The Legendary Junkmaster

Chapter 40: Red Steel Gang (5)

As Harry walked onto Crafters Street first thing in the morning, he could feel the excitement crackling in the air. The tents and other sleeping arrangements that the customers had set up had all been packed away. Everyone was standing in an orderly line while twitching in anticipation. Those at the back of the queue had dark circles around their bloodshot eyes.

Harry shook his head at this sight. These people clearly had not slept much due to the worry that they would not be able to get anything. He was growing excited at the thought of how many credits would soon be flowing into his hands. However, as soon as he entered the store, Jason's frantic voice dragged him back to reality.

"Gramps! Thank god you're here! Here, take these credits! Run to the other shops and buy as many bottles as you can! And anything they have to wrap small objects in. Oh! And tins. We need tins. Bags! Bags too! Otherwise, how will the customers carry their goods! Go! Go!" Jason was practically shouting at him with bloodshot eyes.

'Fuck, I didn't think I would need so much stuff! I was too focused on what I needed to create the stock that I never thought about the customers' packaging!' Now that he had quickly rushed Harry out of the store to deal with those details, Jason returned to a soft green slab on his worktop.

Taking a sharp knife, he began cutting the substance into small cubes. This was one of the natural medicines that he had created. The other trays were full of Healing Salve, Energy Booster and a wax-like substance that could be used to treat clothes and armour to make them tougher.

The bottles held Perfume of various scents, Medicinal alcohol for cleaning wounds, Natural Acid for his own work and a few tasty beverages to sell to the customers. Off to the side were the containers that were still processing a Natural Adhesive and the Compressed Gas.

Once Harry returned, they worked together to wrap up the soft solids in the minor cuts of leather while carefully pouring the liquids into the bottles. Transferring the creamy substances into small tins proved to be troublesome, but they got there in the end. One of each item was placed on display, including the Multitool, while the rest were placed in boxes behind the counter.

Jason sighed in relief when he realised that he had barely managed to complete everything in time. He spent the next few minutes lecturing Harry on what each item could be used for and what price to sell them at. They had ended up with a much larger volume of goods than Jason had anticipated. He had never expected a few plants to produce this much. It was primarily due to the amount of water that went into them.

Jason looked around with pride as the time to open up shop quickly approached. "It's all up to you now, Gramps. I'll be in the back cleaning up."

"No problem. I've got this!" Harry flashed a large grin and a thumbs up before heading for the door.

"Ah, wait!" Jason suddenly called out while stroking his chin thoughtfully. "You should probably limit the customers in the store to around three. Otherwise, it'll be a struggle to get in and out."

Harry seemed thoughtful before agreeing. It was indeed prudent to limit the number of customers allowed in at one time. That way, Harry would not have to deal with a hundred questions at once while also dealing with sales. As Jason disappeared into the back, he heard the customers' excited cries as Harry opened the door. The noise quickly quieted down as Harry barked out the rules.

'Maybe I should take a peek?' Jason thought before moving along the makeshift wall on his workshop's side.

He reached an odd piece of wood and slowly spun it to reveal a spy hole he had made in the wall! Jason had thought to make something like this to watch how the store was doing while avoiding facing troublesome customers directly!

The first thing he saw was the frown on Harry's face as he headed for the counter. Jason could already guess why that was. The first three customers to enter the store were all lackey's belonging to Sam. As far as Jason was concerned, one of them should be enough, so why send three?

The two men and the woman looked around the displays with mild curiosity under Harry's watchful gaze. The man who seemed to be their leader paused for a while at the Natural Medicines and Energy Boosters.

"Is this all you have?" He called to Harry while pointing at the displays.

"Of course not." Harry snorted in indignation. "Those are for browsing. Once you know what you want, you can order it here."

The man frowned when he heard that. Jason watched the whole exchange from the safety of his workshop and had a few guesses what the guy was up to. 'He's probably been tasked with evaluating our goods. However, if we don't have everything on display, there's no telling how much we have precisely.

"How many of these Salves and Boosters do you have?" The man decided to try a roundabout way of getting the information that he needed.

"How many do you need?" Harry replied with a smug grin, frustrating the man.

"How does one hundred of each sound?" The man thought this should be more than what they had in stock. This way, Harry would have to reveal how many they actually had.

"That'll be four hundred copper credits." Harry shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.

Jason chuckled when he saw that. They only had eighty of each, but he knew what Harry was up to. If the man wanted the information, then Harry would make him pay through the nose to get it. As soon as Harry would get the money in his hand, it would be then that he would give out the exact numbers!

"Well played, Gramps. Let's see how they react to this!" Jason chuckled yet again before returning his attention to the confrontation.

The man seemed to be thinking about something before he shook his head. It looked like he had caught on to what Harry's game was. There was no telling how much they would actually have to spend to get what they wanted. The main thing was that they had confirmed what was actually being sold in the store and that there was indeed no Primals on display.

The man gave Harry a chilling smile before walking out of the store without buying anything. Jason frowned at that action because he expected them to push a bit more. He could not help but feel that something was off. However, after they left, three new ordinary customers came in. Jason felt relieved. He had thought for a moment that Sam's lackeys might have prevented anyone from coming in as retaliation.

After seeing everything was running smoothly now, Jason turned his attention to cleaning up the mess he had made through the night. Soon after he walked away from the peephole, he heard Harry energetically thanking someone for their purchase. 'Looks like we have our first official sale!'

Moments later, an angry yell outside wiped the smile from Jason's face! It had come from outside the store, so it should not be any of his business, but he recognised the voice as belonging to the man who had just made a purchase. Jason had a sinking feeling in his gut as he raced out to get a look at what was going on.

Harry wanted to follow him, but there were still customers in the store. He did not want to risk any of them getting the idea of helping themselves to a few freebies while his back was turned. Jason signalled that it was fine as he raced past and set foot onto the street.

"What do you mean I have to pay you ten fucking coppers!" The man was yelling at the goon squad, who had his bag of goods in their hands.

"It's very simple, sir. This business now belongs to the Red Steel Gang." The leader of the goons flashed a wicked smile. "There's a tax in place for shopping in our stores."

The customer shivered when he heard who the goons represented. Not only that, but people began to leave the queue with nervous glances. Jason frowned as he stared at Sam's lackeys, who all had smug grins on their faces. You say you will not sell shares to us? Fine, we will just take it by force then!

That was the impression that Jason was getting from this group. His expression turned dark as he stormed back inside. There was nothing that he could do about these tactics right now. 'Like fuck will I let them take over what I worked for!' Jason roared furiously in his mind.

Harry had a puzzled look on his face when he saw Jason's expression. What worried him even more, was that no other customer had come through the door! Still, as an old man, it was better to be seen and not heard in this situation. Harry's motto was that if he felt like it would benefit him or prevent him from getting dragged into a mess.

'Syssie!' Jason stared at the woman, who also had an angry expression on her face. 'It's time. Help me plan out the skills I need. Open the Project Folder.'

"Right away. What should I name your personal armaments project?"

"Call it Arbalest."