023 Emboldened by Security

Ogoren took this murder case very seriously. Any fool could see at a glance that the mastermind behind this incident was the merchant who had acquired Bailey’s contract. Hiring assassins and then high-profilely transferring the victim’s assets into one's own name—such events occurring within the Karen market would have a devastatingly negative impact. After all, Karen was striving to develop this market into a commercial hub. Recently, Ogoren had been working tirelessly to refine the market’s regulations, aiming to create a relatively safe and fair trading environment. Regardless of the location or platform, such an environment is crucial to commerce. Without it, the market would struggle to grow.

Ogoren had only recently promulgated various regulations in this area, and now, a crisis had erupted—specifically involving Bailey, who had been the first to "take the bait" offered by Karen. Ogoren found this absolutely intolerable. The law of the jungle did not apply in this manner here. This was Karen’s territory, and even if such practices were common elsewhere, everyone here had to keep their mouths shut.

Consequently, immediately after the incident, Ogoren took two actions: he dispatched men to hunt down Bailey’s guard, and he personally confronted the merchant from Audo City, demanding he hand over the contract. Ogoren did not care whether the Audo merchant was truly behind it or not; he would not allow that contract to remain in his hands. If he were allowed to comfortably claim the contract as his own, what would the market become?

However, when Ogoren confronted the Audo merchant, a man named Kado, and demanded the contract, a headache-inducing situation arose. Kado, who had clearly played a disgraceful role behind the scenes, suddenly invoked the very market rules Karen had established to shield himself. Among the regulations designed by Florkly and the others was a critical provision: "Except under special circumstances, the market authority has no right to interfere with transactions between merchants within the market! The authority may only intervene if one of the parties to the transaction files a complaint!"

It must be said that as the Karen market was still in its infancy, many rules were imperfect. This particular rule had been intended to protect the rights of merchants, serving as a promise and a compromise from the market. Yet, in Kado’s hands, it became a tool to protect his ill-gotten gains.

"Mr. Ogoren, these are the rules you set. The transaction regarding the contract was completed between me and Bailey’s guard; it is a legal trade. If you truly wish to rescind this contract, please find that guard, or have Bailey prove the illegality of the transaction, and only then can you reclaim it. Of course, you could ignore your own rules and forcibly take it back, but as a weak merchant, I would have no power to resist!"

Upon hearing this, Ogoren felt a surge of frustration. Where was he supposed to find the guard? He had fled the day before. As for Bailey, the man was dead—what more could be done? The situation had become incredibly thorny, yet Ogoren could not simply let it go. The entire market was watching. If he failed to handle this properly, the consequences would be far worse than mere loss of face. The authority of the market would be challenged, and if such incidents continued to occur, Ogoren could not bear it—nor could the other merchants.

"Mr. Ogoren, look, I am a reasonable man. I know that holding this contract at such a time is inappropriate, but after all, I must defend my rights. If my actions are causing you distress, perhaps you should just take the contract and be done with it!" Kado said, his lips curling into a mocking smirk as he watched Ogoren’s troubled expression.

"That won’t be necessary. I will uncover the truth. We will not allow the rights of any merchant in this market to be harmed," Ogoren replied with a grim face.

"That will be difficult, considering everyone involved is dead..." Kado stopped mid-sentence, wearing an expression of feigned awkwardness and provocation.

However, Ogoren’s eyes suddenly brightened. He realized he had been thinking too narrowly. To others, this might be a dead end, but to his boss? What was his boss’s identity? A necromancer! Was resurrecting the dead not a specialty of a necromancer?

Regaining his spirit, Ogoren turned and cast a cold, sharp glance at Kado. "Wait here. It won’t be long before I bring you the truth!"

As he turned to leave, Ogoren ordered the protection of Bailey’s corpse and placed Kado’s associates under watch, right in front of him. Seeing this, Kado’s confidants paled. "Sir, we’re finished. The person behind them is a necromancer; making the dead speak is his forte."

Yet, Kado remained calm, maintaining a confident smile. "Relax, it’s nothing. He can make the dead speak, but what if the deceased had a stomach full of Holy Water? I don’t believe for a second that someone filled with Holy Water can be raised. And even if he manages to bring him back, so what? I didn’t kill him. At worst, I’ll just have to hand over the contract. Even if he proves I masterminded it, I’ll just pay a few gold coins to settle the matter. After all, he didn’t even take action against the three Goblin Merchant Guilds that tried to assassinate him, so why would he do anything to me?"

Clearly, Kado was not stupid; he was quite clever. He had made his move because he believed he had seen through Karen. In his view, despite Karen’s current prosperity, he was merely struggling to survive between two nations. He believed Karen sought stability and dared not act recklessly. Since the cost of crime was so low and the potential profit so high, he had no reason not to take the risk. He wanted to see exactly what Karen could do to him.