Next on the to-do list was taking a look at possible ways to fortify and strengthen our home defenses. Our new building in the center of the city took a back seat since it felt safe enough for now. The main priority is our new dojo near the outpost. I wondered where I might be able to get some useful tech and kept thinking back on the military sentries along the outpost walls. 

If only I had some way to get my hands on their equipment. I was dragging out a face to face meeting with Marcus because of the death of his slaves soon after purchase. They meant more to him than mere slaves.

The thought of Mia flashed as a viable option. I remembered telling her it would be too risky to interact with her, but at this point what did it matter since the military and Ethan already knew about my identity. The only one at risk was her and that’s a decision for her to make, not me.

Oddly enough the money set aside for the warehouse reconstruction equaled less than a third of the new place. Lily explained after setting aside forty ruby coins into savings and miscellaneous purchases, we were left with over twenty to spend. I sighed from the thought of all our funds being spent before the end of the day.

This time making sure Alexa and Lily got suitable helpers for all the insane amount of busywork to come their way. Our numbers dwindled to a total of fifty-two, myself included. Out of the sixteen deaths, three were men, leaving Nathan and three others as the only remaining male dojo members. 

I considered the options of visiting a different slave trader and market for when I needed to bolster our lacking male to female ratio. I decided to deal with that when the time came and connected a link to Mia.

“Mia, would you be able to help us?” I felt awkward asking for help after sending her away.

“Was everything okay? You ran away with Eris super fast!” Mia responded with a caring voice.

I explained our situation and all that transpired last night, also thanking her for intervening in the Hunter Corp. matter back at the outpost. I wasn’t intending to drawl on the matter, but she made it easy with how receptive her understanding came across. She offered to meet before I even made an attempt to ask. 

I wandered around alone in the city after asking to be dropped off when we finished our appointment with Alyssa. I didn’t even let Eris come along and told her to go back and get some more rest for the day.

Mia arrived at the location of my brief walk, right as I got there. Her bundled up long pink hair fell with the wind as she removed her motorcycle helmet. “Hey, catch!” She tossed an extra helmet the moment she saw me.

“I called up a guy I know. He’s waiting for us.” Her usual cheery mood ended up altering mine as I let out a smile before securing the helmet.

She rode through two automatic checkpoint gates surrounded by a river bed littered with storage depot facilities. This gave me the sense as if we were about to do something illegal and about to meet someone sketchy. The bike came to a purring halt as she removed the keys from the ignition.

“Follow me. We’re a little late and Kei is a bit eccentric.” She placed both helmets into the bike's internal storage device. Then led the way to the door of a large warehouse.

The layout had a section of open space that displayed an assortment of bigger detailed items such as government-issued vehicles and heavy weaponry. The latter half held caches and pallets of endless boxes stacked up in bulky shelves. My attention followed the lighting to a vehicle and bike paired next to each other.

Mia must have seen my mouth hanging low as she approached the metallic bike. “Isn’t she a beauty?” Her hands ran up the bend of the frame as she gushed over the features.

“Don’t touch the merchandise! You ask for a last-minute favor and then show up late!” A scraggly voice approached from beyond the section of shelves.

“This must be Kei. Thanks for taking the time to meet with us.” I introduced myself going in for a handshake only to be awkwardly left waiting.

“Who the hell are you? Mia, why is this infant tagging along? What, couldn’t find a babysitter?” Kei spouted a series of insults not allowing a chance to respond.

“He’s got money, what does it matter to you if he’s a child.” Mia refuted on my behalf but it didn’t make me feel any better for some reason.

“I’m right here…, Mia said you could provide the firepower that I need.” I spoke the first half under my breath as I brushed off the comments.

It was silent as Kei stared at Mia until she made a hand motion that suggested to get on with it. “What’cha looking for, kid?” Kei exhaled a breath of annoyance.

“Home security among other things.” I approached the bike to find out that it looked similar to Mia’s personal one. They were both definitely military-grade tech. I wondered how Kei managed to get his hands on one to sell.

“How much for the pair of vehicles?” This could solve our transportation issue. A couple of these humvees and we’d be set. Of course, we could only use them to and from monster hunts and not within city limits.

“Do you even know how to drive?” Kei mockingly laughed.

“I’ll have time to learn. Are you selling, or what?” The irritation in my voice seeped through.

“Five ruby coins, two for the speedster and three for the humvee.”

“I’ll take them. Do you have four more humvees, I’ll need those too.” Kei did a full double-take after opening his eyes in disbelief. 

Did I get ripped off again? I need a portable Lily wherever I go at this rate. I’d also have to dip into our savings on the very first day of creating it.

Volatis

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