A grizzled voice calls out from within, beckoning them inside. Pushing the door open Sionia leads Jellal into the office. On the right hand side, immediately after entering is the secretary’s desk. Sitting behind the desk is a young looking woman with long ears, a button nose, and peculiar dark skin with a slightly bluish tinge.

Her black eyes stare at Sionia as she walks in.

[You’re bringing guests here without an appointment? This isn’t a place where you can do as you please. We’ve already told you to make appointments beforehand if there isn’t an emergency, yet here you are again showing up out of the blue.]

[Since when have I brought guests without an appointment? I may stop by to say hi on my own but I would never bring a guest in if it isn’t an emergency.]

[That’s enough!]

The pair’s bickering is cut short by the guild master, causing the two of them to immediately fall silent. At the back of the room, standing with his back turned, the guild master peers out the window. His long white hair can’t hide his long pointy ears which stick out prominently.

Being as discreet as possible the guild master begins preparing chantless magic, proving he didn’t get the position just for show. Since this is his first time dealing someone who can use chantless magic Jellal decides to play it safe and use his mana to bore into the mana making up the forming magic. Now that he’s able to easily interfere in the magic he gets down to business.

[Don’t you think you’re being a little overly cautious? Well, I suppose someone in your position’s made a lot of enemies over the years so it’s hard to blame you. I’ll let you know right now, things won’t end well for you if things continue along this path.]

For the first time since they entered the room the guild master turns to face Jellal and Sionia. His thin face has signs of aging faintly visible making him look close to middle age. His pointy chin, thin eyebrows, and constantly squinting green eyes give his face an extremely streamlined look.

Staring quizzically at Jellal he continues his magic preparations. In his long life he’d only come across a handful of people capable of seeing through his chantless magic when he’s trying to be discreet. Every single one of those people had their names spread across the country; most were household names throughout the world. Yet another such person has appeared in front of him without so much as a whisper preceding him.

Normally meeting a person of tremendous ability would be great news, but today is different. On this day the person is being brought to him by one of the guild’s most trusted employees under the guise of an emergency. For him to be here due to an emergency could only mean one of two things: he’s come across something he’s unable to handle alone which could threaten the city, or he himself is the emergency. Neither possibility bodes well for the city, leaving the guild master understandably on edge.

[So, what can I help you with? It’s been a long time since we’ve faced true emergency so it’s hard to imagine why you’ve come here.]

[Does the miasma not count as an emergency? I don’t know if you’re overconfident or naïve, but either way it doesn’t change the grim future the city’s heading towards. Regardless I didn’t come to talk about that, I came to get a smidgen of help from you.]

[For you to say such things about the miasma makes me wonder if we’re truly taking things too lightly. Although I would like to discuss the miasma since you put so much stock in it I’ll put it to the side until I hear what you want my help with.]

[It’s simple really. I just want you to help me register as an adventurer before blocking access to my information. If you can do that I’ll be out of your hair in no time.]

Hearing what the “emergency” is the secretary stands from her chair and slams her palms on the desk.

[I don’t really see how that constitutes an emergency. Do you think you can use an emergency as an excuse to mess around? Well you can’t!]

[Of course it’s an emergency. If I have to keep sneaking into town every time I come here it’s too much work. Instead of wasting time to break in I’ll be better off opening up a hole in the wall, or digging a tunnel under it so I can come and go as I please. It may not mean much to me, but for you having a breach in your outer defenses can be considered a true emergency. If helping me means you don’t have easy access to the city from outside isn’t it worth me coming here?]

[If you want to register you can do it at the front desk like everyone else.]

[Calm down Dirrale. I’m sure our friend here has a good reason for coming to me specifically. If he could get what he wants so easily Sionia wouldn’t have brought him here in the first place.]

The guild master uses a calm tone as he tries to calm down the short tempered secretary, Dirrale. Clenching her teeth she sits back down while glaring daggers at Jellal and Sionia.

[Of course I have my reasons. It’s important for my information to be inaccessible since it would cause unnecessary trouble for both me and this city.]

[Even if you say that, we don’t know the slightest thing about you. There’s no way we can trust someone that hides behind a mask during a private meeting. If you want to convince us you need to at least let us know who we’re dealing with.]

[I can do that on the condition it never leaves this room. If you want to leak what you see you’d best prepare your will ahead of time because your days will be numbered.]

