A month had passed since the discovery of the cavern, and it has developed significantly thanks to Lance’s summons and the efforts of Blake and Jace. A few chairs and tables can be seen dotted around, some with books and paper strewn on their surface and others with a number of various tools laid out. Crates were stacked at the back of the cavern filled with a variety of summoned items, and the 3 boy’s beds were on the side furthest from the entrance, an attempt at offering themselves the best chance of survival should they come under attack. The majority of the light in the cavern comes from the glowing small lake, or perhaps large pond would be a more suitable description, though Lance has set up a few rudimentary lanterns around the tables, for when they need to eat or write anything, although only Lance could read and write, but he had given some basic educational children books to Blake and Jace and has helped them start to learn.

  Blake and Jace have settled into their role as merchants, though they have had to be very careful on account of Half Hands crusade for revenge, which has slowed things down.

  They haven’t seen any more of Jack, though the fear is that Half Hand got to him as a form of revenge for what Lance had done, Lance regretting greatly not giving Jack a warning to at least give him a chance of survival or to run away, but that’s in the past now.

  The boy’s have had to be much more discreet and try to avoid Half Hands territory as best as possible, but otherwise they have made a very nice sum of money. Having expanded from selling fish and rats to clothing and even tools occasionally. As such they have managed to make 623 coppers, the equivalent of 6 silvers.

  Blake and Jace simply don’t pay attention to Lance’s weird ways anymore, how he keeps bringing in new animals and resources yet shows no signs of ever paying for anything. The cave was now outfitted with a few animals of note, other then a bunch of rats, mice and squirrels, though Lance has sent a great many of them out into the slums, acting as his guards in the dark. If Blake or Jace find themselves in trouble chances are that there is a summoned rat nearby that can come to their aid.

  Of particular note there are the two original Siberian huskies, which are pretty much the largest dog breeds he can summon currently, on the cusp of being considered a large dog breed, but with the boost applied to their size they may as well be considered a large dog breed. With the Huskies he also has 3 beagles, a border collie and 2 American Pit bull Terriers. Other than the dogs which is the main fighting force that Lance has access too, there are also a few house cats that now call the cavern home, who keep good company, to which Blake and Jace are happy to play with. Currently there is a Ragdoll, Scottish fold and a British shorthair. There are also a couple Racoons, Chinchillas even a Squirrel monkey and capuchin, giving quite a significant diversity to their current gang.

  Now the reality of having so many animals poses the risk of disease and general poor hygiene and so they can’t have all the animals shitting in the same place. Luckily a side tunnel leads to the outside on a rocky outcropping, it didn’t take an awful lot to ingrain into them that should they need to shit or piss they are to head there and do it into the sea below.

  Other then that a lot of Lance’s time is spent summoning various foods and the like for the animals, though with the upgrade of his system this is not much of an issue for him, able to summon many various meats, vegetables and fruits when needed.

  Recently Lance has wanted to up the ante in terms of what they sell, mainly in regards to sugar, salt and spices that he can create now, having spent most days filling up crates when he ever had the time, which has led to having quite a lot waiting to be sold. The obvious problem is most in the slums will not be able to afford the steep price that comes with such commodities. Luckily through business he has managed to make a few connections albeit, shady connections, that he can’t trust.

  The boys have taken to training with wooden sticks, outfitting themselves in basic leather armour, having the energy to do so now that they have filling meals every day, though without someone to train them their combat ability will remain subpar as there are no notable books that he can summon as a means of teaching. Either way the exposure of a simulated combat scenario and the growing experience of fighting is an invaluable resource as their job in the end isn’t to fight grown men but to assist finishing them off whilst the dogs are attacking or buying enough time till the dogs can help them.

  Other then this Lance has been keeping an eye out for a variety of new prospects to join their ragtag group and currently has 4 in mind. Street urchins that aren’t compromised with gang activity, someone that he can build trust with. As of today, Blake and Jace have headed out to meet these 4 to see if they’ll join them, though it will be for a probationary period whilst they try to ascertain how trustworthy they are.

  As Blake and Jace have gone out to achieve this, Lance heads off on his own into the slums, to find one of his connections, a man named Kayle, who is said to even have a friend in the Order of Sicarius, a dangerous and secretive group said to be able to kill anyone in this world, as long as you have the money for it. Its dubious to say the least if Kayle has connections in such a group, but its possible, seeing as how Kayle has been around a while and is the type of cockroach like survivor that would be able to make it alive after encountering the Order. Either way Kayle is an integral part of Lance’s plan moving forward.

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  At last, approaching a large decrepit wooden building, a brothel, though not a wise place to go unless you want to find yourself with Herpes, although you would be lucky if that’s the only disease you catch and not the plethora of others.

