Chapter 356 The Golden Wheat Merchant Guild and Bizarre Motives

The blacksmith's roar exploded across the scene like a clap of thunder.

His muscular, burly body trembled from the sheer intensity of his emotions, the resentment and hostility in his eyes so thick they were nearly tangible.

It was as if the wealthy, round-faced man before him wasn't just a stranger who had sparked a conflict while asking for information, but a sworn enemy of many years.

But what made the situation even more bizarre was this.

Even with the situation escalating to this point, the onlookers on both sides, who had remained silent from the start, still made no noticeable movements.

None of the blacksmith's acquaintances stepped forward to defuse the argument before it spiraled out of control, nor did any casual passersby turn and leave to avoid getting caught in the crossfire.

The atmosphere had quietly shifted.

If these onlookers could previously be described as "apathetic spectators," the icy mood now permeating the crowd had far surpassed the realm of mere "spectators."

Their eyes grew imperceptibly sharp, and they leaned forward slightly, adopting an aggressive posture. It was as if some formless resonance was spreading among them.

There were no insults, no shouts.

Yet this icy, deathly silence was far more suffocating than any clamor.

It was as if Horac wasn't just arguing with the blacksmith alone, but with every Sheep Horn Town resident present.

Xia Nan didn't know the full story behind this conflict, nor could he pinpoint exactly why the onlookers' attitudes had changed so drastically in such a short time.

But when he saw the blacksmith's trembling arm slowly raise the forging hammer, he knew they couldn't let the situation escalate any further.

As guards hired by the caravan, the three adventurers exchanged a single glance and reached the exact same conclusion.

The dwarf Thordin darted out right in front of the crowd, throwing himself between the wealthy merchant and the blacksmith.

With neither shield nor Faceted Hammer in hand, the straightforward dwarf used his own body and positioning to physically interrupt their dispute.

Although Thordin's height barely affected their line of sight, the sudden intervention of a third party instantly broke the escalating rhythm of their argument.

Meanwhile, Margaret had the caravan steward beside her drag Horac to the rear. While protecting him, she shot the merchant a warning look, signaling him to calm down and stop aggravating the conflict.

As for Xia Nan—his exceptional physical attributes allowed him to flash to the blacksmith's side in just a few steps.

His sharp Perception told him clearly that the burly blacksmith before him was just an ordinary person, so he left his longsword sheathed.

He reached out, gently pushing down the raised hammer head, and quietly reminded the man to calm down.

The blacksmith was still in a state of extreme fury over Horac's words. Feeling resistance against his hammer, he looked down at the hand resting on its flat surface, and his gaze naturally followed it upward.

Then he saw the obviously Fine-grade dark silver armor, the two sword scabbards poking over the man's shoulders, and a pair of pitch-black, chillingly sharp eyes.

It was like a basin of freezing water had been poured over his head; the anger in his heart stalled and snuffed out in an instant.

Even though he was just an ordinary blacksmith of average skill who had never forged enchanted equipment, he was still an insider to the trade. He clearly recognized how expensive and Fine the equipment worn by the young man before him was.

At the same time, the condensed aura radiating from the young man was absolutely not something a bottom-tier adventurer scraping by in the woods could possess.

The ferocity in the blacksmith's eyes instantly dissipated, leaving behind only a somewhat bewildered clarity.

The intervention of three Class Grade adventurers brought the situation under control in the span of a single breath.

The appearance of Xia Nan and the others also quickly snapped the previously out-of-control Horac back to his senses.

His breathing was rapid and his chest heaved violently, but the paranoia in his eyes had already faded.

Standing in place, his gaze swept over the crowd, which was now slightly agitated by the sudden arrival of the adventurers. He then cast a deep, somewhat unwilling look at the burly blacksmith, who was also no longer as manic as before.

He had no intention of using the power of Xia Nan and the others to forcibly oppress the townsfolk.

Horac squeezed a stiff smile onto his face, wiped his sweat, and said to Xia Nan's group, "It's nothing, it's nothing."

"Let's talk about the details later. We'll head back to the inn first."

