From Secret Clan to the Divine Dynasty

Chapter 171: 164: Black Mountain Town Strategy

The Fischer family took over the residence in Black Mountain Town which had once been occupied by the Spirit Deer and Roarer clans.

The locals all deemed it to be ominous; within just a few years, two powerful families had met their downfall due to the residence—one destroyed and the other fallen into misery—surely there must be some kind of curse.

However, the Fischer family had always been non-superstitious.

In their hearts, they considered themselves proxies of God and looked down with disdain upon the rumors of a curse. Besides, how could we, the Fischers, not know the reasons behind the Garcias' decline?

The new residence in Black Mountain Town was named Black Mountain Manor, and its architecture was somewhat antique, though much larger than Fischer Manor.

The main residence was a five-level building, with three levels above and two below, forming a concave-shaped structure. It had enough rooms to house four to five hundred people, in addition to two expansive basement levels.

Flanking the main residence of Black Mountain Manor were two shorter, three-story buildings that could also house four to five hundred people, but these were specifically for the servants' quarters.

Every morning, a legion of servants had to rise before dawn and immediately rush to the main residence to complete most of their tasks before their masters awoke.

Irene had already taken Lilian away, and no one knew where they had gone.

Rishia began to take charge of the daily maintenance of the sacrificial hall, and the young girl was quite eager to do so.

Byrne, Chris, and Darren were holding a new family meeting in the basement. Though it was called a "family meeting," it was essentially the latter two listening to Byrne talk for half a day.

"Chris, you and Darren stay in Nasir Town. Most of the affairs here no longer require your attention; they have been set in motion and just need to be overseen for normal operations," Byrne said.

"Darren, you should observe the overall functioning of the family more closely and understand the various trades. Do you understand?" he added.

"I'm going to Black Mountain Town to sort things out there," Byrne declared.

Black Mountain Town was a famous gambling haven, known across the East Coast Province especially for its horse betting events—even people from other provinces came to gamble. Many criminals and villains frequented the place, and the town's public order was actually rather precarious.

Furthermore, with Garcia's influence gone, many smaller powers within the town were still in a state of unease facing the newly arrived lord.

Byrne himself had to go to represent the Fischer family and give the people an explanation.

"Then Theo and I will take people and leave immediately. Chris, if there's anything, just let Vanessa handle it. Whatever she asks you to solve, you solve," Byrne said.

"I know you don't like to think about these boring matters, which I actually consider quite right. After all, thinking too much will affect your progress in becoming stronger, and that is the foundation of the Fischer family!" he continued.

When Byrne said this, he felt a shortage of manpower deep down.

In over twenty years, the Fischer family had expanded too quickly, reaching their influence to all four towns, yet they had far too few reliable hands at present.

With Irene temporarily gone and Byrne headed to Black Mountain Town for a while, he even had to reactivate Vanessa to handle the affairs of Nasir Town.

"It seems the Fischer family needs more reliable hands and vassals," Byrne thought.

Currently, the only baronial family vassalized to the Fischer family was that of Baron Adrian, and the knight clans loyal to them were only five out of eleven villages, all of which had been taken over from the Spirit Deer clan.

The current number of vassals was actually very few among the larger viscount families, of course, this did not account for "Daybreakers," the covert ecclesiastical power.

——

Black Mountain Town.

The heads of two knight clans, four major merchants from guilds, the leader of the local Glover Gang, and an elder of the local silver descendants clan, eight figures who were great personages in the eyes of ordinary folk, were exchanging words in the luxurious box at the horse racing track.

The silver descendant elder furrowed his brow and asked, "What kind of man is this Mr. Byrne from the Fischer family that you speak of?"

The head of the tailors' guild expressed his worries, "It doesn't matter who this Byrne Fischer is; what's important is, will he overturn the agreements we had with the Garcia family and ask for the moon?"

An old knight shook his head uncertainly, "He shouldn't, right? The reputation of the Fischer family is said to be good, and they're not known for being overly harsh on their subordinates."

The Spirit Deer family had initially set low cut rates in various industries, to which everyone had grown accustomed; however, when the Garcia family came along, they doubled the rates!

Eventually, someone couldn't stand it anymore and even considered seeking justice from the church, but they were secretly murdered by Viscount Garcia, along with their entire family.

Since then, every merchant in Black Mountain Town dared to be angry but did not dare to speak out, only able to keep their heads down and live in submission.

The head of the carpenters' guild sighed and exclaimed, "What if the Fischer family actually raises the rates again? We won't have any profit margin left! This can't stand! Is there really nothing we can do?"

