Chapter 1291
Fortmore Jackson nodded repeatedly.
"Yes, exactly. We just saw that someone seemed to be causing trouble here. You know, there are always too many people who don't know their place. Someone has to keep watch over this place, right? If a Sky Rank powerhouse comes to stir things up, those alchemical golems might not be enough.
Our strength may not be overwhelming, but we're more than enough to deal with Sky Rank level one or two powerhouses. As an apology, we've decided to apply for the position of guardian."
Lafayette smoothly produced two contracts, already signed on one side with magical signatures. All that remained was for the other side to sign, and the contract would take effect.
Farrow picked up the contract and examined it. The medium of the contract was sound—the paper itself was produced by the Gilded Rose.
But as Farrow read through the contents, his expression grew a bit strange...
The contract was valid for five hundred years, obligating them to safeguard the Gilded Rose, assist in dealing with troublemakers, never harm anyone from the Gilded Rose, and never steal anything from it...
More than forty clauses in total—almost absurdly strict...
To put it simply, it was like getting two powerful guards for free—just room and board, no salary, and absolutely no risk of betrayal...
The cost of breaking the contract was extremely high. The lightest backlash would be the dissipation of one's mana; if the breach was severe, the punishment was the soul falling into endless purgatory—a fate worse than death...
Farrow looked at the contract, then at Lafayette and Fortmore Jackson, who were staring at him expectantly. He was completely baffled.
Damn it, what on earth did Lord Merlin do to these two? How did he scare them so badly that they'd come begging to sign such a harsh contract—especially a soul contract, the strictest kind of all...
Did they lose their minds or something?
Farrow looked at the contract, then at the two of them, still unable to figure it out. In the end, he took the contract to the back, gathered the creators they'd recruited earlier, and had a bunch of people verify it. The result: the contract was flawless. The medium, the ink, even the writing tools—all produced by the Gilded Rose...
The only conclusion was that these two Sky Rank powerhouses must've been kicked in the head by a pig beast—and kicked hard...
With a deal this good, Farrow had no reason to refuse, no matter what those two were plotting. Signing his name on the contract meant it was official.
Once the contract was signed, Lafayette and Fortmore Jackson finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if they'd just received an incredible boon...
That very day, eighteen Gilded Rose shops gained two Sky Rank level two guardians, one of whom was an odd dark curse mage. Sure enough, troublemakers became much fewer...
At the same time, the Jackson Family sent someone to apologize to Leon, declaring that Lafayette and Fortmore Jackson had been thoroughly expelled from the family—by order of the patriarch himself. From now on, they had no connection to the Jackson Family, alive or dead...
Meanwhile, Leon was still unaware of all this, continuing to lead his group in sweeping through the Plane of Golems. So far, they'd taken down nineteen Sky Rank alchemical golems, eight of which possessed innate runes—a remarkably high ratio. Nine of the Sky Rank alchemical golems contained black matter.
All the black matter they collected was used to enhance Pabbet's devouring system. With constant upgrades and part replacements, Pabbet's strength was rising rapidly—now at level forty-three. In actual combat, he was only slightly weaker than Leon, and much stronger than Hubert and Reina.
They came across another Iron City, spanning over twenty kilometers, with defensive spires reaching a thousand meters high. That meant the strongest alchemical golem inside was likely level forty-three or even forty-four, and there would be at least five Sky Rank alchemical golems.
They'd already conquered two such Iron Cities before, so Leon didn't pay it much mind and began the assault.
Half an hour later, five alchemical golems had been dismantled for parts, and all the innate runes and black matter were safely stored away.
Just then, the little wolf that had been quietly perched on Leon's shoulder suddenly began to bark anxiously.
A stream of information flooded Leon's mind. According to the little wolf's senses, an incredibly terrifying danger was about to descend—within a few minutes, every living thing here would be dead.
Leon felt his hair stand on end at those words. Without hesitation, he recalled all the alchemical golems and fled with Hubert, Reina, and Pabbet aboard the levitating skiff.
When this skiff was built, speed and stealth were the only considerations—especially stealth. In flight, it gave off no magical fluctuations at all, and any mana waves were completely contained. With invisibility added, its safety was top-notch.
Once aboard, Leon immediately pushed the skiff to its highest speed, heading for the Golem Graveyard where they'd first entered this area—the weakest spot in the whole region.
They'd barely flown for a minute when Leon sensed an unbelievably terrifying surge of mana behind them—a colossal glowing claw, over a thousand meters wide and shaped like a bear's paw, crashed down from the darkness of the void, smashing into the Iron City they'd just left.
A series of thunderous explosions followed, and a terrifying shockwave swept across the area. Everything within a dozen kilometers was flattened. The Iron City, which had spanned over twenty kilometers, vanished completely—only some black iron buildings at the very edge remained, barely clinging to existence.
The central seven or eight kilometers of Iron City had completely collapsed. The sturdy black iron buildings looked like a pile of black clay after being smashed by a giant bear's paw.
All the buildings had been compressed into a black iron pancake spanning over a dozen kilometers. At its center was the imprint of a massive bear's paw, seven or eight kilometers wide.
