Percy stared at the sight in front of him in disgust. "This was the Red Claw's work?"
"Yes. We have their men tied up in one of our owned businesses, waiting for your judgment. It's expected that we give them back, though they did technically commit murder in our territory…" Shiro trailed off, looking as disgusted at the sight as Percy was.
Percy was currently staring down at the dead body of a girl in her mid teens, her brains blown out the back of her head onto the alley wall behind her. Beside her lay a red smear which used to be a baby.
"Why the fuck would they do this?" Percy demanded.
"According to them, the kid was one of their boss'. He had a fling with the girl a few months back and then ditched her. Apparently found out she was pregnant a bit ago and decided to send some of his men to force an abortion by getting rid of her. It turned out the abortion was a bit more late stage than they intended, however, because the baby was already born by the time they found her. Didn't stop them from doing the job, though. Or using her body before they did."
Percy turned around to the garbage dump behind them at that, heaving up his breakfast.
What sort of fucked up people could even think of this shit, much less actually do it? Fuck an underage girl until you get her pregnant with your kid, then send your men to rape her to death and kill the baby.
Whoever did this would pay.
"Where's their boss? I want a meeting." Percy demanded, turning to Shiro.
Shiro raised his hands in a 'don't get angry at me' gesture. "Patience. Your meeting with the bosses is in a few days. Sort this one out peacefully. Use this to remember why you have to go through with what you're planning. Killing him now will do nothing but keep the other bosses staying clear of you. Would you rather take out one of those monsters, or dozens?" Shiro reasoned with him.
Percy growled and a storm rolled over Windpath, thunder cracking in the distance. "I don't like it. She deserves more than for me to pretend that everything is fine."
"And she'll get more, in time. He's already agreed to show at the dinner, you'll get your chance. Just wait and this will all pay off."
Percy turned away from the scene. "Fine, but I want those men executed. I don't care how you have to do it, whether it's today or in a week, but they die painfully." he told Shiro, who nodded quickly.
Percy hadn't so far actually ordered him to do anything. Sure, he had put his foot down on a few things, he had made decisions, but never once had he commanded Shiro to do something without protest or comment.
Honestly, Shiro thought it kind of fit him.
Not that he disagreed. No, those men had their names written down and would all face painful deaths in time. For now he would have to release them back to the Red Claw to keep on favorable terms, but once they were a part of Percy's gang… they would know pain.
This Chinese restaurant was rather good, Percy decided. The dumplings especially were pretty great. Of course, the restaurant wasn't 'Chinese' but 'East Mistralan'. Either way, it was very clearly Chinese and nothing anyone could tell him would change his mind.
Percy sat at the head of a large table at the moment. Dozens of crime lords from around the city of Windpath were gathered tonight to discuss the availability of… something. Percy forgot. Either way it must have been important or nobody would be here. Whatever else he could say about the man, Shiro was damn good at the job he was given.
His guests were all talking amongst themselves, sometimes taking the time to resolve local disputes, other times to just catch up with who they considered their peer group. It wasn't too uncommon to make friends among crime lords, even if they did fight occasionally. The city depended more or less on their cooperation to keep things running smoothly, after all.
Until tonight, that is.
Percy was content to let dinner pass before addressing the elephant in the room. It might have been a little cruel, to 'play with his food' more or less. Or it would be if Percy considered any of this anything but a necessity. In a way, Percy figured that this was akin to their last meal on death row. And so because of that, they would get to finish their meal before he did what he had to do.
The restaurant was completely bare with the exception of the table they all sat at. Not a single other patron had been allowed in that day, and yet the restaurant still had all of their available staff working, to make sure that none of the crime lords would have to wait more than a second before their drinks were refilled, or something like that.
Percy was the youngest one sitting at the table, by far. The next youngest was a man in his mid twenties whose father had met an early end, leaving him the gang to run. Most of the others were in their middle ages or approaching elderly, and Percy stood out like a sore thumb.
"So, where're you from?" A gruff voice asked him.
Percy turned slightly to his right to address the man who had asked him the question. His name was Daniel Brown Cooper, if Percy remembered correctly. He had silver grey hair and a very square face, and looked like he belonged in the mafia back on Earth; the Italian features certainly didn't hurt.
