Hot Rod came from behind and with him came others. However, in front of them was a miserable looking figure, with a pale face and trembling body. Ironclad. Khrom and Dion, and even Slyff was kicking him from time to time, cursing even. The humiliated man didn't dare to fight back, as he had already tried a few times and failed.

"Ahh, you see," Kadyn grinned towards Llyris and pointed at Ironclad. "We have caught the spy you have sent. Do you recognise him?"

"I'm not a spy!" Ironclad roared, his voice was hoarse and pitiful, enough to melt a normal man's heart. But who was Kadyn? He had seen even worse betrayal and even better actor. Hicka was his name. Neither Kadyn was a simple-minded brat who had just transmigrated, deceiving him inside the shop was equal to eating corns from your nose.

"Well, I don't like explaining," Kadyn said, then smiled. "But in the start I liked you, so I'll let you know what mistakes you have made which led you to fail your mission."

Ironclad lifted his head and stared into Kadyn's eyes without speaking. Kadyn smiled when he got his full attention and went on. "The first mistake: you said that you escaped from House Wynner when they tried to take your cauldron," Kadyn shook his head. "The House which was filled with so many Rank 1 mages, you escaped it, but then a single Llyris was able to capture you and in front of my shop at that. Don't you think that is too much of a coincidence?"

"Second, you said that you fought with Zephyr — I don't know why you said that, maybe you wanted to make your story more believable. However, you didn't know that I have seen Zephyr with my own eyes.

"Not even Rank 2 Mage like Elder Jyn could fight him, and he is still recuperating after his fight with the dragon. But you — a low-grade Rank 1 mage claimed that you survived her attack and in this time you were able to recuperate and had time to travel to Orddono. That is too unbelievable. I don't know what kind of superhuman healing ability you possess."

Kadyn eyed at the shocked expression of Ironclad and curled his lips. "If my guess is correct you interrogated me when you were in Avibria. At that time you realised that there was something mysterious about my shop and I tamed Barret and Potioneer Yel and elder Jyn," he eyed Barret and said apologetically. "Sorry, but I don't know a better word to describe it," Barret rolled his eyes and remained silent. Kadyn again turned towards Ironclad. "That's why you tried to befriend me, if I'm correct."

Noticing the shock inside his eyes, Kadyn knew that he was on a track so he continued. "When Zephyr attacked, you escaped from Zhodon, travelling to Orddono. Here you were recruited by House Wynner. After all, Artisans aren't as common as mages." Kadyn placed his hands on his butt and went on. "When we arrived and settled our shop here, House Wynner didn't like it, as my shop looked better than theirs. So they tried to make things difficult for me.

"And I drove Ish and his party away so House Wynner became furious. At that time you heard about me and told them everything about my shop which piqued their interest, and they became eager to know the secrets of my shop. They planned to send you into the shop and set the formation disk that Leader Enwyld of your house would control from outside. Am I right?"

Ironclad didn't put any pretence anymore; he glared at Kadyn with a cold expression and asked. "How did you know that I set the formation disks?"

"What a cute kid, now you have admitted your mistakes, daddy has to give you ice cream, huh?"

"You…"

Kadyn ignored him and looked outside the shop. Enwyld stood there with a cold expression, staring at him with eyes full of hatred. "Oh, man, are you going to kill me with that killer gaze of yours? Don't, I'm scared."

Kadyn stumbled back with a fearful expression and then stopped and curled his lips. "No, you can't do shit to me — if you want your people back, alive, then you gotta pay me with something. After all, no matter how heartless and wealthy or strong you are, you can't afford to lose six Rank 1 mages, can you?"

"What do you want?" Leader Enwyld asked, gritting his teeth hatefully.

"Oh, nothing much," Kadyn grinned. "I want to sell you all my artefacts and potions. What do you say?"

"What?!" Enwyld gawked at him as if he had seen a ghost. Others also stared at him with strange gazes. Who didn't know that House Wynner was a huge supplier of artefacts, now Kadyn wanted to sell them his artefacts. What a joke!

Hot Rod and Barret exchanged glances, communicating with spiritual energy, a kind of trick that only people above Elementary Rank could pull off.

'Our products aren't of that high quality — Elementary Potion and Rank 1 artefacts — so even if we sell them to a family-like Wynner at the market price, it would only benefit us, and they would be useless to Wynners, as they have their own artefacts. As for potions, they are just elementary ranks. Not worth mentioning. Their effect on Rank 1 mages are minimal, as for finding their formulas, I think they must be dreaming if they have such a thought .' Barret weighed the pros and cons.

Actually when Kadyn sold the Soothing Drop for the first time, Zelie was the one who purchased most of them, and it wasn't because they needed it, but because they wanted to find its formula; however when Potioneer Yel tried, he could not even find a single supplementary herb, much less its main ingredient.

At that time he concluded that not even Rank 3 or above potioneer would be able to find its formula. That discovery shocked him beyond comparison — it was the reason he was so desperate to know the formula and went to Kadyn, and the conflict started between them.

'Indeed,' Hot Rod replied mentally. ' Furthermore, we don't even need to run from here to there in order to find the clients. This is the most efficient way of selling anything I have ever seen.'

'Agreed.'

While the duo was talking with each other Kadyn grinned towards Enwyld and said. "I don't like to beat around the bush. Say, do you agree? If not, I'm going to finish these six people." As he said he brought a gleaming dagger from his robe and glared towards the people on the ground, grinning like a heartless butcher.

"House Leader, please save us!" a middle-aged man screamed in terror as soon as Kadyn took the first step towards them.

"I gave my whole life for the House Wynner. Who would have thought that I would die like this? House Leader, please take care of you." As the old man said this, everyone rolled their eyes. If you want to ask for help then do it directly, why are you trying to emotionally blackmail the man.

"Brother, save us," Llyris said. "Do you think House Wynner still be House Wynner if it lost six Rank 1 mages?"

Enwyld gritted his teeth and clenched his fist. Then blurted. "Fine!"

"That's more like it!" Kadyn clapped his hands jubilantly. Then turned towards Barret, "Write the Spirit Contract."

"Spirit Contract?" Enwyld frowned. "What's that for?"

"Do you think I'm five years old child?" Kadyn rolled his eyes at his stupid question. "Of course it's for my and my companions' safety. What will I do if you attack me after I release your people? Won't I die a horrible death for my stupidity? So to avoid that, you need to sign the contract that you won't attack us and neither conspire against us and never oppose us. If you agree to these terms then I can release your people, or just forget about getting them back."

Enwyld was trembling with rage and humiliation. He had never faced such a scenario before. At first he thought that he would be able to get revenge later, but now, Kadyn had blocked that path as well. Spirit Contract wasn't something that he could defy. No one could defy it. Not even those super powerful mages.

While Enwyld was deep in thought Kadyn turned towards Ironclad and said. "You, leave the cauldron here."

"What?!" everyone from House Wynner lifted their gaze filled with anger and fear. Kadyn saw their reaction and chuckled. "So that cave story was also bulshit, huh? This cauldron belongs to the House Wynner. This makes things even more interesting." He walked towards Ironclade and snatched the thumb-sized cauldron from him.

Then he took the Spirit Contract from Barret and read it and nodded in satisfaction towards the man. Barret was indeed more experienced than him, not leaving any loophole for House Wynner to use later. Kadyn rolled the scroll and threw it out of the shop towards Enwyld. "Drop your blood."