Chapter 1290: Divulge

“Where is the alchemist who luckily survived?”

Faleau was stunned. His expression changed, and he thought of something.

“In that earl’s house…”

“Investigate the partners who came to return their goods, the customers who are reasonably strong, and those nobles. Find out what they have in common.”

After saying that, Lin Yun seemed rather delighted. He gave Faleau another instruction, and left for the Demiplane.

“Don’t change anything in the Gilded Rose. Whoever comes for a refund, just give them their money. However, keep a record of their names and find out who’s behind them.”

Entering the Demiplane, Lin Yun saw Lord Shawn, who had been dormant, floating in the sky surrounded by mysterious light.

Lord Shawn’s eyes were closed. However, the third eye between his eyebrows was opened. The mysterious light around his body was flowing into the eye, making it glitter.

Suddenly, Lin Yun’s expression changed, and he took out the ring that Lord Shawn was attached to, only to find that it was glittering too. Then, the connection between the ring and Lord Shawn dwindled until it disappeared.

Had Lord Shawn left the magic tool? Was he independent again?

Thrilled, Lin Yun immediately inserted a tremendous amount of mana into Lord Shawn’s body.

Immediately, Lord Shawn evolved much faster. He swallowed at least 100 bottles of mana. The light around him suddenly disappeared.

A wolf that was five meters long and two meters tall appeared in the sky.

“Hahaha. Lord Shawn is finally free. He’s no longer the transformation of that goddamn magic tool…”

Lord Shawn floated in the sky and laughed. The third eye between his eyebrows was still glimmering. Anyone who saw the eye would feel uncomfortable.

“Lord Shawn, in case you forgot, you were the one who signed a contract with me, not the magic tool…”

Lin Yun’s casual voice entered Lord Shawn’s ears. Immediately, Lord Shawn’s grin froze. He descended from midair in frustration.

“Damn it, I’m truly regretful. I should have scared you off. If I had done so, I wouldn’t have had to go through this…”

Earlier, Lord Shawn had personally created the contract with his best expertise. However, Lin Yun noticed his trick, and Lord Shawn became a victim to his own scheme…

Lin Yun looked at Lord Shawn with a smile. It was definitely a good thing that Lord Shawn was no longer the transformation of a magic tool.

Without the limitation of the magic tool, as a Soul Walker, Lord Shawn would be able to make consecutive progress.

Having melted the Eyes of Calamity and the Evil Eye, the third eye between his eyebrows had evolved into the Eye of Misfortune. It could bring forth disasters.

With the replenishment of mana and the completion of the Eye of Misfortune, Lord Shawn finally made a breakthrough to the Heaven Rank successfully.

However, Lord Shawn could easily kill a level-1 Heaven Rank mage with his abilities and the Eye of Misfortune, even though he had just reached the Heaven Rank. All he needed was one opportunity.

Lin Yun changed his plan after Lord Shawn’s breakthrough and newly regained independence. He took Lord Shawn out of the Demiplane, and quietly flew 1,000 kilometers to an earl’s manor in a town.

Lord Shawn was unhappy, but he followed Lin Yun anyway, knowing that it was not time to cause trouble. A tiny bit of mana surfaced. Then, it was gone and replaced by soul power.

The power enshrouded Lin Yun and Lord Shawn as they entered a heavily guarded manor, which was almost empty for them. The defenses were absolutely useless against them.

They entered the manor through the main path. The alchemy arrays on their way didn’t work at all. The three-headed hound, which allegedly could discover any approaching creature, didn’t seem to notice Lin Yun and Lord Shawn at all when they passed by.

They searched for a while, and finally found their target, the lucky alchemist who claimed to have survived the Gilded Rose’s assault.

The moment he saw the alchemist, Lin Yun was rather astonished.

The guy claimed that his chest was penetrated on the left side, and he survived because his heart wasn’t there. Lin Yun thought that it was just a cliche excuse, but it turned out to be true. That man had some elven blood, and his heart was in the center of his chest.

Lin Yun observed quietly from outside of the window. Inside the room, the alchemist looked healthy and not wounded at all. There were more than 30 plates on the table, with a smiling mage on his opposite side.

“Sir John, are you prepared for your speech tomorrow? Whether or not we can encourage other nobles to deal with the Gilded Rose will depend on your speech. It wasn’t easy for the earl to get the opportunity for you to speak in the business center of Neverwinter City…”

The alchemist laughed and waved his hand delightedly.

“Mr. Butler, rest assured. I’ve already prepared. Tomorrow, I will ruin the Gilded Rose’s reputation as we agreed upon.”

