Fear

The blood flowing from these bandits had nearly formed a stream, staining the ground ahead a reddish-brown.

"All right, I'll leave the disposal of these corpses to everyone. I'll return to my carriage first."

After confirming that the bandits were completely dead, Locke withdrew his Mental Strength. He called out to the guard captain beside him, then turned and walked toward the carriage he had been riding in.

"Yes, Lord Locke."

The bandits' corpses almost covered the road ahead.

The guards handled the gruesome sight relatively well, but when had those merchants ever seen anything so terrifying?

Their faces were deathly pale, and their legs trembled.

Quite a few even ran to the side to vomit.

Before Locke displayed his power, everyone had known that Lord Locke was strong, but they had not known just how strong he was. They had no concrete understanding of it.

But now, faced with the corpses of nearly a thousand people, they finally understood the vast gap between them.

At this moment, there was no longer curiosity in the way they looked at Locke, only deep awe and fear.

It was fear of power.

While the guards moved away the corpses of the nearly thousand bandits, more bandits arrived from farther away. After all, the merchant caravan Luqi had assembled this time was enough to tempt many people.

However, when they saw the bandit corpses in Crimson Silk Valley piled almost into a small mountain, they immediately turned around and left without another word.

This caravan was not something people like them could afford to provoke.

One wrong move, and they would end up in the Undead Realm of the Underworld, waiting to regain their memories or become nourishment for someone else's advancement.

For the rest of the journey, the Luqi Merchant Guild traveled without obstruction, and Locke barely needed to take action.

After all, bandits had plenty of ways to obtain information. Many had learned that a large caravan departing from Bidia City had been escorted by a powerful mage, and an alliance of nearly a thousand bandits had been wiped out completely.

No one wanted to encounter such a bloodthirsty mage.

For the merchants and guards of this guild, this trading expedition was almost no different from sightseeing.

They crossed Bidia Territory in grand procession, leisurely and without a care.

"Lord Locke, we have arrived in Enbo Territory."

That day, after the Luqi Merchant Guild passed through a canyon, President Luqi came to Locke's carriage and spoke to him respectfully.

"Mm. Don't worry, President Luqi. When it is time for me to act, I will act."

"Then many thanks, Lord Locke."

President Luqi thanked Locke. Only after he had walked several meters away from the carriage did he wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Every time he spoke with Locke, President Luqi felt as though he were standing defenseless before the gaping maw of a dragon, gripped by the fear that the dragon could swallow him whole with a single bite.

Yet President Luqi had no choice but to speak with Locke.

Unlike Bidia Territory, which consisted mostly of plains, Enbo Territory did not have so many bandits. However, Enbo Territory was filled with mountains and forests, where many magical beasts lived.

From time to time, magical beasts in Enbo Territory even attacked cities or villages.

The wilderness was even worse.

To be honest, if not for Locke, President Luqi would basically never come to Enbo Territory.

Even if goods from Bidia Territory could fetch higher prices in Enbo Territory, he would not set foot here.

After all, President Luqi knew his own limits. He only took on what he could handle.

The last time he helped Locke deliver a letter, he had relied on some of his connections to send it out for him.

After learning that Locke was returning to Enbo Territory, President Luqi decided to take a gamble.

If he could establish a foothold in Enbo Territory through Locke, then the Luqi Merchant Guild would usher in tremendous growth.

Now, it seemed that Luqi had already won half his gamble.

Throughout the nearly month-long journey across Bidia Territory, their caravan had not suffered the slightest loss.

On the contrary, they had passed through several towns, replacing the goods in their wagons batch after batch. The profits earned by the caravan in that month were almost three times their usual earnings.

The remaining half depended on whether, during their time in Enbo Territory, they could use Lord Locke's power to open up a safe trade route for the guild's future.

As long as the Luqi Merchant Guild could gain a foothold in Enbo Territory, it would quickly have the opportunity to grow and expand.

After entering Enbo Territory, the caravan guards became far more vigilant than they had been in Bidia Territory.

After all, the bandits feared Lord Locke because they knew that Lord Locke had once killed nearly a thousand bandits who had tried to rob a merchant caravan.

The magical beasts of Enbo Territory did not have information networks as well-informed as the bandits'.

By now, the Luqi Merchant Guild's caravan had expanded to sixty wagons.

Several members of the independent caravans that had previously followed behind the Luqi Merchant Guild had paid President Luqi a protection fee and joined the Luqi Merchant Guild.

In Bidia Territory, they could still benefit from the Luqi Merchant Guild's lingering prestige, but that would not work in Enbo Territory.

After all, magical beasts were different from humans. Only magical beasts above Rank 7 possessed a certain degree of intelligence.

Magical beasts below Rank 7 possessed only the instinct to hunt.

Bullying the weak and fearing the strong was in a magical beast's nature.

If they did not merge with the Luqi Merchant Guild and continued as they had in Bidia Territory, then once they entered Enbo Territory, they would become the Luqi Merchant Guild's best shields.

All magical beasts would attack them first.

Moreover, magical beasts were different from bandits.

Bandits only robbed goods and killed guards; they would not harm the merchants.

After all, they still hoped that these merchants would take the same trade route they controlled on their next trading expedition.

Being full once was not as good as being full every time. Everyone understood what mattered most.

But magical beasts attacked humans only for "food." They did not distinguish between guards and merchants.

They were all food!

The caravan now had more than one hundred and sixty guards.

Among them were more than twenty Rank 6 Warriors.

There were also more than forty Rank 5 Warriors.

The rest were all intermediate warriors of Rank 3 or above.

As long as they did not encounter high-ranking magical beasts, this guard force could handle ordinary magical beasts.

And that was indeed the case. Along the way, Locke barely had to act before the caravan safely arrived at Enbo Territory's largest city, Enbo City, where Duke Enbo resided.

The guild's caravan then dispersed there. Everyone used their previous connections to contact the merchant guilds in Enbo City and sell the goods they held.

However, unlike the presidents of the other merchant guilds, after President Luqi sold all his goods, he did not hurry to purchase new goods in Enbo Territory. Instead, he boarded a carriage and left Enbo Territory under the protection of several guards.