Chapter 1289: Scheme
The families that had a history with Lin Yun were all unsuitable for the task of dealing with the Gilded Rose. Besides, they were too weak as well…
Three days later, in a cave in the wild, Reynolds, who wore a white robe and a black hairband, emerged with a smile.
"Sir Wolkrie, don't be excited. I'm here to help you fulfill your wish. I heard that the Gilded Rose has been oppressing you…"
Wolkrie's life had been quite miserable. As a pure fire mage, he could've learned spells that could cover his look, but he hadn't learned any. He didn't dare to show up in any city at this moment.
Every time he appeared in a city, he would be recognized in several minutes, and whoever saw him would sell the intelligence. He had retaliated against a dozen ordinary people who sold his whereabouts to others.
Besides the people who were chasing him for the bounty, a lot of other people were chasing him because they had been forced to sell their cores to him. Any random person that he passed by might sell him out. He could be recognized from 100 meters away in a city…
For his safety, Wolkrie could only hide in the wilderness, and didn't even dare to go to a town. He was truly poor…
After Reynolds' persuasion, Wolkrie followed him and left the ragged cave…
On the second day, a Great Swordsman was kicked out of the Gilded Rose for causing trouble. However, on the third day, his body appeared out of the city. He had obviously been killed by an alchemy puppet.
On the fourth day, all sorts of rumors were spreading out virally.
The Gilded Rose was powerful and domineering. Anyone who caused trouble there would be killed…
It has forced the Carter Family to submit, threatening to destroy it if it didn't submit. The resister of the Carter Family was treated as a robber and given a bounty.
Every person who worked in a small alchemy store died in three days because they didn't sell the Gilded Rose's products…
A material supplier who provided materials for the Gilded Rose's competitor died in his own home…
There were more and more rumors that had convincing details, and they spread faster and faster. Almost in one day, such rumors had appeared in dozens of towns around Neverwinter City.
In the end, a noble from a declined family sent a word, saying that he accidentally offended an employee of the Gilded Rose, and hoped that the Gilded Rose would spare his life.
Instantly, the Gilded Rose left everybody with the impression of domination and power. Besides the great products it sold, it was turning brutal and fearsome too.
The Gilded Rose's business was affected. Many people were scared when they came to the Gilded Rose's stores, fearing that they might accidentally piss off anyone. They wouldn't come if some of the products weren't only available in the Gilded Rose…
All sorts of rumors were spreading in three days. Then, an earl of the Odin Kingdom expressed his dissatisfaction with the Gilded Rose during a banquet in private.
However, he did nothing more than express his dissatisfaction. It seemed that everybody became scared of the Gilded Rose in only a couple of days. The Gilded Rose was more and more intimidating…
Nobody came to the Gilded Rose's headquarters in Neverwinter City or its branches for trouble anymore.
Previously, because of what happened in League City, the people in the towns of the Gilded Rose's branches had been planning to take advantage of it, especially the malicious mages and swordsmen. After all, the Gilded Rose had to pay a price to establish branches.
However, these days, nobody came to seek trouble again. Even the mobsters who wanted to take advantage would rather circumvent the Gilded Rose.
It was because a dozen mobsters had been found dead outside the towns where the Gilded Rose had branches these days. All those mobsters had tried to take advantage of the Gilded Rose.
Although there was no evidence that linked the Gilded Rose to their deaths, and they died in different ways, everybody knew that the Gilded Rose had killed them. Those mobsters had no background at all. Only one of them had connection with a bandit group out there.
However, the Gilded Rose was on the blacklist of the Odin Kingdom's bandit groups. Even if the Gilded Rose's caravans didn't have any protectors, those bandit groups could only drool, and didn't dare to attack at all.
The two bandit groups that had attacked earlier had been destroyed, and their camps were razed to the ground. It was a bloody lesson for other bandit groups. The Gilded Rose was justified in eliminating the bandit groups that attacked it. Even the people who disliked or even hated the Gilded Rose had to hold back their anger and cheer for it.
The bandits' assault was completely different from the conflicts and attacks among families.
No bandit groups dared to mess with the Gilded Rose. Even the nobles of the Odin Kingdom simply expressed their dissatisfaction with the Gilded Rose's domineering behavior on certain occasions. They didn't dare to do anything other than complaining in private.