The entire sequence of events behind this conflict was very simple, or at least it wasn't complicated according to Horac's explanation.

After settling the adventurers into the Woolen Rusty Nail inn, he had grown anxious and taken his assistant into town to gather information.

He figured that since a gemstone was a type of mineral, a blacksmith in Sheep Horn Town might know more about it. Furthermore, when he won the Pastel Gemstone at auction in Nym, he had received some information from the seller regarding its origins, which was why he went straight to the burly blacksmith he had just been arguing with.

But to his surprise, as soon as he mentioned he was there for the gemstone, the originally amicable blacksmith's attitude took a sharp nose-dive. He refused to say a word even when Horac offered a hefty sum, and even tried to kick them out of the shop, using extremely aggressive language.

Unable to swallow his anger, Horac got into a shouting match with the man.

The steward beside him couldn't persuade him to stop, and seeing the crowd of onlookers growing larger, he hurried back to the inn to ask Xia Nan and the others for help before things blew out of proportion.

"Thanks for your help back there, otherwise I really wouldn't have known how to get away."

In the inn's lobby, Horac had already restored his usual placid demeanor, though his sweat-drenched collar and back betrayed his earlier predicament.

"The mission isn't over yet. It's what we're paid to do," the dwarf Thordin replied, waving his hand with a hearty grin.

Horac only offered a rather forced smile, his face revealing his exhaustion.

"I'm a bit tired. As for anything else... let's talk about it over dinner," Horac said.

"I'm heading back to my room to rest. You can use this time to take a stroll outside—though the scenery here doesn't compare to Rivervale Town." Feigning a lighthearted tone as he cracked the joke, Horac excused himself and went up to the second floor.

Standing off to the side, Xia Nan withdrew his gaze from the figure slowly disappearing at the top of the stairs, a thoughtful look on his face.

He glanced at the stern caravan steward beside him, who was also watching the wealthy merchant's back.

After pondering for a moment, he gently patted the man's shoulder and asked, "Are you busy right now? If you have a minute, shall we... have a chat?"

Inside a private booth on the first floor of the Woolen Rusty Nail inn.

"So your boss's main business is actually in Nym, and this is his first time in the Upstream Coast Province?" Xia Nan asked, peeling a Sugar Tangerine as he looked with some surprise across the table at the caravan steward named Afu.

"If you really want to put it that way, you aren't wrong," Afu said. He also held a small tangerine in his hand, though he had no intention of peeling it, merely rolling it between his fingers. "At least, since I met Mr. Horac over twenty years ago, he has never been here."

"As for before that—I wouldn't know," Afu added.

As the caravan steward, the second-in-command of the team, and Horac's capable right-hand man, Afu had worked under him since he was young and had earned the generous merchant's deep trust.

However, by the time he met Horac, the merchant's business was already taking off, so it was entirely possible he had visited this province earlier.

"But isn't your boss a member of the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild? With a business that massive, shouldn't he have been here?" the dwarf Thordin asked without looking up, carefully fiddling with the ornaments on his beard braids from the side.

"We do have ties to the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild, yes, but we are ultimately just 'members,' not 'directors,'" Afu patiently explained the misconception in the dwarf's words. "Moreover, our business primarily focuses on antiques and furniture. Even if we need to do external field research, we have dedicated appraisers who travel with the teams for on-site inspections. In the vast majority of cases, Mr. Horac only needs to sit in his study to handle ninety percent of his daily work. Coming to Sheep Horn Town this time—both the trip itself and Mr. Horac's demand to personally lead the team—is highly unusual."

Hearing this, a thoughtful look crossed Xia Nan's face.

He had heard of this "Golden Wheat Merchant Guild."

He knew it was a highly influential, massive trade guild whose sphere of power spanned the three provinces of Abyssal Veil, Cloudclimb, and the Upstream Coast.

The guild's emblem was a plump wheat stalk forged of gold. It embodied the "Golden Wheat" name, but it also originated from the guild's founder, Nock Goldenear.

He had started in the grain trade before gradually expanding into textiles, ores, timber, and other sectors.

Its organizational structure mirrored its wheat-stalk emblem—sharply stratified yet tightly unified.

