“...”

“...”

Two men were staring at each other while not exchanging any words. One of them was Wayland who was wearing his dark-crimson armor. Thanks to its bulky appearance he looked more comparable to the much taller and wider Guild Master. The giant of a man was part of the Goliath race and was still dwarfing Roland whose height had increased to two meters inside of this new armor.

Two unforeseen forces surrounded the two men which soon clashed against each other. These two torrents of hidden energy started pushing and tugging at each other in a bout of strength. At first, it seemed that the guild master’s force was superior but suddenly it was repelled as the armor’s runes lit up.

“Hoh?”

“Are you satisfied or do you want to continue?”

“Oh? Did you figure me out?”

“You won’t attack me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

Aurdhan puffed out his chest and took a step forward. There wasn’t much more than around twenty centimeters between the two. Roland’s personal space was being invaded but he didn’t react. He knew that the guild master couldn’t really lift a finger but if he attacked first, then it could become a problem. The man was just testing him, it was nothing more than pure intimidation to see where both of them stood.

“Yes I’m sure but if you want to surprise me, then go ahead, hit the Head Knight of a Valerian noble, be my guest.”

A twitch appeared on the bald man’s face after he heard the response. To Roland, it seemed that this was all just posturing or a failed attempt at intimidation. In the past, the guild master could probably play such games but things had changed. His opponent was not someone he could just start fighting in his office with one hand tied behind his back. He also had no lawful reason either and considering that Aurdhan had been sent here for some past transgression, his enemies were probably just waiting for him to slip up again.

“Haha, you got me good.”

Thus instead of Aurdhan’s fists landing on the glowing armor, he grasped his belly and started laughing. Just as Roland assumed, the guild master was only bluffing. In the past, the power balance was too much in his favor but now it was shifting back towards the side of the noble estate. The Union had also started favoring Arthur and this bald man here proved already that he was unwilling to go against large organizations with a lot of money.

“But you… have you always been hiding it or…”

“Do you think that I’d tell you?”

“Good point, now. What do you want from me? Do you really expect the guild to be responsible for what the adventurers do down in that dungeon? I heard that you also took care of them by yourself, so what is this about?”

Aurdhan asked while giving Roland some personal space. The man leaned his body against that large desk of his and crossed those tree trunk-like arms over one another. His gigantic frame was more similar to an orcs than a human's which made the whole earlier pissing contest even more stressful.

“You know as well as I do that it’s not that simple whenever the nobility is involved. If I do nothing then Arthur and the entire estate will look weak.”

“Didn’t you already show that you aren’t? Being a tad greedy aren’t we?”

The guild master snorted but Roland wasn’t about to let up. The adventurers needed to see that even something like their guild couldn’t go against the nobles and that possible sanctions were coming if this behavior continued.

“Are you talking about yourself? Guild Master, I’m sure you’re already aware of situations like this and how they went, I’m not really being unreasonable here … and I’m willing to lower the price in exchange for something else.”

“Oh? Now you got me interested, what did you have in mind?”

This wasn’t the first time an adventurer attacked or killed a party related to nobles. There was one particular case that was really famous around the kingdom. A sole heir to a viscount estate went on a training expedition into a dungeon and never made it out alive. It was all in his father’s territory and some adventurers were the perpetrators. Soon after they were at the gallows along with the guild master.

Even when he wasn’t directly involved in the case, some people blamed him for fostering the sort of adventurers that would kill a noble's son. Though most people were sure that the reason didn’t really matter and the Viscount just wanted people to pay. Thus paying a small fine to keep the nobles happy would not be seen as much of a hit to the guild's reputation. It was just to remind people that Arthur was the one in charge here.

“Some of our accountants looked over the numbers and found that there are some discrepancies when some parts of the city are involved, one district in particular…”

“Oh, do you mean the Red Light District?”

“Yes, you probably have some connections that could help us with that problem…”

“Me? Connections to the Red Light District? Who do you take me for?”

