Black Hut

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

Inside a conference hall in the City Lord's Mansion at the center of Giant Stone City sat five men. Seated in the position of honor was a burly man with short golden hair, blue eyes, a hooked nose, fair skin, and a sinister, powerful aura. This man was Viscount Helu, the lord of Giant Stone City.

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

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

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

After Yang Feng had taken out Baron Kirov, word had quickly reached their ears. However, the person involved was a powerful individual who had obtained a warlock inheritance, making them deeply wary.

Each of the four great families supported several Wizard Apprentices, and they understood very well how bizarre and powerful warlocks' methods could be. If they provoked a powerful formal warlock, destroying their families would be effortless. As long as Yang Feng did not encroach upon their core interests, they could remain silent.

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

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

There was a gulf in strength between Wizard Apprentices and formal warlocks. A Wizard Apprentice could still be surrounded and killed by an army of ordinary people. 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 army of ten thousand ordinary soldiers by themselves.

Giant Stone City possessed five thousand regular troops. Even if they joined forces with all their Wizard Apprentices to fight a Level-1 Warlock, the odds would still be heavily against them. After all, as long as that Level-1 Warlock acted from the shadows, he could easily kill every Wizard Apprentice. Unless that Level-1 Warlock was foolish enough to wait for Giant Stone City to gather 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. Furthermore, if he were a formal warlock, he would never kill a nobleman for no reason. That would be equivalent to declaring war on that lord of Black Hut. Only ignorant upstarts who had just obtained power would recklessly kill a nobleman."

On the Durando Subcontinent, a formal warlock would not lightly kill a nobleman unless necessary. That was because another warlock might be hidden behind that nobleman. Unless the nobleman had offended the formal warlock, another warlock would not interfere when the formal warlock acted to destroy him.

This was the unwritten rule of the Durando Subcontinent: warlocks stood above all others, and their dignity could not be violated. But likewise, a formal warlock had to respect another formal warlock, or a war between warlocks would erupt.

Giant Stone City's backer was the warlock organization known as Black Hut. Black Hut's warlocks would not concern themselves with conflicts between ordinary people. But once a Wizard Apprentice attacked Giant Stone City or its affiliated forces, provided there was no special reason, Black Hut would absolutely send an expert to kill that Wizard Apprentice who did not know his place.

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

Warlocks were not beings detached from worldly matters. On the contrary, warlocks were beings who required vast amounts of money. Every formal warlock possessed enormous wealth, but their expenses were equally terrifying. A potion casually refined by a warlock could sell for hundreds or 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 backer, Black Hut collected a large number of Gold Coins every year. At the same time, whenever they acted, the price was always at least fifty thousand Gold Coins. Even Giant Stone City's four great families would feel intense pain at producing such a huge sum. This was precisely why Giant Stone City would basically never ask Black Hut for help unless something major had occurred.

The heads of the other three great families also turned their gazes toward 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 eliminate that ignorant fool, we will divide the spoils according to the amounts invested."

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

After persuading the heads of the four great families, Viscount Helu went to 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, have you come to bring me food? I want wild boar meat—roasted pork leg dripping with fat. Your cook's skills are truly awful. I suggest you have him hanged immediately and replace him with a new one."

Viscount Helu spoke to the White Raven with a hint of respect, "Lord Bobo, please convey my greetings to the great master of Black Hut and tell him that I need his help. An evil warlock force has appeared in Black Rock Town and is attempting to provoke the great master of Black Hut. We have prepared fifty thousand Gold Coins as an offering. Please ask the great master of Black Hut to help us drive out this evil."

The White Raven flapped its wings and loudly said, "All right, Lord Bobo will bring your words to the great master of Black Hut. But when Lord Bobo returns, I want a plump wild boar leg, roasted until fat drips from it!"

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

The White Raven nodded in satisfaction, flapped its wings, and flew straight out of the City Lord's Mansion.

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

Black City lay one hundred kilometers north of Giant Stone City and had a population of 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 an enormous, dreamlike estate containing forests, lakes, streams, small hills, and all manner of terrain. The entire estate occupied nearly a third of Black City's area.

This enormous and beautiful estate was Black Hut's headquarters.