Black Hut

Giant Stone City was one of the sixteen great cities of the Fein Deluo Principality, with a population as high as six hundred thousand.

Inside a meeting hall in the city lord's mansion at the center of Giant Stone City sat five men. Seated in the place of honor was a man with short golden hair, blue eyes, a hooked nose, fair skin, and a brawny build, exuding a sinister and powerful aura. This man was Viscount Helu, the lord of Giant Stone City.

Besides Viscount Helu, the other four men were the heads of Giant Stone City's four great Lineages: the Boman Family, the Banjiete Family, the Manni Family, and the Luge Family. Viscount Helu and these four great Lineages jointly ruled everything in Giant Stone City.

Viscount Helu slowly said, "Baron Kirov of Black Rock Town has been murdered."

The heads of the four great Lineages exchanged glances and remained silent.

After Baron Kirov had been taken out by Yang Feng, the news swiftly reached their ears. However, the person involved was a powerful figure who had obtained a Warlock inheritance, making them deeply wary.

Each of the four great Lineages supported several Wizard Apprentices, and they knew very well how strange and powerful a Warlock's methods could be. If they provoked a powerful formal Warlock, destroying their Lineages would be effortless. So long as Yang Feng had not harmed their core interests, they could remain silent.

Viscount Helu frowned slightly and said in a deep voice, "I intend to ask the Black Hut for aid. We will ask them to eliminate that evil Wizard Apprentice."

The head of the Boman Family asked, "A Wizard Apprentice? My lord, can you be certain he is a Wizard Apprentice?"

The gap in strength between a Wizard Apprentice and a formal Warlock was like a heavenly chasm. A Wizard Apprentice could still be surrounded and killed by an army of ordinary men. But as long as a formal Warlock was not foolish enough to fight an ordinary army to the death, he could easily leave after beheading its commander. Some powerful Warlocks could even rout an ordinary army of ten thousand with their own strength alone.

Giant Stone City possessed five thousand regular troops. Even if they joined forces with all their Wizard Apprentices to battle a Level-1 Warlock, defeat was far more likely than victory. After all, so long as that Level-1 Warlock struck from the shadows, he could easily slaughter every Wizard Apprentice. Unless that Level-1 Warlock was foolish enough to wait until Giant Stone City had assembled all its troops and Wizard Apprentices before engaging them in a Decisive Battle.

Viscount Helu said in a deep voice, "If he were a Level-1 Warlock, he could have taken Black Rock Town by himself. According to the intelligence, he used nearly a hundred warriors to seize Black Rock Town. And if he were a formal Warlock, he would absolutely not kill a noble for no reason. That would be tantamount to declaring war on that lord of the Black Hut. Only upstarts who had just gained power and knew no better would recklessly strike down a noble."

On the Durando Subcontinent, a formal Warlock would not easily kill a noble unless necessary. That was because another Warlock might be hidden behind that noble. Unless the noble had offended the formal Warlock, when the formal Warlock moved to exterminate that noble, it would not draw the interference of another Warlock.

This was the unspoken rule of the Durando Subcontinent. Warlocks stood high above all others, and their dignity could not be violated. Yet a formal Warlock likewise had to respect another formal Warlock, or else war between Warlocks would erupt.

Giant Stone City's backing was the Warlock group known as the Black Hut. The Warlocks of the Black Hut would not concern themselves with battles among ordinary people. But once a Wizard Apprentice attacked Giant Stone City or its affiliated forces, unless there was a special reason, the Black Hut would absolutely dispatch an expert to destroy that Wizard Apprentice who did not know the height of heaven or the depth of earth.

The head of the Banjiete Family slowly said, "The price of asking the Black Hut to act will not be small!"

Warlocks were not beings who lived beyond the dust of the mortal world. On the contrary, Warlocks were beings who consumed vast amounts of money. Every formal Warlock possessed enormous wealth, but their expenses were equally frightening. Potions casually brewed by a Warlock sold for hundreds, even thousands of Gold Coins. Potions costing tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of Gold Coins per bottle were not uncommon either.

As Giant Stone City's backing, the Black Hut collected vast amounts of Gold Coins every year. At the same time, even a casual intervention by them cost more than fifty thousand Gold Coins. Even the four great Lineages of Giant Stone City would feel as though their flesh were being cut if they took out such a huge sum. That was precisely why, unless something major occurred, Giant Stone City would basically never ask the Black Hut for help.

The heads of the other three great Lineages also focused their gazes on Viscount Helu.

Viscount Helu said in a deep voice, "Take thirty thousand Gold Coins from this year's tax revenue. I will contribute another ten thousand Gold Coins, and each of your four families will contribute two thousand five hundred Gold Coins. Once we kill that ignorant fool, we will divide the spoils according to the amounts contributed."

"Good!" The heads of the other four great Lineages nodded in satisfaction.

Having persuaded the heads of the four great Lineages, Viscount Helu arrived in the rear garden.

On a white oak tree in the rear garden was a black crow's nest.

When a strange White Raven saw Viscount Helu enter the rear garden, it flew directly onto his arm and spoke in a human voice. "Viscount Helu, did you come here to bring me food? I want wild boar meat, roasted pork leg dripping with fat. Your cook's skills are truly dreadful. I suggest you hang him directly and replace him with a new one."

Viscount Helu addressed the White Raven with a trace of respect. "Lord Bobo, please convey my greetings to the great master of the Black Hut and tell him that I need his help. An evil Warlock faction has appeared in Black Rock Town, seeking to provoke the great master of the Black Hut. We have prepared fifty thousand Gold Coins as an offering. Please ask the great master of the Black Hut to help us purge this evil."

The White Raven flapped its wings and cried loudly, "Very well, Lord Bobo will carry your words to the great master of the Black Hut. But when Lord Bobo returns, I want a plump wild boar leg, roasted until it drips with fat!"

Viscount Helu smiled. "As you wish. When you return, you will receive a wild boar leg roasted until it drips with fat!"

The White Raven nodded in satisfaction, flapped its wings, and flew straight out of the city lord's mansion.

The Black Hut was not hidden in remote mountains and ancient forests as ordinary people imagined. On the contrary, the Black Hut was located in Black City, one of the sixteen great cities of the Fein Deluo Principality.

Black City lay one hundred kilometers north of Giant Stone City and had a population as high as two hundred thousand. Its area was second only to Dragon Rock City, the capital of the Fein Deluo Principality, and was twice that of Giant Stone City.

At the very center of Black City stood a vast, dreamlike manor containing every kind of terrain—forests, lakes, streams, small hills, and more. The entire manor occupied nearly one-third of Black City's area.

This enormous and beautiful manor was the headquarters of the Black Hut.