Birth Of The Crafts-God

One week had gone by since the cabinet's meeting at the Assembly of the People. After the press conference that followed, the public was stunned by the resolution and there were talks about it all over the city-state for at least three days.

In the end, the general populace soon calmed down and forgot about the incident as it didn't directly affect them. The two deputy city lord's as well as the cabinet would take control of the city, which wasn't much different for the average Baylander. The only ones really bothered in the end were the upper echelons of the city-state, which was why the Central Prefecture district still had a subtle vibe to it.

As for the rest of the city-state, their attention was easily dragged onto the next trending topic, the return of the Seven Sparks Forge store.

"Did you guys hear? That human is back and he's reopened the store?"

In a diner located within the West Wing district's Levissíon Avenue, three men sat at a table and discussed about the latest events in the city.

"The terrorist? Who the hell let him back? What are the Patrol Corps doing?"

One of the men was immediately angered by the news and shouted.

"Calm down, you dimwit." The older of the three men slapped the former on the head.

"You think the city would remain quiet if he was guilty?"

The irate man was intimidated, but he still retorted albeit with a lower pitch than before.

"What are you saying?"

"The whole thing about the store owner being a terrorist was an attempt to frame him." The first man who spoke replied.

"Think about it. The Patrol Corps didn't even release a warrant or a statement —everything was simply the act of the media."

The hot-headed man froze, and after recalling the incident he realised that his friend was speaking the truth. Confused, he still spoke up.

"But even then, the Patrol Corps didn't come out to deny it."

"Who knows why? Maybe they were still investigating, so weren't quick to make a statement. Either way, that store owner has a temporary licence from Belfargos territory's EVL. There's no way he's a terrorist." The older of the three replied agter taking a sip from the cup of coffee in front of him.

Indeed. Anyone with the temporary licence had to be connected to someone of high influence. They would also need the recommendation of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestigesmith at the very least. What's more, only certain high ranking branches could grant those licences. These branches only did so after investigating the applicant. With the licence in hand, only a fool would still think that the human store owner was a terrorist.

"But this isn't what I came here to talk about." The man who spoke first said as he had a mysterious gleam in his eyes.

After glancing around as if to make sure no one was listening in on their conversation, he leaned forward and whispered to the two.

"I heard that the Mertens family is backing him, specifically, the head of the family."

. . .

The Seven Sparks Forge store's revival was a talk that had been going on right before the final cabinet meeting on the city lord matter. This was especially so after the Mertens family's Dawn-Spring Arrow Company announced their support of the store.

After the storm related to the city lord position died out, the public finally reacted to the news that the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company was backing Lucas.

The Dawn-Spring Arrow Company was a holding company of the Mertens family that controlled all their businesses. However, of the various businesses the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company controlled, only three were their real money printing machines.

The first was the Blue Fenrir Group, or BFG for short. The company was the Mertens family's paramilitary arm as it consisted of both their Freelancer team and their Pioneer squad. Including the administrative staff, there were less than a thousand people in this company.

The second company was the company that dealt in trading desolate beast parts, founded by Russell's grandfather, who was also recognised as the founder of the modern day Mertens family. It was called Kopen Trading Services, or KTS, and they dealt in the business of buying and selling not just desolate beast parts but also relics, metals, ores and other unknown or mysterious items.

Due to the nature of their services, KTS had branches everywhere, especially in outposts like the Wastelands Base station, which was located just a couple of kilometres away from the desolate beast domain, the Wastelands.

The last gold mine of the Mertens family was the original company that started it all, the food industry which was also founded by Russell's grandfather, Voedsel Industries. Not only did they produce processed foods, but they also found a way to process certain desolate beast flesh, bones and blood to be edible for the average hyumans. In Baylands city-state, Voedsel Industries was the number one source for edible desolate beast body parts by either top restaurants or even famous chefs. Without a doubt, it was the most valuable company under the Mertens family's Dawn-Spring Arrow Company.

Looking at these three companies, one would notice a strange connection. They were part of the same vertical stream; the BFG supplied resources and raw materials, the KTS would deliver them, while Voedsel Industries processed them.

