End of the Magic Era

‘We caught you in the act this time… Let’s see how you defend yourself!’

Orson was standing nearby sneering at Lin Yun, who was crouched near the body of the Wyvern King. After saying those words, he didn’t forget to raise his hands to cast a spell to capture the scene of Lin Yun’s “loot stealing”…

‘This branch member of the Merlin Family has guts! He even dares to make a move on the loot of the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group! Is he not afraid of death? The people that would dare to take something from us in Okland can barely be counted on two hands. He is definitely a branch member that hasn’t seen the world…

‘If he knew the stakes, he would never do something so stupid. Moreover, that damn guy is too arrogant, he does such a horrible thing in such an open way! Doesn’t he know how many experts are in the camp? Let alone High Mages and Archmages, even those Great Mages and Expert Swordsmen would have something to say to him…

‘Now that I caught him, I have to teach him a lesson!’

“I already knew that you were a despicable and shameless person that would appear for benefits… But I hadn’t expected you to be this shameless!” Orson pointed at Lin Yun, roaring angrily. “If not for me exploding that Black Forest Python at the edge of the Traces of Misfortune, would you still be alive now? There is no need to mention the matter of the Black Python’s magic materials, you and I are well aware of the situation.

“Yilu deliberately distorted the facts in order to cover for you and helped you justify yourself, but you shouldn’t naively think that Yilu was deceived by your lies… Truly ridiculous, even an idiot wouldn’t believe such lousy lies.

“I’ll give you a way out, pick one option… Lay down the loot you stole, fuck off, and never show your face in front of the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group again. Or you can become the enemy of our Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group. But I believe you wouldn’t be foolish enough to pick the second option, because you’d never be able to leave this place alive…”

Orson coldly ridiculed Lin Yun.

‘Even if that damn Mafa Merlin is willing to acknowledge his mistakes and hand over the loot, I won’t easily forgive him. I have proof, and countless ways to punish him…’

“Haha…”

Lin Yun acted as if he hadn’t understood Orson’s words. He quickly collected the blood of the Wyvern King and unhurriedly got up, only chuckling, not saying anything else. He had no plan to argue needlessly with that idiot. Not to mention, that idiot was fond of interrupting other people’s words. If he said anything, he would just be interrupted again, so what was the point? Moreover, even the Archmage Vice Leader of the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group didn’t say anything when he was looting, so why was that fool waving his arms around for?

“Mafa Merlin, what are you trying to do…”

Orson almost puked blood. He stared in disbelief as that wretched guy made light of him.

‘How could he do this… I have the proof of his misdeeds, shouldn’t he be begging for forgiveness? And not only is he not begging, he is unscrupulously continuing with stealing the loot. This makes no sense!’

“Mafa Merlin, do you think I can’t kill you just because of your identity as a branch member of the Merlin Family? You ridiculous 2nd Rank High Mage, you are pathetic… Let me enlighten you! Killing you is something very easy! The Merlin Family would never look into it! Who told you to be a branch member without status?”

“I believe that you’ll soon run out of luck.” Lin Yun frowned.

“You’ll die before I run out of luck…”

Orson let out a cold sneer, and powerful mana fluctuations were rising from his body as the staff in his hand was raised. He no longer looked at Lin Yun as he kept casting…

“Orson!”

But suddenly, a familiar voice came from behind. Orson frowned before interrupting his casting. He impatiently turned before his eyes suddenly gleamed. “Leon, how come you are here…”

Leon’s status was outstanding. He was one of the three outstanding geniuses of the Merlin Family, someone that became a High Mage at a young age and who was very famous in Okland. Moreover, Leon came from the Cloud Tower, which meant that behind Leon were two first-rate forces.

The Merlin Family and the Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group had a decently genial relatinship, and although Orson was extremely arrogant and haughty, Leon wasn’t any less so. When the two met, they established a pretty good friendship. But Orson was a bit puzzled. ‘How come Leon came to the Tulan Mountain Range?’

“Leon, you came right on time…”

Orson threw a glance at Lin Yun before smiling to welcome Leon. “Leon, I have something very important to tell you, it concerns your Merlin Family’s reputation.”

