Chapter 20: Cabal of Card's Return
Lawrence and Jayem's reaction only lasted for a brief moment. They might have been caught off guard by Kael's goal, but deep down, they also have something similar to the latter's thoughts.
On one hand, Lawrence wants to be popular so that everyone knows him in Noverra. On the other hand, Jayem wants to be feared by everyone.
Their goals aren't really that far apart from each other. In fact, it's connected. If Kael becomes a global superpower in both Noverra and Avalon, then naturally, the people who supported him will also get a share of his glory and become well-known for their contribution to Kael's success.
"I see, you don't believe me?" Kael noticed Lawrence and Jayem's reaction.
"No, no, no!"
"Of course, not!"
Lawrence and Jayem hurriedly clarified.
"Let's hear the rest."
With that being said, Kael continued.
"The first step to achieving this goal is to create a group," Kael said, looking at Lawrence, then at Jayem. "I'll call this group the Cabal of Cards."
"Cabal of cards?" Lawrence started thinking.
"Cabal as in a secretive group, then cards…" Jayem realized Kael's plan. "We'll be using the fifty-two cards in a deck as a codename for every member?"
"Wouldn't that be bad if we only have fifty-two members?"
"Fifty-four. There are two jokers," Kael corrected.
"That still doesn't make it better just because you add two members!"
"No, I believe we can increase the members by making it like the royal cards, which are the king, queen, and jack. Each royal card will have its respective groups of up to ten members, which will be represented by ace to ten and will be grouped depending on their suits." Jayem proposed.
"So, in total… There are three royal cards for each of the four suits, which gives a total of twelve, then multiply that by ten each, plus the two jokers, giving us one hundred and twenty-two members." Lawrence's eye lit up. "That could work. But still, considering we regard Nexus as our enemy, merely having more than a hundred members won't be enough."
Kael decided to just let Lawrence and Jayem debate it since, in the first life, it was honestly also the duo who came up with the idea for the Cabal of Cards. Everything was just flowing in its natural order, so he didn't have to interrupt and make a suggestion, just like what he did in the first life.
In the end, the duo came up with the final idea.
There will be a total of one hundred and twenty-two main members of the Cabal of Cards, while there's no limit to the number of reserve members. In that way, they can keep on recruiting players who have potential. Also, there's a support group whose main purpose is to handle miscellaneous tasks like gathering materials, manning the headquarters, and handling simple paperwork.
"I guess it's official. We three are the founders and first members of Cabal of Cards," Kael smiled in gratitude. Although in his first life, there were actually twelve founding members in the Cabal of Cards.
It shouldn't matter much if there are only three in this life. The founding members slowly got replaced anyway as the organization became stronger and stronger, since some of them weren't able to keep up, while some unfortunate members died from different operations.
"So, who's going to be the leader?" Lawrence looks at Kael and Jayem.
"Is that even a question?" Jayem looks at Kael.
"Fair enough," Lawrence chuckled.
The duo had already agreed long before this that Kael would become the leader of their group.
"Should he be the Red Joker or the Black Joker?" Lawrence asked.
"We already agreed. The Red Joker is the face of the Cabal of Cards, while the Black Joker is his shadow that protects him." Jayem can't believe that Lawrence already forgot.
"Red Joker it is!"
"How about the two of us?"
"Considering we are founding members, I guess it's just right we get the Royal Cards. I'll pick the Jack of Spades, the symbol looks like a dagger or some sort to me. I couldn't care less about its meaning," Jayem puffed his chest.
"Then I'll go ahead and pick the King of Clubs, since it symbolizes authority and power," Lawrence found their decision fair enough. He turns his head to Kael. "So, what's next?"
"We get rich!" Kael stood up from his chair.
"I like that!" Lawrence exclaimed in excitement.
"Money, it's always going to be the number one problem of this group, I tell you right now," Jayem felt that this was silly. Still, he joined the two.
Until evening, Kael, Lawrence, and Jayem did their best to gather all valuable materials they could find near the wooden cabin.
Once they were done, they were able to fill five sacks full of ores and flora. They found the sacks in Manager Drex's cabin.
Honestly, there were also some animals they spotted during their scavenging. Some were weak, while others were strong. Nonetheless, Kael forbade them from killing any. He explained that the Sylvaris Kingdom has a strict rule where one has to get an identification card first before killing any animals, especially Magical Beasts.
The so-called Magical Beasts are powerful animals that are blessed with mana, thus becoming a lot stronger than their counterpart. Some even possess the ability to manipulate elements.
They asked Kael why it's forbidden to kill animals, but Kael didn't explain further and only said they'll understand after they visit Sylavaris Kingdom in the future.
"These should be enough as capital for the Cabal of Cards," Lawrence couldn't help gulping a mouthful of saliva as he imagined the amount of riches they would earn after selling all of these materials.
"Leave two sacks behind," Kael suggested. "We'll be visiting the Sylvaris Kingdom tomorrow and register our identities."
"Register our identities?" Jayem felt hesitant. "Is that really necessary?"
"If you want to do any sort of business in the world of Avalon, you'll need an identification, especially once a lot of people from Noverra start coming to this world." Kael waved his hand. "Forget about it. Let's focus on earning capital first. I'll just hand out a guide to the two of you today so that all your questions will be answered."
Lawrence and Jayem simply nodded their heads.
…..
"In total, everything is worth seventy thousand Novarian Dollars. But since there's a lot of it, we'll be taking two percent as a handling fee plus the ten percent tax to the government of Rustfall," Manager Drex started calculating everything.
"Tax?!" Lawrence was in disbelief. "There's no freaking way I'm giving away ten percent of my earnings to our corrupt government!"
It's common knowledge already that the politicians who manage Rustfall are just a bunch of corrupt people. Otherwise, the continent wouldn't have fallen to such a state.
"Leave it, Lawrence!" Jayem smacked Lawrence's head. "We have it better because in the other four continents, their tax is as high as twenty-five percent."
"At least there's improvement. In case you forget, we are only improving backwards here in Rustfall!"
"That doesn't have anything to do with Nexus," Manager Drex expressed his helplessness.
Hearing that, Lawrence and Jayem simply let out a mocking sneer.
"As if," Lawrence whispered.
Manager Drex simply rolled his eyes and continued. "That leaves you three with a total of 61,740 Novarian Dollars,"
"Wherever you go, that's already considered a lot." Manager Drex tried to comfort them.
"It's alright, Manager Drex," Kael stood up. He opened one of the briefcases and took out 1,740 Novarian Dollars and handed them to Manager Drex. "For your troubles last night."
"Thank you!" Manager Drex didn't hesitate to accept. After all, money is money, regardless of how little it is or where it came from. "Next time, I'll try to propose waiving 1% from the 2% handling fee."
"No need, your branch will have to suffer if you do that." Kael shook his hands to reject the offer. Also, once they accept such an exception, that means they'll be added to the list of potential players to recruit for Nexus. He doesn't want their group to get the attention of Nexus this early on yet. Let alone get recruited. After all, they're quite infamous for killing anyone who rejects their invitation to join their organization.
"Alright!" Manager Drex nodded. This wasn't the first time Kael rejected his approach. It seems like this young man has some enmity with Nexus.
"We'll go on now," Kael shook hands with Manager Drex before finally leaving the Nexus' outpost.
Upon returning to their home, Kael immediately went to his room to work on his personal project—to make an Avalon guide for Lawrence and Jayem so that the two would get some foundational knowledge about the new world.
Meanwhile, Lawrence and Jayem began preparing with some excitement for their plans this evening, which is to finally visit Sylvaris Kingdom, the famous home of the so-called Elven race.