“A man that is capable of giving an aspiring runesmith access to the thieves guild…”

“Heh…”

“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t really care about your connections to that place, I’ve even used it when I had to but currently my position is different and they are taking money from Arthur’s pockets…”

Roland had agreed to help Arthur out with his problems. It included getting the whole city under his full control. On the surface, it might have looked like there weren’t that many problems but that wasn’t the case. The constant increase in population forced eyes away from the criminal element that had continued to grow. Under-the-table deals took away a lot of tax revenue from the city and people were also dying in the streets.

The establishment of a policing force was paramount to things not escalating further. Arthur remained lenient with that district as he didn’t have enough protection. The underground had begun to evolve and would become a massive problem if it went uncontested. Seedy drug dens with illegal drugs, gambling houses that withheld their earnings and delivered their own justice to angry customers.

People getting trafficked and forced into slavery was something that arose in cities that nobles didn’t manage well. Usually, a deal was struck where the noble’s estate received some hush money. Luckily Arthur’s morals aligned with Roland’s when it came to this issue. Only slaves that were once criminals or were paying of a debt were allowed in Albrook and he wanted to keep it that way.

“I guess… you gained some qualifications…”

The guild master started staring at Roland’s armored frame as if he was sizing him up again.

“Qualifications for what?”

“To not get yourself killed. I do know some people but you’d have to visit their guild master if you actually want to change anything…”

“You mean the Thieves Guild Master?”

“Yeah, even I don’t know who they really are but there are some people in the city that could probably set up a meeting if you are up for it…”

For the time being Roland had access to the guild but this didn’t mean that he would survive stepping into enemy territory by himself. Lobelia could probably ask around and her status would increase if she managed to achieve her tier 3 class. He didn’t really want to put her in danger though, this guild master was a sneaky one. Apparently, they always wore a mask and no one even knew if it was a man or a woman.

The Thieves Guild governed all the seedy characters inside the city. While it was possible to go to war and take out all of the ruffians they would be quickly exchanged. The plan wasn’t to forbid the existence of casinos and places of pleasure. They just wanted to clean up the streets from more obvious criminals. If people chose to enter those places to spend their money, it was fine with him and Arthur.

In the past people had gone to war with the guild and even drove it out of their city. Yet, something like that would require a lot more resources and manpower than they had to spare. To make any progress and not jeopardize the future of the city, Arthur needed to find a way to cooperate. If Roland and his side got their way, the Thieves would lose out on some money. Before they could reach any kind of agreement, his side would need to show that they could not be ignored.

“Before that, I’d like you to give me some information.”

“About?”

“About the location of the more unsavory criminals in the city, you know the kind that no one would care about if they went missing…”

“Oh, I see what you are up to, not a bad plan but you might regret it later if you step over their toes too much.”

“I know.”

The guild master nodded as he knew what Roland was getting at. Before he could reach an understanding with the Thieves Guild he needed some leverage. Arthur didn’t really show his strength or how he felt about that part of the city. They needed to throw their weight around and cause some havoc before being taken seriously. Everything also needed to be balanced to not have assassins floating around the city seeking vengeance.

“That’s why I’m asking you to give me the names and locations of the biggest bastards in the city that no one will miss when they are gone.”

“The biggest bastards…”

Aurdhan thought for a moment before giving him a name. Roland was aware that this man had his own agenda so the person that he named could potentially be someone that stood in his way. While he didn’t want to become a sword that cut a path for this greedy baldy, it was probably better to work through it. One thing that he could predict was this man’s pursuit of monetary gains which made him more predictable.

“I guess that scarred bastard fits the bill, you could go after him if you want?”

“The scarred bastard?”

“His name is Ivor but he forces everyone to call him Mr. Ivor.”

A smile crept on the large man’s face which Roland didn’t know how to interpret. Either the man would be a pain in the posterior or he was hated by this oversized warrior.

“He runs all of the gambling dens in the city.”

“All of them?”

“Mhm, let’s just say that he didn’t let anyone left to compete with his businesses, think he has a cute nickname in those circles, what was it again… ah yeah, Ivor The Skewer. If you ask me it sounds tacky but I guess it brings the point across. ”

Roland had somewhat of an idea of what act allowed the man to get such a nickname. When thinking about it he heard of one or two incidents where multiple people ended up impaled on single sharp logs together. It could be that the man responsible was this Ivor character. Bringing someone to justice that went on a killing spree would probably shift the citizen's opinion towards their side.

