How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

Chapter 68 - The Hunter Association

"I'm surprised, you can withstand my pressure." the old man smiled.

I released my mana pressure finally staring at the man with a stern face, it took a large amount of concentration to oppose the anti magic in the hallway.

Our pressures collided and we exchanged looks of enjoyment.

"What's your name, young one?" the old man asked before relieving his mana pressure.

"Zeref Amara." I did the same and relieved my pressure too.

"You have the same name as an acquaintance of mine," he said.

"Yeah, it's my grandfather's name."

"No way! You're lying." he said shocked, losing his composure, eyeing me down.

"I may have learned a couple things from him." I smiled and the gravity around him intensified.

Cracks formed underneath him but he looked unfazed. I was quite surprised, normally this trick would make people crumble and kneel in front of me, but this person was of course stronger.

"Impressive, Impressive." he clapped his hands and smiled. The darkness mana surrounding his body trickled up his face and danced around like snakes.

It was an odd sight but it looked interesting. He was definitely withstanding the gravity by augmenting his body with darkness mana.

"I'm deeply sorry son that you had to witness this, since I owe your grandfather anyways I'll help you out. Follow me to my office, we shall talk there." He said turning around and walking down the hallway; I hurried after him.

"May I quickly ask if you know the whereabouts of my friend, she was near me when I was unconscious." I said politely.

"Oh yes. She's alive and well, she's also in the infirmary."

At his words my eyes opened, the memory of that old hag touching my body made me worry, what kind of infirmary was this place? Would they do the same to Malia?

"Where?!" I said frantically.

"Why in such a hurry son? You miss your girlfriend that much huh? She's in room 354, one floor below us." He said, at the moment I found out the info I needed, I flash stepped past him towards the stairs.

"Meet me in room 500, when you're done. We have things to discuss, kid." the man shouted behind me as I was already running down the stairs.

**

I kicked the door down and was met with 2 nurses looking at me shocked. Malia was on the bed sleeping peacefully.

"Wh-" before one of them could speak I released my killing intent making them both fall in shock and fear.

"You old hags, What did you do to her?!" I shouted.

"Old hags? That's a bit rude don't you think. They're 2 beautiful young ladies." A man spoke from behind me. I turned around and was almost about to punch his head in, but he shrieked, "Chill! We're not here to harm you or your girlfriend, we're the ones who saved you."

As he said that the party of 6 that I saw running towards me back in the forest, all stood in front of me.

There were 3 women, all over the age of 20 at least and 3 men around the same age. The moody man at the back must have been their leader.

"Oooh. He's a pretty boy, sad he's got a girlfriend." one of the women pouted. I scoffed at her comment and looked back at the 2 nurses.

"If you hurt her, know I will find you, skin you alive and feed you to an A rank beast. You understand?" I spoke coldly with pauses so the two nurses could understand. They nodded frantically.

"Dude, that's a bit harsh, what nurse did you have in your room?" the annoying man at the door laughed, I didn't laugh back.

"What's your name?" I asked the guy.

"Derek why?"

"You talk too much."

**

I had left Malia in the 2 nurse's care and left for room 500. The party of 6 followed after me for some reason, it was unfortunate as I was constantly annoyed by the young man asking me all sorts of questions.

"So were you the one who massacred all those beasts?" he asked me with curious gleaming eyes.

"Yes."

"No wayy! How old even are you?"

"None of your business and stop talking." His constant nagging made my mood a bit lighter as he reminded me of Jace.

"So young man, why were you and your girlfriend in the forest alone anyways?" one of the women elbowed me from my side.

"Firstly, she's just a friend and secondly, stop asking questions."

When we had finally arrived, I knocked on the door.

"Come in." the old man's voice could be heard from the other side. I turned the handle of the door and we all entered the room.

The room was of a decent size, maybe 7 metres by 7 metres, there were a couple chairs in front of the old man's Cherrywood desk. He sat on an office style chair behind a desk; I stared at a wooden block on the table carved with the words 'Director'.

