Chapter 1286: Robber and Protector

“Wolkrie, that stupid scoundrel, robbed other people of their Universal Cores. Such cores are indeed very valuable, but the Gilded Rose is definitely dissatisfied with what he did. Now that the Gilded Rose’s people are here, what do we do?”

“Damn it, the Lodney Family and the Gilded Rose had a conflict before, and the Lodney Family gave in. The Gilded Rose is even more horrifying than we think. Also, I heard that Mafa Merlin, the real controller of the Gilded Rose, is a strong man. It’s possible that the entire Carter Family will be in trouble…”

“Ask Wolkrie to come here at once. If he doesn’t give us an explanation, then the Carter Family will be in great trouble…”

Wolkrie came to the meeting of elders. Facing the angry elders, he wasn’t nervous at all. He simply took out 5,000,000 purple gold, and threw it onto the table in the room.

All 5,000,000 purple gold was heaped as a hill on the table, dumbfounding the angry elders, who had never seen so many gold coins in their entire life.

The Carter Family wasn’t an alchemist family, but a mage one. The family enterprises had only enough revenue for everyone to study magic, but everybody needed more resources. Among the juniors of the family, only a couple of them were talented enough to receive enough resources…

5,000,000 purple gold was enough for a Heaven Rank expert to have a True Spirit Magic Tool tailor-made for him, although the True Spirit Magic Tool wouldn’t be too great…

Seeing how dumbfounded the elders were, Wolkrie laughed in satisfaction.

“Did you see? What’s the annual income of our family? 30,000,000? Everybody in the entire family has to share the 30,000,000 purple gold. How many does each of them get?

“Those 5,000,000 purple gold is only half of what I earned in the past three days. Who can possibly do that? Of course, I’m part of the family, and I certainly won’t keep all the money to myself.

“Second Elder, you are already a Heaven Rank expert, yet you only have two True Spirit Magic Tools, counting your staff. They’re both inferior True Spirit Magic Tools, aren’t they?

“Let’s split up the purple gold. Second Elder, take a million and get some good materials. Then, find a decent alchemist to improve your magic tools. Also, Chief Elder…”

Wolkrie went on and spoke for a long time. He didn’t ask for anything, and only came to give the elders money. Each of the five elders got a million. In the Carter Family, that was a huge amount of money.

Although, as Wolkrie stated, he made the money in three days, everybody knew exactly how he made it…

After giving away the money, Wolkrie left, and the five elders looked at each other in bewilderment. They all looked at the hill of purple gold, and couldn’t hold back their greed…

The second elder, who was in need of money the most, swallowed.

“Wolkrie is finally growing up. He knows that he must repay his family now. Not bad…”

“Indeed. Although Wolkrie is always naughty, he’s part of the family anyway. Also, he’s an important Heaven Rank expert…”

“What about the representative of the Gilded Rose?”

“What do you think we can do? Wolkrie didn’t cause trouble in the Gilded Rose. The transactions were fair. Those people willingly sold the cores to him. Nobody can say anything about that. Besides, it’s possible that those people tried to set up Wolkrie. They spread the rumor because they thought they should’ve asked for more money…”

“Indeed. Wolkrie was quite disobedient in the past, but he’s much smarter right now. How could he have done that?”

A day later, Faleau heard the report, and seemed grim.

“You said that the Carter Family claimed that all the transactions were fair, and that the sellers were taught a lesson because they tried to set him up? He bought the cores for 90,000 purple gold, and someone is spreading the rumor to ruin the Carter Family’s reputation?”

“What about the victims that Wolkrie forcefully bought things from?

“What? You only found three? The rest is gone? All three people say that they sold the cores to Wolkrie for 90,000 purple gold?

“Is the Carter Family declaring war on the Gilded Rose?”

Faleau breathed heavily because of fury, and a gust arose around him. He was at a loss about what to do.

The Carter Family insisted on the fake truth. In League City, it was very easy for the Carter Family to shut the buyers up. Those who refused to submit were already gone…

The Gilded Rose was just an alchemy store. After the buyers paid purple gold and left the store, they had nothing to do with the Gilded Rose anymore, unless the robbery happened at the Gilded Rose’s door.

After the buyers left, even if they were robbed or killed, it would be none of the Gilded Rose’s business.

Also, the robber was a Heaven Rank expert, which made the situation even trickier. Should they send another Heaven Rank expert to defend against him?

Of course not. The Carter Family was not nearly bold enough to attack the Gilded Rose. However, the latter couldn’t send a Heaven Rank expert to protect every buyer, either.

Even if it was not sending Heaven Rank experts, it didn’t have so many men to protect every buyer—not while it was trying to run business.

