Published at 22nd of October 2023 9:41 am

Book 2: Chapter 8

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

The tension in the room could have been cut by a knife, and for a second, Garrett thought that it might be. Showing immense self-control, Gavon didn’t draw his cleaver, despite his hand closing around the weapon’s handle. It may have been the glare that Obe had fixed on him, but it was more likely the calm curiosity he saw in Garrett’s eyes. The strange feeling that Gavon had been getting from Garrett intensified as they stared at each other and it caused him to let go of his weapon, bringing his hand into sight on the table.

“You are the first person I have mentioned this to,” Garrett said, when he was sure that Gavon was not going to resort to violence, “but eventually everyone will know. Our family is tired of being pushed around, so we are banding together to resist those who would bully and terrorize us. Everyone is welcome to join, and so long as they follow our simple rules, we will support them. Since our family and your group have such similar thoughts about how the people who live under our care should be treated, I think it makes sense for you to combine your power with ours.”

Slowly, the hard look on Gavon’s face softened, and he let out a sigh as he shook his head.

“I don’t know if you are naive or just foolish, but your words could easily have been taken as a declaration of war. Our gang is not one to get involved in fights that are not our own, but we will not bow to anyone. No matter how strong they are.”

“I’m not asking you to bow,” Garrett said, only to get cut off by Gavon’s wave.

Staring at Garrett, the butcher tapped one of his fingers on the table, producing a dull thud that caused the room to fall silent.

“You were forthright with me, so I’ll give you the same courtesy. We have enough problems right now keeping ourselves safe from the Grave Walkers. Those pale freaks are starting to spread their influence south and we’re right in their way. To top it off, Howler is now breathing down our throats. It’s not that we don’t want support, but you’re in no position to give anyone any help. You are in an even weaker position than we are. You have one awakened? We have four. But Howler has eight, and the Grave Walkers have at least twenty if not more. Even if we joined forces, we’d just be giving the other gangs the excuse to attack.”

Bristling, Obe slapped the table and stood up.

“We have—”

“That’s enough, Obe.”

Gavon was startled when he heard Obe fall silent. He had no idea what the relationship between Obe and Garrett was, but seeing such instant obedience just reinforced that something was not as it seemed. Garrett didn’t seem to notice the strange look he was getting, and instead just thought for a moment.

“What will convince you that we are strong enough for you to come under our banner?”

The question stumped Gavon, and he just stared at Garrett, unable to come up with an answer. Chuckling at the butcher’s dumbfounded expression, Garrett picked up the flower pin that was on the table and turned it over in his fingers as he answered his own question.

“We will not stop our expansion any time soon, and eventually, that means that Heifer Street will be inside the territory we claim. But we have no desire for conflict with you. Instead, we would like it if you simply continued on as you have, while also including us as a customer. Given that it will be easier to align our interests if we are part of the same team, I’d like to suggest you join the family. However, I also understand that our current strength is not inspiring.

“While that will change shortly, I’d like to offer a deal. I will deal with Thomas Howler and his gang on your behalf, and in exchange, you will consider bringing your group to join the family. You’ll maintain your own identity and will be responsible for continuing to take care of yourselves, but you’ll do it under the umbrella of the Klein Family. As time progresses, there will be others like you, who bring their gangs to join the Family, and so there will be significant benefit in being one of the earliest to join.”

Letting out a low whistle, Gavon leaned back in his chair.

“You’ve got some guts, I’ll give you that. You’re talking about making a syndicate.”

“I am.”

“That’s a tall order. I’m curious to see where you get your confidence from.”

“Then we have a deal?”

Laughing, Gavon pushed his chair back and stood up, giving a short nod as he stared down at Garrett.

“Sure. If you deal with Thomas Howler and his goons for us, we’ll consider joining your syndicate.”

“Don’t forget what you’ve said,” Garrett replied. “Thank you for your visit today. We have somewhere to be shortly, but I look forward to speaking again.”

