The Strongest Businessman

The crowd was confused. They wondered what was written in that scroll that made this madman accept it? But from their actions, everyone knew that this matter have already been settled in a very peaceful manner. With the matter reaching it's end, the crowd dispersed one by one.

...

After shaking their hands, Steph was the one who took the initiative to take out a Soul Lock Scroll. The scroll was floating as Dylan and Steph wrote the terms of their agreement. Due to their collaboration, the contract was soon finished and they also left their soul imprints through signing their signatures.

"I'm looking forward to the time when you lose." Steph smiled.

"I wonder about that because when it came to business, I have never lost in a gamble." Dylan calmly replied with a faint smile.

"As some would say, there is a first time for everything." Steph rebutted.

"Indeed." Dylan smiled. Then, Dylan went close to the three that still maintained their kneeling position behind Steph. He whispered to the three: "After this week, you will all die by my hands."

"You damn brat!" The feminine young man cursed Dylan but Dylan ignored him.

After saying those words, he turned around and walked straight to Barry, Kent and Loraine. "Let's go. The matter is already finished." The three nodded and followed Dylan from behind and left the scene.

"My lord, the plebeian just threatened us to death! You must uphold justice! Don't let them escape!" Fred beseeched while kneeling.

"Fred, did I hear incorrectly? Did you just try and command me?" Steph coldly uttered.

"Audacious!" Caira stretched the bowstring of her bow ready to release the the three arrows any moment.

"I would never... It's just that... them leaving without Lord Steph allowing them is disrespecting you." Fred tried to fan the flames between the two. He wished that Steph would just send one of his experts and assassinate Dylan.

"Are you mistaking me for an idiot? I know what you are trying to do. I advise you to stop it unless you want die. Can you not see that the matter has already been settled? Even the crowd earlier, noticed it and dispersed. But I guess that would be expecting much from an idiot like yourself since you did not even recognize who he was." Steph berated Fred ruthlessly.

"What do you mean, my lord? He could not have been an important figure with the level of strength of his at his age." Fred was confused. He never considered that Dylan had a status that was higher than him.

"What a fool. No wonder you offended him so freely. His status is something you could never hope to achieve in your lifetime. Because he is Dylan Ford, the successor of the Thundercloud Kings! In terms of status, no one in this city would be able to compare to him except for the members of the Mythical 10 and the 10 Fairies that are residing in this city." Steph revealed with a tone of mockery.

"S-successor?!" The three were flabbergasted. Never in their wildest dreams would they have thought that they have offended the successor of their ancestors.

By now, news about him has already spread all over the city. They naturally knew that he gained the inheritance of the Thundercloud Kings by perfecting the exam and creating a technique derived from the inheritance itself, thereby, attaining a 3rd Tier noble status! They also knew that after the examination, the Premier Hall has successfully roped in the genius by forming a business partnership with him!

"No wonder, he was able to say those words." The fat noble trembled as his complexion became even paler than before.

"Then, why did he not simply reveal his status?" The feminine male weakly asked.

"That's right. If he did that, we would not have caused so much trouble." Fred was also curious why.

Surprisingly, it was Caira who answered their questions. "Because, unlike you, he did not let his status eat him. He remained true to himself and protected his men using his own means without relying on his status."

The three felt truly defeated. They were all finished once Dylan uses his status to eliminate them.

"For the time being, you will be under house arrest and be locked into the dungeon as punishment for besmirching the name of the Excellent Tailors." Steph passed on his verdict.

"Noooo!" The three stood up and tried to escape.

With a flick of Steph's fingers, his guards at the Origin Foundation captured the three effortlessly and entered the building of the Excellent Tailors.

"But I must thank It was all due to you that I would be able to have an exciting week ahead of me!" Steph licked his lips and smiled like a madman as he also entered the building with Caira closely following him from behind.

...

Back to the present day...

Outside of Soaring Garden, a small wooden platform that was elevated 1 meter from the ground with the length of 2 meters and the width of 1.5 meters. He could not make the platform any bigger than that since it would hinder people from passing by. But despite that, the streets were still very spacious because the standard street width of the city was 6 meters.

