Chapter 1323
Walker Carter. That damned wretch. Idiot. He actually went after someone else's Universal Core. Sure, it’s worth a king’s ransom, but this kind of stunt? The Gilded Rose will never let it slide. Now their people are at our doorstep—what are we supposed to do? My heart drums a panicked rhythm in my chest, yet the room is thick with feigned calm. No one dares voice their dread, but it’s there, gnawing at the edges of every thought.
Damn it. Last time the Rodney Family locked horns with the Gilded Rose, they tucked tail and vanished without so much as a whimper. The Gilded Rose... their strength is a nightmare we never wanted to believe. And their master, Leon Merlin—word is, he’s as domineering as a dragon, ruthless and unyielding. If we slip up, the Carter Family could be staring disaster in the face. I can feel it—a cold dread seeping into my bones, whispering that we’re already in too deep.
Someone get word to Walker Carter—now. That idiot needs to show his face immediately. If we can’t conjure up a decent explanation, the Carter Family is in for a world of trouble... The pressure is suffocating, each tick of the clock a tightening noose. Anxiety gnaws at my resolve, but there’s no turning back now.
Walker Carter strode into the Council of Elders, utterly unfazed by the assembly of sour-faced old men. Not a flicker of nerves—he simply flicked his wrist and dumped five million Purple Gold Coins onto the table, the clatter ringing out like a challenge. He was a storm walking among shadows, oblivious—or perhaps indifferent—to the tension that coiled through the chamber. The elders’ eyes narrowed, suspicion and envy tangled in the air.
Five million Purple Gold Coins—each one gleaming, piled into a miniature mountain. The elders, faces twisted in scorn and disbelief, stared in stunned silence. In all their years, none had ever laid eyes on such a staggering fortune. The weight of those coins pressed upon the room, heavy and surreal, as if the very air had thickened with greed and longing.
The Carter Family—no alchemists among us, just pure mages clinging to tradition. Our businesses barely scrape by, just enough to keep magical research afloat. Resources are always scarce, spread thin like winter rations. Among the younger generation, only three prodigies each year are lucky enough to receive what they truly need. The rest? We learn to make do, or fade into the background, watching dreams slip through our fingers.
Five million Purple Gold Coins—enough for a Sky Rank powerhouse to commission a True Spirit Magic Artifact, crafted to echo their soul. Even if it’s not the finest, it’s a dream most can only chase. Such artifacts are rare, coveted, the kind of treasure whispered about in candlelit halls and hungry dreams. In this world, legends are forged from longing as much as gold.
Walker Carter caught their dumbfounded stares and let a smug grin curl his lips. He basked in their shock, savoring the moment like a wolf among sheep. For a brief instant, he was untouchable—a little king in a court of fools. If only every day could taste this sweet.
"See this? Our family's yearly income in Purple Gold Coins—what is it, thirty million, if that? Split among everyone, what does each person get? Barely enough to taste, let alone thrive. The frustration simmers beneath my words, a bitter truth none of us can escape. We count coins, not dreams, and every year the pile feels smaller."
These five million Purple Gold Coins are half of what I earned in just three days. Can any of you do that? Of course, I'm part of the family—when I have money, I naturally think of the family.
Second Elder, you're a Sky Rank powerhouse, but you only have two True Spirit Magic Artifacts, counting your staff—and they're both low-grade, aren't they?
These five million Purple Gold Coins—let's split them up. Second Elder, you take a million first, get some good materials, and find a decent alchemist to upgrade your artifact. And Grand Elder..."
Walker Carter rambled on, not asking for anything—just here to hand out money. Five elders, five million coins, a million each. For the Carter Family, a million per person is a fortune.
And Walker Carter said it was earned in three days. Everyone knew how he got it...
After handing out the money, Walker Carter left. The five elders exchanged glances, staring at the mountain of Purple Gold Coins, unable to resist the greed in their hearts...
The Second Elder, who needed money the most, swallowed hard.
"Walker Carter finally learned some sense, knows how to give back to the family. Not bad, not bad..."
"Yeah, not bad. Walker Carter may be a bit reckless, but he's still one of us—and an important Sky Rank powerhouse at that..."
"What do we do about the people from the Gilded Rose?"
"What else can we do? Walker Carter didn't cause trouble at the Gilded Rose, it was just a normal transaction. Those people sold willingly—no one can say anything. Besides, maybe those sellers are just trying to scam Walker Carter, sold it and then thought they got too little, so now they're spreading rumors..."
"That's right. Walker Carter used to be reckless, but he's much more sensible now. No way he'd do something like that..."
A day later, Farrow listened to the report, his face dark as iron.
"So, the Carter Family claims it was all normal business, that the sellers tried to scam them and got taught a lesson. Everything was bought for ninety thousand Purple Gold Coins, and the rumors are just people trying to smear the Carter Family's reputation?
What about those sellers? The ones Walker Carter forced into selling?
What? Only three were found, and no one knows where the rest went. The ones found also say they sold to Walker Carter for ninety thousand Purple Gold Coins?
Is the Carter Family trying to make an enemy of our Gilded Rose?"
