The Black Forest, revisited after a long time, was brimming with vitality.
“So this is the infamous Black Forest, teeming with evil goblins!”
“I heard the Fairy Queen appeared during the last season’s raid.”
“You’re only hearing about that now? Rumor has it the White Whale Mercenaries handled that too!”
With the start of a new season, mercenaries, adventurers, and merchants entering Blackout for the first time looked around in awe.
Seeing them, Aiden recalled his own experience from the previous year.
Back then, when he had first arrived at the Black Forest after passing through the Silent City under Blackout, he had been just like them.
“It’s only been a year, but I can’t help feeling a bit strange, Senior.”
“That’s what we call being nostalgic. Our past year hasn’t exactly been easy.”
“I’m glad it’s behind us.”
“Same here.”
Though the two of them still drew glares for nearly dying in the Black Market, Jun ignored the two women and continued strolling through the fortress.
“Now that I think about it, I wonder what happened to Commander Ginovan.”
Considering the contributions he made last season, there was a good chance he’d been reassigned elsewhere.
While the group remained on the surface, they noticed quite a few subtle changes within the Black Forest fortress.
The most significant of these was, without question, the Gillen Merchant Guild where Chloe resided.
“The building looks a lot bigger than before.”
“It definitely is. Chloe’s increased her support for Blackout considerably.”
Passing through the elegant yet tidy building’s doors, Jun headed straight to Chloe’s office.
“Hey. Chloe.”
“You’re here?”
“Looks like you’re busy.”
“Do you even have to ask?”
Buried under a mountain of paperwork on her desk, Chloe replied with tired eyes and dark circles under them.
“I’ve already heard the reports from the surface. You got caught up in another big incident, didn’t you?”
“My head still hurts from it…”
“Still, the Imperial response wasn’t all bad.”
What had happened in the Black Market had come as a shock even to the Imperial Family.
Since chimeras had been produced using the corpse of a seventh-circle mage in a major city right next to the capital, the incident shook the Imperial authorities.
As a result, all the officials who had been managing that Black Market were subjected to intense investigations, and several of them ended up executed.
“They were probably nobles’ sons too, weren’t they?”
“Yeah, but they were pretty rotten. They turned a blind eye to illegal trades like slave trafficking and selling corpses of high-risk monsters.”
“So they were directly involved in the incident.”
“That’s right. Maybe things would’ve gone differently otherwise, but some of the transactions they overlooked were tied to Enverman. Not to mention the underground arena owner and others… quite a few people died.”
It went completely against the Blackguard’s wish to resolve things quietly, but with that many issues festering beneath the surface, it just showed how incompetent the field administrators had been.
“That’s why the Blackguard actually ended up receiving increased funding this year. Captain Tairdin even asked me to pass along his thanks.”
“Well, that’s good to hear.”
Given how often Jun got tangled in incidents within Blackout, it could only be beneficial to maintain good relations with the Blackguard.
“Our part wrapped up like that. How are things on your end?”
“As you can see, pretty busy.”
“Looks like your merchant guild got a significant boost in support.”
“Ah… hehehe. You noticed?”
Chloe responded with a cheerful grin.
Despite the dark circles under her eyes, she looked refreshed, as if all her fatigue had vanished.
“My lovely relatives were raising a huge fuss… but Grandpa just shut them all down completely.”
Very few within the merchant guild knew about the mana fluid project.
Only Chloe, her grandfather Jake, and a few of his closest aides were privy to it, and the project was being carried out in strict secrecy.
Her siblings, of course, had no idea.
“Meanwhile, Grandpa is heavily backing the Blackout branch I’m managing. You should’ve seen their faces….they looked like bruised peaches, all twisted and squishy. It was hilarious!”
This is the brightest I’ve ever seen Chloe.
“Anyway! Things are going smoothly on my end thanks to Grandpa’s orders. We’ll be receiving continued support, and I plan to use that to expand our potion business further.”
“I see… that’s great news.”
Whatever the case, it was a good sign that things were going well for Chloe, his business partner.
“Still, it’s not like we can let our guard down. We’ve got a long way to go before we can really start using the mana fluid business rights.”
“Even with Sir Shylock and Marshar helping out, things are still moving slowly?”
“It’s more about the nature of the work. When we come up with an idea on our end, the imperial side has to make the decision. But maybe because of security concerns, things don’t get processed quickly.”
That wasn’t exactly good news.
With the start of the new season, Jun and Chloe had naturally lost ownership of the magic stone mines and other dungeons they’d held.
On top of that, their upcoming potion business was also heavily tied to the mana fluid project, so realistically, there was no clear source of income for the time being.
So this is what it feels like to buy land and just wait around for the area to get developed.
At the very least, they’d need to come up with a plan to secure funding until both businesses could get fully underway.
“It’s definitely something you need to take care of.”
“What about support from your merchant guild?”
“I’d like to help, but Grandpa didn’t give the green light on that part.”
It was disappointing, but there was nothing to be done.
“Well, the business you’re preparing right now must already be eating up a ton of money.”
“Yeah, it is.”