The powerful organizations didn't have conflicts with the Gilded Rose. They were even in a partnership. At this moment, many major families were purchasing from the Gilded Rose. In particular, after the Universal Core's release, the Gilded Rose had multiple times more partners.
With the Universal Cores, almost all of the Gilded Rose's partners had a 50% more profit. Some even had twice as much profit as they did in the past.
All these partners were glad to see the Gilded Rose's influence rise because the more powerful the Gilded Rose was, the more likely their business was to flourish.
Faleau didn't think too much after hearing the news. After all, the dead people were just unimportant mobsters who had done too many bad things. They weren't killed sooner only because nobody was there to deal with them. Now that they pissed off people they shouldn't, it was time for them to die.
Faleau knew that the Gilded Rose didn't do it, but he didn't really care. The Gilded Rose certainly didn't have time to clarify that it didn't kill those scumbags and scoundrels.
Besides, the Gilded Rose was an outsider anyway, and was not very influential in the Odin Kingdom. It was a good thing that the Gilded Rose was getting intimidating. A lot fewer troubles were reported. That was definitely great.
However, as per Lin Yun's instruction, Faleau reported the matter to Lin Yun in the regular reports.
Recently, Lin Yun had been studying truth runes and understanding laws in the Demiplane. He was almost reaching his limits. Adding the Great Astrologian's training, it was only a matter of time for him to reach the fourth level of the Heaven Rank. He might make a breakthrough in a month, or maybe in a few minutes if he had an epiphany.
Finishing his studies, Lin Yun picked up the report that Faleau submitted, and frowned after reading for a moment.
Most of the report was fine except the growing influence of the Gilded Rose. It seemed that the Gilded Rose was getting not influential, but threatening.
There were only a few short paragraphs on the matter in the report, but Lin Yun keenly realized something was wrong.
He left the Demiplane, and found Faleau. Hearing it from Faleau, Lin Yun put on a grave expression.
"The Gilded Rose is not getting more respected; it's getting more and more feared. Someone is hoping that the Gilded Rose leaves a brutal and domineering impression on everybody.
"The Gilded Rose is an external force anyway, and just an alchemy store. Someone is trying to elevate the Gilded Rose to a height where the local forces won't be happy to see it.
"With the potions and the Universal Cores, nothing will go wrong for now, but we'll be in trouble if this continues. This must be someone's scheme."
Faleau was stunned for a moment. He, too, realized something was wrong at this moment. Things were changing so fast these days that Faleau found it hard to believe, and thought the Gilded Rose was already deeply rooted in the Odin Kingdom.
While Lin Yun was trying to sort things through, a piece of shocking news came out.
An alchemist store in a small town near Neverwinter City was destroyed. Alchemists and the boss in the store all died miserably.
It was just a small store. The boss was just a level-8 Archmage. The place only sold several kinds of magic tools. There were three alchemists in the store. The main reason why the store could operate was that the boss was a Master who could create Spiritual Magic Tools.
The destruction of such a small store was not important. What mattered was the reason. An alchemist who luckily survived told everyone why the store was destroyed, and who the culprit was.
The culprit was the Gilded Rose. The reason for the store's destruction was that they bought 20 Universal Cores from the Gilded Rose. However, the 20 Universal Cores were all faulty. For its reputation, the Gilded Rose hoped to buy the Universal Cores back. After it bought the Universal Cores, it immediately destroyed the store. Only the alchemist who had a special body survived.
Immediately, the news spread in dozens of towns in the north of the Odin Kingdom, and the Gilded Rose seemed to be the last one to receive the news.
Hearing the report, Lin Yun seemed quite unruffled.
"Find out who's been smearing the Gilded Rose."
Faleau had cold sweat on his forehead. He looked rather awful.
It was not unusual for a bottom-level alchemy store to be destroyed. Even in Neverwinter City, which was the safest city, hundreds of people got killed every year. Hundreds of bottom-level alchemy stores opened and went bankrupt every year. Even the bigger shops often encountered robbers.
Yet, the destruction of a bottom-level store spread throughout the towns within thousands of kilometers overnight, and all the details were vivid.
Undoubtedly, there was a powerful organization behind all this, and it was specifically targeting the Gilded Rose!
20 of the Gilded Rose's Universal Cores were faulty. To prevent the information from being leaked out, it destroyed an innocent alchemy store after taking away the faulty products!
