Chapter 45: Partnership

The old butler sighed after answering. For the Gilded Rose, which had just recovered, this was truly a devastating hit. It would still be manageable if it was only the Frost Wolf Mercenaries, but there were about ten businesses often cooperating with the Gilded Rose in the past which were now all saying that they had sold out of materials. This was quite serious, cutting off the supplies required for the Gilded Rose to operate.

As an alchemy shop, if they lost their supply of materials, they would definitely be heading straight for a dead end. No matter how brilliant an Alchemist was, it was impossible to make products out of nothing. If they couldn’t find a new source to supply their resources, even if the Gilded Rose struggled as hard as possible, they would ultimately end up bankrupt.

“Don’t worry, I’ll go out tomorrow and see if I can find another supplier for these materials,” the old butler said after thinking about it. He couldn’t come up with any good solution. Ultimately, he decided that he would get in touch with the lowest mercenary group and contact a few more businesses to see whether they could gather some materials to survive the crisis facing them.

“No need…” Lin Yun shook his head. He clearly understood the old butler’s train of thought, but the lowest mercenary groups all consisted of weaklings, and the missions they could accomplish were worth a few hundred gold at best. It was simply impossible for them to gather many important materials. Even if the old butler was lucky and managed to get in touch with a few businesses, it probably still wouldn’t amount to what the Frost Wolf Mercenaries usually supplied.

And let alone those minor mercenaries, Lin Yun wasn’t even very satisfied with the Frost Wolf Mercenaries either. After developing the Gilded Rose, there was a need for a new supplier.

As for who this new supplier was…

Lin Yun had already thought of this matter in the Black Horn Auction House, but he had yet to come to a conclusion, so he hadn’t let the old butler know of his thoughts on the matter.

The incident with the Frost Wolf Mercenaries today gave Lin Yun the perfect opportunity.

“You don’t need to worry about this matter, I’ll go out and find a new supplier for the Gilded Rose tomorrow.”

“How about I accompany you?” The old butler wasn’t too reassured. Even a fool would notice that someone was targeting the Gilded Rose based on the day’s events. The Frost Wolf Mercenaries, who had always been on good terms with them, were acting like this. Finding a new supplier wasn’t something that could be solved with just a few sentences.

“No need, no need, you look after the shop…” After seeing the old butler off, Lin Yun returned to the alchemy laboratory.

…

The next morning, at dawn.

Lin Yun went to the Lion Monarch street in the southern part of the city.

If the Victorious Return street was classified as part of the Mage Guild, then the Lion Monarch street was within the influence of the mercenaries. Of the ten top mercenary groups of Thousand Sails City, seven of them were stationed in the Lion Monarch street, which included the one ranked at the forefront, the Silver Moon Mercenaries.

The ones Lin Yun came to look for today were precisely the Silver Moon Mercenaries.

The person who received Lin Yun was a Deputy Leader called Marco.

With Lin Yun’s current status, sending a Deputy Leader to receive him was already too much. If it had been some ordinary Mage, let alone a Deputy Leader, even a Deputy Captain would be considered pretty good.

But the problem was that Lin Yun didn’t come here to meet a Deputy Leader this time. Nothing could be done about it, as the business he had with the mercenary group wasn’t something that a Deputy Leader could make a decision on. Thus, after exchanging greetings, Lin Yun directly requested to have a chat with Leader Sasu.

Once he said that, Deputy Leader Marco’s face suddenly no longer looked friendly.

To be honest, this couldn’t be blamed on him.

Here was a 20-year-old Mage with no support that only owned an alchemy shop, and they had already sent a Deputy Leader for him, out of respect for his dead father, but that wasn’t enough. That young Mage wanted to meet the Leader himself for a chat.

‘Is Leader Sasu someone you can meet? Let alone you, even people at the peak of Thousand Sails City like Monchi of the Twin Moons chamber of commerce or Sossu of the Viper Nest would have to notify us ahead of time before being able to meet Leader Sasu.’

“Leader Sasu isn’t here.” Marco’s words weren’t as polite as before.

But Lin Yun didn’t take offense and only smiled before whispering, “It’s about the Ghost Potion.”

“I said Leader Sasu isn’t here, what about the Ghost Potion?” Marco gave Lin Yun an impatient look, intending to say a few unpleasant words to drive back this young Mage who thought too highly of himself when he suddenly realized what the young Mage had just said.

‘Fuck, it’s about the Ghost Potion!?’

Marco panicked and almost bit his tongue.

“Ghost… Ghost Potion, you just said… Ghost Potion?”

“Yes, Ghost Potion.”

