Chapter 205: Then call it Soul Destroyer!
After a short conversation, Han Shuo understood that Trunks had already gathered several dozen original Rainbow Sickle mercenaries to take on Florida. These people hadn’t entered the valley yet, but were staying in a mountain cave on the outskirts of the valley and waiting for Trunks’ orders.
Trunks was part of the Rainbow Sickles before and had a treasure trove of experiences being a mercenary. He was well versed in the operations of a mercenary band, and only lacked the funds to register a mercenary band and to maintain its daily operations. Phoebe controlled the Boozt Merchant Guild, and there were many opportunities to earn money from the that guild alone. In addition, the Boozt Merchant Guild was quite well off and it could certainly temporarily fill in the gap of capital.
Emily had an enormous intelligence network within the Dark Mantle. With her position and role, she could absolutely supply much valuable information to Han Shuo and Trunks.
Not only was Emily quite excited about their conversation, but so was Phoebe highly interested as well. Han Shuo was well acquainted with Trunks’ abilities and strength. Han Shuo knew that once the mercenary band was created and running, their business wouldn’t be too poor.
“Trunks, give me an estimate of how much gold you’re still short on?” Han Shuo looked at Trunks and asked.
Han Shuo and Phoebe had both expressed strong interest up to the point. As the owner of the Boozt Merchant Guild, it wasn’t difficult for Phoebe to resolve the issues with lack of funding. Now that Trunks heard Han Shuo ask the critical question, he responded with some excitement, “Registration depends on the number of members, and each member’s salary, equipment, weapons, and horses, as well as the band’s facilities will need gold coins.”
“Only fifty to sixty people have currently come forth to the Valley of Sunshine. They were all the key members of the Rainbow Sickles before. Using them as a base to form a new mercenary band, we’ll need to put forth only twenty thousand gold coins in the beginning. We may need to add to that in the future according to member strength and numbers, but once our mercenary band’s reputation is set and we have stable partners we work with, not only will we not need to further invest in more gold, we’ll be able to save money and slowly increase our strength!”
Han Shuo looked at Phoebe and then at Trunks, smiling faintly, “I had great gains during our last trip in the Dark Forest. I think I can set up the mercenary band with the wealth I amassed last time.”
Han Shuo had obtained large amounts of gems and crystals from the dark elves and lizard men during his trip to the underground world. Not to mention his last haul of jewels from the Forest Trolls’ sacred ground, which had been even greater than the last batch he’d handed over to Phoebe. When Han Shuo took out all the wealth he’d collected during this time, Phoebe, Emily, and Trunks were all stunned and flabbergasted!
The many splendid colors sparkled from the gems and beautiful jade beneath the light of the lamps. There was a small mountain’s worth of wealth, and even wealthy folk such as Emily and Phoebe were momentarily stunned by the sight.
“Oh, my gosh, where did you get all this? Emily cried out in astonishment as shock was written all over her face.
“You already offered a pile of treasure last time, and this time’s has been even greater. Exchanging this amount of treasure into gold coins would net you fifty thousand gold coins at a minimum, where did you get this from?” Phoebe was similarly surprised.
After being momentarily stunned, Trunks shook his head with a wry smile, “I spent three years in the Dark Forest and hunted hundreds of magical creatures, but only made less than ten thousand gold coins. You kid are certainly impressive!”
“Change all of this into gold coins for me, then take thirty thousand as the initial investment into Trunks’ mercenary band. Keep the rest with you so that you can collect the items I need!” Han Shuo smiled faintly and spoke to Phoebe.
Han Shuo had already quite trust Phoebe before they’d confirmed their relationship, and now that they’d had touched each other intimately, he naturally had even fewer reservations. Phoebe also felt that Han Shuo’s trust was quite par for the course, and nodded in acceptance. She laughed softly, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle everything for you. The Valley of Sunshine is the best place to conduct transactions, I’ll turn all these items into gold coins for you over the next two days!”
When Emily saw that Han Shuo had handed over such an enormous amount of wealth without reservation to Phoebe, she became noticeably jealous. But she knew that as the owner of the Boozt Merchant Guild, It was most reasonable for Phoebe to undertake this matter, so there was not much else she could do.
“Eh? Where did you get this bow?” Trunks suddenly walked over with an odd expression on his face as Phoebe was putting all the items away into her space ring. He picked up a bow with bizarre patterns and turned to ask Han Shuo.
Han Shuo suddenly remembered that this bow was from the dark elves when Trunks posed this question to him. The original holder had expended all his life force to shoot one arrow and cause great injury to Gilbert. After Han Shuo had obtained this bow, he didn’t come to any conclusion after some research. Add tot that his lack of desire to expend his life force in shooting the bow, he’d thrown it into his space ring without further question.
“I got it from the hands of a dark elf family in the underground world. This bow is quite odd, it seems to be able to absorb one’s life force to shoot a frightening arrow!” Han Shuo explained.
“Oh my gosh, legends speak of a bow cursed by Rose, that should be it! The legends say that the evil goddess Rose of the dark elves once cursed this bow so that it would absorb the life force of the wilder to shoot out an arrow of terrifying force. Usually, only perverse folks who wish to seek revenge at the cost of their own life would use it!” Emily exclaimed as she’d heard of the legends of this bow.
