"Let's mess about in town!" Cless shouted. She wanted to go with enthusiasm to see if she could forget her gloomy morning and the dip in the well. Not all is well when it ends 'in' the well.

At least their front gate now had a lock. It means Heimdall could get all their deliveries.

They walked around, stopping at almost every shop, buying something and telling the shop to deliver to their place. Household utensils, some fabric that caught their fancy, pottery, cutlery, crockery, decorations. The glint of silver coins turning frowns into smiles and even on one occasion making a shopkeeper go out of his town to scare off some people that were insulting his 'valued customers'.

Their destination was the Delver Association. Cless wanted to get rid of the two charters she obtained, maybe sell them or absorb if nobody was interested in buying the charters. When a guild reports their achievements and pays taxes, these achievements are written in the charter. By absorbing another guild's charter, you can add these achievements to yours as if you did them.

It increased the evaluation and status of your guild. Having high status meant you could recruit stronger delvers to your guild.

Cless cared not a bit about that. Rising in status was something she was trying to avoid actually. Not that she would rent a shack in the slums and live there. Gone was the girl that felt content with a storage room to call hers. She wanted some luxury in her life but not too much. She needed some status to act as a shield, as some haughty people would look down on her. She was confident that as long she could either talk or run away, no challenge would be impossible to overcome.

The Delver Association building was near the Dungeon. Most of the big shops and those businesses that catered to the Delvers were. The church was on the back street from the Association building. Cless wanted access to that street exactly because she wouldn't have to go around the town. The city hall, some civil offices, and the Lord's estate were further away from the Dungeon, as this whole area would become a war zone in the case of a monster outbreak. Or if a strong enough monster came nearby during a migration.

These were the town's worries, not hers. Cless entered the association building noticing the wide-open doors. She saw they were four panels that folded behind the wall to let the space open. On the right from the door, it had the usual counters for purchasing goods, declaring taxes, selling monster parts, etc. While in Tambrill only one clerk was manning the reception, here more than six were helping several delvers. A small line of four people waited their turn to talk to the clerk. The building was bigger and the middle part was taken by a tavern.

On the left side, straight from the door, there was an infirmary. Delvers that reached the surface alive would receive expensive treatment for their injuries. Expensive for the ones paying the bill. They had to fund their marble floor in some way, didn't they?

She was wearing one of her custom dresses with the brigandine over the cloth and her cloak with the hood covering her head and casting a shadow over her face. For weapons, only the black broadsword she got from the gnome Dungeon. The rest of her guild was armed and armored, but not for war. A few delvers stopped to look at her and were losing the interest until they saw the rest of her guild entering behind her.

"The monsters should stay in the Dungeon. I suggest you go back to the depths you crawled out of before it is too late." One of them said, with a faint slur on his voice.

Cless wouldn't want to return to the depths even if she could. She would bet being the Queen of the Infernal Realm was too much of a bother. However, nobody insulted her guild.

"Fuck you, drunkard. Automatic proficiency with a tankard of ale doesn't make you better than anyone," She replied with the level of grace a fledgling Queen shouldn't have.

The man slammed his tankard on the table and stood up. Cless waved her arm on her side to tell her guild to avoid an engagement. She stared at the man as he approached her.

"What did you say, lass? I didn't hear it very well."

She scoffed and sighed, "I told you to fuck off and mind your business." She told him without breaking eye contact. She evaluated his gear. He was wearing a chain mail, a steel mace but seemed to have no exceptional equipment. She was sure he was of a lower level than her. Cless waited to see what he'd do.

"You fucking little cunt!" His fist came swinging. Cless saw it coming and decided to take it wherever it landed. In the Jaw it was. She firmed her feet on the marble and waited. The punch came and she felt only a small pressure on her chin.

"Is that it?" She asked and then said out loud, "Oi, this man attacked a guild master inside the Association branch, is someone doing anything about it?"

"Ha! Can't fight your own battles, stupid trollop! Hey!" Another punch.

She glanced at the sides, nobody was doing anything. She shouted, "Hey, is it okay if I kill this idiot now or should I wait for his third punch?"

The drunk bully swung a fist again. Cless dodged, drew her sword and severed his arm over the elbow, using Mending right after to staunch the bleeding. The man lost his balance for a moment and stopped to rationalize the loss of his arm.

"Aaaaaaah!"

He screamed and fell on his knees to pick up his limb. Cless fought the urge to kick his face. She used Cleaning on her sword and clothes and sheathed the blade. Going around the man clutching his severed arm, they waled to the middle of the room.

