Chapter 104: The Association’s Corruption

“Alright, I will send a copy of all the books related to healing we have in the association’s library to you later.”

That was a slight effort to Tar as he had free access to any document or book in the library. Usually, accessing those books was very expensive for normal people, but Tar couldn’t charge money to Yale as he knew how his master had felt towards him.

“Take this badge; even an elder would be unable to touch you if you show it to them. If you want to contact me, just put your energy in the badge, and you will be able to use telepathy to talk with me as long you are inside the Zuatania Republic. It also had a summon function if you break it, I will be summoned to your place as long you hadn’t left this continent. Your current strength is still too weak; you need to be careful when you leave the city. I won’t be able to follow you as I need to take care of the association, but if your life is in danger don’t doubt in break the badge.”

Tar felt that helping Yale was like helping his master, as he was sure that Zuatania would have helped Yale even more if she were alive.

“Oh, I almost forget. Regarding those corrupted fellows who schemed against you, I will take care of them soon. We have obtained enough proofs against them thanks to your victory in that challenge; it is time to do some cleaning in the association.”

The identity badge the man had shown when asking for a punishment for Yale’s group was the proof Tar needed to punish the corrupted faction.

They publicly tried to cripple Yale, and they also wanted to turn him into a half-beast and then sell him as a slave. Yale was protected by Zuatania’s will, as the owner of the sword, trying to do such things to him were a death penalty.

Thus, as there were no doubts about who was behind the man who showed the badge, those corrupted fellows could be executed without more investigation.

Tar had known that they were doing shady things for a long time, but he lacked a good evidence to punish them, as they were always cautious with their acts. However, they had never expected that the small company they ordered his subordinates to attack was founded by someone who was protected by the association’s founder.

The rules in the association were strict; they used them to avoid being punished because without enough proof people of their position couldn’t be punished. However, the rules also say that if someone broke the law without knowing that they were breaking it, they would still be punished, so even if they didn’t know Yale’s status when decided to act against his company, they were still guilty.

In fact, those corrupted fellows weren’t interested in Yale or the Frost Wolf Company; they had planned to absorb the Thousand Roses Company to boost their subsidiary company helping it to rank up, with that their influence in the association would have grown. That bit of growth wasn’t crucial to them; they were increasing their influence bit a bit, trying to avoid being noticed.

The Thousand Roses Company was the gold rank company with the least background and thus the easiest to absorb. Therefore, they entrusted Julie to help the Frost Wolf Company gifting a building and planned the challenge to the Frost Wolf Company when they tried to rank up, that way they could easily obtain half of the Thousand Roses Company.

They had chosen the Frost Wolf Company as cover due to being rookies who caught some attention at their first day, and also because they knew that the Frost Wolf Company wouldn’t reject a challenge with a give up clause that forced them giving Wyba to the other party.

They had access to Wyba’s identification document issued when she entered the city. Thus, they knew that she was a life-bound beast and that the Frost Wolf Company wouldn’t reject the challenge no matter how unfair it was as they couldn’t give Wyba to the others. After all, failing to fulfill the conditions after giving up would turn them into criminals.

To those elders, that challenge was a mere step to increase their subordinates power a bit, as for harming the newly created Frost Wolf Company in the process they didn’t mind. They had crushed a lot of small companies, one more or one less wasn’t something they would care.

They had never expected that such puny challenge, which they didn’t even go to see, would turn in their biggest mistake that would break all their plans.

Tar had a particular position due to being the last disciple of the association’s founder and the strongest expert in the Zuatania Republic, but given how the association worked, with enough support, they would be able to obstruct him and steal his authority. That was their objective, controlling the Zuatania Merchant Association and use it to control the whole republic.

They didn’t like a country system in which those who put effort could become stronger; they wanted an authoritarian country where they would control everything and anyone.

Thanks to how the association worked, those elders had a lot of chances to accomplish it, and Tar was unable to stop them.

Thus, Tar had felt that it was fate that his master’s reincarnated friend, who she loved in secret, was the one who managed to end that corrupted fellows who aimed to control the association.

The Zuatania Merchant Association was the biggest legacy left by Zuatania, and to Tar, it was more important than his own life.

“That is good; those corrupted fellows shall die. Speaking of corruption, why are you selling those Apprentice Restraining Pills to the kids? Do you know that you are crippling them?”

That was a question Yale wanted to make since he knew the truth behind the pills. Tar didn’t seem the kind of person who would like to cheat little kids.

“Oh, that. Those pills aren’t for shortening the practice time of the kids or for making it easier to practice; they are the last resource for those with zero chances of reaching the Novice Rank. They were created before I was born as a method to increase the cannon fodder in the continental war. After all, Novices are still more resistant than mortals, but mortals without hope in advancing were higher in number in that time. Well, they are still higher in number.”

Yale could understand the origin of the pill, he wasn’t against their existence, as those people without hope in advancing had increased their survival chances with the pill, but Yale was still thinking that selling that pill to kids was cruel.

“As for the kids who become crippled due to consuming it, people who rely only upon external help instead of working hard would become trash in the future no matter if they advanced to the Apprentice Rank or not. The pill was put to sell aiming those who had no chances of advancing to increase their lifespan; we never said that there weren’t any after effects.”

Yale couldn’t refute Tar’s words; it wasn’t good relying too much on external sources to increase the realm. Practicing was difficult, those without enough resolution would still end their paths early even if they didn’t eat an Apprentice Restraining Pill.

“That is true. However, I think that you should advise those who wanted to buy it about the after-effects. There are too many kids who are focused only on being merchants because they think that putting effort into obtaining money they would still advance to the Novice Rank due to the pill. If they learn the truth, those kids will be able to focus their efforts in training and may not need the pill to advance.”

Yale thought of Oscro; it wasn’t that Oscro was lazy, he was merely putting all his efforts in being a merchant just because of the misunderstanding about the pill’s effects. Oscro’s talent wasn’t outstanding, but it wasn’t that bad either, using natural treasures he managed to advance at good speed. If he had used the money he obtained to invest in natural treasures since the start; his current realm would be even higher.

Fortunately, Oscro had met Yale and decided to found a company instead of directly buying an Apprentice Pill.

“That is also true. I have never seen it from that point of view. I will order those in charge of selling the pills to tell that to all the potential buyers. Thank you for your wisdom.”

Tar felt that Yale’s previous life wisdom was the source of his advice, while in truth it was just the opposite, due to having lost the memories, he met Oscro and was able to observe the situation from a different point.

Yale nodded, he liked Tar’s solution, as long the buyers were conscious about the after-effects, then there were no problems in selling the pill, as it was still useful to people without hope.

As for the part of his wisdom and Tar’s misunderstanding, Yale wouldn’t try to correct him, that way was better to him.

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