“Indeed, this is the bow. However, I heard that this bow was a marvelous treasure that could increase thunder magic before it was cursed. If thunder mages held the bow, they could use it to shoot out astounding electricity with great power.” Trunks explained to Han Shuo as he held onto the bow.
“Keep it, maybe someone will be able to cleanse it of its curse in the future. If the curse is removed, then this bow will become a treasure that thunder mages fight over!” Emily thought for a moment an said to Han Shuo.
It wasn’t likely that many would dare buy a bow that absorbs the wielder’s life force anyways. As a magical cultivator, Han Shuo would be able to use his own magical yuan to create formations and forge magical weapons as his strength increased. Perhaps he’d be able to cleanse the curse on it in the future.
Therefore, Han Shuo nodded to Emily’s words and put the bow away, “Alright, perhaps we can possibly use an altar in the future to communicate with the evil goddess so that she’ll remove it. Let’s try int he future!”
After obtaining Clarendon’s memories, Han Shuo understood a bit about communicating with evil gods. The basic principle was that as long as you could supply something that the evil god wanted, you’d be able to receive a corresponding boon from the evil deity. This was actually just a sort of business transaction.
The sparkling and gleaming jewels had been stored into Phoebe’s space ring in a short span of time. Han Shuo thought for a moment and took out another set of dwarf forged weapons, handing over a heavy battle axe to Trunks. Han Shuo smiled, “What do you think about this quality?”
Trunks’ eyes had already started gleaming when Han Shuo had taken out the weapons. He picked up the battle axe without another word. As he waved it around once, a howling sound emitted from the battle axe’s shining surface. There was a natural wave of cold killing intent emanating from the battle axe as Trunks held it in his hands.
“This is great! Where did you get it?” Trunks was delighted as he looked at Han Shuo.
“The dwarves forged all of these weapons. Perhaps there will be something within this pile that’s suitable for our comrades!” Han SHuo smiled faintly.
“Haha, I think they’ll like it. Dwarf forged weapons are renowned in the lands. I knew these were no ordinary items when you took them out just now!” Trunks happily accepted these weapons and placed them into his space ring.
He was quiet for a bit and then looked seemingly carelessly at Han Shuo, smiling, “Chief, everything is ready now, and we just await a striking name from you!”
Han Shuo started after hearing these words, then smiled and waved his hands, “I just need to be vice chief, that’s enough for me. The real chief should be you, you decide the band’s name!”
Trunks had been wreathed in smiles just now when he suddenly grew serious and declined gravely, “You must be the chief of the mercenary band. This matter isn’t open for discussion. I’d rather decline your good intention if you refuse and nothing we’ve talked about before will count for anything.”
Emily and Phoebe had actually wanted to ask a long time ago who was the owner of the mercenary band. However, it wasn’t the thing to do to actually open one’s mouth and discuss this, so they’d kept things in and had planned on taking some time out to discuss with Han Shuo.
To the two girls, they would only help the mercenary band if the band was Han Shuo’s. They were unfamiliar with Trunks, and naturally didn’t have any relationship with him. Although Han Shuo and Trunks seemed close, they were naturally unwilling to put their lives on the line for Trunks.
The two girls paid a great deal of attention after Trunks brought up what was troubling them. Their beautiful eyes looked between Han Shuo and Trunks continuously, anxiously waiting for their decision.
“Trunks, I know nothing about the formation and management of a mercenary band. It’s a bit inappropriate if I’m the chief!” Han Shuo truly didn’t know what a mercenary band needed.
“No worries, you just need to give general guidelines orders. I can take care of everything else for you as vice chief. Bryan, Miss Phoebe and Madame Emily will help me only if you’re the chief. I don’t have the charisma to obtain their support!” Trunks self deprecated and winked at Han Shuo.
“Eh, since this is the case, don’t continue to decline!” Emily wasn’t awkward at all, as if Trunks’ words had been quite ordinary.
Phoebe also nodded with a remote expression and turned to Han Shuo, “That’s right, I’ll only help this mercenary band unconditionally if you’re the chief.”
“Alright, men should be more decisive. Hurry and decide on the mercenary band’s name so I can go register it and officially give my brothers a new home!” Trunks looked at Han Shuo and urged him onwards.
Han Shuo was actually more aware than anyone of the circumstances at hand. When he saw that all that needed to be taken care of had been decided, he no longer hesitated and nodded his head in agreement. “Alright, then call it the Soul Destroyer mercenary band!”
“You’re so fake! You even thought of the name already and said you didn’t want the position. You had to make a show of declining, so shameless!” Trunks couldn’t help but laugh and yell at Han Shuo when he heard Han Shuo immediately give out a name.
Emily and Phoebe both looked askance at Han Shuo. They too hadn’t expected that Han Shuo would think of a name so quickly. They then understood that Han Shuo had long since had intentions of taking control of the mercenary band, and he’d put on a show of declining just now.
“He’s always been this shameless!” Emily and Phoebe both deeply agreed with Trunks’ words and actually opened their mouths to say the same thing.
When they finished speaking, they discovered that they’d actually voiced the exact same words. This made them quite amused as they started giggling softly.
“Alright, let’s call it the Soul Destroyer mercenary band. I’m going to go about my business now, you guys can too!” Trunks said.