Hero of Darkness

4 DAYS LATERÂ

On the left side of Kahn's castle, one of his warships arrived in a 5 kilometer radius open ground with a particular guest abording it. Long queues of covenant soldiers lined up on both sides and welcomed the grand personage who visited their fiefdom despite being one of the most famous people in the whole Rakos Empire.Â

Shoa!!Â

The exit door of the warship finally opened and a squad of master rank soldiers escorted an old man with a properly trimmed white beard and long hair. This person emitted an aura of mastery and wisdom just from his appearance alone.Â

And as soon as his envoy exited the warship, there was a group awaiting this person. And in the center of this group, the sovereign of the Verlassen fiefdom stood with his subordinates.Â

"Took you long enough to invite me here. I thought you completely forgot about me after winning this fiefdom." spoke the old man in a sarcastic tone.Â

"Well... I thought you'd die from the journey alone so I had to be considerate of your old age." replied Kahn with a coy smile.Â

"This brat!" scoffed the old man and then gave a light smile instead. He quickly walked towards Kahn and gave him a bear hug in front of the army of thousands of soldiers.Â

The old man being none other than the peak grandmaster blacksmith Albestros Winston; one of the only normal people Kahn trusted in this new life.Â

"Ughh.. Stop embarrassing me! I have thousands of people watching me. Who do you think I am, old fart?!" revolted Kahn in annoyance.Â

"Yeah, yeah.. Whatever." spoke Albestros and ruffled Kahn's hair.Â

"Airrsshh'¦ now I already regret calling you here." rebuked Kahn and started walking towards the luxurious carriage that came to pick them up.Â

"How's the sword, Omega. You better be treating it like it's your wife." joked the old man as he looked at Omega.Â

"Yes, it is in good condition, Sir Winston. I must say that the blade keeps getting sharper and cuts like a hot knife through butter." responded Omega as he escorted the duo to the carriage.Â

After they reached inside the castle, the old man relaxed in one of the rooms while Kahn ordered his subordinates to gather again.Â

Two hours later, in a private and secured room, all the subordinates except Ceril who was on a vacation for a month were gathered along with Albestros.Â

"I must say, kid'¦ I'm really proud of you.Â

Although I'm sure you didn't do it out of some goodwill'¦ still, the People's Court is a breath of fresh air for many people.Â

Now, all those noble clans and factions are controlled by an invisible leash and nobody dares to act out as if they own the place.Â

Hell, even those top three factions are watching their steps these days. Any mistake and they're afraid of incurring public wrath. Their authority and strength doesn't help in oppressing people like it used to before." said the old man in an elated expression.Â

"Well.. It was a dangerous card I used. Glad it turned out well." replied Kahn.Â

"So how's the company doing these days? Any problems?" asked Kahn out of curiosity.Â

The next moment however, the old man's expression constricted and he shook his head.Â

"After you were gone.. Nothing changed for a few weeks. But soon, one after another, our biggest clients started pulling off our contracts and even compensated the collateral money for voiding our deals without a hitch.Â

Although no one openly spoke about it or pointed any fingers towards anyone.. It was obvious to me that it was because of you.Â

As of now.. The Bloodborne company is 60% in loss since all of our big clients have left. And some of our dealers have stopped providing us with raw materials too.Â

I barely managed to create all those armors and weapons you asked me for by using all of our remaining reserves." explained the old man with a dejected face.Â

"Tch! Petty bastards! Acting all high and mighty in front of normal people and pulling these childish shenanigans behind the doors." scoffed off Kahn as he felt angry after hearing the old man.Â

"Sirius is managing things on his own. He's very capable but there's a limit on how much he can do without having your direct backing. The poor orc was also threatened a few times in the main office by some of the government officials in the name of search warrants for tax evasions.Â

If not for you pulling out all the money from the competition through that underworld organization of yours.. We would've been in great trouble." iterated the old man.Â

"I expected as much. That's why we brought it all here and used the money to expand our influence and popularity.Â

Well, not like we need those loser factions now anyway." spoke Kahn and then leaned forward.Â

"We will shift our base here and treat capital as our side branch. I will also call Sirius here to hold command. We will be needing him more than ever." he said.Â

"For what?" asked Albestros with a curious expression.Â

"Because of what I have in mind'¦Â

Soon all those noble factions will realize that by messing with you, they threw an axe at their own feet." spoke Kahn a wide grin appeared on his face.Â

"Armin!" he called out the Pathfinder subordinate who had invoked legendary rank job after getting mixed with the peak grandmaster alchemist Prithvi Aranya.Â

One of the oldest friends of Albestros who died a pitiful death a year ago when Kahn and the old man visited him and was later used by Kahn to upgrade Armin.Â

"It's about time you get to work and prove your worth.Â

I better see that all those alchemy resources I spent a fortune for actually became useful." spoke Kahn as he pointed his finger.Â

"Finally!" spoke Armin as he jolted in happiness.Â

"My hands have been itching from a long time." spoke the brown-haired subordinate as he was the only one till now who hadn't been useful ever since Kahn went to the capital Rathna and now set up his rule in Verlassen fiefdom.Â

Soon, Kahn told Albestros and the rest of the subordinates an elaborated plan that hatched in mind a long time ago. This was indeed the final phase of his masterplan to rule the fiefdom as an undisputed sovereign.Â

"Aren't you'¦ aren't you being too greedy?" asked the old blacksmith with an expression of disbelief.Â

"What can I say.." replied Kahn with a sinister smile and continued in an ecstatic voice.Â

"Greedy is my middle name."Â