Season 2 chapter 22
The Bread and the Brotherhood
Malesh pushed the heavy ironwood doors open and stepped out into the grand, marble-lined hallway of the Ministry. He expected it to be empty. He expected to have to find a steam-cab back to their diplomatic hotel alone.
Instead, sitting on a cold stone bench directly outside the doors, was Kniya.
Kniya had his suit jacket off, his tie loosened, and he was casually tearing a piece of crusty bread off a loaf he had bought from a street vendor. He looked up as the heavy doors clicked shut.
"Well," Kniya said, taking a bite of the bread and tossing a small piece to the side. "You took a long time, mate."
Malesh stopped in his tracks. Kniya hadn't left the building. He hadn't gone back to a luxury suite or explored the city. The billionaire CEO of Kavilson Steel had sat on a hard stone bench in a foreign government hallway for twelve straight hours, eating street bread, just waiting to make sure his partner walked out safely.
A rare, strange tightness gripped Malesh's chest. It was a profound, quiet sense of emotion that he usually buried deep down. He looked at Kniya, the arrogant brawler who had fought back-to-back with him in the Seistain slums when they were eleven. Nothing had really changed.
"The mathematics were complex," Malesh finally said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose to hide his expression.
Kniya stood up, dusting crumbs off his trousers. "Yeah, well, my stomach's mathematics are telling me I'm starving. Let's get out of this depressing fortress and go find some real Arvonian dinner."
The Inspection Tour
The next morning, the real work began. Because they were investing billions of credits and committing to a monumental logistical overhaul, they couldn't just sign papers and fly home. They had to see the dirt.
They boarded a private, heavily armored Arvonian steam-train headed toward the northern mountain ranges to begin a grueling two-week inspection tour of the newly purchased iron mines and the proposed refinery lands.
The rhythmic clack-clack-clack of the iron wheels filled the private luxury cabin. Kniya was looking out the window at the towering, smoke-filled industrial skyline of the Arvonian countryside, drinking a cup of hot tea.
Malesh sat across from him, reviewing his ledgers. He closed the book and looked at Kniya.
"There is something I need to disclose regarding the twelve hours I spent in the boardroom," Malesh said quietly over the roar of the train engine.
Kniya glanced over, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah? What did they do, try to charge you a parking fee?"
"They offered me a secret, shadow-contract," Malesh stated plainly. "Four billion credits upfront. Rare earth mineral excavation and highly volatile chemical processing in the southern deserts."
Kniya paused, lowering his teacup.
"They specifically instructed me to keep it a secret from you," Malesh continued, his dark eyes locked onto Kniya. "The Minister stated that your heavy industry corporation was not fit for the delicate nature of the work, and they did not trust Kavilson Steel with the intelligence. I... did not want to hide this from you."
For a second, the only sound was the rumbling of the train tracks. Malesh braced himself for Kniya's explosive temper. He expected Kniya to be furious at the Arvonians for the insult.
Instead, Kniya just laughed. It was a genuine, booming laugh.
"Oh, fuck," Kniya grinned, leaning back against the leather seat and putting his boots up on the table. "I don't care if they offer something only to you, bro. Are you kidding me? They think they can split us up with a secret file?"
Kniya pointed a finger at Malesh.
"We are partners in business, and we are partners in everything in our lives. If they are offering you four billion, they are offering me four billion. We share the victory. So yeah, we are going to enjoy this massive win, bro." Kniya looked back out the window at the passing mountains, a determined fire in his eyes. "But for now, we are going to stay here for two weeks, inspect every single inch of rock they just sold us, and make sure these Arvonian bastards didn't scam us on the iron quality."
The Groundwork of an Empire
For the next two weeks, Kniya and Malesh did not sleep in luxury hotels. They lived in the trenches of their new empire.
The Arvonian government provided them with a fleet of heavy steam-trucks and a team of top-tier federal contractors to guide them through the newly purchased territories. Their first stop was the harsh, freezing northern mountain ranges to inspect Kniya's eighteen iron mines.
They stood at the edge of a massive, blasted rock quarry. The Arvonian Chief Geologist handed Kniya a heavy brass magnifying glass and a chunk of raw, glittering black rock straight from the mountain face.
"Pure Magnetite, Mr. Kniya," the Chief Geologist said proudly, his breath misting in the cold air. "Seventy-two percent iron content. The veins run hundreds of meters deep. You have enough raw material here to forge steel for the next two centuries."
Kniya inspected the dense rock, a sharp, satisfied grin spreading across his face. He tossed the raw ore to his lead SuliBulli foreman, who had flown in to manage the excavation. "Start the drills," Kniya ordered. "I want the first fifty thousand tons of rock pulled out of this mountain by the end of the month."
From the mountains, they traveled down to the Arvonian coastline. Here, the landscape was flat, desolate, and perfectly suited for Malesh's needs. The government contractors laid out massive, sprawling blueprints across the hood of a steam-truck, pointing to the exact sectors where the three hundred and fifty refineries would be built.
