Back to Paradise #5

Ein was not to only one to be targeted all of a sudden during the time that Alyssia and the others had moved to the New World as the docks and the shipyard were also briefly targeted along with many other places.

Zhihaojin was able to bring back order to the area where he was staying very quickly with the assistance of his Devil Ape but there were many other places that did not have the same level of assistance or protection.

Many of the performers were caught up in scandals as they had been photographed at an angle which would create misunderstandings and rumours would be spread about them.

Some weaker hearted performers were forced to take a break or quit from the entertainment industry just so they could protect themselves.

Others were lured into taking part in private meetings or things they should not be discovered doing because they would damage their image.

There were some that had evidence planted on them or in their usual living and storage places which had lead to them having to face the Marines or the city guards who were questioning them.

There were some entertainers that had been poached by other companies or wished to quit which had resulted in them breaking the contracts they signed at the beginning of their joining the White Storm.

Due to the breaking of the contract, they all had to pay a large fee which had been covered by whoever was backing them.

Several branches were facing pressure from the Marines, the nobles, rival businesses and underhanded attacks from the World Government but Alfred had been ready and waiting.

Those that wished to quit with their backers money were blacklisted, those that were able to remain loyal and kept working were rewarded and better protection was placed on many of them.

The people that had been caught up in scandals had the public relations team handle it all to avoid the bad influence on their careers while the troublemakers were put on probation and had to pay a penalty for damaging the White Storm's image.

Alfred started to make full use of his hidden cards as he met with many nobles that were putting pressure on him or those that were enemies with them and then threatened them with the information he had.

The large amount of secrets that had been obtained were put to use as he could expose many incriminating and reputation damaging secrets about who he was visiting.

Many assassination attempts that involved poison, gunfire and a large amount of public and secret attacks had been useless against his cyborg body and his overcautiousness.

Those that were unable to silence him had to give in to his demands otherwise they would have to face their secrets being exposed.

Some remained stubborn and refused to budge because of who was backing and giving them orders so Alfred used his resources and connections to spread everything he could which resulted in their downfall.

His noble title did play a vital role in allowing him to gain meetings with other nobles or others that had a high position.

While some with more serious crimes were brought to justice by the Marines or the islands law enforcement, there were others that had their image badly damaged which affected their business and relationships with others in a bad way.

The places that many of the entertainers were brought to were investigated and it was uncovered that they were connected to some of those he had exposed while some criminal groups were also involved.

Upon further investigation, it was found that those groups were connected to each other and they had been involved in even worse crimes and dealings so many of them were brought down swiftly in the name of justice.

The entertainers that left to join other groups were made aware of the differences in treatment right away as they were made to work off the debts they had after paying the leaving fee.

While some used normal jobs to make them pay off the debts, some other places were not so clean as they had been subjected to all kinds of humiliation and torment.

As everything was coming back under Alfred's control, he made use of the events to send out warnings to everyone that remained about the potential dangers that come with their profession and their responsibilities.

He listed many examples of former employees that had walked out after he had provided proof which had been investigated in private.

To many of the employees it was like listening to a horror story but they were no longer as naive as before.

Not just the entertainment business was experiencing difficulties though as there were occasionally betrayals and other plots ongoing.

Clifford had his hands full as he moved from place to place fighting off attacks and investigating different things that happened on the sea whether it involved the shipping if the goods or problems with the mercenary group.

While their were some losses as Alyssia had expected, the White Storm was able to keep itself stable without her and avoid massive losses.

In some places, the organisation as a whole had even used their difficulties to help themselves grow stronger and more united against all the underhanded plots against them.