  Avoiding the main entrance and the few skulking washed out prostitutes lingering outside, Lance approached the side of the building, moving a rotten wooden panel, he slipped down the side till he reached a wooden hatch leading underground. Heaving it up, he was hit with a damp wave of air freezing his actions, needing a moment to ground himself before heading in, patting the right pocket of his linen trousers to make sure he still has his knife on him he began walking down, the pitter patter of following rats helping to renew his confidence as the wooden stairs groaned with every step he took into the dark, his already low visibility enforced further with the swarm of dust kicked up from opening the hatch.

  Making his way through the damp cobble corridor, he eventually came to a room with naught but a desk and a small wiry man with avoidant eyes sat reading a book, barely acknowledging Lance as he entered, he continued, passing the desk and making his way through a wooden door that screeched open, its worn rusted hinges all but disintegrating.

  Entering, Lance could see a small man sat at a desk with a large ledger in front of him to which he was wholly focused on. His face gaunt and eyes sunken, a weary grimace crossed his face seeing the arrival of Lance.

  “Ah hello my little friend, to what do I owe the honour of your arrival.”

  “New business. Salt, sugar some other spices that sort of thing”

  “You are an intriguing kid, I was already impressed with the produce you offered me, but to think you were holding out on me huh….How much we talking here?”.

  “2 crates of salt and sugar each. I’ve also got something called black pepper, you familiar?”

  It took a moment for Kayle to collect himself after hearing the amount that Lance was willing to sell, “Yes, though I’ve never seen it before, but hold on, you serious, 2 crates each?”

  Lance just nodded.

  Closing the ledger, Kayle sat upright “Ok, no bullshitting me now, the price of sugar and salt has skyrocketed after that Leviathan sank the fleet from the Arga Empire last week. We’re talking a lot of money that can be made from this sale.”

  “You’re the only guy I know that can move something like this, and there’s no point to keep sitting on it, and why would I lie about this”

  “Hmm fair enough my friend…8 for the lot”

  Taking a moment to think, Lance had no doubt this was a highly unfair trade. One crate in the right hands could go for at least 4 silvers, so selling 6 crates for only 8 is a blatant theft, although Lance didn’t have much choice to negotiate otherwise, and Kayle knew that.

  “Agreed. Ill drop the crates at the usual sight by the end of the day”. Taking 4 of his silvers now, Lance turned leaving, only relaxing when he had made it out of the damp basement. To think one deal has more than doubled what they have made in the last month, albeit the deal has elevated his standing significantly with Kayle, which comes with both greater risk and greater prospects.

  Making it back to base, he was greeted by Blake.

  “Hey, we got the 4 onboard”

  “Not bad, they know their roles”

  “Yeah, we showed them the drop off point, they will be ready for work tomorrow”

  “Good stuff, I’ve sold 2 crates each of the sugar, salt and black pepper, we’ll head to the drop off with Kayle when its dark, can’t risk being seen with such a haul, we’ll bring the huskies and Pit bull terriers”

  Whilst Lance and Blake got ready, Jace returned, and they ran the plan by him. Outfitting themselves with leather amour, each taking a knife, they placed the crates on the dogs back as they walked them up the rock path, at the top they heaved the crates on to a makeshift sled and had the 2 huskies pull it to the drop off. As discreet as they tried to be, 2 massive Huskies, 3 kids and 2 oversized American Pit Bull Terriers would cause a scene anywhere, although nobody dared approach them.

  Reaching the drop off point, Kayle was there with a couple of goons, two large men both with 2 handed axes slung over their shoulders, the two pit bulls hung back out of sight but the large huskies drew their attention immediately.

  “How’d the kid tame wolves?”

  “Keep it quiet you two, the kids a promising new business partner of mine” Kayle struggled to maintain his composure, but having dealt with some very unsavoury and dangerous characters, it didn’t take him long to regain his calmness.

  As the two men began removing the crates from the sled, Kayle approached Lance, “Here, the rest of your silvers”, passing over 4 silvers to Lance, Kayle turned to see the unloading was completed and with that he happily walked off into the shadows, not uttering another word.

  Like this, further dealings and business was conducted with Kayle, though the gang kept up selling a variety of goods to the slum markets as well. The expansion of personnel had dramatically increased the business that Lance could conduct and so a month on, after the probation period was up for the 4 new members, they had a grand total of 32 silvers.

  Back at the cavern.

  “Ester, Fad, Astrid, Cane. Welcome to our base of operations, after passing through the testing period it was deemed that you are trustworthy enough to join us officially which means that you are welcome to stay at our base if you so choose, though I would recommend staying here if not for the security it offers.”

  “Thank you” they all say in unison. Luckily, they all decided to stay at the cave in the end, but that was always a given, it offered safety and a much greater level of comfortability than what they are used to.

  Like this the gang’s inception was afoot, the founding members now gathered, they would push the boundaries of what can be achieved by a group of street urchins in a world that would see them trampled underfoot, to which they would find themselves becoming a notorious gang of the Eruden underworld, and potentially beyond.