A/N- This chapter contains spoilers for Orc Empire I. It also takes place before the end of the previous chapter.
Chapter 4- Dark Secrets
In Diagon and Knockturn alley, there was a large interconnected building that held dark secrets. The part of the building on Diagon alley was a type of pawn shop and it also took in scrap materials. The part of the building on Knockturn alley meanwhile was a brothel. Both were fronts however.
The building was used to help fuel Gromgor Grimhide's war effort. The brothel was used to impregnate women who had been kidnapped, purchased from slave auctions or otherwise given to them by greedy heads of family. The scrap materials taken in by the shop were used to manufacture weapons and armoured fighting vehicles. The slave women were taken into the building via an underground rail line and they transported the weapons out via the same rail line.
The Manager of the building spoke to the loyal workers. "Attention everyone, our owner is coming for an inspection today. Everyone needs to be working extra hard today. I want the shop, breeding and arms manufacture supervisors to meet me in my office in just over half an hour. We need to talk about our output. I will make sure everyone gets a nice tidy bonus for their patience today."
The loyal workers began murmuring amongst themselves. The building's owner was coming for an inspection. It was rare for him to do so which must have meant this was a very important inspection.
"Everyone, dismissed." The manager said, ending the meeting.
The shop, breeding and arms manufacture supervisors went to the manager's office as instructed and were asked a series of questions regarding income and output.
"How much money are we making in the shop?" The manager asked the shop supervisor.
"The shop is making about ten thousand galleons a day in its legitimate products and another thirty thousand a day selling black market items. I feel it's a good amount, sir." The shop supervisor replied confident that the manager would be satisfied with the numbers he gave.
"It used to be a good number, Fenrik. However, as I'm sure our owner will explain to you, the quotas have been expanded. We need the shop to sell thirty-five thousand galleons a day in legitimate goods and one hundred thousand in black market goods." The manager replied, not happy with the updated numbers needed.
"That's impossible Max! We have not got the goods to make those numbers or the space to put them on display!" Fenrik replied in exasperation.
"I know. It's not going to get better. The pressure is increasing on us and our owner's business partners are getting impatient. How is the Breeding section doing?" Max asked the breeding supervisor.
"They are being impregnated on a daily business. We've cut the cycle down to just two days before they give birth and are then impregnated again. The men impregnating them are always massively drunk. It sometimes shows in the spawn that are birthed although it must be said that most are fine specimens." The breeding supervisor replied calmly.
"What percentage of each batch are defective, Tyron?"
"I estimate about three to four and a half percent of each batch are defective. The defective ones we send to be cattle." Tyron the breeding supervisor replied.
"What about the arms manufacturing, Kelcius?" Max, the shop's manager, replied.
"It is proceeding rapidly. I fear, however, that we will not be able to keep up the pace of manufacture much longer." Kelcius replied, initially optimistic but finished grimly.
"How come?" Max replied in alarm.
"There has been a shortage of materials to build them with. Scrap metal collection has largely dried up and our collection agents have been encountering difficulty in getting supplies from 'unsavoury' groups." Kelcius replied bluntly.
"Hmm, I will discuss these problems with the owner. If you can pass me the paperwork before he arrives, that would be great." Max replied.
"Yes boss." Kelcius, Tyron and Fenrik replied simultaneously before leaving Max's office.
Max sat down in his office chair and awaited the arrival of the building's owner while listening to the sounds of women screaming in childbirth. He was given the paperwork by Fenrik, Tyron and Kelcius at various points in the hour after his meeting with them ended. He poured over the paperwork with a laser-like focus, checking the exact numbers and found that they confirmed what the trio had said.
Max was then called by a security guard, who informed him of the owner's arrival via the main entrance. Max stood up and walked as fast as he could towards the main entrance.
"Greetings sir, how are you?" Max asked as cheerfully as possible as he arrived at the main entrance.
"I have been better. I had been in a meeting in which I was stunned a few days ago. I will soon be sending resources after the one who stunned me. Shall we head to your office and discuss this in private?" The owner suggested.
Max led the way to his office and ordered a silk covered seat to be brought to his office, which arrived within minutes. He and the owner then sat down in their chairs.
"I shall be as brief as possible so I will stick to the business at hand. Our partner has been expanding his territory and he is in need of soldiers, funds and arms and we are duty bound to help him in any way he needs us to. I have come to see what needs improvement, both in production and storage space."
