Blood Shaper-Chapter 52Book 3:

Kay walked into the Adventurer’s Guild and was quickly escorted up to the Guildmaster’s office to wait for her to be available. It only took a few minutes for someone to stick their heads out and greet him. He strode into the office, doing his best to look self-assured.

Technically I’m higher ranking than her, at least in my own damn city! But trying to look like an actual leader in front of someone who has hundreds of times the experience you do is a bit of a struggle. He thought to himself behind his poker face.

“Ah, Lord Kay, it’s nice to see you. Apologies for the wait; I had some paperwork to finish.”

“Nice to see you as well, Guildmaster Gemglass, and don’t worry about it. It was only a short while.” He took the seat she gestured for him to sit in.

“What is it that I can do for you today?” She asked.

“Well… Hopefully, it’s not a problem and more of a set of circumstances, but if it is a problem, hopefully, we can come to an understanding about it.”

Gemglass’ smile dropped off her face, and she sat up completely straight in her chair. “Whatever she did, the Adventurer’s Guild is more than able to provide any recompense, and we’re ready to meet any conditions you might set to get her free. We’d also be happy to remove her from your territory once she’s in our custody.”

“… What?”

Lauren leaned in close and whispered, “She’s probably talking about Miss Hernandez, that armored figure from when you first met them that turned out to be the daughter of their founders?”

“What about her?” Kay whispered back, trying not to make eye contact with the Guildmaster, who was staring at them intently with worry in her eyes.

“Guard Commander Hunteo was complaining about her in your last meeting? The woman from the Adventurer’s Guild who keeps getting in fights but always gets away with it because she’s always defending herself?”

“Oh!” Kay exclaimed, “Her.” He shifted his attention back to Gemglass, “You don’t have to worry about her; she’s not in any trouble. I mean, my Guard, uh, the city Guard not my Blood Guard, they aren’t very happy with her, but she’s not actually broken any laws, so she’s not officially in any trouble.” He thought back to the meeting Lauren talked about, “We are officially requesting that she stop getting in so many fights, although apparently, she’s not been doing anything to provoke them, according to witnesses, so please have her do her best to avoid places where she’ll get in fights. Also, while her prompt payment of any and all fees is helpful, she really needs to stop damaging furniture and buildings when she’s defending herself.”

She stared at him for a moment before her head dropped into her hands, and she let out a long sigh. “That idiot…!” She groaned. After a moment, she energetically popped back up into a sitting position. “I’ll certainly pass on your warnings to her, and I’ll make sure she actually behaves from now on.” She told him with a slightly manic smile.

“Thank you. Also, technically my Commander of the Guard is supposed to come to pass you the same message in the next few days, so if I end up not letting her know about this, I apologize ahead of time for having to go through this twice.”

“That won’t be a problem. In fact, please let it happen. I’ll have her come sit in the meeting with the Commander while it happens.” She looked off to the side and took a deep breath before turning back to Kay, “So, if Honor isn’t causing any issues, what potential problem do you have for me?”

“You’ve done a wonderful job connecting us with various people we might need or helping us make connections, so I didn’t want to make a deal about any of it, but well…” He pointed off in a vague eastern direction, “You remember the high-tier Ancients I fought with some of my people that we asked you to find us a monster hunting group to deal with?”

“Of course, we managed to find an acceptable group for an acceptable price, the Unquiet, yes? An interesting name, but they’ve made a good reputation for themselves. They tentatively accepted but got delayed fighting a…” She trailed off as she sorted through the papers on her desk. “… Something or other; I don’t have the paper with me right now. But yes, what about them?”

“Well, at the time, we weren’t in a rush to deal with them since we weren’t really expanding in that direction, and we couldn’t handle it ourselves, so the delay wasn’t that big of a deal. Now, however, we are expanding that direction, and we are able to deal with the problem without outside help…”

“Oh,” Gemglass waved it off, “That won’t be an issue at all. The Unquiet might be a bit miffed, but that’s what they get for taking a big job on the way to another big job. They went to sleep, so they lost, or however, that expression goes” She smiled up at him, her chair not quite making up for the height difference. “Was there anything else you needed to speak about? Are there any jobs that Avalon needs done through the Adventuring Guild?”