“They’re just an outsider from Andlusa. They’re as good as dead now that the earl has locked his eyes on them.”

“We’ve signed a contract, and I’ll certainly get this thing done. Don’t worry…”

Lin Yun listened for a moment, and then narrowed his eyes.

The earl? This earl was not one of the founders of the Odin Kingdom. He was just an individual noble who didn’t have a noble family. Why would he try so hard to smear the Gilded Rose?

Would the man ever do such a thing if he wasn’t generously paid?

Lin Yun stood outside of the window quietly for half an hour until he figured out everything. This alchemist seemed to have been the earl’s subordinate. He only worked in the destroyed store to set up the Gilded Rose.

Why would a Master Alchemist work at a bottom-level alchemy store?

He had a speech the next day? He had also signed a harsh contract?

After the butler left, Lin Yun looked at Lord Shawn who was standing on his shoulder in the size of a hand.

Lord Shawn seemed quite angry.

“It’s just the soul of an Archmage and an idiot who’s bound to a soul contract. How boring…”

While he talked, the Eye of Misfortune on his forehead opened, launching an invisible streak of light that hit the alchemist in the back…

“Let’s go. He’s screwed tomorrow. Let’s just wait and see…”

Lin Yun looked at the alchemist with pity in his eyes. This level-1 Archmage had been hit by Lord Shawn with the Light of Misfortune. All kinds of accidents and disasters would happen to him, making him feel that he was abandoned by luck. It would be more miserable than death…

Lin Yun turned around and left. He returned the way he came. However, when he passed the back door, he unexpectedly saw a bearded man who wore a white robe and a black hairband.

The butler was standing right next to the bearded man…

Confusion flashed in Lin Yun’s eyes.

That man’s clothes indicated that he was from the desert of the Sten Kingdom.

He had come to the earl’s residence in the middle of the night using the back door. There was definitely something wrong with him…

When Lin Yun intended to draw closer, he discovered that the bearded man looked in his direction in surprise.

“Sir Reynolds, what’s the matter?”

“Oh, nothing…”

After the bearded man left, Lord Shawn finally explained.

“That bearded man carries a rarely seen soul magic tool. He almost caught me. His soul is under the protection of the magic tool. If I want to see his soul, I will be seen.”

Returning to Neverwinter City, Lin Yun asked Faleau to pay more attention to organizations from the Sten Kingdom during the investigation.

On the second day, in the business center which was the most crowded place in Neverwinter City, and where the Gilded Rose was located…

A high platform was established. Many people stopped around the platform because it usually indicated a rich store here was going to release something new. A public exhibition in this place could be very costly.

At noon, when there were the most passers-by, the alchemist named John climbed the platform with a pale face.

“A lot of you might wonder who I am, and why I am here. My name is John, and I’m an alchemist from the Mages’ Cabin…”

Standing on the platform, John convincingly elaborated on how the Mages’ Cabin bought the fake Universal Cores, how it was destroyed, and how he survived. He even took off his clothes, and showed a terrifying scar on his chest.

Seated next to a window on the top of the Gilded Rose, Lin Yun watched the aggrieved alchemist speak.

“This dude is about to get unlucky…”

Lord Shawn was holding a bottle of mana water, and sipping now and then as if it were a beverage.

On the platform, John was reaching the end of his speech. His pale face had turned red, and he sounded as if he were yelling. He seemed very excited.

“…I’m standing out because I want everybody to know the Gilded Rose’s ugly true appearance.

“As long as I ruin the Gilded Rose’s reputation, I’ll be able to get a new identity, 10,000,000 purple gold, and two stores, and I can live another life in the south of the Odin Kingdom.

“Fortunately, my elven bloodline gave me a heart that grew in the center of my chest, which saved my life 80 years ago, and brings me tremendous wealth right now.

“Hahaha. I’m ruining the reputation of the Gilded Rose on my own. I’m so proud of myself. That stupid boss of the Mages’ Cabin thought that I was just a common alchemist.

“That stupid man died with disbelief in his eyes. He didn’t expect that I was an Archmage or a Master Alchemist…

“I’ve finished my speech, and completed the agreement with the earl…”

Many people had been shocked and infuriated as they listened to John’s speech. Their emotions had arisen. However, towards the end of John’s speech, everybody was dumbfounded at what he said, and gazed at him.

John’s expression suddenly changed. He finally realized that he seemed to have said something that he shouldn’t have.

“…No, no. That was a mistake. I didn’t say any of that. Damn it. I was controlled—”

Unfortunately, before John could finish, runes had surfaced in his body. All those runes assembled into a glittering roll of paper that floated in midair.

