than enough for him to control a Rune Device, therefore, I assigned him to operate as one of the DJ's in my nightclub.

After getting assigned as a DJ, he has been working even harder, aiming to become the absolute best at this 'new position' that he possibly can , constantly asking questions, aiming to better himself. This is the kind of work ethic that I appreciate and I am usually more than happy to give him some advice. Hopefully after Ylaric has completed the Rune Injection method, I will be able to provide Grido with a decent Magical Circle, one that will perfectly work with the job of being a DJ, this may actually be fun to create!

After chatting with him for a while, I made my way out of the nightclub and back to my House, in order to catch the current cage fight. Although these fighting events have been going on for quite a while now, I haven't really tried too hard to expand on these events. Not only because I don't have the time to do so, but mainly due to the fact that I want to keep this event 'local' and just a little fun for me.

I am making plenty of money in my other endeavors, so in 'tribute' of being my first 'business', I would like to keep this event as clean as possible. I have made the arena much more luxurious and have upped the prizes that the fighters make so now even people that aren't desperate are interested in joining in some of the events. I have even proposed some inter gang fights, inviting some of the other Bosses to have their best fighters go against some of mine. I thought that would be quite entertaining, unfortunately, nobody seems to be too interested in joining in on this idea of mine.

After arriving back at the Arena, I take my seat as I watch the last few fights. As I am watching, the door to my Booth opens and one of my 'Shadow Guards in training' enters, I turn to look at him and say, "What do you want?"

The Shadow Guard stayed silent for a while before saying, "There seems to be a problem in Borties territory, it seems that some people under the command of Derolo are snooping around the bars and asking many questions about you and your various connections and business dealings."

"I managed to catch one of the people and after some 'polite' questioning, it seems that they are looking for a way to contact the person who supplies us with drugs, he doesn't know why, just that his boss is desperately seeking the drug lord out."

After listening to the Shadow Guards explanation, I replied with a serious tone, "Try to gather some more information and find out why he is asking about the drug lord. If you aren't able to discover anything by going through the usual procedures, I give you permission to send ONE Shadow Puppet into Derolos place of business, in order to see whether it can find anything that may be of help regarding this situation."

After giving my order, I said in a firm tone, "I don't like people entering my territory and asking questions about things they don't need to know! After getting all of the information you need make sure to send this … Derolo a message, make sure he understands that messing with me comes with certain … consequences. "

I dismiss the Shadow guard and take a sip of my jug of beer while thinking to myself, 'It looks like the times of peace and quiet has come to an end, I better hurry up and advance to Circle 2 incase I need to destroy yet another territory Boss. It won't be a bad idea either, I guess Oga could use a territory for the mysterious 'drug lord' to finally appear in public.'

'Sigh, there goes my little 'break' . . . Time to get back to working my ass off again, there are many things I need to start preparing for this new territory takeover, I better go have a chat with Oga, since I will have to act in the dark with this takeover, I cant have people knowing I have attacked another Boss in such a short amount of time . . . Siiigh...'