Chapter 165: Joseph Gustav

When the crowd finally regained a clear view, Gallop was already unconscious on the ground. Standing beside him were an elderly elf and a middle-aged man wreathed in smoke.

Upon seeing the two big shots, Byron breathed a slight sigh of relief. "You two old fellows finally decided to come down. I thought I was a goner just now."

Byron patted his chest, still feeling a lingering sense of fear.

The elderly elf completely ignored Byron, lowering his head to examine Gallop’s condition with a deep frown.

They knew all too well just how much Byron feared death; he would never do anything without absolute certainty. Even if they hadn't stepped in to subdue Gallop, Byron probably had a way to handle him.

Their intervention was merely to prevent the situation from escalating further. After all, them subduing Gallop versus Byron dealing with him carried two entirely different implications.

Hussein’s mouth twitched slightly. He really wanted to slap this fellow to death. Everyone knew there was a faint aura of evil lingering about Gallop, yet Byron had deliberately provoked him. And now look at what happened—he had fallen into corruption publicly, with so many eyes watching.

Most importantly, this fellow’s identity was extremely sensitive.

The Kieran family!

Damn it...

Even an established noble family had been infected; this was a colossal mess that would not be easy to clean up.

Lord Hussein? Master Hill the Protector?

The identities of the two were quickly recognized by the crowd, and many people's expressions turned ugly instantly.

It would be one thing if these two big shots just happened to be passing by and stepped in while watching the fun, but what if the two of them had been hiding by Byron's side all along to protect him?

If it was the latter, the evaluation of Byron would have to be raised by another two tiers!

Furthermore, how did Byron know there was an evil aura hidden within Gallop?

Why was he able to use it?

And finally, why did the "magic" that erupted from Byron look so much like the legendary "Blessing of the Goddess of Magic"?

Hussein lifted Gallop with one hand, swept his gaze across the surroundings, let his eyes linger on Byron for a moment, let out a heavy "hum," and then soared directly into the sky and flew away.

The elderly elf also vanished with a flash.

Fine!

You two are big shots, mighty and untouchable, leaving without a word.

"Go on, bring our people out."

Byron waved his hand and said with a listless expression.

"Understood, Boss."

Rehman hurried back into the chamber of commerce. The commotion earlier had long since alerted the staff inside, and most of them roughly knew what was going on.

"Put down what you're holding. This place is now under military requisition."

Rehman said with a somewhat gloomy expression.

No one here was a fool. At a glance at this posture, they could all guess what those people outside were plotting. A group of people angrily wanted to rush out and fight it to the death with these "bandits."

However, Rehman was the president of the chamber of commerce after all. Under his persuasion, though anger still burned in their hearts, they ultimately cooperated and yielded the chamber of commerce.

At that moment, a piercing sound tore through the sky. A bearded man clad in armor slowly descended right where Gallop had fallen.

An armored spellcaster?

Byron recalled a certain individual.

"Lord Joseph!"

"It's Lord Joseph Gustav."

The crowd saluted one after another.

"It really is him!"

Byron thought to himself, bowing in salute. "Lord Joseph Gustav!"

Joseph Gustav, former commander of the Gust Legion, and currently the overall commander of the Seven Towers defense campaign.

Joseph Gustav cast his gaze around, then finally let his eyes land on Byron.

"You must be Byron Eolum?"

"Yes, Lord Joseph Gustav!"

Byron nodded.

Joseph Gustav then produced a scroll and said calmly, "This is the requisition warrant issued by the Noble Council. We hereby officially authorize the requisition of your chamber of commerce!"

Byron accepted the scroll, and looking past Joseph Gustav, he saw that Rehman had already brought the people out. Byron smiled slightly and said in a clear voice, "Alright, it's all yours now."

Joseph Gustav frowned. He had a very bad premonition.

"Let's go."

With that, Byron led the people of the Rehman Chamber of Commerce and turned to leave.

"Lord Joseph, Gallop was taken away by Hussein."

An armored knight reported.

"What happened?"

The knight gave a brief summary of the events that had just transpired.

Although he had already prepared himself to be dragged into a dirty scheme, encountering such a situation still gave him a headache.

A city-wide state of readiness had been anticipated in advance, and the position of commander-in-chief was a temporary appointment. Yet, his very first task upon taking office was to confiscate a chamber of commerce that produced magical potions.

While these were undoubtedly crucial strategic supplies, utilizing wartime military requisition right as the state of readiness was declared felt a bit too much like daylight robbery.

To ensure nothing went wrong, he had deliberately come personally, yet he still arrived a step too late. The captain of his mage squad had actually "perished in action" ahead of time. Still, looked at another way, this wasn't entirely bad; arranging for his own trusted subordinates to take over later would be much easier with fewer restrictions.

He cast a cold glance at the surrounding crowd. He was already long accustomed to the dirty games played among nobles—appropriating someone else's technology under the guise of extraordinary times was precisely the sort of despicable trick only nobles could pull off.

Even though he was currently the beneficiary, he still felt a sense of shame in his heart.

The most important thing right now was to restore military discipline. He had to whip this mob of scattered sand back into shape as soon as possible. In the face of the greater cause, individual sacrifices were unavoidable!

Joseph Gustav kicked off the ground, causing the earth to fracture beneath his boots. He swept his gaze across the onlookers, and anyone caught in his stare involuntarily lowered their head. With a cold snort, Joseph Gustav shot up into the sky and flew away directly.

After Joseph Gustav left, quite a few people exchanged knowing smiles.

Though it came with a minor interlude, their established objective had been achieved.

Many wore knowing grins, inwardly even thanking that idiot Gallop for acting as their vanguard and taking the heat. They then eagerly beckoned their subordinates to push inside, impatient to claim their "spoils of war."

However, there was also a faction of people who chose to remain outside.

"Boss, are we not going in?"

His adjutant asked in a low voice.

Their leader was a very young knight.

Watson, the second heir of his family. He had no interest in fighting for the position of head of the household, and he was well aware of Byron's mass production of magical potions.

Needless to say, he knew just how tempting this fat piece of meat was—so much so that it would inevitably draw the covetous eyes of the upper nobility. Yet, the methods being employed were utterly disgraceful.

In his heart, he found it deeply repulsive, but bound by family orders, he had no choice but to come.

Though the events had taken a few twists and turns, he felt the whole thing had gone far too smoothly. From the very beginning, he had been secretly observing Byron's expression. He noticed that while Byron appeared somewhat angry, it wasn't the kind of helpless, powerless anger. Especially the fleeting smile he revealed just as he turned around upon leaving—it was far too suspicious!

Combined with the family names Byron had recorded earlier, it was evident he intended to "settle accounts after the autumn harvest." Though he didn't know what Byron's ultimate plan was, he felt it wise to proceed with caution. Arrogant and foolish as Gallop was, his strength was real, yet he had been "ambushed to death" just like that by Byron.

It showed that Byron was indeed a genius, and a formidable one across all aspects. In his mind, he had already elevated Byron to the status of an extremely thorny adversary.

Watson glanced around and noticed quite a few others standing their ground outside without entering, clearly sharing his train of thought.

"No rush. What's meant to be ours won't run away."

Watson said.

Their suspicions were soon verified. After the formidable defense array was finally cracked open, the underground storage was found to be completely empty.

Even the magical plants were mere seedlings, lacking any usable value whatsoever. Refusing to accept reality, the crowd rummaged through the warehouses once more, only to find the interiors so bare that even the mice down here would have starved to death.