Untroubled by the dismissal, Gavon waved for his son to follow him and led his men out of the inn, stopping outside to glance back at Garrett. He could see the thin young man sitting at the table, and as he looked, Garrett suddenly turned his head, meeting his gaze. The faintest feeling of horror trickled through the back of Gavon’s mind and he felt as if the giant inn had suddenly transformed into a beast about to devour him. Stumbling back a step, he pressed his hand to his chest to calm his beating heart and hurried off.

From his seat in the inn, Garrett watched him go, a speculative look in his eyes. Gavon had been much more sensitive than Garrett had anticipated, and a few times it appeared that he might have let his cover slip. Thankfully, ever since he had risen to the shaper stage, the restrictions on using his abilities during the daytime had started to lift, and while they were not completely accessible, Garrett had been able to keep himself hidden with [Dreamer’s Cloak]. While it didn’t make him hard to see like it did in the dream, he found it useful for shrouding his strength against prying eyes.

As Garrett turned away from the door, he caught sight of Obe’s faint frown and felt the confusion that his lieutenant was experiencing. There were a good number of other members of the Family in the inn’s great room and all of them gave off a similar feeling, explaining the glances that Garrett kept getting. Instead of clearing up their confusion, however, Garrett just smiled and asked Obe about the efforts to recruit new awakened.

“It’s going a bit slower than I’d like, but there should be some people coming this afternoon,” Obe said, his expression brightening. “I put the word out and I think we’ll get a few people.”

“Good. I have an appointment with Carraway, so I won’t be here this afternoon, but I’m excited to see who shows up.”

At that moment, the door opened and four figures walked into the inn, drawing all attention to the front door. Each was carrying a large pack and wearing the leather armor of an adventurer, but what gave Garrett pause was that he recognized them. In the front of the group was Estel, the calm, middle-aged awakened dreamer that Garrett had invited into Dreamer’s Rest, while Kinsley, Asher, and Maron all tramped in behind her. Looking around, Maron grinned triumphantly and slapped Asher on the shoulder.

“See, I told you it was a real place! I knew I recognized those flowers.”

Thinking quickly, Garrett shared a look with Obe and then wheeled himself out to meet the four awakened.

“Hello, welcome to Dreamer’s Inn.”

Stopping at Garrett’s greeting, Estel and the others looked at him, and then at Obe who had come up behind him.

“Is this the main headquarters of the Klein Family?” Maron asked, looking around. “You’re the ones who wear the flower badges, right?”

“Yes, that’s us. What can I do for you?”

There was a slight pause as the four adventurers hesitated, almost as if they had not planned what to do once they found the inn. Sensing an opportunity, Garrett quickly continued to speak, trying to keep his words natural.

“Are you here for the recruitment interviews? We weren’t expecting anyone until a bit later this afternoon, but we’d be happy to give you your interviews early since you’ve come as a group. I assume that you’re all intending to join?”

Garrett’s words put the four awakened in an awkward spot, as they clearly hadn’t intended to join the Klein Family, and had no idea that there was a recruitment effort underway. After sharing a glance with the others, Estel looked at Obe and then back at Garrett, shaking her head.

“We didn’t realize that you were recruiting, and were just looking for a place to stay. Did you call this place Dreamer’s Rest?”

Keeping his expression neutral, Garrett shook his head.

“No, this is the Dreamer’s Inn. Are you intending a short term stay or a long term stay?”

“Probably long term? Yeah, long term.”

“In that case, I’ll leave you to Obe. He can talk to you about rates,” Garrett said, gesturing to Obe.

“Hey, what’s this about recruiting?” Kinsley asked, curiosity burning in his eyes.

Clearing his throat, Obe tapped the pin on his coat as he explained.

“We are looking for more awakened to join our Family. We are paying a gold a month, plus meals and a room, and there is a ten percent discount on any services provided by another member of the Family. There is also hazard pay.”

“A gold!?”

Tugging on Estel’s tunic, Kinsley looked at her with big eyes, causing the middle-aged woman to snort and slap his hand away. Amused, Garrett watched the four awakened adventurers as faint greed bloomed in their hearts. He had found the four of them living in the nearby area and had planted the dream seeds in them to pull them into Dreamer’s Rest for his experiments, but had not anticipated that they would find their way to the inn in the real world. It was Maron, whose powers were similar to the Path of the Watcher, who had figured out the connection between Dreamer’s Rest and the Klein Family headquarters, and now that they were here, Garrett was quickly revising his plan.

