Chapter 3
(Two months later)
It's been two full months since Amon's dungeon has been conquered and Aladdin disappeared, Alibaba has his information network running at full capacity looking for information about Aladdin's whereabouts, while his network was busy with that, Harahb, and Magnus were busy getting everything ready for the move to Balbadd, Alibaba spent most of the two months on mastering his djinn abilities, he's now able to do a full djinn equip and his form is completely stable and controlled.
The treasure from Amon has greatly increased Alibaba's funds, the books and scrolls were given to Magnus and the magicians they were very appreciative of them, Magnus determined that these books and scrolls will be a great help to their research and development of new uses of magic and creation of magic tools, a few of the most trusted and capable members of Alibaba's private army were given magic tools to use the rest remains with the magicians for research purposes, Scarlett, and Morgiana became household members to Alibaba during the two months.
Alibaba made sure that the leadership of the branches of ASLAW Trading Company in the Oasis Cities was secured, and that the city leaders stayed in line and didn't get any ideas about who is truly in charge of the cities.
The information that was coming from his agents in Balbadd was not good at all, Ahbmad has run the country into the ground, the county is swimming in debt, people are starving and dying due to unreasonable high taxes, trade is all but dried up at the ports, Ahbmad and the nobles don't care and continue to spend money faster than they can make it back themselves so they borrow, Sahbmad can't stand up for the people he has little to no backbone and is almost completely useless in a public setting, Cassim and his Fog Troupe are fighting for the common man, they rob Noble houses and redistributed the wealth to the people, it doesn't solve the real problem for if there is nothing for anyone to actually buy then the money means little.
The country needs sustenance for the people and the best way to get this is trading, Balbadd is a nation founded on trade it lives and dies with trade, it currently starved so it needs trade to flow back in steadily so as not to overwhelm the people or attract the wrong attention.
The initial part of the plan was completed, we now have a complete layout of the current state of things in Balbadd.
The second part was securing viable local partners to make things go smoothly, Cassim has control of most of the underground land activities in Balbadd so we will be forced to work with him, no one has truly attempted to establish or control the seaside of things so we can simply do it ourselves without having to challenge anyone for control.
The third part was where the real work gets done, we will have to efficiently run both a legitimate business and an illegal one both for land and sea, while systematically cause the devaluation of Fan on the open market, and then remove the currency from the county in its entirety, while keeping the authorities from catching on to us, and even more important keep the Kou Empire and the puppet masters in the shadows from realizing that they are losing their hold on the country.
The final part is the removal of the current leadership and all its supporters down to the last man, it'll be gruesome but it's the only way to secure the foundation of the new regime Alibaba will create, the weak and corrupt have to be removed, Cassim will be brought to heel if he can't accept the change in power, depending on who Kou sends to represent them we will either be in good or bad terms, if it goes bad we will have a war we're not ready for, if it goes good we might be able to have a delay to any attempts to gain Balbadd for a few years at least.
(A week later)
Alibaba finally got word of Aladdin's whereabouts from his agents, he seems to be on the northern side of the continent the Tenzan Plateau, Kou has been expanding there so it'll be hard to get to him without drawing attention.
Alibaba finally decided to let Morgiana go after Aladdin, with Goltas and a few of his fellow tribesmen who were ex-slaves as a guide, she was also to draw out the return journey for a while until things have stabilized in Balbadd.
A few days later they are standing at the outskirts of the city, Alibaba was saying goodbye to Morgiana.
"Make sure that your stay safe, don't hesitate to contact us if you need us, also I know I told you to drag out your trip so use that time to see the world and enjoy what it has to offer," Alibaba says while holding Morgiana in a tight embrace.
"I will, and I'll make sure Aladdin stays safe as well, Magnus gave me some scrolls and books on magic to give to Aladdin so he will be very busy on our trip," Morgiana says from within the tight embrace.
"I love you," Alibaba says then gives her a passionate kiss.
"I love you too," Morgiana says after breaking the kiss, then walked with the others.
(Two weeks later)
Everything is ready for the move to Balbadd, dozens of people are running around making last-minute adjustments to make sure the large caravan is fully ready, Alibaba is watching all this with a fond smile as he remembers all the things he experienced in Qishan over three years, this city and the encounters with certain people has shaped him into the man he is today, and he is eternally grateful for all of it, this city had become his home away from home so it's bittersweet leaving but its something he has to do, he walks the streets one last time, greeting friends he has made, flirting with some of the night club ladies, having a few farewell drinks at his favorite bars, he really is going to miss this but everyone who really knows his identity are all encouraging him to take back his home, making him glad he took this walk.
