Chapter 103 103 Kolt
Therefore instead of trying to hold her back he intended to do the exact opposite. Not that Diana would have listened to him had he tried to stop her from participating in the training for some time until her hands healed.
Diana was slightly disappointed when Zach suddenly let go of her hand after tracing the outline of her palm with his fingers that were too thin and beautiful for a man like him. She wanted him to continue and explore more of her body but Zach didn't fulfill her heartfelt desire and let go of her before she could even begin to enjoy his touch.
Zach moved towards her back abruptly causing her to turn around with a jerk to keep him within her sights. She was worried that this was it and Zach was about to leave.
But Zach bent down to pull something out of a rucksack that he liked to carry during the training sessions which kept all the necessary materials such as anti-sprain sprays, first aid kit and a few necessary items for training such as extra targets or team bands used to denote the attack and defense teams amongst the group.
Zach pulled open the first aid kit and brought out a roll of bandages from it.
Diana's eyes sparkled at the thought that Zach was going to tie the bandage around her hand as she wasn't that far gone to be unable to understand what Zach was fretting about. She knew the condition of her hand herself.
Of course, Zach didn't give her that satisfaction thinking that she might get angry and think that he pitied her even though he had designed their training regimen that all the servants were following through without a problem.
Therefore, Zach handed over the bandages to her and said, "Tie them around your hand during the training sessions. It should help with the pain somewhat and would prevent any new blisters from developing on your hand."
Zach's professional attitude slightly irritated her but she was still happy that Zach was worried about her despite all the complaints she held in her heart.
Diana didn't know that Zach was worried to the point of shock. He had never seen someone developing a blister on their trigger finger. He wondered just how many bullets she had to fire in order to reach such a stage.
Still Zach didn't try to stop her maniacal approach towards training. He had already heard from Bruce the kind of maniac she was in her mage training previously. Despite finding no signs of any improvement, this girl had ridiculously continued to train her mana capacity to the point of exhaustion and had even gone as far as to hunt in that dangerous forest that was full of magical beasts just so she could improve her strength.
Had he not known about the kind of person she was, he might have advised her to practice more sparingly to take care of herself. But Zach didn't know that even that kind of advise would have worked the exact opposite in this scenario where the girl was trying to attract the attention of her object of adoration.
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One month after the product showcase
While the training of the Special Forces unit proceeded smoothly under the keen eye of Zach, there was absolute chaos in the world outside the Luther family estate.
The news regarding a new invention that could carry goods into far off areas within days instead of months began to spread to all the corners of the empire through the various businessmen who originated from Elizabeth city. Rumors of steel monsters travelling at a speed that exceeded even that of agility based magical beasts spread all over the empire as there were countless beings who claimed to have seen such a sight.
These rumors gained substance when the businessmen from Elizabeth city entered the different cities to collect goods to take back to Elizabeth city. The sight of the trucks attracted countless gazes from curious people while some hid in their homes and closed off to the world in order to hide from the beast invasion.
As these rumors gained substance and became accepted facts, the news regarding the trucks reached the royal family palace in the capital city of Rome through reliable sources who were eager to use this opportunity to benefit from the product and to increase their loyalty points with the royal family in one go by being the first to bring the news to them.
Kolt was the prince of the Norman Imperial family that ruled in the capital city of Rome. Despite having the moniker of prince, Kolt didn't have the authority of any kind of Prince. He was currently one of the princes who were out of the limelight and were desperately trying to build some influence amongst the powerful families of the city in order to prove their worth to the royal family.
Currently the biggest obstacle in Kolt's path was capital. No business, even that of the royal family could run without the necessary capital. He couldn't even develop the necessary alliances and the relations with the influential families without that capital backing him up.
Therefore, he actively sought out the sources that smelled of money and profit. The recent news regarding the trucks was so far THE best potential source of capital that he had gotten his hands on. In his Princely palace, Kolt was busy thinking up a method that could solve this problem for him. Although he had already received the news and had even verified its substance through his reliable network, he still didn't know how to approach the subject.
His ambitions could not be fulfilled until he found a way to tap into the well of wealth that this new transportation method could offer him.
Despite being a part of the ruling imperial family of the empire, he didn't have the power to take over whatever he wanted otherwise all the influential families of the city would rise up in revolt against his family. At most the imperial family had the authority to chance several policies within the empire but the ones that could affect the economic state of the cities could be contested by the respective influential families of those cities if they deemed it to be harmful to the city governance.
As he began to unravel the mystery behind those trucks, Prince Kolt found out that the trucks were being produced in the Elizabeth city and the hands of Elizabeth family seemed to be involved in it which made him proceed with caution as to what loophole to exploit in order to get into this business. Even Prince couldn't take on an influential family like Elizabeth family from the front and survive unscathed especially when it came to their new business with such a huge potential.
Braxton, the very same Braxton who almost got killed by Zach when he tried to Lunaafter Zach saved her from the hunters, was holding a piece of paper in his hand that he handled with quite a bit of care and apprehension because this was the only means of recognizing his enemy whom he hated with all his soul. He had been looking for this hateful man for a long time and only now did he manage to receive a glimpse.
At the time of his escape, he had promised Zach that he would make Zach regret his actions.
At that time, he had been unable to locate the whereabouts or the identity of the man who had almost killed him. His inability to find him had irritated him and caused him sleep deprivation for quite some time.
Zach tormented Braxton even in his sleep after the latter returned home by using the teleportation scroll. He suffered from night terrors and parasomnia for quite a bit of time before normalizing. However, Braxton never forgot the shame of that day and the helplessness he felt. Therefore, he had been on the lookout for Zach or his lookalikes and god had finally favored him as he chanced upon the information regarding his hateful assailant out of nowhere.
Taking that piece of paper with Zach's image on it, Braxton rushed towards Kolt's residence with excitement overshadowing his usually frowning face.
Braxton was in fact hoping that Kolt would help him avenge the previous grievances now that he had gotten a hold of the culprit's whereabouts from his sources.
"Brother-in-law, take a look at this." screamed Braxton in his excitement when he saw Kolt sitting in his office behind the elegant and expensive mahogany desk.
Prince Kolt who was busy thinking about the new potential capital source to fund his ambitions was the least interested in whatever his useless brother in law had brought for him to see. He didn't have time to listen to his good for nothing brother in law rambling about some new business idea that would solve all his problems.
Noticing Braxton's bubbling excitement which wouldn't calm down until he listened to him, Prince Kolt had was left with no other option.
"What is it?"
"Look at this. I finally found the man who killed my brother for that slut of a succubus." Braxton cleverly didn't mention that Zach was also the person who almost sent him past the death's door.
Prince Kolt was tired of hearing this story. He didn't want to hear more about the time Braxton's 'poor and innocent' brother was murdered in cold blood by a ruthless killer. He was fully aware of the kinds of work Braxton's other brother was involved in and could be sure that he wasn't innocent based on even the minimal standards of the term.