Chapter 221: Hunters

Yang Ling was not willing to give up unless he absolutely had to, despite his enemies obstructing them. After all, building a Troops Association was way too important to the resource-rich Magical Beast Territory.

“Sir Yang, there is a way, but…” Kerband deliberated for a moment, then took out a piece of vellum from an inner pocket of his robes. “The managing elder that has voiced his objections made several unique requests, stating that he would no longer object to the setting up of a Troops Association in Wissen Town as long as you accomplish them.”

Unique requests?

Seeing the contorted expression on Kerband’s face, Yang Ling did not have to think too hard to know that the requests were out of the ordinary. Yang Ling took a sip of rum, then told the old butler Murbaqi to fetch the vellum and read the request written on it.

“The association would have the authority to build a Hunting Team of a thousand men directly affiliated with the association. The team would have the right to freely enter or exit the territory, and the leader cannot interfere with any of the actions taken by the association in his territory; the Magical Beast Territory is to hand over fifteen percent of its earnings in taxes…”

The old butler’s expression turned steely green, and he became more agitated as he read on. He was unable to continue after having read a few of the conditions. Rather than call these requests, they might as well have called it extortion!

“Hehe, not bad, it’s a great idea!” Yang Ling smiled coldly. He had expected extortion when it came to crystal coins. He was surprised, then, at the broad and sweeping “requests.”

A Hunting Team of a thousand men that reported directly to the association, on the surface, didn’t seem that alarming. But one needed to take into account that their destructive capabilities made the impact seem more like there were ten thousand men instead of one. Not even the stupidest leader of all time would allow such an ungovernable force to exist in his territory.

Compared to the setting up of an affiliate military unit, the intention of the request for a fifteen percent tax on the territory was even more brazen. It was ridiculous.

Clearly, he was either confident that the development of the Magical Beast Territory was dependent on the Troops Association so he felt free to extort so openly, or he never intended to support the setting up of a branch association in the Magical Beast Territory in the first place!

“They will suffer retribution if they take things too far!” Kerband observed the situation, understanding Yang Ling’s intentions. He stood silently for a moment and then said, “Sir Yang Ling, don’t be too anxious about the matter of setting up the Troops Association. We will find a way. The promise we made still holds. As long as you help me search for the relics of the Holy Dragon, my troop team will supply you with a generous reward!”

Kerband’s inability to set up the Troops Association in the Magical Beast Territory made him feel awkward, and he worried that he would not be able to strengthen his friendship with Yang Ling. But he could compensate for such things using other methods. Partnering up to search for relics of Holy Dragon was a decent idea.

Yang Ling shook his head. He had been so busy. Where would he find the time to search for the relics of the dragon? But even though he could not set up a Troops Association as he had hoped, forging a good connection with the powerful Wolf Troop Team was still a good idea!

After discussing some of the general plans for their partnership, Kerband said goodbye and left to mobilize elites from the Livenza Alliance. As more factions entered Wissen Town, he felt the pressure to find the relic of the Giant Dragon increase. Otherwise, he would have no choice but to give up on this mission that paid so well.

“Sir, which faction is obstructing our development from the shadows?” Goode, who had approached as Kerband left, asked quietly. Even though Yang Ling and Kerband had not said anything explicit, Goode had picked up on the situation from a few lines of their conversation. The reason for the intense objection of the managing elder must have been due to some influence or pressure from a particular clan.

“Well, Grichie is eyeing the resources in Terras Forest, and the military minister of the Banto Empire is determined to seek revenge for his grandson. Only these two clans have the ability to obstruct our development to such an extent!” Yang Ling continued, “Goode, recruit warriors that are familiar with the waters and set up a naval force, then hand them over to Ashnamov to be trained!”

With this many enemies eyeing him, developing his abilities as quickly as possible was the smartest thing he could do. After giving a few more instructions, Yang Ling walked quickly to his villa, prepared to continue training.

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He then told Yuna his plans for her. She agreed happily, busying herself with the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda all day long. With her help, Yang Ling transported a large number of saplings into the space and scattered a great number of botanical seeds near the Flying Dragon Lagoon.

He didn’t know if it was the unique qualities of the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda, or the effects of the water from the lake, but the saplings he transported grew at alarming rates. The seeds that they sowed also sprouted overnight. Perhaps it would not be long after all until the area became a forest spanning hundreds of miles.

The space of the Wizard’s Pagoda became a small-scale Magical Beast Base with Yuna’s attentive care very quickly. The only unfortunate thing was that Yuna could not master Wizard Techniques, no matter what Yang Ling tried. Similar to Alice, Yuna had been able to memorize the mantra but was unable to tame any Magical Beast.

