46 Chuckle (1/2)

Andrew spent a few days in a state of constant fear. Even when sleeping at night, he would frequently be awakened by nightmares, afraid that when he woke up, he would have already become a public enemy of Thousand Sails City.

After spending three days in such torment, Andrew became thin and pallid, and many of his hairs whitened. On the 4th day, Andrew didn't keep to himself any longer and he went to the Victorious Main street. He waited an entire afternoon at the Gilded Rose's entrance.

He waited till the evening, when he saw Lin Yun coming from his home.

”Good… Good evening, Mage Merlin.” After waiting for all this time, Andrew was cold and hungry. But when he saw Lin Yun, he hurriedly put on a smiling face to greet him.

”Good evening, Leader Andrew.” Lin Yun didn't stop, only turning and nodding as he passed, as he considered it to be a simple greeting.

But the problem was that Andrew didn't come today only to greet him...

Thus, Andrew had no choice but to catch up to Lin Yun and put on his smiling face once again as he started, ”Well, Mage Merlin, the Gilded Rose's business seems to be really good…”

Lin Yun only chuckled in response.

”...” At first, Andrew had planned to bring up the topic of the shop doing well to move onto the matter of the magic materials. After getting on that subject, Andrew would seize the opportunity to offer to continue their previous collaboration. At worst, he would admit his mistake. What was losing face compared to being driven away from Thousand Sails City by Sasu?

But Lin Yun only chuckled...

This chuckle made it very difficult for Andrew...

How should he reply to this? How could he take advantage of this?

'Esteemed Mage, please don't toy with me…'

Lin Yun wasn't actually toying with him. Since he established a partnership with the Silver Moon Mercenaries, he had many matters waiting for him to settle. In the past few days, Lin Yun had been busy running around, so how could he still have time to toy with someone he barely knew? After answering with a chuckle, he continued walking toward the entrance of the Gilded Rose...

”Mage Merlin, please wait.” Andrew didn't look good as he hurriedly chased after Lin Yun.

”Is there something wrong, Leader Andrew?” Lin Yun stopped and sized up Andrew, feeling a bit surprised.

”...” Cold sweat trickled down Andrew's back. If he could, Andrew would have asked, 'Do I freaking look okay to you? I ran to the Gilded Rose and waited the whole afternoon, into the evening. Now I'm cold and starving. Do you really think I'm idle and have nothing better to do?'

But thinking of the possible consequences, Andrew didn't dare to say such things...

And not only did he not dare to complain, but he also did his best to pull on a fawning smile.

”Yes… Yes, Mage Merlin, I came over today to ask, does the Gilded Rose still need magic materials? Our Frost Wolf Mercenary Group recently did a few missions and gathered quite an amount of materials. I wonder if the Gilded Rose would like to help us dispose of it?”

In reality, the Frost Wolf Mercenaries hadn't actually gathered such materials...

But now wasn't the time to say that. In order to ease the tension with the Gilded Rose, no matter how harsh the conditions were, Andrew could only endure and buy the materials from the marketplace later on, probably at a loss...

”There is no problem in helping you dispose of them, but Leader Andrew, the funds of the Gilded Rose are quite lacking lately, so I might have to apologize to you about the price. I'll go talk to Uncle Pave and then we will proceed with helping you dispose of the materials. We will even give you 50% of their value as a symbolic gesture.”

”5...50%?” Andrew almost stopped breathing.

If he could, Andrew would have loved to spit in Lin Yun's face.

This truly was too shameless. He had already lowered himself and looked around for him, eventually waiting an entire afternoon. Despite being cold and hungry, he spoke politely and smiled, but in the end, Merlin asked him for a 50% discount, and he even called it a symbolic gesture. 'Fuck your symbolic gesture!'

Andrew struggled for a long time before finally swallowing hard. There was nothing he could do about it, as he was clearly being taken advantage of by Merlin, who had become the partner of the Silver Moon Mercenaries. If he said something wrong, even if he didn't do anything, as long as Merlin pouted about it in front of Sasu, Andrew would have to deal with the consequences...

'Calm, I must remain calm!'

Andrew took a deep breath and secretly shed a tear as he did his best to maintain his stiff smile. ”In that case… Thank you, Mage Merlin…”

”You're welcome.” Lin Yun then politely excused himself before turning to enter the Gilded Rose.

”...” Andrew stood there lifelessly. That ”You're welcome” felt like a slap to his face.