Chapter 368: Finding Another Benefactor

Maerr-viki Continent, Verdant Breeze Town.

"Valstra, how many people have passed my entrance test?" With a relaxed expression still on his face, Argentum looked at one of the two men on the makeshift stage and asked with a light smile.

In response, Valstra hastily looked through the various pieces of parchment he had written names on before closing his eyes to do a bit of mental calculation. After that, he looked at Argentum with a calm yet confident expression as he responded, "If my calculations are not wrong, out of a total of 1,352 people that participated in the entrance test, only 356 people had passed it, Sir Argentum."

356 people, huh. Well, that's surprisingly better than I expected," Argentum responded as he looked at the sky, noticing that it was already afternoon. At the moment, quite a lot of men were scattered across the area, either lying or sitting down on the ground as they caught their breaths, gasping for air from the great amounts of stamina they had use to defend against just one attack from Argentum.

As for Argentum, he wasn't affected at all. He wasn't drenched in sweat, nor did he look like he had a hard time while sending out a punch to over one thousand people in a row. If anything, that just made the men reassess Argentum yet one more time, making them wonder as to how long he would last in a fight. Hours maybe? Days? Maybe even over a week if he moved sparingly.

Seeing as to how Argentum seemed to be unaffected from doing a single punch monotonously for over a thousand times, Claude, the new instructor of the Tempest Regiment, looked at him with interest and asked, "Say, Sir Argentum. Are you really not tired at all?"

"Not even one bit. Why do you ask?" Argentum replied, an expression of slight confusion on his face. In response, Claude's eyes slightly widened from the confidence in Argentum's voice, before lightly smiling as he waved his hands, saying, "Oh, nothing, nothing. Just take it as an old man's nature to worry over someone."

"Huh…" Since Claude did not bother explaining what was going on in his mind, then Argentum did not pursue the matter any further. After giving the men that had passed his entrance test sufficient rest, he then told them to stand in front of him in a grid-like formation, to which the men hastily followed, not wanting to lose their positions as Tempest Regiment members just as they were admitted.

Of course, Argentum did not mind them delaying for a bit as it was their first time to take part in something like this. Claude, on the other hand, could not help but click his tongue as he looked at how the men got into formation. "Very sloppy."

"I believe Sir Claude would able to teach them how they should properly act," Argentum said in response to Claude's remark with a smile before looking at the men that took on formation in front of him. He made sure to remember each and every face making up the initial formation of the Tempest Regiment, as well as the extra members that had passed the entrance test.

After making sure that he had more or less memorized their faces, he then looked at the 50 or so extra members at the far back of the formation and told them, "To the 50 at the back, separate from the main formation and head to the front."

Although they were fearful as to what Argentum might do to them, they still had to follow his words, lest he changed his mind and decided to not make them members of the Tempest Regiment. Of course, to these 50, they noticed that their numbers were already above 300, but they were still accepted by Argentum to be members of the Tempest Regiment. With that in mind, all of them simultaneously could not help but think if he had other plans for them.

Fortunately, their thoughts were correct as he looked at them and said, "As I think it is a waste for you guys to not be used wisely, you 50 shall now form a special division of the Tempest Regiment I shall be calling the Tempest Scouts. You guys shall be the ones in charge of reconnaissance and espionage, as well as other related tasks that fall under your scope. Understood?"

With gazes filled with gratitude and determination, the members that made up the newly formed Tempest Scouts responded with a tone of confidence and gratitude, "Yes, Sir Argentum!"

Nodding in response to their words, Argentum lightly smiled before facing the 300 that made up the ranks of the Tempest Regiment. Taking a deep breath, he then told them, "As for you guys, as I've said before, you guys shall make up the Tempest Regiment. You shall divide yourselves accordingly into groups of 100, making up three groups respectively."

"After that, I want you to elect a person that would lead your group. That person would become one of the three captains of the Tempest Regiment," he continued before looking at the Tempest Scouts and saying, "The Tempest Scouts should also elect a leader as well. These four captains shall become my eyes and ears over the military."

He then looked at Claude, who was now giving off a slightly stern aura, and said, "All of you shall learn the basics once again under our instructor, Claude. Make sure to give him the respect he deserves. Am I clear?"

In unison, the men replied, "Yes, Sir Argentum!"

"Great! You're all dismissed. All of you shall regroup here tomorrow at this same place just when sun is about to rise," Argentum nodded as he reminded them before allowing them to disperse.

As the men headed back to their homes, happy to tell their families that they would be living better lives from now on, Argentum told Delmann, Valstra, and Claude to come closer to him as he told them, "I'll be leaving Verdant Breeze Town to you guys for a few days."

"Eh? What about the money required for the Livelihood Incentivization Law, Sir Argentum?" Delmann hastily asked while still being in shock from Argentum's announcement. In response, Argentum eased his worries as he told him with a light chuckle, "Relax, Delmann. I'll ask the benefactors to have someone send the money to you."

He then looked at Valstra and said, "Work together with Delmann to create a policy that would make sure that the money from the Livelihood Incentivization Law doesn't go towards vices. I can leave it up to you, right?"

"Rest assured, Sir Argentum. I'll do my best for the greater prosperity of this town," Valstra assured Argentum's worries, prompting Argentum to nod before looking at Claude.

