High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 1096: Chapter 158 Expansion

First University had not only a group of wizards but also numerous magical creatures and their vassal tribes.

For example, fishmen, Ninfus, minotaurs, horsemen, giants, goblins, dwarfs, and so on. Unlike the fishman tribe, which was notoriously volatile and aggressive with a dark history and required constant surveillance, the other magical creature tribes enjoyed a slightly higher degree of freedom since they did not need to be closely monitored.

The most significant point was that these other magical creature tribes could choose to live off-campus.

Take, for instance, the giant tribe that lived permanently in the heart of Silent Forest, whose existence was mostly known by name rather than sight to many of First University’s students. Many students, unfortunately, spent four years at First University without ever seeing a living giant.

Then there were the minotaurs, who, due to their large numbers and slightly higher intelligence, coupled with their strong combat abilities, chose to live in the central part of Silent Forest, competing for living space with the various magical creatures in the forest. It was typically only during the yearly Black Tide that these tribes would temporarily migrate under the protection of First University.

Besides these, there was an exceptionally special type of vassal tribe that lived off-campus. Due to their unique habits, they had no fixed residence but wandered in search of water, grass, and prey. Among these tribes, the horseman tribe was the most famous.

During the lush, prey-rich months of summer and autumn, the horseman tribe would migrate to the depths of Silent Forest to avoid the covetous gaze of wizards; by late winter and early spring, when prey was scarce, the horsemen would return near the school to work for wizards to earn their keep and sustain their tribe.

Outside Alpha Fortress, there was a small camp specifically designated by First University for this migrating horseman tribe as a temporary living area during the spring scarcity. Since this camp was close to Beta Town, the school had also entrusted its management to the Beta Town Management Committee.

When necessary, the Beta Town Management Committee would hire magicians from the North District to clean up the camp; outside the period of late winter and early spring, this camp would be rented out as a temporary open-air warehouse for the town’s merchants to use. The rental income was divided into three parts: one part was handed over to The First University’s School Works Committee, another was taken by the Beta Town Management Committee as a management fee, and the last part was given to the horseman tribe as their additional income.

This had been the practice for years without any disputes.

However, recently, the horseman tribe living outside Alpha Fortress had become restless. They questioned the way the Beta Town Management Committee handled the rental income.

According to the horseman tribe, since the campsite had been designated by First University specifically for their management, the profits should naturally favor them, not be equally divided into three parts as it was now. Especially when one-third of it was taken by the Beta Town Management Committee—this was akin to a property caretaker taking a third of the rent, which no wizard with a shred of business sense would agree to.

It was merely that in previous years the horsemen had been too lazy to quibble with the mercantile folks of Beta Town, so they had let them have this advantage.

But this year, the horsemen felt they could no longer continue like this.

Ultimately, this unrest was rooted in the abnormal early arrival of the Black Tide last year. This anomaly damaged the forest’s ecosystem to some extent, and the areas where the horseman tribe typically could find abundant food were still desolate at the beginning of this spring. Therefore, the tribe had to stay at the campsite for a longer period.

And since the horsemen lacked a business acumen, they often got the short end of the stick in dealings with wizards. The possessions they had saved during regular days were quickly used up under the deception of Beta Town’s cunning merchants.

In a normal year, the Horseman Tribe could receive many tasks in the town — such as assisting in the town’s defense against the Dark Tide, acting as models for some artists, playing the role of the blue team for a Wizard hunting team, serving as messengers, and so on.

However, this year, besides the Horseman Tribe, many other large and small tribes of magical creatures also suffered disasters and temporarily migrated to the periphery of the school, which led to a significant decrease in both the number and the compensation of tasks the Horseman Tribe was hired for by Beta Town. Especially those well-paid tasks such as sparring partners and combat roles were largely taken over by other tribes.

As a result, before this spring had even ended, the Horseman Tribe found themselves in a rather awkward position.

The elders of the tribe, having not learned to economize and unable to find new sources of income, finally turned their attention to the rents collected each year by the Beta Town Management Committee after several meetings.

Moreover, the tribe had not signed any formal agreements with the Management Committee initially, just a verbal agreement, which conveniently could be used to negotiate a formal contract to adjust those rents.

The aspirations of the Horseman Tribe were noble, but the Beta Town Management Committee was not idle either.

As the only developed town on the outskirts of the four academies, the Beta Town Management Committee played a significant role, particularly as many of its members were made up of merchants from the town, who abhorred any breach of the ’agreement,’ even though the Horseman Tribe had never actually signed any contract with the committee.

In the merchants’ view, if the Horseman Tribe could propose to modify the way the rent was divided today, could they not renegotiate the rental fees of the premises tomorrow? It should be noted that open-air campsites as large as the one around Alpha Fortress were rare, and such cheap rents were even rarer.

Since it concerned personal interests, the Management Committee flatly refused the Horseman Tribe’s proposal to renegotiate the rent division.

Thus, the conflict arose.

Owing to the presence of First University, the conflict between the Beta Town Management Committee and the Horseman Tribe had always been suppressed to a small scale. However, with the recent ongoing conflicts between the Fishman Tribe and Jiuyou Academy, and including numerous media outlets such as ”Beta Town Post” as well as Alpha Academy, all unanimously supported the Fishman Tribe’s actions to protect their legitimate rights.

In the eyes of the Horsemen, the Fishman Tribe upholding its rights at Lake Lin Zhong was essentially no different from the Horseman Tribe protecting their rights outside the fortress campsite.

Since Alpha Academy supported the actions of the Fishman Tribe, they naturally supported the Horseman Tribe as well.

Encouraged by this, some of the young colts of the Horseman Tribe felt that they could also adopt the exhilarating tactics of the Fishman Tribe to ’move ashore’ and demand their rightful profits from their rivals.

Moreover, in the eyes of these young colts, their opponents, compared to the Fishman Tribe, were not on the same level and should be easier to defeat.

Thus, as the struggle on the shores of Lake Lin Zhong escalated, so too did the conflict just outside the walls of Alpha Fortress.