The silver descendant elder mockingly said, "What can you do, what can any of us do? The Garcia family has fallen, and do you plan to make an enemy of the powerful Fischer family? Do you want to be murdered in the streets and have your children reduced to selling themselves?"

"Alas..."

Sighs of despair echoed through the room. In truth, a stable environment for making money was more important than anything else, and everyone was well aware of this.

Standing against the Fischer family was even more impossible; everyone combined could not defeat the hand of Chris Fischer alone!

Cyart's local forces wield tremendous power, and even the Royal Family faces great difficulties when attempting to reform.

Even the gang leaders fell into deep thought; they had always been in charge of maintaining the security of the racetracks, but ever since the Garcia family arrived, their people had been replaced.

Furthermore, with Viscount Garcia's iron fist, other revenues of the Glover Gang were forced to decrease. They would have probably been dead by now if they hadn't knelt down quickly.

Just then, the door was pushed open.

Byrne Fischer, in his black clothes, entered with Theo, smiling as they came in from outside.

"So everyone's here, that's good. Looks like there's no need for me to call you over then."

Everyone was startled! They had absolutely no idea how Byrne Fischer had found them!

"Your Excellency Byrne!"

"Hello, welcome, Your Excellency Byrne!"

"I've always admired the Fischer family, and I've even dreamt of your heroic image..."

Each person was stunned, then quickly stood up and greeted Byrne Fischer with great politeness.

The crowd didn't resemble bosses from various industries as much as they did top students from an etiquette academy, their faces even breaking out in cold sweat.

Byrne waved his hand, indicating they could stop.

He first addressed the local gang, the head of the Glover Gang, and said coldly:

"I don't care about your protection rackets or maintaining security at the gambling dens, but as of today, all your loan sharking and people controlling practices stop! I'm not suggesting, I'm ordering!"

Black Mountain Town, as a holy land for gamblers, had a thriving sex business and was a notorious gold sink, hence crimes were rampant.

Byrne knew that disbanding gangs was unrealistic, and he also valued the business interests of the gold sinks; someone needed to manage them, and it was best to have familiar people in charge.

The leader of the Glover Gang immediately bowed, sweating profusely, and said:

"Okay, Your Excellency Byrne, I understand! Understand!"

He had heard that His Excellency Byrne was a kind yet fierce person. Given the serious tone, it was best to obediently follow the order.

However, what the head of the Glover Gang didn't know was that Byrne had long planned to gradually have the Dagger Brotherhood replace their position and would publicly judge him in a few years.

On one hand, it would dissolve the anger of the local poor, and on the other, it would garner reputation for the Fischer family.

Even less did he know that his demise would be due to Vanessa's secret investigation.

She had discovered that the Glover Gang controlled dozens of pitiful girls with usurious loans and banned drugs, and notably, amongst them were children from Nasir Town.

Byrne had once known that little girl's family in Nasir Town, had even held her; knowing this, his heart had already decided the fate of the Glover Gang.

As for whether this would affect the interests of the Fischer family?

Not at all, because the Dagger Brotherhood would fill the vacancy left by the Glover Gang's management, the future income would not decrease, and their control over the area would only grow much stronger.

Now as long as they don't go against the opinions of all the smaller forces, the powerful Fischer family could dispose of any local small force at will! Act with complete impunity!

If they did go against the opinions of all the smaller forces, if they incurred the wrath of many, then they would just have to... replace all the leaders of these small forces.

"I will lower the cut taken by the Garcia family by a bit, but it won't be as low as the rates originally set by the Spirit Deer clan."

Byrne looked at the people who were anxious inside but simultaneously relieved, smiling as he threw out his olive branch.

"The Fischer family is going to establish four new factories over the next few years, all around the vicinity of Black Mountain Town! I welcome everyone to invest together! I'm sure you all have used products from the Fischer family before, haven't you?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of everyone present lit up, for it signified new benefits! Now everyone was very clear that setting up factories meant harvesting money!

Byrne understood one thing very well: winning people over essentially involved appropriate rewards and punishments, as well as leading everyone to share in profits. Any more idle talk was utterly meaningless.

If the factories of the Fischer family could lead everyone to make money, they would be willing to obey him, and then it was just a matter of getting rid of the "thorns," and the matter would be nearly settled.

As for many details, they need not be handled by him at all; if he had to do everything himself, what was the point of having so many people in the family?

Byrne fell into contemplation, the profits that could be made from Black Mountain Town were high, the family's funds would grow more and more, and a dream he once had might now finally be realized.

He wanted to establish new residential areas, hospitals, theaters, and civic plazas in Nasir Town, and finally, a comprehensive university that occupied a vast tract of land!