Fortmore repeatedly nodded.
"Right, it's like this. We just saw someone come to cause trouble. After all, there are too many ignorant people. Someone has to guard this place. After all, if a Heaven Rank powerhouse comes to cause trouble, those puppets might not be able to handle it.
"Although the two of us aren't very powerful, we are enough to handle a 1st or 2nd Rank Heaven powerhouse. In order to express our apologies, we decided to apply for the position of guardian."
Layford took out two contracts that already had a magic signature on them. They only needed to be signed on the other side for the contract to take effect.
Faleau picked up the contract and looked at it. There was no problem with the medium of the contract, because the paper itself was produced by the Gilded Rose.
Faleau's expression became strange as he looked at the contents of the contract.
The contract would be valid for five hundred years, they were obligated to protect the Gilded Rose and help deal with troublemakers. They weren't allowed to harm anyone from the Gilded Rose or steal anything from the Gilded Rose.
There were more than forty contracts, it was simply too harsh …
To put it simply, it was like giving away two powerful security guards that only needed to provide food and lodging, but didn't need to worry about betrayal.
Because the cost of violating the contract was very high, the lowest backlash was mana dissipation. If the contract was more serious, the backlash would be their soul falling into purgatory. It would be hard to die even if they wanted to.
Then, he looked at the contract and then at Layford and Fortmore, who were anxiously looking at him. Faleau was a bit confused, he couldn't understand.
'Damnit, what did Sir Merlin do? How could he scare these two guys to such an extent? Such harsh conditions, yet they actually took the initiative to deliver themselves to his door to ask to sign a contract, and it's the strictest soul contract …
'Are they out of their minds?'
Faleau looked at the contract and then at the two of them. He truly couldn't understand. In the end, he picked up the contract and returned to the back. He looked for the Artisan he had previously recruited, as well as a group of people. The results of the appraisal showed that there was no problem with the contract. Whether it was the contract medium, the ink, or even the writing tools, they were all produced by the Gilded Rose.
There was only one conclusion, these two Heaven Rank powerhouses had been kicked in the head by a Pig Beastman, and the injuries weren't light.
No matter what these two fellows wanted to do, Faelor had no reason to refuse. Signing the contract meant that it was established.
After the contract was established, Layford and Fortmore sighed in relief, as if they had obtained great benefits.
On that day, there were two 2nd Rank Heaven powerhouses guarding the Gilded Rose's eighteen shops, and one of them was a strange dark curse mage. Sure enough, the number of people coming to cause trouble had greatly decreased.
The Jackson Family also sent someone to apologize to Lin Yun, expressing that they had thoroughly expelled Layford and Fortmore from the Jackson Family. Moreover, the old ancestor had personally ordered them to do so. Now, they had nothing to do with the Jackson Family, even if they lived or died.
On the other side, Lin Yun still didn't know about this matter and kept leading his people to sweep through the Puppet Plane. He had already gotten rid of nineteen Heaven Puppets, of which eight had ability runes. This was a very high ratio, and there were nine Heaven Puppets with black matter.
The black matter they obtained was all used to strengthen Pabiete's devouring system. Coupled with the constant replacement of components to help Pabiete level up, Pabiete's strength rapidly increased and he was now level 43. In a real battle, he was only a bit weaker than Lin Yun, but he was a lot stronger than Xiuban and Reina.
They once again found a steel city that covered over twenty kilometers and had a thousand-meter-tall defensive spire. This meant that the strongest puppet inside should be level 43 or 44, and there shouldn't be less than five Heaven Puppets.
They had already attacked two of these steel cities, so Lin Yun didn't care and kept attacking.
After half an hour, the five puppets had been dismantled and all the ability runes and black matter had been collected.
At this time, the small wolf that had been calmly standing on Lin Yun's shoulder anxiously called out.
A series of information was transmitted to Lin Yun's mind. The small wolf could sense that a terrifying danger was about to descend. Within a few minutes, everything alive would die.
Lin Yun's hair stood on end when he heard this. He unhesitantly collected all the puppets and led Xiuban, Reina, and Pabiete to escape on the airship.
When this airship was being manufactured, speed and concealment had been taken into consideration. When flying, there wouldn't be a single mana fluctuation, and no mana fluctuations would be emitted. With the addition of invisibility, it was very safe.
After getting on the airship, Lin Yun immediately rushed towards the puppet cemetery at the fastest speed possible. That was the weakest area in this large area.
After flying for less than a minute, Lin Yun felt a terrifying mana fluctuation coming from behind him. A huge, bear-like claw of light fell down from the dark void and ruthlessly swatted at that steel city.
There was a series of loud rumbles as terrifying shockwaves swept out, razing everything within a dozen kilometers to the ground. The steel city that had covered a radius of more than twenty kilometers had also completely disappeared. Only a few buildings made of black iron remained at the edges.