“No, no. I didn’t violate the contract. I didn’t say any of that…”

John screamed and moved back quickly. However, the glittering paper turned into a streak of light, and disappeared into his body. Instantly, a terrifying amount of mana erupted from John to the sky. His presence then quickly plummeted at a higher and higher speed…

In only a dozen seconds, John had no more mana to lose. He had completely turned into an ordinary person, and he seemed to have grown older by 30 years. He fell and mumbled to himself…

“How could this be, how could this be…”

The expressions of the audience who were listening to his speech all changed. The smart people knew that John violated the contract and was punished. Remembering what John said, they knew that he was here to smear the Gilded Rose, except that he somehow misspoke, and was punished by the contract.

The people who came with John were all dumbfounded. They didn’t expect John to be so stupid as to divulge those things at this moment…

Nobody could think of a second possibility except that he was stupid.

He wouldn’t have been punished even if he had said those things under someone else’s control. Only if he violated the contract himself would he be punished by the contract…

After the whole thing settled down, Lin Yun didn’t pay his attention to the aftermath. Even though his enemy likely wouldn’t give up so easily, the Gilded Rose would have more time to deal with the scheme. After all, all the accusations against the Gilded Rose started with the destruction of the alchemy store.

Now that the truth was revealed in public, the criticisms against the Gilded Rose would be eased, even though they wouldn’t be gone. Lin Yun would have time to deal with them.

Also, it was a good opportunity for him to eliminate the partners who had come to demand a refund and cause trouble. The partners who continued supporting the Gilded Rose after the incident had proved their loyalty, and he could work with them in other aspects.

After all, the Gilded Rose had never explained anything ever since the rumor came up, and it simply accepted every customer’s demand for refund, which seemed to be confirming the rumors.

Lin Yun didn’t care about the incident at all. Some of the Gilded Rose’s employees resigned, and Lin Yun asked Faleau to just let them go.

It seemed that the Gilded Rose accepted that there was nothing they could do.

The internal and external problems could all be taken care of together. However, it was impossible for his enemy to obtain the Universal Cores or the raw materials…

The Gilded Rose’s raw materials and even the entire Noscent’s were all in Lin Yun’s Demiplane. If his enemy thought that the Gilded Rose had found a special mother lode or alloy formula, they should just keep looking…

The Black Pattern Silver could never be leaked. However imaginative his enemy was, they couldn’t foresee this brand-new material.

The Gilded Rose remained silent after the huge turn of events, which surprised everybody. Faleau, on the other hand, combined the leads he found, and got three names.

One of them was the Roosevelt Business Alliance from the Sten Kingdom, and its director in the north of the Odin Kingdom was named Reynolds.

At this moment, an unexpected visitor came to the Gilded Rose.

Looking at the mage, Lin Yun remained casual.

The visitor wore a bright blue robe, and emitted undisguised coldness. His eyebrows and hair were white. As a level-3 Heaven Rank ice mage, he clearly carried such features because of his bodily conditions, not magic.

His blue eyes, his big nose, and his body that was as muscular as a warrior’s all indicated that he was from the Sten Kingdom.

The Sten Kingdom had a very special terrain. Half of the country was a desert, and the other half was always covered in snow. There were two ethnic groups in the kingdom, and they engaged in fierce competition. At first, the two ethnic groups fought like archenemies, but after the fall of the Third Dynasty, many small kingdoms were established. They swallowed each other.

The two ethnic groups that occupied the Sten Kingdom’s territory at this moment had to abandon their hate and merge into a kingdom so that they could stand independent. At this moment, although the two ethnic groups were still competitive, they were still one country.

“What can I do for you, Sir Dick?”

Lin Yun was quite casual. He knew what Dick was up to the moment he saw him. He even realized who had been dealing with the Gilded Rose.

Dick represented the Lincoln Business Alliance, which was headquartered in the snow-covered half of the Odin Kingdom. It was a business alliance of magic tools, and its major competitor was the Roosevelt Business Alliance in the desert.

One of the three suspects that Faleau had found out was the Roosevelt Business Alliance…

With a confident smile, Dick opened his mouth unhurriedly.

“This time, I’m here as a representative of the Lincoln Business Alliance. We hope to cooperate with the Gilded Rose. We can help you get rid of your problem and deal with your enemy in the dark. Sir Mafa, do you not know who has been targeting the Gilded Rose in secret?”

Lin Yun glanced at Dick casually.

“Who else could it be if not the Roosevelt Business Alliance?”

Dick had to drop the words that he was about to say out, and shock flashed on his face.

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