Legacy of the Dark Sage

Because it was early in the morning, the Blacksmith Order was buzzing with activity. Whether it was in the work area, the receiving area, or the staff office area.

Long-time customers and even new ones come and go.

At the start of the week, they had more orders coming in from Disciple Tyr's declared 'compensation' that would run until the end of the week.

However, to ensure that the Blacksmith Order would be able to provide all requests, the three days, after the start of the compensation, they had made a few changes. Instead of only having Disciple Tyr work on all requested magic items, they were now free to ask for President Sigma or Chairman Noir to create them. Aside from this, they would only accept a total of 200 requests per day. As for when they could receive the item, they had set a turnaround time of a minimum of two weeks to a month.

They were hoping to lessen the burden on Disciple Tyr's work by having both President Sigma and Chairman Noir shoulder the requests.

To their surprise, however, almost 80% of the customers still ask to have Disciple Tyr work on their request.

This was the effect of the first few hundred magic items made by Disciple Tyr, which they had released at the start of the week.

More and more people had come to know that Disciple Tyr's work did not pale from President Sigma or Chairman Noir's work.

There were even a few who felt that Disciple Tyr's work was ingenious.

While almost every faction was singing praises for Disciple Tyr's work, there was one particular family who was not convinced.

This family was none other than the Lumley Family. one of the Three Noble Families of the Ylfaen Empire.

Going back to the first day of the 'compensation week,' because of Disciple Tyr's instruction not to entertain any requests from the Lumley Family, the latter had to pay an exorbitant price just to get their hands on one of Disciple Tyr's magic items.

After that, they did not waste any resources in employing their own Array Specialists in cracking it.

Two days later, they declared that it was a flawed creation after running some tests.

They then issued a complaint to the Blacksmith Order asking for them for 'explanation.'

However, the Blacksmith Order did not comply and even said that their claim was invalid as they had no solid proof.

That same day, the Lumley Family showed proof of the said 'flawed' magic item which somewhat swayed the public opinion.

Not even five minutes after they showed the proof, several complaints from different people were sent to the Blacksmith Order also stating that they had received a flawed magic item. They also included images of the flawed magic item and their findings.

This had caused an uproar among the public, to the point where those who had ordered a number of magic items had to check all of them in fear that they had also received flawed magic items.

Nevertheless, the seed of doubt among the public only lasted for half an hour because the Blacksmith Order issued another statement saying that the said 'flawed' creations were not Disciple Tyr's work.

They then revealed that all magic items created by Disciple Tyr had a magic code imprinted on them, which was similar to an identity token.

All the said magic items on the image that came with all the complaints did not have the magic code imprint. They also included an image where the code could be seen.

Aside from this, they also confirmed that the Blacksmith Order had not released any magic item to the Lumley Family nor to those people who claimed to have received a flawed magic item.

After their statement, all those who took bulk orders checked their magic items and confirmed that indeed the magic items had a magic code.

The public immediately realized that these people's target had been to defame Disciple Tyr!

A few minutes after that, the Blacksmith Order issued another statement that shook the whole eastern empire.

In their statement, they had blacklisted all those people who had sent their false claims, stating that they would no longer do any business with them. However, they were not only blacklisted from the Blacksmith Order but to every establishment affiliated with the Conclave of the East, including the Mercenary Hall, Chamber of Commerce, and Alchemist Association.

The Lumley Family was instantly enraged by the statement.

Being blacklisted by the Blacksmith Order was one thing, but they actually had the audacity to blacklist them from every establishment affiliated with the Conclave!

It was practically sentencing every family business of the Lumley to ruin!

Some medium-sized businesses handling magic items were relieved to not have made a move against Disciple Tyr. To be honest, they had been thinking of smearing his reputation because his popularity was increasing too fast, and they were afraid to lose their customers.

However, the large-sized businesses and even the Courtenay and the Montgomery Families, the other two families from the Three Noble Families, had thought the Lumley Family's move had been reckless.

It was true that they also believed the work of Disciple Tyr was gaining too much popularity that if not dealt with properly could overturn the market of magic items. This would mean a significant decrease in some of their businesses' profits.

But they did not dare make a move because they had yet to understand the Conclave's stance on this.

If they were only dealing with the Blacksmith Order, they could easily suppress the demand for Disciple Tyr's magic items. However, if the Conclave of the East would get involved, then it would not be worth it.

It was very unfortunate that the Lumley Family had been impatient. Especially after the first grandson had been humiliated by Disciple Tyr.

Now, it appeared that Disciple Tyr not only had the Blacksmith Order's support, but also the Conclave of the East.

Because of this, every faction had once again issued an investigation on Disciple Tyr's background.

They believed that having Chairman Noir as his master was not enough to make the Head of Conclave intervene, even though the former was known as one of the Conclave's Council members.

Everyone waited for the Lumley Family's next move until the end of the day. But they had been quiet after that.

However, their silence did not mean they had admitted defeat.

Any person who was smart enough to read ahead of the situation could guess that this was the calm before the storm.

True enough, the next day, the Lumley Family had dispatched a number of their high-ranking mages which Matias personally led to the Blacksmith Order.

"Come out here, Disciple Tyr, and face me! If not I will kill every member of the Blacksmith Order here today!"

Matias's arrogant voice reverberated through the whole street where the Blacksmith Order was located.

Immediately, the expressions of the staff inside the Blacksmith Order fell.

Even without checking, they already knew that the one outside was someone from the Lumley Family. In normal circumstances, they would not panic but today, both President Sigma and Chairman Noir had gone to the Tower of Conclave to attend an emergency meeting.

Though they knew the Blacksmith Order's Array could protect them and that the Starhorn's Array in place would limit the Lumley's magic, there were plenty of magic items and even Array Formations that could easily counter the restraining effect of the Starhorn's Array.

The Lumley Family was also part of the Three Noble Families. They definitely had warned the Royal Army stationed in the Starhorn not to interfere with their business with the Blacksmith Order.

As for the matter of the order getting help from the Conclave, they had cleverly dealt with it by declaring they only wanted to face Disciple Tyr and would 'kill' members of the Blacksmith Order.

If the Conclave intervenes, it would appear they were willing to throw away their 'neutral' status just for a lowly disciple. This would definitely escalate and might even affect their overall image. In the end, an open war between them and the Lumley Family might break out.

Taking a deep breath, the old man from the Blacksmith Order's front office stepped out of the building to greet the crowd.

Right now, most people outside had steered away from the order after seeing the group of mages with Matias.

As soon as the old man saw Matias, his heart sank. He had suspected that the Lumley Family's reason for attacking Disciple Tyr had been because of this young master. And seeing him here had only proven his suspicion.

Matias's eyes narrowed as he saw the old man walk out from the side of the Blacksmith Order's building. He clenched his fists in annoyance as he glared at the old man.

"Greetings, young master Matias," the old man started as he bowed his head in respect. "I am Albert, the one in charge of—."

"I called for Disciple Tyr, not you!" Matias interrupted and raised his hand where a red magic array had already been summoned. Without blinking, he summoned a ball of fire and aimed it at the old man.

"Argh!" The old man's right arm instantly burned from the sudden attack.

Screams from the onlookers nearby filled the air.