Chapter 46: A Successful Robbery

Chapter 47: A Successful Robbery

When the dust settled, the dusty crowd realized that the once magnificent building had been utterly reduced to rubble. The culprit, however, had vanished amidst the chaos, leaving not a single hair behind!

The poor manager stood there, dumbfounded, before spewing blood and collapsing. At this moment, everyone knew his fate was sealed, yet no one came to his aid. Instead, most people wore disdainful expressions, secretly cursing, Serves you right, you wage-cutting bastard! This is karma!

The Augustus family's roots in the Griffin Kingdom dated back to the kingdom's establishment, spanning hundreds of years. They were a prominent and influential family, with the current queen hailing from their lineage. Their kin held key positions in various sectors of the kingdom, and the head of the Augustus family served as the empire's chief diplomat, maintaining substantial connections with neighboring countries. In truth, much of their family wealth derived from trade with these nations.

In the Augustus family's imperial capital residence, the patriarch, Frank, had just climbed out of bed after an intimate moment with his concubine. With a furious expression, he stormed into the outer hall and berated the butler who had disturbed his sleep: "Damned scoundrel! It's two in the bloody morning, and you woke me up! Had better give me a damn good explanation, or I'll send you to the Barbarian Highlands!"

Frank, though skilled in diplomacy, was a burly man of great strength, a sixth-level warrior. In these times, respect was only given to those with power. Thus, diplomats often needed to possess a certain level of might to be effective. His rage now struck fear into the butler beneath him.

The butler hastily exclaimed, "My Lord, terrible news! Our shop has been robbed!"

"Damn it!" Upon hearing this, Frank flew into a rage, kicking the butler to the ground before cursing, "I have over a thousand shops across the nation; what's so surprising about one being robbed? Did you wake me up for such trifles? Are you an idiot?"

"No, my Lord!" the butler cried out urgently. "This is different. The one that was robbed is our finest magic material store in the Imperial Business District, Planka!"

Rank's Emporium was the name of that establishment, bestowed by Franks' ancestor himself, and it had been passed down for centuries. It held a certain prestige in the Imperial Capital and even across the entire continent. The items sold within were carefully curated from various regions, with a significant portion being top-quality materials sourced from the Dwarves. Almost eighty percent of such rare finds could be found there, annually contributing tens of thousands of gold coins to the family's coffers. Thus, the Rank's Emporium was truly the lifeline of the Augustus family!

Upon hearing that Rank was the one who had been robbed, Franks immediately grew anxious. He rushed over and lifted the butler, asking anxiously, "What's going on? Explain it clearly to me!"

"Indeed!" the butler hurriedly explained. "We just received word that someone broke in during the night. They forced their way through the main entrance, straight into the storage room, took everything inside, demolished the premises, and then left without a care!"

"Good heavens!" Franks nearly fainted upon hearing this, cursing in frustration, "Are you joking? Just one person? I had at least dozens of warriors stationed there. How could it be possible for a single person to rob the warehouse? Wait, I remember the door was a foot thick made of refined steel. How could it possibly be broken by one person? Did those idiots forget to lock it?"

"I am not certain, either. However, it is unlikely that they did not lock the doors. It must have been forcefully broken in. Otherwise, those dozens of warriors wouldn't have failed to stop him and suffered such heavy casualties!" the butler speculated.

"By force? And effortlessly defeated dozens of warriors, demolished my shop?" As Frank threw the butler aside, he pondered carefully, "Such strength must be no less than mine. Strange, with such skills, they could receive good treatment anywhere. Why resort to robbery? Especially targeting our family's shop?"

"Damn it!" Frank suddenly shouted, "There must be a conspiracy behind this. Perhaps some influential family is pulling the strings. Investigate! Mobilize all the resources of our family, we must uncover the mastermind!"

"Yes, sir!" The butler promptly responded and left.

In the following days, the entire capital was turned upside down. Such a significant event couldn't be concealed; news spread like wildfire, reaching every corner within a few hours, even catching the attention of the emperor. All the nobles were stunned by this news, speculating who dared to pluck a hair, no, more accurately, a tooth, from the Augustus family's mouth.

Those with enmity towards the Augustus family reveled in their misfortune, while some lesser nobles sought ways to uncover the culprit's identity to curry favor with the Augustus family. In short, the incident caused a tremendous uproar, its ripples reaching across the entire kingdom.

Of course, the families with valuable shops were also on high alert, investing heavily in hiring experts to protect their establishments, fearful of suffering the same fate as the Augustus family. Although the Augustus family hadn't disclosed the extent of their loss, industry insiders estimated that the stock in that shop alone was likely worth at least 300,000 gold coins. Such a massive loss would be hard even for the mighty Augustus family to endure.

As a notorious villain, Old Evil could never be short on cash. If he wanted money, he'd simply take it – it was an undeniable fact.

As for the consequences, Old Evil couldn't have cared less. During the robbery, he had taken on Beamon's form, with its bizarrely elongated limbs that could touch his own feet. Anyone who saw him would never forget that sight.

The witnesses would undoubtedly search relentlessly based on that distinctive feature. Who would suspect Old Evil? After all, he now carried himself with noble status and had delicate, fair hands like a woman's, with a normal length. He exuded the image of a frail mage, making it impossible for anyone to associate him with the gorilla-like figure. Unless, of course, he foolishly revealed this form himself, which would be a different story.

It was highly unlikely that the old mage would be oblivious to the incident, given his knowledge of Old Evil's arm secret. However, with his protective nature, he would undoubtedly help conceal the truth if he found out. He might even brazenly approach Old Evil to share in the spoils!

Upon his return that day, Old Evil tidied up the loot. The collection comprised several hundred kilograms of snow iron, black iron, dwarven helical mithril, over a hundred kilograms of silver and orichalcum, along with dozens of other precious metals. There were also more than a dozen high-quality magical beast hides and over two hundred magic cores, mostly from fourth-level magical beasts and above. In addition, there were peculiar items like finished dwarven weapons and armor, each category numbering a few pieces, amounting to several hundred kilograms in total.

Of course, cash was also part of the spoils. Five large, black satchels were brimming with gold coins, numbering in the thousands.