Even though they served other companies and individuals, it was indeed true that these three companies prioritised orders from themselves. That means, if Voedsel Industries was in need of a certain desolate beast flesh, they could commission KTS for it. KTS would then put out an order to the BFG who would head into the Wastelands and hunt down the beast. The BFG would be paid for the work by the KTS, who would then sell the resource to Voedsel Industries at a price cheaper than they would to other buyers due to the relationship between the companies.

In truth, the Mertens family's companies weere designed to fulfil the needs of Voedsel Industries, the company that started it all. In another way, one could say that they were vertical arms of Voedsel Industries, who wanted to expand their business.

What did this have to do with Lucas and the Seven Sparks Forge? It was simple; resources.

The Seven Sparks Forge store would no longer need to sorry about sourcing raw materials and items. Although Lucas didn't really need those as the system supported his needs, the system was unable to provide Lucas with certain high quality materials. All it gave him were materials the system considered 'low quality'.

While some of them were really valuable in Eretre —like the Purple Iridium metal— the true valuable metals and some other rare materials would have to be sourced by Lucas himself. As such, this partnership was quite helpful for Lucas as it would help him connect to the Kopen Trading Services and buy materials from them at a cheaper price. He could even commission the Blue Fenrir Group to find source more exotic items.

No matter how one looked at it, this partnership was good for the Seven Sparks Forge store.

"What a lucky bastard."

A low ranking vestige-smith stood outside of the Seven Sparks Forge store and snorted before walking away.

There were many others like him although they didn't stand outside the building and cursed.

Lucas' partnership with a big corporation like the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company garnered envy from all directions. To them, Lucas was just lucky. After all, it made no sense why a human was able to attract the attention of a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith and the head of the Mertens family. He was only a human so it would be a lie to say that Lucas was behind the SS vestiges. Some even began to think that it was the Grandmaster vestige-smith behind him.

Despite that, the reality was different.

For the laymen, the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company's partnership with Lucas' Seven Sparks Forge store might just seem like the latter supporting the former, but the higher-ups thought differently. In this partnership, both sides profited.

Lucas would be provided resources by the Dawn-Spring Arrow Company at a discount price, while the Mertens family would have a connection to Belfargos territory and a Tier 1 Grandmaster vestige-smith. They would also be able to enter not just the vestige-smith industry, but the premium side of the market thanks to Lucas.

From this, one could say that the Mertens family benefited more so from this deal than Lucas.

"The news is already making rounds. What should we do now?"

Inside an office in the Prestige Star Ltd's seventeen floors headquarter, the older of the two Oder sons reported to the family head.

Böjer Oder, the head of the Oder family, had his head down as he was going through the documents of the company.

His oldest son, Callivan, stood silently in front while waiting for a response.

After what felt like an eternity but was only just three minutes, Böjer raised his head and stared at his son.

The Oder family had two young masters from the main line. Maximillus, who was talented in vestige-smithing and praised as the family's technical genius, and Callivan, who was skilled in leadership, management and marketing.

These two were Böjer's source of pride, but at the same time, they were the source of his disappointment. While others might be happy having two talented children, Böjer was frustrated by the fact that the two brothers were polar opposites in terms of talent. Maximillus wasn't good at management or running a business while Callivan was average at vestige-smithing. Due to this, the topic of the family's next leader was a difficult one, after all, the Oder family's roots was in vestige-smithing, but Böjer needed the control of their business empire to be in the hands of the main branch.

In Böjer's opinion, it would have been much better if he had a single son with both good qualities. That way, he could concentrate the family's resources into raising the child as the perfect heir and the ultimate genius. But with his two sons, that couldn't be done.

Böjer brushed off his sentiments as he focused back on the topic at hand.

"Do as we planned and try to divide the public's opinion then have the others pressure the Mertens. Now that the city lord position is settled with, those greedy bastards might want to get into this mess. Make sure that we don't lose this opportunity." Böjer said.

"Yes, father."