Cless woke up with something hammering her head and shoulders. She opened her eyes and found nothing on her head but Josefine at her side shaking her.

"Cless wake-up! You gotta hurry to the north gate, there is trouble!"

Cless groaned. She was too hungover to recognize the hangover. "What is wrong?"

"The boys. They are making a scene!"

She slapped both her cheeks at the same time. The boys. North gate. Meeting. Absolute orders. "I gotta hurry!" She exclaimed. "Josefine, help me dress up, please!"

A few minutes later a panting Cless was nearing the north gate. Some of their female classmates and several guards were arguing with the boys. "Come to me now!" She yelled and stopped completely winded, hands on her thighs to keep herself from falling.

They ran to surround her. "Cless, is something wrong?"

"I'm sorry, guys." She panted between words. "I overslept." She wobbled. Lyle and Collin held her.

"It counts as protecting you," Lyle commented.

"Thanks. It seems I need to review some rules. The stupid ones."

"That would be nice," Replied Collin.

Some guy offered Cless a waterskin, she took a few swigs. It brought her back to her senses. She looked around and saw several angry guards, including senior guardsmen Toby.

"Ok, guys," Cless clapped her hands. "Let's move along and relocate our meeting to the Beaten Hare. We can use the tap room, I'll pay a round of drinks for you. I have good news."

"Can the girls come with us?" Arnold asked.

"Sure. I'd invite our fine guardsmen too, but I know they are serious about their duties," Cless said with a friendly tone. "But please do visit the inn when you are off-duty. I'll keep my word and offer you a free drink."

Senior guardsmen Toby seemed to want to say something, but he read the mood and let it go. The gang of teenagers crossed the town to get comfortable at the Beaten Hare's tap room.

"Get whatever seats you fancy while I go pour you some ale," Cless said as she turned around and met a very worried Karen. "Hey, boss. I am paying my friends here a round of drinks, I hope you don't mind."

"Whatever you want, guild master. Your coin is as good as any in here." Karen said with a raised eyebrow. She was not happy but decided to not push it further, Cless thought.

Karen's choice of words caused a rising burble between the teenagers occupying the tap room. Cless looked behind her back and glared at her smirking aunt. "You —"

Karen interrupted her. "Know what, guild master Cless... Since you are paying, go sit like a good customer. Josefine!" She yelled inside for her barmaid, "Get in here we got customers to serve."

Karen gave Cless a pitcher of water and a mug. She told Cless to drink up. She put her palm on her niece's back and Cless felt energized as she drank the water. She let the pitcher rest on a table next to her.

Cless laughed and turned around to address the crew. "Well, since my boss was so kind as to reveal, I founded a delving guild yesterday. All of you guys are going to be on it. We are going to spend a couple months here training. I think we might be able to move to Glauchester next spring. We all will be in it for the long run, as you surely know. Cheer up and get ready for harsh training. The dungeon is no joke and we gotta be prepared. Look at your side, because these faces are the ones you will have to care for the next years. These are your brothers, the ones you have to keep alive so they can keep you alive!"

The boys cheered at her inspiring speech. Some of the girls joined them. Cless looked down at her hands and felt strange. What was going on with her? Since when was she that good of a leader? Giving speeches like these? She felt lucky that those boys were uncultured simpletons. Most of the words she used were from the books she read. Well, if they were motivated, that was enough. She was aware some of the boys were trying to curry favor with her. After all, they would pretty much like to be treated well and all of them would have to be set on the same path as Hector. Wherever he was right now.

"Tell us about the guild! What is the name?" Arnold shouted.

"It is called 'The Blind Eye.' I chose that name because we will trust each other even with our eyes closed. And because we will take people at their inner value. We won't care about appearance." That line earned her a few looks of pity.

"I know, I know. Cless sighed. All of you are in this with me willingly, never forget that. I am sorry you'll have to spend so much time looking at me. Drink and eat, it is all on me."

She took a seat for herself and hung her head. It was still hurting from the hangover. She took more water while the others partied. She lifted her head when she heard chairs rustling. Four girls sat on each side surrounding her.