Looking back at the enormous paw print, Hubert's face turned green, and Leon's eyelid twitched violently. If not for the little wolf's warning, they wouldn't have had a chance to escape.
From the moment they noticed the giant claw to the moment it struck the ground, less than two seconds had passed. If they'd tried to withstand that attack, there wouldn't even be scraps of bone left to find.
That strike had to have come from at least a level forty-nine alchemical golem. They weren't even worth the Golem King making a personal move...
All things considered, this haul was pretty decent. It was best to lay low for a while and approach from another direction. Odds were, that terrifying alchemical golem had noticed something wrong because the defensive spire had been dismantled.
If it had been a war between golems, even if Iron City was seized, no one would ever dismantle the defensive spires...
Flying along in the skiff, Leon let out a silent sigh of relief.
Forget it—the dismantled defensive spires were already enough for research. Next time, it's better not to tear down the core buildings of Iron City. Just hunt Sky Rank alchemical golems...
They flew all the way back to the original Golem Graveyard. Only when Leon saw the mountains of discarded parts piled high did he finally relax completely.
Here, at last, they were truly safe.
Just as Leon was preparing to return to Northend World, trouble struck the Gilded Rose...
At the border between the Odin Kingdom and the Andalusia Kingdom, a massive levitating airship—over a hundred meters long—drifted slowly toward Odin. On its hull was a giant roulette emblem, with a golden rose at its center: the symbol of the Gilded Rose.
Inside the airship, everything was raw material for the Gilded Rose—each batch had already undergone preliminary processing. Once they reached Odin Kingdom, they could be used immediately to manufacture all sorts of alchemical goods.
Every few days, a similar airship would travel from Andalusia to Odin. Its speed wasn't great—much slower than a levitating skiff—but its capacity was enormous. Many materials needing special storage could be shipped in bulk. Though slower, the cost-effectiveness was staggering, slashing the Gilded Rose's transport expenses several times over.
Moreover, the airship carried many special materials. Ordinary ones were loaded into custom spatial rings, but some required special environments to preserve their effects after initial processing. Certain materials, once processed, needed direct exposure to air or other substances to complete the next stage.
And spatial rings weren't foolproof—if one broke down, everything inside would be lost to the endless void, never to be recovered.
Transport went on as usual—until suddenly, a floating warship, dozens of meters long, appeared in the sky ahead, blocking the Gilded Rose's transport airship.
The transport convoy was led by a Ninth Rank titled Magus recruited by the Gilded Rose, accompanied by a group of alchemical golems. Lately, the Gilded Rose had grown rapidly—no one in Andalusia dared touch their convoys, and even Odin Kingdom showed respect. Any bandits who didn't were already wiped out.
Yet this time, someone was actually blocking the way—and they'd deployed a floating warship. That wasn't something ordinary bandits could get their hands on; only major families might possess such a vessel.
"This is a Gilded Rose transport convoy. May I ask which friend up ahead is playing this little joke on us?"
The Ninth Rank titled Magus leading the convoy kept his composure, standing at the edge of the airship and shouting toward the opposing vessel.
But the floating warship slowly turned, and a mage in robes, face cold, suddenly waved his hand on the deck.
"Sink their airship. Kill everyone—humans and alchemical golems alike."
In an instant, countless spells and magical arrows shot from the warship, raining down on the airship. The transport vessel, built for cargo, couldn't withstand combat. Within seconds, its massive gas bags were shredded, and the levitation array couldn't bear the weight of the hull and cargo, sending the ship plummeting toward the ground.
In less than a minute, the airship crashed into the forest below, its frame shattering and cargo spilling everywhere. The floating warship descended slowly, unleashing more spells and magical arrows that blanketed hundreds of meters around.
On the warship's deck, the cold-faced mage sneered.
"Gilded Rose? Trash from a backwater like Andalusia dares to compete with our Rodney Family for profit? Ignorant fools—like dung beetles pushing a ball of filth, thinking they can claim a dragon's hoard. Pathetic."
Staring at the shredded airship, Tours Rodney turned and gave orders to those behind him.
"Keep watch. Pass down the order: any Gilded Rose transport convoy is to be shot down. I don't want to see another Gilded Rose item entering Odin Kingdom.
And warn those foolish material suppliers: anyone who dares provide raw materials to the Gilded Rose is an enemy of the Rodney Family!"
The Gilded Rose's material transport convoy had been attacked. Faro received the news immediately, but when they searched the wreckage, not a single survivor was found.
All the cargo was gone, and even the alchemical golems had been torn to pieces. The record crystals aboard the airship were all smashed, so they had no way of knowing who had attacked the Gilded Rose convoy.
Judging by the wreckage, it had been a one-sided slaughter. Only a floating warship could have destroyed the Gilded Rose's airship so easily.
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Faro frowned deeply, leveraging the Gilded Rose's connections to investigate the truth. He couldn't shake the feeling that this was no simple matter.
Just then, Laforte found Faro.
"Lord Faro, I just got word from a few friends—the ones who attacked the Gilded Rose's material convoy were from the Rodney Family."