CHAPTER 268: HUNTING REGULATION I

"I am happy to receive you, Representative Drayth Tormor. What can the dragon hunters do for you?" Vacuse asked with a smile.

The two of them looked at each other before Drayth smiled. "I came here to invite you to apply for the hunting right."

Vacuse blinked. He’s here for that? Isn’t it supposed to be the other way around, with him going there to apply? But Drayth himself came to meet him?

When Drayth saw his expression, he laughed out loud. "You look surprised! Why do you look surprised? Because I am here to personally see you? Well, I’ll go straight to the point.

"The hunting regulation isn’t as simple as you might think. All of us representatives are different. We work independently for the Overseer, and we are all competing with each other for hunters. The more hunters we have, the higher the influence and power within the hunting regulation.

"Of course, the powers of the hunting teams are also put into consideration."

Vacuse listened carefully, and what came to his mind was... more politics.

And since Drayth went straight to the point, Vacuse also took matters to the point. "I see. Then do you mean that you want me to register under you?"

"Yes."

Vacuse shrugged. It didn’t really matter which or where he registered, as long as he got the right. He was still interested in something. "What do I stand to gain?"

"You will get access to valuable portals, and I’ll buy your goods with a discount." As he was saying this, Drayth produced papers that he collected from one of his guards and slid them across the table. "This is the contract."

Vacuse took it and looked it over. He took his time too, as he knew contracts in this part of the world were sometimes magically binding. "What do you mean thirty-seventy for the tax? Are you the one taking thirty?"

Drayth smiled easily as he shamelessly replied, "Of course not. It will be you, the dragon hunters, that will take thirty, and we’ll take seventy."

And that was exactly how the overseers got rich while the hunters worked.

Vacuse sighed. He did not have the time to sit there and start haggling, and at the same time, he couldn’t just sit there and accept it. So he just shrugged. "Thank you. We’ll look for another representative then."

Drayth’s eyes widened. "Wait! You can’t find any representative that will take seventy-thirty! Let’s do it forty-sixty!"

Vacuse thought it over. His face pulled together in a frown as he mulled it over, but then he suddenly shook his head. "This doesn’t sound so favorable to me. I’m afraid I’ll have to keep insisting on seventy-thirty."

Drayth sneered. "Do you really think you’ll find a representative that would actually take that?"

"The dragon hunters are an elite team of the third circle. There’s no hunters’ team like ours. You will make your profit back," Vacuse shrugged. Profit! As if the hunting regulation would ever come up with a loss, even if they only took ten percent!

Drayth’s face became stiff. "You’re an elite? Just because you managed to get some fame in the mountains, you think you’re some kind of big deal, eh? Let me tell you, this is not the mountains! The monsters here are all wild and dangerous. They’re deadly!"

Vacuse blinked. "Yes. That’s exactly why we would need seventy-thirty to keep ourselves strong."

Drayth was speechless when he heard it and could only stare at Vacuse. "You..."

Vacuse shrugged. "If you don’t want to, I will really find another representative, and if they don’t allow it, then I’ll go to another district."

Drayth gritted his teeth. "And if you can’t find one in another district, what will you do, head to the Dark Wilderness on foot?"

"Yes."

Drayth was stunned into silence. Was this the new method of haggling that he didn’t know of? But he just couldn’t back away, as the real reason he came after the dragon hunters was because of their strength. He had spent lots of money to gain intelligence about them, and what he found out left him feeling satisfied.

One disadvantage of their building was the fact that hunting teams broke easily. Most often, news once came around every time, but they also got wiped out just as often.

The dragon hunters might be different, so in the end, he only ended up gritting his teeth. But he didn’t give in that easily. "Before I can allow you to get seventy-thirty, then you must prove that you can actually go in there and bring forth quality third circle resources."

Vacuse shrugged. He expected something like that. The world wasn’t an easy place, and everyone was always walking on a balance to be judged at all times. It was expected.

"What do we have to do?"

Drayth smiled.

☆☆▪︎▪︎☆☆

It was three days after, and Vacuse had mobilized the hunters that would be participating in the hunt to test their strengths.

"Come this way!"

Drayth Tormor called with a smile as the thirty third-circle team entered the compound, his side of the hunting regulation.

It was a large compound with different buildings in it, and it was built connected to the larger hunting regulation main compound. Each of the representatives had their own compounds that they administered with their own forces.

The said forces watched as Vacuse and his hunters crossed toward their leader with unblinking eyes.

But Vacuse wasn’t even looking at them. He was watching the portals that were scattered around the compound. Each portal was at least twenty meters tall and half of it in width, glowing a soft electric blue.

As he watched, a group of hunters poured out from a portal. They carried sacks that were tight with monsters, with blood of different colors dripping on the ground.

The hunters themselves looked rough and tired, carrying wounds on them. Among their ranks, they also carried the dead bodies of their fellow hunters.

They looked melancholy as Drayth’s workers rushed them to begin processing the various resources they brought back.