Percy smiled slightly. "A small village just west of here. It doesn't exist anymore, sadly, but we all start somewhere."
Cooper nodded, shoving a fork full of noodles into his mouth. It was rude of course, but Percy was the last person to be throwing stones at that house.
"Damn right about that kid. Twenty years ago I was robbing bullheads, today I run a gang. You never know where you'll end up." he gave his wise advice.
Percy wanted to point out that robbing bullheads and running a gang weren't entirely different considering he had been a criminal all his life, but the point likely would have been lost on him. He grew up in Mistral; crime was a part of life.
Cooper gave a friendly front, and he probably wasn't even acting. Bosses were usually on favorable terms with each other, in a weird way it was their best way of making friends. Their only peers were other bosses, after all.
But Percy knew what people like him were capable of, and the dead body of a girl in an alleyway flashed through his mind. He immediately glared at the leader of the Red Claws, who was sitting towards the middle of the long table. He was animatedly speaking with several other bosses, telling a story of some sort which made everyone around him laugh.
No, he had seen what lay underneath, if even briefly, and knew he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he let it happen again. These people may act like nice, civilized humans, but Percy knew what lay underneath.
Percy popped his last dumpling into his mouth and looked around the table, noticing that most were nearing done with their food. People had been sending him glances all night, but Cooper had been one of the first to actually talk to him. There were polite, cursory greetings of course, but most were waiting with baited breath to see what he would tell them tonight. He was now on top of this city, even if by a hair's breadth, and he was incredibly young. The direction that he took this meeting would affect the city for years to come.
If only they had any idea.
Well, might as well get this show on the road.
Standing up, Percy cleared his throat. The actual clearing of his throat did nothing, obviously, but people around the table quickly noticed that he was standing and began to quiet down.
Percy smiled and raised his glass — filled with a wine which cost as much as the average Mistralan's annual salary — and began to speak.
"Thank you all for coming tonight. I know there have been some concerns about me, and I can understand why. Tonight, I regretfully inform you that your concerns about me were warranted."
Percy paused to allow them to react to the beginning of his speech. As he expected most of them took glances at each other asking 'is this guy sane?' while the rest showed signs of amusement.
Percy lowered his glass onto the table. "I've managed to bribe the underlings of almost everyone here tonight, and will soon be in control of almost ninety percent of Windpath, provided none of you leave here alive."
Reactions went one of two ways at that. Those who had sent worried glances began to object, some standing from their chairs. The din of voices rose and Percy couldn't make out a word. Those who had shown signs of amusement began laughing, clearly more assured in their abilities than they should be. Or perhaps, less assured of Percy's.
Cooper showed faint signs of amusement himself. Perhaps it was because he was right next to Percy, perhaps it was because he had stood up and began speaking in a loud voice, but whatever the reason when Cooper began speaking the others momentarily quieted.
"Boy, you have no idea what you're getting into. You may have a huntsman, but he can't take on the collective might of fifty seven crime lords in Windpath."
Percy shrugged. "If that's what you want to think, then you likely won't live long enough to learn how wrong you are. I would offer you all the chance to leave here alive if you leave Windpath but we all know how that would go, so unfortunately that won't be happening. Thanks, at least, for being horrible human beings so I don't have to feel quite so guilty about killing you all."
Riptide whipped out of his pocket.
Percy wondered if Zoe was turning in her spot in the sky right now, watching her blade be used for murder. For once Percy was just a bit glad he was in a universe away from her gaze.
Then again, wasn't it her who had said that some mortals could be worse than even monsters? Percy tried to imagine what she would do if it had been she that had found the dead girl and her baby in the alleyway.
Maybe he didn't feel so bad using Riptide for this after all.
Cooper's head was the first one to slip off their shoulders. The next was the boss on Percy's left, and then he began systematically working his way down the table.
None of them were armed, and none of them had guards. It was to keep things civil, considering the risks presented if anyone were to be armed. Risks Percy was turning into a reality at the moment.
