The Mechanical Era

A stream of water flows down Marco's threat, as he finishes up the session. Marco puts down the empty wooden cup, next to the closed bible, on the podium desktop. He then takes a deep breath, to prepare himself to speak out again.

"I thank you all once again for coming to this session. It has been a pleasure to serve this city.

Now, as many of you are beginning to be able to read, we both have decided it would be for the best, as one final act of kindness, to provide some of you with a copy of the bible.

We wished we could have managed to get you all a book, however, we were unfortunately not able to afford them all..."

At that very moment, Vice started to push the tray upstairs and place it right next to Marco. He then left the stage, leaving Marco all one once again, to go hide the supplies, and count up the money they had made.

"...So, as our next best option, we decided to get 5 copies of it and hand it out to you all. To make it fair, I will take a random name out of the box, and announce it to everyone to hear.

If I had called out your name, then please remain seated in your chairs. I will hand out a copy of the bible to you privately, as I do not want to restrain you all," Marco told them.

"Now that you know how the winner is chosen, I will now start to pick out from the box!" Marco announced. He slips his right hand into the box and pretended to pick out a random name.

Once he felt that he had spent enough time, he picked out one of the small pieces of paper that was hidden in the box for him to collect, and announce the winner's name. He then places the piece of paper on the podium desktop and picks out another one.

He does this until he finds out that those two were the only ones that made it to the secession. From that point, he actually picks up from the pile of names that was stored in it and announces them to the audience.

"Alright, and those are the winners of this week's giveaway! I hope to see you all on Monday again! You may now leave the venue."

Once Marco stopped speaking, the audience all got up from their seats and left the building. Marco, after the final man left the stage, got off the podium and made his way down to the contest winners. There, he introduced himself to them personally, before having them over at his makeshift office, one by one.

He started off with the first winner. He led him to his makeshift office while passing backstage. There, Vice had made sure to set it up as if they had only received a few hundred copper coins, to help boost their image further, and to initiate a conversation.

"How much have they donated, Vice?" Marco asks.

"A few of them. This is the most amount of money I have seen in my entire life!" Vice replies.

"Do you all usually make that much?" the man asked while they were on their way.

"Yes. Though, most of it goes to people in need. We only use it to buy up necessities, like food and clothes."

"How much do these Bibles cost?"

"A lot, unfortunately. As you know, books are very expensive. I am sure that his majesty built those libraries to allow people to access them," Marco replied.

What could have been a short talk, turned into a long and productive conversation. Even as the two walked inside to the office, and sat down, Marco continued to extract information from the man.

You see, the whole point of the giveaway was not to hand out some semi-expensive Bibles to a bunch of random strangers, but instead to use them to get close to a specific set of strangers.

With their deal with the workshop owner, the one who made all those bikes, Vice and Marco had acquired a 35% stake in his business in exchange for a large sum of silver coins. All Marco and Vice had to do, was contact these rich individuals, to get them involved in the workshop's business, to get them to invest.

However, Marco and Vice would not have been able to just walk up to their headquarters and demand they meet the bosses. No. They need someone to vouch for them. Someone who had worked with them, who they were able to trust. This would increase their odds of meeting up with the merchants in question.

To do this, Marco and Vice first had to find the perfect candidates. Their requirements were simple. They had to have a working relationship with these said' high-net-worth individuals. They should be able to read and write, and they must be in the age range of 14 to 18 years old.

Once they found their candidates, they wrote them down on the list and subtly advertised their bible sessions, indirectly to them, with the help of a local nearby. They knew they were not going to trust some random individuals, but they sure as hell knew they were going to trust someone they were familiar with.

To make sure they would catch them, Marco and Vice hired a guy to write down the names of everyone. So when they did finally decide to show up, Marco and Vice could rig the system to have them both win.

This would allow the two to have a conversation, privately. Using these conversations, Marco then plants the seeds for their little friendship, to get them to like the two of them, Vice and Marco, better. So when they eventually get out of the business, they can go up to their new friends, to have them help set up a meeting with these individuals.

Once he had done talking to these individuals, he made sure to quickly make due of the others. Considering they were legitimately selected, he had no use for them. By the end of the day, Marco had completed his part of the mission. He had managed to start up a friendship with the individuals that he wanted.