Building An Empire Starting From The Labor Camp In Exile-Chapter 304: War!!

Atrox dismissed the man’s apologies. From his mind, he could already see the type of destruction that could be caused by the enchanted rods.

"How many can you produce? Have you produced?"

The man shook his head. "With the cost, we have nothing more than thirty-six of these produced at the moment."

Atrox turned to him. "I need you to give me a thousand of the enchanted rods."

The Chairman stared at Atrox blankly. "What?"

"My Lord, it seems you don’t understand. It takes close to a hundred million just to make one of these. If not for your support, then we wouldn’t be able to make the thirty-six."

Atrox narrowed his eyes. A plan was already taking place in his mind. "Can the enchanted rod be stored with essence stones instead of using personal essence?"

The Chairman nodded slowly. "Yes. We can store it with essence stones and the likes." He hesitated. "My Lord, I actually came up with a business... side project of my own. I was able to make a battery using three hundred million gold coins worth of essence stones to make it.

"If this battery is used with the rod, then they would have up to ten minutes of straight shooting. And the best part is that they can change the battery."

Atrox winced a little at that. Indeed, enchanted tools aren’t easy and cheap to make. He was forced to shrink the plan he was building in his mind. He shook his head. "And why, Chairman, didn’t you tell me about the battery earlier?

"I thought I would have to need a thousand of the rods to outfit my soldiers so they would be able to interchange during battle, but now, this battery of yours will change everything. Do you only have to make it in the rod style..."

Suddenly, Atrox’s eyes widened as he turned to the Chairman.

The Chairman, who couldn’t help it, took a step backwards when he saw the look on Atrox’s face. Atrox began to laugh. "You know what, I have an idea that you are going to like and our enemies are going to hate. Why didn’t I think about this before?"

Not far from where they stood talking, Tiber and Slya shared looks. Atrox had an idea? It can’t be anything good.

Atrox continued to talk. "It’s really impressive, now that I think about it. I will use the massive wealth of the Soryu Clan and my own self to build something that hasn’t been done before in this place.

"Seems Takoda won’t be the only one to work for the enchantress, eh." Atrox was mumbling to himself, leaving everyone else to stare at each other in surprise. "Let’s see, Chairman, you will need to update your battery and make it more sophisticated."

The Chairman could only stare at Atrox. And he suddenly wondered why he was sweating coldly.

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Eirikr was in a really good but weary mood. Unlike before, he wasn’t wearing tattered robes. Instead, he wore only trousers. His upper body was left bare, covered in a layer of glistening oil. He sat in his throne.

The throne was like the desert sand was melted down and then made directly into the throne. From the way it stood, it was almost as if it grew directly from the ground like a tree.

Looking at it, it seemed like an ordinary throne, but Eirikr, who was sitting on it, felt as if he was looking at the whole desert from the sky, and with a thought, he could direct where waters should go or disappear from.

A long drake was wrapped around him and the throne.

Below his platform sat men and women that made up the Akatsuki. They were chiefs of their cities.

And it was in the middle of that that Svenjar’s body lay in a coffin.

"My son is dead," Eirikr said. His eyes were gleaming as if he was pleased with the fact. "Killed by the Soryu Clan."

Someone from the chiefs shook their head. "It doesn’t make sense. The Soryu should be doing everything to avoid our attention. How come they killed our young master?"

Eirikr twitched. Everyone knew that he didn’t like Svenjar, but even then, who would dare say it to his face that he killed anyone?

"Halvar. You were his guard. Let them know what happened."

But before Halvar could speak, another chief stood up. "My Lord, why is the young master dead and Master Knight Halvar still alive?"

Inwardly, Eirikr growled. Normally, he just did what he wanted, but he needed the forces of the chiefs. He knew something like that was best not acquired through threat, because what if they turned on him during the battle?

Eirikr nodded and gestured. Halvar turned her back and then she did a quick flash of her back to show the still-healing wounds. "It was only through brute strength I was able to escape."

They didn’t doubt her story after that. She said they were both poisoned before the attack came, but in reality, Eirikr was the one to personally give her such wounds.

He didn’t tell them about the Grandmaster Knight because he was still in shock as well. It was something he completely had no plans over, something he didn’t even think would ever occur. A graduate showing up and then killing his son.

That was what made him so weary. There was now a powerful threat in the equation. But one thing he knew for sure was that the Grandmaster wasn’t from the Soryu, or else there wouldn’t be any need for tricks like that. They would have tried attacking immediately.

"...a third party that wanted us to fight... the appearance of the Grandmaster points at the High Clans of Kanji... but what do they want? What do they stand to gain..."

That was an answer that Eirikr didn’t have. For now.

"Then we will declare war!" one of the chiefs shouted.

"Yes! Those Soryu have grown fat in their arrogance!"

Eirikr shook his head sadly. "As the clan leader of the Akatsuki and a mourning father, I declare war on the Soryu Clan!"