System: You have been affected by [bleed]

System: Health: 7%

“Guys by any chance we can hurry this along, I’m literally dying over here?” I asked, looking at the three sitting across from me.

“Setting something up like this usually takes weeks,” Vencer said. “Don is rushing it, but it might take a few ho...” Before Vencer could complete his sentence the door burst open as Don and a woman strode in.

“So who am I coaching?” The woman asked.

“Right here,” Don said pointing to me on the screen.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Sid, I like you to meet Harriet. She is my wife and the guild leader of DeNovo. I brought her in today as your contract lawyer.”

“Wait, what?” I asked in confusion. “Why do I need a lawyer also If she is your wife, why is she in another guild?”

“We're dealing with something that we can't take on alone, so I called in some veterans players to help. To make sure everything goes smoothly Harriet here will help plan and coordinate the contract. Also, It’s a long story, but we had these two guilds before we met. We had the idea of merging the two, but we run each guild so differently that she thinks her military operation would be ruined if it got anywhere near my rabble-rousers.”

“Nice to meet you, Sid,” Harriet said, striding up to Don. “I don’t have much time before the others arrive so I'm going to make this quick. There is really only one rule you need to follow and that is to shut the fuck up. I don’t want you to say or do anything unless I instruct you too, is that clear?”

“Y-y-yes,” I said reluctantly.

“Is this really necessary,” Rachel chimed in.

Whipping her head around, Harriet stared at Rachel like an angry rhino ready to charge. “Who are you?”

“Oh, this is Rachel, one of Sid’s friends,” Don said trying to calm Harriet down.

“Rachel, let me ask you, how much do you have saved up? A few hundred thousand?”

“Enough,” she replied.

“Well, the people walking through those doors have enough fuck you money that they could pay to have a bounty contract out on you for an entire year and not even notice a dent in their income. Does that seems like something you would enjoy?”

“No,” Rachel said in a whispered voice.

“Good, now I need you to follow the advice I gave Sid and shut the fuck up.”

“How do you want to split?” Harriet asked Don.

“Well between our two guilds and the other four I invited, we could do ten percent each and the remaining forty goes to Sid.”

“Sounds reasonable, are you set to that amount?”

“You're the lawyer honey, anything you put on the table should be fine.”

“They’re here,” G.J. said, rushing in the room.

“That was fast,” Don said.

“Yeah, I told them it was a once in a lifetime contract and anyone not on time would be excluded from the meeting,” Harriet said, moving a few documents back and forth from her UI.

Three people walked into the room, two female and a male, each one wearing distinctive attire with different guild symbols. A man in dark red armor took a seat at the opposite end of the table where my screen had been placed. “Been a while since we got together,” the man said.

“Indeed it has,” another man said, spinning a set of daggers behind him.

“Shit,” the man in red yelled reaching for his weapon. “Fucking Cassius, when did you get here?”

“The same time as you,” Cassius replied.

“Come take a seat,” Harriet said.

“No thanks, I prefer standing.”

“Stand somewhere else, I hate it when you do that sneaky shit.”

“Just take a seat Cassius so we can start the meeting already,” a woman in a dark purple robe said, her staff floating beside her as she took a seat.

“Fine,” Cassius said, leaning back on the chair.

“Okay, we're all here, what is this about?” the woman asked.

“I have called an emergency meeting because I have an urgent slayer contract that needs to be completed.”

“Oh no,” the man in red said. “I’m not bidding for a contract.”

“What’s wrong Kain, afraid you're going to get the short end of the straw again?” Cassius said, pushing the chair to its absolute limit of tilting.

“This is not an individual contract, but for all of you.”

“Ha, what monster would take the likes of all of us to take down? I’ll have you know that I beat the Barel Raid yesterday solo,” Kain said.

“Before I tell you the target, I need everyone to sign an NDA. Signing the NDA does not lock you into taking the quest, and you may leave at any time after signing. Another thing I want to mention is the rate for the contract. While this amount is not set in stone, I will be very unwilling to budge. Anyone who does not find this amount suitable may leave.

“What is it like twenty each?” Cassius remarked.

“No, its ten,” Harriet replied.

“That’s pretty low, but still within reason,” Cassius said. “You’ve been pretty silent over there Sen, what do you think?”

Peering up from a book, a girl in a golden scaled hoodie glared at Cassius over the table. Like a bored cat, her eyes fell back down to the tome in her hands.

“Very insightful, Melina what about you?”

“Ten percent is not bad, are you sure you're not willing to negotiate?” Melina said.

“I’m sorry,” Harriet said. “I might have made a slight error with the amount. It’s not ten percent each, it’s ten percent between the four of you.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Kain let out.

