"Okay, we have to get some more things done this week to ensure we don"t have too many problems. First, What I want is to use the money we got from last night to hire more people. If we had more tables, we would have made even more money." Mike explained some of the more finer details to the girls and got ready to look for carpenters and workers for his next expansion.

Mike had won the piece of property, His next order of business was to create a Hotel. His only obstacle was a small house that was between his two buildings and the next property.

All of them hugged the wall, If mike could obtain the house in the middle then he would have all the s.p.a.ce he needs to create a strip of his very own. Mike would run the city in less than a month if he went unabated

"Hi." Mike knocked on the door and a burly man came to answer.

"What is it?" The man looked like he hadn"t worked in a while but he was pretty large, Mike had to actually look "up" to see the mans face.

"I"d like to offer you a Job." Mike dropped the idea of buying the house, but thought of another way.

"But, I also want to buy this house. I can build you a new one in its place, but I want the land." Mike thought he was slick but the man simply motioned to close the door.

Mike shouted "I can pay you right now."

The door stopped.

"Pay? me." The large man apparently didn"t understand what Mike had said until the word pay came up.

"Yes, here is gold. I will make you a new house, but you will work for me. I pay you every day." Mike brought out a few hundred gold and pa.s.sed it to the man. The coins fell through his big fingers and he bent down to pick them up. Mike could smell the man, It was rank.

"I gotta get this guy a bath or something" Mike thought to himself.

"Yes. Boss. Where." The big guy probably only ever had one type of job.. enforcer or meat shield.

"This way." Mike walked the big guy back to the house and brought him to the back yard.

"Will you get in the water, you smell bad. You need to be clean." Mike watched the man climb into the water. The sun kept it rather cool and he didn"t seem to mind it. Mike would have to clean out the tub, The water was already getting murky. Mike pulled out the water crystal and started to hose down the lumbering giant.

"What is your name?" Mike asked with patience, he was trying not to gag on the odors that were a.s.saulting him.

"Wreck-time, r.e.c.t.u.m, wrecked"um" The toothy giant smiled and spat out what sounded like his name, but it all sounded horrible.

"Okay. Boss has a new name for you, since those are not good names." Mike got a bristle broom and started to scrub at the huge man in his tub.

"I"m gonna call you Harry." Mike thought it was a good name, He did sort of resemble a Sasquatch but not really.

"HR iii" Mike listened as the toothy giant tried saying his new name.

"HARRIE! HARRY, HARHE, HARRY" Harry was trying but he had something wrong with him, mike wasn"t sure but he would investigate it sometime soon.

Mike used the crystal to rinse the giant Harry again. "Okay." get up and dry off. I"m going to measure you. Stand still."

Mike pulled out a spool of string and measured Harry, He couldn"t have his front door man to look and smell like a sewer. "Okay, now. Sit down by the door in front of the Casino, Vella will keep you company until you know what to do."

Vella understood what Mike was explaining when he started, waving him off to get something else to wear, she charmed the giant and had him move a bunch of things around. Vella wasn"t sure that Harry would do what she asked immediately, so she didn"t bother chancing it. Soon, the backyard was in chaos again.

It had been a little over a day or two since the yard was flooded and outside in the back yard, the pit still remained. Vella grabbed a large shovel and pa.s.sed it to Harry.

"Sweetie!, I need you to dig this yard real deep until Mike gets back, okay." Vella spoke loud enough for him to hear clearly and then walked back inside to get ready.

Harry didn"t have much of a willpower before, but now he was completely without. Digging like his life depended on it, several objects were unearthed during his excavation. Mike had only wanted to test his powers and had dug up Vella"s Rock, but now more rocks appeared and in a lot of shapes.

When Vella saw the rocks being brought out from the ground she paused.

"What are these?" Vella walked up and touched each rock. There was something inside giving off energy in all of them. It was rather strange but no matter how much power she dumped into the rocks nothing happened.

"I don"t understand!" Vella pounded on one rock and reduced it to powder.

"NO!" Vella was grief stricken. If she was in that rock, she"d be dead now. Thinking to not touch anything more Vella saw Harry pulling another object from the ground, but it was a string of things. A string of dead prisoners dangled off the chain, their preserved corpses were sealed in the mud below.

