The Dark King

by Steffen Schmidt

  Chapter of the law, all the vesting of authority and taxation of the house shall be to the owner of the house, and only the lord of the house shall have the right to reclaim it.

  Dudian looked at him: "You said that the entire Lin Kang street is your territory? How can you prove it? Even if you want to collect tax you have to go to trial so that a magistrate should look into your proposition. You will have to prove them that you are the lord of the territory to be able to obtain tax contracts, right?

  Obese middle-aged was shocked.

  The slim one startled a bit, his face fell: "Little guy, what nonsense are you talking? What kind of proof do you want to see?

  Dudian looked up at him and calmly said, "If you do not have proof of the lordship, please leave and do not bother me any more. Otherwise, I will arrest you as a criminal who infiltrates the inhabitants!"

  Hearing this all of them were surprised.

  Slim man smiled and said: "arrest me? Little guy, you have been spouting nonsense since the beginning. Be careful or I will send you directly to the guards.

  "No need to go anywhere. I am already a guard." Dudian took out his guard medal and continued indifferently: "As you just talked to me in a way like that, I can sue you for slandering a guard and get you arrested! I think, in the seventh article of the law records, for malicious slander of aristocracy you can be sentenced to three years in prison. There is two years of prison sentence for slandering guards. In case of an attack against the guard, the sentence is death!"

  "What do you want?" Dudian looked up at them.

  Obese middle-aged and slim men looked at the guards medal. They were speechless.

  Jura couple saw the familiar medal and were startled. They remembered the purpose of training for three years. There was surprise and excitement in their eyes, they didn't think that Dudian had succeeded!

  "You, are you a guard?" Obese middle-aged was shocked. It was the first time that he had met such a small guard.

  "Are you questioning me?" said Dudian indifferently.

  Obese middle-aged man quickly shook his head. Although it was incredible, but he still recognized this medal. He knew that posing as a guard was a big crime.

  "It was the first time I saw such a small ... so young and promising guard." Obese middle-aged smiled wryly.

  Dudian replied: "This is the proof that you are not really lords. There are lots of guards like me. At the age of 16 years there are lots of guards who join nobility for experience. Afterwards will be transferred to "boundary wall"s between the districts and later on to the bigger ones." The 'boundary wall' that he had referred to was known as 'wall of rich and poor' by the aristocracy.

  Obese middle-aged man was embarrassed: "Here I am, I am really the lord. My grandfather was a great knight, was sealed to this territory, but ... ..." afterwards he couldn't continue.

  "But this land was given by noble to your knight grandfather. He is gone, so the territory has lost its legitimacy. Perhaps the noble forgot to recover the land so you continue to lord over the place. It is not legal" he said indifferently, "but I think if you go away, I can reconsider it."

  Obese middle-aged and slim men, as one, immediately bowed and said: "Then we will leave." Then, he moved away from the side of Dudian around.

  Before long, the carriage had left with no trace of both of them.

  Dudian looked up at the Jura couple. Three years have passed. There were light wrinkles on their eyes. They were more than thirty years old but in this world living up to thirty was same as being fifty years old in the old era.

  Jura couple recovered. They surprised to see Dudian as they did not expect to to solve the previous trouble easily. In a few short words that Dudian had said resolved everything. Gray said: "You graduated! Worthy of my son, awesome! Unexpectedly, my, Gray's, child will be a guard! ha ha, tomorrow I wiill go to the factory and show off in front of the workers. They will envy me!

  Jura white at him, smiled and touched Dudian's hair: "You child... Your body is tanned so black! It had been three bitter years.

  Dudian smiled and said: "It was nothing. Although, this time I can't stay for long. After a few days, I will have to go to perform a task. Afterwards I will come back.

  Jura was stunned for a moment, " What task? Is it dangerous?"

  "No danger, rest assured."

  "That's good."

  Gray smiled: "When the guards can have any danger? They do nothing but accompany nobles around. Moreover there is Holy Church who protects us from evil demons.

  Jura snapped at him: "I'm just afraid!"

  Gray smiled and shook his head but stood silent.

  Later that evening, Jura prepared a very rich dinner to celebrate the return of Dudian and him becoming a guard.

  After dinner, Dudian said to them, "Auntie, I want to borrow some money this time.

  Jura laughed: "How much do you want?

  "Ten silver coins." Dudian thought that the money should be enough to buy enough materials to make gun powder. He would use it for defense against danger outside the giant wall.

  Chapter 39: Apprentice

  "So much?" Jure was shocked.

  Gray's monthly salary was about two silver coins. As for Jura, her salary was slightly higher but only about three silver coins. Unless she visited some rich noble she wouldn't get extra commission. Ten silver coins was equivalent to their two-month salary in total.

  "What are you going to do with that much money?" Gray frowned.

  "I need that for my mission needs. At the end of the task, I will give you back." Dudian replied in a serious tone.

  Juda and Gray looked at each other. She reluctantly replied: "Well, it's alright. But you have to promise us that you are not going to use this money to do bad things."

  Dudian was relieved. However he was also aware that Jura couple gave him the money because of his guard identity. If his occupation was something else he would not be provided with the money.

