CHAPTER 95: TWISTED PERSPECTIVE

Shortly after the revelation of his gold medal, both the regular merchants and guards became silent.

Their expression was a mix of disbelief and bewilderment.

"That youngster is a certified gold merchant?"

"Is this even possible?"

"It can’t be that it was stolen, right?"

The regular merchants were extremely skeptical and doubtful of Leonard being an authentic, certified gold merchant. After all, they knew exactly the difficulty of even obtaining the bronze rank, much less the higher rank, which required more prerequisites.

The skepticism didn’t just stem from the regular merchants. Even the guards themselves were suspicious of Leonard’s identity.

"Pardon the question, but what is your name, Sir?" One of the guards inquired.

"Bond, Vincent Bond," Leonard replied. He still felt it was pretty cool to give his name out in such a manner.

Childish?

Yes, but so what?

While the guard was dumbfounded by the name, their eyes suddenly spotted someone.

’Crap, isn’t she Caroline?’ Their face quickly turned ashen white.

"The medal is real! Grant them access to the Merchant Guild immediately!" The guard hurriedly declared. As if afraid of his comrades being clueless and accidentally offending such a figure, he retrieved the medal and returned it to Leonard with a 90-degree bow.

The atmosphere quickly turned chilly when the regular merchants noticed his action.

Such respect and reverence were usually reserved for someone like Lord Wesley.

Leonard was a bit taken aback as well by the guard’s sudden action until he noticed their subtle gazes at Caroline.

’Hoh, so he recognized Caroline.’ He quickly realized why the guard behaved so respectfully. At the same time, he was enlightened that Caroline’s status was even superior to that of a gold ranked merchant.

"Let’s go," Leonard said, taking back his medal.

He was about to resume his path, but paused for a moment. He turned around and gave a funny look at the remaining merchants on the line.

’Hmm, if I leave now, then wouldn’t that undermine my gold ranked status?’

Even Abel behaved extremely respectfully as a silver ranked merchant, so how could these regular merchants possibly get away with sneering at him?

After all, being ignorant didn’t mean you were cleared of your crime.

And given that his identity was officially cleared by the guard, they shouldn’t be deemed ignorant anymore.

With that in mind, Leonard turned around and stared at the guard.

’Crap, is he trying to retaliate against us?’ The guard instantly panicked internally. He was extremely fearful of offending both the gold ranked merchant and Researcher Caroline. Neither one of them was someone he could afford to provoke.

’Please don’t retaliate or snitch on us to our superiors. I’ll gladly do anything else you want me to do.’ The guard prayed silently. Despite the prayer, he made sure to keep his expression stoic on the surface. As a guard, he couldn’t possibly have his expression exposed on the surface for others to see.

"By the way, those merchants who were referring to me as a youngster. Do you mind sending them back to the end of the line for not learning how to speak properly?" Leonard asked.

As if a great boulder had been lifted on the guard’s back, he swiftly nodded.

"Of course, Sir Vincent!" The guard exclaimed.

"Those who couldn’t control their mouths naturally needed to be punished for it!" He stated and swiftly gestured his hand to signal his companion to hurriedly move those loud-mouthed merchants to the back of the line.

By now, the guards’ comrade also spotted Caroline behind Leonard and was extremely thankful for his quick feet to save them from a terrible mishap.

"No, we’re sorry!" A merchant being dragged away cried aloud. "I didn’t mean any disrespect."

"Yeah, we were only skeptical, just like you guards were earlier!" Another merchant argued and tried to keep their ground.

Alas, little did they know. Their words just now had essentially offended all the guards who tried their best to move along with the topic.

How dare they try to mention their earlier skepticism!

Do they want them to die or suffer alongside them?

In less than a few seconds, the merchant, whose identity was only that of a regular merchant, was restrained by the guards.

"No, you cannot do this! I’m a cousin with a noble family! I should have received a certification from the Merchant Guild long ago instead of a regular merchant!"

Despite their shouting and subtle threats, the guards ignored them as they dragged him to the backyard.

The screaming and shouting gradually lessened, before a spluttered sound echoed loudly, followed by complete silence.

By the time the guards returned from the backyard, one of them happened to have a sheathed sword dripping some blood softly on the ground.

The blood dripped on the ground, forming a small radius of red trail behind them. At that moment, the regular merchants’ faces turned pale. Droplets of sweat formed on their forehead as they realized what had just occurred.

Leonard remained indifferent on the surface at the sight. But silently, he understood that even a regular merchant wasn’t safe from the lawlessness.

"The loudmouth has been dealt with. I hope Sir Vincent could forgive us for allowing you to have a bad experience." The guard fawningly said in an apologetic tone.

Their action caused Mirelle to be disgusted internally.

Just a minor dispute, and you decided to end the person’s life?

How lawless was this apparent, glorious free trade city?

"Very well, I suppose this is one way to deal with the situation." Leonard nodded. He couldn’t afford to slip up in his role and show any sympathy for the death of the regular merchant.

Yes, the regular merchant was outspoken.

But did it warrant a death sentence?

Absolutely not!

Unfortunately, their wrong choice of words had gotten them killed.

By claiming themself to be the same as the guards’ behavior earlier.

Wasn’t that just trying to drag them to hell as well?

The consequences of smearing a certified gold merchant were no laughing matter. It was equivalent to trying to smear a Marquis in front of their face as a lowly commoner.

Such action would instantly result in immediate execution!

Hence, the guards acted swiftly to avoid any further implication.

’The guards want to live too, but in a twisted perspective caused by those sitting on top in Velastra.’ Leonard sighed inwardly.

Their twisted perspective resulted in the backyard having an additional decoration. A merchant lying lifelessly on the ground, painted with its own blood.