Hero of Darkness
chapter-258

He successfully returned to his mansion and held another meeting between the subordinates at night. The three subordinates also returned after spending the whole day collecting the money from their people.

On the table in the middle of the room where they did the meetings normally, the three subordinates returned with a total of 83 space rings holding nothing else but only gold coins.

Each of these space rings had inner space comparable to a medium-sized warehouse and the wealth stored inside was so much that it took eighty three of such rings.

Since all the transactions were done in small amounts from nearly 50 thousand people, they received only coins for the bets they won. And a denomination such as Oricalclum plates was out of the equation, thus it took so many space rings.

With the previous earnings, Kahn now officially had 1 Trillion gold income in personal wealth. This was a hundred times what they initially had by gathering the wealth from Bloodborne company and the funds from Seven Deadly Sins.

Even if they worked tirelessly and expanded their enterprise throughout the capital, they wouldn't be able to earn this much money within a decade let alone in a month as they did in reality.

And it was thanks to Kahn who luckily met the qualifications to participate in this competition and planned how to benefit by fixing his own matches. So the fortune they garnered today made him one of the 1000 richest people in the whole empire.

"Master, what should we do with all of this? It's too much and more than enough to expand our organizations and companies in every district of the capital." said Omega.

"It's not that simple. Do you think others will let you open up a shop in their own territory?

We're still far weaker and behind the majority of the top noble clans of the empire. Even this much wealth is hardly one-fourth of what those people earn through their business and connections within a year." said Ronin who was the most knowledgeable as if information gathering was in his blood.

"He's right. We shouldn't be hasty. Rather, we need to strengthen our forces and recruit more people. Rukon District is our turf and we should be undefeatable here. We should at least have enough manpower and weaponry to kill even a Saint should the situation arise." said Oliver who had developed an addiction for wine recently.

To him, wine looked a lot like blood and he was always elated to drink it leisurely. Every sip he took always made him happy for some reason that neither Kahn nor the other subordinates understood.

"He's right. We've already done the mistake of overestimating ourselves whether it's wealth or our strengths. And if what Ronin says is true.. Then we're just monkeys trying to grab the moon." spoke Kahn who was sat on a throne inside the room.

"Master… If you don't mind; you can leave recruiting fighters and soldiers to me and Ceril. We have gotten the hang of it recently while maintaining the expenses and security of both of our organizations." said Jugram who was akin to a giant even in his human form.

"Dismissed soldiers from the army, veteran adventurers, mercenaries, local thugs.. There are plenty of places we can recruit fighters and then discipline them later to fight as one organization with our own methods." proposed Jugram.

"He is right, my lord. While managing the company in your absence, I've come to learn many things about how to expand our forces and manage them properly thanks to all the big leagues of customers and clans we've been doing business with.

I also know how to funnel the funds using shell corporations and shops so that nothing can be tracked to us." explained Ceril.

Kahn who had a slightly surprised expression by the ideas of the subordinates, found their opinions very intriguing.

All of them had adapted and evolved as individual entities during the past 2 months of his absence. And his decision to let them get experience about the world on their had turned out very fruitful as none of them were just brainless monsters anymore whose entire use was to follow his order.

Now, all of them were individuals with their own characteristics, identities and minds who can manage many things on their own even if he wasn't around to order them.

And this wasn't even their full potential. The future would definitely be full of surprises at this rate.

"Let's save it for now. We can expand later anyway. The more money we have, the more we can use for betting.

Besides, soon the top clans of the empire will enter the fray for the remaining rounds. Compared to them, we still have a long way to go. So having our funds ready for the big leagues should be our priority." replied Kahn.

This was more of a reasonable choice at the present moment. Because soon, more high stake matches were bound to happen and then need bigger investments would be needed to multiply their income to earn the highest price possible.

Since as things stood, compared to top noble clans, they were still not worthy to stand in the same room as them. Because the personal wealth and income of an enterprise was a completely different thing as they functioned on different scales.

So living frugally now but investing big for the future was a better strategy.

"I need to prepare for our next move. Things will be different from now on." spoke Kahn as he looked at a pile of papers that were kept on the table.

"What are those?" asked Armin who also appeared for the meeting this time.

To his query, Ronin replied in a calm tone.

"List of possible candidates our lord might have to face in the upcoming rounds." he explained.

"What's there to worry about? Can't master easily defeat them?" asked Armin again.

The next second, Kahn decided to explain it by himself.

"It's not the people who I will be fighting… but the people, organizations, clans and factions that back them are the ones we should worry about." he said.

"I don't understand." said Armin.

Facepalm! Everyone including Kahn facepalmed themselves.

"How can he be a genius and a dumbass at the same time?" asked Omega and shook his head.

"What I mean is that the people I will be facing from the upcoming rounds won't be just no-name filler characters but some elite level of filler characters.

Most of them will be chosen representatives of some influential organization or some clan. And their winning or losing would also affect the wealth earned by those who back them. So basically, we would be stealing their food right in front of them.

Since we don't have a backer of our own and neither did I use the recommendation token given by the Pureblood Faction.. We will be an easy target to pick for the powerful.

And because we don't have a deterring force of our own..

Do you really think we would be left off the hook after winning the fights?" elaborated Kahn.

"There is no rule that safeguards the participants during the competition run. If anyone holds grudges, they can kill us outside the arena and no one would even inquire about it.

In the history of this competition, only those backed by the powerful forces have reached to the final three rounds. Why do you think that happened?" he said.

Although Armin was a genius when it came to Alchemy after he was merged with Prithivi, the late grandmaster Alchemist; inheriting his memories, character traits and talents… he was still oblivious to happenings of the outside world.

At this moment, not only Kahn but everyone had a sullen expression on their faces.

The fortune was right in front of them but they couldn't take it because the top brass who also had their eyes on the prize wouldn't let him off if Kahn even thought about coveting it.

That's how the politics in the real world worked. You can't reach the top with hard work or sheer dedication alone.

Because your rise would also spell doom for the others and no way would anyone allow for that to happen.

The elites would never allow anyone someone who rose from the ashes to sit among their ranks on equal footing. This was what Kahn most worried about after his previous match with the clan heiress of the Weiss clan.

Just him winning a match against her caused a big commotion and put a target on his back. If not for the odds that made them the fortune in front of them.. Kahn wouldn't have even dared to fight her or win the match in the first place.

He was smart enough to not actively provoke the local snakes just because he was a dragon.

Unless there was a big reward for the risks like today's match.. It wasn't worth it.

"But… but.. We do." spoke Armin as he sipped the herbal tea in front of his seat.

"What?!!"

"What?! What do you mean?"

Everyone exclaimed and asked with a startled expression. Even Kahn was out of his wits after Armin's response.

"Who are you talking about? We can't rely on the Vandereich clan or the Pureblood Faction for it at all." said Kahn.

"Not them." spoke Armin as he shook his head a few times.

"We do have someone who can rival them. Not in wealth or strength but in reputation and popularity.

It's someone we all know very well. I could say even master has a very close relationship with him.

Just saying that he's our backer would deter everyone from even daring to target us." reiterated Armin.

"For fuck's sake, tell us who you're talking about!" shouted Omega.

Armin gave a cheerful smile and spoke in a soft tone.

"The peak grandmaster blacksmith… Albestros Winston."