"Cless, how's Martin?" One of the girls, Maria, asked.

Martin! Cless' mind flared when she remembered the boy that was stabbed by his psycho girlfriend. A stab meant for her.

"I didn't check on him, but..." The barmaid was passing nearby. "Josie, how's the boy that was stabbed?"

"Sleeping like a baby last time I checked him after you went away, Cless." Josefine looked at the girls and sighed. "He will recover. How is the wench that stabbed him?"

"Vanessa is in jail but in a private room used to hold guards. Even her father couldn't get her off scot-free." Maria answered.

"Well, there you go. Is there anything I could get you, girls?" Josefine asked with a smile.

Cless showed her pitcher, "More water please, Josie."

"Aye, aye, guild master. But next time, don't down a mug of Dwarf Killer." She replied with a giggle as she turned around and left on her errands.

"Oh," Cless interjected, hurt. "So that is what that dark ale was called."

"Cless!" The other girls called for her attention. It seems they elected Maria as their spokesperson. "We have something to talk to you."

"Yes, how may I help you?"

It was funny. These girls were always mean to her while they were led by Vanessa. And now they were all friendly toward her? What changed? Was it her new status as a guild master? Her relationship with the boys? Cless was smart but had no idea. She liked the attention though.

"How did you get all the boys this wrapped around your finger?"

"Did you try asking them?" Cless replied with another question before even realizing the trap that was springing around her.

"We did. But they won't say anything. All we got was a boring 'I can't talk about it' answer. They felt really uncomfortable being questioned and it made the guards suspicious. One of them said 'Ask Cless' after a while."

"I made them a business... no, not that. I entered an agreement of sorts with them. I will organize and lead them in the guild and during their tenure with the guild they will work for me."

Cless didn't want to lie but didn't want to either stay silent or tell the truth.

"Cless, did you sleep with the boys?"

She jumped in her chair, "No! Absolutely not. I didn't sleep with them." Cless looked around. Two girls on each side, all of them focused on her.

"Why did you visit the midwife in such a hurry then? People said you went to the temple as well."

"I did not give myself to anyone. I... I didn't want it." She covered her face in shame as she remembered being tied up and assaulted.

She felt hands on her back. Cless looked up, "Poor thing. You've been assaulted? Was it the boys? Is that the reason you bought their silence?"

She forced herself to stay down, her face hidden by the hair hanging from her sides. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't want to remember it. What is done is done. I also don't need your condescending fake pity."

That set these four girls aback. They weren't expecting this level of candidness from her.

"Wow, that is harsh, Cless. We are trying to be friendly here," Maria told her.

Cless rose her head. It felt clearer now. They wanted something and were beating around the bush for it. Cless wanted something from them. Seeing their backs from far away. Cless stopped moping and sighed. She was becoming as bitchy as the bitches she despised. Cless tried to smile and calm herself down. She had nineteen supporters that would either defend her or die.

"Good. I'll take your words at face value. Let's be friends. What can I do for my friends?"

"We want to know how did you convince the boys to work for you." Kelly, the one on her other side, said.

"Sorry, that is a secret. All I can say is that I didn't force them into anything. They entered my service on their own free will. And it will not be bad business for them. The guild will look and care for them."

"Can't you really tell us? Isn't there any other way?" Patty, the one after Maria nagged.

"No." Cless could put these girls under a contract, but it would be a death sentence for these gossip-prone females. The men? They had enough stoicism in them to endure that, especially with the incentive of getting into a delving guild.

"We need to know that you haven't enslaved the boys using some evil Skill." Clara, the last of the four girls finally spoke.

"Oh, that is easy. I didn't force them to join me. Let me show it." Cless stood up and shouted, "Lyle, get over here a minute from now."

She gave him a minute so he wouldn't just jump and dash near her. He'd have time to do it naturally, or so Cless hoped for. But she bet on Lyle being the most compliant of all of them. Her faith was rewarded when the boy showed up naturally before the minute was over.

