Chapter 109: Bad News

At this moment, Donald was in Lord Zeli’s spiritual vision, observing several red dots of varying intensity in the Tree of Life’s vision. Uther, Kelthas, Barn, and the two security captains, Tik, along with Russell among the three mages—these subordinates stood quietly in front of Donald, waiting for their master’s orders.
After a while, Donald gave instructions: “Uther, go to the workshop. Kelthas, you’re most familiar with the blacksmith shop, so go there. Russell, head to the new inn in town. Barn and Tik, take a few security members and control those causing trouble in front of those shops along the main commercial street. No matter what happens, just make sure they don’t cause too much trouble.”
Clinton was focusing on advancing his cultivation level, and Moray and Dina were also busy with their work, so these were the only combatants Donald had at hand. But they should be enough to deal with some troublemakers.
“As for me, I’ll go and see who this hostile and malicious guy really is!” With that, the seven of them separated and went their separate ways.
At that time, a crowd had gathered in front of the Alchemy Fire shop—mostly townsfolk curious about the scene, along with some outsiders and adventurers.
Donald, disguised under a cloak to hide his identity, heard from afar a man’s voice with a duck-like tone shouting loudly. Judging by the situation, he sneered to himself, “Heh! Troublemakers have arrived!”
Donald had been prepared for this, exactly to prevent such situations. Since a mage was stationed inside the shop, he wasn’t worried about any chaos. As the lord’s duties grew more numerous, Donald had assigned work to the three private mages—Moray and the others—rotating every ten days: teaching at the lord’s manor, conducting appraisals at the adventurers’ guild, and staying at Alchemy Fire.
Working at Alchemy Fire was the most relaxed. They could arrange their time as they wished, studying spells or practicing meditation. They only stepped in when the servants couldn’t handle a situation, such as when unidentified materials appeared in the shop that needed identification by the mages.
Seeing that the show had just begun, Donald decided to stay back for now and watch how Mage Moray would handle things.
The man with the duck-like voice continued to shout loudly in front of Alchemy Fire.
“Give back my treasure! You’re all nobles’ lackeys, as heartless as they are, always bullying us commoners!”

Apart from a few adventurers from outside, not a single townsfolk around him responded to his incitement. It was strange that he didn’t understand the situation—after all, the people of Dalaran lived such a stable and prosperous life thanks to Lord Donald, and they were far too grateful to him to hate him.

Especially the townsfolk of Twilight Town, who held a higher status in their territory than those in the two villages. Only by comparison could one realize the difference—the town’s environment and treatment were undoubtedly better than those in the villages, all thanks to the lord’s kindness and their own efforts. That’s why they had always worked diligently for Donald. The living conditions in the two villages were also much better than those in other villages outside Dalaran, and there were no absurd cases of nobles persecuting commoners.

Moreover, many products in Alchemy Fire Shop were produced by the townsfolk in workshops. If the shop had to close, it would surely affect the income of many townsfolk. Since this man didn’t understand the situation and even blamed them all, it was natural he wouldn’t gain the townsfolk’s sympathy; instead, it made them resent him. Thus, his attempt to arouse sympathy completely failed.

From the crowd’s discussions and the man’s complaints, Donald roughly understood what had happened. It turned out that this man, also said to be an adventurer, had discovered a chest of mithril in a ruined tomb during an adventure. He brought one piece to Alchemy Fire Shop to sell, but the shopkeeper seized it.

Hearing this, Donald sneered inwardly. Such a flawed plan—was it his own idea or orchestrated by those behind him? Trying to damage Alchemy Fire Shop’s reputation with such a clumsy excuse was pure delusion.

“He’s coming out, he’s coming out!”

A commotion arose in the crowd as Moray, dressed in a gray mage robe, stepped out of the shop. Though his expression remained kind, his presence carried an aura that silenced the surrounding chatter, and the complainant fell silent as well.

A merchant from outside remarked, “So this is a mage! How impressive!” A townsfolk proudly replied, “We’ve seen many mages. Our lord is a powerful mage himself, with four other mages under him. This is one of them—Lord Donald’s personal mage, Mage Moray!”

Moray approached the adventurer sitting on the ground, looking at him calmly until the man began to sweat slightly. Then he asked slowly, “You say you discovered a treasure containing a chest of mithril?”