If things went on like this, would anyone still dare to shop at the Gilded Rose? They might be robbed and even killed soon after they made the payment and left the Gilded Rose.

Also, that was just a branch, which wasn’t nearly as important as the main store inside Neverwinter City. It was impossible to send too many forces to a branch. Also, the Gilded Rose wasn’t rich enough to keep a Heaven Rank expert in every branch…

However, this was the best time for expansion to the Gilded Rose. The branches were its tentacles. If the branch in League City was crippled, then the other branches’ fall wouldn’t be far away. The Carter Family, which wasn’t really powerful countrywide, was bold enough to do that and blatantly defend itself later without being punished, so the other families would definitely follow…

When the same situation happened in all the cities that the branches were in, the Gilded Rose would have to shut those branches. If this incident wasn’t taken care of, it would be impossible for the Gilded Rose to expand…

Also, if the Gilded Rose was wealthy yet not intimidating at all, a lot of people might try to bite it to get a mouthful of flesh and blood…

However, if it reacted too strongly, and simply demanded the Carter Family to compensate, or if it killed Wolkrie directly, then the Gilded Rose would seem too domineering, and the local families of the Odin Kingdom might loathe it. It was possible that other powerful noble families would come for trouble…

Whatever the Gilded Rose did, the result wouldn’t be in its favor. Getting to the bottom of it, it was all because the Gilded Rose was an outsider…

Faleau had a headache. He could only send two level-9 Archmages and five level-39 alchemy puppets to League City as the Gilded Rose’s protectors.

Many people were watching. Even though they were not protecting the customers at the Gilded Rose, it showed the Gilded Rose’s attitude that the Carter Family should stay back…

However, three days later, when a batch of new Universal Cores were delivered to the Gilded Rose, a new report came from League City.

Reading the new report, Faleau became completely sullen. A dozen people had been through forced transactions again. The one who got the most money only received 1,000 purple gold. The rest mostly got 500-600 purple gold…

The buyer was none other than Wolkrie of the Carter Family…

Reading the report, Faleau put on a bitter smile.

He underestimated their greediness. He didn’t expect that even when the Gilded Rose’s people intervened, the man would simply declare that the thing was unrelated to the Gilded Rose. The people who had paid 80,000 purple gold in the Gilded Rose had to give away the cores for only 500 purple gold in three minutes…

The man had no respect for the Gilded Rose at all. He had gone crazy…

Having no choices, Faleau could only send Layford to League City. After all, only the presence of an expert who was in the second level of the Heaven Rank could ensure that nothing would go wrong.

However, even though Layford had personally come to League City, the robberies didn’t stop. Nothing happened around the Gilded Rose while Layford was there. However, the customers with no backgrounds would suffer misfortunes the moment they left Layford’s reach.

One time, Layford followed a man who spent all his belongings on a Universal Core, and hoped to make a profit with it. Layford watched over the man, and nothing happened to him. However, only a dozen minutes later, another customer was killed not far away from the Gilded Rose’s branch while he was away.

In no more than a week, all sorts of rumors came up. The customers in other branches got robbed too after buying the Universal Cores. Some experienced forceful exchanges, and some were blatantly robbed.

Rumors spread out when the incidents kept happening. As a result, the sales of the Gilded Rose’s branches seemed to be dropping even though the total sales were on the rise.

Many people would rather travel further and shop in the Gilded Rose in Neverwinter City than buy things in the Gilded Rose’s branches in their own city.

The trend became even more significant. There was even a rumor that the Gilded Rose was seriously short on goods, so it would kill the buyers, loot the Universal Cores they bought, and then sell the products again. Why else would the buyers be robbed only a few minutes after they left the Gilded Rose? If the Gilded Rose weren’t behind this, then why was it not taking any action?

All kinds of rumors were spreading out. When one of the Gilded Rose’s branches was attacked, the whole thing turned big.

Although it was just a group of brainless robbers that attacked the Gilded Rose, and they were killed on the spot, they set a very terrible example for others…

They led people to believe that the Gilded Rose was wealthy and easy to take advantage of. That could be a serious problem.

Faleau sent a lot of alchemy puppets, Archmages, and Sword Saints to the branches. However, the rumors spread faster and faster. The sales of the Universal Cores in League City were plummeting. At first, they were sold out whenever a new batch was delivered, but at this moment, there was still stock after two days. The problem was getting serious.

Also, the robbers in League City were getting more and more fearless. Layford never caught Wolkrie in the action. In one of the incidents, the other party even accused Layford of committing the robbery. He had a bunch of witnesses who stated that Wolkrie wasn’t at the crime scene…

The whole thing was getting out of control. If nothing changed, the Gilded Rose’s plan of expansion would be destroyed, and it would encounter all sorts of problems.