This wooden platform would be used for the auction that was written on the flyers that they constantly gave out for 7 days. The flyers were not only meant for advertise the store but also to publicize the auction that they were going to conduct!

Yesterday, Dylan used 63 spirit stones to buy the building in front of their store that also had the same dimensions as theirs. The owner of the store was also pressured to bankruptcy due to the pressure of the 4 new branches of 4 popular businesses a few days ago. The real estate agent had the owner leave since there were other interested in buying the building because it was 40 meters wide, 40 meters long and 4 stories high.

If this was back on Earth, a building of this size could already be considered as a small hotel but in this city, this building was only among the average size.

When Dylan bought the store, he also recruited the owner and the staff of that store which was 26 people. Now, Dylan had a total of 107 employees under him. Dylan did not want any slip-ups to happen so he had this 26 people to sign a soul contract of loyalty that only stated the terms of never betraying Dylan directly or indirectly.

Due to this, Dylan now owned an entire block of the boulevard because according to the one of the articles of the business property law of the city, 2 meters from the building bought is still considered property of the buyer but if the person buys two buildings which are opposite to each other, he would gain property of the road in between the two stores. Though this would also increase his tax by two, he still decided to buy it and go to the city hall to finalize the documents.

No one would normally read the constitution of laws in the city unless he is a politician, a lawyer, or a Thundercloud guard because it had too many articles accompanied by many sections of many laws created throughout the span of 500 years. But, Dylan, who meticulously prepared for the Noble Test, read and memorized the entire constitution!

Of course, the case of businessman owning a block of the street is not new since it was already done hundreds of times already over the course of the years. Even Steph owns 5 separate blocks within the city. From the top 100 and below, it was normal for sects to own streets and boulevards of the city. The top 10 sect even owns an entire district of the city!

But for business newbies, it was still something foreign for them. This was what Dylan exploited and prepared for just for this day.

Since he owned this block of the street, he also naturally created a toll of 1 silver coin for those who passed by. The toll must not exceed 1 silver coin, it was something that was passed since the olden days of the city. Although it was 1 silver coin. for citizen of the Thundercloud City it was mere cents to them or loose change.

But with the amount of people passing normally reaching tens of thousands, he could naturally gain the same amount! It was a common thing to do within the city. An additional source of income or a side benefit as many would call it. Though a bit shameless, but it is one of the right of owning an entire block.

....

The building had 4 floors. To avoid wasting money in paying construction workers, he and 65 male employees renovated the building themselves since 12 in the noon yesterday up until 5 in the morning. It costed about ten thousand gold coins or 15 spirit stones all in all but the result was well worth the price.

The renovations made the building looked like the seats of a theater. It had no walls on the side facing the Soaring Garden Herbal Store because it would only hinder the customers. The ceilings of each floor was extended an extra meter to act as a shed from the sunlight. The structure of the building was new and refreshing. Thus, it garnered a lot of attention from the crowds who were passing by.

Each floor had different number of rows with different number of chairs and for convenience, each row were significantly elevated from the front row being the lowest elevation until the last row with the highest elevation so that each row would be able to see what item was on display without needing to stand up.

On the ground floor, there were over ten rows with 30 different seats because it extends 2 meters from the building. The second floor had eight rows with 25 seats in every row. The the third floor had six rows with 20 high quality seats as well with matching tables for each chair. On the fourth floor, there were only four rows but 15 seats for each row with comfortable and exquisite furniture.

As one ascends, the quality of the accommodation also increases. This entire building could house a total of 580 individuals.

To participate to the auction, entering the accommodation house was not necessary. A person could just simply pay the entrance fee of a gold coin, but he/she would not have any seat to sit on.

In preparation for the amount of people, Dylan had his employees were skilled in architecture design this building like so for precaution if by chance the amount of people exceeds his expected estimate of 500 customers.