The area seven or eight kilometers from the center of the City of Steel had completely caved in. Those sturdy buildings made of black iron were like a pile of black plasticine that had been slapped by a giant bear.
All the buildings had been squeezed into a black discus, and at the center of the discus was a huge bear paw print.
Xiuban's face turned green as he turned to look at that huge paw print. Lin Yun's eyelids also twitched. If not for the small wolf's warning, they wouldn't have had the opportunity to escape.
From the moment they discovered the giant palm to the moment it landed on the ground, it had only taken less than two seconds. If they were to take this blow head-on, they would definitely die so badly that not even their bones would be left.
That attack had been released by a level 49 puppet at the very least, they weren't worth the Puppet King personally making a move.
Their harvest this time wasn't small, so it would be better to be well-behaved for a while before moving in another direction. If nothing unexpected happened, that terrifying puppet had discovered the problem through the dismantled spire.
Because if it had been a war between puppets, even if the steel city had been snatched away, it definitely wouldn't have dismantled the spire.
On the flying boat, Lin Yun inwardly let out a breath of relief.
'Forget it, in any case, the dismantled spire is enough for research. Next time I come, I won't dismantle the steel city's core building, I'll just hunt Heaven Puppets.'
After flying back to the puppet cemetery, Lin Yun looked at the mountain of discarded parts and sighed in relief.
Now that he was here, he was completely safe.
Just as Lin Yun was preparing to return to Noscent, something happened to the Gilded Rose.
At the border between the Odin Kingdom and the Andalusia Kingdom, a hundred-meter-long airship slowly floated towards the Odin Kingdom. A huge wheel mark was printed on the surface of the airship, and in the center of the wheel mark was a golden rose. This was the symbol of the Gilded Rose.
The airship was filled with raw materials of the Gilded Rose. These were all raw materials that had gone through the first step of processing. After reaching the Odin Kingdom, they could immediately be used to make all kinds of alchemy items.
Every few days, such an airship would fly from the Andalusia Kingdom to the Odin Kingdom. Although this kind of thing wasn't very fast and was far inferior to an airship, it had a very large capacity. Many materials that needed to be specially preserved could be carried by an airship. Although it was a bit slow, the price to performance ratio was frighteningly high. It would reduce the Gilded Rose's transportation costs by a few times.
Moreover, there were some special materials inside. The ordinary materials were all stored in special Space Rings. Some of the materials needed to be stored in special environments to ensure their effects. Some of the materials needed to be directly exposed to air or some other things after the first step of processing. Only then could the subsequent processing be completed.
Moreover, Spatial Rings weren't safe. If a Spatial Ring was destroyed, everything inside would fall into the endless void, never to be found again.
The transportation was as usual, but a problem suddenly appeared. A several-dozen-meter-long battleship was floating in the sky, blocking the Gilded Rose's airship.
The one participating in the transportation was a 9th Rank Archmage recruited by the Gilded Rose, as well as a group of puppets. The Gilded Rose had been developing very quickly these days, and no one in the Andalusia Kingdom dared to touch the Gilded Rose's caravan. The Odin Kingdom also gave them some face, and the bandits that didn't give them any face had been eliminated.
But they hadn't expected that someone would actually block their path this time, and they even used a battleship. This wasn't something ordinary bandits could get their hands on. Only some great families could have such a thing.
"This is the Gilded Rose's caravan. I wonder which friend in front is joking with us?"
The expression of the 9th Rank Archmage leading the caravan didn't change as he stood at the edge of the airship and shouted towards the other side.
But the battleship slowly changed direction, and on the deck, a mage wearing a mage robe suddenly waved his hand.
"Sink their airship, whether it's humans or puppets, get rid of them all."
In an instant, countless spells and magic arrows flew out of the battleship and fell on the airship. The airship itself was only used for transportation, and it couldn't be used in battle. After a few seconds, the airship's huge air sac was torn apart. The airship's Levitation Array simply couldn't support the huge weight of the hull and the cargo in the hold, so it started falling towards the ground.
It took less than a minute for the airship to fall into the forest below. The hull of the airship collapsed and a large amount of cargo fell out. As for the airship in the air, it slowly descended, and a large number of spells and magic arrows kept falling down, covering an area of several hundred meters.
On the deck of the battleship, that mage sneered.
"Gilded Rose? Andalusia is a country bumpkin, yet you dare to compete with our Rodney Family? You are truly reckless. Stupid bedbug pushed a ball of dung and thought you could touch the wealth of a Dragon, idiot. "
Seeing the torn airship, Tulos Rodney turned to the people behind him and gave an order.
"Keep an eye on it and send out orders. As long as it's a caravan of the Gilded Rose, shoot it down. I don't want to see anything of the Gilded Rose flowing into the Odin Kingdom.
"Also, warn those stupid material suppliers that whoever dares to supply raw materials to the Gilded Rose will be the enemy of our Rodney Family!"