After the first few within arm's reach fell, Percy hopped up on the table, slicing left and right and ending life after life. It was the first time he had killed a defenseless human being, technically his last meeting with Aspro included, and despite knowing they were all despicable people it still didn't feel good. It felt disgusting, almost like it was too easy.
Unlike here, it was easy to take a life in the heat of battle because it was so hard to take a life in battle.
Okay, so that made no sense, but it was the best way he could explain it. When you were fighting for your life, when your opponent living meant you dying, and when you had to claw tooth and nail for every victory, scoring the killing blow was almost easy. It was 'I will kill this person, or I will die'.
Right now, it couldn't be easier. Percy swung his sword, and someone died. Nobody could run (Percy was keeping the doors pried shut with ice) so if Percy felt like it, he could sit there and take a breather. Between his demigod reflexes, strength, vitality, and everything else, as well as his aura, he was essentially invincible to a bunch of old men with fists and feet.
So each life he took felt unnecessary and disgusting, despite having convinced himself that each one of these sick fucks deserved it.
Dozens of crime lords had different reactions. Some attempted to grab at his feet to pull him off the table — they got a kick in the face and a sword to the neck.
Others attempted to escape through the doors, only to find that they were frozen shut. Some grabbed various weapons — steak knives, fire pokers from fireplaces, etc. — and some pulled out their phones to call their own gang members to come help them, only for their calls to go unanswered.
So Percy had all the time in the world to make his way around the room butchering the occupants. The staff of the restaurant were left physically okay — Percy could only regret the psychological trauma witnessing all of this would give them, but they would at least leave here physically intact.
He took special pleasure in bisecting the leader of the Red Claws. Percy hadn't bothered to learn his name, but he had memorized the face for when he would finally be able to take his revenge on behalf of the girl he had never met.
Percy tuned out their pleas of mercy and offers of subservience as they died. The moment he let down his guard they would attempt to take back what was theirs. He wouldn't allow it. Wouldn't allow these animals to keep playing their sick games.
Soon enough he was the only mob boss left in the room. Right now Shiro was leading the assault on the largest gang which they hadn't managed to get rats in. It was the Kokkinos gang, which was also the only gang with a member that had an unlocked aura. (Apart from Percy's, of course) But the kid with an unlocked aura was a dropout from some combat school in north Mistral, and was nothing compared to a real huntsman. As Shiro was injured and unable to go on missions they were at about the same level, which was why Percy had sent half of his men with Shiro, while the other half cleaned up the other couple small gangs they hadn't managed to win over.
If everything went to plan (Which it almost never did, granted) then the entire city would be under Percy's thumb by the end of the night.
When the last of the crime lords had finally keeled over and died, Percy walked around the room collecting scrolls. Most of them would be useless, but for every few he gathered they would be able to gather bank accounts, shares in companies, and information which might be useful. He was about to take over a city, and anything that slipped through the cracks was just unnecessary trouble.
Finally deciding he was done, Percy walked out the front door of the restaurant to find a bevy of gangsters awaiting his blood caked form.
"Boss." One of them greeted.
"New boss." One of them corrected.
"Boys," Percy nodded at them. "Let's get this show on the road, shall we?"
One by one they all loaded up into vans and SUVs scattered around the parking lot of the not-Chinese restaurant, engines humming and then roaring as they took to the city.
Believe it or not, taking over the entire city and dozens of gang's territories actually went much better than taking over the Blue Wolf gang's territory. Last time he had had to do everything on the spot with a little help from Lil' Miss Malachite, immediately after he had been thrust into the job in the first place.
Now he had a month to prepare, with an incredibly large amount of help from the Spider Organization and Shiro. He had infinitely more money than he had had taking over the Blue Wolves and dozens of times more men.
All in all, it went a lot smoother.
Of course, there were a lot of people who hadn't been very happy with Percy's power grab, even among the city's government. They had long since stayed out of gang affairs, but decided that if there was ever a time to intervene it was now. After all, if there was only one boss that meant much less money for the officials that ran the city.
After the first seven police cruisers they sent had stopped responding they had decided to sit this one out. After Percy had paid a visit to the commissioner's office to bereft him of his head, the new commissioner of the Windpath police force, Kermes Ochre, had thrown his support behind Percy.