Vella was surprised to still see muscle fiber on the bodies, usually after such a long time of decomposition the bodies would have fallen apart.

"I wonder why these are here." Vella picked up one length of the chain that connected the 40 some odd prisoners in a row. The bodies all had battle armor, and personal effects. Most of which had also deteriorated in the muck.

The few rings that came from the bunch were indeed storage rings, Vella pocketed them for later. If they were lost before their contents were discovered it could be a great loss of fortune.

Harry kept digging, and eventually found a small pa.s.sageway. Vella came out to see when he broke through and called out for a.s.sistance. Harry, even charmed, still did not like being underground.

"GET! ME! OUT! OF! HERE!" Harry called out and Vella went closer to look. She could see Harry shoulder deep in a pit that had opened up below him.

He hadn"t fallen into some ancient sewer system, there would have at least been a rancid smell. No, Harry had fallen into a tunnel but couldn"t grab his way out, the soil around the entrance was mostly slick mud.

Vella offered to help and approached from the air. She thought she could lift the giant with her current body, She was very wrong.

The moment that Harry laid his hands on her, she could feel herself losing power and started to fall from the sky. Harry let go just in time to avoid slapping her into the mud.

"Che.che.che.", Vella shook her legs and flapped her wings again before running into the house to get some more help.

The two bears and the girls came out to see what the problem was. Mike was going to be home soon with more things they needed, they couldn"t let the place be a mess. In a wondrous combined effort they came up with an idea.

Tying some ropes together the lowered one end to the Giant, and the other end was held by the Dragoons on one end and the rest of the group in the middle. With a collaborated hauling motion, Harry was finally free. he was muddy again, but it was better than being stuck.

"How did this happen, and why was he digging in the first place?" Mona and Cara were looking at Vella with suspicious eyes.

"I wanted to surprise Mike. So I had him help me dig, who knew there was something else down there besides me." Vella scoffed a little and then flew over to look at the hole. Inside there was a very clean pathway, except where the cave in had occurred.

Thinking little else, Vella flew inside to take a look. When she did, she back ran out with a quickness.

"We have to get Mike, I don"t know what to make of this." Vella wasn"t going to let it ruin things, but it was important he have a look.

Mike was still out getting things, He had stopped by a tailor for a new Hat. It was time he got one that was a bit fancier and from this world. The tailor was already interested in the design behind it, so recreating it was going to be tricky but probably worth it. Mike made a list of the things expensive hats were usually made from and the Tailor got very excited at possibilities.

Mike also left an order for the uniforms, but It could take several days to the entire order filled. Having nothing to do besides shop, Mike made his way with his dragoon to the docks and pa.s.sed out a flier.

"Get Rich, take your chances. Visit Lone Stars Casino in the northwest side of the city near the soon to be Stars Hotel." The fliers went out to at least one of each boar crew and soon there was talk about what they were doing later in the day. Many of them wanted to see what chances existed.

Mike had some success with his having Vella deal blackjack and decided it was time he taught the others. On his return to the Casino he saw his new giant friend sitting in the same position he was in when he left, however Harry was filthy again.

"What happened Harry?" Mike asked if he was okay and Harry only had one thing to say.

"Ask flying lady." Harry gave mike all the information he needed.

"VELLA!" Mike wasn"t mad, but he literally spent time getting that big guy cleaned up.

"Yea, who knew." Vella walked Mike to the back yard and he saw the cavern/tunnel entrance.

Mike apologized and used his energy to dry the ground, he was clean and didn"t want mud everywhere. After a few moments, the ground was hardened a bit and mike could walk on it without fear of slipping into muck.

Thinking about it before he dove right in, mike cast a light spell on a nearby pebble and threw it in.

The pebble fell nearly 45 feet. The inside of the tunnel was definitely not small, it was a phenomenon that Mike had to investigate. Mike couldn"t just ignore his Casino, so he decided to cover the hole and come back to it.

"Sorry, I"ve just had some weird things happening today, and I"ve got to get this big guy cleaned up." Mike laughed and started casting the cleaning spell on the giant.