"I have already spoken to my supervisors. The shop supervisor has said he needs extra space and more products to enter circulation. The breeding supervisor, while he hasn't said as such, I believe needs more women to breed. My arms manufacture supervisor has reported record amounts of arms being produced but has warned of an imminent supply crisis which will mean we won't be able to produce any more arms until there is a sufficient daily stock of supplies. All the information is on the sheets of paper here." Max said to the owner calmly and passed the owner the sheets of paper that had been in front of him on his desk.
The owner inspected the sheets of paper which a very keen eye. He made sure not to miss a single detail as he went through each sheet of paper. "Not a unique story unfortunately. Bizarrely enough though, despite your difficulties, you are still performing better than many of the properties." The owner said amusedly.
"How is that possible?" Max asked the owner stunned.
"Many of the other properties have been going through the same supply problems and have been navigating them... unwisely. In fact, only four other properties have managed to avoid the supply problems altogether."
Max inwardly was grinning, albeit with some hesitation, as he heard the property he managed was still just about one of the top performing ones. "Would it be possible then to get some improvements for the property then?" Max asked the owner hopefully.
"Everyone will be getting the same improvements. However, this property may have some additional 'upgrades' as well." The Owner said to Max with a smile.
"Thank you sir." Max said gratefully.
"Anyway, I'll need your office for a short while. I need to make a phone call." The Owner said authoritatively.
"Of course sir. I'll be letting the supervisors know about the improvements that will made here if you need me." Max said to the Owner before leaving the office.
The Owner waited a couple of minutes before reaching for the phone and punched in an unusual number. It rang three times before someone picked up. "I thought that you'd call sooner or later." The voice on the other end of the line answered.
"Well, I thought you'd want some news. I can tell you that while our supplies have been troubling us for some time, I have come up with a scheme to get our supplies."
"Don't tell me the plan, I trust you. I'll just watch it play out. I mean, after all, you were a disciple of the Emperor, the one the wizarding world didn't and still don't know about." The Voice on the other end said before the Owner could say anymore.
"Okay then, Gromgor. Before we end, you might want to know that Lily Potter has turned on the wizarding world and the allies." The Owner said with an inflection to Gromgor.
"Hmm, interesting... Why?" Gromgor questioned.
"I'm sure you heard about what Harry Potter and his WSF forces did to that inhabited island months ago? Well, it seems that she is convinced her son is innocent." The owner offered as an explanation to Gromgor.
"She is probably correct. It seems whoever did it did a masterful frame up job or managed to manipulate them into making a catastrophic decision." Gromgor said almost admiringly.
"Well, it seems she is building up a form of resistance to get to the truth and help those that the allies won't help." The Owner said to Gromgor warningly. "That stunner was powerful." He commented offhandedly.
"Well, when she becomes a serious enough threat, I will begin hunting her and her resistance down like rats. Anyway, I have a proposition you will most likely be interested in." Gromgor said.
"Go on."
"How would you like to build your own army?"
"That does sound interesting. I'm assuming that this army would be subordinate to yours."
"Yes it would but we would provide resources that you don't have, whatever they may be."
"I'm in. I'll begin building this army immediately."
"I thought you'd like to build one. Of course, you'll still be providing replacements for my army but I will send instructors at all levels to get your armies up to scratch."
"I look forward to receiving the instructors when they come. In the meantime, I have business to take care of."
"Take care. Make sure you are not discovered and gather as much resources as you can."
The phone call ended and the Owner put the phone down. Max returned to the office a short while later. "Is everything alright sir?" Max asked the Owner.
"Everything is going better than okay. We'll be a new power in the ongoing war. Gather as much resources as you can. Steal them, buy them, scavenge them, kidnap them, anything you need to do!" The Owner said enthusiastically as he ran giddily out the building, feeling very happy to build an army of his own.
Max watched on in stunned silence. Tyron came up to him with a small frown on his face, "Is it me or has he gone power mad?"
"I hope not. Otherwise our operations will be discovered. I think it's more likely that, whoever his partner is, wants him to build an army." Max replied, deducing what happened in the phone call.
"So we're going to war then? With the Wizarding world?" Fenrik asked giddily.
"Yes to the first question and as for the second question, I think we're going to war with everyone." Max replied honestly.
"I'd like some revenge on a branch of my family that believed themselves superior to everyone else. They've probably forgotten about my branch of the family." Kelcius asked eagerly.
"I'm sure we can do something about them but I need you here. I'll speak to the Owner about it the next time we speak."
"Very well. I'll hold you to it."
Max realised that all departments would need to expand and accelerate production even further than they had anticipated. He had to prepare to go to war after all.
A/N- Please review and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. And please read my other stories as well, they are all related.