After trying a couple of times, Yang Ling gave up thinking hard about an idea to overcome the obstacle. Luckily, even though Yuna was unable to tame Magical Beasts, she had no problem commanding the Tarantula King, Evil Eye Tyrant and Flying Dragon King as a ruler of the Magical Beasts.

Aside from training, Yang Ling also frequented the inn and Shangri-La. One day, just as he was about to head to the bar for a few pints, he noticed a group of people gathered nearby, and they were making a commotion.

“We agreed on five hundred Purple Crystal Coins for every young wolf, but after I lost a few of my brothers only to obtain twenty little Wind Wolves for all my effort, you try to pay us for our efforts not with pity, but by cutting what you want to pay? Only a hundred Purple Crystal Coins each? This is really too much!” A tall adventurer was the speaker, and he and his companions began to draw their swords. The group they faced outnumbered them, but they had anger on their side.

“For the sake of convenience, you guys foolishly carried the young wolves out in cloth sacks, and most of them are unable to breathe because of that. At this rate, they might all be dead before we get them to Montson. They’re not even worth one hundred Purple Crystal Coins, let alone five hundred!” an older man retorted. He was dressed as a merchant, and his face was creased with impatience. He had his own detail of guards and didn’t bother to pretend to respect the bloodied soldiers in front of him.

Yang Ling quickly assessed the situation and soon understood.

As it turned out, the elder was a merchant selling Magical Beast Blood Essences and young beasts. After he arrived in Wissen Town under his soldiers’ protection, he had asked some experienced hunters to capture Wind Wolf pups that had just been born in Terras Forest, promising to pay five hundred Purple Crystal Coins for every young wolf. He wanted to transport them back to Montson and sell them for a high profit.

After accepting the mission, the hunters quickly located the den of Wind Wolves. But just as they captured twenty little Wind Wolves and were about to leave, they encountered the wolves returning from their hunt.

In order to make their escape, they had no choice but to stuff the young wolves in a sturdy cloth sack. They did not expect the young wolves to be suffocated nearly to the point of death after having escaped with much difficulty, and the merchant took the opportunity to decrease his price, dropping the promised five hundred Purple Crystal Coins to a pathetic one hundred. That wasn’t even enough to compensate the families of the deceased, much less make a profit.

“Being a soldier is much better. Don’t be a hunter that has to take risks everywhere he goes, even if you have no other choice!”

“That’s right, when soldiers encounter an unfair situation, they can lodge a complaint to the association and get them to settle the matter. But hunters are pitiful, no one would compensate us even if we were to die on the job, and we can’t even get the money we deserve even after completing the mission with much effort!”

Looking at the rich, arrogant merchant, then looking at the hunters covered in blood and pressured to the point of having no other options, the group around them broke into discussion. Some of them were sympathetic to the hunters’ plight, but no one dared to mediate when they considered the group of fierce-looking guards protecting the merchant. Some of the guards were gloating, laughing at the bloodied hunters.

The people were either sympathetic or gloating, engaged in discussion, but Yang Ling quickly came up with an idea. Relying solely on himself to quickly develop his abilities and search for the secrets that disappeared with the Ancient Wizards was obviously inefficient.

Originally, Yang Ling had been prepared to work with the merchant groups that belonged to the Troops Association, but from where he was standing at that moment, that idea did not seem very practical. Without enough benefits, neither merchant associations nor the Troops Association would devote resources to helping him. Rather than spend a large amount of energy seeking favors from them, he might as well create a faction of his own.

Wissen Town was very close to the resource-rich Terras Forest. Many soldiers had gathered here, and there were also many adventurers in the territory. Most of the young beasts and Magical Beast Essence Crystals that were distributed throughout the continent had come from the largest forest on the land – Terras Forest. Amongst those, even though there was not much talk about the adventurers, their contributions had to be acknowledged.

If he could leverage his advantage as a leader and unite all of the adventurers in the Magical Beast Territory, or maybe even the entire Tailun Continent, to monopolize the business of Magical Beast Essence Crystals, Magical Beast Eggs and young beasts, there was a possibility that he could cultivate a faction that he could call his own.

The best way to unite the adventurers in his territory was to create a Hunters Association, controlled fully by him, of course. The association would solve their predicaments, find ways to improve their income and status, and, through that, strengthen their sense of belonging. Then he could recruit the best of the hunters through various means and nurture them to be his lieges and aides!