Lin Yun, who was doing research, received a message. Soon, he left his laboratory in the Demiplane.

After hearing the report of recent events from Faleau, Lin Yun frowned too.

“Sir Merlin, if things continue like this, we’ll have to close the Gilded Rose’s branches, or they will seriously affect our reputation. Our expansion plan with the branches will have to be suspended.

“To continue running the branch in League City requires the support of the Carter Family, one of the most powerful local families. At first, Wolkrie only forced the buyers to resell things to him, and we were in no position to intervene. As an alchemy store, we can only manage things within and near the store.

“After the forced transactions were conducted, the Carter Family simply denied it, and we don’t have any witnesses. So, we have to keep negotiating with them.

“A lot of people have been forced to resell their cores, but most of them are locals in League City, and do not dare to offend the Carter Family.

“However, if things go unchanged, then our other branches will experience the same problem…”

Lin Yun nodded.

“Alright, I’ll take care of the matter. You’ve done a great job.”

Lin Yun looked quite awful. The Gilded Rose didn’t belong to the Odin Kingdom. It was never close to the most influential forces of the Odin Kingdom, especially the nobles.

The Gilded Rose was only able to enter the Odin Kingdom because of its expertise in alchemy. It opened a store in Neverwinter City not because Faleau operated well, and not because it pulled strings, but because the Starry Sky College expressed its support. The other people didn’t want to oppose the Starry Sky College, and preferred to make a nice gesture at the Gilded Rose.

However, they weren’t really close. They simply got what they needed, and then showed their friendliness…

During the incident with the Lodney Family, a lot of people were watching the drama, but nobody stepped up for the Gilded Rose. When the Lodney Family backed off, they finally thought that the Gilded Rose had something. But that was it. After all, Wilder Lodney was still alive, which suggested that the Gilded Rose wasn’t too powerful. Otherwise, it definitely would’ve killed him.

Lin Yun left Neverwinter City with some men. He considered how to take care of the matter. Reading the information that Faleau had sorted out, Lin Yun gradually put on a smile.

Now that the whole thing had gone big, since it was impossible to destroy the Carter Family or ignore it, he might as well just subdue the Carter Family. As it happened, the Gilded Rose needed vassal forces at this moment. The Carter Family was a local force. Although it wasn’t very powerful, it would be a good beginning.

The Carter Family was a pure family of mages. It only had a small Demiplane that wasn’t very resourceful. It was quite shameful that the family only mastered this small Demiplane even though it had Heaven Rank experts. Also, there was no alchemical heritage in the family. It only had low-level alchemists that couldn’t bring wealth to the family…

Only one of the Heaven Rank experts of the family had tailor-made True Spirit Magic Tools…

Lin Yun read all the information in disbelief. As a family of mages in the Odin Kingdom, the Carter Family was definitely very poor. It was usually not easy for a mage family to be so poor.

However, on second thought, while the Odin Kingdom was more powerful than the Andlusa Kingdom and even the Biston Kingdom, it was understandable that the mage families weren’t as powerful as each other. Even though they were as powerful, the wealth under their control might be different.

The Henry Family, for example, was not very strong in general, but it had plenty of money, and accumulated a shocking amount of wealth. Also, there weren’t many members in the family, so each of them got a large share of the resources, which made it easy for them to grow stronger.

As for the Carter Family, Lin Yun almost didn’t have the heart to read its miseries in the files anymore…

Arriving in League City, Lin Yun went straight to the Carter Family. He pulled Xiuban, who was sound asleep in the Demiplane, out, and asked him to watch over the branch, and kill whoever forcefully bought the Gilded Rose’s goods…

When Lin Yun appeared, the five elders of the Carter Family welcomed him together. Unlike other families, the Carter Family was controlled by the five elders, and the family leader was just a tool to make money for the family. Also, the family leader hadn’t even reached the Heaven Rank yet…

Lin Yun casually entered the Carter Family’s meeting room, followed by the five uneasy elders, who looked at each other with worry in their eyes.

The second elder, who was the first to let Wolkrie go, was the most uneasy one. He looked at Lin Yun as if he were looking at an ancient, ferocious beast.

Damn it, didn’t they say that Mafa Merlin barely cared about the Gilded Rose’s business? Why is the guy here in person? What a terrifying man. I cannot detect any of his presence, yet I have the feeling that I might get killed at any moment…

It was said that Wilder, the current leader of the Lodney Family, who was in the fourth level of the Heaven Rank, and who was adept at the iron skills of his family, was defeated by Mafa Merlin, and had never shown up in public ever since. It was even rumored that half of Wilder’s body was blown up, and he was nearly beaten to death…

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