VIII

After walking for 15 mins, Yuba finally reached his destination, the mayor's office. Giorgio Longo, the mayor of Venezia invited Yuba to talk about business since Yuba is the heir of the Maahes family. Yuba entered the office and sat waiting for the mayor to come. After 2 mins Giorgio came, and Yuba stood up, shook his hand firmly, and said :

" Good day to you sir, you are looking very healthy, pretty sure the wife is taking care of you with good meals, pass my greetings to her from me. "

Giorgio then responded :

" Impavido leone, you have grown so much in these past 5 years. Your father would've been very proud of you. "

Yuba then said :

" I am pretty sure he would have. Anyway, let's talk business. I hear you created a new kind of wine, I suppose I am invited to a dégustation. Well, I am ready to taste this wine of yours. I heard also that my father was very fond of your creations, especially your alcoholic beverages. "

Giorgio: " Straight to the point, like your father. And yes you are invited to try my newest wine before its official launch. Your father was an aficionado of alcoholic beverages, a very sharp tongue he had and I am pretty sure you have inherited that from him. Here is a sample, try it out, and tell me what you think of it ."

Yuba took the sample bottle, fashionably poured the beverage from the bottle into the chalice, and slowly shook the chalice in a circular motion, then put the chalice under his nose to take a deep breath to smell the beverage. He then slowly took a profound sip, closed his eyes, and started to focus on the taste and emotions he felt. Yuba stood there, eyes closed for a whole minute, then quickly opened his eyes, wide awake while his eyes were a bit teary, and then said to Giorgio :

" You have outclassed yourself, sir, one sip and I left this room, and found myself in a wheat field like an astral projection. The zephyr was gently circulating through my hair follicles, and I felt like a newly born man. I ran across the wheat field like a careless naked child, one man might call this feeling Freedom, I am in awe. I would recommend you name this beverage 'La Liberta' or 'Nostalgia'. Truly a chef-d'oeuvre in the alcoholic manufacture. "

Giorgio started smiling like a child while getting emotional and said: " You truly have inherited your father's tongue, when I took the first sip, I felt the same thing. As if I was a man with no boundaries as if nothing could bind me, no shackles, no responsibilities, a truly unchained being. 'La Liberta' it is. "

Yuba then patted Giorgos shoulders and said: " Surely a Royalty's beverage. The people of Venezia will love it. I understand that your invite today was more than just a dégustation, you want me to add your beverage to my casinos and clubs I understand? If that is the case then I am surely in for this collaboration. I am excited for the opening ceremony of 'La Liberta', so I could drink more of it, it is like drinking the last supper wine, drinking from the Holy Grail itself ."

Giorgio then replied:" You need not wait my dear Leone, as a gift of our partnership, here is a bottle for you and Numidia, I would recommend you to try it with beef steak, you can even cook it with the wine. Here take the bottle and give my best to the Bastet family, they are welcomed to the opening ceremony, invitations will be soon sent but for now, keep the bottle for only you and Numidia, it is a secret till next week ."

Giorgio then cheek-kissed Yuba the Italian way and sent him off to his office.

On his way out, Yuba received a call from one of his dad's capos saying that there is a troublemaker in one of his casinos, the 'Devil's Bargain'. Yuba decided to go personally to meet this little troublemaker and see what he is up to. It was only a year that the first cellphone was made, the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X made by Martin Cooper on April 3, 1973, but still, Yuba couldn't believe how he can talk to a person who is far from him and hear him clearly, he was astounded in men's quick technological progress and believed in the scientific method.

While walking down the road to reach the 'Devil's Bargain', Yuba started thinking about everything that happened these days, events related to the supernatural world. Yuba was an ambitious young man, a dreamer and he had one secret goal that no one knew about. After discovering that deities do exist and how many people worshipped them, which meant that the deities are superior to humans such as Yuba, his pride couldn't let him bow to these deities and plotted slowly but surely ways to make his race thrive, but it was more of a long road thought.

Yuba finally reached the casino, entered by slamming the door and pulling a fake angered face to scare the people who were in debt, thieves, etc... The noisy place became like an oasis of silence, one said can even hear the trembling hearts of the gamblers. One of the workers secretly pointed his finger toward the troublemaker so that Yuba could identify him. Yuba then went straight to the trouble maker and sat in front of him and said :

"So you are the troublemaker, what's your name ?"

The troublemaker then responded:" If winning is trouble making then this is no fair casino, I won square and fair! And uh oh my name is ...