District 42-Chapter 211: Long talk
Casper was finding it huge luck to find the person he was looking forward to seeing right in the first moments that he stayed inside the meeting.
He thought it would be more difficult to reach that guy, and after this, talk to him. He heard that he was a very important Jarl, and Casper knew that influential people like him generally wouldn’t bother too much to get along with someone as powerless and insignificant as the soldier.
However, in the end, Gils helped him a lot on that matter. The drunk and noisy guy was able to get the better out of that situation. He was like the lucky charm of Casper.
’Man, I couldn’t be more grateful to have found you, or, rather, to have had met your son. That’s really the ideal situation, and it’s even strange because I generally need to strive a lot to run after the smallest thing I want.’
Casper would like to think that all his misfortune from these days would be repaid at that exact moment, but he wasn’t going to be too optimistic there, anyway.
"W-wow! So you are the father of the Ax family? Of course, I know about you all and how you revolutionized the marketing with your Belic inventions... I mean, if not for the Belic advancement that your family provided, this district probably wouldn’t have had the opportunity to raise so much its technology!"
Casper was trying to make the same thing he always did to conquer the sympathy of those who were similar to Kaleb, Gils, and other powerful people: he was inflating their ego, talking about their success, and showing respect and admiration.
For them, it was a delight to have such kind of attention, and they would low their guard whenever Casper did so.
"Hmm, that’s interesting, young man... You seem to have made your homework. I am glad you appreciate our feats so much." He was trying to pretend that it was nothing much, but his pride and excitement couldn’t be hidden even behind that mask.
No one was better in manipulation than Casper. He had the aptitude to enter into someone’s mind. With the right questions, answers and words, it was always easy to influence people.
"Oh... Yes, I did some research... It was a pretty good time spent, by the way. There is a lot of important things to know about your family." Casper looked to the sides, pretending to be worried about his surroundings. Then, he whispered. "And I am just saying all of this now because my main objective when coming here was to talk with you."
Curiosity nearly made Kaleb ask him in the exact time why he would overshadow so many good experiences he should have in that important meeting just to talk with him, but held himself as much as he could, and asked calmly afterward.
"Well, I am willing to hear what you have to say, or to ask."
"I researched a lot about your family, just as I mentioned a while ago, but I still have plenty of details and information missing here. I know the importance that the Ax family had throughout District 42 history, and find more about it would help my family a lot on our future projects."
Kaleb finally exceeded his limit and just let himself explain to that beginner everything he could tell about his family and its story.
He was very excited and glad to be able to talk with Casper about it. He acted just as the soldier predicted, and it was a great first step for his mission there.
’I could get a lot of progress done so early... It’s almost unbelievable. But that’s just okay for now, I still have a long way to go, after all. Maybe the other Sgails progressed as much as I did." He rambled about the situation, revising the manner that would be better to act, and making sure to settle everything on his mind, so he wouldn’t be failing.
’Now it’s a test of patience. I gotta hear about everything that this guy has to say for the time being, and when I am finally done with the lecture, I will use this opportunity to make him talk about what I really want.’
The White warrior just stayed drinking a little bit of alcohol and talking with Kaleb for a long time.
Just as he thought and studied before, the Ax family was one of the most important ones from District 42. They were recognized for their high patrimony, their inventions which gave start to the new era of the district, driving it for a wave of discoveries and all camps; and also for the number of Aesirs who had been born on that family.
Their activities were entirely military, and every contribution they gave would be destined for that specific field.
Kaleb even mentioned how furious he got with the reform of the Third Lab, and how much money he lost with that.
’Crap! The more I discover about the consequences of my acts, the worst it gets! Didn’t I have enough with destroying a lot of buildings in a city!?’
Anyway, Casper found that coincidence to be quite funny and it helped him to do forget most of the guilt he was feeling.
The conversation of hours he was having with Kaleb ended after the last detail he had to add to his long narrative.
"And, this way, one can totally assume that our family could help on the Battlefield in many ways. I mean, four Aesirs? How many do they kill when acting on the frontlines? How many people did they save? How much they struggled every day to get into such a high position?" He took a long and exaggerated sip on his mug, finishing whatever the content that it had before.
"And, you know what? If anything, this district is the one in debt with me. They have been taking advantage of my family since the start!"
Casper was just smiling at him, trying to add something here and there sometimes to show even more interest, or just looking at him intently.
He needed that the guy forgot that he was having so much alcohol, so he could get drunk and, with no filters, he could get information from him much easier than normal.
Once the man closed his mouth, putting an end to the main subject, Casper started another kind of talk before he could open his mouth to add something else and extend it even more.
"So, how are your sales going? Are the Helheim weapons doing well these months?"
Kaleb wasn’t the least bored and just seemed to regain his energy and talk more about his business.
"Well, currently, it’s going really, really well..." He got pensive for a while, just like he remembered something.
"Ah! But, well, there has a point to emphasize, which is how strange these numbers are. We always profit a lot of money and sell really well every month, particularly for the army, but these days the sales of ammunition and guns are raised a lot. I can’t remember the last time when something like this happened to our business.
"Anyway, that’s good for our pockets, so I am okay with it. It’s still strange, though.".
Casper was noting that information on his mind. He couldn’t forget about that and a more few questions could help him a lot to find out more about what he was trying to discover.
"You have probably a way to control your sales, right? This way you always know for who you are selling your weapons, and it is very important for bureaucratic reasons. I mean, I know that Jarls and Ridires are the only ones who can get a fire gun, so it might be controlled."
The man nodded, taking a brief sip of his drink.
"Yes. We generally just sell without worries when we are talking about the Royal family and the Ridires, but for Jarls, we need to make a control. Why you ask?"
Casper shrugged, pretending that it was no big deal, just a random question.
"Ah, nothing at all, I was just wondering who is buying so many weapons all of a sudden..."
Kaleb took his smartphone from his pocket, taking a look at it. It lasted some minutes until he raised his eyes from the screen and returned to look at Casper.
"Well, someone is buying a lot of guns currently... It’s from a new Corporation that is raising inside the castle. I can’t see now what this Corporation do, exactly, but its name is AOS Corp. or something like this."
Casper nearly snapped his fingers once he heard that name coming out of Kaleb’s mouth.
’Bingo! AOS Corp. A Corporation destined to unknown works, with a strange register on the Castle’s data, and no activity except certain things bought. A facade business, in short. And totally related with the secret organization raising inside the Castle...’
The soldier kept hearing that man talking and talking, even though his mind was very distant.
’It is getting interesting, huh?’
