****(POV)

Usually, I would stay clear from a place such as the Mystery Gems House.

While it can be entertaining from time to time there is not much worth in it.

Yes, it is possible to make a small profit out of it.

There is one issue however, it takes too long and their merchandise too normal.

The best you can get there is a slightly less common gem.

The best stuff never makes it there.

Every shipment the Gebreros family imports gets screened with a secret spell of theirs.

One that will tell them if the target's value reaches a certain threshold.

The only thing is such a spell is highly inaccurate.

It has also given false positives on some occasions.

Well, it never gives false negatives at least.

So all the lower quality ones end up getting gambled away.

That rock gambling business serves two purposes.

The first being to make a tidy profit from fools.

People just trying their luck.

Statistically, the house always wins.

Since most of the rocks will turn out worthless.

There is another utility to that place.

As a merchant one needs to visualize the big picture.

That place is an opportunity to find talent.

That is why we always have a man there whose duty is simply to observe.

We rotate them so it doesn't look as obvious.

Still, let's face it every guild worth a dime does the same.

Today was an exception.

I decided to go for a walk.

I went to that place.

I was just enjoying myself when a commotion started.

A young man started insulting another.

The first one I know very well.

He is talented.

The 65% success rate he keeps bragging about may not seem like a lot but it would still make him a good advisor.

One that could help determine the value of a treasure.

On one hand, 65% is godlike without the use of magic.

On the other hand, most mystical treasures tend to be harder to identify.

It is already good enough.

This young man is the son of a bigshot in the city.

Except instead of worshiping Compromis like his father he reveres a god of luck.

Well, knowing his personality it is a good thing he stays far away from anything related to diplomacy.

That is also the reason no one has recruited him yet.

No matter how skilled he is, accepting such an arrogant individual is the best way to paint a target on one's back.

He isn't even disruptive that much.

He is simply plain annoying.

I was expecting the other party to cower and apologize in front of such insults.

Instead, he surprisingly ignored him, even calling him retarded.

The only reason I managed to hold my laugher then was my years of experience.

At that moment I was already satisfied.

After all, I came out for a change of pace.

The problems in the guild piling up.

It started a while ago with one of our convoy encountering bandits and losing some precious cargo.

We tried to pass it as a normal caravan to avoid the greed, but they were unlucky.

They kept going on about some naked devil too.

Anyway, even after that one particular incident, we have lost many of our people and goods.

Bandits are getting more and more restless.

They know most of the powers are all busy consolidating their forces.

They are also a bunch of dumbasses in most cases.

We have managed to recover about 80% of every lost shipment so far.

This means that overall our losses are pretty small.

It is still a nightmare to organize it all.

Good thing I'm only in charge of the surrounding areas.

Anyway, I expected this interlude to end up there and then.

Not at all.

They decided on challenging each other.

A contest of discernment.

On whom can pick the best gems out of the lot.

I decided then to extend my time here.

Sure, it would delay my work a bit, but I wouldn't be able to anyway.

I would inevitably be wondering about the result of this thing.

One thing that is vital when working in management is to work efficiently.

Ah, and to have rigor too.

As long as the work is done at the end of the day all is good.

After all, so many decisions rely on me.

I could single-handedly slow our operations should I slack.

Somehow the challenge just wouldn't start.

The manager here kept being interrupted.

They also took the time to even get themselves someone to cheer for them.

How ridiculous that was haha.

Well, at least it was entertaining.

They seemed to be competing on who was the most shameless.

Judging by the over-the-top signs in any case.

Then after a long while, it finally began.

I was expecting a serious match.

Not at all.

The unknown guy simply casually picked 10 rocks and called it a day.

At that point, I knew that I should leave.

After all, the contest would still be going for a while.

The result was almost guaranteed at that point.

But for some reason, I stayed.

I decided to watch the happenings.

A little voice in my head telling me that I may be surprised.

One extremely insane voice.

Still, I listened to it.

Simply because the most I had to lose was time.

Sure my time is valuable.

Still, finding a potential talent doesn't come often.

When came the time for the reveal, both showed confident expressions.

Turns out that the arrogant guy obtained an 80% success rate.

It made me consider ways to bring him to our side and reeducate him.

The only issue being his backing.

Otherwise, we could easily go for some highly efficient torture…eh education.

Then happened something peculiar.

The new guy went on stage directly.

Then he requested a sword and started slashing directly.

Without a care for the damage.

For some reason, he didn't destroy any of the rocks completely.

That part puzzled me.

But then the guy kept working on unveiling the rocks.

Soon enough I understood something.

That new guy was a genius.

An extremely talented one.

As soon as it ended, I rushed to him thinking of all possible ways to tempt him into working with us.

I expected it to be a battle of wits and…

Yeah, he accepted to follow me as soon as I mentioned accommodations.

I kept wondering what the hell was up with that guy, but I hollered a carriage nonetheless.

We would talk in detail at the guild.

Hopefully, it would end up well.