So generally, he had only one headache to take care of, and one that was assuaged rather easily at that. Even the run of the mill paperwork which was normally required was almost entirely handled by Shiro. Percy's job for the first few days after the episode was to more or less sit back and count his money.
And there was a lot of it.
He controlled every bit of organized crime in the city, which made up the majority of the money in the city of hundreds of thousands of people. He acted as a second government, receiving protection money from every citizen in the city, and yet he had no obligation to provide anything in return. No clean water, no fire department, no police force. That was all the city government's responsibility, which was also taxing the people.
Percy did have a long discussion with Shiro about long term goals, and what to do now ahead of him. But at the moment, Shiro was far too buried under paperwork to have that conversation, and Percy was happy to let him deal with that in the meantime, even if he did feel pretty bad for the guy.
Percy had tried to help at least a little, but Shiro had declined, saying that it was necessary for uniformity's sake that everything was done the same way, so Shiro would have none of him intervening.
At the end of the day, Percy was left with a lot of time to train and sleep, and train and sleep is exactly what he did.
For the three days that Shiro was too busy to speak to him he woke up, hiked his way outside the city, trained himself to the bone and killed the occasional grimm that was unlucky enough to find him. Then, he returned back to his nice, new, giant, fancy house near the center of Windpath, and had a drink or two before passing out. One day Monty had even visited him, and they had had a conversation about something or the other.
The point being, it was a nice vacation. He had gotten to hone his skills in case he actually met a huntsman worthy of challenging him, or a particularly old grimm, and he had been able to relax and take his mind off of the myriad of murders he had committed a few days ago.
That all ended on sunday, though.
Percy walked out of his bedroom to find Shiro waiting for him, and held in a groan. He knew the vacation wouldn't last forever, but it didn't make it any easier to accept that it was over.
"We need to talk."
Percy waved him off, holding in a yawn. "Yeah, yeah, I know. We can talk while I make breakfast."
Shiro raised an eyebrow. "You're a multi millionaire, a billionaire if we consider the city itself your property. You make your own breakfast?"
Percy shrugged, moving towards the kitchen. This was the largest house he had ever lived in — the only house he had ever lived in actually, if you didn't count his cabin at Camp Half-Blood — and he was kind of enjoying it.
"I'm not gonna go all cliche rich guy and hire a bunch of servants just because I have the money to. I'll hire someone to clean this place up because if I tried to it's all I'd do, but other than that I'm still me. I don't really see the point in hiring someone to cook for you when you could just go out to eat if you don't want to cook."
Shiro shrugged. "Whatever. I hope you're not offended that I took the opportunity to get myself a couple aides and cooks then."
Percy waved it off. "To each their own. Objectively speaking you're creating jobs and all that, so you're probably the better person, but I'm still not gonna hire a personal chef or anything."
Shiro's smile fell. "Yeah, speaking of creating jobs… You own a city now. It's in ruin with the rest of Mistral at the moment, but right now we're not helping that. We're making an incredible amount of money, but it won't last forever. There's a reason unemployment and poverty is so high in Mistral, and it's not because people are too lazy to work."
"So, what?" Percy pulled out a pan and began to crack eggs into it. "We're hurting the economy, sure, what do we do then? If we just stop asking for as much money the economy gets better?"
Shiro winced and leaned back slightly. "Yes, more or less. You may be able to do some other things now that the city is owned by one person to help the city out quite a bit, but really the only way is to stop asking for as much."
"Okay."
"Okay?"
Percy raised an eyebrow at Shiro while scrambling his eggs with a spatula.
"I told you I don't care about the money. It's a means to an end, but if the city of Windpath is better off, it's good enough for me. After all, I kind of own the place."
Shiro blinked. "Well, that went better than I thought. I knew you were different, but you're still a crime lord, you usually don't get into the business unless you're interested in the money."
Percy snorted. "Yeah maybe, but not always. Remember, it was you who had to convince me to actually expand."
Shiro sighed. "Yeah, that's fair. So, currently we ask for about half of the average person's income, and then another half of whatever a company makes. How much do you want to lower it?"
Percy nodded. "That includes companies that aren't based in Windpath, and people that are only travelling here, right?"