  The next day.

  Early in the morning Dudian went over to Southern Adventurers market in the residential district.

  All districts, whether slums, residential or commercial districts, were divided into four regions. East and West regions were always vast in size compared to other regions. Dudian's family lived in Lin Kang street which was located in southeast of the residential district. The so called Southern Adventurers market was a place for civilian to do free trade. Most of the goods that were sold in the area were brought from the outer edge of the giant wall.

  The nuclear radiation was intensive in the radiation zone in comparison to other areas. So only adventurers were willing to go there. That's how the market was named, in honor of those adventurers. An adventurer was not a long-term career, most of them would retire after few times of risk-taking. They would earn enough money to support the erosion of their body for the rest of their lives.

  Dudian was not worried about the nuclear radiation as he had checked the information beforehands. Lead was extensively used in making his uniform. It was effective in resisting the radiation. Moreover he had free access to outer edge of the giant wall, it was just not worth for him to go alone to search for materials. Purchasing them was much more time effective.

  The market was far away from his house and Dudian was not interested in losing time.

  He spent five copper coins to reach the Southern Adventurers market by carriage. It was a crowded bazaar. There were blankets and carpets covering the ground and were used as booths. Materials were neatly arranged on those carpets by the sellers. Their noisy voices and shouts of advertisement covered the entire market.

  Dudian strolled down the aisle.

  Half an hour later, Dudian finally found a few stalls which sold sulfur ore. He was searching for crystal saltpeter too. As for charcoal powder, he could make it on his own and didn't want to waste money to buy it.

  The seller was a middle-ged man with dark complexion. His hair was scattered, while there were some red spots on his hands. Most probably he
was infected with some kind of a disease while adventuring in the outer edge of the giant wall. He was using long sleeved clothing for cover, but inadvertently he was exposing those red marks while raising his hands.

  Dudian knew that man's body radiation level was very high. Most probably he had few years of life left, unless he would get a treatment from Holy Church.

  After bargain, they agreed on 1 silver and twenty copper coins. Dudian was going to buy all the saltpeter and sulfur ore. Saltpeter was more valuable and it costed a silver coin.

  "Using all these materials I can make few packs of explosives at best. As I'm going to take food and basic weapons, there is ban to take additional things while I will be on task. Gunpowder isn't that heavy so it should not be a problem. Anyway, there is no point in purchasing more raw materials, this should be enough. " Dudian was calculating the possible outcomes in his mind.

  "Little guy, these things are very heavy. You should either call your family for help or get a carriage. Do you want me to help you get a carriage? " The seller who had received the money said to Dudian.

  "No need." Dudian replied. Everything was put into linen bags. For a normal person it would be very hard to carry them but for Dudian it felt as heavy as feathers of a bird. He grabbed the linen bags and went away.

  The middle-aged man was startled as stared at Dudian with wide eyes.

  It was not long before Dudian bought basic tools at other stalls to use for refining the gunpowder. In the eyes of ordinary people the role of these tools were not related with alchemy. For example there was an apparatus used by doctors to grind materials into powder while making pills.

  By noon Dudian had bought everything that he needed. He was strolling around the market to see if there was something extraordinary that could catch his eyes. He felt hungry so he turned to leave for dinner.

  "Boss. Sell me for a coin, please! It's just a broken stone." Suddenly, a tender sound echoed in Dudian's ears.

  Out of curiosity he turned to look sideways. He saw a boy half head shorter than him who was carrying a linen bag in his left hand while holding a rough black stone size of a large fist on his right hand.

  The seller was a thin young man. He shook his head and said: "This is an iron ore. Although the weight is not much, you gotta pay at least twice the amount."

  "Boss, even if this is an iron ore, it is only an ore, not iron. It is so small that even after refining you won't get much of an iron. " Boy changed his strategy: "It is so small that smelting factory wouldn't even need it. No one will buy it. It will just stay here. Sell it to me and you will have your copper coin."

  Thin young man hesitated for a while but ultimately said: "Well. Alright."

  The boy grinned, paid for it and the put the black stone into the linen bag. He turned to walk away.

  Dudian was about to go when his eyes caught a small tattoo which was on boy's wrist. A small black hook pattern was drawn.

  "Alchemist's apprentice?" Dudian did not expect to meet one in here. From Rosyard's notes he had learn of lifestyle and habits of alchemists. The most impressing thing about them was that every alchemist would have a dedicated tattoo design on their body. It was a sign used by alchemists to identify each other. Without a tattoo no one would be accepted into their circle.

  The tattooing method was very basic. They would use powder of some plants and mix it with black water. Afterwards a needle would be used to sketch out the pattern. Moreover even a small dot without no shape or line could be considered as a sign.

  Although tattoo's were not only exclusive to alchemists as nobles and Holy Church used them too. But they would avoid using black pigment.

  If tattoo was drawn only in black color then even if you were a noble or member of Holy Church, you would be treated as an alchemist. It can be said that it was an absolute proof used to identify them.

  Similarly, if you don't have black tattoos even if you are true alchemists, you would not be recognized by the other colleagues.

