Chapter 42: Elicia’s Worry
"Okay!" Ronan remarked in sheer bewilderment. "That was something. Something I had definitely not been expecting."
"What were you expecting, then?" Elicia questioned with a smirk.
"I do not know," Ronan shrugged, with a baffled expression. "But definitely not this."
Elicia merely smiled in response. She took the driver’s seat on the motorbike and motioned for Ronan to climb on behind her. But Ronan did not move.
"Elicia," he asked in a serious voice. "Was the method you just used safe? Can I really trust it?"
"Yes," she replied. "As I said, trust me on this."
"Our line of work is based purely on trust," she continued. "If that trust is broken even once, everything collapses."
Ronan remained silent. He was not worried about losing his goods. They were not worth fretting over. It was the trust itself being broken that worried him. Everything he had done in this world so far was based on trusting Elicia and his own instincts.
"But these were not products that people might be used to seeing," he countered. "And that might cause their work ethic to waver. They might break the trust."
"Yes," she nodded. "I too would have worried about this, but the man handling your products is someone who has already handled them before."
"Who?" Ronan frowned. "Alartun?"
He was the only one Ronan would call who had interacted with his goods.
"Yes," she nodded. "He was the one controlling the drones."
"Come on," she said, asking him to take a seat behind her. "He will be waiting for us at my apartment."
Ronan nodded before he climbed on behind her. She twisted the accelerator, and the motorbike shot forward.
"How does this work?" Ronan questioned over the noise. "This whole smuggling business?"
"What part of it do you not understand?" she asked. "The drones will carry your boxes through the tunnel. The tunnel runs for more than five kilometers, a little more than two kilometers on either side of the wall, and opens at an isolated location where Alartun is already waiting for them."
"I get that," he replied. "But I mean, do the authorities not catch it? Surely they would not be happy allowing this kind of smuggling."
"No authority is happy with smuggling," she responded. "But their options are limited, too. Even if they close down one tunnel, the drilling drones can dig another one in a couple of nights. Although they try to restrict the sale of drilling drones, it is not really possible to stop them."
"Oh!" Ronan remarked.
There were things like drilling drones. He had not even thought of that. And the more he learned, the more intrigued he became by the technology of this world.
"But can they not see us from the top of the walls?" Ronan pressed. "I mean, even though we were a bit far away, around two kilometers, from the wall, the guards could still spot suspicious activity from up there."
"They surely can," Elicia remarked. "But not every inch of the wall is always patrolled."
"And," she added, "you can always find a few people willing to look the other way for a bit of money."
Ah! Realization struck Ronan. True, the method was highly advanced, but the real reason it worked flawlessly was because of corruption. Just like in his own world.
"Is this the only method?" Ronan asked. "The only way to smuggle things inside the city?"
"No," Elicia replied. "There are a few more methods. But this is the most common and cheapest of them all. You will learn about them too if you stay in the business long enough."
"But most of them are costly and require high and more technological savvy equipment and are generally used by more powerful people," she added.
It took them another twenty minutes to reach the gates of Kovliar. From the book he had read on the city, Ronan had learned that Kovliar had four main gates in total: the East, North, West, and South gates. This was the West gate. Just like the previous time, it only took a few minutes of waiting before Ronan was officially inside the city.
"Elicia," he asked, taking his seat behind her on the motorbike. "What do you think about making our business legal?"
"I mean, we would have to pay taxes, but we would have other benefits," he explained. "We would not have to take such risks and smuggle our stuff. We managed it this time, but what if I want to bring an even bigger consignment next time?"
"Not to mention that by operating a legal business, we can reach a wider consumer base and earn more profit," he added.
Elicia did not respond immediately. Ronan could not see her face and could not tell what she was thinking.
"That does not sound like a terrible idea," Elicia finally responded.
Although she did not state it explicitly, Ronan could sense the disappointment in her voice. He was a bit surprised by her reaction.
"You do not seem too pleased by the idea," he remarked after a few moments of silence.
Elicia did not respond. She remained completely silent.
"You are worried that if I start a legitimate business, you will lose your money and your commission," he said.
"I am not worried about anything," she replied stiffly. "They are your goods. And it is your decision what you want to do with them. It has nothing to do with me."
"Haha!" Ronan burst out laughing. "Relax, Elicia. Do not fret unnecessarily."
"It is true that they are my goods, and I will be the sole decision-maker on how, when, and where I sell them," he said.
"But," he continued after a brief pause, "even if I decide to take my business down a legal route, you will be an integral part of it. That is, if you agree to be."
"And in any case," he said, "I will not be managing everything inside Kovliar. I am not saying that I will have no role, but my actual responsibility will be to manage the logistics of the entire operation. To ensure that everything reaches Kovliar safely and soundly."
Elicia did not say anything, but Ronan could tell that she was relieved and relaxed upon hearing his words.
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