Movements

  Walking down the sidewalk after Luis's morning press conference ended, Fox and Nala were under the light breeze and the morning sun. People looked at them, but more than anything, people seemed a bit distracted. Cars drove more slowly, and people looked around more, as if they had returned to life. Fox and Nala ignored this, but it was an obvious change in the state of mind, and most likely, not only in Proteros.

  The business was business, moved by people and protected by the IWS, even in a situation like now, where there is an actual war between countries after so long, scaring the hell out of all.

  The Blackflower Boutique was doing well, too. The talks for the 5th floor were already underway since time ago, right after the 3rd and 4th floors were acquired, and once the big boss, Fox, gained another huge paycheck as the Chief Secretary of Security.

  Moreover, because of the war, without further haggling, the owner changed of attitude, almost as if he’d nod, sign up, and then flee before prices started going lower and lower. Fabiola was prepared for something like this, and after seeing her ‘big bro’ act the way he has on business, she was excited to see such vulnerability.

  Either way, during the second month, the Blackflower Boutique made 1,191,000 credits in gross sales, and 403,050 credits net sales, which were directly added to the reserves. Its monthly cost added up to 430,650 credits. Fabiola’s 15% took 178,650 credits, more than Fox’s previous profit.

  With the 24 attendants, of which 8 were attendants ‘in training’, paid 4,550 credits a month, and the 4 clerks paid 5,700 credits a month, along the 120,000 credits for tax and resupply; 15,000 credits per floor as tax and 60,000 in resupplying and stocking. That was the monthly cost of the boutique. The total of credits for employee’s payment was of 132,000 credits.

  Fox’s profit was of 357,300 credits, more than double his previous profit. With the previous reserves, the boutique now had 12,243,050 credits, and with Fox’s 15,000,000 payment, he had had 26,772,300 credits. Of those 26, he used another 8 million to pay the following repair of his Myertha, with Miros stepping in to give his baby some modifications, completely illegal, even as the CSS. Lastly, he gave 12 million out of his 18,772,300 credits to the boutique’s reserves.

  He was investing in his own business, which would only help him in the future in more than one way. Thus, Fox’s personal money bag now amounted to 6,772,300 credits, and the boutique had 24,243,050 credits. Furthermore, paying for his monthly rent in the mega hotel’s suite, Fox’s money remained in a solid number of 6,462,300 credits. Still a lot, considering he no longer had time for team assignations, or any for that matter. He did manage to create as many bions as he could, earning himself another 1.8 million credits, and staying with 8,272,300 credits at the beginning of this month.

  Both Colmillo and the District were contented to see their bions, even if Fox only did money out of them from Colmillo. Furthermore, temporarily and as an addition, with the Raging Blood’s status, Fox moved Colmillo to Nala’s team, which was where Miros temporarily was as well.

  Nobody loses anything. Even with the ongoing war, which no business dared to have anything to do with, the IWS protected their interests, even in Terka. Although, compared to Lymoca, Terka’s business was poorer, depending entirely on ANS to sell amassed quantities of ores and some specialties Terka has in abundance and easiness to produce.

  Regardless, everyone seemed a bit too scared, within reason, but still a bit too much.

  Fox and Nala walked towards a slightly long avenue, where a block in the middle of the roads had all kinds of buildings, but there was one particular, big building that looked mostly empty. Heading exactly that way, Nala rested her head on his shoulders, as fewer people noticed them.

  “This Terkan chain restaurant fled, but many more haven’t done the same. You think you can take advantage of this to buy them at half the price?” She asked. Fox grinned, “Half the price? Why buy so highly from such people? Why fear something when there’s nothing to feel guilty about? Whoever ran did so for a reason.”

  “Right, but whether those people leaving Lymoca reappear somewhere in the world is another matter, right?” Nala naturally spoke, but her words slightly carried a subtle meaning. Fox could only smile in response, just not too broadly. “All the more reason to sell it cheap to me.”

  “Mhm,” Nala shook her head a little, giving her man the tenderness of having her head on his body, lying on him like a spoiled, loving beauty to make him feel more encouraged. Fox didn’t need any of it, but it felt damn good to have her so close to his body. Her touch was everything.

  “Any plans for your boutique? I’m curious.” Nala spoke with a slightly more energetic tone. Fox nodded and blinked, waiting for the green lights to turn red, although there were no cars rapidly driving by like before. “Our 5th floor will be used a little like a waiting, resting, and dinner space. It’s the most spacious of all, and we can start building an elevator to bring everything up or down more easily. We’ll have to build one outside for the clientele. Big and costly to make the boutique more aesthetically pleasing, and technologically advanced.”