With the deeply entrenched and well-connected Cloudclimb Province acting as its core, it established branches everywhere, recruiting and reeling in local merchants to bolster its influence. It felt as though they had modeled themselves after the Adventurers' Association.

Xia Nan had heard the guild's name back when he was planning to scrounge up some exotic items from the Ash Valley Ruins to sell.

He knew that many shops in Rivervale Town were connected to it, boasting a dense network of channels. Only major merchants whose assets reached a certain threshold qualified to join and earn the title of "Official Member."

As he pondered, the conversation in the room continued.

"Based on what you're saying, Horac hasn't personally led a team in a long time?" Margaret asked, seemingly puzzled by Afu's answers. "Is the value of this so-called gemstone mine in Sheep Horn Town really that high? High enough to make an official member of the Golden Wheat Merchant Guild come investigate in person?"

"I... I don't know what Mr. Horac is thinking either," Afu replied, a rare look of bewilderment appearing on the usually unsmiling, stern middle-aged man's face.

"Mr. Horac rarely discusses the gemstone mine with us, nor the gem he bought at the auction house. When he brought up leading the team himself, I asked for specific reasons, but he didn't really give an answer. And to be honest—" A trace of hesitation flashed across Afu's face. "While our business deals in antiques, things like gemstone jewelry are just Mr. Horac's personal hobby. We don't delve deep into them on the business side."

"Even if we really discovered an unmined gemstone vein here, developing and operating it wouldn't be easy with our current capabilities," Afu continued. "Compared to the upfront capital required, the expected returns are nowhere near what we'd get from investing in sectors where we already have mature channels."

Having said his piece, Afu said no more.

But the others in the room already understood what he meant.

Horac's trip to Sheep Horn Town completely defied business logic.

As for the exact reason—there were only two possibilities.

One, the man felt he had already earned enough money, and this trip was purely a capricious act driven by personal hobbies.

Two, there was something else in Sheep Horn Town—something inconvenient to disclose, yet far more alluring to him—and the gemstone mine was merely a front.

Of course, in Xia Nan's eyes, factoring in the behavior of the townsfolk, the innkeeper, and Horac himself, there was perhaps a third reason.

He suddenly looked up, turning his gaze to Afu. "Tell us about the specifics of Sheep Horn Town. You must have looked into it before coming here, right?"

"Of course. When the news of the gemstone first reached Nym, I—"

Tap, tap, tap.

A fingertip lightly tapped the table, the soft clicking of nail against wood echoing lazily in the quiet room.

Afu was Horac's most trusted assistant, after all. Although he was deeply worried about his boss's condition, his answers were quite restrained and conservative when it came to specific privacies.

He stayed in the booth for only another half hour before taking his leave and returning to the second floor of the inn.

—

However, the little information he did reveal was enough to arouse the suspicions of the adventurers present.

Xia Nan remained silent and Margaret frowned. Even the normally thick-skulled dwarf Thordin shut his mouth with a thoughtful expression, playing with the still-unpeeled Sugar Tangerine that Afu had left behind.

There was no doubt about it: there was a problem with Sheep Horn Town!

Whether it was the merchant Horac traveling all the way from Nym to Sheep Horn Town for a highly uncharacteristic personal field trip, or the bizarre behavior of the townsfolk—everything pointed to this fact.

Furthermore, Xia Nan was fairly certain that the "problem" itself had a high probability of being connected to the Pastel Gemstone in Horac's possession, which was said to have come from this very town.

He suspected the gem might possess some sort of mind-control effect that influenced a person's thoughts.

However, because Horac was far too stingy about showing the gemstone in his hands, and Xia Nan hadn't yet been able to find a second one in the town, he couldn't verify his theory.

But regardless, since the two members of the Blackwood Squad in front of him had already decided to accept the merchant's investigation request, Xia Nan felt it was necessary to share his findings with them.

The fingertip tapping the table suddenly stopped.

As if sensing something, Margaret's eyes, which had lost their focus in thought, snapped back to reality.

She looked across the table at Xia Nan and asked, "Did you... discover something?"