"I may not be able to look over the progress of the Tempest Regiment, so I shall be relying on you to turn them into a ferocious force that would make foes tremble," Argentum said before adding, "Also, I'll have someone send you a Tempering and Ascension technique that only the members of the Tempest Regiment should train. Of course, if you want to train the technique as well, that's fine by me."

"I'll do my best, Sir Argentum…though you'd have to increase my salary if you want me to work harder," Claude said, making Argentum lightly chuckle as he said, "Would a 10% increase be enough?"

"Of course, of course. That's more than enough," Claude responded with a beaming smile, prompting both Delmann and Valstra to simultaneously think, 'What a money-grubber.'

After telling them a few more things, Argentum then bade farewell to the three of them as he soon left Verdant Breeze Town. After getting considerably far from the town itself, he then deactivated [False Visage of the Animate], returning his appearance back to his true form as he activated every movement speed boosting spell he had in his arsenal.

After that, he started to make his way to the Flame Spirit Inheritance while simultaneously contacting Eleanor through their connection.

"Oh, Argentum. What's up?" Eleanor said at the very moment the connection was established, allowing Argentum to tell her, "Call Felix and Rosalia. I need to see the three of you face-to-face."

"Does it have something to do with the town you became a leader of?" Eleanor asked, to which Argentum replied, "Yeah. There's still a ton of things we have to clear up from our conversation last night. Tell them that I'll be at the inheritance before sunset."

"Uh-huh. Got it."

…

By the time Argentum had arrived in front of the Flame Spirit Inheritance, it was more or less at the time he told Eleanor, prompting the latter to instantly teleport him inside the inheritance once she was able to sense her presence. Not long after, Argentum appeared in the center of the room where Eleanor usually was, with Felix and Rosalia doing their own things.

Though, as they noticed that Argentum was finally here, they focused all of their attention towards Argentum as Felix asked him, "So, you asked us to come here because of the town?"

"Indeed." Argentum nodded as he said, "From our conversation last night, I still felt a hint of uncertainty from your voices regarding the shares over the profits from the Heaven's Element potions. Are you going to keep your word or are you going to lower the shares?"

Surprisingly, Rosalia was the first one to respond to his question, saying, "Although I would like to reduce the share back to 30%, I wouldn't be that shameful to do such a thing, since you did give me the recipe to the potion. My share of 50-50 still stands."

Nodding in response to Rosalia's words as he radiated an aura of gratitude, he then looked at Felix and Eleanor, to which the two of them shrugged their shoulders as Felix told him, "Well, what do you think we'll say?"

"Then, I'll have to thank the three of you. I'll make sure to repay this kindness in the future," Argentum said before changing the topic to another one. "Speaking of money, is it possible for you three to send the money to the town through other people instead?"

"Wouldn't it be faster to just send the money ourselves?" Eleanor asked, to which Argentum replied, "Yes, it would be faster, but we would risk having you three being discovered by others. Although I'm not sure if you three have enemies or not, I don't want their anger to befall the town."

After listening to Argentum's reasons, the three of them thought that it did make sense. Of course, as benefactors of the town, they also did not want to inflict any harm on it that came from their side. With that, the three of them eventually agreed to do it Argentum's way, though to reduce the time taken for the money to be sent, they would transport the money just a few kilometers away from the town before having someone else send it to the town. Unsurprisingly, Argentum was fine with that arrangement.

"Is there anything else you want to say to us, Argentum? By the looks of it, I feel like you still have something in there," Felix soon asked, noticing how Argentum had gone silent for no reason.

Feeling a hint of embarrassment and guilt, he then told them, "I feel somewhat guilty for having to request this from you three since you all have inheritances to take care of, but I would need someone to communicate with the officials of the town I've elected regarding the projects I've done."

"Oh? Are you heading somewhere perhaps?" Rosalia was the one to ask, thinking that it would be better for her to be the one communicating with them since she was a human like them. In response, Argentum nodded as he explained, "Since Felix is concocting the Heaven's Water Potion, Eleanor the Heaven's Fire Potion, and you the Heaven's Earth Potion, I need to find someone that's willing to concoct the Heaven's Wind Potion and become the fourth benefactor of the town."

"I see…" Rosalia said in response before becoming silent for a bit as a person soon appeared in her mind. As if she just had a eureka moment, she then suggested to Argentum, "If you need someone to concoct the Heaven's Wind Potion, then I guess there's no other person more suited to it than Helios."

Hearing that name come out of Rosalia's mouth, both Felix and Eleanor could not help but have unsightly expressions as Eleanor asked Rosalia, "You sure you wanna recommend Helios to him? You do know he gets a little…aggressive, right?"

"That's only if you ignore him," Rosalia replied. "If you compliment him, he'll treat you like you're his greatest friend in the world."

"Er…who is this Helios guy you three are talking about?" Argentum soon asked, his curiosity piqued by their conversation.

"Helios is just like us, the owner of an inheritance," Felix started to explain. "Namely, he's the owner of the Heaven's Gust Inheritance, taking on the moniker of 'Tempest King'."

"From the name of the inheritance itself, I feel like he's a good fit for the Heaven's Wind Potion," Argentum could not help but say, to which Felix nodded as he said, "That's true, but…"

"Are you really sure you want to choose him?"

"Is there anything wrong with choosing him?"

"Well, it's not that it's wrong to choose him, but it's just that…he has some…let's just say…narcissistic tendencies."