From the day Fredrick advanced to grandmaster, Black Jaws developed in quantum leaps.
The prestige and might grandmasters represent is no joke.
While most 'thought' they understood this-they actually didn't understand-Fredrick included.
That word 'grandmaster' slapped into his name literally changed the game.
If before, they had to exert a lot of effort to do something-now it happened without much effort.
Within the first week of attaining the grandmaster title, Black Jaws explosively expanded not much in territory as they did in influence.
For one the Emperor's plan to attack them was squashed.
Even if he had justification-it took a lot to kill a grandmaster.
The land of the last grandmaster battle was burnt, scorched and now barren of new plants.
Not to mention the resistance he'd face.
Except for Getrahan and one more, he couldn't guarantee the loyalty of the rest.
The attack on Avilla worked because they had something to gain.
Had the presence of mana stones been found out. It would've devolved into all out slaughter between Lexon's grandmasters-and maybe more!
The results of such a battle were unfathomable. It wasn't beyond speculation that the continent could be cut in half.
Thankfully that didn't happen.
The damage surroundings suffer from grandmaster battles is inestimable.
With Fredrick living Traxford now-because he'd moved from Kingsmere to give the Emperor his space.
The least case scenario would be to have half of Kingsmere and the whole of Traxford destroyed.
Then, the war just ended, hundreds of thousands were still mourning their dead.
This would be adding salt to a heavy wound and many things would go awry.
Deep wound because it was the Emperor that prolonged the stupid war in the first place and then-it was Black Jaws who came out to help the devasted, the helpless and the oppressed!
Oh! And let's not forget the 'buffer zone' they still have.
Honestly, they were just the worst people to have as enemies right now.
The Emperor didn't need insurmountable odds at the moment.
Last but not least, the Black Jaws are part of the royal faction-which seemed to be the only silver lining of the situation.
They wanted anything- they talked to the crown.
In this way the Emperor was able to put a leash on them, although a weak one.
His guts told that Black Jaws-the place that created a grandmaster in less than ten years after being founded-was serious trouble.
And trouble turned into problems sooner or later.
Problems left unsolved would only fester-becoming bigger problems!
But what could he do? It was like the heavens created them to be tribulations for him.
Andrew massaged his aching head.
For a grandmaster to have headaches-it sounded like a funny joke, yet here he was.
Putting the case of Black Jaws aside for later, he dives into the next big thing.
The planned assassination of his youngest!
That he could solve fast-and he was going to.
His men were already on the move, some tracing the carriage, the route Ezra passed while others looked into the movements of his wives.
Everyone was a suspect. Everyone who had something to gain.
As Fredrick's grandmaster title cemented, he was presented with gifts beyond gifts, offers from multiple places.
Clans and guilds that would have shun him in the past came begging for a chance to come and join him.
Some as subsidiary guilds, others as partners.
Being too greedy was bad. Moderation was key.
First things first, he sifted through who the things he needed, he picked thirty from every category. Next, he had Black silence begin routine checks on every one of these groups.
He gave preference to veterinary high rank mercenaries-those of masters and a few Experts-amounting to eight.
He appointed them as the training chiefs-taking a lot of load off Kron's and Cabrera's shoulders.
With a healthy wage pay and free rein in the way of training-which was to avoid extreme things-their enthusiasm jumped through the roof.
With Sebastian done, he sieved out those coming to take a bite out of what they thought to be their big piece of pie.
For others… 'What are their interests? And are they in line with ours?'
This didn't come from him, but from the team of merchants they brought together with Halobren as head.
Now, few of those groups remain.
The next sieve was qualification. Record of missed missions, failures and successes.
Then, they do routine checks on members individually. Suspicious individuals are identified, the group is told to rid themselves of that person to be accepted.
Lastly, they go through specialized tests and are then accepted.
A tedious process, but one that Black Jaws oversubscribed-as it will be for years to come.
Then, many of the previous members were thrown out.
With Fredrick's fame having people crawl to his call, slum dwellers who weren't yielding enough were dismissed.
Many were taken from the division of adventurers and sent to learn a profession from those acquiesced.
Fredrick got to realize what the real definition of efficiency was.
Rather than the previous strategy, to run their shops, they now only accept those who have at least a year and half of experience in it.