"Had a good walk?" Scarlett questioned as soon as Alibaba sat down beside her on one of the caravan wagons.
"Yeah, it was great to see everyone one last time," Alibaba responded.
"So, are you ready to face your old life again, more specifically your foster brother Cassim?" She asked, shifting the conversation from lighthearted to serious.
Alibaba sighs, he can hear the dark edge when she said Cassim's name, from the day he told her about what Cassim did she has wanted to kill him, to Scarlett family was sacred one does not betray or use family for any reason and certainly not for one's greed.
"I have moved on from that night, but by no means I have forgiven or forgot what he did, the facts are my father died due to Cassim's unnecessary actions that night, there is no excuse that I will ever accept, the trust that was broken will never be the same, but he will keep his life because I will never kill family, it's a line I will never cross," Alibaba says the last part with fierce determination in his voice.
Scarlett nods her head, while wearing a proud look on her face, she leans her head on his shoulder and watched the sunset in silence.
(Three weeks later)
The large caravan made it to Balbadd a week ago, the next few days were spent getting the new ASLAW headquarters set up, organizing and cataloging everything they brought in the caravan from Qishan.
The new headquarters was a large walled compound, it had an indoor garden at the back of the main building, the main building was elegantly designed in Balbadd's architectural style, there were over two dozen rooms in addition to the master suite, there were three smaller buildings that serve as the living quarters for those not staying in the main building, there were four large warehouses for storage purposes, two guard towers were at the north and south end of the compound, the compound was not this large originally but it and the adjacent property was bought over eight months ago, then construction went into it to make it what it is today.
Hearing about it and seeing it was two vastly different things, when Alibaba had explored his country earlier in the week in disguise he could barely contain his fury at what he say, hundreds of his people on the street, starving wasting away in plain sight yet no one does anything, city guards meant to protect all citizens are nothing more than puppets for the rich, empty deserted market places, it was a sobering sight that just hardened his resolve, as soon as he was back in the compound he set his men to work, they had brought a surplus of perishable foods so he had them distribute the surplus to the people who needed them, while having his magicians posing as healers treat anyone who they could, this served multiple purposes; feeding and healing his people would build trust with them and his company, it would also highlight the plight of the people to any of the noble houses that still cared for their own people, prompting them to action for if a stranger can help your people why can't you, it might even make some of the other nobles act because if you need outside help to feed your people that would be a severe blow to their pride, it would also provide real time information of the current happenings of the streets, it would also give them hope that someone sees and hears them and is willing to help them, finally getting the attention of the ones still fighting for the country so that we don't have to be the ones reaching out to them but the other way around.
Most of what we expected to happen did; the people were initially wary of my company's help but they eventually warmed up to the idea deciding to trust us, from what my interactions with the people and my magician's observations it seems they are getting some hope and light back in their lives so we were definitely making a difference, some noble houses did, in fact, reach out but their help was covert they had their servants deliver linens, food, and some cheap clothing it wasn't a lot but it helped, the fact that they hid their helping told Alibaba it was the ones who actually cared that sent it, the others didn't seem to care any which way just proving how far gone they were, a few interested parties reached out to us they were merchants who opposed the current government and wanted to fight back.
The Merchants were ready and willing to fight they just didn't have a plan how to this is where Alibaba came in, he had a plan, resources, and manpower to carry them out, he quickly integrated the merchants into his business plans, he has around a third of them operate as legitimate business partners publicly, while the others were brought into the covert smuggling operations that he had established alongside his legitimate trade routes, the merchants finally having a solid foundation and destination were a force to be reckoned with.
(Two months later)
Word has finally come from Cassim that he wants to meet, it seemed he has finally gotten over his pride if he is requesting a meeting after avoiding one for months not that one could blame him when word got around of what ASLAW Trading Company was doing it was discarded as some rich person doing charity nothing to really fix the real problem, then the company started funding half of all the businesses in the country, suddenly half of the blacksmiths, Tanners, tavern owners, fishermen, construction workers, dock workers, even the night club owners were directly working for the company, people were working again and they were able to provide for their families, this stung Cassim's pride cause as far as he knew they were foreigners getting involved in Balbadd's business and it made his efforts seem tame by comparison, his gang could not openly oppose ASLAW for they had the support of the people behind them so any move would destroy the goodwill his gang had among the people.
