Chapter 156: Hidden enemy

"That's more or less what I expected. But now that you flaunted the success, tell me." Putting a gentle smile on my face, I looked at Jeff with an unperturbed expression. "What is the problem?"

In the end, no matter how great profits trading of the stone would bring, it wouldn't need the urgent attention of all the executives of my faction. The fact that all the most important people of the group gathered in one place meant that there was something that had to be dealt with.

"Nothing will escape your eyes, huh?" Nodding his head with respect towards my attentiveness to details, Jeff released a long, exhausted sigh before reaching to a nearby drawer and pulling out a stack of papers.

"Here, a copy for everyone. You can see what's the problem yourselves." Taking one piece of the paper before pushing the pile to his side, Jeff's documents quickly found themselves distributed amongst everyone in the room. 

Scanning through the compact sets of letters and numbers, I could feel the blood pressure in my veins raising. 

The first part of the report consisted of several parts from different articles. Published by the few huge media company that remained after the apocalypse, they were just too big not to be given the credit of trust. 

"A sudden boom on the market of magic stones. With the skyrocketing prices, an unknown group suddenly flooded the market with control amounts of these highly sought-for products. Did they know the price would rise? Exclusive report and analysis of the situation inside!"

"After scanning the moves of the Boruta Cult moves, we discovered that they procured a large number of precious crystals and stones. The rising price of the commodity didn't discourage their actions, yet no matter how high it went, they never sold a single piece. Unless the leader of the cult wants to live on precious stones, what use would they have for it? Or maybe is there a correlation between their frenzied shopping and their sudden moves on the emerging market of magic stones?"

White intel. Something that everyone would logically assume existed, but no one really seemed to pay it any mind. In this post-apocalyptic world, to have some big titles publish articles like that, there was no other way for it to happen except for the actions of white intel.

Compared to a more common and popular way of gathering the information with spies and hacks, white intelligence was oriented at guessing the other party movements from the information that was publicly or generally available. Rather than scouting the size of the enemy army, people in this job would scan the official orders for food, clothing and all other necessary equipment, trying to derive the number from the quantity of resources ordered.

"We still have time… But we need to know who is betting against us." Putting the piece of paper that I thoroughly scanned and remembered on the table, I raised my head to look at the people gathered in the room. "I personally think that this time, Sarate's have nothing to do with it. As powerful as they are…"

Shaking my head, I took a moment to regain my calm after a sudden bout of agitation. Just as I was about to finish my words, the doors suddenly opened, letting Ayda through. Only once she beckoned me to continue did I use my voice again.

"They shouldn't be as influential as to push this white intel in the open. So, for now."

Standing up, I looked at Jeff. As much as I hated it, I could only proceed if he would express his approval. 

"..." For a moment, I thought it would be a hard battle. But then, Jeff simply nodded his head.

"I'm giving you guys two days. Stir up whatever you need, push whatever manpower and money are necessary. I want to know who is behind those articles in two days. That's one."

Taking a moment to sort my thoughts out, I shook my head only to raise it the moment later.

"We are not going to stop our stones operation. Double the control amounts. I don't care if the price will take a dip for a while, we need a huge cashout before they will throw another attack on us. That's two."

Looking at the paper on the desk, I tightened my jaws. Right now, just due to the numbers displaying the market need for the precious stones across several cities my faction had people in… Something bad was brewing. 

Right now, all the precious stones on all the markets we could grab hold off were gone. 

As if the precious stones, a useless commodity just a few days ago, suddenly took the path of the popular cryptocurrency of the path. Right now, the market price for a small diamond or ruby was nearly ten times the price we paid for it while amassing the stones!

And there was only one explanation behind these strange moves on the market. 

Someone apparently turned out to believe the white intel published globally by those few media companies, and was clearly attempting to fill the gaps in the question of how those normal precious stones were related to the magic stones!

"Thirdly…" Rather than just shooting the problem out in the open for others to take care of, I hesitated. Because what I was going to say would most likely turn this relatively peaceful room into a chaotic mess.

Then, Ayda stood up from her chair and approached my position. Placing her hands on my shoulders, she pressed me down on the chair, as if she wanted to squeeze my body into its seat. Then, a crisp slap right to my cheek followed. 

"Brother, if we need to do this, we need to do this." From the tone of her voice and how she once again opened her emotions to me, I could tell that this witty girl already took a glance at the papers and understood the problems hiding behind the code of letters and numbers. 

This brother moniker was something that I talked with Ayda about all the way back when we returned to her world. Given how some of my colleagues at work knew me as just excellency, while others knew one or the other of my names, if she were to refer to me by my given name, then it would be only a matter of time before everyone would learn about my true past. 

On the other hand, I just couldn't stand hearing her call me by that fake name I came up with on the spot. Given her position that was supposed to be equal to mine, it would be unbecoming to have her call me by excellency either. As such, only the familiar brother, blatantly stolen from the local religion as a way for two religious people to refer to each other, seemed like the right way to refer to each other.

"Thirdly, I believe we need to make the method of crafting the magic stones out of normal stones a public knowledge."

Slapping my hand on the paper continuing Jeff's report, I looked gravely at the mean in charge of nearly all the affairs of the cult. Right now, I didn't need to convince the rest of the folk gathered in the room about the reasons behind my decision. As long as I could reel Jeff to my side, my idea would go through.

"And why is that? Don't we hold a great advantage just because we are the only ones with this knowledge?" Looking at me with curiosity, Jeff allowed a small smile to appear on his lips. As one of the only people that posed a challenge for me to read, I couldn't really know whether he was genuinely curious or just trying to test me out.

"If you look at column six, and rows from four to seven, you should get an answer to my question, but let me spell it out to everyone." Putting my fingers right at the numbers I was referencing, I looked up at the other people in the room. From the slight rustling behind my back, I could tell that Ayda was actually looking at what I was pointing out, proving that at least, in this case, she was confused about what I said. 

"The number of companies and entities that bought out all the stones from the market implies that it's not a single organisation trying to dupe us, but a mass movement of people trying to jump on the hype. Just like when people jumped at mining cryptocurrencies. And that means, each of them only has a very limited amount of those stones."

Putting my hand flat on the table, I allowed a devious smile to surface on my lips. Right now, I was the complete opposite of the saint that saved the city from the oppression of the corrupt government officials. 

"If we reveal the method of crafting magic stones, no one will be able to force us to do it. Threatening or going against us will turn meaningless… For as long as it will take them to discover that magic stones can only be created in the dungeons. But even once they learn about it, given how it will be public knowledge…"

Rather than finishing, I stopped here. For a moment, I hoped that someone would catch my drift. From the small tug on my shirt, I could tell that Ayda wanted to finish my words, but after a single shake of my head, she decided to give up.

"Once it becomes public knowledge…" just as I was about to give up and explain, Jeff finally cut in. "everyone will jump at the opportunity, putting smoke in their eyes regarding our own actions."

Hearing the answer, I finally smiled.

"Yeah. And once the way of turning those normal stones into magic ones will come in the open and when the people will realise that all the stones are already gone…"

This time, Ayda didn't ask for permission and finished my words for me.

"The price of the magic stones will soar even higher."