After midnight, the back door of the Temple of Wealth in Abadi's temple district opened a crack, and a figure dressed in white slipped inside.
Abadi's tyrant, Shahman Duleqizi, walked through the Temple of Wealth, a place he knew better than any other. Yet under the cover of night, the temple felt strangely unfamiliar.
That afternoon, he had met the mysterious Jenny Gallop again. A few days earlier, the girl had claimed she had local logistics connections and secret warehouses. Today, she had gone so far as to boast that she could seize his family's goods from under the Royal Court army's nose—and even sell them on his behalf.
His first instinct was to call the girl crazy. But reason told him that members of the Gallop Family were the sort who could snatch Magic Potions right out from under the Beastmen's noses.
Jenny had offered him a deal that was hard to refuse. Tonight, she would find buyers for the goods in his warehouse, then transport them to the customers on his behalf.
Of course, Jenny wasn't doing this for free. In addition to a commission, she wanted Shahman to offer hardship loans at exceptionally low interest rates to struggling merchants in the local city-states.
"They're even willing to lend me money at low interest, so I can lend it to the local tribes?" Old Camel mulled over Jenny's offer. "But these merchants would have to handle their distribution and logistics through them?"
"If they can really move goods right under the Royal Court's nose, people will be begging them to handle their business even without the loan terms!"
At last, Shahman reached the room in the temple. He knew that some rooms here were ostensibly for internal temple communications, but their more important purpose was to give major