I stifled a yawn as I walked into ol’ Rusty – the epithet that my men had fondly bestowed upon the rusty warehouse. The golden morning sunlight filtered in through the dirty windows, bleary in my sleepy eyes.
Between spending a few hours reminiscing at the stars and personally taking care of the man who’d been sent by Fight House – exactly as I’d told him I’d take care of him – I hadn’t managed to catch much sleep last night.
Inside, everyone had already gathered in a circle, idly chatting. Ren sat happily in the middle, casually listening with his usual smile.
As I walked in, all the men eventually turned to me, expectant and burning with anticipation. I smiled at their enthusiasm, making my way to Ren and sitting beside him.
“So, how’d it go?” I asked as I sat down.
Ren smiled, smug. “Exactly like I said it would. It was so easy it was kind of embarrassing.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
Ren laughed. “Nah, I’m kidding. It wasn’t all that easy. But I did get enough for what we need.”
Applause erupted from the men, and I didn’t blame them. Although Ren downplayed it, the fact that he got an ample amount of information out of a first-rate gang was nothing ordinary.
Ren basked in the applause for a moment before reaching into his hoodie and removing a pack of Polaroid pictures. He spread them out on the ground in front of him, carefully laying them in a line.
There were seven pictures in total. Each one depicted a well-dressed person, money practically dripping off of their outfits. Five were men, while the last two were women.
All the pictures were taken at a club or casino type of environment based on the backgrounds, with some drinking or gambling or simply talking. What all of them shared in common, however, was that it was clear that none of them knew that their photos were being taken, which was a testament to Ren’s skill as all the people in the pictures were undoubtedly powerful mages with much higher perception and awareness than regular people.
Ren pointed at the first picture, which depicted a woman in her mid-thirties wearing a blazing red dress.
“This is Tia Todd. She’s in charge of the popular bakery 'Sweet Tooth.' Most people think that they’re separate from Fight House, which is purposefully done so that they would have a big name in the public eye to use for any above-the-table deals they want to make. Aside from all the benefits her company provides Fight House in terms of manipulating the public and authorities, just the unholy amount of revenue it rakes in for them makes it a prime target for hitting Fight House.”
Leo whistled as Ren finished, his reaction echoing the sentiment of everyone present.
“Wow,” was all I could get out.
Ren laughed modestly at the praise, as close to flustered as I’d ever seen him.
“Next up is Oscar Day,” Ren continued on. “He’s the head accountant for Fight House. From what I heard, he’s incredibly talented when it comes to numbers. Without his mathematical genius, the finances of Fight House would not run nearly as smoothly as they do. Also, due to his eccentric personality, he’s the only one who knows how to run some very crucial parts of Fight House. He is, in the words of some very important people, ‘practically indispensable.’ Were he to go missing for some reason, it’d be a huge blow to the daily functioning of Fight House.”
-
By the time we finished the majority of our planning, the sun had already risen to its zenith. Ren had fully cemented his reconnaissance ability; the detailed and crucial information that he had managed to get in one night was absolutely astonishing. Each target he had chosen was perfect as far as I was concerned. Each was in some way critical to Fight House, and the loss of all of them at the same time would have ramifications that would crush any chance of Fight House keeping its seat at the top three. In fact, I doubted they would be able to even stay in the top hundred after all of their enemies got wind of their weakness.
Of course, this was all the best-case scenario, assuming that we managed to make every target disappear. Even with all his capability, Ren could not gather intimate information about each target's strength and level of protection.
However, I was not disappointed in the slightest. If Rosefire could not even handle the challenge after having such an advantage delivered to their doorstep, then we hardly deserved to aim for the global stage.
Hammering out the details of how the operation would go down took up the rest of the time we spent. We decided to split ourselves up into teams of five, plus one team of two made up of Ren and me. We would launch our strike in a maximum of four days, giving Ren enough time to find the most optimal time to attack, while also not giving Fight House enough time to begin the war they were so sure of winning.
With everything more or less figured out, I let my men out to go relax for a bit, as they wouldn’t be getting much more time once we doubled down on our training.
As they slowly trickled out, I finally turned to Ren and asked what had been on my mind since the beginning of the day. “So, how’d you do it?" I asked, my eyes sparkling with curiosity. "There’s no way you figured all that out just by lurking around them, not to mention they were surrounded by people in a well-lit and well-monitored place. My guess is you somehow got people to think you belonged there, and then got the information you needed through talking to them. But how, exactly, did you manage all that?”
Ren gave me a wide, smug grin. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“Really?” I asked, disappointed.
“Yup.”
I sighed. “Fine, whatever.” I was quiet for a moment again. “Looks like things are finally going to get interesting around here, huh?”
“This is exactly why I joined you," Ren agreed with a wide smile. "Who else in the world would have the nerve to wage a war against a fully established first-rate gang with a force of thirty fresh mages.”
I grinned, taking his words as a compliment. “And things are just going to get wilder, mark my words.”
Ren’s smile morphed into a grin that mirrored my own. “I can’t wait.”
