Hero of Darkness

After the whole thing was settled with the first prince and third princess regarding the allocation of resources and a particular sector of the company they promised to provide support, finance and manpower for… 

All that was left for Kahn and Throk to do was to rebuild the Oakenshield company from scratch. 

Currently, there was not a single employee left in the company because of this whole beef with Rogis, then the imperial court. 

But after the rumors of the imperial scions backing Throk spread around the capital while they were reconstructing the company and adding new machinery, forging equipment, facilities to increase the production… there were too many people who tried to visit Throk and make contracts with him. 

But Kahn told the old dwarf to either not meet them or shun them off just like they did to him. Because if they looked approachable from the start… everyone would be under the impression that Throk actually needed them to support him as well. 

And after they were told to return and Throk even declined to meet them, one thing was certain to all these business tycoons… 

That the saint blacksmith didn't need any of them since he had a behemoth of a sponsor. This resulted in cementing their beliefs that the rumors were indeed true and now… 

Throk was the most sought-after blacksmith in the entire Arkensan just in the first week. 

In the following week… Kahn officially started recruiting employees. And the main tag line was that they'd hire based on qualification and not someone's species or origins. 

This ended up resulting in a huge crowd forming 3 kilometers long queue on the road that led to their company. 

Which was good for them because it wasn't just going to be the main company building but also 5 other production warehouses they recently purchased and set up in various places around Nidavellir to carry out smooth transactions and transportation. 

Kahn already predicted that they were going to be swarmed with work and he already had experience in managing operations on an even bigger scale because of his time in Rakos Empire. 

This time… many of the old employees who left the company last time even without severance pay and also some breaking their contracts; tried to return. Saying that they felt bad for their actions and apologized for abandoning the old man. 

After hearing their heartfelt as well as remorseful apologies and given how kindhearted man he was... Kahn had every single of these old employees kicked out of the company grounds.

He had 2 main reasons for it. One, he didn't want those who jumped ship during the storm coming back under no circumstances because… 

'No matter how many times a snake sheds its skin, it will always be a snake.'

Two, because he wanted the old dwarf to completely rely on him and his subordinates for management. 

Throk was never a hard-born business but a true craftsman. So he had others take care of things related to this side of the business. And what Kahn was doing had saved him a great hassle so he didn't plan to question it. 

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After everything was set up, new employees were hired under the Fire Oath… an equivalent alternative of the Blood-bind ritual in the Vulcan empire… they now had over 4 hundred thousand employees just in Nidavellir alone. 

Out of them, more than a hundred thousand belonged to the dwarven race and all of them were forgers that they hired for a high salary. 

After that… Kahn set up a new management team. The previous one that managed Throk's company had already run off with all of the funds and resources during the first week of Rogis and Throk's fight. 

So there wasn't any need to worry about anyone trying to return. 

And this time… the main heads of management were 5 of the Generals and Omega. Leaves his subordinates in charge. 

Kahn told Throk that all of them previously had experience in running an enterprise much bigger than Throk's company. 

And he should focus on forging and oversight of the new blacksmiths they hired since he's the true expert in this field, while they'd take care of the rest since soon, they'd be flooded with work after the brand was officially relaunched. 

Jugram was left in charge of security of all their warehouses, facilities and the main company building. Even the people provided by the imperial scions had to answer him because that was the part of their deal. 

Omega was in charge of overseeing the transportation and shipment of products done to both of their sponsors. 

Ceril would handle accounting and records as well as official dealing with their backers. 

On the side, he was going to perfectly steal money bit by bit and fill in their own pockets. 

Oliver was to look after the maintenance of all the company properties. 

Armin was the head of the customer service department. 

Ronin held the charge of official inspection and quality management of the resources such as crafting materials and product quality after they were forged. 

"This place is under new management." spoke Kahn as he turned away another one of the old buddies of Throk who used to do business with the company for decades before the incident. 

"Mister Kahn, the new batch of employees will start their work from noon." a hippopotamus lady spoke. 

"Good. Give me the schedule for the rest of the day." said Kahn as he sat on Throk's chair in the main office. 

Gloria was the last employee who chose to stick around and was on paid leave till their plans succeeded and everything came together for them. 

And now, she reported to Kahn instead of the old dwarf. 

And instead of starting with a grand opening… the first day of the relaunch started off in a quiet way that nobody saw coming. 

At the end of the day… Kahn and Blackwall stood in front of Throk as the former spoke. 

"Everything is settled up perfectly. Now it's time." spoke Kahn. 

To his words, Throk nodded in response and spoke in an insidious tone… 

"Let's start your blacksmithing apprenticeship."