  “Mmm, I like how you think.” Nala hummed a bit before rubbing her ear on his shoulder. Fox softly voiced, “The rest will be up to Fabiola to amply the boutique’s opportunities. Some sports gear, from biking to swimming or hiking, and even military fashion and sensual fabrics.”

  “Sensual fabrics?” Nala lifted her head off his shoulder, looking at him without words as he returned the stare, impassive as always. “I never wore something for you before.”

  “Yes, but you haven’t needed to,” Fox pulled her closer, his hand on her hip, snaking to her lower back. “Just your SA uniforms are enough to get my attention, if you haven’t noticed.”

  “Yes… yes, I have.” Nala looked at him, her right hand at his side as if grasping the air, making Fox smile. Then, she stared into his polycoria eyes, and he stared back down at her, their faces close with the green hue before them and in the traffic lights before turning red at last.

  They finally crossed the roads and arrived before the restaurant. A person wearing white, coming from a white vehicle behind the restaurant, in the general parking lot of the block, walked to them after noticing them.

  It was a middle-aged man, tall, white, with nearly-cleanly shaven black hair, and small black eyes. Despite the apparent nervousness, he walked to Fox and professionally stood before the sign showing the place’s cost. It was 10,000,000 credits for the abandoned restaurant.

  “Welcome, esteemed interested buyer, Fox, and ma’am.” He bowed a little after cupping his palms together. “What can I do for you?”

  “You can see I’m interested in buying it, I want to expand my little business.” Fox looked at the restaurant, giving it a high look with his chin propped up before lowering it to the entrance, then to the middle-aged man. “But that number is too unkept. It does not correlate with its value or need. How did you end up with such a number?”

  “Well, after thinking hard for the last couple weeks,” the man began, moving his inner cheeks and lowering his eyelids before Fox stopped him. “The people renting this restaurant, as it is with the rest of its chain in Lymoca, left the country just a couple of hours ago. Be consistent.”

  “…” The middle-aged man stopped and darted his eyes between the sky and Fox, finally nodding after squinting his eyes. “Let me just make a quick call to the owners, I’ll put you to them.”

  Fox crossed his arms and waited. Nala boringly looked around, spinning where she stood as Fox started his machinations. A few minutes later, with the middle-aged man walking around, like this was AO and the IWS didn’t exist, trying to catch a signal somewhere, he returned to Fox with an apologetic expression.

  “I cannot reach them, but I assure you, this price is at least double from its actual price.” The man said, inclining his head to the side as he cupped his hands again. Fox’s expression didn’t change, but he looked at the man with a penetrating yet at ease touch.

  “Did the Terkans operating this branch tell you that? Is that how you were supposed to deal with it? Put a price on it that is ‘at least half’ of what its true value is?” Fox blinked and said in one go, making the man remember who he dealt with. How could Fox not know this was indeed one of the restaurants owned by Terkans? Any attempt at fooling Fox or swaying the topic away was out the moment he presented himself as an interested person.

  “You seem conflicted. Let me help,” Fox released his arms, bringing some relaxation to the middle-aged man. “5,000,000 for this thing is a lot, I can buy it for 2 million, 2.5 million credits if I’m given access/ownership of the general parking lot area behind it.”

  “Five million!? 2 million!?” The middle-aged man bent his back, not remembering, or caring, who he was facing. “Sir, I cannot do such horrifying ‘profit’! 10,000,000 is too much, alright, we agree on that. But 5 million is the lowest amount anyone can consider.”

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  Fox rolled his eyes, crossing his arms again. “10,000,000 for a place of a big restaurant from a chain large enough to support such costs and receive as many clienteles might be a little low. But while this is no small restaurant, it isn’t really a medium one neither.”

  The middle-aged man quieted down and listened, with Fox continuing, “I’m aware of its ideal prize, between 4 and 5 million, from decent to best profit for the seller, but here’s an extra hand to help you decide.”

  “The owners of the entire chain restaurant were doing fine just yesterday’s night, but just this morning, they decided to flee. Now, that arises questions, so let me divide this ‘advice’ in 2 parts.” Fox gestured with his right index finger before keeping his arms crossed. “Firstly. Terkans are innocent of what their government did, but these don’t seem to be the case, fleeing as soon as there is such a conflict. Now, I know you’re nervous not only for my status, but the war.”