"I'm selling two guild charters to the highest bidder. Any takers?" All eyes fell on her. One of the men in the tavern, probably a mage, stared at Cless and suddenly clutched his head. "I don't recommend doing that again, appraiser." She warned him with a glare.

He flinched. Being singled out as an appraiser meant you would find people wanting to know the details about others and people avoiding you in fear your own info would fall on the wrong hands.

"What charters are you selling, miss?" A woman with plate armor asked. "I hope they aren't forgeries or newly minted ones."

Cless smiled. "I have the charters for the Dragon Delvers and the Timberwolves here with me. Opening offers above thirty crowns, please."

"That can't be real!" Another delver, a bearded stout man exclaimed. "Steppenwolf would never give up his charter, miss. Now I don't want to call you a liar, but do you have proof?"

She took the two rectangular tokens from her pocket. "Here. Anyone can examine them with a promise to return them."

The dwarf, for that man could only be a dwarf, stood up from his seat and gently took one token from her hand, examined it and then the other. "It is the real deal. How did you come to have these, guild master?"

"I bested the two idiots. They lost to me and gave me their charters for their lives."

"It is the real deal, fellows. I vouch for it. Thank you for letting me see that, guild master." The dwarf returned the charters and returned to his drink.

"I give you forty crowns on each charter, guild master." The armored woman said.

"You defeated Steppenwolf?" Another one, an archer raised an eyebrow. "No wonder this place has been too quiet since yesterday. Fifty on each!"

"To hell with you, Gilean. You just want to raise your standing without sweating!" Another one, a man with envious physique wearing only a pair of short trousers made of scaled leather and a greatsword slung across his back cursed at the archer and raised the bid, "Seventy on each one of them."

One of the delvers came from the counter area. He had a black leather armor and twin short swords. "They are the fourteenth and seventeenth ranked guilds. I give you ninety on the Dragon Delvers and seventy-five on the Timberwolves."

These four should be guild masters of the top twenty guilds. Maybe even in the top ten. Cless kept her poker face and let them do their bidding wars among themselves.

"A hundred on both," The armored woman shook her head and raised her bid again.

"I'll pay you twenty crowns for the tale on how you defeated those two, miss!" Gilean the archer spoke out of turn.

"Nah. It is not worth that much. Soon everyone will know anyway." Cless replied. "Hundred crowns on each charter, going once to the elegant lady in plate armor!"

The armored woman raised her mug in a salute.

"Hundred-twenty!" The one with twin swords bid.

"Hundred-forty on the Dragon Delvers," Archer bid to separate them.

"Hundred-fifty on both." Plate lady smirked. Cless got a distinct feeling she was milking the others.

"I'm out. You can cut each other's throats. I can't believe I lost my supply contract of baneweed. Hey, give me some dark ale!" The barbarian guy sat by a table and withdrew from the auction.

"Hundred-seventy on Delvers, hundred-sixty on Wolves. That's my last bid, by the way." Gilean said in a calm voice.

"Come on, Xander. You know you want it!" The knightly lady teased the one that came from the booths.

"I raise five crowns on Gilean's bid!" Xander hurriedly blurted.

"Going once to Xander here. Any takers? Going twice! Sold. Three hundred and forty crowns for the two charters."

Xander sighed. "I don't have the coin on me. Care to visit the bank with me?"

"Go there and bring the coin. You have one hour to honor our agreement or I'll set a penalty. Deal?" The last part almost came from the habit. Cless bound Xander with her Skill. The deal was as good as done.

"I can lend you some money, Xander!" Gilean joked.

"I won't go away, if that is what you're fearing, Xander," Cless told him. "I have to wait at the counter to purchase some goods."

Xander bolted for the door. The knightly lady stood up and approached. "I'm Dame Agatha. If you could beat the living crap out of that idiot Steppenwolf, you have my appreciation, guild master..."

"Cless of the Blind Eye. I have no nobility title." She smiled. Not nobility, only Royalty.

Agatha eyed her, "Is your guild entirely non-human?"

Cless frowned. "I get that a lot. Don't worry," She left the Dame hanging and turned to her guild, "I'm going to buy the spellbooks, why don't you guys grab a table and something to drink and eat?"

Agatha took a step to put herself in front of Cless. "I was talking to you, girl. You should show deference to your betters."

That irritated Cless. She was already stressed, feeling as if they were hazing her. The remark about the humanity or lack thereof of her guild took her to the edge. That haughty attitude of the Dame was the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I could tell you the same, Dame," Cless lowered her voice's volume to a whisper and locked her gaze with the other woman. "I am trying to not cause another scene here. I appreciated the assistance with the auction, so I will let this slight pass. As I told you, I have no nobility title." She put emphasis on the nobility. "I'd appreciate if the Dame didn't hinder my activities or expose me any further."

