Summoning the Holy Sword

Upon receiving Klautz’s hint, Sereck and Keller turned their attention to the dark-haired young man. Rhode kept silent; his expression remained unchanged as if he didn’t hear what Klautz said.

“Since Mr. Rhode isn’t willing to speak, then let me do it.”

Klautz didn’t force Rhode even though he kept quiet. He laughed and looked over at Keller who was sitting beside him.

“Mr. Keller, recently the Merchant Association was a little overboard. I’ve already given a warning on this matter, but these people seemed not to have any sense of remorse. Instead, they suspected that the ore prices had been deliberately lowered all along, damaging their benefits. Which is why I believe that these people would do such a thing.” Klautz spoke with a gloomy tone, whereas Keller had a grave expression on his face.

Rhode lifted his teacup and stared into the swirling red tea. On the outside, it appeared that Rhode wasn’t concerned about Klautz’s words, but actually, he already recognized the reason behind this matter.

In the Munn Kingdom, merchants do not have a high standing. They could earn a lot of money and reputation in many ways, but they lack the opportunities to increase their forces. The ruling class of the Munn Kingdom had always been strict on trades between countries especially salt, ores and even more stringent on essential commodities such as rice grains so they could balance the price fluctuation of the goods.

Of course, doing it this way would be beneficial for the stabilization of the whole country, but this reflected a loss of business for the merchants. The merchant’s true nature was always about chasing benefits at lower costs. Although under the Munn Kingdom, they indeed had many advantages, the moment the law penalized their revenue even by the slightest, it caused much unhappiness among the merchants.

Furthermore, the merchants’ rights in freedom of speech was also an issue that they cared a lot about. In the Munn Kingdom, the royal family was the highest of all beings, their words were final. They wouldn’t allow big merchant associations to threaten their rights with monopolization of the trade market. So once any merchant associations attempted to threaten the royal family’s reign with such methods, to the royal family it meant — death. Pigs that they had fed well, the time has finally come for them to be killed and eaten.

As a result, merchants in the Munn Kingdom were very clear about this. If you run an honest business for a living, then it’s all good. But if you ever threaten the royal families’ authority and power, then you are dead.

Keller felt the chills. Right now, he couldn’t care less about Sereck or Rhode watching the show by the side. He stood up and answered firmly.

“Please be assured, Mr. Klautz. I will make the appropriate preparations.”

“Good.”

After hearing Keller’s answer, Klautz laughed and turned his head towards Sereck and Rhode.

“So, the next thing I want to discuss concerns both of you — Especially regarding the problems of Jade Tears mercenary group.”

“If it is like that, then I have nothing to comment.”

Rhode placed the teacup on the table.

“I only did what I was supposed to do, that’s all.”

After hearing Rhode’s reply, Klautz’s eyes brightened, revealing his smile once again.

“I understand what you meant, Mr. Rhode. But I have something to tell you… Just two days ago, the Country of Light’s envoy, Clinton, had returned to his country. Before he left, he proposed a diplomatic protest…”

“Hmph.” Rhode, Sereck, and Keller couldn’t help but snort.

Clinton used to be a citizen of the Munn Kingdom. Not only did he become a traitor, he merely became a guard dog for that few years and actually represented his owner to propose a diplomatic protest?

Traitors were never fancied anywhere.

“He felt that the Jade Tears mercenary group’s dissolution and Frank’s accidental disappearance were related to you. Besides, Frank was a family member of a reputable family in the Country of Light, so this matter wouldn’t end so easily. Judging from his nature, it wouldn’t be long for Country of Light to officially demand to investigate on you and your mercenary group.”

Interesting.

Rhode frowned as he finally understood why Klautz invited him here.

“This is a totally baseless accusation. I think I wouldn’t need to be bothered by something that doesn’t exist.”

Rhode replied confidently as if the poor soul who died at his blade was a total stranger.

“Great! Young men should have such aggression.”

Klautz laughed heartily and slapped Rhode’s shoulders.

“But you shouldn’t be too worried. After all, this is an internal affair of the Munn Kingdom. There will be a limit as to how much the Country of Light can get involved in. Besides, this is Paphield, not that rat nest, Barce. If they want to cause trouble in my territory, they’ll have to ask if I’m agreeable to it first. Well, no matter what, you did great…”

Klautz stopped for a moment and lifted his head and stared at Rhode.

“But I have a request, I hope you’ll hear me out.”

Rhode went silent for a moment and said, “Yes, what is it regarding?”

After receiving Rhode’s prompt reply, Klautz’s expression turned grim immediately.

“The situation is like this…”

“Recently, according to reports from my men, a village near Lauderdale Range had been attacked by undead creatures.”

“Undead creatures?”

Sereck exclaimed.

“That’s right.”

Klautz nodded affirmatively.

“Although I did not witness it first hand, according to my messenger, the undead creatures were like ghosts who will appear every night and cause severe harm to the villagers. Although I did send the local troops to assist, there were little to no success. Therefore, I wish to hire the help of professionals. Compared to the other mercenary groups, Starlight mercenary group had performed outstandingly well against undead creatures. Also, recently many of Paphield Region’s mercenary groups had suffered heavy losses, so I can’t find anyone else more qualified than you at the moment. I hope I can enlist your help.”

Klautz then shifted his gaze towards Sereck.

“Mr. Sereck. I am aware of the ban set out by the Mercenary Association. However, as an administrative officer, I’m afraid I cannot wait any longer. Besides, those villagers were being attacked by undead creatures. If we had to wait for the rest period to be over, it would be too late. Besides, I’m pretty sure you understand that our church forces aren’t strong, if not they wouldn’t be tortured by the undead creatures for so long.”

“Alright, I understand. Mr. Klautz.”

Sereck hurriedly agreed.

“Since it is the command of the administrative officer, we, the Mercenary Association will definitely make exceptions. Please rest assured on this.”

“Remunerations will be given by Deep Stone City, which we believe will satisfy everyone. And as for compensation, I can prepay half of the remunerations and the remaining half will be given once everyone returns from the mission. What do you think?”

Facing Klautz’s request, Rhode didn’t immediately answer. He finished his red tea in one gulp and laid back on the sofa with his arms crossed, narrowing his eyes as he weighed the matter.