The Gilded Rose's caravan had been attacked. Faelor received the news as soon as possible, but the information they received was that not a single living person could be found in the wreckage of the airship.
The transported materials had all disappeared, and all the puppets had been torn to pieces. Some of the Recording Crystals on the airship had also been shattered. They simply didn't know who attacked the Gilded Rose's caravan.
Moreover, looking at the wreckage of the battlefield, it was completely one-sided. The other side must have dispatched a battleship to be able to get rid of the Gilded Rose's airship so easily.
Faleau frowned. He used his connections with the Gilded Rose to inquire about the truth of this matter, but he felt that this matter wasn't simple.
At this time, Layford found Faleau.
"Sir Faleau, I just got some news from a few of my friends. The ones who attacked the Gilded Rose's caravan were people of the Rodney Family.
Moreover, they already warned all the material suppliers that whoever dares to supply raw materials to the Gilded Rose will be the enemy of the Rodney Family. "
Faleau's expression was somewhat unsightly. How could he not know about the Rodney Family?
The Rodney Family was very powerful in the Odin Kingdom, a lot more powerful than the Jackson Family. The two simply weren't on the same level.
The Rodney Family's inheritance was very old, it could be traced back to the beginning of the 3rd Dynasty, and it had never declined. Even when the 3rd Dynasty collapsed, the Rodney Family didn't decline. Up until now, the Rodney Family had maintained its position as a first-rate force of the Odin Kingdom.
And most importantly, the Rodney Family didn't rely on conquering Demiplanes like other forces, it relied on alchemy items.
Their family's main business was potioneering, from the lowest potions to potions that could be used by Heaven Rank powerhouses.
Moreover, their family was collaborating with the Starry Sky College. It was rumored that the Rodney Family had a Saint Alchemist. No one could be sure, but the Rodney Family was the place that alchemists taught by the Starry Sky College wanted to go the most.
The northern part of the Odin Kingdom was the scope of the Rodney Family's business, and it was also their main business area.
When the Gilded Rose was looking for a partner in the Odin Kingdom, they also contacted the Rodney Family, but they couldn't find an opportunity to cooperate.
The Rodney Family was very overbearing. Their initial condition was that the Gilded Rose had to attach itself to the Rodney Family and become a subsidiary force of the Rodney Family.
How could Faleau agree to such conditions? He then looked for other families to cooperate with, but they were all families like the Jackson Family. Most of them were middle tier families in the Odin Kingdom.
This time, they were able to cooperate with the Starry Sky College because of Lin Yun. With Dean Gandaph's approval, the Gilded Rose could develop so quickly.
Now that he heard that the Rodney Family was looking for trouble, Faleau felt a headache coming on.
If the Gilded Rose had only opened a few shops in Neverwinter City, the Rodney Family wouldn't have cared and wouldn't have bothered to pay attention.
But the Gilded Rose's rise was too fast. Not only did they open eighteen huge shops in Neverwinter City, but they also expanded outwards with Neverwinter City as the center, preparing another thirty-eight branches.
Moreover, the Gilded Rose's main products were potions. Not only were they of good quality, but their prices were also a bit cheaper. This made the Rodney Family unhappy.
Because the Gilded Rose was encroaching on their interests and snatching some of the Rodney Family's market. And with the Gilded Rose's development, they would snatch more and more of the market.
When the Rodney Family developed, they started from Neverwinter City. With the largest city in the northern part of the Odin Kingdom as the center, they spread to the surroundings. Now, the Rodney Family's alchemy business could be said to occupy the largest share in the northern part of the Odin Kingdom.
Even if the competition in the Odin Kingdom was very fierce and the Rodney Family's share wasn't overwhelming, it was enough for the Rodney Family to be ranked first among the Odin Kingdom's forces.
When the Raging Flame Plane was conquered, only the Odin Kingdom's second-tier forces went. The first-tier forces either didn't have enough manpower or simply didn't care about the benefits of the Raging Flame Plane.
The Raging Flame Plane was indeed a large plane rich in resources, but unfortunately, there were too many people involved. To the first-tier forces of the Odin Kingdom, paying the same price to conquer a smaller plane would yield a greater harvest than the Raging Flame Plane.
Now that the Rodney Family came looking for trouble, Faleau had a headache. He had already expected that he would definitely clash with the Rodney Family in the future. After all, the Gilded Rose only dealt in alchemy items and didn't have any other business. If they wanted to grow, they would have to keep expanding their territory.
After pondering for a bit, Faleau sent someone to get in touch with the Rodney Family. After all, the other side was deeply rooted in the Odin Kingdom, especially in the northern part of the Odin Kingdom. Their tentacles had already penetrated half of the Odin Kingdom. If the Gilded Rose wanted to peacefully do business, they simply couldn't bypass the Rodney Family.
If everything was for benefits, then there would be talks, or they could start a few projects and find a place that everyone was satisfied with.
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