Tamer of Cosmic Beasts

All of them arrived at Haji Tea's restaurant on the riverbank. As everyone sat down, Baghi was looking around the place. Haji Tea gave the order and asked his grandpa.

"Do you like it?"

Baghi Tea chuckled and commented.

"You dodgy little shit, when did you build this beautiful thing?"

"Haha, I made it right after I came here. I needed something to earn some income after all."

Haji Tea asked his wife.

"Honey, do you want to look around too? Let me show you."

Aisha blushed and replied.

"Umm, sure, honey."

Both stood up before Haji bowed towards Akash.

"My Liege, if you'll excuse us."

Akash didn't say anything and just nodded with a smile.

Mike looked at the departing couple and commented.

"Mr. Haji sure is a gentleman."

Baghi Tea responded.

"What gentleman, his willy was getting hard."

Mike shouted.

"Ehh!"

He looked at Akash.

"Is that true, lil' bro?"

Akash nodded.

"Yes, they are husband and wife. They have every right to enjoy each other's company."

"Ahem, let's move onto business, My Liege."

Baghi sat down and faced Akash.

Akash replied.

"I'm all ears, Earl Baghi."

"We need to do things step by step. First, we must improve Abran City before the 3rd tier tournament. With each win, our city's rank will rise and more people from other 3rd tier cities will visit here. As such, we must give them as high of a first impression as possible, it must look even more impressive than a normal 3rd tier city.

We have a lack of people rather than of funds at the moment. Thus, we need a real army of tamers as other cities likely won't take us surpassing them lightly. They will do anything to hinder us, including assassination, instigation of riots and spying.

Second, we need to demonstrate our power to the world. In the tournament, there will be plenty of powerful and famous tamers from all over the province. They might consider joining us if we show ourselves as very capable. In particular, independent tamers who do not belong to any faction will be our top priority.

Third, we need a defense system. A beast raid always comes to Abran, during the last months of every year, to be precise. The usual time of the beast raid is a month or two after the tournament but there is a possibility that they'll arrive during the tournament as well."

Akash was listening to every word of Baghi, fully focused.

"You are a brilliant man, Earl Baghi. I have thought of all these things beforehand and have also found their answers."

Baghi Tea was surprised.

"You did, My Liege?"

Akash nodded with a smile.

"Yes, for the first thing you said. We indeed need to improve Abran before the tournament, that's why I told you to call your family. I will explain once they've arrived."

As for the second thing, I will attract all of them, but I can assure you that we will get more enemies than friends in this tournament.

Lastly, the beast raid. There will be some new members joining our force, you will see them tomorrow. They will lead and protect the city until we can get back and kill what's left of the beasts."

"New members! May I ask which family they'll belong to?"

"They don't belong to this world. In fact, they are not human either."

Baghi Tea pondered and asked.

"My Liege, did you buy some rare races from the slave market?"

Akash eyes widened.

"There is a slave market here?"

Baghi nodded.

"Yes, there is, and a big one at that."

Akash wondered.

"Isn't slave trafficking only allowed on the Slave Trade Planet. It's governed by a coalition of powerful races, thus they govern all the rules of the slave trade."

Baghi Tea was shocked.

"My King, you are even more informed than myself. I don't know about the Slave Trade Planet, but I've heard from my own network of informants that the mayor of Slave City has connections to another planet.

But no one has dared to explore it further after the death of the man who revealed this information. This informant was killed ruthlessly, and no one has been able to find the perpetrator to this day."

Akash massaged his forehead with his fingers.

"I'm guessing they're not looking to hire people from other planets but rather, they're looking to expand their slave trade into them."

"That is a high possibility."

Baghi agreed.

Akash gave a grim look to Baghi and spoke.

"We need to visit that market, Earl Baghi."

Baghi grinned.

"You are in great luck then, My Liege. I've got reports that this tournament will be held in Slave City. They want to promote their slave market through this tournament and the media coverage that it will receive."

Akash laughed.

"Haha, you sure are a dangerous guy, Earl Baghi, keeping tabs on every important affair going on this world."

"I have to, My Liege. One must go to extreme lengths to survive in this kill or be killed world."