Shiro nodded. "Correct. Obviously they're not happy about it, but it's pretty much the same across the continent. It's just something you get used to if you're doing business in Mistral."
"Then lower it all the way."
"Excuse me?"
"Lower it all the way for the people that live here and the companies that are based here. That extra money and all the people looking to work should be more than enough to give the economy a kickstart. I didn't do too well in my econ class, but even I know taxing your people more than fifty percent and then not putting that money back into the community absolutely ruins cities."
"I mean… Alright. Okay, lowered all the way. Got it. What about the companies that aren't based here and the people that don't live here?"
Percy poured his newly prepared scrambled eggs onto his plate. "Keep the same rate. It doesn't hurt us as much, and any profits we let them keep will likely not go to Windpath anyway."
"Lowering our rates could serve as incentive for outside companies to invest more in Windpath and travelling merchants to visit here more often, causing a boom."
"We can worry about that later, for now I want to work on growing Windpath's own industries. Besides, I need a source of income to keep buying up local businesses."
Shiro leaned forward onto the island in Percy's kitchen as the crime lord sat down and began eating. "Buying up businesses?"
"Think about it, we both know that the economy is going to go soaring soon, but nobody else does. Property and business values are at a rock bottom and I've just inherited a pile of money that's so large I don't know how large it is. Do you?"
Shiro winced. "No, we're still working on that."
"Exactly. I have so much money it takes days for a team of people to count how many accounts I have, much less how much money I have. I can start buying up the local businesses, putting more money in their pockets to start off the economic boom, and then as the values of the businesses and their profits grow, so do mine."
Shiro looked at Percy confused. "Buy the businesses? Why? You already own them, nobody would ever deny you if you demand payments, even all of their profits. What advantage could there possibly be to buying them?"
"As I said before it injects the economy with the incredible amount of cash that the crime lords were hoarding. Second, it's much, much easier to own a company and get regular, legal payments, or to own the stock of a company and literally be able to sell your ownership of it than sending out a bunch of thugs to threaten a bunch of people who live in the city I own."
Shiro's eyebrows furrowed. "That's just… not how it's ever been done in Mistral. It's possible, but it's untested. It seems more like something that would happen in Vale than anywhere else."
Percy snorted. "Vale seems to be doing a bit better than us at the moment despite their smaller population and resources, in case you haven't noticed."
Shiro shook his head. "It's just strange seeing someone voluntarily give up absolute power and replace it with a free market."
Percy took a sip of milk. "You have to remember that it only appears to be a free market. I plan to own every business in Windpath, even if I have to do it through dozens of proxies. Don't get me wrong, I'll still hold all the cards, it'll just be in a way that's much better for the pocket book. The flaw with totalitarian systems is that there isn't any freedom or competition. So why not foster competition, but own both sides? The people will be better off for it, too."
Shiro scratched his head. "I guess it could work. I'll start rolling it out."
Percy shook his head. "Wait for a few weeks for our financials to get sorted, start offering to buy businesses, and then let the news break. The price of businesses will at least double literally overnight, so get ahead of the curve while you can. Anyway, enough economics and politics talk. I still haven't seen you fight." Percy grinned a cheshire grin at Shiro.
Shiro narrowed his eyes. "Pray you never have to." he joked.
Percy scoffed. "C'mon old man, I could take you."
"Old man!? I'm in my thirties. And I'd mop the floor with you so hard you'd have the scars for the rest of your life."
"The only wounds would be to your pride old man." Percy shot back with a grin.
Shiro rolled his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. There was something else I needed to talk to you about, though."
"Yeah, what's that?"
"Now that you own the city, you can have a pretty substantial effect on what happens here. I wanted to run by what you want to happen and what you want to stop."
Percy bit his lip. This was the hard part. He'd have to consciously agree to harming people because if he didn't, someone else might. Not only that, but he knew he would need the extra money from the crime for his other projects, which meant he couldn't go completely off of morals here.
"Go ahead."
"Well, first is drugs. Do you want to stop them all together, only sell low end, sell everything but the most extreme stuff, or just sell everything?"