The rate of each floor also differs. To enter the ground floor, one must pay 10 gold coins. To access the second floor, one must pay 100 gold coins. To gain entry to the third floor, one must pay 1000 gold coins or 1 spirit stones. To be allowed to enter the fourth floor, 10 spirit stones must be paid beforehand.

Currently, Dylan was checking the condition of the males. It was apparent that they were tired from all those manual labor so Dylan had them rest.

He had the girls sleep well since they would be the ones who will take the stage for today. But, Dylan was not unfair with the distribution of the workload. Last night, he had the girls create their own dresses and also had them create 1000 panels that were going to be used by the customers to raise their bids. He also had the made sign of the building which was "Soaring Garden Auction House"

It was 9 o'clock in the morning currently. It was also at this time when customers are most concentrated in. As a mark of ownership of the block, Dylan had it fenced out and there was a path way of three meters wide in the middle so that people who paid the toll may pass by. Because of this, a crowd was formed from both sides of the Soaring Garden.

...

Among the people on the left side of the fence...

"Is this where the Soaring Garden Auction going to be held at?" A lady who just arrived asked someone at the back of the crowd.

"Yeah, I think so." The person the newly arrived lady asked was an old woman who frequently visits this street.

"The owner must be a truly capable person to gather this much people." The husband of the old woman smiled as he scanned the area.

"Of course, he is, grandfather. He is only 18 but he is the most intelligent I have ever seen. He is the only first placer who aced the Noble Test in the history of Thunder Clouds! He even gained the recognition of the 4 great ancestors and became their successor! He is also very charismatic that he was able to form a business partnership with "the" Premier Hall! And above all that, he is very handsome and cool! " A pretty 16 year old girl described Dylan with admiration.

"Oho, it seems like my beautiful granddaughter has taken a liking to this young man." The old man teased.

"No, I'm not." The pretty girl pouted.

On another side of the fence...

"There is a weird looking building which had the sign "Soaring Garden Auction House" here. So I guess it must be here." A male teenager, who was holding the flyer that Dylan and his employees distributed, pointed at the Soaring Garden Auction House.

"Woah, you also got that?" A friend of the teenager said.

"Yeah, I got it three times from three pretty chicks. I came here hoping to see them!" The teenager said.

"Young man, you too? I came here to see Allana, Marie, and Bridgette. They were the three girls I received the flyers from when I came here." A middle aged man interjected.

"You know Marie too? The one who gave me a flyer was a beautiful girl named Maria. I heard they were cousins but look extremely alike as though they were twins. The fourth time though, it was a tall young man who gave me. I think he said his name was Scott." A buff bearded man joined the discussion.

"Did you just say Scott? So you received one from him too! Gosh, he was so tall and dreamy! But Jack is the one who really stole my heart with that smile of his." A black haired girl who overheard Scott could not help but comment.

"Eh?" The buff bearded man was shocked when he saw the girl

"You got a one from Jack too?! He's mine though!" A brown skinned voluptuous lady complained.

"I wonder if I would get to see my prince Larry here." A similar looking brown skinned girl who seemed to be her little sister thought.

A bunch of people was already mobbing the vicinity of the Soaring Garden. The curiousity of people came from the flyers that were handed to them countless times. According to the concensus, a person living in the city would at least come to the Lightning Boulevard 3 times a week.

Due to the diligent distribution of Dylan and his employees during their one week of inactivity, most of the customers who passes by their street would at least receive their flyers thrice while some even received it four times.

Often, people tend to throw away a flyer after getting one glance while some would even throw it away without even sparing a look. But the second time around, those people who have gotten a look at it would curiously scan the flyer while those who did not even give a damn but accept the same flyer on the same spot, would at least see it once. The third time around, this two people will either know what would happen entirely or just have a gist of what is going to occur.

Because of the repeated exposure to the material, people will become more familiar with it and eventually accept it. Without diligence and faith in their work, this effect would never be achieved but Ron and the others had faith in no matter what Dylan did which made it possible. That is the things Dylan used in order to get the attention of the customers who passed by their shop.

...

The setting was ready. The ladies were ready. The crowd was there. All the preparations were done.

"It's time to get started." Dylan smiled expectantly.