I stifled a yawn as I walked into ol’ Rusty – the epithet that my men had fondly bestowed upon the rusty warehouse. The golden morning sunlight filtered in through the dirty windows, bleary in my sleepy eyes.
Between spending a few hours reminiscing at the stars and personally taking care of the man who’d been sent by Fight House – exactly as I’d told him I’d take care of him – I hadn’t managed to catch much sleep last night.
Inside, everyone had already gathered in a circle, idly chatting. Ren sat happily in the middle, casually listening with his usual smile.
As I walked in, all the men eventually turned to me, expectant and burning with anticipation. I smiled at their enthusiasm, making my way to Ren and sitting beside him.
“So, how’d it go?” I asked as I sat down.
Ren smiled, smug. “Exactly like I said it would. It was so easy it was kind of embarrassing.”
“Really?” I asked, surprised.
Ren laughed. “Nah, I’m kidding. It wasn’t all that easy. But I did get enough for what we need.”
Applause erupted from the men, and I didn’t blame them. Although Ren downplayed it, the fact that he got an ample amount of information out of a first-rate gang was nothing ordinary.
Ren basked in the applause for a moment before reaching into his hoodie and removing a pack of Polaroid pictures. He spread them out on the ground in front of him, carefully laying them in a line.
There were seven pictures in total. Each one depicted a well-dressed person, money practically dripping off of their outfits. Five were men, while the last two were women.
All the pictures were taken at a club or casino type of environment based on the backgrounds, with some drinking or gambling or simply talking. What all of them shared in common, however, was that it was clear that none of them knew that their photos were being taken, which was a testament to Ren’s skill as all the people in the pictures were undoubtedly powerful mages with much higher perception and awareness than regular people.
Ren pointed at the first picture, which depicted a woman in her mid-thirties wearing a blazing red dress.
“This is Tia Todd. She’s in charge of the popular bakery 'Sweet Tooth.' Most people think that they’re separate from Fight House, which is purposefully done so that they would have a big name in the public eye to use for any above-the-table deals they want to make. Aside from all the benefits her company provides Fight House in terms of manipulating the public and authorities, just the unholy amount of revenue it rakes in for them makes it a prime target for hitting Fight House.”
Leo whistled as Ren finished, his reaction echoing the sentiment of everyone present.
“Wow,” was all I could get out.
Ren laughed modestly at the praise, as close to flustered as I’d ever seen him.
“Next up is Oscar Day,” Ren continued on. “He’s the head accountant for Fight House. From what I heard, he’s incredibly talented when it comes to numbers. Without his mathematical genius, the finances of Fight House would not run nearly as smoothly as they do. Also, due to his eccentric personality, he’s the only one who knows how to run some very crucial parts of Fight House. He is, in the words of some very important people, ‘practically indispensable.’ Were he to go missing for some reason, it’d be a huge blow to the daily functioning of Fight House.”
-
By the time we finished the majority of our planning, the sun had already risen to its zenith. Ren had fully cemented his reconnaissance ability; the detailed and crucial information that he had managed to get in one night was absolutely astonishing. Each target he had chosen was perfect as far as I was concerned. Each was in some way critical to Fight House, and the loss of all of them at the same time would have ramifications that would crush any chance of Fight House keeping its seat at the top three. In fact, I doubted they would be able to even stay in the top hundred after all of their enemies got wind of their weakness.
Of course, this was all the best-case scenario, assuming that we managed to make every target disappear. Even with all his capability, Ren could not gather intimate information about each target's strength and level of protection.
However, I was not disappointed in the slightest. If Rosefire could not even handle the challenge after having such an advantage delivered to their doorstep, then we hardly deserved to aim for the global stage.
Hammering out the details of how the operation would go down took up the rest of the time we spent. We decided to split ourselves up into teams of five, plus one team of two made up of Ren and me. We would launch our strike in a maximum of four days, giving Ren enough time to find the most optimal time to attack, while also not giving Fight House enough time to begin the war they were so sure of winning.
With everything more or less figured out, I let my men out to go relax for a bit, as they wouldn’t be getting much more time once we doubled down on our training.
As they slowly trickled out, I finally turned to Ren and asked what had been on my mind since the beginning of the day. “So, how’d you do it?" I asked, my eyes sparkling with curiosity. "There’s no way you figured all that out just by lurking around them, not to mention they were surrounded by people in a well-lit and well-monitored place. My guess is you somehow got people to think you belonged there, and then got the information you needed through talking to them. But how, exactly, did you manage all that?”
Ren gave me a wide, smug grin. “A magician never reveals his secrets.”
“Really?” I asked, disappointed.
“Yup.”
I sighed. “Fine, whatever.” I was quiet for a moment again. “Looks like things are finally going to get interesting around here, huh?”
“This is exactly why I joined you," Ren agreed with a wide smile. "Who else in the world would have the nerve to wage a war against a fully established first-rate gang with a force of thirty fresh mages.”
I grinned, taking his words as a compliment. “And things are just going to get wilder, mark my words.”
Ren’s smile morphed into a grin that mirrored my own. “I can’t wait.”
