Dark King

“You should know the list of places from where we can get looms,” said Dudian. “I need a textile factory. Do as much as you can get to a bigger place. We will go into textile business. The Alchemist has given me some tips about textile and other producst. We have to produce and sell them as soon as possible to get enough funds to load an underground passage.”

Old Fulin was surprised: “Clothing? The funds and manpower that we have won’t be enough to make a lot of money.”

“There is a way.” Dudian stared at him.: “I’ll give you a list to buy the things that I need. Get them, and we will be ready to make some money. Moreover, I remember that the cost of annual rent for an underground passage is 100,000 gold coins per year. Am I right?”

“Yes,” Old Fulin smiled slightly. “I got 10,000 gold coins from the sales of mine. However, we had expenses too. 100,000 gold coins is an amount which our family may not earn in my lifetime.”

A normal noble family might not get that much of money even if the taxation from fiefs and the fields were included. A senior hunter such as Glenn would be able to earn such a big amount, but she would go through life and death experiences to kill rare monsters. It was possible for them, but this amount was out of touch for small noble families.

Dudian said in a low tone: “We can make good money. The production of textile would be based on new technology. The old one’s efficiency is too slow, so making money in the short-term is difficult. But if the efficiency of the production is increased ten times, then what I’m telling you is not a dream but reality.”

“Ten times?” Old Fulin stared back at him: “How are you going to improve?”

“I will improve the looms.” Dudian said: “You have to hire some tailors to be ready to start any moment. We must act rapidly. The Mellon consortium will start to suppress us economically after the failure with the assassination. If we can’t raise money as soon as possible, then all the future moneymaking channels will be blocked by them. The situation is going to be dangerous. So I hope you can keep my situation as secret.”

Old Fulin looked at him and naturally understood the current situation. It was the situation that had him worried the most. The Mellon consortium was a giant and facing them was going to be very hard. There was a slim chance that they would succeed.

“I will respond as soon as possible.” Old Fulin agreed. But there was a bit of hesitation: “Improving the looms? Is there any way to improve them?”

“You will know when the time comes.” Dudian said: “Also, tomorrow send you people to my workshop. There is an alchemy product that is ready to be sold. Although it is inefficient, it will slowly sell and get popular. It would be enough to get recognition, trust, and fame in the market. ”

Old Fulin said: “Recognition? Trust? That is going to be difficult.”

“Trust me.” Dudian encouraged old patriarch.

Old Fulin sighed. He believed that there was no other way out but going with Dudian’s plan.: “I may win other aristocrats. Although the ones who showed interest were declining families together we may amount to something. After the end of the last meeting, there were two families who were interested in joining our consortium. I haven’t given them an answer, but they have put out the request. I should talk to them and reduce the requirements.”

“We don’t need other nobles to join in now unless they are comparable to Mel family in status and wealth. The others would make excessive demands while will provide little to no help. It will affect our efficiency. Sometimes more people doesn’t mean the power is big too. Trash is trash. Together it’s just a heap of trash, but nothing more.”

Old Fulin smiled as he saw Dudian’s decisive attitude.: ” I can only pray that the alchemical products that you will come up with can create good wealth!”

…

…

The next day.

Old Fulin called up his butler to lead the servants and guards to Dudian’s workshop. Then he called up his most trusted three sons.

Sander, who was his third son and the third successor to the Ryan family was sent to clean up their factory that was originally used to package fruits. They were going to turn it into a textile factory.

Everyone in the Ryan Castle was aware of the severe and urgent orders of Old Fulin that something fishy was going on. Especially, the four children of Old Fulin were told by Old Fulin’s trusted maid that Dudian was brought injured yesterday night. Old Fulin’s second son Jake and third son Sander were more concerned about the family’s situation. They faintly speculated that the family was facing some crisis.

Dudian was lying in the room claiming to be wounded while the whole Ryan Castle was moved into action.

…

…

Mellon Foundation, Hunter Headquarters.

A young man and a woman were sitting relatively close to each other in the dining room in a castle. They looked like an ordinary couple, but at a closer look, you could see the scars on their fingers and wrists. All of them were shallow scars of strange shapes, not the smooth and intact one you would see on ordinary people.

“I heard that the consortium sent you to assassinate an intermediate level hunter?” The youth said as he casually cut the steak with a knife.: “The result was that you failed. No wonder the people at the top didn’t want to believe. Even I don’t believe that such a thing may occur.”

The woman was Glenn. She picked up the glass of wine and took a sip.: ” Whether anyone believes or not the result is on the table. I don’t feel like I have to prove myself in front of anyone!”

The youth helplessly smiled: “Don’t forget that we are depending on the aristocracy. Occasionally we have to care about their problems. But Glenn doesn’t forget that they do not just love money. Their sense of arrogance is more dominant than others. Try not to anger them.”

Glenn’s face sank, and the kitchen knife in her hand was pinched and broken into two.

The youth decided to change the topic as he saw Glenn’s reaction.: “There is this recent news that an unknown monster appeared in the Huasheng consortium’s territory. It has caused heavy losses to them. Two intermediate hunters were killed, and a senior hunter was seriously injured. Do you think they have met with a rare adult monster?”

“We’ll have to be careful.” Glenn indifferently said.

The Youth shrugged his shoulders.: “Anyway, it’s not in our area or else the madmen controlling us would have mobilized us to hunt it.”

Glenn replied: “The beast shouldn’t be dead. We can check out when we go out.”

“I pray to the God of Light that it passes through our territory.” The youth smiled. A maid brought them a newspaper. He reached out and grabbed it. He had read through few pages before he said.: “The hunter under the Ryan family’s command is wounded?”