"I'm thinking everything right now. Selling the real bad stuff doesn't really sit right with me, but… If anything, cutting them off might be worse. Just… do everything."
Percy knew he was making excuses for the sake of potential profit and cursed himself. But it would all be worth it. In the end when Salem was dead and the grimm were gone he could put his perceived morals before the greater good, but not now.
"Alright, next is theft. Any changes?"
"Have our thieves initially stay clear of businesses we own, until we own too much of the city. There will always be people that want to steal, if we make sure to employ them we make sure that we get profit from that thievery even if it's against our own companies. In the end some insurance company somewhere will pay the bill, so don't worry about it."
Shiro nodded, writing something else down. "Let's see, we've been through racketeering, drug trade, thievery. What about information brokering?"
Percy perked up at that. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Let's try and get closer with the Spider Organization. They've already been a huge help, and at this point I have more resources than Lil' Miss Malachite. Let's see how close we can bring her organization, as partners or otherwise."
Shiro nodded once again. "There's our counterfeit cash operations, gunrunning operations, money laundering and vehicle flipping. That leaves our… human trafficking."
Percy's face went blank for a moment. This was obviously a bit of an extreme crime, especially compared to something like money laundering. But that didn't change the fact that more than likely, if they didn't do it, someone would. It did change how willing Percy was to accept that fact, however.
"Stop it all and keep tabs on everyone that was formerly doing it. If it pops back up again, and it truly seems inevitable that there will be human trafficking… Then make sure it's as humane as we can possibly make it, and make sure I don't hear about it."
Shiro frowned but nodded anyway. "That's all for that unpleasant business. There's just one last thing I wanted to talk to you about."
Percy sighed. "What now?"
"Qrow asked me to put this to you in person because he wasn't sure how well it'd come across on the scroll, but you've been invited to Beacon personally by the headmaster, considering you're still seventeen."
Percy snorted, putting his plate in the dishwasher. "Making waves that soon, huh? Didn't expect the headmaster of one of the huntsman academies to have heard of me, much less invite some random criminal to a huntsman school."
It was Shiro's turn to snort now. "You're hardly some random criminal. You're a seventeen year old who's taken over a major city in Mistral, which nobody has managed to do for centuries. Not only that, but you made it seem almost trivial. That being said, he didn't hear about you from the news, but from Qrow. Qrow's one of his personal agents, it's why he was in the area in the first place. But more or less, he's curious and decided to offer you a place."
Percy sat back down on his stool and raised an eyebrow. "So what, Qrow ratted?"
Shiro sighed. "Don't be like that, man. I don't know how well you know Qrow, but he wouldn't have told anything to the headmaster if he didn't think you might benefit from it. If you want my advice, I'd take the offer. Millions of people want to become huntsmen and never get the chance, and you've just been handed the option on a silver platter. Besides, it's a chance to get away from all this, isn't that what you wanted?"
Percy shook his head. "From what I got from Qrow, I don't really need the lessons. Don't get me wrong, if Qrow came back I'd take some more training in a heartbeat but I'm a bit above a student at the moment. And besides, it was you who changed my mind, right? I'm doing more good here, objectively speaking."
That was his excuse to Shiro, at least, and anyone else he cared about who asked. In reality, he needed a base to go from to get those relics. Millions and millions of lien along with hundreds of people worth of manpower would go a long way towards fighting back anything that got in his way short of Salem or Ozma themselves.
Shiro frowned. "That arrogance will get you killed some day, don't let it get ahead of you. When I'm recovered in a few weeks I'll put you on your ass and then we'll see how ahead of training you are. You're lucky school doesn't start for a couple more months so I still have time to change your mind."
Percy rolled his eyes. "Alright, whatever you say. And besides, I turn eighteen before then. Isn't that against their rules or whatever?"
Shiro winced. "Qrow mentioned that as a possibility, but considering you come from an outlying village and just got to civilization before you had a chance to attend, Ozpin is willing to do some... creative record keeping for you."
"Ozpin?"
"Oh, right. He's the headmaster of Beacon. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him by now, he's one of the most powerful men on Remnant."
Percy nodded. "That makes sense, I've seen him in the news a few times, just never bothered figuring out who exactly he was."
