Silhouette

With no further incidents, the opening day date grew ever closer. The doctor continued working on his machinery, improving the efficiency of the complete designs and refining the still flawed ones. It took three tries before the artificial infusion process was fully successful. The bonds it formed in James' soul space weren't quite at the level of those he created himself, but they were better than those produced by fully powered electroguns. They were as strong as those formed by Solvent when he last tested the body double's capacities. Whatever the doctor had done, he had fixed the problem of infused items registering as individual parts rather than complete objects. In a sense, they were still individually weak links weaved together to form a stronger one, Decanov just figured out a way to have this joining occur within the conglomerated parts themselves rather than outside. The mechanics of the phenomenon were still somewhat unclear to James, but if it worked, it worked.

Decanov wasn't the only one hard at work. Larry and Barry along with their bodyguards had arrived from the slums, discovering the city with awe. They were being hosted in the barracks along with the Infused, and apparently they were more than happy with the situation. It wasn't all fun and games, though. The four had their apprenticeship under Nanyet, and the celestial entity had no mercy when it came to the mercantile arts. The goal was for the four to not only adapt to the difference in business between the slums and the city but also begin developing managerial abilities. The end goal was for James to hire new employees and trust the brothers to direct them.

James had been curious and questioned the otherworldly being on this instant business, and it had no issue answering his query.

"So, Nanyet. I am correct to assume this instance business is a form of cloning?"

"Not exactly. The process is self-explanatory: I am creating different instances of myself. I exist in multiple places at the same time."

"Is that why your body stays still? Because if you raised your arm here it'd be raised everywhere?"

"Indeed. It would be difficult to operate in different environments concurrently if any action was reflected on all."

"Instead, you use your powers."

"I do not need to move my body to operate, so why should I? The only purpose of gestures for the majority of entities like myself is mortal mimicry. When in a setting that values function over form, I am free to operate to the maximum of my abilities.

"I see. If I may? I've had the unfortunate chance to encounter a demon in the past, and given your similitude, I was curious about the differences between you."

The towering creature of porcelain skin with silver wings had paused at that. While James got a knack for discerning the feelings of those with no face like himself, the haloed humanoid didn't emote at all. Its unmoving form leaked no hint of what it thought or felt, leaving James completely clueless as to what might be going on in its mind.

"Celestials and demons dislike being compared."

"Oh, pardon me, you don't need to answer."

"However, as you said, the similitudes are many. We are ultimately people of the same nature, simply on the opposite sides of the coin. They are chaos, we are order. This change is the root of the many differences in our cultures."

It paused once more.

"We are incarnations of the flow of existence. We value organization. Rules. Laws. While we may come to disagreements, we prefer verbal engagements, and should diplomacy fail we peacefully go our separate ways. Demons value power, for they seek change. A demonic ruler is always the strongest in its territory, whereas a celestial one is chosen for their wisdom, not their strength. They compete to rise and replace the old. They want to become the one at the top. Should a celestial be unhappy with their leadership, they simply leave in search of one better suited to their desires or form a new group themself."

"Yet you implied the source of your power is the same."

"It is the world itself. Some employ different terms, to say demons shackle whereas celestials corral, but the result is the same. We order reality to do our bidding. They unleash chaos whereas we order our surroundings. It is how I can compute being present in multiple places at once."

James nodded along.

"You have a long-lasting and deep-rooted rivalry, yet everything seems pointed in your favor."

"Things are not as they appear. By the nature of the world, chaos is more common, and thus our spawning rate is lower. Demons compete and kill each other, but in their struggles, they do grow stronger than many celestials bother to. We are more united as a whole and more inclined to ally with otherwise neutral or antagonistic forces to handle major threats, but they are willing to resort to any method to achieve their goals, regardless of the cost."

"Your respective strengths and weaknesses balance both sides to be equal."

"Simply put, yes. There are variations with either side gaining the advantage at times, but nothing drastic enough to shift the tide. The status quo stands unchanged, though not unchallenged. The fact neither realm can directly connect to the other does help maintain this relative peace."

"Right. It's hard to send armies to your enemies' home when there's an entire world between you."

"Correct. Those who attempt to bypass or overwhelm the mortal realm see their plans fail. Underestimating mortals has been the downfall of many."

"I'm not surprised, though I'll keep it in mind."

The two stood there silently together for a little while. James had been tempted to ask the celestial for advice in a fight. Ultimately, he dismissed the idea. Getting pointers from an entity that had easily lived centuries would do wonders for his improvements, but there was something that just didn't feel right about it. He knew he had to learn to trust others outside of his group a little more. It was part of the reason why he had this conversation in the first place. There simply was something that didn't click with Nanyet. Maybe it was just its unnatural nature. In any case, James didn't feel comfortable asking for its advice as of now.

This wasn't the sole discussion between the two during the days leading up to the opening day, but it was the most memorable one. None of the others had taught James as much about the inner workings of this world or revealed as much as to his guest's thought process. Though it seemed robotic in behavior at a glance, Nanyet was undeniably a sapient entity with likes and dislikes and quirks. They were passive and far from expressive, but their choice of words revealed a lot. For instance, for all of their aloof presence, they had quite a sense of humor. It just took a moment to notice.