"You called, guild master?"

"Yes. Lyle, you will answer my next questions with yes or no and will always tell the truth until I dismiss you from here. Understood?"

"Yes, guild master." He replied curtly.

The four girls were looking at Lyle with great interest. They turned around on their chairs.

"Lyle, when we made our partnership, didn't I give you two options to avoid making the contract?"

"Yes, you did. Two choices to avoid the contract were given."

He was answering with more than what was needed but Cless wasn't worried now.

"Were those two choices hard things to do or hazardous in any way?"

"No. They were easy to enact and had little to no risk involved."

"Did I force you to enter the contract?"

"Not at all. In fact, at the time you'd have wanted that none of us entered it."

The girls were brimming with excitement. The truth was being laid bare before them and they couldn't make heads or tails of the info. They giggled, chittered, and squealed.

"Of the nineteen boys here including you, did I mistreat any of you?"

"No. You were always gentle and clear with us."

"Can I enslave someone against their will?"

"Absolutely not. Cless has no such power to subvert someone's will."

"You are dismissed, Lyle. Go back to your seat, please."

"Glad to help, guild master."

Cless felt some insincerity in Lyle's speech. Maybe he was being sly and working to curry favor. She wouldn't mind that though. Cless made a mental note to take care around Lyle. She turned to the four girls and sighed.

"There you go. I didn't force them, they entered the contract on their own free will and I didn't enslave or forced them to do anything bad. Case closed."

"No way it is a case closed thing! We demand details!" Maria claimed. The four girls started to nag and try to pry Cless' secrets, and despite the confusion and headache they induced, Cless figured out that they wanted to join the guild.

"If you want to join the guild, you would have to abide by several conditions. The first of them would be to never ever talk about any of our secrets you learn about to outsiders or in places where outsiders could hear about it. The second would be to protect me and your guildmates from harm to the best of your abilities. The third would be to obey my commands at all times. I will provide training, advice, lodging, food, and pay, adequate according to your contributions in delving to you four and you can quit the guild at anytime if you give me two weeks of advance notice. The benefits and obligations to protect us and obedience will be lifted but the secrecy will remain for your entire lifetimes."

An offer has been made. Maria, Clara, Patty, and Kelly are offered training, advice, lodging, food, and pay, adequate according to their contributions in delving. They will be forced to keep secrecy, protect the guild master and guild mates from harm and obey the guild master's commands. They can leave the guild and be exempted from the obligations of protection and obedience as well as forfeit all benefits after a two-week notice. The obligation of secrecy will remain for their entire lifetimes. Breaking these terms can lead to consequences.

"There you go," Cless pointed out to the girls. "Accept and you are in. And then I can tell you all my secrets."

The four overexcited girls didn't think twice. They all stared at the notification, exchanged looks and merrily accepted away.

Maria, Clara, Patty, and Kelly accepted the contract. 800 Experience Points awarded.

These girls had no idea what they were getting into. Cless briefed them into her own story to the four progressively more slack-jawed girls. After she finished, Cless had to ask.

"So, did you still think I was mean to the boys?"

The four of them shook their heads. "No way! I'd make them pay dearly for what they did. You are an angel, guild master."

Cless smiled. She stood up and clapped her hands. "Ok, boys and girls, party time is over. I want all of you to come here and give me your information. Stats, Skills, and Proficiencies. We got a guild to run and delving teams to assemble."

It was time to get serious.

Name: Cless (no surname)

Race: Human.

Level: 10 ( 49,433 / 55,000 Exp)

Class: Warrior 1

Profession: Warmaster 1, Weaponmaster 1

Base Stats: Strength: 7 — Agility: 6 — Health: 14 — Intellect: 20

Available Status Points: 0

Skills: [Absolute Contract (S)]

Proficiencies: Prayer: 3 — Scribe: 2 — Houseworking: 2 — Math: 2 — Reading: 4 — Leadership: 4 (+2) — Intimidation: 2 — Negotiation: 3 (+1)