The Mechanical Era

On the 7th and 8th of Sunt, Marco and Vice were busy cleaning and fixing up the mess of the place they had leased out. They fixed up the chairs and made them studier. They cleaned the room so nobody would get sick. They cleared out the cobwebs to make it look more appealing.

It cost the two a bit. They had to spend an entire silver coin on supplies and equipment. However, once it was all done, all they had to do then was to prepare. On the 9th of Sunt, Vice, being the advertiser he is, got to spreading the word among the people of Hoverdam.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ Marco, meanwhile, finalized the deal with the owner. The lease will last for up to the end of Amare, with the money paid upfront. However, this means that the bearded owner cannot take back the property from them. He made sure to guarantee this with an additional silver coin.

...

10th of Sunt, 5018.

The day has finally come. Marco, holding the bible in hand, walks up to the stage, wearing the suit he had Vice bring in exchange for his rented yellow suit. He looks onward at the large crowd that had gathered and taken their seat. It appears the entire room had been occupied, and the people just waiting for Marco to start.

He first walks up to the podium that he had leased out. He gave an opening speech, welcoming the audience.

"Hello everyone! Welcome! I am glad you all made it! I hope you find yourselves comfortable in your chairs.

Thanks to your generous donations, we have managed to hold the readings in a bigger room, to make sure that you can all remain comfortable while listening to the verses of the Bible." Marco spoke out. He sprinkled in a few lies as he spoke, to win the favor of the audience.

"Now, without further ado, I shall start the reading!" Marco stepped down from the podium and sat on the wooden chair. He then took out the book and started to read loudly, for everyone else to hear.

...

Vice waited for a minute and looked at the seating arrangement. He had noticed that the seatings were separated so that only 5 people sat close to each other in each row. It was a decision that came to the mind of Marco, who told Vice it was a good idea.

He looked onward at the round tray that he held. He can understand why this was the case. Not wasting any more time, he went in. He chose a random row and handed over the tray to a listener.

"Please, would you mind donating a few coins and passing it to the next person? It helps us to continue holding these events for you all, in a comfortable place like this," he told the stranger.

The stranger looked at the plate and then nodded. He placed 4 coins on the plate and passed it onward. He repeated the same thing and got the guy next to him to donate money. This went on until the last person, who donated some money and handed it back to Vice, who was waiting.

"Thank you. We both appreciate it," Vice replied. He then goes backstage, and placed the coins inside a special chest, made to hold out coins. He managed to count 21 coins so far, with each donor giving 4.2 coins.

Once he placed the coins in the chest, he took the plate again and went over to ask another row for more money. He did this all the way until he had successfully managed to get a donation from everyone in the audience.

...

The day passes by, and the sun was starting to set. The audience gets up from their seats and starts leaving the room, back to the streets, after listening in and hearing Marco read the bible.

The two meet backstage, where Marco proceeds to swallow down lots of water in his throat. His voice was completely exhausted after having to read through the book. He then takes off his suit and looks at Vice.

"So? How did things go? You managed to get some money from our audience?" Marco asked. His voice was a little creaky. However, thanks to his previous experience, it was not as bad as before.

"Yes. I did. I made sure to pass on that damn wooden plate to every goddamn man and woman. From what I can gather, I made out 23 coins for each row," Vice replied.

"So? How much were we able to make in the end?" Marco asked, dying to know. Vice turns his head up and thinks for a minute.

"From what I have counted, we have managed to make about..." he then turns his head down to meet Marco's eyes.

"... 2,990 copper coins. That is a total of 5 silver coins and 490 copper coins," Vice replied, before smiling.

"What?" Marco asked again, not able to process the information.

"5 silver coins and 490 copper coins! That is about 2 silver coins and 245 copper coins for each of us two."

"That... That is wonderful Vice! I mean, we still would have to subtract from the lease and the other costs, but that is... that is a lot! We will be able to cover the cost we took off in no time!"

"That is right."

"Say, did you run into any other problems? Something that I need to be aware of?" Marco questioned Vice.

"Actually yes. I do. There was a bunch of police that came around and questioned what we were doing. They suspected that we were running a church of some kind, and nearly stopped the whole thing."

"Well, what did you tell them then?"

"I told them that we were 'Upstanding citizens who, with our recently acquired skills, wanted to read out the bible for the people in these dark times'. Thankfully, they believed it and went their way."

Marco chuckled a little at Vice's reply.

"Thank god. Anyways, I guess what we should do now is to bring these over to the bank?"

"Yes. I think we shall."

...

Two suspicious-looking men, wearing ordinary clothes, observed as Marco and Vice got on a tram, leaving for the bank. Once they were out of sight, they walked up to the window and looked inward. There, they saw the grand setup they had made for themselves.

"We are going to have to alert the bosses. This could mean trouble for our plans."

"I agree. We shall!" the other replied. They then came back to the road and to the tram station, which will bring them over to their bosses' home, to inform him of what Marco and Vice had been up to.