After straight up threatening everyone in the room Jellal waits for their decision. A serious expression looms over the guild masters face as he nods in agreement. The fiery Dirrale immediate follows suit, showing no hesitation as she jumps in the same boat as the guild master.

Grabbing the front of his mask with his right hand Jellal slowly removes it. Using his left hand he flips his hood back as well, fully revealing his head.

Everyone in the room is stunned by his appearance, especially Sionia. The guild master and Dirrale are both stumped by his abnormal looks. They’ve never encountered this type of person in their lives causing them to be unsure what to think.

From their perspective Jellal looks like a cross between a human or elf and a goblin. His face has a resemblance to that of a goblin, especially his ears, but they’re muted compared to normal goblins. He’s also missing the distinctive dull green skin common amongst goblins, instead sporting crystal like skin that seems to have a tinge of pale green mixed in.

Despite having met Jellal multiple times Sionia’s even more surprised by his appearance then the other two. Compared to when they ran into each other a short time ago his look has completely changed. The difference is so drastic she wouldn’t believe the current him and the previous one are the same person if she didn’t interact with him.

In the back of her mind she wonders if she’s been tricked and they’re actually two different entities. That thought is immediately consigned to oblivion when she realizes there would be two freaks running around which isn’t something she can accept. She doesn’t reject it out of some logical impossibility, but pure refusal to admit there could be two of these things in existence.

[I suppose proper introductions are in order. I’m Jellal. No need to thank me for introducing myself to you even if it’s your natural reaction. Your turn mister guild master.]

[Where are my manors? I’m Aegis, guild master of the Pavise branch of the adventurer’s guild. Why don’t we get down to business? Dirrale, go get what we’ll need to register him as an adventurer while we discuss things.]

Giving Jellal one last glare she stands up and walks to the door, slamming it after she leaves.

[Now where was I? You want your information blocked. Based on appearances the reason has something to do with your race. On my end you don’t end up messing with the wall which is a plus. There are a few problems though.

First I don’t know what your race is, which puts me at a loss in the negotiations. Second my side gets nothing out of the deal which makes it too one sided. And last, but not least there are some problems that come with hiding someone’s information.

Even if normal people won’t be able to see it other guild masters will. In order to truly keep it from prying eyes you need to be able to convince not just me but the others as well.]

[So basically, on top of not busting a hole in your city’s defensive wall for my own convenience, you want me to sweeten the pot so to speak. You should be careful with your greed. The more I give you the greater the repercussions if someone from the guild goes against our deal.]

[I don’t have the power to speak for the adventurer’s guild in its entirety so I don’t dare make promises for the other guild masters. That being said most of us are on good terms and typically won’t do something to blatantly sabotage another guild master. If you can give them a good enough reason to keep your identity a secret they probably won’t act rash.]

[Then I guess it’s time to get negotiations underway. To even the playing field a bit I’ll tell you beforehand that I’m a goblin, I think. I used to be then some stuff happened and now I’m a bit unsure how I would be classified so we’ll go with goblin for now.]

Upon hearing Jellal’s declaration Aegis’ face turned dark. Sionia had told him about an abnormal goblin she met by chance not too long ago, but he didn’t think the person in front of him was that very goblin. Her most recent report on it didn’t mention it having such an appearance so he can only assume Jellal’s “some stuff happened” occurred recently.

[Since you’re a goblin I’ll have to start by asking you not to attack adventurers. I can’t let someone join us if they’re going to be attacking our members.]

[No can do. I don’t attack innocent people for no reason, but I won’t agree to some vague request not to attack adventurers. That’s the same as me asking you not to attack monsters. Even if you agree it won’t stop them from attacking you and will only make things overly annoying in the long run.

I won’t attack adventurers for no reason but if they mess with me I won’t hesitate to get rid of them. That’s the closest thing to a compromise you’ll get from me.]

[I don’t like it, but it’s fair. We’ll settle on that for our baseline. Shall we get into the meat and potatoes of the discussion? What can you do for me to make the effort of hiding your identity worth my while?]

Jellal silently ponders what to give him in return. Even though he has a lot of junk from the bandits, a few physical items won’t be enough to convince someone in his position. The only thing he can rely on is being able to get him something he doesn’t have.

Thinking about those annoying prisoners he left in his cave a great idea worms its way into his mind. Why not use them as a bargaining chip? He already told them he would consider letting them go so why not get a little value out of them in the meantime.

