Gilgamesh watched the large crowd of gamblers clamor their futures away. One of them gambled and lost. The next won and left happy. Another won as well, but chose to double down and lost it all. But no matter the result, the gambling continued, and shards kept filling the tattered coffer box.

  Gilgamesh had made some changes to how things were done the moment he took over. Primarily, he had established two offers for the customers. The first was that they would get a redo of one of their rolls for each new person they brought to the den. The second was that if they chose to roll again on a win, that roll would triple their bet instead of doubling it. Most lost their hard-earned shards of course, but the success of the few who won lured others to keep trying.

  It was a simple operation. Gilgamesh decided how things were done, the underlings handled both the operations and the customers, and Heroine kept the underlings more fearful than greedy. Though it was not as though he had entrusted all of his protection to her.

  His Bolt Viper and one of the Clay Scouts stood by his side. Clay Scout was not much a fighter, but it was a better deterrant than nothing. More importantly, it was efficient so he lost nothing by having it active. Gilgamesh would have much preferred a Boulder Ape at his defense at all times, especially here in the slums where killing was allowed, but its expenditure was simply too steep. He would rather have both Boulder Ape cores at full capacity to wield when fighting began.

  Forest Hand, however, was still firmly latched onto his back, despite also being inefficient. With its Expenditure being the same as its Mana Recovery while inert, Gilgamesh could perfectly cycle between his two Forest Hands so that he always had at least one available. And he wanted at least one active at all times, should he need to move himself quickly.

  Gilgamesh did not let either Forest Hand deplete to zero in situation arose where he needed both. He would use one until it reached half its Capacity, then switch it out for the other.

  As a golem himself, the physical strain of the added weight on his back did not bother Gilgamesh at all. But with his new Golem Peerer Trait, his three golems guards also gave him three extra sets of eyes. And that did grate on his mind somewhat. Golem vision was a perfect sphere of vision with no blindspots, a foreign state to the human mind even without considering that there were three different sources of it. And due to the low level of Golem Peerer, all of them were hazy.

  That being said, increasing the level in this new Trait was also one of his goals. For that to cost him nothing more than a slight headache was a more than acceptable bargain.

  Gilgamesh glanced at the shards clanking into the makeshift coffer one after the other. The five underlings received 3 shards a day each as their wages. After that expense, Gilgamesh’s half of the remaining profits on the first day was 13 shards. On the second, it had grown to 28, and that sum had already been surpassed on this third day before even noon.

  “At this rate, business will soon grow beyond what this den can handle efficiently…”

  One of the thugs picked up the box once it had nearly filled and handed it to Gilgamesh. At nothing more than his will and a small connection to his mana, the 20 shards melded into two jadestones, each in the form of a smoothly carved square coin.

  He silently tossed one to Heroine, who put it in her ordinary felt pouch. Gilgamesh’s gaze lingered on the act for half a moment. Strangely, she refused to use spatial bags or alter shards herself.

  He had asked her about the matter before, but she wouldn’t explain why. Whether that was out of inability, insanity, or that she knew something he didn’t, he could not say with certainty.

  “This isn’t hundreds like you said it would be…” Heroine quietly criticized.

  “Foundations take time to build.” Gilgamesh calmly retorted. “It will be hundreds soon.”

  “...when?” She did not relent.

  “Take over the gambling den for a while.” Gilgamesh ordered.

  “Huh?”

  “All of you gather round.” Gilgamesh ordered the thugs. They shifted in place and glanced at each other for a moment before walking over.

  “It’s time to expand.” Gilgamesh declared. “All of you go find 20 more people who know how to fight and want to make some money.”

  The thugs glanced at each other, as Heroine in the background nervously told some gamblers not to get too close or she would kill them.

  “We don’t need that much to protect the den…” The burly man spoke up.

  “Worried about your cut?” Gilgamesh bluntly inferred, to their nervous silence. Gilgamesh held the tense silence for a while.

  “Each of you is going to start your own gambling dens. The new members are going to work for you. This is your chance to make some real money.” Gilgamesh saw greed quickly rise within their eyes after the initial shock.

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  “Remember who you work for.” He warned. “If you do not give me what I am owed, I will kill you. If you do not return with at least 20 underlings, I will track you down and kill you.”

  Fear quickly overtook the burgeoning greed as Gilgamesh stared down at them. “What are you waiting for?”

  At those words, the thugs quickly scrambled off deeper into the slums to fulfill his order. Gilgamesh glanced at them as they left and turned his attention back to the gambling den, as Heroine quietly threatened to kill someone who lost if they didn’t get out of the way.