"We have already begun laying the foundation for the worker housing, Mr. Malesh," the lead contractor explained, tapping the blueprints. "The land grants stretch for forty square kilometers. We have also routed a direct, high-capacity water pipeline from the nearby river to ensure your chemical cooling towers never run dry."
Malesh walked out onto the barren dirt, the relentless ocean wind whipping at his coat. He checked his pocket watch, running the logistical timeline in his head.
"The blueprints are efficient," Malesh stated, turning back to the nervous contractors. "However, the storage silos must be reinforced with Kavilson-grade structural steel, not your domestic concrete. The internal pressure of our processed diesel will crack standard Arvonian foundations within five years. Make the adjustments immediately."
"Yes, sir. Right away," the contractor nodded, furiously scribbling notes.
The Ribbon-Cutting
By the end of the second week, it was time to make it official.
The Arvonian Senate threw a massive, highly publicized groundbreaking ceremony at the site of the first joint-factory. Hundreds of local workers, military generals, and government officials gathered around a grand wooden stage built right in the middle of the dirt plains.
Instead of a delicate silk ribbon, the Arvonians had strung up a massive, thick braided hemp rope across the entrance of the construction zone to symbolize the heavy industrial nature of the deal.
Kniya and Malesh stood at the center of the stage. The Energy Minister handed them a pair of oversized, custom-forged iron shears.
"To the future of Arvonia," the Minister announced, his voice echoing through a brass megaphone. "And to the power of our new allies!"
Kniya and Malesh clamped the heavy iron shears over the thick rope. With a synchronized, forceful push, they sliced the rope in half. It fell to the dirt with a heavy thud.
The crowd erupted into roaring applause. Instantly, a deafening mechanical roar shook the earth. Behind them, a dozen massive SuliBulli heavy excavators—shipped all the way from DI—roared to life, their diesel engines belching black smoke into the sky as their massive iron teeth bit into the Arvonian soil. The construction of the greatest monopoly on Earth had officially begun.
The Evolution of Engines
On their final day in Arvonia, with the contracts signed and the machinery running, Kniya and Malesh finally had a few hours of downtime before their heavy-propeller plane was scheduled to take them back home.
"You know," Kniya said, finishing a cup of strong black coffee as they walked down the bustling streets of the capital. "Arvonia is world-famous for its naval shipyards. They build the biggest dreadnoughts on the planet. Why don't we go visit the harbor museum before we leave?"
Malesh checked his watch. "We have four hours until departure. A historical analysis of our primary consumer's naval capabilities would be an efficient use of time."
They took a steam-cab down to the royal docks. The Arvonian Maritime Museum wasn't just a building; it was an actual, massive dry-dock facility that housed generations of retired warships.
As they walked through the massive iron gates, Kniya's eyes lit up. He was a ruthless businessman, but right now, looking at the towering hulls of the legendary ships, he looked like a kid in a candy store.
They walked past the early exhibits—massive, beautifully carved wooden galleons with towering masts and thousands of square feet of canvas sails.
"Look at this," Kniya marveled, running his hand along the polished brass railing of an old 13th-century warship. "This was the absolute peak of technology for the earlier people. They crossed oceans using nothing but wind and tied ropes. It's insane how fragile it looks compared to what we build now."
They moved further down the dry-dock, entering the industrial era. The wooden hulls were replaced by primitive, ironclad steamers with massive, inefficient coal furnaces.
And finally, at the very end of the exhibit, sat a decommissioned Arvonian Diesel Dreadnought from the early 1420s. It was a terrifying, beautiful monster of riveted steel, heavy artillery cannons, and massive internal engine blocks.
"Bro, this is literally awesome," Kniya grinned, leaning over the viewing platform to stare down into the exposed engine bay of the dreadnought. "Look at the size of those pistons. They went from relying on the weather to burning coal, and now they are using massive diesel engines to push thousands of tons of steel through the water. It is kind of great that the amount of engines and everything has evolved so fast."
Malesh stood beside him, his dark eyes analyzing the massive fuel lines of the dreadnought.
"It is a fascinating evolution," Malesh agreed, his voice calm but laced with a dark, profound realization. "The earlier people relied on nature. The steam age relied on coal barons. But look at this machine, Kniya. Look at what it is made of, and look at what it burns."
Kniya slowly stopped smiling. He looked at the thick structural steel of the ship's hull, and then down at the massive diesel fuel tanks.
"Steel and oil," Kniya whispered.
"Exactly," Malesh said, turning to look at his partner. "They built these machines, but from this day forward, we are the ones powering them. Without Kavilson Steel, they cannot build a single new hull. Without Malesh Energy Limited, their entire fleet sits dead in the water."
Kniya looked back at the massive warship, a cold, powerful smirk slowly returning to his face. They weren't just billionaires anymore. They were the lifeblood of the modern world.
"Come on," Kniya said, turning away from the exhibit and pulling his suit jacket tighter against the ocean breeze. "Let's go catch our flight. We have a lot of work to do when we get back home."