  “Don’t meddle with such situations. Remember you are Ly, not Ters. Get some money out of the shady movements of those, and even if nothing is proved, when it comes out to light, and journalists pour in, your name will be there. Now, that’s the first half.”

  “If you really insist on having such sky-high prices, I will have to formally investigate the chain restaurant as a whole in Proteros, the surrounding states… maybe the whole country?” Fox used his CSS card, wasting no effort to do so.

  “…” The middle-aged man fell silent, understanding that if it isn’t in a good manner, Fox would just have to go through the ‘bad cop’ method. Either way, Fox gets it. Even if his share was small, why not not be in a compromising situation for some quickly earned riches?

  But the man still had hope to gain more money, worthy of a businessman. “This place might not be a medium restaurant, but it can be one. With this in consideration… I’m willing to sell it for 4.5 million credits.”

  “You said ‘it can’, because it does, but will it?” Fox kept his arms crossed. The middle-aged man had an ugly visage, but there was nothing else he could do. Thus, he ceremoniously gave it a thought and sighed, looking up with squinted eyes at his ‘exasperation’ before looking down at Fox, extending his right hand. “It’s a deal if that’s how you wish it. 2.5 million for the place and its parking section of the general parking lot. Yes?”

  “That’s a deal.” Fox lightly said before shaking hands. The man didn’t expect to feel a strange skin, but it was Fox’s glove. He noticed it and smiled before going to his car, where he had the papers. Seeing this left Fox thinking, ‘Is it really that difficult to see things whilst in a war?’

  Fox frowned a bit, crossing his arms again before feeling Nala’s hands on his shoulders. Her slender fingers gently tracing his clothes and uniform below them. “Wondering? It’s even troublesome for me. I have 3 days full of meetings to reassure my business’ partners that nothing changes, and that we remain outside the military industry or its aid.”

  Fox looked at her, his understanding growing with each word. He asked, slightly arching his right eyebrow, “Even with the CMDC? Whereas even the Lylaco Empire didn’t force their public civil industries to aid them for the empire’s defense, is it necessary to doubt Lymoca?”

  “Mn,” Nala tilted her head to the left. Her nostrils breathed on his nape. “It hasn’t happened for centuries. Although you’ve been in the most recent actual war, it isn’t considered larger than a personal conflict in a global basis. With how small and weak Preut was, tanks were the largest source of power seen in the field, so what do you think others thought of it?”

  “The mistake in such Disastrous War was the people fighting in it, caged by their own ‘leaders’, as you’ve experienced it yourself. But while you’ve seen and been in one, the rest of the world hasn’t. Those are many billions unaware of what the war looked like, and what to expect.” Nala blew at the back of his ear a little. “Even the ‘incursion king’ has had no combat experience for centuries.”

  “So, ‘we’ have the advantage?” Fox smirked, holding her right and on his shoulder. She rested her chin beside her grasped hand, looking at him with her eyes turning into slits, darting to him sideways. “It’s a start.”

  … Fox let go of 2.5 million credits of his personal bank account, sending them to the agency and even giving the man an 80,000 credits tip. Leaving him with 5,692,300 credits, further on, he contacted Fabiola’s contacts and spent another 3,000,000 in just taking off its current colors and using the design Miros magically had with him. This place wouldn’t be a box with smaller boxes here or there anymore. His bank account was reduced to 2,682,300 credits now.

  As for Miros’s endless utility, Fox intended to make more use of the boy. Even the new attendants knew he was bantering the sapphireheaded fella, letting him inch closer, let alone the beauty beside him, who could read him like a foodie to a top sauce bottle.

  ***

  Days passed. 4 days later, it was the last day of the 3rd month’s 2nd week.

  Many things happened in the past 70 days, more than in any other first 100 days of a presidential term in Lymoca. The world didn’t spend even an hour to show their thoughts on the war broken out between fellow Moonblue countries after Lymoca’s decision.

  It surprised everyone; a lot. One would have thought it would be the EPA Commonwealth breaking apart in another hundred or few hundred years of peace, breaking their legendary cooperation treaties since the Total Change War period. The largest and longest in the world.

  Of course, this was if the rumored ‘alliance’ between Zyckevele and the Knight Association Assembly was ignored, but no. It wasn’t the EPA Commonwealth who lost their cool and created a legendary scenario of a three-way war.