I sat down when he gestured to us to sit. I didn't know why the other hunters were here but I was about to find out.

"So old man, what is this place exactly?" I asked.

"This place is the infirmary of the Hunter Association campus. This is a 5 storey building, accommodating 499 rooms, all dedicated to healing hunters that have been hurt." the old man answered

"Why did you have some old witch pin me down with mana sealing chains? I was this close to killing her. What kind of sick people do you hire?" I said in disgust.

"What do you mean? What old woman? We only hire young medical mages."

"That old witch, she was disguised as someone young then transformed, she had lots of plying and knife tools." I sighed, "You're telling me, you have no clue who that old woman was?"

"So that's why you were so paranoid about those young nurses in your girlfriend's room." Derek butted into our conversation. I glared at the talkative man before looking back at the old geezer's pondering face.

If he didn't know what was happening, it meant that woman was purposely there to torture me or something; there was no other explanation. Maybe she was part of another organisation or something.

"It's fine, just get on with what you wanted to talk about. I need to get back home soon." I said.

"Okay then," the old man finally spoke up, "Firstly, I'm sorry about what you experienced in these quarters and I'm ashamed to let such a thing happen in our vicinity. I will thoroughly investigate this incident. However, I wanted to discuss a couple things with you.

"We have seen your power, these hunters (he pointed at the people sitting next to me) saw the direct massacre and aftermath of your fight with the beast king. You managed to kill its clone, something that was thought to be suicide before you attempted it, and you even killed hundreds of C rank and B rank beasts.

"The mana output readings in that area were extraordinary and the hunter association even picked up demon aura somehow.

"Therefore, I want to recruit you and make you a hunter for the hunter association, I will make you an A rank hunter straight away. This will allow you to gain many benefits, a fixed salary of 100 Diamond coins per year, plus a great authority in society. What do you say?" The director finally stopped talking.

"You haven't even explained what your association is." I stated.

"Hahaaahha! My bad, I thought everyone knew about the Hunter association. Our organisation handles matters to do with magic beasts and atrocities such as sudden attacks from S rank beasts. We also get missions from the public such as protecting personnel-"

"I refuse." I cut the old man off, and the hunters around me looked at me with wide eyes.

"Do you know what you're refusing?! Do you even know the worth of 1 diamond coin?!" the old man got up and slammed his palm on the table out of anger.

Hunter my ass! Being a worker under their organisation would enclose me to rules and regulations I had to follow and money, money was not a problem for me and it never will. Joining them would bring me no benefits.

"I very well know what I'm rejecting. Instead I want to propose a deal to you." I smiled, putting one leg over the other and spreading my arms out on the arm rest. The old man sat back down and the red that flushed on his face slowly disappeared.

"Why don't we become partners? I can provide you with funds and finance to help you grow your organisation and reduce the corporate taxes you will have to pay. In return, you will let my company use your assets and provide me with some other benefits."

"Hahahahaha! That is the funniest thing I've heard till today. Last time I checked your old grandfather was a poor man and so were his ch-"

A sharp pressure covered the whole room, making the hunters freeze, with wide eyes.

"I'm the current owner and CEO of the Bank of Vrimeon. Please don't anger me, I could click my fingers and I'd be sitting where you're sitting, but I wouldn't do that, wasting money on a company such as yours would bring me no benefits." I relieved the mana pressure and the hunters readjusted their seating positions.

Even the annoying one, made sure to stay silent.

Obviously I lied about the last bit, I wouldn't be offering them a deal if there was nothing for me to gain. The real reason I needed their assets was for protecting my own.

I owned a lot of land under the name of the bank; The bank's army didn't have enough numbers to protect these lands.

"How do I know you're not bluffing?" the old man asked with a serious face. I dropped 5 brown sacs on the table, by pulling them out from my dimension ring. The hunters' eyes gleamed hungrily at the huge amount of money at the table.

"There's 1000 Platinum coins in each sac and 500 in the last one. If you sign the contract deal with me I'll give you 4000 now, and give my saviours, the hunters 500." I said, cracking my fingers.

