End of the Magic Era
chapter-58

"I don't need to sit. Jonathan, I came for a different matter this time." After Molin entered Twin Moons Splendor, he ignored the butler's polite greeting and maintained a strict business attitude.

"Haha, Alchemist Molin, you sure like making jokes…" Seeing Molin's demeanor, Jonathan's expression stiffened. Although he forced himself to smile, that kind of smile looked very artificial.

Jonathan wasn't an idiot...

When he heard Molin's words, he knew that things were amiss. After all, he was the butler of the Monchi Family. Others might not specifically feel that Jonathan was worthy of respect, but they had to give some respect to Master Monchi. Not to mention Molin, even his backer, Great Alchemist Bassoro, would always give Monchi the proper respect by addressing his butler as "Butler Jonathan" instead of using his name directly.

Jonathan knew that there was one situation when others didn't call him "Butler Jonathan" in a formal greeting, which was when the reputation of Master Monchi was useless.

Like that time in the Black Horn Auction.

Faleau had called him "Jonathan" and then fiercely slapped him afterwards.

"It's no joke, Jonathan, I came this time because someone reported some issues with the quality of your materials, so I came for a routine inspection."

"How… How could this be!" Faced with Molin's words, Jonathan's heart started beating violently!

The reason for Jonathan's panic wasn't that he thought there might be an issue with the quality...

After all, although it was common practice among alchemy shops to sell large quantities of goods without regard for quality, the Twin Moons Splendor had only been open for a few days, and it urgently needed to be successful. Monchi even personally instructed that he would rather take a loss to ensure that the items sold by the Twin Moons Splendor were of superior quality. As for whether there could still be a problem under these circumstances, Jonathan would be the first one to deny it.

But the problem was that this wasn't a matter that could be fixed with just Jonathan's words.

Jonathan clearly understood this.

The quality of many alchemy products was unclear at first sight. Alchemists weren't machines, and no matter how outstanding an alchemist was, he couldn't guarantee that none of the items would have any defects whatsoever.

As long as Molin spent enough time, he would find some products with quality issues sooner or later. This wasn't something that Master Monchi would solve with a few sentences, or something that the Twin Moons chamber of commerce could settle with some money.

"Alchemist Molin, Alchemist Molin, please listen to me…" Jonathan became worried as he thought of the possible outcome. He didn't care whether it was rude as he reached out to grab Molin's hands. "Please listen, there is no issue with our Twin Moons Splendor's alchemy products…"

"Let go!" Molin coldly looked at Jonathan.

'Are you kidding me?' he thought to himself. 'Just because you say that there is no problem, there is no problem? It doesn't matter what you say in this matter, even my words are worthless… This came from Great Alchemist Bassoro, Great Alchemist Bassoro himself! One of the higher-ups of the Alchemy Guild, he is second only to Leader Lys! Do you know what Great Alchemist Bassoro said…? He sent me to immediately create trouble for the Twin Moons Splendor, and the more the better! In this situation, let alone being acquainted with me, even if you were a relative, I still wouldn't give you any respect.'

But out loud, he only assured, "It's okay, Jonathan, it's just a mere formality. You'd better cooperate."

After speaking these words, Molin ignored Jonathan and directed the black-robed alchemists to inspect the goods.

'This is bad…' Seeing Molin's attitude, Jonathan knew that this was a terrible situation.

He could see that every one of Molin's black-robed subordinates was looking seriously at the items as they performed the inspection. Moreover, once they were done with an item, it would be handed to Molin for another check.

How could a routine inspection be so detailed and conscientious!

Jonathan had a bad feeling growing within...

'Oh no, this is terrible…'

The way Molin was proceeding, he would find something wrong sooner or later, and at that time, they would definitely have to go through a hearing. The Twin Moons Splendor, which had just started doing business, couldn't afford this. And the first one to suffer from Master Monchi's wrath would definitely be Jonathan.

Jonathan looked at Molin with a complicated expression, his mind completely at a loss. 'What is going on?' Although he didn't have a deep relationship with Molin, the benefits were never lacking, so Molin had guaranteed that he would help as much as he could if the Twin Moons Splendor had a problem.

To be honest, Jonathan didn't have much hope of finding a resolution, but he couldn't really accept Molin becoming hostile so suddenly.

'Has he been incited by someone else to do this? ...Of course, someone is definitely behind this!'