"Why didn"t I think of this earlier." Mike tossed the clothes he had made to Harry and had him change into the security outfit he had made.

Mike felt it was already really intimidating to have such a large guy standing guard outside, but with a black T-shirt that had the word "SECURITY" written across its front Mike felt like he wouldn"t have to explain at all. The diaper looking cloth that was hung around Harry"s waist was rancid to say the least so mike just incinerated it after Harry changed into the new pants. The tailor said that they were made from good materials, so Mike had given him a nice tip and a free game token he had made.

Mike only pa.s.sed out a few of them and he wouldn"t accept them after this week so it didn"t matter how badly they were crafted.

"Well.. lets get inside Vella. I"ve got a few things to pa.s.s out."

Mike liked the way the inside of the Casino was turning out. He was gone and people had been working, He expected to see scaffolding or something left behind but most of the work had already been completed.

"They work fast." Mike stared in awe at the craftsmanship. There were tiny bears and lions and other beasts that Mike couldn"t identify all over the place. Where ever surfaces were cornered, a carving was either in the corner or right around it. The best part was that no one was still around working, so mike and the girls could open up at the stroke of noon.

"Everything seems to be ready, but you said you had some things to pa.s.s out." Jodi came up and kissed Mike on the neck.

"We can open the doors when you"re ready." Cara walked up in a new sleek dress and touched his chest while spinning around. The dress hid her tail a bit which made her all the more attractive.

"We need a place for people to use as a bathroom." Rissa pointed out a huge flaw. Mike wasn"t lost on the concept, He had a bathroom, It was not nice to clean up. Thankfully he had the cleaning spell, but he couldn"t constantly be cleaning up after guests.

"We can work on that before we open, there is still 30 minutes. I can at least make it so that men can relieve themselves without issue." Mike knew how to make a latrine, but it was never fun for women to squat over a hole. Mike wanted to find a plumber, but knew that pipes weren"t a thing on this world. Mike went outside and cleared a hole that drained outside of the wall.

"Man, this is low brow..." Mike kicked at the dirt a bit to make sure it wasn"t going to collapse and returned back inside.

The guests were standing outside waiting to come inside, The sun was high in the sky and no one wanted to be in it for no good reason. Mike took note of the lack of shade, he figured coming up with a canopy entrance would fit the Casino"s of old pretty well. Sticking to the theme of Vegas and Texas, Mike burned the shape of Texas into the doors and seat backrests. It added a sense of cla.s.s for the guests when they finally started to pour inside the Casino.

"Okay." Mike pa.s.sed another, better deck of cards over to Vella.

"Do you"re best to win Vella. Its a compet.i.tion." With a wink, Mike sent Vella into enthusiastic mode.

"Beat me in winnings be tonight, and I"ll give you a solo run." Mike liked the way Vella had an easily provoked response rate, but he worried about her in the long run. What would happen when someone provoked her in the wrong way.

"You"re on!" Vella shuffled the cards and spread them out like she had been doing that for years.

Mike gulped a bit and wondered why she was holding back before. Feeling played, he didn"t give up and started dealing another table for Hold"em. The girls were about to go up on stage and Harry had been taking entrance fees. Not a single person dared to get on Harry"s bad side. The music was pumping and after their first set of songs, the girls took a break to help the guests with more Tea and refreshments.

Mike was considering about selling dabs, but he had no way for others to smoke it. While Dealing cards, occasionally he would take a Dab and release its fragrance into the room. Each and every time, the crowd would relax and become physically more able. Mike even watch some of the scars on people"s faces at the table start to clear up.

"What the f.u.c.k" Mike stared at the changes of the people in front of him and thought maybe he was hallucinating, but then someone else noticed that their vision was getting better. All chaos started to break loose as people were wondering how they were getting better just by sitting nearby.

Everyone grew hungry. Mike put the Dabs away and played it off like he didn"t know what was going on, he had some investigating to do.

"Winner! Congratulations." Mike pa.s.sed the winnings over and dealt another hand.

Rissa walked up and caressed his chest, "you doin okay over here?" Sitting on his lap, the table was instantly jealous. Mike wrapped his arms around her and gave her a big kiss before he stood up.

"We can get back to that later on." Mike smiled and watched the players closer.