Chapter 544: The Dragon Hunting Corps’ Career Turning Point (2)

Chapter 544 -338: The Dragon Hunting Corps’ Career Turning Point (2)

Now that they’d gone independent from the guild, they were responsible for their own profits and losses.

Even though they were strong, life wasn’t as good as it used to be.

Competition had even heated up among the High Tier Adventurer Corps taking private jobs, with everyone undercutting each other’s prices.

Scabs!

The corps leader got to his feet and spat to the side, showing his contempt for the other corps.

It was time for the Broken Tooth Dragon Hunting Corps to make a change.

He was a Warrior, but to have survived into his forties in this dangerous line of work with all his limbs intact required more than just outstanding strength. A clear mind was essential.

Compared to the Zog Group, they were nothing.

‘After this job, I’m changing careers. The savings I’ve scraped together are enough to live comfortably for the rest of my life anyway. I can do any odd job. The pay might be less, but at least I won’t have to worry about dropping dead in the wilderness one day.’

“This isn’t necessarily a good thing,” the corps leader said. “After the two Dragons met here, the tracks get messy. But when they left, there were only prints from the adult Dragon. Where did that Little Black Dragon go? Don’t forget our main target. That was the most beautiful Black Dragon I’ve ever seen in my life.”

‘The most beautiful also means the most valuable.’

Aside from Magic Materials and medicinal ingredients, another major source of income from hunting Dragons was satisfying the nobility’s penchant for collecting.

Who could refuse a clever and cute little Dragon that could also send you to your grave?

Of course, one that was too smart was no good either, but Alchemists had plenty of ways to dumb a Dragon down.

“Maybe they fought. The Great Dragon killed the little one and ate it. It’s not unheard of for them to eat their own kind when they’re starving.”

“That doesn’t make sense. There’s not a single sign of a fight here. It’s more likely that the adult Dragon took the Little Black Dragon with it. And the direction they left in is…”

“Towards Deepwater City,” a corps member next to him answered, his voice full of hesitation. “Should we go after them?”

The corps leader lit his pipe, took a deep drag, and fell silent.

A few minutes later, he finally answered, “We’re going. We’ll make the trip. We have to at least take a look. You never know.”

「Deepwater City, Lord’s Mansion.」

Zog looked at his main monitor with great interest. A news report was displayed on it.

“Shocking! The Zog Group Is Actually Using the Dragon Race for Shipping! How Do They Control the Dragons, and What Vile Conspiracy Is This?!”

‘Just my style.’

The article didn’t say a single word about what vile conspiracy the Zog Group was plotting, or what methods they used to control the Dragon Race, but between the lines, it gave off the feeling that the Zog Group was up to no good.

It even included a few pictures, taken from cunning angles, that looked like they were secretly snapped in some forbidden location.

They were all pictures of Dragons carrying packs.

The photography skills weren’t bad; they very “artfully” captured moments when the Dragons’ eyes looked particularly “dangerous.”

It had all the elements of a conspiracy theory clickbait article destined to go viral.

Unsurprisingly, the article spread widely across the internet and was forwarded like crazy.

Meanwhile, even with the Zog Group’s rebuttal being artificially boosted in the backend, its view count still couldn’t catch up to the rumor piece.

‘What a headache.’

‘People really do love rumors. The truth is just so boring.’

Ever since Zog had used a public opinion offensive once, it had become one of Feilin’s standard tactics.

‘It’s just too effective.’

‘Low cost, high impact, and the effects are hard to erase.’

As for this latest report, Zog had assumed it was some other faction being foolish enough to try the same trick.

But it turned out to be just some kid in his early twenties who’d written the article purely for entertainment.

“So why’d you write this?” Zog asked curiously.

Before him, the author of the article was kneeling on the floor, trembling uncontrollably.

Zog hadn’t actually made him kneel; the guy just couldn’t stand on his own.

The young man had never seen anything like this in his life.

Early in the morning, while he was still asleep, his door was suddenly smashed open. Then, two burly Beastmen charged in, bared their teeth, and without a word, grabbed him, threw him over their shoulders, and tossed him into a vehicle. The wild ride left him so dizzy he couldn’t stop throwing up after they got him out.

When he finally collected himself, he realized he was at the Lord’s Mansion.

As he was being dragged upstairs, he’d already composed his last words.

Now, being questioned by the Lord, the Great Dragon, he stammered, his voice trembling, “Please tell my mom…”

“Who’s going to tell your mom anything? What’s with the ‘I’m about to die’ act? I asked you why you wrote the article.”

“I-I-I made a bet. They, they didn’t believe I could go viral online. I said, said, I could go viral just by writing anything, so, so, we bet one Silver Coin.”

“Just for one Silver Coin?”

‘That’s hardly worth it,’ Zog thought.

“I’m guilty, I’m guilty, I repent.”

“What the hell good is you repenting? Your writing’s actually pretty good.”

“Thank you—ah, no, not thank you. It’s bad, my writing is bad.”

“If you’re so scared now, why were you brave enough to write it then?”

“I wasn’t thinking that far ahead back then.”

Zog scratched his head. ‘What a mess,’ he thought. The kid hadn’t thought it through, yet the impact he’d caused was greater than many carefully planned schemes.

‘Is this what you call talent?’

“Alright. Fifteen days of detention, a fine of one Gold Coin, and you are to post a public retraction and apology. You will also cooperate with all of the Zog Group’s subsequent damage control efforts.”

“I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die…” the young man wailed, snot and tears covering his face.

“Who said anything about you dying? It’s detention.”

“Huh? I’m not dead? Just… detention and a fine?”

“And an apology. The apology is the main point. And after you apologize, you can kiss that account goodbye.”

“Thank you for your mercy, my Lord! Thank you for your mercy! I never expected the punishment to be so light.”

“What more do you want? To compensate for all the losses caused by this article? Can you even afford that? Give me a break. This is a society of laws, you get it? A society of laws. Alright, take him away.”