Chapter 1326
He found several families who had previous grudges with Leon, but none were suitable to confront the Gilded Rose. Their strength simply wasn’t on the same level...
Three days later, in a remote mountain cave, Reynolds appeared wearing a white robe and a black headband, a smile on his face.
"Walker Carter, don’t get agitated. I’m here to help fulfill your wish. I heard you’ve suffered at the hands of the Gilded Rose..."
Walker Carter’s situation had indeed been miserable lately. As a pure fire mage, he could learn spells to disguise his appearance, but he hadn’t mastered a single one. Now, he didn’t dare set foot in any city.
Whenever he appeared in a city, he’d be recognized within minutes. People would quietly sell the information about his whereabouts, and in this period, more than a dozen ordinary folks had been targeted for retaliation simply for selling news of Walker Carter’s movements.
Besides those hunting him for the bounty, there were plenty who’d been forced into deals by him before—now they blocked the pursuit teams. Even a random passerby might sell his location, or someone hundreds of meters away in the city could recognize him...
To avoid capture, Walker Carter could only hide out in the wilderness—he didn’t even dare visit a small town. It was all rather pathetic...
After a few persuasive words from Reynolds, Walker Carter left the shabby cave with him...
The next day, a greatsword-wielding troublemaker was expelled from the Gilded Rose, but on the third day, his corpse was found outside the city. Judging by the wounds, it was clear he’d been killed by an alchemical golem.
On the fourth day, rumors exploded—gossip and speculation spread everywhere.
The Gilded Rose’s strength was overwhelming, and its methods utterly ruthless. Anyone who dared cause trouble for the Gilded Rose was killed on the spot...
They forced the Carter Family to submit—refusal meant annihilation. Any Carter Family rebels were branded as bandits, and massive bounties were posted for their capture.
A small alchemy shop that failed to display Gilded Rose merchandise—within three days, everyone inside was dead...
Any supplier who dared sell raw materials to the Gilded Rose’s rivals ended up dead in their own homes...
The rumors grew more detailed and believable, spreading faster and faster. Within a single day, starting from Neverwinter City, dozens of nearby towns were swept up in the frenzy.
Then a down-and-out minor noble let slip that he’d accidentally offended a Gilded Rose employee and begged for mercy.
In an instant, the Gilded Rose’s ruthlessness and power became its defining reputation. Beyond their famed products, they were now seen as cruel and domineering.
Business at the Gilded Rose suffered. Customers entered the shop trembling, terrified of provoking anyone. If not for the fact that some things could only be found at the Gilded Rose, most would never set foot inside...
For three days, the rumors boiled over. Then, at a banquet, a count from the Odin Kingdom privately voiced his dissatisfaction with the Gilded Rose’s tyrannical ways.
But it was nothing more than dissatisfaction—within a few days, everyone seemed to fear the Gilded Rose. Its reputation for dominance soared...
Whether it was the Gilded Rose’s main shop in Neverwinter City or its twenty-plus branches, all troubles vanished within days.
Previously, because of the incident in Rigg City, many towns hosting Gilded Rose branches had people scheming against them—especially mages and swordsmen of questionable character, always hoping to profit from the Gilded Rose’s expansion.
But in recent days, not a single troublemaker showed up. Those lowlifes who used to circle the shop for easy gains now took the long way around, avoiding the Gilded Rose altogether.
In these towns, over a dozen thugs were found dead outside the city—each one had tried to profit off the Gilded Rose.
There was no evidence linking the Gilded Rose to the killings, and each death was different. But as the rumors spread, everyone ‘knew’ it was the Gilded Rose’s doing. These thugs had no real backing—at best, a distant connection to some bandit gang.
Now the Gilded Rose had landed on the bandit gangs’ blacklist in the Odin Kingdom. Whenever a Gilded Rose merchant caravan passed, not a single guard was needed—the bandits could only watch hungrily from afar. No one dared target the Gilded Rose convoys.
Two bandit gangs had been utterly wiped out—their strongholds razed to the ground. That bloody lesson was enough to warn the rest: if a gang attacked a merchant convoy, the Gilded Rose would have every right to annihilate them. Even those with grudges could only grit their teeth and praise the outcome.
A bandit raid and a feud with a family were two entirely different matters.
No bandit dared provoke the Gilded Rose, nor did any weakling. Even the Odin Kingdom’s nobles only dared grumble about the Gilded Rose’s tyranny in private—no one actually did anything, just whispered behind closed doors.
Powerful factions generally had no quarrel with the Gilded Rose—some even cooperated. After the Universal Core was launched, the number of Gilded Rose partners skyrocketed.
Thanks to the Universal Core, nearly every Gilded Rose partner saw profits rise by at least fifty percent—some even doubled their earnings in a short time.
The Gilded Rose’s growing influence was a boon for its partners—the stronger the Gilded Rose, the safer their business.
Farrow heard the news but didn’t dwell on it. After all, it was just a bunch of insignificant thugs dying, and most were scum with long criminal records. If you provoke something you shouldn’t, you get what’s coming.
Farrow knew the Gilded Rose wasn’t behind the killings and didn’t care. Would the Gilded Rose really waste time refuting rumors about a few dead lowlifes? Hardly.
Besides, the Gilded Rose was an outsider—their reputation in the Odin Kingdom had never been strong. Now, with a bit of newfound influence, most trouble seemed to vanish overnight. Why worry about it?
Still, following Leon’s previous instructions, Farrow included the matter in his routine reports to Leon.
Lately, Leon had been studying Runes of Truth in his demi-plane, contemplating magical laws. His understanding had nearly reached its current limit. With training from Lord Grand Astrologer Agalon, advancing to Sky Rank Level Four was just a matter of time—maybe a month, maybe a sudden breakthrough in minutes.
Finishing his research, Leon picked up Farrow’s report. After reading for a while, his brows furrowed.
Most of it was fine, but the Gilded Rose’s sudden rise in influence—so abrupt—wasn’t just about dominance. It was about fear.
Farrow’s brief report seemed routine, but Leon immediately sensed something was off.
Leaving the demi-plane, Leon found Farrow and listened to his detailed account. Leon’s expression grew grim.
“This isn’t the Gilded Rose’s reputation rising—it’s that everyone is afraid of the Gilded Rose. They’re branding us as cruel and domineering.
After all, the Gilded Rose is an outsider—just an alchemy shop. Someone’s trying to set us up, to make local Odin Kingdom factions resent us.
For now, our alchemical potions and Universal Core are keeping things stable, but if this continues, trouble’s brewing. Someone is stirring the pot behind the scenes.”
Farrow paused, finally sensing something was wrong. The pace of change had been so fast, even he felt it was unbelievable—almost as if the Gilded Rose had already taken root in the Odin Kingdom.
Just as Leon was sorting through his thoughts, explosive news broke.
An alchemy shop in a small town near Neverwinter City was wiped out—everyone from the alchemists to the owner was found dead inside.
It was just a small shop—the owner was only an Eighth Rank Title Archmage, with a single storefront selling a handful of magical artifacts. The shop survived mainly because the owner was a grandmaster, able to craft Soulbound Relics.
Normally, such a small shop’s destruction wouldn’t cause much stir. The key was why it happened—a surviving alchemist revealed the cause and named the killer.