Arknights - Hearts of Fortune collection

Merchants of Death

(An: Segway for the next Arc, which follows Grani and the knights treasure.)

Second floor of a 5-star restaurant in Columbia//1100 hours.

"I must say, Mr.Graaf, the steak here are very delicious, like you said." I said to the Kuranta in front of me.

Meet Mr. Andrezj Graaf, the founder and CEO of Dynamic Works Limited. He's an... alright person, being a second-generation immigrant from Kazimierz, and still going strong even in his old age.

Now! I'm currently eating out with him in a 5-star restaurant in downtown New York in Columbia. Fact is, me and him are business partners.

Long story short, when I was looking to modify Lateran guns to exclude originium from it and start mass modifying them, I happen to contact DW Limited, a Columbian based defence company to help me exclude originium. For a cut of the price, which is around... 20% of all gun sales I make.

Which, by the way, is still not legal, so the money has to be cleaned to avoid suspicion. Luckily, Mr.Graaf owns a casino. So, it streamlined our cooperation and strengthened our partnership.

"Ha ha! Right?? don't hesitate to order more! If it weren't for you," he paused and leaned in, "I wouldn't have been able copy these Lateran and Iberian guns." He said in a low voice and smiled.

"Well, the feelings mutual. I wouldn't have been able to expand my business either if it weren't for your company to help in modifying them." I chuckled and sipped my drink, "though, I heard that DW Limited is producing its first batch of guns?"

"We are! We're proud to announce that we're producing our first handguns. I can't tell you right now what it is, but we have something in the works." He smiled.

"Good to know, then. Seems like Raythean would have a new competitor on the gun manufacturing scene." I returned the smile.

"We're already competitors," He smiled, "thanks to you."

"You flatter me" I returned the smile.

"Oh! And before I forget," He says as he slips a white envelope with blue and red linings, "I'm unable to attend this, so I'll just give this to you."

Upon inspecting the envelope and turning it around and saw a big stamp of the Columbian Chambers of Commerce. With its Iconic, "The spirit of Enterprise" slogan.

"what's this?" I asked Graaf.

"An invitation to an exhibition by the C.C.C, obviously." He chuckled, "I can't go, because I have a scheduled medical check-up."

"And you want me to go why...?"

"You told me about that minigun you 'acquired' from the Apostolic knights, right? That you're trying to make it fire." He asks.

"Yeah. I needed ammo to fire it and rein devastation on something. Or someone," I shrugged. Bullets, and by extension, ammunition to firearms are crazy expensive here. Even Raythean sells them at a ridiculously high price, but Raythean offers an alternative to even more crazier bullet prices from Laterano.

"You should try going to Raythean," he said, "While DW and Raythean may be competitors, they have a wealth of experience in reverse-engineering Sankta guns and ammunition."

"I'll try anyways."

"Great!" Graaf checks his watch, "Ahah, I need to go to my grandchildren's talent show. See you later, Val." He excused himself as he walked away. Leaving me alone in the table and leaving around $5K CSD to pay for the meal, in cash.