His Fog Troupe had found out about the smuggling business, his gang flexed their influence here to get their cut of the profits, they were paid but it was on the terms of ASLAW Company, not theirs, this caused friction between the groups and when he attended to use force they came to a startling discovery, for while his Fog Troupe is a well-trained group for thieves, ASLAW had a professionally trained army as their muscle, the few skirmishes they had ended badly for him but oddly enough none of his men were killed, they were only left with the message that it was their leader's orders not to kill anyone.
With his pride and influence threatened like that he had to respond or lose his position in his own gang, so he had his men working around the clock to find anything about the leader of the company, the most common information out there was that he was a tall blonde man always followed by a beautiful crimson-haired woman, no one knew where he sleeps, where he eats, or where he goes when not in his office, it was proving impossible to get to him, they didn't even know the man's name, he caught a break when a merchant told him that he could set up a meeting with them, and Cassim could take it from there cause the leader was open to lessen the tension between the two groups, so Cassim asked his contact to set the meet which brings us to the present.
The meeting area was a bar owned by a man who works for neither Alibaba nor Cassim so it was supposedly neutral territory. Alibaba, Scarlett, and Harahb arrived first, they headed upstairs so that they had privacy from the other patrons, they ordered a few drinks to pass the time.
Thirty minutes later, the others arrived, it was Cassim, Zainab, and Hassan, they exchanged a few words with the owner then proceeded up the stairs when they reach the second floor, the first thing they see is the number of empty mugs of liquor on the table, there was close to two dozen between the three of them, the old man at the table was keeping a close eye on them as they approach, the beautiful crimson-haired woman was sitting on the blonde man's lap blatantly ignoring Cassim and his lieutenants, they could not make out the blonde man's face due to the woman kissing him.
"So, you are the man who saw it fit to involve yourself in our country's problems?" Cassim started as he sat down.
"Well, seeing as I was born and raised here in Balbadd, I think I have just as much right as anyone to save my country." Alibaba retorted, his voice had changed as he grew up, so Cassim couldn't tell it was him until he saw his face.
"I know everyone in Balbadd and I never heard of you before," Cassim said.
Scarlett then shifted how she was sitting so Cassim and his lieutenants could see his face, rendering them speechless from shock.
"I haven't been home in three years, due to the actions of others, but I have to say you did well for yourself after signing my death warrant," Alibaba says coldly.
"No way, Alibaba!" Hassan exclaimed in surprise.
"Impossible," Zainab muttered.
Cassim was still staring at Alibaba in shock, he couldn't make sense of it he thought he ran and would never come back, he should not be here, he has no right, these dark thoughts unknown to Cassim came from the magic tool he carried.
"So, the coward comes back to play hero?" Cassim mocked openly.
"He was no coward if he stayed he would be dead, and that's rich coming from a man who stabbed his family in the back!" Scarlett growled at Cassim, her eyes ablaze with hate for him.
"I am no family to royals!" Cassim says with hate in his voice.
"Can we move on to more important matters?" Alibaba asked with casual indifference halting the argument.
Silence descended on the table after his question, Cassim, Hassan, and Zainab were unnerved by the lack of emotion on Alibaba's face as he regarded them.
"Good, so now let's talk about helping each other saving Balbadd from the Kou Empire," Alibaba starts speaking, giving Cassim a full rundown of what is happening and why it's happening in the first place.
"So, your saying Kou is buying our country and that slug of a king is letting them?" Cassim asked in a deadly voice.
"Yes," Alibaba says.
"And you're planning to buy back what he sold?" Cassim asked.
"Yes." Alibaba answers.
"Then why not just kill him and the nobles that are making the situation worse?" Cassim asked.
"I can't not until I know exactly what he sold and what other deals he made that we know nothing about," Alibaba explained.
"How are you going to get that?" Cassim asked.
"First of all, I have to stabilize our people's economic situation, with your Troupe helping instead of hindering my efforts we should be good in two to three months, then we take out the banker, get the contracts, and finally remove the current leadership of Balbadd," Alibaba says resolute.
"So, you're going to take out the King?" Cassim asked staring at Alibaba with narrowed eyes.
"Yes," Alibaba says while looking directly at Cassim.
"Well, I think we have a deal," Cassim says with a sinister grin.
"Yes, I believe we do." Alibaba says.