Chapter 44: The Price

This time, after upgrading his territory, Karen did not hole up inside it as he had done before.

The moment his territory level increased, Karen immediately headed straight to the Dead Market.

He had come for three main reasons: to help Ogoron handle the aftermath, to collect the [Whispers of the Dead], and to demand an explanation from the Bourbon Kingdom.

Among these three matters, Karen cared most about the second and the third.

As for the first one, he was merely lending Ogoron support; Ogoron was the one doing the actual busywork, and Karen had no time to invest effort in that area.

Through his previous experience, Karen had come to understand one thing clearly: strength is the foundation of everything.

Without strength, no matter how much he lowered his head, others would only perceive him as weak.

Therefore, he had to assert himself this time. If he failed to show strength and refuse to fight back even after being murdered once, then there would be no point in resisting at all; he might as well just kneel on the ground for the rest of his life.

Driven to extremes upon his return to the market, the very first thing he did was seize the assets of the Bourbon Kingdom's official chamber of commerce. He had only one purpose in doing so: to force the Bourbon Kingdom to give him an explanation.

The Bourbon Kingdom, however, was merely amused by Karen's uncharacteristically aggressive stance.

Although the assassination attempt against Karen had been an accident—something they had not wished to see, and news of which had enraged them just as much—they still viewed the situation with anger.

After all, they currently held high expectations for Karen's market. If Karen had truly been assassinated, it would have constituted a massive loss for them as well.

Yet, anger was one thing, and not wanting Karen to die was another; lowering their heads to Karen and offering him an explanation was an entirely different matter altogether.

Who did Karen think he was? Was he even qualified to demand an explanation from them?

Had it not been for their valuation of this market, and had Karen's territory not been wedged directly between the Silver Hand and the Bourbon Kingdom, they would have wiped Karen out long ago.

Moreover, even without this assassination, they had already been preparing to suppress and restrict Karen.

The kingdom was already studying a total ban on corpse trafficking and the cultivation of the [Whispers of the Dead].

Under such circumstances, how could they possibly bow their head to Karen and give him an explanation?

Consequently, the matter dragged on for three days without any resolution, until the "Forest Watcher" faction standing behind Old Jack finally stepped in to mediate.

Coupled with the fact that Karen indeed controlled the Dead Market—a pie the kingdom truly did not wish to abandon—the Bourbon Kingdom, with Klein's tacit approval, grudgingly offered Karen a token explanation to pacify him.

Thus, on the fourth day following his murder, Karen, entirely enveloped in a black cloak, met Old Jack at the market once more.

He did not come alone; he had brought someone with him.

A person who was already on the verge of death and utterly unrecognizable.

"He is the Vice-Commander of Aldo City. The operation against you was planned by him. Now the kingdom hands him over to you, to deal with as you see fit!"

As Old Jack spoke, he pushed the man toward Karen. Enduring Karen's gaze, he forced himself to finish the sentence.

Quietly listening to Old Jack, Karen looked at him through the hood, staring until Old Jack began to tremble all over, before he coldly spoke.

"This explanation is not enough!"

Bearing the immense pressure of Karen's gaze, Old Jack spoke again. "In addition, we have secured some market privileges for you. From now on, you only need to surrender eighteen percent of the profits each month."

"Two percent saved. How generous of you," Karen sneered, his soul-fires chilling further. "But this is far from enough!"

The biting cold in Karen's words and the evident fury they contained made Old Jack shudder. He could clearly feel Karen's towering rage, but at this moment, he truly could not produce anything else.

"Karen, I know you suffered a great grievance this time, but what happened was genuinely an accident.

"The assassination attempt was not the kingdom's intention; it must have been carried out by a certain faction.

"The kingdom will certainly investigate this afterward, and they will definitely punish those who moved against you, but they will never do so under the guise of giving you an explanation.

"The kingdom has its dignity and its stance; they will not bow to you.

"Even this time, it was only because we mediated from the middle. Take my advice and let the matter drop here. After all, you suffered no actual harm.

"Continuing to pursue this will bring you no benefit whatsoever!"

"The kingdom's dignity? Its stance? I suffered no harm?"

Karen chewed on these words repeatedly, letting out a laugh of bone-chilling coldness. "Are you truly certain I suffered no harm?"

With those words, the black cloak draped over Karen shattered into pieces, and his true form was completely exposed to Old Jack, leaving the utterly unprepared old man frozen in place.

Karen was no longer human. He had transformed into a skeleton standing about 1.8 meters tall, clad in [Bone Battle Armor] and wearing a [Bone Helmet].

Although Karen's undead form was quite imposing, upon seeing it, Old Jack immediately realized that the situation had turned deeply troublesome.

"Do you still believe I am unharmed now?

"Thanks to you people, I have now become an immortal undead. Such a great favor is something I naturally must repay properly.

"I know you cannot make the decisions here, and I don't wish to say much more to you, nor do I want to make things difficult for you.

"Go back. Go back and tell them: the only way for me to calm my wrath is for the 'Lord of Aldo City' to crawl on his knees all the way to the Dead Market, accompanied by one thousand Tier 5 corpses, one hundred Tier 6 corpses, and ten Tier 7 corpses. Only then can I let this matter rest.

"Ah, and one more thing—from now on, everything I previously promised you is null and void."

Hearing this, Old Jack's complexion changed drastically. "This is impossible! They will never agree to this!"

"If they don't agree, it matters not. When the time comes, I will make them agree, and what they have to pay then will be far more than just this!"

"What are you planning to do?" A terrible premonition crept into Old Jack's heart!

Hearing this, Karen sneered, and a terrifyingly oppressive aura surged out from his skeletal frame.

"Since they refuse to pay the price for the sake of their dignity, and refuse to lower their heads, then I can only shatter their dignity, force their heads down, and compel them to lower their noble heads so they learn that mistakes come with a price!"