The ledgers to settle every day were so much that the bookkeeping council had sub councils-fifty of them!
These were the actual scribers. The bookkeeping council only reviewed the
existing ledgers.
All this to make sure that the figures were set straight.
With it, Fredrick was able to calculate the precise amount of income they earned, and remainder-it increased every day!
That came about…'A hundred thousand platinum'
The normal amount was anywhere between a hundred and fifteen thousand to two hundred and twenty five platinum-which was the record highest.
But that aside, a hundred thousand platinum per day! Just how?!
They'd been splurging on investments for the past seven years, now they were collecting their returns.
But the best thing about income generating items was-they never stop producing income!
A shop bought and remodelled for seventeen thousand gold would not stop producing money even after that seventeen thousand gold had been earned back.
No, it kept pumping out money.
This was where the term infinite returns was derived.
Another thing. Black Jaws was still tax exempted for the next three years!
Using the opportunity, Fredrick dedicated half of their everyday income to paying off the loan's interest-which was one tenth the loan amount-and then getting rid of the loan.
So by the end of a thousand fifty days, three years to be exact, they'd have gotten rid of loan interest.
No…Fredrick thought, doing a bit of math, a smile came upon him.
'We should be able to pay this off before mid next year'
But by the end of his calculations, he was speechless.
'Hoo…we're making a lot of money…but to think we'd be able to pay it off by this year's end'
He nodded in elation.
Of course, for a guild of Black Jaws size, cutting off half of the profits affected them significantly.
In any case, anyone who wants to see his goal through has to be ready to sacrifice.
After making sure the weekly pay of all lower council members and slaves were ready, the rest was reinvested into the guild.
The guild members were promptly informed that they wouldn't be receiving any pay for the next three months, which had them holler, but they quietened when they were told the reason.
Thankfully, with Black Jaws branching in almost every business sector, there was no question on where to eat, where to fix armour, where to buy clothes, and soon enough-where to send their kids!
That's right, with Ezra's instructions Fredrick had begun talks with the royal family on building Niton's third academy!
It was a project set to begin as soon as the skyscraper was opened.
The Skyscraper was finished, but is kept closed, covered at all sides with long black sheets.
He could open it today, but wait, who would head it? Who would guard it? Who would maintain it?
All these were things he was finding answers to. Once the answers are found, the Skyscraper would officially open.
At the same time, he was working out details of the academy's construction.
They had land, capital was in place, all that remained was approval from the royal family.
Of course, Fredrick was sure they'd get it. Ezra provided justification-Niton had only two academy's, those weren't nearly enough for the massive youth populace.
More importantly, there was going to be directed towards commoners since they were the party unprivileged to such access.
Plans were being made, blueprints being drawn and connections being made to make sure the approval came through.
Then, most of Black Jaws elders-which were members of the higher councils including Cabrera and Kron-stayed out in the guild house.
It should be obvious from the scale of progress. Black Jaws had a lot of enemies.
Also, the scale of progress projected to the outside world was far below the real thing.
How so? With Sebastian at the helm, Black Silence bought about a quarter of their lands and businesses posing as normal ones.
Simply put, the owners knew Black Jaws had bought it, but no one else did.
Their sellers signed a soul contract-so there wasn't any doubt that anybody would be finding out soon.
This was clearly illegal, but who cared?!
The money Black Jaws bought these places was beyond worth it.
The ledgers of their places were separately recorded by Black Silence members, and kept at a place different from normal shops.
And unlike normal shops, these ones aren't renovated, because that would be alerting others to said shop.
Then, the income from these were kept separately, dubbed the backup reserve. And only Fredrick and Sebastian knew of it.
Even more interesting was that they never revealed their identity to the sellers.
So in case of anything, they'd clean everything up, and more importantly, they sellers won't be able to drop any names.
About thirty five of such shops had been found out.
You know what happened next? The owners-sellers-were taken to cells for crimes against the royal family and then tortured for the name of the buyer.
That shop would then be seized by the royal family.
At this point, Black Jaws would jump in at this point and then purchase it back from them, and this time-legally!
If it so happened that someone else bid for it, and the royal family sought to favour him, Black Jaws simply changed tactics, hiring thieves who scourged the said shop for all its worth.
No matter what, if they couldn't recoup profits, they'd break even. Loss was not a word with Black Jaws.
To make sure things never got dicey and Masters began tracking them down, the thieves were sent only after the shop was sold.
It'd be foolish to underestimate the royal family or any great family for that matter-they'd been around for at least a century.
