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The winter was steadily winding down, but it didn’t mean it was completely over. Snow in March was a common occurrence in the Far East and on this March morning it was piling up. Despite this, the streets were piling up with commuters headed to work. The harbor was already filled up with people and cargo, with shiphands and dock workers helping unload crates off of the hundreds of ships that came into the city every day. Working in the snow wasn’t optimal for both parties, but they didn’t have much of a choice in the matter, anyway to provide for themselves and their families they’d take it, despite the weather.

Among the busy people around the dock, two men walking down the harbor seemed out of place. The men were both wearing black overcoats over their suits, trying to battle the harsh weather that had been raging throughout the previous night. It wasn’t unusual for people to take a stroll down the harbor and get a look at the ships coming in and out of port, but men wearing high class coats and suits was something that rarely ever happened. The two men continued their walk as workers looked up at them, then back down to focus on their work.

“I’m not so sure about this proposal. It would put my career on the line.” The man on the right side says, looking at the man walking next to him with a concerned look on his face.

“It’s not like your job pays that much to begin with, what I’m offering you is double what you make in a year, tell me that doesn’t sound like a nice deal to you.” The other man said with a smirk on his face. He reached into his coat pocket and took out a checkbook. He waved it in the other man's face and gave another smile. The other man looked at the checkbook, gave a sigh and shook his head.

“And how do you know how much I’m getting paid? If I remember correctly, you’re not supposed to.” The Duma representative reminded the man, giving him a suspicious look. The man just laughs.

“I have friends in high places, my friend. I’m in the business of making money, I can afford to know these kinds of things. I am going to ask one more time, are you in or out?” The businessman’s tone got more serious as he started to get more and more annoyed with the representatives' hesitance.

“It’s public land we’re talking about, I can’t let you freely mine there just because your men found gold.” The representative sighs and shakes his head.

“I’ll give you a percentage of the gold we find, plus the check.” The businessman says, as the head of the representative perks up. The businessman notices and starts to smile. He reaches out for a handshake and the representative reciprocates. The businessman pats the representative on the back and laughs.

“Pleasure doing business with you, and don’t worry, you’ll get the money.”