"Whatever, I'll change your mind in a couple weeks, for now we'll just worry about Windpath. Do you have any policies you'd like put in place, anyone you'd like fired, killed, whatever?"
"Nah," Percy yawned. "I got nothin, I don't really care for politics all that much, and there's nobody that's pissed me off so much that I'd want them dead that isn't already in the ground. I hope," Percy glanced at Shiro meaningfully. "Just make sure everything's above the board and helpful to the city of Windpath. I own the city now, so I want the best for it. Long term economic gain and all that fun stuff."
"Right," Shiro wrote something down on a notepad he pulled out of his pocket. "And what about people from the big city. When they come knocking, do you want me to ignore them, meet with them, send them to you…?"
"I'll meet with them. I might as well do something other than train all day, so send em' right to me. I'll see what I can do to begin working on Mistral."
"Working on Mistral already? Don't you want to consolidate things here first, or take a break or something?"
Percy shrugged. "I already had my break, the last few days of training have been pretty nice but I'd like to get going now. My resources from Windpath might be useful but my reputation alone will be enough to get me a foothold in Mistral."
Shiro let out a resigned sigh. "Alright, you do what you want. I'm done doubting you after you took over Windpath in a night, but it won't be easy to do anything like that in Mistral. That hasn't been done since the golden age of Mistral when we still had an emperor, and you're no Caesar."
"Caesar?" Percy almost laughed. He had noticed the similarities between Rome and Mistral of course, but come on. Either Oum and whoever had created earth were from the same world where everyone was just a walking creator deity or Oum was from some variation of Earth. Percy would have to ask him next time he stopped by. If that was the case though, might the gods be a thing here, even if they weren't real? Monty hadn't exactly mentioned any other gods in this universe, but the country of Atlas had to have been named after something, and they could still exist on paper. It might help explain the whole Mistralan worship of the sea and sky, considering the main two deities were the gods of the sea and sky.
Shiro raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you don't know who Caesar is." he deadpanned.
Percy shook his head quickly. "Nah I know who he is, just surprised is all. Anyway, don't worry about me. I might ask for a few men every now and then or some money, but I should be good on my own for a bit. For the most part I'm just going to be laying foundations for a takeover. Eventually I'll need your help managing things, but that won't be until I make my move."
Shiro let out a long suffering sigh. "Alright, will you need transportation?"
Percy considered that for a moment. "Nah, I'll hike it. Some supplies would make it easier, but I might as well train for a few more days on the way there. Mistral is just a day south of here by foot anyway."
"Got it, keep in contact. You're still the boss, so I might need you to keep up a public appearance or something so they don't think there's been a coup, but for the most part I'll have it handled here."
Percy smiled and clapped a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "Thanks Shiro. I got lucky when Qrow asked me to come rescue your sorry ass. Keep the shop running while I'm away and remember, long term gain. I want the city as well off as possible, and as much money invested in it as you can."
Shiro nodded. "I've got it. And since you're going to Mistral, you might be interested in contacting a mutual friend or two of mine and Qrow's. They're huntsmen so they're supposed to be uninvolved with this sort of stuff, but it is Mistral, and as sad as I am that it's true everyone's for sale."
Percy chuckled. "Got it. I presume there'll be actual huntsmen there as well, so I'll be a bit more careful. Just send me a list and I'll get in contact."
Shiro nodded. "I'll send you their info."
"If there's nothing else you need from me, I'm gonna go pack." Percy excused himself, moving past Shiro to his room so that he could pack up his few belongings and begin moving. In addition to his clothes he'd need camping supplies, food, a fire starting kit, and about a dozen other things. Of course he was capable of roughing it out on his own, but modern supplies made it just so much easier.
So that's what Percy spent that day doing, and when the sun rose the next morning, he set off for Mistral.
This was going to be interesting.
Next week might be the last weekly update, as I'm kinda falling behind on this story, meanwhile I have a good 3 months of material written for Proditione et Fide. I'm sorry please don't hate me it's just how my muse works.
Here's a link to a discord me and some other readers are in if you wanna come talk, my channel's towards the bottom.
discord .gg/QUydXb7
Next chapter October 10