“Then I guess we’ll have to take care of the funding ourselves…”
If they were going to solve things one step at a time from here on out, it was clear it would take some time.
There are so many ways to make money in theory, but if our mercenary group has to tackle each one of them, it’s going to take time…
They were already busy just trying to grow, and if they shifted their focus to making money, efficiency would suffer.
In normal circumstances, making money would be the right call. But the problem is…we’ve grown way too fast.
In terms of pure skill, the White Whale Mercenary Group was now made up of members capable of performing at the level 5 field without issue.
Given that, it wasn’t really feasible to be roaming around in the first, second, or even third levels.
Still, it felt like a waste to just ignore all the information Jun had on those lower levels.
After all, those little opportunities could come together to form a major source of income.
Suddenly, as if something came to mind, Chloe spoke up.
“Come to think of it, what happened to that intelligence group you said you recruited?”
“Oh. Charles is still wrapping up business on the surface, so he’ll come down once that’s taken care of.”
The Imperial Family had decided to fully roll up their sleeves and raid Movarty’s black market.
In that effort, Jun had been tasked with passing along the information Requiem had collected.
“Ah.”
Just then, a few ideas came to Jun.
“Chloe. Can you get in touch with a few groups for me?”
“We’ve still got enough manpower, so it’s not hard. What’s up?”
“It’s about time we start expanding our territory a bit.”
“Uh…?”
Realizing what Jun was getting at, Chloe nodded without hesitation.
“If that’s what this is about, then sure! Who should I contact?”
***
“Yaaawn…”
The Blade Eagle Mercenary Group, which had once carried out several missions alongside Jun.
Colton Carter, the man leading that mercenary group, let out a long lazy yawn.
“Jeez, Captain. You’re gonna rip your mouth open at this rate.”
“Well, then I’ll be able to eat even bigger chunks of meat. Sounds like a win to me.”
“Haha! If your mouth gets any bigger, your insults will get nastier too!”
Colton’s mercenary group had grown a bit in size.
Currently, they were resting at a tavern somewhere in the second level after having just completed a mission.
“Anyway, Captain. Don’t you think we’ve finally stabilized?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know, stuff like income and equipment.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But why bring that up?”
“I’m saying maybe it’s time we started working under some big-shot noble and gave our butts a break for once.”
At those words from the subordinate who’d been with him for a long time, Colton looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding.
“I’ve been thinking about that too.”
Colton was well aware of both his own limits and those of his mercenary group.
At best, they could handle up to the third level, and with their current income, pushing any further growth would be difficult.
If they wanted to grow, they’d need to find a way to secure a steady income source or get their hands on skill books and the like…
But that’s easier said than done.
Usually, to get access to those things, you had to work under a well-established mercenary or adventurer group, and Colton felt they weren’t quite ready for that yet.
If we’re being practical, we probably need to build up another two years of experience first.
From a realistic standpoint, that seemed like the right call.
Especially since their team had been expanding recently, it was time to reestablish their teamwork too.
“Ah, so that’s the situation.”
“But what’s gotten into you, bringing up that kind of suggestion? You’re the guy with nothing in your head but gold.”
“What’d you just say? I’ve got more gold in my head than just gold, you know?”
“Cut the crap.”
“Ahem. Well, you know… lately there’s been some chatter about the White Whale Mercenary Group.”
“Ah.”
It was only then that Colton realized why his companion had said what he did.
“You were asking if we’d heard anything from them?”
“Exactly. You know what they say. A bean shared is better than a feast alone. If they’re doing well, maybe something will trickle our way… huh? This is exactly the kind of time when connections are supposed to come in handy.”
“Hah, right. Do you really think they still remember us? Especially now that they’re making a name for themselves taking down monsters like Orc Lords and whatnot?”
“Ahem… well, I mean, you never know, right?”
Colton gave his companion a look of disbelief and shook his head.
That idiot probably has more than just gold in his head. Probably a whole flower field too.
A rather filthy one, though.
“Save those dreams for some fantasyland flower field and start prepping for the next mission—”
“Colton Carter of the Blade Eagle Mercenary Group, is that right?”
“……?”
Just as Colton was about to speak to his companion, someone approached them.
“Who are you?”
“A letter. Here.”
“For me?”
“Oho, boss—did you leave some lover behind somewhere? Keeping secrets from us, huh?”
“Cut the crap…”
The man who handed him the letter walked off without another word, and Colton opened it under the watchful eyes of his companions.
Nothing special. It was just an ordinary piece of stationery.
As he read through the letter, Colton suddenly turned to his companion with his eyes filled with disbelief.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“You got some fortune-teller hiding in your brain or something?”
“What the hell are you going on about?”
“Hah… unbelievable.”
Even as his companion kept pestering him, Colton reread the letter several times in disbelief before finally getting to his feet.
“Whoa, boss. Where are you off to?”
“Pack up. All of you.”
“Huh? We still have time left on this room’s lease…”
“Forget it. Pack up now! We’re heading out right away!”
“Wait, boss! Can you at least tell us where we’re going?!”
“Black Forest Fortress. That’s our destination.”
“…..???”
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