  Dudian glanced at the direction that boy left. Carrying the linen bags, he quietly went after him to catch up.

  Chapter 40: Tubes

  The linen bag that the boy was carrying was small. Obviously he was not as strong as Dudian because it didn't take long before he began to breathe heavily.

  Dudian's vision was three times better than the ordinary person's because of "God's blessing". He was trailing the boy from far behind.

  "Because of his age, at best he is an apprentice alchemist. It's just who he had bought the materials for. Is it for his own use or to help out his teacher? " Dudian was pondering while walking after the boy. The boy stopped at the junction on got onto a carriage.

  Dudian face slightly changed and run after to catch up after them.

  The area was bustling with the people so the carriage's speed was not fast. Fortunately, Dudian's body was strengthened because of three years of hellish training and 'God's blessing' so that his stamina was enough to follow after them for seven or eight streets. Dudian was having problems with his breath when the carriage suddenly stopped.

  The kid jumped from the carriage after he paid for the ride and entered a roadside alley.

  Dudian immediately went over, pretending to be passing by the road. He looked at the alley but was startled. It was a dead end sealed by walls in all three sides. The boy had disappeared.

  "Damn it!"

  Dudian frowned. He didn't believe in fairy tales such as existence of magic. So he accept the fact that the boy disappeared just like that. He entered the valley and carefully checked the ground for footsteps.

  As it was a sealed alley few people used it. It was dusty everywhere. Garbage was piled up in some parts. Dudian focused his sharp vision and saw stampede footprints on the ground. The trail spread towards the middle of the alley to the front of a wall.

  He came closer to the part of the wall where footprints had disappeared. Dudian carefully touched the wall. It was coated and colored to look like the wall. Actually if he hadn't touched it, he wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

  "Hidden entrance." Dudian touched everywhere to feel the hard structure behind the entrance. It was made so that the hidden entrance wouldn't be exposed by wind or rats.

  Dudian noted down the address and went out. If he informed the address of the alchemist's base to the Holy Church, then as a scavenger, he would receive a lot of financial gains. However he was not interested on such a thing, on the contrary he was ready to join the underworld of the alchemists.

  After all, except the Rosyard's notes he didn't have any kind of knowledge regarding the alchemists. Although he had recorded a lot of things in the notes, but many high-level alchemists mastered and learned the information about basic nature of things by heart instead of recording.

  To join the alchemist circle, he had to be an alchemist. The first step towards that was to ink a black tattoo.

  Dudian took another look at the alley and went back to the intersection. He stopped a carriage and went to the slums. From young age he had learned that he had to be as efficient as possible.

  Soon, the carriage came to the slums. The air blowing thick stinky smell hit him as soon as they approached the slums. There was a hint of frustration in his heart. Enduring the smell he went towards a remote place to find a dilapidated small hotel to rent.

  In the hotel room, Dudian took out some of the raw materials from the linen bag. The first step was to extract the sulfur from the ore. He was prepared to use the most primitive refining method to heat the sulfur ore and dissolve it. Afterwards he would have to cool the upper layer and grind it using stone wheel to produce sulfur powder.

  It was rainy season at the moment. Dudian paid a few copper coins to the hotel's owner so that he could get few pieces of coal from the dusty brazier.

  Dudian returned to his room and locked the door. He began to heat the sulfur ore by burning the coals. After a while he understood that he would need more coal so he went back to hotel owner to buy a big bag of coal
.

  The melting point of sulfur was not high so it soon melted. Dudian had prepared all the purchased equipment in advance so there was not much of a delay in the production of sulfur powder.

  The room was incensed in sulfur's smell. Dudian had long prepared and worn a mask. Due to the nuclear radiation masks seemed not to disappear but still widely used even though the technology hadn't progressed at all.

  It was true that different environments promote different developments.

  According to Rosyard's notes all the alchemists were using masks as they were dealing with all kinds of experiments and inevitable could intake toxic substances. The role of the masks were minimal but still widely available.

  By the evening, Dudian finally had enough amount of sulfure powder and charcoal powder. He was ready to produce the gunpowder which was a simple thing given he had all the basic necessities.

  "I wouldn't have expect to produce gunpowder in a condition such as this." Dudian looked at his clothes smoldered dirty by coal. He yearned for the future where he would have his own dedicated alchemy room for the experiments.

  "I hope I can make a fortune with this trip to the outside of the giant wall!" Dudian wiped off the dirt on his face.

  ...

  ...

  In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.

  The night before the task, Dudian left his house to commercial district. The Mellon Consortium had sent a carriage to take him and the other scavengers to the headquarters. Mason, Dudian, Sham, Zach and others stayed in a small castle provided for free of charge.

  "I heard that tomorrow morning we will start." Mason said in excitement: "At last tomorrow I will be able to go outside the giant wall. Since small age when I heard those horrible stories told about the outside world, I have yearned to see what is it really out there! "

  "I don't think it is as bad as the stories tell but it is definitely dangerous." Zach said.

  Sham smiled, looking at things that Dudian had brought with him: "Dean, what are those?"

  "Toys," Dudian casually said as he glancing at the small tubes that were filled with powder and ready to explode at any given time.