Decanov's advancement in his research and Nanyet's presence weren't the only things worth mentioning. Back in the slums, the team of workers from the original fake warehouse was promoted to take over the shop back there. Well, technically they also still managed the warehouse, they just had a rotation going on who was the pair to operate the shop itself each day, all under the vigilant eye of Mischief and the Infused of course. The one that hated eggs was particularly happy about the situation, something about being able to move out. Whether any of them was a spy or not in the end had never been revealed.

The warehouse was also being rearranged. It was still a bomb in the waiting, but since no one had tried anything unwise since Runar the trap had never been sprung, prompting James to actually make use of the place. It would still be ready to detonate at a moment's notice, but now it would genuinely be used to store products imported from the city to later on be sold in this shop. Everything would be transported underground to a more public entrance to the surface before being conveyed to the storage place, a method that turned out to be rather common among the other sellers of the dangerous parts of Zalcien.

While most of that transit was illegal trade of things like weapons and drugs, James wasn't the only one with an actual by-the-books business going. He even got a discount on the usage of the public transit route by having the Infused help guard other convoys. They'd only be accompanying the existing guards, but having more armed forces to keep threats at bay was always welcome. The silent and near mindless militia was a little unsettling to most, but everyone appreciated their effectiveness and willingness to follow orders.

On that topic, the Sunken City was also home to quite the evolution regarding James' operations. In his initial expansion to connect his base to an entrance to the civilized surface, James had taken over multiple armed groups, essentially drug dealers. At first, James completely disregarded them. He trusted Mischief, the Infused, and the Shadow Commando to keep them in line, but he had no actual plan for those unwilling recruits. Something similar went for Guy's child spies since the man in charge was focused on building a new network in the sunless expanse. Those problems had been resolved.

Mother Greenheld's Orphanage, now affectionately referred to as The Shadow Dew by the commando, was back to its roots. Spectral nuns under the guidance of a haunted tree took care of ghostly children and now living ones as well. The spirits of the building had been overjoyed to see new arrivals, and for better or worse the harsh living conditions of the slums meant Guy's former spies and scouts weren't as afraid of the undead as they should. The goal was for them to learn to behave somewhat normally before being handed over to a regular orphanage in the city. Guy had argued for James to keep ties to the kids to have a hidden network ready to go, but instrumentalizing children like that just felt wrong. If the children wanted to contact him on their own, that was a different story.

The former dealers went through a career change. No longer would they be part of the drug trade, instead, they would now act as mercenaries. James' standards had been hammered into them, so he trusted only an Infused or two in each team would be enough to keep them in line. They were opposed to the idea at first, but the brand-new equipment they received for the job changed their mind. Instead of being paid on a per-mission basis, they'd all be getting regular salaries while all the money and items they earned otherwise would go directly to James - or more accurately, to the pair of elite Infused overseeing the operation. It might seem unfair at first, but in truth, they were operating at a loss: their escapades cost James money.

Why did he bother, then? The answer was simple. Reputation. Guy's informants confirmed that Silhouette was growing more and more popular in their circles. Silhouette was fair. Silhouette protected them where others didn't. Silhouette didn't try to take advantage of them. While the character wasn't as famous as others down below, those who knew of him had a positive impression.

Of course, some had the bright idea to try and take advantage of this kindness. Hence the last and most important part of Silhouette's spreading legend.

Don't mess with Silhouette.

Runar had done wonders on the surface, but the Sunken City wasn't quite as aware. While the most powerful groups in the abandoned urban wasteland were simply extensions or even administrative headquarters of larger criminal organizations in the proper city, there were also a lot of locals who had never seen the light of day. Either they were too afraid of the sewer tunnels they'd need to traverse to reach the outside world or the surface itself, or they were perfectly content with their underground home. Both kinds of individuals existed, and both counted people who thought going after Silhouette was a good idea.

The number of people with such beliefs drastically dropped.

All of these preparations brought James to this day. Silhouette, standing tall, going over the last details of their opening ceremony with his scientist, his two oldest humanoid employees, their celestial teacher, and that otherworldly entity's human master who also happened to be James' benefactor, for better or worse. Polisson was also present as well as a familiar black pair of a goblin shaman and an eyeless bipedal wolf, but those three were here to manage security and nothing more. The lizardman and the ratkin waiting in the corner were just here to serve as assistants. Their presence wasn't necessary and frankly went unnoticed.

Larry and Barry were on edge around Blake, understandably so considering both the man's fortune compared to their upbringing and his family history, but Nanyet's teachings proved to be effective as they stayed professional and continued to participate in the discussion, regardless of how much their knees shook.

Decanov, as usual, was unimpressed by anyone other than himself. Still, he wanted to make sure his work was presented properly. This would be the first time Decanov's contribution to a project would be fully attributed to him without any incident prompting a former employer to blame their latest mishap on him, and he wanted to ensure everything went well.

James thought he'd be more nervous. If anything, he felt pretty serene. Oh, he knew undoubtedly someone would try something and there'd probably be a big fight, but right now?

Right now, he was ready for this.