Godfather's System

I looked around the tent while Zolast sat down, taking note of the details.

The first thing I noticed was paper … an incredible amount of it, piling over the small table and spilling onto the wooden floor of the cart. "That's a lot of paper," I commented even as I turned my attention to the silver runes etched on the floor, memorizing them while looking uncaring.

"Unfortunately, setting up a guild is a tricky process, requiring quite a bit of paperwork magic."

"Especially when it's established as rapidly as you're doing," I commented. "I'm guessing taking it slowly is not an option."

"You're correct," Zolast said with a sigh. "The guild needs to be established before we arrive at the breach, so that we can officially get the rights of the management rights for the breach. Once the dungeon is established, there'll be a lot of competition."

I shrugged. The political battle for benefits was a familiar concept. "All that paperwork, sounds exciting."

He pointed at the dagger that was on my side. "Not as exciting as your trip. I thought you were just going to work with Karak away from the camp."

"Things worked out a bit more exciting than I had planned. While we returned, we had a surprise visitor," I said, before launching a long explanation, giving him the details of the adventure. The sudden attack, the charisma-using assassin, the observers.

"And you're absolutely confident you had another group observing you," Zolast commented.

Well, most of the details… I neglected to mention that there were two groups watching me, with the second showing far better concealment abilities. "Confident enough to mention it here," I answered.

Zolast frowned. "That doesn't make sense. They are reacting faster than possible. We had just sent the messengers about establishing the guild."

I shrugged. "Your mistake is to assume they are reacting to our move. It's clear that they were already going to make a move, and our involvement made them adjust the plan slightly." Zolast looked like he was about to argue, but after a moment, he changed his mind. "Now, let's talk about procurement."

"Yes, let's talk about that," Zolast said. "You surprised me with that. I expected you to take a more visible role. Captain of the guard, at least, even if you didn't want to be the Master of Arms. Not something that required a lot of …" he paused, dragging his hand over the paperwork sprawled around. "This."

"You can't get away from paperwork. It's the curse that comes with power," I answered. "And dealing with supplies, procurement, and other unglamorous stuff allows me to keep my hand on the beat without being too visible." Then, I chuckled. "And, it's not like I can keep up with those young men once they start leveling up in the dungeon."

"Pity you can't level up," Zolast said, though as he said that, his tone was loaded, and his lips tugged a little. Like he had a secret that he avoided. Well, one that was relevant to my supposed inability to level up further, as we had long established we both have a lot of secrets.

"Yes, a pity," I said, sighing despondently, acting unaware of his little hint. I didn't want to go poking his secret, not when he was subtly baiting me. If he wanted to talk about it, he could talk more explicitly — which would give me some leverage on the topic.

Unsurprisingly, he changed the topic. "By the way, about your training with Karak. I didn't expect you to be one of the purists," he commented. "Or that they even had any presence near the border. Usually, they don't bother with people with lesser classes."

"I'm a practical person. He needed some help, and that was the best method," I said. From the context, I realized he was referring to my attempt to teach him to fight without his skills, but the existence of a more organized movement behind the philosophy was news to me.

"And how you dabbled in anti-skill movement," Zolast added. "It's a contentious topic, after all. I would have expected you to avoid it, not approach it like an idealist."

As he spoke, I realized why he was poking. He had a fundamental misunderstanding about the reason for my ability to fight without skills, accounting for a political choice with significant drawbacks. I could have decided to nip that in the bud, but instead, I decided to lean on it.

It would give me some convenient plausible deniability. I decided to spin a good story. "Growing up alone, as an orphan, even finding food was a challenge, let alone proper skills," I started explaining to him, which was not entirely false. Other than the lack of skills, it was an accurate summation of my life. "So, I learned to fight dirty, in a way that would give me some advantage against the others…"

"Until you can fight better than any skill you can find in the border colonies," Zolast completed.

"Exactly. And hopefully, it'll help Karak as well."

"You know that, without an arm, he can never be a frontline fighter."

I shrugged. "I don't need him to. I just need someone with sharp eyes to help me keep an eye on my operation. I don't need him to be combatant, just good enough to intimidate the others."

"It would be hard unless he could regain the favor of his god and could be promoted," Zolast said. "A tall order without an arm. Gods don't like such imperfections. Pity that, even when they abandon their worshippers, gods don't appreciate "

I shrugged. "Gods will be gods. Enough talking about Karak. Let's start talking about important stuff. Such as, what are the most urgent needs of the guild, and how could the head of procurement could help you?" I said.

