Cibum et Arma

Renaldo thought about the pros and cons of talking about these stuff about his grandfather and the pros outweighed the cons, as his grandfather have a shit ton of money gathered from every parts of the world, through their wine exports and overseas branches. Although to be honest, Renaldo's wine-production method helped a lot with what his lolo have now, his lolo just used his connections and business acumen but give credit where credit is due, Renaldo isn't a businessman so his lolo will help a lot in these endeavors of his.

But before he tells his lolo about these, he first asked his lolo something crucial that can make or break his plans.

"Lolo, before I tell you more about my plans, I would first like to confirm if you have done everything that I asked of you a few years ago? I remember asking you to gather gunsmiths and engineers as they are crucial to what I would do in the future remember?"

His lolo, clearly annoyed by his grandson's act of superiority and haughtiness replied;

"Of course! Those tasks are pretty simple to be honest, there are countless gunsmiths and engineers abound abroad and even locally, they're also easy to dupe as I can just fund their projects especially when they're tight on budget and they'll immediately praise me as their saviour, to the point that they've given me shares to their patents as a sign of gratitude. The only hard tasks to complete are those about specific people who are from Germany, they were hard to locate but once I've located them, I never let them go and immediately started funding their projects when they tried to look for sponsors, I am really interested in the project of those two, to the point that I made them come here to the Philippines to continue their work, at first, they were reluctant to work with each other as they were strangers but it turns out that they were really alike! I believe their name was Nicolaus Otto and Karl Benz, wonderful and intelligent people but they're a bit weird, I had to hire a german translator to personally talk to them you know, they're too complicated to be honest."

"You know apo, I still don't know how your so-called "visions" gave you intelligence and information about various things but I am still glad that you do, as they always brings me surprises, God is truly good to his devout followers" Said the old man, looking up the ceiling as if there's something there.

Renaldo gave out a weak sigh, and thought, "So lolo still believes my bullshit about visions, I still can't believe that I duped someone as sly as my lolo just because of his devout beliefs, religion is really a scary thing to dabble with, luckily, I don't believe in mortal religions now, as I have seen with my own two eyes that god isn't here, he's in the endless cosmos and he is not called god, he is called the Lord of Eternal Sin"

Renaldo then spoke, "Honestly lolo, I'm also baffled by what happens with me whenever I sleep, there's always that guy with wings and a trumpet that always talks to me and teaches me a lot about stuff! I even once asked him his name and he just told me that his name is gabriel, he doesn't even have a surname! Which weirds me out a lot, but I still believes in him as he never led me astray"

His lolo was shocked, with wide eyes and a gaping mouth, he immediately stood up and went to Renaldo's side and held his shoulders, a bit hard which hurt Renaldo a bit but he endured.

"Is that true?!" Asked Renaldo's lolo, still shocked by Renaldo's depiction of his visions.

Renaldo in pain from being held tightly tried to get out of his lolo's grasp and said;

"Yes lolo, it's true! And stop that! You're hurting me!" Renaldo winced.

Renaldo, thinking about grabbing this opportunity said;

"If I'm lying to you, lolo how would I know a lot of things and a lot of random people that should not have to do anything with me?! I've told you a lot of these things before! I've told you how there are often an old man talking to me about a lot of things! And now, a winged person is appearing in my dreams! I want this to stop! I want everything to stop! I've been lacking a lot of sleep lately because I don't want to have those weird dreams again! It's too much for someone like me! I'm just a child! Yes, I may be smarter than other children but does that warrant me being tortured by these dreams?!" Renaldo broke up in tears, trying to gain sympathy from his lolo.