She waited to see if the armored woman would understand the clues she gave, gritting internally for basically giving herself away.

"I think I understand," Agatha finally said and stepped back out of Cless' way.

Gilean whistled and quipped. "I think I've fallen in love. Did she really make Agatha back off?"

Cless ignored the other guild masters' antics and was about to move to the end of the line in wait for a counter when one clerk called her attention.

"Over here, guild master. You don't need to take the line for regular delvers."

Oh, the privileges of the powerful. Cless had a busy schedule so she took the offer. Sitting across the counter from the clerk, she made her request.

"I want to purchase one copy of every spellbook you have in stock. If you have a catalog I can browse, the better. I have some already but I am trying to complete my library."

The clerk's eyes shone. "I will need to see your charter first, guild master."

Cless showed her the Dragon Delvers charter. "Here. I sold it but I didn't transfer it yet. So it is still mine." She had a hunch that the clerk would do more than just verify her charter's authenticity. She didn't want to be in any rankings.

"It checks you are indeed the rightful holder of this charter," The clerk reported a bit too loud. "May I see the other one?"

She checked it was indeed the Timberwolves and handed it over too. It checked just fine. The clerk returned the charters and left to retrieve a big book with the spellbook catalog. Tier one cost one crown, tier two for three crowns, tier three for six crowns and tier four, ten. She was glad to find a tier four earth magic spellbook. She used [Merchant Sense] but got nothing from the catalog. She'd get the spellbooks first to check them.

Cless found no first-tier spellbooks she was interested in. For the second tier, she got Fire, Water, Wind, Ice, and Venom elemental magic plus the ones for sorcerers, evokers, and consumable enchanting. At the third tier, she bought the books for xylomancy and the elements from before, even Earth as she knew the spells but from what Josefine taught her. As non-elemental, she got trickster for illusions, thaumaturge, summoner, wizard, and enchanter. On the fourth tier, she bought Crystal, Magma, Lightning, and steam elements, and artificer, spellbinder, magus, conjurer for non-elemental.

One hundred and seventy-six crowns. She would still leave the Association one hundred and sixty-four crowns richer. The clerk took his sweet time to bring forth the twenty-nine spellbooks. Now [Merchant Sense] could work and she separated ten books.

"These ones here are too old and outdated. You either discount their prices or swap them for the newer versions."

The clerk lowered his head, "I'm sorry, guild master. I'll fix this mistake immediately." He went away and quickly returned with the updated copies. Too quick in Cless' opinion.

The problem now was, she didn't have enough coin on her person for all the books. She sensed someone running through the cobblestones and smiled. Soon after, Xander entered the building.

"Where is she?" Cless raised a hand at his question. "Here is your gold, guild master. I could only withdraw two hundred crowns though."

Cless took the pouch in his hand and weighed it. Peeking inside, she said "There are only hundred-eighty crowns here. Twenty of these coins are counterfeit." Standing up, she moved to the counter where monster parts are sold and told Xander, "Excuse me."

She poured the contents of the bag and slowly separated the fake coins from the others. She placed the remaining coins on the bag.

"What?" Xander was taken aback. "Fake coins? That's..."

"The truth. Now, I give you the Timberwolves charter. It is yours. As for the other part of our deal, you still have time to raise the one hundred and eighty crowns. Excuse me."

Cless returned to the clerk and gave him the bag of gold coins plus eleven of her own. The clerk smiled and was about to say something when she flashed him the Dragon Delvers' charter. Cless quickly picked up the pile of books and stored them in a deeppocket. Xander was still there.

"Guild master, please let me make a payment plan! I need to hire new delvers but without the gold or the charter to absorb, they won't join me!"

"Sorry, when exactly did that become my problem? Xander, you are the second person that tried to scam me in this Association today. If you can't pay me, I'll enact our penalty clause and sell the charter to Gilean over there that has the required money on him right now."

Gilean the archer perked up. "I'll gladly take that charter off of your hands, Cless!" He said half in truth and a half to spite Xander.

"You can't! I challenge you to a duel for that charter!"

Cless groaned. "Again? People really love pledging charters, don't they? First Steppenwolf now you. Fine! I'll duel you, Xander, but I'll double up on your penalties if I win. And I won't take coin from you. You will leave more than a pound of flesh behind once I'm done with you. And you won't say a peep regarding what happened ever again. Better yet, just forget it after I'm done."

"I'll accept your terms."

Cless bound him with her Skill. 'Time to rip off another scamming idiot,' She psyched herself up.