End of the Magic Era

“Give me the list of the items that were shipped.”

“Understood, Boss Merlin.”

Remy quickly fetched the requested list of items. Over a dozen kinds of products were indexed on it, most of which were medicines. After asking Remy, Lin Yun learnt that this was due to the Silver Moon Mercenary’s expedition in Edge Rift not going too well. They had already suffered a lot of casualties while still outside of Edge Rift, and thus, the recent orders consisted mostly of alchemy medicine.

“Alchemy medicine…” Lin Yun understood a bit…

This was probably trouble caused by the Hope Potion…

If this was truly the case, then there was no need to worry, because Lin Yun was certain that the men of the Viper Nest would appear before him sooner or later.

Lin Yun put down the list and didn’t ask anything else. He waited calmly by himself in the Gilded Rose. As it turned out, Lin Yun didn’t have to wait long at all. One hour later, Remy knocked at his door.

“Boss Merlin, Boss Merlin…” Remy’s worried voice came from behind the door.

Lin Yun was surprisingly calm as he asked, “What? Someone came?”

“Ye… Yes. Two people came, a mage and a fighter. They introduced themselves as members of the Viper Nest and they want to speak to the owner of the Gilded Rose.”

“Good, I understand. Greet them first, I’ll follow soon.”

Lin Yun changed into a clean, black robe before slowly walking toward the reception room. As he pushed the door open, he caught sight of the two waiting guests.

One of them was a red-haired man of medium stature, and he seemed to be about forty years old. His face was marred by a very long scar, which made him look quite fierce. He was wearing red-colored leather armor. On his right side, there was a greatsword emitting faint magic fluctuations. It seemed to be a pretty decent weapon.

With a glance, Lin Yun came to the conclusion that this was a Great Swordsman, and one that had recently advanced.

Only the Great Swordsmen who had recently advanced would be unable to completely control their aura. With an aura constantly leaking out, it was fairly easy to estimate one’s strength.

This was the same for a Great Mage who had recently crushed their mana whirlpool…

But it wasn’t the case for the current Lin Yun. Besides runes flashing in his eyes from time to time, people usually wouldn’t be able to grasp Lin Yun’s real strength through magic fluctuations, as he had much better control.

This person who had recently advanced to become a Great Swordsman had a companion with him, and moreover, that person was an acquaintance. It was that 9th Rank Mage who had accompanied Fario to “catch a thief” in Lin Yun’s house, along with a group from the Viper Nest.

But they never ended up catching that thief, as the 9th Rank Mage himself was forced to follow Lin Yun inside and be questioned for a long time,

“Mage Larry, long time no see.” Lin Yun greeted him very politely after entering the reception room.

The 9th Rank Mage had originally been sitting there feeling very satisfied, resting his eyes while waiting for someone to come receive them. Thus, when he heard Lin Yun’s voice, Larry immediately stiffened up. He opened his eyes in disbelief before instantly jumping up to his feet.

“Ma… Mage Merlin!”

“Haha, Mage Larry, we meet again.”

“Ha… Ha… Haha, yes, yes, such a coincidence.” Larry was smiling stiffly while thinking of slapping himself.

‘Damn, how could I forget that the Gilded Rose is owned by that family, I actually came over like an idiot,’ he thought regretfully. ‘This guy is a monster that was able to use metamagic a dozen times without even getting short of breath.’

When he thought back to that scene, the 9th Rank Mage couldn’t help discreetly moving to hide behind the body of the fighter.

“What’s going on?” The Great Swordsman threw a strange glance at his companion, feeling rather puzzled. Mage Larry, who was famous for being vicious and merciless, was behaving a bit strangely.

“No… Nothing.” Larry raised his head and saw Lin Yun looking at him and immediately shrank back, unwilling to say another word.

Fortunately, the Great Swordsman didn’t take it to heart. If he didn’t get an answer after asking, then that was that. He would move on with his own matters. His hands were on the table of the reception room as he kept leaking his aura, giving a somewhat oppressive feeling.

“You are Mafa Merlin?”

“Indeed, I am Mafa Merlin.” Lin Yun nodded before sitting in front of the Great Swordsman.

“Good, Merlin, I came today to ask you something. The Gilded Rose under your name has intruded four times on the territory of the Viper Nest. Are you trying to test the limits of the Viper Nest’s tolerance?”

The Great Swordsman’s attitude was very aggressive, clearly showing how he was intent on getting the upper hand in the conversation. Someone less courageous might be scared by this display.

Unfortunately for him, Lin Yun wasn’t spineless.

“Hmm, can I ask you something…” Lin Yun didn’t blink as he looked closely at the Great Swordsman. “Who are you?”

“I…” The Great Swordsman almost choked in surprise.

‘I asked you a question so fiercely, how could you ask something as trivial as that? Out of every answer you could have given, why would you ask my name! Okay, calm down, relax…’

The Great Swordsman counted to ten in his mind, forcing himself to calm down before proudly answering, “I am Rios.”

“Eh? Rios? I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for a long time,” Lin Yun drawled while yawning.

“…”

Rios’ calmness was extinguished.

“Mafa Merlin! Don’t interrupt me! I came today to ask you why your Flashing Gold chamber of commerce’s caravan intruded on the Viper Nest’s territory four times! Are you trying to provoke the Viper Nest?”

“Absolutely not!”

“That’s good…” Rios’ expression eased up slightly. Although this Mafa Merlin’s attitude was dislikeable, it seemed that he fortunately knew of the fearsomeness of the Viper Nest. Rios coughed to clear his throat before putting his hands on the table once more. While wearing a lofty expression, he demanded, “Our Viper Nest needs an explanation.”

“What explanation?”

“You should think about what kind of explanation you should show us.”

“You are asking for compensation?”

“Hmpf!” Rios snorted coldly, but he inwardly rejoiced.

‘It seems like I have a talent for negotiations. With just a simple scare, this fellow became sincere. Wait until I get the Hope Potion formula, Boss Sauss will definitely reward me. It’s a pity that this idiot Larry will get a share of my credit… Oh right, speaking of Larry…’

Rios thought it was rather strange. ‘How come Larry started acting all weird ever since Mafa Merlin appeared? He seems like a mouse meeting a cat…’