Letting himself fade from everyone’s awareness, Garrett focused his mental energy and connected with the invisible dream flowers that filled the inn. Though the flowers were limited in what they could do during the day, the sheer number of them created a field of pressure that Garrett now manipulated. Refocusing his attention on the four adventurers, Garrett tried to communicate a feeling of comfort, of homecoming, causing the flowers they carried to resonate with the flowers that filled the inn. The change was subtle, but all four of the adventurers relaxed slightly, dropping their guard as they talked with Obe about the recruitment.

Pleased with the effect, Garrett pushed himself out of the room and back to the office where he found a figure sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk. As he entered the room, Viper stood up, his crimson mask gleaming in the midday light. Accepting the bow from his guardian, Garrett gestured for him to make his report.

“How are things going with the tunnel?”

Sitting back down as Garrett wheeled around the desk, Viper spoke softly.

“We have made good progress, and are close to the south eastern wall. We’ve had to slow down a bit to keep from disturbing the surface, but it hasn’t put too much of a delay on our work. We should be under in a week.”

“That’s good news. What about the territory? Any issues?”

Hesitating, Viper shook his head.

“There have been a couple close brushes with adventurer teams hunting in the crypts, but we’ve managed to keep out of sight for the time being. We’ve absorbed three other ghoul nests, and we are starting to run into large swamp rats, but they aren’t particularly dangerous.”

“Swamp rats? Interesting. If you find one of their nests, let me know. If you can, capture a couple of them as well. I want to try some experiments,” Garrett said, his eyes lighting up. “Let’s maintain our course for now, but I will need you and Pax, along with a small team of ghouls. I’m going to make a move on Thomas Howler tonight, so I’d like you nearby for assistance in case things go south. Anything else to report?”

Shaking his head, Viper stood up, drawing his dark cloak around him.

“No, nothing else for the moment.”

“Okay. Oh, start paying attention to the northern crypts. We’ll be targeting that area for expansion next, once the tunnel is in place and is operating smoothly.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Viper slipped out of the office to head back underground, Garrett spent the rest of the afternoon planning and re-planning his next move. He could feel the faint connection he had with the dream seeds that he had planted in Thomas Howler and the other members of the Howler gang that had come swaggering into the inn, and it was with nervous energy that he considered the plan he had come up with to solve the problem the Howlers presented. After checking his plan for the fourth time, he sighed and rubbed his forehead. Out in the great room, dinner was being served, so he made his way out of the office and down the hall, entering in time to see Obe standing up from the table with an empty plate.

“Oh, hey boss,” Obe called out, waving him over. “Let me introduce you to our newest members.”

Sitting at the table were eight people, all of whom looked at Garrett with sharp gazes. Four of them were the awakened dreamers, who had been talked into staying by Obe, while the other four were new to Garrett.

“You’ve already met Estel, Kinsley, Asher, and Maron,” Obe said, waving to the four people Garrett was familiar with. “The new faces are Maximus, Helger, Abbius, and Leff. Maximus is a front line fighter, Helger and Abbius are both ranged fighters, and Leff is a scout. All four of them are in good standing with the adventurer’s guild, and passed our test. Everyone, this is our boss, Garrett.”

Frowning, Maximus, who was a brawny man with curly black hair that cascaded down his shoulders, pointed at Garrett.

“That cripple is your boss?”

The room froze as his words echoed, and a chill rolled over Obe’s face. It wasn’t just Obe, however, as every single member of the Family stood up or turned toward Maximus, murder in their eyes. Without hesitation, Helger, who was sitting next to Maximus, pushed herself away from him, her expression souring. It was only then that Maximus blanched, slapping his hand over his mouth as he realized his misstep. Instead of getting angry, however, Garrett just waved his right arm, displaying his missing hand clearly as he wheeled himself forward.

“I am. Name’s Garrett Klein. Nice to meet you all, and welcome to the family.”

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