In such a story, it didn't matter whether or not there were any faulty products. Thanks to the rumors that spread in earlier days, everybody would subconsciously believe that the Gilded Rose did it.
The sales of the Universal Core would probably plummet. Many people would even seize the opportunity to take advantage of it.
Seated inside the store, Lin Yun wondered who was smearing the Gilded Rose. Did any organization that was powerful enough have to smear the Gilded Rose in such a way?
It was just a trick anyway. If the organization was truly powerful, it should be crushing the Gilded Rose instead of causing such minor trouble to it. The Gilded Rose wouldn't be fundamentally hurt. Or rather, only the Gilded Rose's Universal Cores would be affected…
Yes, the Universal Cores. The Universal Cores!
The enemy smeared the Gilded Rose with the Universal Cores as the point of breakthrough, so they had to be doing this for the Universal Cores.
The Universal Core wasn't very technologically advanced. Any good Artisan could figure out how it was made. However, the key was the material.
Without the new material, it was possible to make the Universal Core. Also, all the technologies were actually based on the new material, which contained the black substance that could automatically attract mana. It was absolutely impossible to crack the Universal Cores.
No magic methods could figure out the internal structure of the material. Only the people who used an electron microscope instead of magic could possibly find out the technologies applied to the Universal Core.
However, there was nothing they could do even if they identified those technologies, because they didn't have the material…
The enemy had to have realized the existence of the new material. They had been smearing the Gilded Rose using the Universal Cores probably because they were trying to get the new material it was made of.
Lin Yun put on a cold smile. With that in mind, he could narrow down the range of suspects.
The enemy was seeking after the material instead of the Universal Cores, so they had to be in the alchemy business too, and magic tools were the most profitable.
There were few powerful magic tool dealers in the Odin Kingdom. It was impossible for the enemy to leave no leads at all in such a huge operation. As long as any lead was found, it would be easy to find out which magic tool dealer was involved.
The enemy failed to present any evidence probably because they couldn't create fake Universal Cores even if they wanted. The new material was not an alloy, but an independent material made with a fusion agent.
It was a new substance that was generated by changing molecular forms. It was impossible to copy the Universal Core by analyzing its material.
Not everybody had access to the black substance. Although the fusion agent wasn't complicated, and any Artisan could create it easily with the special materials from the abyss, the formula of the most basic fusion agent wouldn't appear in another 5,000 years.
Lin Yun calmly stayed in the base, not caring about what happened outside. Ever since the incident, many people had been returning the Universal Cores and asking for a refund, especially the customers who had bought only a couple of them.
Three days later, a former partner came to return the 100 Universal Cores he bought earlier.
"What kind of Universal Cores are they? They're all garbage. I paid so much purple gold for garbage! Why do you not refund me? You're selling fake products!"
Lin Yun came out from the rear of the Gilded Rose, and saw a lot of people arguing in the store.
Faleau looked rather awful.
"We can refund the unused Universal Cores for the prices you paid. However, the Universal Cores that are used can't be applied to other magic tools. They cannot be returned…"
Lin Yun drew near casually, and looked at the guy who was demanding a refund. He remembered that the guy was from a medium-sized alchemy store.
"Faleau, just give their money back to them. There's a number on every Universal Core. As long as it's confirmed that the Universal Core was made and sold in the Gilded Rose, refund it whether it's used or not, or even if it's ruined.
"Keep a record of the people who have returned the cores."
"What's the matter? You sold fake products to me, yet you don't want me to return them? Do you want to get back at me later?"
Lin Yun casually glanced at the guy, imposing a terrifying vibe on his soul. Instantly, the guy turned pale.
"You are not qualified for the Gilded Rose to get back at you."
The guy wanted to say something tough, but he could not utter another word.
Lin Yun turned back and walked to the rear. Then, he thought hard.
A moment later, Faleau came in with an awful expression.
"Sir Merlin, this is getting huge. The rumor that the Universal Core is useless is spreading out. More and more people are demanding refunds, including some of our partners.
"Earlier, a couple of nobles of the Odin Kingdom returned the Universal Cores they bought too. They were one earl and three viscounts. They all expressed their dissatisfaction with the Gilded Rose in public—"
At that point, Lin Yun suddenly interrupted Faleau's report.
To be continued