“He doesn’t really have that many friends out there, most of the people I know want him gone but…”

“But there is a reason that such a hated man managed to remain in the place he is?”

“You do catch on quick, are you sure you don’t want to work for me instead? Working for nobles sounds nice until it doesn’t…”

“I’ll have to refuse, could you tell me more about this Ivor? Is someone protecting him or is he just strong?”

“Strong? I wouldn’t call him that, he is just a crafty son of a bitch. Money talks and he has a lot of it.”

It made sense, the amount of money that went around in places like casinos and gambling dens was tremendous. Some people just couldn’t help themselves and would gamble away all of their savings. He never understood those types of people as he never liked taking chances on anything. Everything in his life revolved around increasing the odds of his survival without being risky.

‘If he has so much money, then buying some competent bodyguards probably won’t be that hard. I need to expect multiple higher-tier people to be there…’

Before the group of adventurers attacked him he would probably take his time to strategise over everything. Now, on the other hand, waiting several months before making his move didn’t sound so appealing. Time was important and giving enemies it to grow would only allow for more trouble down the road. It was better to squash a rat before he evolved into a lion.

“Okay… could you tell me more about this man…”

“Sure but I expect to be off the hook for that little Dungeon incident~”

Aurdhan laughed while moving over to his desk from which he pulled out some unsuspecting-looking booklet. It looked old and used and was printed over or at least that's what it looked at first glance. For Roland that was attuned to magical wavelengths, he could sense that some magic was involved. The letters were probably under some type of illusion spell and would shift to something else when activated.

“Do you have something to write?”

“That won’t be needed, I have a good memory.”

‘And I’ve been recording the whole conversations from the start but he doesn’t have to know that…’

Even before coming to this room, he had activated his armor to record the entire conversation he was having with the guild master. Normally, Aurdhan would have been able to tell that magic was being used but due to the friction between the two his scheme went unnoticed. While spells that could track previous conversations existed they were different from his approach.

Whatever items the Guild Master was using to detect them, Roland could either deactivate or switch up the signal to go around them. He didn’t want to make an enemy of this man but it was better to have a backup plan. Soon the names of important Thieves Guild members and their addresses were at his fingertips as the magical booklet was activated. The two men spent some time inside the office discussing the issue and they agreed to a few compromises.

“I guess I can part with a hundred gold coins…

“Just don’t forget to use a fake chest when you present it.”

A quick deal was made of the guild paying a fine. On the surface, it would look like they paid a sum of five hundred golden coins but ninety percent of it would be nothing but air. Arthur would look like he put his foot down and the guild master wouldn’t need to pay that much. In reality, it would make him look good with the adventurers as on the surface, the fine would be mostly paid from his own pocket.

Normally the gold would have been taken out of the annual earnings that the whole organization made and could even affect the wages of the workers. By paying the bulk of the fine himself the guild master would offset that and look like a saint. Thanks to this deal Roland would be able to guarantee future business ventures as he wasn’t really keen on angering this bald muscle head.

…

‘That about covers it. I have all the information that I need. Now I just need to run it by Mary to confirm everything. I wonder if she was successful.’

Roland left the adventurer guild’s office which he spent around an hour in. When he arrived at the bottom floor a lot of people scattered the moment he and his men opened the back door. Quickly they pretended like they weren’t trying to listen in on their conversation but the awkward movements made everything too obvious. While on his way out he encountered Solana who he nodded while they were passing. She headed up the stairs to probably ask about what had just transpired. He on the other hand had other business to do and headed towards the Valerian estate.

“It’s the Knight Commander!”

“At ease.”

People continued to back away and greet him. Getting used to this preferential treatment was something that he still needed to work on as it felt stiffening. His work needed to continue as well as this charade until Arthur had gained a better foothold.

“Hm?”

As he was about to walk through the door he noticed something. There was an odd presence that wasn’t there before only now after he approached was he able to discover it.

“Sir Wayland, the Lord is expecting you.”

“... Mary?”

He didn’t need to activate his analyzing skill to figure out that this maid had changed. Her whole demeanor felt different and her presence almost nonexistent. Other people that were walking around the estate didn’t seem to be able to see her. It was clear that she had finally taken a step into the next tier.