Renaldo's lolo was taken aback by his grandson's sudden outburst that he doesn't know what to do, he might be a cruel person but he always had a soft spot for his skin ever since his wife died, he tried comforting Renaldo but Renaldo tried to get away from him, he thought;

"I should have given these much more thoughts, my grandson might be really mature and cold at times but I forgot that he's still a kid, and his dreams and visions are dangerous if other people knows about this, he might be labeled as a liar and heretic who sullies the name of God, or he might be kidnapped because of all this knowledge given to him, I should try to convince him to calm down and tell him not to tell anybody about this, I believe my grandson, maybe this is God's way of helping this country, maybe my grandson was given a great destiny by God to lead his people from oppression, and I firmly believe that but other people might not believe him, believe us so I will protect him and make his plans come true, he might not tell me but I know for a fact that he's building an army from those orphans of his, which might actually be divine providence from God, okay, I've decided that I will be the dark hand behind the curtains and my grandson will be the light, and the way. I will help him achieve his plans but first, I need to calm him down"

Renaldo's lolo approached the child, which looks so distraught with eyebags in his eyes, the old man pitied his grandson because his grandson seems like an old person with a lot of "burdens" He now realized that his grandson is still a child, and he's decided that he'll wholeheartedly help his grandson achieve whatever the fuck he wants.

He then said;

"Calm down child, personally, I don't know what is happening to you nor am I sure what it's going to mean in the future, but fear not for I may not be the best lolo there is but I'm sure as hell that I'll help you with whatever you need, you may have everything that you've arranged for and everything from financial support and other aspects, I'll surely support you with every fiber of my being, I apologize for forgetting about your age and not thinking about what you feel, I will try to change my ways" Said the old man comfortingly.

Renaldo smirked in his mind, seeing that his lolo is hooked by his act, he then proceeded to act like he's calmed down and then told his lolo about his next phase of plans.

"Lolo, I need to meet those gunsmiths and engineers in a private factory, They will spend the next years in there so make sure that their families are also with them, and tell them that they don't have to worry about their children's educations for we will handle them, we will also handle their food and lodging, their houses will probably be nearby the factory so we should also handle that. I will arrange a meeting with the gunsmiths tomorrow but the engineers will have to wait for the arrival of those two people that I specifically asked of you, they will be the leaders of those engineers so we should hire a translator to translate for them. Make sure that those two people's families are also well-fed and educated. Next part of the plan is the hacienda, I want you to talk to father about letting me run the hacienda's rice farms to produce more food."

Renaldo thought for a bit and then continued his barrage of plans and orders that are going to be done by his lolo;

"I also need you to buy some lands from all over the country lolo, I will give you a map of the country and in that map, there are lands that we should buy, for they either have fertile lands for farming or iron ore and gold veins to mine. You don't have to worry though, it's not urgent, let's say that you have 6 years to buy those lands, can our budget handle everything?"

Renaldo's lolo then said;

"It will be tight, I probably have to empty our coffers for those tasks of yours but I'll do my best to manage it apo." lolo said with conviction.

But Renaldo isn't satisfied about what his lolo said so he's decided to give him another money-making method that will help his lolo expand his business more.

Renaldo gave his lolo a recipe of a certain drink, given that they're already in the wine-making business, why not venture into the soda business and invent coca-cola too? So Renaldo gave his father a recipe, the old recipe of coca-cola to be exact.

He then said; "Lolo, this recipe should be only known between the two of us, you should separate it into two parts and teach the first part and the second part to two different people who doesn't know each other, you will then create three separate factories, the first two will create the steps and the third will make it into a complete product that we will then sell to the public. Remember that this should always be served as a cold beverage. This will make you a lot of money but you should also be careful as other people might kill us for it, put a lot of mercenaries in those 2 factories, I suggest that you establish it in the new world, at America because it will be a hit in there. Also, remain as anonymous as possible, don't make it look like this business is ours, establish a puppet management so that if this was ever compromised, we'll be clean off of prying eyes."

The old man grimly nodded, but he can't hide the excitement and wonders in his eyes as he also sees the potential in this drink that is similar to those drinks that he has tasted abroad. It is a very simple recipe that will help him get enough money to fund his grandson's ambitions, it will be their key to success.