The old man gulped, "You're exactly like your old man, extremely cunning. I'll sign the deal."

I smiled at his words.

**

We had come to terms with the contract and we both signed it.

The bank would send 750 platinum coins each month to the Hunter association starting from next year for a duration of 1 year, then after that it would reduce to 500 platinum coins monthly; their taxes would also be reduced by 17.5%.

In return, the bank would be able to use the army of hunters trained by the hunter's association whenever for personal use. I would also receive 35% of the company's shares and get a VIP card, which held the same authority as a 'vice director' in the organisation.

Overall it was a good deal and the bank wouldn't really be suffering from this as most of the cash outflow was from my own pocket.

The real reason I was so rich was because of hunting the beasts. Hunters did the same as me, but they sold their goods to the Hunter association, who payed them stupid amounts for their kills like 100 Gold coins for a B rank beast.

In my case, I sold my kills to the underground black market dealers, where the demand for the beasts was extremely high. This way I bargained the maximum price I could, before walking away with hundreds of Platinum coins.

My other plan was to buy the dead beasts that the Hunter association would buy from the Hunters. I would bargain a price for those beasts and then sell it to the black market for a way better price, Ultimately making me gain back the coins I would give to the Hunter Association.

It would all work as a cycle of giving and taking but ultimately I would benefit the most.

"Pleasure doing business with you." I shook the old man's hand and exited the room. I left the hunters dumbfounded and astounded as I dropped a sac of platinum coins in Derek's hands.

I quickly picked up the unconscious Malia from her room and walked out of the infirmary. I was surprised that she was still unconscious.

I wanted to find out what had happened to her but I wasn't a healer like my mother, so I had to head home to figure out what had actually happened to her.

What intrigued me the most was the campus of the Hunter Association, the infirmary was the smallest block of them all, there was a central building a couple 100 meters away - their headquarters - that made Xanxus's school look like a child in comparison.

It looked quite modern, lots of steel and glass was used.

Hunters gave me interested looks as I walked past them, especially the girls, I walked past them and approached the central building of the Hunter Association.

The entrance was made of see through glass, guards opened it at my arrival and gestured me in. I approached the counter.

"Hi! How may I help you?" A young girl wearing formal black attire sat behind the counter. She briefly looked at Malia's face resting on my shoulder, then smiled back at me. I gave Malia a piggyback instead of holding her heroine style. That would have been cringe worthy.

"I want to use the Portal, I need to get back to the main city." I said sliding my VIP Black Card on the desk. Her face went pale, before she smiled at me again.

"Y-Yes sir. Please follow that man over there, he will take you to the portal." She pointed at a man with a ginger beard, wearing a suit. They exchanged brief nods, before he gestured to me to follow him.

We entered through a large door into a grand hall. The hall was extremely spacious with dimensions of probably 30 metres by 40 metres. At the end of the hall, A large blue portal was heavily guarded by 20 or more hunters, some talking while others stood by the gate.

I followed the man to the portal. I felt a couple pervy gazes at Malia, resting on my back but I let it slide. I felt the urge to snap them in half but held myself back. I gave them a chilling glare instead, making them look at the floor, before readjusting my grip around Malia's thighs.

"Where to?" A man, wearing a long navy robe spoke, pressing buttons on a tab made up of mana. Technology definitely lacked in this world, but new inventions were coming out with the help of mana.

"Xanxus Academy, Hysteria City." I said, looking at the tall man. Hysteria City was where Xanxus Academy and the market was situated.

We lived on the east side of the city and never really ventured anywhere else. That just made me want to explore more; There were even other kingdoms, there was so much I didn't know about.

Xanxus Academy was outside the east of the city but my mansion still was only a 20 min walk away.

The man nodded, "Please enter the portal, I've set coordinates for Xanxus Academy. Permission of transfer has also been granted."

I didn't waste a second and entered the portal.

[You have entered a blue portal]