“Ah?” Leon clearly froze, not expecting that the friend he’d just met would directly mention his family’s reputation just after greeting him.

“You still don’t know that you have scum in the Merlin Family!?” Orson sneered, not forgetting to throw a provocative glance at Lin Yun before continuing. “I met that guy at the edge of the Traces of Misfortune. He was almost killed by a Level 25 Black Python when I saved him just in time. But he was too greedy and actually wanted the magic materials of the Black Python. For the sake of your Merlin Family, I didn’t argue with him and kindly brought him back to camp…”

“Hold on, you are saying… Cousin Mafa… Orson, you…” Leon’s expression turned deathly pale. He was pale with fright already. ‘You dare to provoke this monster? Shit, Orson, you are truly begging to get killed. You could provoke anyone, but you chose Cousin Mafa, and you even called him scum!

‘A level 25 Black Python almost killed Cousin Mafa?’ Leon felt that this was a joke, and one that wasn’t very funny. ‘Cousin Mafa’s Gilded Rose monopolized the market on the eastern part of the kingdom, it reached the point where even the Elders were envious of that money-making machine! Cousin Mafa himself spent 37 million golds in an auction! How could he be interested by a trifling Level 25 Black Python’s magic materials? How ridiculous is that…’

Since this matter had reached this point, Leon roughly knew what must have happened. There must have been some sort of disagreement between Orson and Cousin Mafa.

Orson was his friend, after all, so he couldn’t just let him run into a fireball like that…

But just as Leon wanted to say something to Orson, he was ruthlessly interrupted.

“Leon, listen to me first, things are even more complicated…” Orson looked seriously at Leon, but he hadn’t noticed that Leon was a bit pale and that some beads of sweat had covered his forehead.

He felt that Leon’s high status in the Merlin Family wasn’t just because he was one of the three geniuses. In the future, he might very well become the patriarch, and he was currently an Elder.

Looking for an Elder like him when a branch member made an offense was the most suitable course of action.

Moreover, he could use this opportunity to humiliate that Mafa Merlin who couldn’t take a hint. He might have already been scared to death when he saw that Leon was his friend.

‘It’s good if he is scared to death, who asked him to be so arrogant?’

“Leon, you should know that our three mercenary groups had been attacked by countless Wyverns tonight. There are countless casualties and everyone has to fend off the Wyverns, but what was Mafa Merlin doing? Not only did he not fight the Wyverns, he actually stole the loot of our Heaven Enlightening Mercenary Group! Indeed, you heard me right, he is that bold!”

“Orson, Cousin Mafa is an upright person, you definitely misunderstood him…” Although he had been interrupted by that idiot Orson, he was still his friend. He couldn’t let him walk the path to his own doom, so Leon gave him a meaningful look while patiently persuading him, “It must be a misunderstanding, definitely…”

Leon was in a bad mood. ‘Damn, idiot Orson, I am trying to save you! What happened tonight must be a misunderstanding, and even if it wasn’t, it has to be, or else you’ll be in big trouble…’

‘A misunderstanding?’ A sneer appeared on Orson’s face. It looked as if he heard a very dumb joke. His words carried a hint of anger as he said, “Leon, I understand what you are thinking about. As a person of the Merlin Family, you naturally have to take into consideration your family’s reputation, I would do the same… Rest assured, I’ll help the Merlin Family keep this matter secret and won’t leak it out.”

He paused before continuing, “But Mafa Merlin’s actions can’t be easily forgiven. Leon, as my friend, you owe me this much. How about we settle this privately?”

In Orson’s eyes, he had already showed enough respect for Leon. This was surely the best way to settle this for the Merlin Family.

“Privately? Cousin Mafa definitely didn’t do anything wrong, High Mage Orson, please don’t talk nonsense…”

Leon’s expression was completely cold by this point.

‘Is Cousin Mafa someone you can provoke? You don’t know what terrifying thing happened in the conference hall, it’s giving me chills just thinking about it. Orson, you can’t even compare to Aube, who ended up crippled even with his status as an Elder and his Sword Saint father…’