[A while back I took over a cave some bandits used as a hideout. Their leader even had a flyer hanging on the wall downstairs, which I pulled down for you. Anyways, inside that hideout I found some people who were captured by the bandits. A few of them perished due to their own hubris but there are plenty left dreaming of being set free.

I could be persuaded to let them go if you help me out. Of course I’ll have to keep them from learning the location of the cave since I’m currently using it myself. We can have Sionia pick them up at a designated location and lead them from there, cutting all ties between me and them.]

[A truly compelling offer. Unfortunately it’s not quite enough. We can use all the manpower we can get around here, but in the end it’s only a one time deal without any major implications on our future.]

[Alright, how about I throw in some extra information to make it worth your while? Your defense line doesn’t cross the stream, leaving you blind to what’s happening in the majority of the forest. I, on the other hand, have been moving on both sides giving me much greater insight into what’s happening.

If you know what’s happening over there you can better prepare for the future. Compared to the lives of a few useless captives the impact of information is much more important. What do you say? Not a bad deal, right?]

[You make a sound argument. I’ll tell you what. You give up the information and the prisoners and we’ll call it a deal. Of course that’s just for me personally. You still need something that can convince the rest of the guild masters.]

[It can’t be helped. I don’t plan on staying in one specific area in the future so I can’t make any specific offers. I can offer them information about the areas I’ve been to if they need it. On top of that I can offer assistance, as long as I’m properly compensated. My prices won’t be cheap but it’s only fitting for it to be expensive to acquire the help of a superior being such as myself.

As for what I can do, that’s easy. I was able to enter town undetected. I can locate secret tunnels and hidden safes, as well as break into them. I’m pretty versatile if I do say so myself. Of course I won’t go out of my way to help so the other guild masters can only leave it up to luck if they can procure my services. If they need me they better pray I’m in the area and they can find me or else they’re out of luck. Naturally this will apply to all guild masters, given their requests are within reason.]

[I see, not a bad tactic. Offer them something they can use while also allowing yourself to remain unbound and free. The only issue is whether or not you’re as good as you say. To put it bluntly, guild masters have access to every adventurer in the guild. In fact most of them would jump at the chance to be given a job by one personally.

How about this: in this room there’s a hidden vault. If you can tell me the location of the vault I’ll relay your skill to the others. If I’m personally vouching for your skills, they might accept your proposal. Of course if you can’t find the vault we can call this whole thing off.]

[Oh ye of so little faith. To think a poor lost lamb would be masquerading as a guild master. First off there isn’t one vault in this room, but two. More importantly they’re located under yours and Dirrale’s desks. Should I also mention the trap by the door which can be triggered by adjusting a floor tile by the window? In fact you were standing in a perfect position to activate it when we walked in.]

Aegis is left floored by Jellal’s flawless answer. His plan to put pressure on Jellal while testing his abilities ended up backfiring spectacularly. Not only were the vaults revealed, but so was the hidden trap.

The trap was put in place by the first Pavise guild master as a failsafe on the off chance his secretary betrayed him. Since the secretary works close with the guild master they’re privy to a lot of secrets and have a lot of trust placed in them. The trap was put in place as a secret only known to the guild masters, yet now a random person off the street had discovered it with ease.

If Jellal had looked around the room and inspected everything in detail he could accept the vaults or even the trap being stumbled upon by chance, but that isn’t what happened. From the time Jellal entered the room his feet haven’t moved.

Looking closer at where Jellal’s standing Aegis realizes the trap was never a secret to him. On the off chance the trap is discovered by outsiders it was built with a failsafe. By equally distributing ones wait on a specific set of tiles in the middle of the trap it’s possible to prevent it from activating.

This failsafe was the paranoid first guild master’s most lauded accomplishment despite it never seeing use. For Jellal to not only discover the trap but the failsafe as well is enough to leave Aegis speechless. In the end he can only tip his cap in respect at his complete defeat.

Remembering Jellal’s warning when he first entered the room Aegis finally gives up on his magic. Why bother wasting energy when his opponent was a step ahead of him from the start?

[I concede. I’ll put a word in for you with the other guild masters after you register.] ‘And I’ll be sure to mention how dangerous you are as well; wouldn’t want them poking a sleeping dragon for no reason.’