The Shogun

Chapter 22 : The Rebel's First Crew

Then

"Kai is a practical man. All these years I have worked with him, this is one fact that I can tell you for sure. So if we want to get in the striking range, we must also have something to offer as well", Mori says as he wheels in a whiteboard in the office. Izuku looks at him from his seat on the faded sofa as his master locks the wheels of the board and says, "And for that we need money. Lots of it".

"Isn't 125 million yen enough?" Izuku asks.

"It's enough to start a small business. But not enough to catch his attention. If we have to save Eri-chan, we need to find a way to make money quickly", says Mori.

"What legal methods can we employ?" asks Izuku as his master grabs hold of the marker.

"As much as I can say from my area of expertise, you can start by being a partner of a small venture. You can start your own business too. Or... you can invest in some stocks", Mori says as he writes them down on the whiteboard.

"We can do that, but it still won't be enough I guess", says Izuku, to which his master nods.

He can find someone to be partners with and he can definitely start a venture himself. Regarding stocks, the best person to deal with them would be Melissa but Izuku didn't want to bother her now. She already has her hands full with the task of bankrupting I-Island. She can surely divert the funds towards him, but she can't do that all at once or she will be at the risk of being exposed.

Melissa's task was simple. All she had to do was exploit her position as a shadow council member and siphon out the funds. But that won't start unless he gives her a go ahead. The plan was to create numerous bank accounts all over the world with dummy names and split all the funding through them. Then those bank accounts will send them to other bank accounts and the process will repeat for a few times before it eventually ends up in an account that Izuku controls.

But it was easier said than done. One, Melissa can't send all the funds in one go. She has to send a few at a time and with a gap between the transactions. Two, Izuku was not a computer expert. Sure, the digitization has made banking easier, but to control and operate all those dummy accounts would be a huge burden for Melissa alone and Izuku was not an expert in the workings of networks and cyberspace. For that, he needs someone on his end to make sure that it goes smoothly.

He looks at his master and asks, "And less legal methods?"

Mori shrugs his shoulders a bit and says, "There are many. We can do drug trades but I personally don't want to do that. We can also be a broker. Your quirk knowledge is a gift, many villains out there would give away a fortune for the information you have".

"That is something I don't want to do. I would rather die than give villains an advantage", Izuku says defiantly.

"Thought so. Well, to be honest, whatever would have worked for Yakuzas in the past wouldn't work now. All the assets except for the one you inherited are controlled by Kai now. Now, I can see blackmailing as the only way to get money. But I have no idea who we are supposed to blackmail in the first place? Whom do we know whose everything would be ruined if their secrets get out?"

That was something to take note of. Who would be most affected if their secrets go public? There were many types of people that filled Izuku's mind. Politicians were the first people that came to Izuku's mind. But they can't be any politicians. They had to be a specific group. There were many contesting political parties out there, but the group that could be affected the most would be the leading party and the opposition. But there was a hitch too. Political trends tend to change with time. A misplaced wording can change the entire political scenario. So political individuals, while a part of the list, were definitely not the main priority. There were businessmen as well, but Izuku's first hand experience of corporate interest at the island told him very well that he should steer clear of them for now. If he wants to save Eri, he can't afford to be in public scrutiny. Now all that remains was the last option that came to mind.