Hearing the mage’s question, the adventurer started shouting again. “You greedy scoundrels, man-eating villains, give back my treasure…” Mage Moray didn’t explain at all, nor did he deem it necessary. Only when the man ran out of breath did he snort coldly and ask the crowd, “So far, it’s been you alone telling these stories. No one knows if they’re true or not. I’ll ask just one thing: Has anyone seen him enter our Alchemy Fire with anything?” Hearing this question, the crowd couldn’t help but recall. Memory is a very complex and interesting thing; most people can’t remember things that passed by in front of them half an hour ago. But in fact, those memories are stored in the human brain, and with the right stimulus, they can be recalled. Sure enough, two people suddenly shouted, “I saw it! I saw it! This guy went in with empty hands and came out shouting after a while, leading us all here! He didn’t bring any boxes at all!” “That’s right! Lord Mage, I saw it too—he’s lying.” One of the witnesses was a townsman, while the other was a foreign adventurer. Seeing all the eyes in the crowd turn suspicious toward him, the victim immediately cried out, “Nonsense! I clearly went in with a piece of silver! They stole all my treasures!” At this point, Moray said, “You say you had a box of silver. Even if I took one piece, there should still be some left. If you can produce a single strand of silver, I’ll apologize to you in public on behalf of the Alchemy Fire and exchange it for one of our finest treasures! How about that?” This time, the victim was truly speechless, his face turning red with anger, yet he still couldn’t say a word in protest. The middle-aged mage then changed his expression and sneered, “Even when lying, you can’t come up with a reasonable story. I’ve been a mage for decades, and I’ve only seen silver a few times, once from Master Messehl—just a tiny piece the size of a tooth, which he still regarded as a treasure. Do you think silver is just stones everywhere in the ground? And a box full of silver? Why don’t you say your father is a king and you’re a prince?” By now, the victim’s face was ashen, and laughter erupted from the crowd. “Haha! What a stupid liar…”

“Arrest him and lock him in the guard’s cell. Let’s see if he still dares to swindle in Dalaran!” “Yes, arrest him! Arrest him!” “Don’t let him get away…” Seeing this, Donald knew the biggest problem had been solved. He was very satisfied with Mage Moray’s calm and wise handling of the situation.

Just as he was about to return to the lord’s manor, he saw someone waving at him from inside a carriage on the street across. Donald was puzzled, but after spotting the carriage’s emblem, he guessed who it was and walked over without any concern.

Inside the carriage, he indeed found the person to be the behind-the-scenes boss of Goldenthorn Auction House, the former head of the kingdom’s intelligence service, Silver Fox Anguva.

Goldenthorn Auction House, along with that gold coin-shaped emblem—such a tacky name and sign, full of nouveau riche flair—only someone like him could come up with it. But according to his way of thinking, the more ordinary and tacky it seemed, the less attention it would draw from outsiders, making it easier for him to carry out his secret activities.

“Old sir, welcome to Dalaran! Why not come to the lord’s manor so I can show you around as the host?”

The silver-haired old man spoke with a smile, “Lord Baron! Although I knew your domain was well-built, seeing it with my own eyes today still surprised me greatly!”

“Is the old sir here just to praise me?”

“I originally planned to secretly visit your lord’s manor to see you, but it’s good that we met now. This time, I have bad news to tell you. The letter couldn’t explain it clearly, and I haven’t been active for too long, so I came in person to tell you!”

“Oh?” Donald’s expression turned serious. If this person had taken the trouble to come and deliver bad news personally, it must be something serious.

“That’s quite troublesome for you, old sir. Just send someone to inform me if there’s anything going on!” Anguva waved his hand, signaling that Donald didn’t need to say more thanks.

“I ask you, do you know who’s behind the little troubles that have occurred in your domain these past two days?”

Donald blurted out, “I can guess. Didn’t the Mage Association say that mage has been locked up? Then my enemy must be that guy, Macbeth!”

“You’ve forgotten someone!”

Donald asked in confusion, “Who else? I don’t remember offending anyone other than those two!” “Of course, it’s Prince Andrew!”

“Prince Andrew? I’ve only seen him from afar in the capital city, never even spoken to him. Old sir, are you joking?”

The silver-haired old man said solemnly, “Do you think I’m joking?” “Sometimes it’s not that you don’t provoke others that they won’t hold grudges against you. Do you know who stands behind Macbeth?” With that single sentence from the old man, Donald understood the reason. The two princes were competing for the throne, and all factions in the kingdom, aside from the neutrals, chose sides between them. Rumor had it that the Macbeth family was one of the core supporters of the elder prince’s faction.

“I see! Since I swear eternal enmity with the Macbeth family, does Prince Andrew also see me as an enemy?”

The silver-haired old man replied gravely, “Not only that. If you had only offended the Macbeth family, the elder prince’s side, preoccupied with greater ambitions, wouldn’t care about your personal grudges. But your mistake was getting too close to Prince Duncan while at the Holy Sword Fortress, and then befriending Ferdinand, the heir of the Ansel family who supports Duncan. Andrew is already narrow-minded; once he sees you as a threat, he’ll do everything in his power to eliminate you!”

“I don’t see anything wrong with that! Who I associate with is my own business. If Prince Andrew is truly that petty, then I’m not afraid to challenge him!”