Farrow was so furious his breathing became ragged, magic swirling, winds whipping around him. He had no idea how to handle this now.
The Carter Family insisted this was the truth. In Rigg City, it's all too easy for the Carter Family to silence those sellers—anyone with a backbone just disappears...
The Gilded Rose is just an alchemy shop. Once the Purple Gold Coins are earned and the buyer leaves, it's no longer the Gilded Rose's business. Unless it happens right at the shop's front door, the Gilded Rose can't do anything.
Once the buyer disappears—whether they're robbed or killed—it has nothing to do with the Gilded Rose.
And the one doing it is a Sky Rank powerhouse. What else can you do? Post a Sky Rank powerhouse as a guard?
Don't be ridiculous. Even if the Carter Family had ten times more guts, they'd never dare attack the Gilded Rose directly. But are we supposed to send a Sky Rank powerhouse to escort every customer who comes to buy a Universal Core from the Gilded Rose?
Even if we don't use Sky Rank powerhouses, are we supposed to send a Gilded Rose escort for every single customer? Does the Gilded Rose have that many people? Would business even survive?
If this keeps up, who would dare buy anything from the Gilded Rose? You hand over your money, step out the door, and get robbed—or worse, killed—just a few steps away.
And that's just a branch store, nowhere near the scale of the eighteen interconnected flagship stores in Neverwinter City. There's no way to allocate that much power to a single branch—it's simply impossible. The Gilded Rose isn't so flush with cash that it can post a Sky Rank powerhouse in every branch...
But now is the best time for the Gilded Rose to expand. The branches are like outstretched tentacles—if the Rigg City branch gets crushed, the others won't be far behind. If a mid-tier family like the Carter Family dares to do this and gets away with just a war of words, then other families will follow suit...
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If this happens in every city with a branch, the Gilded Rose will have no choice but to close them all. If this mess isn't handled properly, the Gilded Rose will never be able to open new branches again...
And without any deterrence, but with so much wealth, the number of people willing to take a bite out of the Gilded Rose is bound to explode...
But if the Gilded Rose takes a hard stance—marches straight to the Carter Family to demand justice, or even kills Walker Carter outright—it'll look way too domineering. That could turn the local families in the Odin Kingdom against them, and maybe even provoke a few powerful noble houses to come looking for trouble...
Whatever happens, all the consequences are bad for the Gilded Rose. At the end of the day, it's because the Gilded Rose is an outsider...
Farrow, head aching, could only send two more Level Nine Title Archmages to Rigg City, plus five Level Thirty-Nine alchemical golems, just to reinforce the Gilded Rose's defenses.
With people watching—even if they don't escort every customer—it at least sends a message. At the very least, the Carter Family should rein in their people a bit...
But three days later, another batch of Universal Cores hit the shelves at the Gilded Rose, and a new report from Rigg City landed on Farrow's desk...
Reading the new report, Farrow's face turned pitch black—another dozen people had been forced into selling, and the highest price paid was just a thousand Purple Gold Coins; most got only five or six hundred...
The culprit was, once again, Walker Carter of the Carter Family...
Farrow looked at the report, a bitter smile tugging at his lips.
He really underestimated their greed. Even with Gilded Rose staff present, the other side could righteously claim it had nothing to do with the Gilded Rose—eighty thousand Purple Gold Coins spent at the shop, and less than three minutes later, robbed for five hundred...
They didn't even bother to respect the Gilded Rose anymore—these people had lost their minds...
Turning back into the Gilded Rose, Farrow could only send Lafayette to Rigg City—after all, having a Sky Rank Level 2 powerhouse, one at the very peak of that rank, was the only way to guarantee nothing would go wrong.
But even with Lafayette personally in Rigg City, the problem wasn't solved. When Lafayette was around, nothing happened near the Gilded Rose, but as soon as someone without connections bought a Universal Core and left Lafayette's range, trouble started...
Once, Lafayette even trailed a guy who spent his entire fortune to buy a Universal Core, hoping to turn a profit. With Lafayette secretly watching, nothing happened. But ten minutes later, someone else got attacked just outside the Gilded Rose branch—beaten to death...
In less than a week, rumors spread. Now other branches are seeing buyers of Universal Cores getting robbed too—sometimes forced to sell cheap, sometimes outright mugged.
After several incidents, rumors began to swirl. The result: sales at the Gilded Rose branches, which had been climbing, started to dip.
Many would rather travel all the way to Neverwinter City's Gilded Rose than buy from their local branch...
And this trend just kept getting worse. There were even rumors that the Gilded Rose was running short on stock, so they'd sell an item, then send someone to kill the buyer and take the Universal Core back to resell. Otherwise, how could people get robbed just minutes after leaving the shop? If the Gilded Rose wasn't behind it, why didn't they react at all...
Rumors kept spreading, until finally, one of the Gilded Rose branches was attacked. Word spread like wildfire.
The attackers were just a bunch of brainless bandits, wiped out on the spot—but it set a very bad precedent...
It seemed some people thought the Gilded Rose was easy prey—so much wealth, but so easy to bully. Now things were getting troublesome...