Richard invited Klaus to talk elsewhere.
As they crossed the production hall, workers from various positions greeted the boss. They smiled sincerely. Klaus saw no hypocrisy in them at all.
During his time at Mors Industries, he met a wide variety of employee characters. Starting from silo-minded employees, sycophants, incompetent, and lazy workers. But most were two-faced employees. They speak sweetly in front of Klaus, but talk badly behind him.
However, Klaus had yet to meet employees like the workers in this factory. They truly respected Richard. It was enough for Klaus to judge Richard as a good boss.
"Not bad," Klaus muttered.
After they left the elevator, they passed up the stairs until they came to a white door. As Richard opened it, a vast expanse of sky greeted them above the head.
"You're taking me to the roof just for a chat?" asked Klaus.
"The roof is the most suitable place to chat."
"Yes, if we were in the heart of the city. But it's in the middle of an industrial area. There's nothing to see but smoke and scrap metal."
Richard took out a pack of cigarettes and put one in his mouth. The man also offered Klaus one, but he declined it, as he had never smoked before.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" asked Klaus.
Richard lit the cigarette, and the tip glowed as he sucked it deeply. "Maybe it sounds naive; but I want our relationship to be not just a working alliance, but also a partner."
"Sorry, I'm only interested in women," Klaus replied.
Richard choked on his laughter as he blew a thick smoke puff. "Damn it, Klaus. I already have a wife."
"I know," Klaus replied.
Klaus deliberately made a joke to break the ice. He wanted to relax in this conversation.
However, Richard looked serious.
"Klaus, I dug up information about you, and I found a lot of surprising things. An 18-year-old boy owns a majority stake in a company and has a guild with a celebrity guild master. And on top of that, the boy controls everything from behind."
"Well, I'm just lucky to be born into a conglomerate family."
Richard blew out smoke. "I've never heard of a tycoon's son going that far."
After the cigarette reached the husk, Richard threw it on the floor and stomped on it. And then he gave Klaus a deep look.
"Klaus, help me to stop Vincent Thomsen."
Naturally, Klaus squinted. He became curious as to why Richard wanted to take down the Guild Master of Morning Star.
Then, Richard began to tell his life story.
Before becoming the leader of the largest forging guild in the US, Richard Dickson was just son of a metal shop owner. In order to continue the family business, he honed his metalworking skills since an early age.
He learned various techniques ranging from cutting, shaping, welding, and forging. After grinding for 10 years, his metalworking skills reached their peak.
Richard Dickson's name took off and the family business received hundreds of clients every month.
However, the fruit of his training did not match his family's financial situation.
As it turned out, Richard's father was heavily in debt. The borrowed money was not for business ventures, but for gambling. He even mortgaged his house and business to the bank so he could get money for gambling. And even worse, he owed the bookie. Richard learned this fact after the bank seized all the family's assets.
Losing his house and metal shop plunged Richard into an abyss of sadness. Nevertheless, he still loved his father.
One night, Richard was sitting alone in front of the television, watching a sitcom program. Suddenly, he heard banging on the front door.
As he opened it, two policemen in full uniform were standing before him. They had come to give Richard the sad news—his father was found dead.
Since that night, Richard had never been able to sleep, as grief and anger had always plagued him.
The case of his father's murder had not come to light. Lack of evidence and clues meant that the killer was never found. Eventually, the case was closed as a robbery even though not a single wallet or precious thing was missing.
Of course, it made Richard angry. He knew someone must have killed his father. Haunted by curiosity, Richard decided to conduct his own investigation.
He hired a private detective to track down his father's killer. However, the search took years.
During that time, Richard built a new business to replace the closed metal shop. He hired talented artisans and created a workshop.
After waiting for 5 years, the private detective finally found out who the suspect who killed his father was. It was one of the most powerful mafia members in Queens—Vincent Thomsen.
Knowing this fact, Richard was in complete shock. The detective advised him to stop pursuing Vincent because the man was not just the lowest member of the mafia, but part of the main syndicate. The FBI had been chasing the man for years but couldn't catch him.
However, Richard did not give up.
It took a big net to catch a big fish. Richard focused on building his business empire, increasing his social status and influence, in the hope that he could attract the minds to catch Vincent.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just Richard who grew in power. With each passing day, Vincent's position in the mafia syndicate grew and he managed to control the entire criminal network in Queens.
Richard secretly monitors Vincent's movements while developing his business.
At its peak, the first dungeon break occurred and destroyed half of the US. It was this moment that made Richard reach his current position. When people mourned the loss of their homes, Richard made a lot of money by accepting projects to rebuild the city.
Richard's luck did not end there. he experienced an awakening and got talent that suited his specialty, [Metal Enchantment]. It was power that allowed him to make any metal material 10x stronger.
Then, he saw a market opportunity. He idly forged a sword and strengthen it with [Metal Enchantment]. As a result, his weapon was in high demand in the market.
To meet the market demand, Richard needed more manpower. But for the quality to be similar, he needed to gather awakeners with talents similar to him. They also recruited fighters for the battle squad in the guild.
And then, Richard created a guild called House of Blacksmith.
Over time, the House of Blacksmith became the largest organization in producing weaponry for awakeners. Even its popularity rivaled the Morning Star, which was part of the Five Pillars.
However, Richard still could not avenge his father.
"No matter how much money I accumulate and power I gain, I still can't catch my father's killer. It's ironic."
Klaus made no comment after hearing Richard's long story. He now understood why he smelled something strange from him. It turned out that the man had a hidden plan to bring down Vincent Thomsen. But the problem was that Richard was still not strong enough to catch the person he hated.
If Klaus agreed to cooperate with Richard, it was not impossible he could take Vincent down. Moreover, Mors Industries now had the Divine Ursine Alliance as their shield against the Five Pillars.
It was just Klaus still had one unanswered question from him.
"Touching life story, I almost cried when I heard," Klaus quipped. "But you asked me to speak on the roof to discuss 'New York and the future of this city'. I still don't get that point."
Richard smiled. "I'm glad you brought up our main topic." The white-haired man then looked at the row of factories that stretched before him. "There is no question that Barren Island has strong potential to become an armaments production center. Not just limited to the USA, we can export all over the world. But it will be difficult to realize with the current condition of our city."
Richard turned his body and looked at Klaus. "The current New York bureaucracy is very corrupt. They accept bribes from various people and companies-especially large guilds like Morning Star."
The corrupt officials allowed Morning Star to rule in Queens, and let the Bronx and Brooklyn become playgrounds for gangsters. Developing businesses in New York became a matter of competing with criminal syndicates.
These people would use any means to beat the competitor, and the corrupt officials would use any excuse to protect Vincent and the other gangsters.
To save the city, they had to get rid of the people protecting the criminals.
Nodding, Klaus understood the outline. "So you want me to help you clean up corrupt officials?"
"Exactly!" Vincent replied firmly. "To clean the floor, we have to make sure our brooms are clean. We need to fix this bureaucracy to get rid of Morning Star and the gangsters."
If the criminals were gone, not only would the House of Blacksmiths and Mors Industries benefit, but New York itself. The competitive trade climate would be healthy.
Klaus, however, was skeptical of Richard's goal.
"That's a great scenario, but how are you going to fix the government bureaucracy? The most effective way is to come to his office and kill Vincent, then the people who fill the pockets of criminals will disappear."
Richard shook his head. "No, that will only create a new Vincent. There are other, more effective ways."
"What's that?"
Richard took out a smartphone from his pocket, and then he showed it to Klaus. Then, Klaus agreed to help Richard.