  Nor was it the KAA, trying to retake its land and punish the ‘evildoers’, maybe even using the Safe Haven City as a lunging point to swing north and south of Dawn’s west. Or Zyckevele finally conquering the rest of Twilight’s ‘mainland’ or being destroyed by the ‘4 twins’ at its northwest or south.

  No K Tribes’ nations fighting each other to bitter death counts that regressed them yet again, but finally deciding a winning, leading K culture among their lot.

  Instead, it was the bearer of ‘eternal peace’. The origin of the worldwide smooth progression towards an educated front of peacefulness, where the HLS; Humanitarian Logistics Stability; kept any conflict, of the few that arose, in the world to a mere graze between countries’ differences and nothing more.

  Terka vs Lymoca, to put it crudely. With Terka breaking this peace, seemingly by caprice of ‘revoking’ against Lymoca’s ‘higher’ status in the center of the Moonblue supercontinent. They shredded half the global agreement, but it was Lymoca who broke the other half, accepting this enacted state of war.

  The world didn’t hesitate to show their thoughts, their side; even.

  The first was the rest of the Moonblue supercontinent. ANS was the first. None other than their vice president, an old man about to die, older and worst-off than Gant Comfor in appearance, gave his declarations on the matter.

  “I will not speak of a Lymoca from the past. It’s too late to do that. The new president will be decided today, and it is such a pity that Gant Comfor will be welcomed into the arms of this wonderful, beautiful country with such a terrible news.”

  “Lymoca has failed its state, more than its history. I suspect their ways are no longer the Humane Key, which they have cherished so much for hundreds of years, since 12 years ago!”

  “Now, if they are truly thoughtful, if they are the Lymoca they- their president speaks they are, that he is. Then retract your words, Luis Heartez. Retract your words, president Heartez! This world is not for you to decide if we take a forceful step into wars again. It was not your place!”

  People clapped to ANS’s vice president, be it where he gave that speech or the internet. The rest of the countries didn’t take long to follow suit.

  Cors, Preato, Collan, Mount Veneta, Melenon, and Argopolas showed their tacit understanding, but they still insisted that this matter be resolved by the HLS, which Lymoca fatally ignored.

  On the other hand, Cerka and Torka, with the latter being Terka’s sisterly nation and immediate neighbor, reprimanded Lymoca for inciting to a war that wasn’t necessary.

  Cerka’s new president, Antonio A., declared against Lymoca’s cynical words and taking advantage of facts that haven’t been confirmed by a third party, only wanting to expand their influence. He was an old brown man, tall, and somewhat muscular.

  “And for this reason, Cerka wants to let the world and Terka know, that the Cerks support you in heart and spirit. We will stand by your side and not let you face the abuses of a falling nation!”

  Torka’s new president, Gustavo J., an old white man of regular height and balding, with barely any white hair left on his head, also spoke in Terka’s behalf. Declaring that Terka would never stand in the wrong side of history, that the entire world would support her if necessary.

  “President Luis Heartez, if you can still call yourself that after the ‘accomplishments’ you have earned up to today, and after breaking the world’s peace. Because after you lose! You might not even present yourself for your failed country’s elections. You will be judged for dishonoring the Green Humanism Harmony, and for attacking a sister nation!”

  Then, there were the other nations, which Luis and his cabinet were glad to have on their side, and so openly at that. They were Endesa, Carnge, Pyot Island, and Meztle Island. These 4 nations, of which 2 were the closest, and the other 2 were almost part of the Lylaco Empire.

  They didn’t personally show their heads of state or vice presidents in a speech, but they worded their support and commitment to Lymoca, their solidarity, and that they believed in the Lys’ cause. Furthermore, with their extremely well positioned countries in the south, Torka and Cerka didn’t dare to put a bad word to them, let alone the neutral parties.

  As for Terka, they were like Lymoca, only they didn’t give a speech after the declaration of war. Lymoca and Terka remained silent, so to speak, letting the rest of the world do the ‘talks’ between them in the war. But this meant something bad was about to happen, as once again, despite not being the impulse this time, they were given the choice to downgrade the situation.

  Yet, all Terka did was remain silent, while Lymoca had already spoken their bits.

  ANS watched intently, but even they didn't seem interested in knowing what was happening down south. On the other hand, those in the south were right around Terka, but they weren't panicky. This was something that nobody thought about, at least not in detail, or that surfaced in any program around the world debating on it.

  Naturally, within the deepest political views of ANS, this surprised them, but it also conflicted with their interests and expected reactions. This way, Lymoca might indeed not be seen… at fault?

  …