“Sorry for my words. Excuse me, I must leave.” After the Deputy Leader confirmed that he hadn’t misheard, he immediately stood up and left the reception room.

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Afterwards, Sasu came in…

Lin Yun’s conversation with Sasu lasted only ten minutes.

After ten minutes, Lin Yun left the camp of the Silver Moon Mercenaries and returned to the Gilded Rose. The old butler didn’t even know that Lin Yun had gone to the Silver Moon Mercenaries.

But that short ten-minute conversation quickly brought a significant shock to Thousand Sails City.

One day later, Sasu publicly announced two things.

First, the Silver Moon Mercenaries would march for Edge Rift at the start of the next month and eliminate the Rock Trolls that had been occupying the place for a hundred years, thus reopening the golden trade route between Thousand Sails City and Angel Coast.

Second, the Silver Moon Mercenaries and the Gilded Rose had established an official partnership. The partnership involved a few fields, including the supply of magic materials, the purchase of alchemy items, the sharing of all kinds of techniques, and even the establishment of a joint armed caravan.

The announcement of these two decisions by Sasu immediately alarmed the entire Thousand Sails City…

The matter of the annihilation of the Rock Trolls wasn’t a problem, as this was a quest that the chambers of commerce had jointly poured money into to offer a reward at the Mercenary Guild for a hundred years. In the past dozen years, the Silver Moon Mercenaries had slowly reached the peak of Thousand Sails City. Many people had realized that sooner or later, the Silver Moon Mercenaries would head to Edge Rift to finish the task and claim the bounty.

Because once this hundred-year-old quest was cleared, the prestige of the Silver Moon Mercenaries would inevitably reach new heights. Ultimately, they would even rise to become one of the mercenary groups at the peak of the kingdom.

Although the decision seemed somewhat hurried, it was still within everyone’s expectations.

But the second announcement baffled everyone…

Why would the esteemed Silver Moon Mercenaries choose an alchemy shop as their business partner?

Even if the predecessor of this alchemy store was Thousand Sails City’s Flashing Gold chamber of commerce, that was only its predecessor. The only things that remained of the Gilded Rose were an old man and a youth, four Alchemists, and a few dozen Apprentice Alchemists. This was the entire Gilded Rose, so how could they become the Silver Moon Mercenaries’ business partner?

And a close business partner at that…

This was like tying the Silver Moon Mercenaries to the Gilded Rose.

Whoever dared to offend the Gilded Rose in the future would have to think about the Silver Moon Mercenaries’ reaction.

In fact, there was no need to wait for the future, because there was someone already thinking about it right now.

This was the leader of the Frost Wolf Mercenaries, Andrew…

The Frost Wolf Mercenaries also had their camp in the southern part of the city, on the Lion Monarch street. The news of the partnership between the Silver Moon Mercenaries and the Gilded Rose quickly reached Andrew’s ears.

When he heard about it, Andrew turned pale from fear…

Others might not know why the Gilded Rose had sought out the Silver Moon Mercenaries, but how could Andrew not know about it? Wasn’t it because the Frost Wolf Mercenaries had stopped supplying the Gilded Rose with magic materials?

At first, the Frost Wolf Mercenaries had always had a pleasant cooperation with the Gilded Rose, but a few days ago, an influential person had approached them and asked Andrew to stop supplying the Gilded Rose. Furthermore, they paid adequately, so Andrew hadn’t thought much of it and just straightforwardly agreed.

Why were mercenaries willing to risk their lives? Wasn’t it to earn more gold? Since this person brought plenty of gold, what reason did he have to refuse?

Moreover, the Gilded Rose wasn’t a powerful client that they couldn’t afford to offend…

In the past, Andrew might have had to think about it some more. After all, the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce had quite a bit of power.

But it wasn’t the case now. Locke Merlin had died, and the Flashing Gold chamber of commerce already fell behind. Only a son and a butler remained. Even if he tore apart the contract, would they even be able to retaliate?

Thus, Andrew didn’t spend much time thinking about it and agreed to stop supplying the Gilded Rose.

And now, a problem had arisen out of this…

No one ever thought that the Gilded Rose would actually look for the Silver Moon Mercenaries, and furthermore, that the Silver Moon Mercenaries would actually agree to cooperate with them. This was really huge…

Sasu was called the Mercenary King of Thousand Sails City. His prestige among the mercenaries was so high that an average person wouldn’t even be able to imagine it. It was to the point that with a simple word from Sasu, the Frost Wolf Mercenaries could become the public enemy of all mercenaries within Thousand Sails City. Even Andrew’s own subordinates would turn against him.

Thinking about this, Andrew couldn’t help turning pale…

‘What should I do…’