Another thing was members of lower councils lived in slums.
Renovated slums now-which was also where Black Jaws built its bases.
This was done to limit their interaction with outsiders.
You couldn't know friends from enemies, and Black Jaws rather be safer than sorry.
It would be disastrous if a lower council leaked information to enemies, and likewise, they could monitor them carefully for traitors and spies.
In this world of strong eat weak. One mistake could send Black Jaws tumbling-Fredick wasn't going to let that happen.
This was why Black Jaws bought beast regions and had their shops lined up by one another, they were different, and they had to make that difference clear.
It started with their belief, which was that commoners deserved to be catered for, deserved to be opportuned, deserved to live better lives.
Everything they did after was made to mirror this belief.
For one, Guild members. Nobles were unallowed to join the guild.
If you really wanted in, you had to officially throw away the nobility title. Then, you could achieve it back while rendering merits for the guilds, that was the only way it was allowed.
Sure enough, the nobles pushed against it fiercely. In their eyes, it was an insurmountable atrocity, but Black Jaws made it known that their actions were nobody's business, and that made commoners love them more, creating a distinct line.All those allying themselves knew what they were getting themselves into.
To be fair, this belief was only put in place AFTER Fredrick became a Grandmaster.
If they dared to do this before that, they'd have been ripped apart from all sides.
Other things followed, the skill level of their guild members, the production of their goods, the quality of the goods produced, the quality of the services they rendered, the location of their shops, their allies, their enemies, it became a literal mindset, an ideology that broke boundaries.
One that was gaining followers all over Lexon, and it was already spreading beyond it.
The only thing against it was them being part of the royal faction, but that was justified that the royals also wanted to see the lives of commoners-actually, Nitonians in general-improve as well.
The people weren't easily convinced, but they went on to prove this justification by citing the loan relief that allowed the massive projects to come into place.
That was enough to settle their doubts.
Funny enough, the Emperor gained more fame from this than anything he'd ever done.
It was mind boggling.
It was what Ezra had witnessed before, rather than the minor nobility, the power really stood in the waves of majority.
But being in disharmony made that power fade.
When that power was concentrated…well, you have this situation.
All throughout Lexon, either praising or bad mouthing it didn't matter. Someone was mentioning Black Jaws, no, their sailors mentioned them on the sea, and those they mentioned them to would go and mention them in other continents.
Along with Black Jaws, Fredrick's was tossed around, sometimes by Cabrera and Kron and even the Halobren family as well.
News of their belief stirred hope in many, forcing their body from idleness as they began journeying from wherever they may be, and equally stirred up resentment, rage and dread from many more.
In fact, they were already getting attacks from enemies covertly.
It was only covert because they had a buffer zone.
With Black Silence's network, the perpetrators were quickly identified.
After counter striking, Black Jaws would hide behind the royal family by reporting the enemy while bringing evidence.
The effectiveness of the buffer zone was determined by the power of the royal family. To attack it was attacking the prestige of the royal family so the Emperor couldn't sit still.
The attackers were mostly criminals and mercenaries, but Sebastian was able to catch their bait and draw it far enough to see the real enemies.
The small timers were figureheads, the real enemies were the great families.
Considering Black Jaws propaganda, that was no surprise.
But Fredrick couldn't be happier.
After getting evidence of the involvement of a great family-he forced the royal family into confrontation!
Unless stupid, he knew very well that the Emperor wasn't a friend, and it was always good tire your enemies out by having them fight each other.
More importantly, with the Emperor there, Black Jaws got permission to attack without having their buffer zone stripped.
I tell you, the great family instantly regretted it.
Rather than any physical nonsense, Black Silence was dispatched, and like the name, they moved silent.
Poison was spread, one of the many created. It was used as a test trial.
Least to say, it worked magic. Killing members of their city and the noble estate.
The family's heir lost his life, but since Black Jaws involvement couldn't be proven, they couldn't do anything and it was labelled a plague.
It was dubbed The Emerald plague.
Named so because victims grew shiny green spots on their body, after three weeks of infection, showing that the poison was gaining ground, after which the infection spread further and faster, killing most in three months, thus Emerald.
Moreover, Black Jaws claimed no involvement, citing that they were getting ready to send their troops, and so no one was able to refute.
Rumours spread that it was another family that attacked.
Regardless, the attacks on Black Jaws reduced substantially after that.
Sebastian thought it was a shame.
'I would liked to try out some other poisons'