  ---

  It didn’t take long for the five underlings to return, and they brought with them 22 new pawns. Gilgamesh personally assigned them to each new den leader at random to ensure there was no prearranged collusion.

  “Run your dens exactly like this one. Establish them along the border to the Bazaar. Not too close to here but not too far away either.” Gilgamesh spoke. “Den Leaders. On this first day, you owe me 25 shards. Tomorrow you will owe me 50, and the days after it is 100. Anything you do not pay will become your debt. I advise you not to let that debt grow too high. If you run your dens well, you will all soon make enough to fill your spatial bags to the brim.”

  Gilgamesh let the hope set in first before he instilled the fear. “I am not a merciful man. If you try to break away on your own, you will die. If you steal from me, you will die. If you seek harm against me, you will die. Do what you are told and you will have riches and my protection. Traitors will be replaced with someone loyal.”

  A few of the den leaders grimaced at that last part, and for good reason. He had added it precisely to make them unable to unite. Now their underlings will covet the position of the Den Leader and be vigilant for any opportunity to snatch it for themselves. In turn, this meant the den leaders were no longer able to trust them and must rule with an iron fist. It will be hard for any den to unite against him now.

  “You will manage this one.” Gilgamesh gave the current den to the most hapless and unimpressive of the original underlings, having judged him as the least likely to betray. Then he turned to the others. “You’re wasting daylight.”

  ---

  Dusk turned to night and the hapless den leader had the customers disperse. It was too risky to operate at night. Not to mention that while everyone here was enhanced, they were still human. Everyone aside from Gilgamesh, that was.

  On that note, he glanced at Heroine, who had an air of drowsiness about her that she tensely resisted. She hadn’t slept at all these past three days and the effects were starting to show.

  Gilgamesh received what few shards the other gambling dens were able to make on this first day of expansion, and directed them to accommodate the buildings about his own as barracks. One person was to stand guard at all times within each group. This was the lawless slums after all, and anything could happen.

  He and Heroine had their own separate house with the block of shoddy brick huts their group had claimed as territory. Though Gilgamesh supposed it was fully a gang now.

  “Less than 30 footsoldiers is not enough. I should expand as soon as the hierarchy is firmly established among the new members.”

  Gilgamesh settled on one side of the room at a favorable spot, should any enemies attack through the windows or door. Heroine did the same over on the opposite side. She relaxed into a stance that would suggest rest, but Gilgamesh could see that in truth, she once again had no intention to do so. And once again, she not so subtly kept track of him.

  “Sleep.” Gilgamesh said. “It’s been three days now.”

  “...you haven’t slept either. You go to sleep first…” She muttered back.

  “I do not need sleep.”

  “...neither-”

  “You clearly do.” Gilgamesh cut her off. “I can stand guard this night and all others. Be assured of that.”

  Heroine was not assured, and she certainly did not trust him. Gilgamesh was quiet for a moment.

  “Where did you learn to fight?” He asked a calm question.

  “By fighting…”

  “Self taught.” Gilgamesh acknowledged.

  “What about you?” She asked back.

  “Watching and reading… and fighting.” Gilgamesh answered. Not a single person in his clan had ever mentored him in anything. All he knew came from what books on ancient martial arts he could get his hands on, and through observing others.

  “...was it dangerous where you’re from too?” Heroine asked, with a slightly different tone than before.

  “Dangerous…” Gilgamesh mused. Rather than the threat of death at every step, it would be more accurate to say that what awaited tried to break him. “It was difficult.”

  A lull ensued with his answer. It was an awkward lull, but not an uncomfortable one. Absent was the hatred which made the air weigh heavily upon him, that he had long become accustomed to. To talk with someone in this way was a strange feeling.

  “...we are allies, and I cannot have my ally underperform because she is exhausted.” Gilgamesh spoke again. “The longer this continues, the more likely it is that you will make a mistake. Rest.”

  Heroine was slow to respond, but it seemed that his words landed more meaningfully than before. “...okay.” She adjusted her position to one more fit for sleeping, though still one she could easily spring into action from, and a subtly peaceful state came about her.

  Gilgamesh stared calmly at her. She hadn’t revealed much about herself since their partnership, nor was she even that keen to talk in general, but he was certain she was no privileged scion.

  Beneath the surface of anxiety and wretchedness laid a person who had endured overwhelming hardship. Her focused desperation towards danger was too sharp and her callousness towards death too casual to have had a good life. She was someone who had struggled at the bottom for a long time, just as he had.

  Gilgamesh stared at his oddly endearing pawn, unique among those he had encountered thus far. “Stop pretending, and actually sleep.”

  Heroine’s face twitched slightly at his reprimand, but she did not change her ways in the slightest.

  “Indeed, an endearing fool of a pawn…”