"Then, can you do this work for me?"

Baghi lowered his head and gave a fake smile.

"My King, I guess you still don't think of me as your sword. I am your subordinate, everything that is under my control is yours, including my own life."

Akash raised one eyebrow.

"You are right, I don't think of you as my sword."

Baghi Tea flinched. He didn't think that Akash would actually say something like that out loud. Mike was startled too as he was quietly listening to everything without disturbing them.

Akash continued.

"I think of you as my friend, Lord Baghi."

Baghi Tea was shocked as he stared at Akash Tagar motionless for a moment. Before long, he chuckled in response.

"Haha, a friend… It's been a while since someone stronger than me has called me his friend, I am touched by your benevolence, My Liege. Next time, just tell me without asking. A friend does not need to ask for permission."

"You are right, my friend. I want you to gather all the geniuses of this world, regardless of the provinces. However, choose only those who have been or are still being treated badly and are waiting for revenge. If they are good at any field, I will help them and bring them to my force."

Baghi with his flattery.

"What a marvellous idea, only a person of your calibre could have thought of it, My Liege. But there is a high possibility that it might piss off the bigshots who harassed and humiliated those people in the first place."

Akash smiled.

"It's alright, I will deal with them. Just give me any information you find."

Baghi quietly started thinking before suddenly standing up and slamming his hands on the table.

"My Liege..."

Akash's curiosity was piqued.

"Have you already thought of someone?"

"There is an unparallel genius."

Akash flinched.

"Where?"

"Coincidently, in the same Slave City, but we cannot buy him. He is incarcerated there as punishment for his crimes rather than being a slave."

"What's his name? Is he a real genius?"

"His name is Erwin Cloude and he is the innovator of a new weapon, guns."

"Guns? What are those?"

"A gun is a ranged weapon designed as a shooting tube called barrel to launch typically solid, liquid and gas projectiles. In simple words, it's a piece of ordnance usually with a high muzzle velocity and comparatively flat trajectory

Humans were at the bottom of the food chain, compared to other races. Everyone was worried about how to make humanity powerful. Thus, a genius scientist proposed the idea of guns. Everyone was astonished as his idea was completely unheard of. Yet, he quickly proved its veracity by making one with extremely powerful explosive effects. That man was Erwin Cloude also known as the God of Guns."

Akash was astonished as well.

"A person of such calibre is imprisoned in Slave City? What was his crime?"

Baghi Tea sighed.

"There wasn't any."

Akash's eyes widened.

"Earl Baghi, what do you mean?"

"Erwin was in love with a woman, who was an otherworldly beauty known as Miss Province. Many people envied and hated Erwin when she accepted his marriage approval. Unfortunately, just a few weeks after their marriage, while he was working away in his gun factory, a few tamers broke into his house and abducted his wife.

They weren't aware that their faces were caught by the camera, particularly their leader's face who was the son of Slave City's mayor. After this, Erwin went to the mayor and begged for the return of his abducted wife but they completely denied his allegations, even when he said that he had proof.

And subsequently, he was arrested by the mayor's people. During all of this, they burned his house down and some even say they later raped his wife in front of him and killed her afterwards.

Later, he somehow he escaped and killed everyone involved in his wife's murder. Including the mayor's son. As a result of this, his moniker changed from the God of Guns to Crazy Gunslinger.

The mayor, who was at the realm of a Star King, in rage-filled wrath, broke his limbs and imprisoned him in Slave City, where he remains to this day."

Akash started to tremble in rage. His bestial form started to appear. Baghi Tea was horrified by this unexpected burst of wrath. Thankfully, Akash calmed himself just in time and huffed.

"How can they do something like this to a person, who has given the human race such a priceless treasure…"

"People are evil, My King. You are too young, perhaps you're not used to the cruelty of the world."

Akash shook his head.

"I can guarantee you that I am not too young. Something similar happened to me as well, Erwin's story just made me remember those memories."

Baghi asked Akash

"What's your plan, My King?"

Akash replied dominantly.

"We will save Erwin Cloude."

Baghi Tea gave a wicked smirk again.

"Hehe, I'm getting goosebumps already, My Liege."