“Honey, don't you think that a bit extreme,” Don said in a muted tone.

Without giving him a glace, Harriet gripped her hands into a tight fist. “Yeah… no, nevermind,” Don mumbled, taking a step back.

“Hmm...,” Cassius hummed, almost falling out of his chair. Pulling himself towards the table, he plunged the dagger into the wooden surface.

“Oh, looks like you have Cassius’s attention. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him so serious,” Kain said.

“What’s on your mind?” Melina asked.

“Two point five percent is an outrageous number to be offering each of us. Harriet knows our premiums but has still offered us rates only a noob would take. So they have either found an etherial mine or this is a scam in the making, and knowing Harriet, I’m thinking it’s the former.

The sound of jostling metal could be heard from across the room as Kain’s legs bounced up and down. The eyes of the room turned towards him as he gripped the end of his sword holstered to his side. “What?” he said. “It’s been a while since I’ve had a good challenge.”

“Couldn't hurt to know what the target is,” Melina said, her fingers pressed against the contract.

“Sure,” the other agreed, placing their fingers over the UI.

“Good,” Harriet said, saving the documents to her storage. “Since we have that settled with I can now show you the target.” Giving me a sly nod, I waved the camera towards the monster fluttering outside the building.

The room grew dead silent as the four players gaped at the glowing screen. The silence was shattered by the sound of a book slamming closed as Sen darted up to the screen. “Wow,” she let out. “What level is it?”

“We're not sure exactly, but our best estimate would be between five and eight hundred,” Harriet answered.

“F-f-f-five,” Kain stuttered. “Please excuse me.” A black bar came over his face with the words away imprinted across. “Babe, babe, cancel my doctor appointment today,” could be heard echoing through Kain’s mouth. After a series of hoots and hollers, the black bar disappeared as Kain stretched his arms over his head. “Sorry about that, had to go use the bathroom.”

“Uh… yeah, sure,” Harriet said, as the table held a slight giggle.

“I still want to negotiate the amount,” Melina said.

“You can have my cut just as long as I’m the one who gets the final blow,” Kain said.

“Be that as it may, I think we should get a bigger cut.”

“The amount is fair because what I’m going to tell you next will really change your opinion.”

“Oh?” Melina said with a confused look?

“Before I tell you, I have another set of NDAs to pass out, this one is a bit harsher than the last.”

Quickly skimming through the pages, Sen stared hard at a single paragraph. “We have to forfeit our guild bank as well as all account items,” Sen said aloud.

“Isn’t that a bit much,” Melina said.

“It’s not,” Harriet said, her arms crossed waiting for everyone to sign the form.

“Here,” Kain said, swiping the form back to Harriet. “I’m already on board with killing this thing, but if there is a second part, it must be twice as juicy.”

“I don't know,” Melina said. “This is quite a big risk to take.”

“If you do sign the agreement and don't like the second part, you are free to leave, but trust me, you're going to like what you hear.”

“If Kains in then I guess I'm in too,” Cassius said, twirling his daggers.

“Yeah me too,” Sen said. “I'm interested in knowing the loot table for that thing.”

“Fine,” Melina said, sending the NDA agreement back to Harriet. “So what’s this amazing second part?”

“It’s the location of the monster. Does anyone remember the typo riot that happened three years ago?”

“No,” Kain said, his eyes bulging at that sentence. “Are you telling me this kid found the lost region?”

“Honestly, we're not a hundred percent sure, but it's very likely” Harriet replied.

“So where is the gate to the region?” Kain asked.

“We're not sure, but we have it narrowed down to a small area.”

“I’m not following? How do you not know where the gate is?” Sen said.

“Uh… I was kinda unconscious when it happened,” I replied.

“So we just need to find this portal and kill the wyvern sounds easy enough. Where do I sign?” Kain said.

“This is the final form,” Harriet said, placing a document sheet over the table. Placing her thumb over the bottom portion of the document her signature appeared. Making room for the other to sign, Don, Kain, Melina, Cassius, and Sen all placed their signature at the bottom. “Since your not here to sign off on the document, do you trust Rachel enough to be your co-signer?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

Rachel with a large grin over her face walked up to the table and placed her thumb over the document. “Before I sign, I want to say something.”

“And that is?” Harriet asked.

“This is just between Sid and me, but I want to work at your inn.”

“Uhh… sure, but what about your job now?”

“Making bread is fun and all, but Terry was right, I don’t want to be making bread all my life, and this is way more exciting.”

“I’m fine with it, but just know I have no idea what I'm doing,” I said.

“You have an hour, to assemble a team with the appropriate supplies and meet in the city of Amrah.”