"Good point," Zolast said, though I didn't miss his annoyance as I ignored his mention of the gods once again. He was trying to bait me into it again, one that I had no intention of accepting. If I wanted to talk with gods, I didn't need a priest to help me.

I just needed to trigger my next promotion.

To his credit, he managed to keep that expression subtle enough that I would have missed it without my lifetime of experience. "Now, first, your official rank. It will be the quartermaster … not this head of procurement," Zolast said with distaste.

"And my role," I said.

"You'll have the final say on the sales of the dungeon products … as well as making sure the agreed upon percentage is delivered to our noble protector. You don't have to worry about the forbidden and blacklisted items, as I'll handle their destruction myself."

"That's good. What about acquiring weapons, equipment, and other supplies for our members," I said.

"What about it?" Zolast said. "Every member is responsible for handling their own weapons, armor, and other supplies. They just need to give us two-thirds of what they earn in the dungeon, and the rest is for them."

"I know," I said, backtracking quickly. I didn't know, as I expected the guilds to be operated a bit more tightly, showing that I needed to learn more. "I just thought that we can establish an official store for the guild, making sure our members have decent weapons. Maybe even magical ones, if we can find a way."

"Technically, it's possible," Zolast said, his distaste clear. Nowhere near the distaste of the old knight, but still annoyed.

The attitude change was interesting. Now that he didn't need to hide himself as an unlucky cook, his distaste toward mercantile activities was showing. "But, we don't have the funding for it. Our noble protectors promised to fund the materials required for the dungeon, but that's all they are willing to give to us."

Better for me, I thought. The more distasteful he reacted, the less attention he would pay to the commercial activities.

And, easier it would be for me to embezzle some mana stones to power up my eventual Promotion. I didn't want to waste too much time before making that move.

"Good, then I'll open a store. Maybe even an inn, and a nice hall for the members to relax and spend their free time," I added, quickly tackling two more commercial activities, and deliberately avoiding mentioning that the relaxing hall would function as a gambling den."

"Sounds ambitious … and expensive."

"Don't worry about the funding. I'll make sure to find the necessary money."

"Really?" Zolast said. "Some extra funds would be helpful."

"Of course," I said. "And, since I'm such a nice old man, I'm only going to charge the guild with a modest interest rate. Twenty-five percent."

"Oh, really?" Zolast said, looking more amused than frustrated. From what I could gather, it was higher than the normal interest rate, but not too high to be ridiculous.

"Yes, and since I'm such a nice old man, I'll even forgive the interest on the twenty derums of silver that the guild owes me," I said, mentioning the silver I had given him for the leveling wards. "I need a nice egg nest for my retirement."

"Sounds fair," Zolast said, laughing along with me.

Once again, my actions were deliberate. I didn't care much about the silver that I already lent. As an investment, it had already paid far more dividends than I expected. I insisted to reinforce his impression of my love of money.

"Do you think you can arrange it before the dungeon starts operating?"

"How long do I have?"

"With this speed, we should be at the breach about midday tomorrow, and I'll start the preparations. It would take three days to build the first layer if the nobles bring the supplies on time."

"Between a week and a month, then," I said, chuckling.

"Hopefully, not a month," Zolast answered, his expression stiff. "I don't think we can survive a month without an operating dungeon."

"Do you think monsters would be that dangerous?" I asked.

"No," Zolast answered, and he didn't need to elaborate it further.

"I should start working, then," I said to him. "Unless there's something else."

"Just one thing," he said as he pulled an iron badge. He dragged his hand over it, making it glow, then threw it at me. I checked, and found a drawing of a glowing hammer, and a rune underneath."

"Interesting, what's this?"

"That's the Symbol of Dawn Hammers, our new guild. The rune underneath shows that you have the right to make decisions for the guild as long as it's reasonable. Normally, a quartermaster wouldn't have that authorization, but…" he said, letting his words drift away.

"Can I use it immediately, or do we need the official approval for the guild?"

"You can use it. We need the final approval from the kingdom for anything related to the dungeon, but for anything lesser, like arranging some trade deals or recruitment, it should be enough."

"Sounds wonderful," I said and left the tent, a huge smile on my lips.

The visit was far more useful than I expected. I finally had an official proof of my existence, and even an official position that would allow me to poke around.

Maybe even build a little organization around me … just to ensure my security and handle some menial tasks, and nothing more.

Definitely.