Chapter 50: Reconstruction of the Cabal of Cards
Kael took his group to a restaurant with only a few customers so that there wouldn't be any disturbance while Lawrence and Jayem rested and replenished their energy from performing the mana binding.
Since Edward gave them approximately over a thousand gold coins, Kael didn't hesitate to let everyone eat as much as they wanted, including the slaves as well.
Kael simply watched everyone devour their meal while at the same time he silently contemplated inside of him on what they could do with their additional capital.
"How about we buy tools to upgrade our current tools, a few cheap horses so that we can shorten the time whenever we travel, more supplies and materials for our growing population, and perhaps we could also finally get our profession?" Lawrence suddenly proposed after seeing Kael glance from the pouch full of gold coins and contemplating deeply. It doesn't take a genius to understand what the latter was thinking.
"I already got mine," Jayem announced.
Both Kael and Lawrence were instantly taken aback.
"When?" Lawrence couldn't believe it.
"Yesterday, when I returned here," Jayem nonchalantly sipped on his black coffee.
"Where'd you get the money, though?"
"I got it from those henchmen from before."
"And you didn't care to tell us about that?! We could have bought more slaves yesterday!"
"I already told you! I thought of a better plan that doesn't involve spending money, so I grabbed that opportunity."
"And that nearly caused us a lot of trouble!" Lawrence slammed the table.
"The result is all that matters, right, Kael?" Jayem remained calm and collected.
"Yes!" Kael agreed. "Anyways, there's no need to be overreacting like that. I believe Edward took care of the smallest detail to prevent any trouble from befalling us. Let's just trust the man and focus our attention on the more important matter."
Seeing that Lawrence finally decided to stop talking about Jayem's wrong decision, he proceeded. "Let's split the team into three groups as before. You bring your chosen slaves with you this time. I will split all these gold coins three ways, and you buy everything that you believe is necessary for our camp. After that, let's meet back at the camp to discuss what to do next."
"Alright!" Lawrence agreed, but he was still feeling heavy deep inside about their group nearly getting into huge trouble.
"So, we can do whatever we want to do with the money?" Jayem wanted to clarify it first.
Hearing that, Lawrence's eyebrows started twitching.
"As long as it could benefit our camp, then yes!" Kael smiled.
"I got it!" Jayem understood the boundaries that he shouldn't cross.
With the two agreeing with his decision, Kael split the money they had into three, giving each of them four hundred ninety gold coins, which already had thirty gold coins deducted from the original amount of one thousand five hundred gold coins for their meal.
After receiving the money, Lawrence and Jayem soon left with their respective group.
Kael was left with Grol and the other three slaves he picked.
"I know each of you has your original names, but I don't really want you to continue holding onto your past before you become a slave. I believed those memories were painful, and they're the sole reason why you ended up becoming slaves in the first place." Kael's face turned dark and serious.
Based on his experience of being a merchant, there are really only two reasons why someone ended up becoming a slave.
First and the most common, they got caught by slave dealers like Edward for various reasons that don't really matter much because in the end, they still belonged to the group that got caught.
And second, they were sold to slave dealers. The reason doesn't matter because there are really only a few real reasons why someone is sold to become a slave. And those reasons are the same, no matter how the story was twisted and turned; they still ended up getting sold in the end.
"So, from now on, I will start calling you through a code name using playing cards."
Hearing Kael's words, all four slaves turned silent since they agreed with their master. This was especially the case for them because they don't possess a pure bloodline of their species. Meaning, from the day they were born, they were immediately treated as outcasts.
"I don't see anyone being worthy of the title ace yet, so let's start with giving you the lowest rank." Kael turned to Grol. "Since you're the first one I found, you'll be… wait a minute! Based on the current structure, I don't really get to have my own personal force, right?"
"Hmm… I should have voiced my own opinion before instead of letting fate take its own course." Kael muttered in regret.
The structure of the Cabal of Cards in his first life was honestly more complicated than the current state.
It still followed the very foundation that Lawrence and Jayem established. Except in his first life, after a bit of time passed, and seeing that they still needed more manpower in their main force, they ended up reconstructing the whole thing into a two-way pyramid, one being the face, and the other being the shadow of the pyramid.
Imagine there being two pyramids, one standing on a natural angle, while the other is inverted on its tip and connects to the first pyramid, like an hourglass.
In that structure, the red and black jokers have become their own leaders, having to respectively lead a different set of cards. They still hold the same purpose, where the red joker is the face, while the sole purpose of the black joker is to protect the red joker.
Then underneath the two jokers are their respective royal cards: king, queen, and jack.
And branching underneath the royal cards are the number cards, ranging from ace being the highest and ten being the lowest.
However, after the reconstruction, the number cards would actually also start having their own men, except for the number ten. But the number will depend on what rank of the number they possess. For example, the person with the ace rank will have nine men, ranging from the number card of ten to two, then the two will have eight men, ranging from ten to three, and so on.
Their men might follow their command, but they're also in a competition to replace their position as the main force of a royal card.
The reason why ten is an exception is that its spot is being competed for by all reserve members of the Cabal of Cards. So, there's really no sense in giving the position some men to command, seeing that they're the lowest rank.
His reason for thinking about this right now is that he couldn't give Grol and the others a position with the current structure of the Cabal of Cards.
"Well, the red joker does also hold the power of assigning members to the side of the black joker, so…" Kael thought about it briefly and decided to apply the changes now and propose them during their discussion later. "Grol, you'll be the black joker's ten of spades."
He then turned to the two hybrids. "The dwarf will be the black joker's ten of diamonds, and you, the hybrid of the owl race, will be the black joker's ten of hearts."
"Lastly," Kael looks at the lizard beastman with the kodomo dragon bloodline, who was still busy eating the leftovers of everyone. "You'll be the black joker's ten of clubs."
Everyone didn't care about whatever position they were assigned. All that matters for them is that they finally no longer have to suffer under Edward. It remained a question for them, though, if this new master was truly as good as Grol described, since the beastman was also someone selected today, just like them.
After Ten Clubs finished eating the leftovers, Kael's group immediately left the restaurant.
Watching them leave, the store owner couldn't help himself sigh in relief. The real reason why he only has a few customers right now is actually because of Kael's group. That's because when he just opened his restaurant today, Kael's group immediately stepped inside, making his normal diners hesitate to get inside and eat.
Kael's group immediately got right into business after they left the restaurant.
As usual, Kael went to meet Elowed to sell all the herbal materials they gathered in exchange for buying some of the materials he needed for concocting the knockoff health potion.
Elowed was instantly surprised seeing that Kael brought strange and powerful-looking men with him. He even briefly had the thought that the latter was going to rob him this time. Yet, as always, Kael only sold him herbal materials and bought the same batch he normally buys from him.
The two talked for a bit before Kael finally decided to leave and continue with his task for today.
After leaving Elowed's Herbal Store, Kael's group proceeded to the other herbal stores to buy the rest of the materials for the knockoff health potion. Once they were done with that, they right away started buying materials to use for the upgrade of their camp.
Even after buying everything they needed, Kael still had one hundred gold coins left.
In the end, Kael decided to save the remaining gold coins he had and return to camp to meet with Lawrence's group and Jayem's group.