“I don’t think so, but if there are, I’m afraid that’s one of the things my Prime Minister is insisting I start delegating,” Kay smiled self-deprecatingly, “I only came down to talk about this particular issue myself because it was one I asked you about personally.”

She shrugged, “Well, one can always hope for a government-backed quest, but that’s the way the pastry falls apart.” She looked at him for a moment before her expression changed into a more serious one, “On that topic… Hmm. Well, to be honest, I’d like to make sure that our relationship continues to be both genial and beneficial. Most larger nations don’t really use our organization in an official capacity, both because they, you, have their own people but because having large groups of armed, skilled, and Skilled adventurers wandering through their territory isn’t the most calming situation.” One side of her mouth quirked up to the side. “I like to be open and honest when I’m dealing with tense situations, so I’ll say that the Adventurer’s Guild would very much like to keep having a presence in your country as it grows. Even if we aren’t getting any contracts through Avalon’s government, the combination of untamed wilderness and new opportunities being developed as Avalon expands could bring in a lot of revenue for us. Both as an individual Guildmaster and as a member of the larger organization, being able to stay in this market is highly preferable.”

Kay raised one eyebrow at her, “Why are you bringing this up?”

“Honesty and openness, really. I get that most leaders aren’t entirely pleased by our technically being part of another nation, even if we are legally separated from the rest of the government, to ensure that there won’t be any problems. That plus the ‘groups of armed people wandering around’ thing, ensuring that branches of the Guild get to remain in larger nations can be a bit of a struggle.” She gestured at Kay, “While this is my first time interacting directly with the uppermost leader of the nation I’m stationed in, I have had to deal with several high-ranking nobles or other leaders in various countries I’ve been a Guildmaster in. Personally, I’ve found it much better to just come out and say that we aren’t spying on you for the folks back home; we, the Adventurer’s Guild, really are entirely neutral to outside conflicts as long as they don’t actively oppose any of our specific bylaws talking about that kind of thing, and aren’t going to interfere with your internal affairs or governance.” She shrugged again, “I can’t make you believe any of it, but from my experience, it’s better to just say that and let you make your own conclusions about our honesty. And I’ve also learned that it helps to say that at every opportunity to really show how sincere I am and circumvent any harsh feelings stemming from any events involving adventurers that I am not directly responsible for.”

Kay huffed a laugh at her last comment. “And I’m sure that the fact that we’re about to take control over a previously unknown to the world dungeon that might become a huge source of income isn’t part of your reasoning.”

She tilted her head forward to acknowledge his point, “Oh, it very much is. As I said, the Adventurer’s Guild would very much like to make money in this new market that’s opening up. While we were founded on ideals of helping people, and I, along with many of my counterparts, still do try our best to bring those ideals to life, we are also a guild that exists to make money.”

Kay stood up from the chair. “While I will admit that I don’t entirely trust you or the rest of the Adventurer’s Guild, we also aren’t going to be kicking you out or hitting you with any punitive regulations unless you do something to deserve it. So as long as you behave, Avalon and the surrounding areas will be there for you to try and profit off of.”

Gemglass nodded once, “Thank you for that.”

Kay left after a few more pleasantries. “Right, that’s that part done. What else do I need to do today? I need to talk to Meten and Curcius about going after those Ancients, so that’s not on the schedule already.”

Lauren gestured at one of the Blood Guard. “Lord Kay’s schedule.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He rotated to look at Kay while they walked, “My lord, your Prime Minister has asked that you see her today so she can present a few candidates to be your personal assistant. She said It was quite important that you have an actual designated assistant rather than grabbing whichever staff member is nearby.”

Kay grunted in acknowledgment. “Fine, we’ll do it Amanda’s way. What else?”

“Preparation for tomorrow's session of government with the representatives. Measures up for voting include what to actually name the body, how to go about granting noble titles to people to expand the roster of Avalon’s nobles, and several other topics that were marked ‘low importance’. There are no set times for either entry, and the remainder of your schedule is marked open for you to continue pushing towards tier five or preparing for the same.”

“Thank you.”

The Guard member quickly saluted and stepped back into formation.

“Good job,” Lauren told him, and he nodded back at her.

“Right, let's go find Amanda; we can get her thing done and then find Meten and Curcius to start planning.”

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