The Herb King

"Leave the Merchant Association's umbrella?" The hunters were stunned when they heard Verson's words.

Although the Merchant Association has been causing them a lot of trouble lately, the Hunter Association could not do anything about it since they had to rely on the former's funding. Once they broke off their relationship with the Merchant Association, the Hunter Association might experience a major setback in their daily operations.

"Since we are already discussing this. I'll tell you guys about it. In truth, my brother has already told me about this idea a long time ago. Just that, he still hasn't found a suitable time to proceed with this plan. If Sir Aethelwolf is willing to help the Hunter's Association, my brother would surely consider this idea again." Verson said, his tone becoming serious. Aethelwolf's Recovery Pellet might become the breakthrough point of the rise of their Hunter Association. This was merely his estimation about the value of his pills, but Verson was confident that Aethelwolf's pills would prove to be crucial for them.

Verson rested for another two hours before he decided to look for Aethelwolf.

"Sir Aethelwolf, I've rested enough. I still feel a bit weak, but I can walk steadily now." Verson smiled as he looked at the young man who was sitting casually on a chair.

Leric stood up when he saw Verson and smiled at him. "I'm glad that you can now walk. If you feel that there's something wrong, you can come back to the clinic at any time. Of course, your next consultation fees will no longer be free." Leric said in a joking tone.

Verson chuckled and nodded his head. "Don't worry, Sir Aethelwolf. I may be old, but I can still afford to pay your consultation fees."

Leric smiled at his words. He then remembered something and asked. "By the way, are you guys free at the moment?"

Verson stared at him curiously. "Actually, I want to discuss the thing I mentioned to you earlier with my brother. Why? Do you need our help, Sir Aethelwolf?"

Leric nodded his head. "It's like this... I bought a mansion earlier, but I still don't have people to guard it. Other than that, the clinic also needs more guards. Everything might be peaceful now, but there might be trouble in the future."

The guards sent by the Reynolds Household wouldn't be enough to handle the entire clinic on their own. Besides, they were only temporarily stationed here to help him. They still have to return to the Reynolds Household after some time.

"I see. How about this... Once I settle the discussion with my brother, I'll come back with more people. How many guards are you planning to hire, Sir Aethelwolf Many of our brothers have nothing to do in the association so I can bring as many as you want." Verson eagerly said. The unemployment of some hunters would be resolved because of this.

Leric thought for a moment and answered. "Not that many. I think I need around two thousand. What do you think?" He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Verson. This number was a lot and it would cause a commotion once some people heard about it. Hiring two thousand skilled hunters at once would make the noble households think that he was planning something suspicious. Even the Imperial Family might question him about it.

Verson's eyes widened and he could not help but look at Leric one more time to see if he was joking, but when he saw the guy's serious expression, he realized that Aethelwolf wasn't speaking nonsense. "Ehem!" He glanced to his left and right and after seeing that no one was listening, he moved closer to Aethelwolf and whispered. "Sir Aethelwolf, I can't give you a concrete answer now, but I'll try to persuade my brother to let you hire the number that you want and even if he disagrees, I can at least bring five hundred hunters to you."

He didn't know what Aethelwolf was planning to do with two thousand skilled hunters, but he trusted the man for he had saved his life.

"I have strict requirements for the people I plan to hire, so I might need to discuss this with your brother. How about this? Just inform him that I will visit his place tomorrow morning." Leric didn't plan to just hire some random riffraff. There might be some undesirable characters in the Hunter Association so it was better to be careful.

Verson nodded his head. "Alright. I'll inform my brother about this. If there's nothing else, we'll take our leave now, Sir Aethelwolf." His men have already bought some Recovery Pellets. He needed to present them to his brother later.

"Take care." Leric waved his hand at them and returned to his chair.

"Two thousand is just the start..." Leric muttered to himself. Initially, he didn't plan to create his own force and he only wants to silently live a peaceful life, but circumstances forced him to change his plans.

At this moment, Leric was planning to create his own army!

***

"How is your side doing, Sir Harold?" Prince Calvin asked the grave-faced Harold.

"My subordinates managed to locate four more outposts of the Norther Viper Group. I didn't tell them to do anything yet so we still have no idea if we can find something in these four outposts." Harold answered with furrowed eyebrows. He has been working with the second prince to search for clues related to the Northern Viper Group.

Prince Calvin nodded his head. "My men also located three outposts. We should attack these outposts at the same time to catch them off guard. This way, they would be confused as to where they would send their reinforcements."

Harold revealed a look of surprise when he heard this idea. "That might work. Tell me more about this plan, Your Highness."

Prince Calvin nodded his head. "In total, we have located seven outposts. We will tell our subordinates to..." The second prince and Lord Harold started discussing the plan.