Their expectations were shattered once more and it was jaw dropping to see just how many skilled people lay in remote places.
Things were setting into place faster than they'd thought possible.
Meaning changes occurred rapidly.
They had to restructure the chain of hierarchy and add new ones.
Now, you had an overall head of the shops with a particular city. Those shops-categorized by their products-had representatives who report to this head thrice a month-the first, the third and the fifth weekends to report on proceedings and hand him ledgers of all transactions at the end of the month.
Of every ledger, a copy is made and saved somewhere beyond the knowledge of those below.
Those other, the overall head then sends to the Black Jaws' elder merchants or the council of Goldmasters to evaluate, compare and review.
To be clear, there are two councils. One for the old, another for the youth.
The old consisted with the likes of Halobren, two trusted friends of his, and other recruited merchants.
One was an old legend they found thanks to Ezra's memories.
They were five.
The other consisted of Nathan, Carlos Halobren, William-the miser-and two others, also five.
Note, before the ledger reaches either of the two councils it passes through lower merchant circles-because the higher circles hate dealing with numbers for some reason (?)
Lower merchant circles were created to deal with 'specified' sectors of the business.
Basically, the higher councils dealt with the overall situation while the lower one's battled with the details.
So, the ledgers went to the council of bookkeepers. Every ledger went through the eyes of all five members before it was put away.
Of course, the higher ones also go into detail-just not as much.
You had a council for the carriage business, another for the wine, another for rearing the beasts, another for the artifacts that process food, another for one that harvests crops, another for acquiring beast regions, another for dealing with taverns dilapidation, another for herb gathering, another for potion concoction and so much more.
It was thanks to peak quality potions, herbs, and of course liquor, that any of the councils were still functioning.
Especially top levels, Kron, Cabrera and Fredrick who overlooked the process.
They discovered too late the largest disadvantage of starting big.
The workload was overwhelming!
All three learnt so much jargon that they would have never known before now.
It was lazy Cabrera's idea to form lower councils-what a superb idea that was!
Since they were the largest in the market-in all markets, they attracted tons of talent…thankfully.
Then, one person knows someone who's good at something that just happened to cause problems so they bring him in.
That someone brings his team or comes solo.
Days later, there's another problem in a different type of area entirely, and that new someone knows someone who knows someone that might be able to help.
That's how most lower councils formed.
Efficiency skyrocketed.
Black Jaws has money. Most of these lower council members are commoners-a few silver would be enough.
Thirty silver per week and they. Are. Set!
Thirty silver!
Thirty silver more than to cover the week's expenses.
Most councils have five members. Black Jaws has a bit over three hundred lower councils and counting.
This number accumulated over the years of war.
So, they pay thirty silver each to at least fifteen thousand people every week.
That's 5,000 gold every week!
A measly three thousand, of course, but the public doesn't know that, well they think they do, but they don't.
Even if they did, it's easy to see why Black Jaws was so reputed even before Fredrick became a grandmaster.
After all, Black Jaws could have a far lower price for their services and they would have got no chance but to yield.
Remember, this is just for the lower council members.
Higher council members get ten times that.
When you add in the weekly wages of the guild members-both combat and production department-which are more than sixty thousand and are never paid less than forty silver. Not to mention the shop workers and the carriage coaches, the ship builders, the sailors and so many more…you've got mind blowing expenses.
But then, when you rewind and realize that they have more than sixty thousand people that kill, buy or sell beasts for them EVERYDAY, both on land AND on sea. That they have fifteen thousand people that wake up to solve their business problems for them EVERYDAY…you've got nuclear income!
It's insane, no, not the amount, but the rate it keeps growing.
At the very least, like the smallest speculation, they'd be earning ten thousand platinum everyday.
Now, Fredrick's was rich.
From this perspective, it's easy to see why the Emperor is fearful of them.
Subsequently why Ezra trained like hell just thinking of what kind of enemies they'd become if they ever turned their backs on him.
He saw a chance and took it, because of that, he's a Master at twelve. It couldn't get better than that.
For Black Jaws though. At the rate it's going they'd become Transcendents of the economy, rivalling, if not overpowering the great nobles AND the royal family within a century!
