Chapter 254: Even Uncle Can Be Useful
The slaughterhouse located between Caliga Hall and Saint Denis—the site Davey planned to convert into a private moonshine distillery—was finally ready to begin construction.
Cleaning out the stench-filled slaughterhouse itself hadn’t taken much time, but the equipment shipped in from the east had been delayed for quite a while. On its first transport attempt, the large machinery ran into pirates at sea, and the ship ultimately sank.
Fortunately, Davey knew all too well how unsafe shipping routes were these days. He had purchased sufficient insurance in advance and negotiated payment upon delivery, so there was essentially no real loss. The equipment only arrived recently.
“Mr. Land, this is bad news. Someone has already figured out our moonshine recipe. I knew something like this would happen sooner or later, but I didn’t expect it to be this fast.”
“The counterfeit moonshine is mainly showing up in Van Horn Trading Port. The price matches ours, and the taste is very similar, so no one noticed right away. They may have been operating in secret for quite some time.”
“We really should thank Uncle for this. If he hadn’t noticed something was off, it might have taken us much longer to find out.”
“Those people are extremely cunning.”
Reporting to Davey was Benedict Allbright—the former fake medicine peddler from Valentine, now Davey’s personal brewmaster.
For this moonshine operation, Davey still chose to put Benedict in charge. He knew the trade inside and out, and by now their interests were firmly tied together. Over all this time, there had been virtually no problems.
“This isn’t your fault, Mr. Allbright.”
“The moonshine recipe itself isn’t complicated. I always knew someone would try to copy it. I just didn’t expect them to be this sly.”
“Maybe I’ve been too focused on Saint Denis lately and overlooked some of the smaller details.”
“I’ll have John take charge and investigate this thoroughly. Selling moonshine on our turf? They’d better be prepared to meet God.”
“And pass along my thanks to Uncle.”
Davey had already learned the details of the moonshine issue from Benedict.
Uncle really was a key figure—careful and observant.
Davey had set up a Veterans’ Club in Valentine, and it had become quite popular, drawing in many veterans with nowhere else to go. Even lonely veterans who received government pensions still chose to come here.
The place functioned much like a retirement home. Most of these veterans had no close family, and life at the club gave them companionship and people to talk to.
Uncle wasn’t a veteran himself, but with nothing better to do, he often hung around the Veterans’ Club. Since he could read and write, he occasionally helped with the moonshine accounts in Valentine.
Recently, sales in Van Horn Port had been steadily declining. However, Uncle heard from veterans coming from Van Horn that moonshine sales there were booming, with no sign of a slowdown.
Uncle arranged for people to look into it, and that was when they discovered counterfeit moonshine—same price, similar taste—quietly stealing market share.
“Understood, Mr. Land.”
“It’s just…”
Benedict hesitated for a moment, then spoke anyway.
“Miss Abigail asked me to pass along her regards. She heard about your situation in Saint Denis, Mr. Land.”
“She hopes Little Jack can come to Saint Denis to study. After all, it’s a big city—Valentine can’t compare.”
Davey didn’t have any strong objections. After settling in Saint Denis, he had already considered bringing Little Jack over to study here. Educational resources were abundant, and the city government was even preparing to establish a university.
He had simply been too busy lately and let the matter slip.
“No problem. Tell Abigail to bring Little Jack to Saint Denis. I’ll arrange a suitable school for him.”
After Benedict left, Davey immediately sent for Donal.
There was no point in having Mac handle this kind of work. John had already been assigned to investigate openly, but covertly, more people needed to be involved.
Mac was fine when it came to charging in and fighting. Asking him to think and investigate, though, was completely hopeless.
Donal arrived quickly.
Davey had installed three landline telephones at the residence. Saint Denis already had the infrastructure, so installation was easy. With a single call, orders could be delivered immediately.
“Mr. Land.”
Donal hurried over after receiving the call.
“There are people counterfeiting our moonshine in Van Horn Port. Donal, take some men and dig up everything about them.”
“You and John will handle this together. Not just Van Horn Port—check everywhere else too.”
“On our turf, no other moonshine is allowed. I trust you understand what I mean, Donal.”
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