Jonathan understood. Molin's power in the Alchemist Guild wasn't small, but Molin shouldn't be able to do something like this of his own initiative. The Twin Moons Splendor was a property of the Monchi family, after all. Molin's actions meant that the Alchemist Guild was opposing the Monchi family. One problem would lead to a dispute between the two major forces.

Molin wasn't that bold.

'But if it isn't Molin, then who is it? Who could be capable of influencing the Alchemist Guild's decision and having Molin cause trouble for the Twin Moons Splendor?'

The more Jonathan thought about it, the more alarmed he felt...

"These, these, and these, bring all of these back!" As Jonathan was filled with mounting dread, Molin gave a few orders as he pointed at about a dozen items. The scene nearly made Jonathan cry.

And it wasn't over yet...

"Jonathan, I am regretfully informing you that there are indeed some severe issues with the products being sold by the Twin Moons Splendor. We will need to conduct an investigation to see how grave this is. Until then, the Twin Moons Splendor will have to temporarily close down. We will notify you when you can reopen."

"What? Close down?!" Jonathan was startled by the harshness of the decision.

For an alchemy shop, what was the difference between closing down and going out of business?

Especially for a shop like the Twin Moons Splendor that had just begun operating. Closing down just as their reputation was about to shoot up meant that all their efforts would be wasted… They had already sunk in over a million gold. Molin's sentence was like making them throw away a million gold!

This was too vicious!

At this point, Jonathan really wanted to ask who it was that was targeting the Twin Moons Splendor!

Unfortunately, Molin didn't even give him the opportunity to ask. After pronouncing his judgement, he had his black-gowned subordinates secure those dozen alchemy items he had indicated and immediately left.

Jonathan stood by himself for a very long time, grinding his teeth as he asked out loud, "Who the hell is targeting the Twin Moons Splendor!?"

...

Jonathan naturally wouldn't know that the accursed culprit didn't even take this matter seriously.

Bassoro hadn't come to the wrong conclusion... The words Lin Yun said when he left were indeed a hint...

Lin Yun was that kind of person, after all.

Since someone wanted to act against the Gilded Rose, Lin Yun wouldn't mind using the Alchemist Guild to ruthlessly counterattack.

But that was all.

Who schemed against him and why they did so… Finding out these things wasn't something Lin Yun was interested in. Time was too valuable for a mage, and it wasn't worth wasting any to deal with these matters.

Knowing that the Alchemist Guild wanted to obtain that part of alchemy formula was enough.

If they wanted to obtain that part of alchemy formula, they would inevitably have to satisfy him.

So before departing, he left them quite the obvious hint.

'Someone made a move on me, and I'm very dissatisfied!'

The Alchemist Guild would then have to come up with a possible method to satisfy him.

To Lin Yun, the matter was that simple.

As for what the Alchemist Guild would do next, Lin Yun didn't really care. In any case, it wouldn't be long before someone came to tell him how it all concluded.

His time was very precious, and he had spent multiple afternoons working on the Magic Array. How could he still have time to be concerned about such a trivial matter?

In the past few days, Lin Yun had remained in the Sage Tower in order to complete the Magic Array. The entire process took Lin Yun three days, but when he returned, Molin was seizing the items of the Gilded Rose.

Over these past three days, Lin Yun had more or less completed the Magic Array. It was far from being perfect, but it was close.

Nothing could be done about it, as the Magic Array was truly too special. It could be said that among the various Magic Conducting Runes, the Magic Array was the most special one. This was a Magic Conducting Rune whose complexity and details had been taken to the extreme. This was probably why – Magic Conducting Rune Creation Paradigm – referred to that Magic Conducting Rune as the Discarded Rune or Worthless Rune.

It was all because the Great Mages of this era weren't able to perfect the Magic Conducting Rune system. Even if someone had the Magic Array, they would only use it like it was an ordinary Magic Conducting Rune. As a result, it would only be able to display less than a tenth of its true might. It wasn't without reason that it was also known as the Discarded Rune or Worthless Rune.

If someone wanted to truly display the Magic Array's might, they would have to continuously polish it. The Magic Array had nearly unlimited adaptability. Every metamagic and spell could perfectly blend in the Magic Array.

What could happen when there were only one or two kinds used within…?

But when enough metamagics and spells were blended together, the Magic Array would have a fundamental change. It would become a Magic Conducting Rune that would greatly increase the level of those metamagics and spells.

It was precisely because of that property that the Magic Array was known as one of the strongest Magic Conducting Runes when the magic civilization was at its peak.