The team made a quick pace back to the capital after waiting around for an hour in the fortress of monsters, the Spellthief regenerating his lost arm and sewing the clothing back together. Logan made sure to Harvest all the bodies for their worth, as the pay would have mostly come from the loot and not the quest money if it hadn’t been doubled.

Before entering the G-Hall, however, Logan was stopped by a familiar face at the doors.

“Logan, it’s good to see you”, Sirn Alton greeted, the nobleman merchant who had worked with Logan during the blood deliveries for Armin.

“And you, Sirn”, Logan replied as he shook the vampire’s hand.

“Please, you can drop those. Alton is fine”, the man asked as he made sure his hood was sufficiently forward.

“Alright, Alton. What brings you here?”

“Some business with the adventurer’s hall. Though, if we’re onto questions already, might I inquire as to whether you’ve undergone some form of vampirication nullification?”

“No?” Logan replied bemused.

“Oh? My mistakes. The air on you is more vampiric than before, as strong as one past the mewling stage.”

“Ah, gotcha. I just increased my demonhood naturally… well, as naturally as you can say.”

“Wonderful news, Logan. I was hopeful the rumour of such a task could be possible, but alas it is not so.”

“What is vampirication nullification, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“The title granted to a myth surrounding the ability to restore one’s soul, but retain the powers of a vampire”, Alton replied with a serious look.

Logan’s eyes opened wide, he hadn’t heard of anything like that. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news then.”

“No problem. I suppose the lack of such a path is filled in with your path that did not require the deal.”

“I did want to talk with a merchant at some point, but would you be interested in a trading deal?” Logan put forward.

“Oh? I was unaware you came into such wealth.”

“Not like that. I am soon to be a guildmaster, so it would be nice to have a friend to deal with for goods.”

Alton laughed slightly, “Of course. I deal in many avenues. I am not a merchant by title, but I do engage with many for the blood trade. I can write your name in deliveries and have you granted a friend discount, 10%.”

“That’ll be great. You can send correspondence to our guild house, we’ll be called V.I.P.”

“Vip? A strange name, though I appreciate you spelling it out clearly for me to write. It will at least be quick to commit to parchment”, Alton chuckled again.

After their discussion was complete, Logan made his way to the backrooms for his pay. The receptionist was fine with the writ for double pay, and Logan had his signet updated for five total dungeon completions.

Before going to the guild’s association, Logan and Marcus sold off all additional loot from their trips.

Warping to the building, the pair entered and moved to the front desk.

“Hello, I am here to confirm the completion of requirements to make a guild. It’s under the name V.I.P.”

“Ah yes. No need to spell that out, Vip is easy to remember”, the receptionist laughed. Pulling out the booklet she referred to Logan’s signet to confirm the five dungeon completions and noted down the location of the guildhouse.

“Is that all settled?”

“Yes. Your sub-leader also came by to sign the documents. Now you just need to wait another five days or so.”

“How did the symbol go?”

“Is this what you wanted?” she asked as she showed Logan a piece of parchment.

“That’s great. We’ll be back then.”

Returning to the inn, the pair took some downtime to sleep and move their belongings into the new guild house of V.I.P. They also had to stock the bar with food and drink, as well as clean the place up over the coming days.

On the final day, the duo said their farewells and thanks to Yetveka, “Thanks for your hospitality”, they said in unison.

“It was no trouble. If anything, you two have been the cleanest hunters ever to come through this place”, Yetveka the gashriek replied with a smile.

“We know where to find you if we need backup”, Gaemo added from the side.

“May your guild be prosperous, Logan”, Wriske wished.

“We’ll have to feast at your place sometime, a guild must have a good chef”, Sincollo demanded.

“Thanks again for your help in rescuing me”, Evén thanked.

“Don’t worry, this isn’t goodbye, we’ll just be neighbours rather than bunkmates”, Marcus reassured with a cheery clenched fist.

“We won’t stop being hunters, so no slacking off”, Logan teased.

The group laughed in joyousness before separating for the day.

Day 136.

“Logan Hall?” the vampire receptionist called out.

Logan jogged to the desk with Amalia and Marcus shortly behind, “Yes.”

“Your guild creation process has been accepted and completed. From this day forward, you are a nation of adventurers within the jurisdiction of Gauntlet. Your words now have power, so use them carefully. If you wish to attend Congress, you may submit votes on all topics, currently, you have one vote per topic. Your guild may also request topics of your own. You shall be taxed on each member within your nation, alongside your guild fees. Going forward, members of Vip must be dealt with by your own guild’s hand, if that is out of your capability you must contact hunters for assistance.”

The woman took a breath as she handed out the trio’s signets. “Wearing the symbol of your guild you will be recognised as members. Any false wearing of such a symbol will be seen as treason to your nation, to which Gauntlet will back your ability to apprehend the liars.”

“Understood”, Logan accepted.

“At your request, you will be allowed to share tier 1 tomes with your guild members. Make sure these tomes are not shared outside of your guild members, known as guildies.”

“I had no intention.”

“You are limited to forty members, as per your house, and fifty due to your guild licence. If you wish to increase these amounts you must acquire more lodging with the house, and upgrade your license. Your guild house is also exempt from several laws, as described in your leaflet. Please make it a part of your rules and introduction if you still enforce those laws, or have your own.”

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Logan nodded.

“With this, the process is finalised. Welcome, Guildmaster Logan Hall, Sub-Leader Marcus Eren, and Sub-Leader Amalia Lehmann, to the kingdom of Gauntlet. We open arms to the nation and guild known as Vip.”

The trio bowed their heads and said in unison, “May our nations have grand relations.”

Taking the signet, Logan stared at his new guild symbol painted and spellforced onto its back. It had somewhat Nordic or Viking-style black lettering of VIP with a background of a red and pink hazardous symbol encircled in a magical ring of purple.

Logan couldn’t hold back his smile as he stared at the signet, though it was worse for Marcus who had started to cry at it.

“I finally… have a family”, Marcus spoke through the tears.

Logan wrapped an arm around his friend’s shoulders, “We’ll have to make it a big one.”

“Yeah”, Marcus accepted with a smile.

Returning to the guildhouse, Logan picked out a leaflet from the bar counter to recheck the rules he had set.

Help others where you can. Do not belittle any income level, class, or species. Do not attack other guildies outside of consensual matches. Always listen to the reasons and excuses of others before passing judgment. If you are not yet registered as an adventurer, Guildmaster Logan can assess you and provide the details to the adventurers’ hall of Gauntlet, and pay your fee. This fee must be repaid within two months. All parties will evenly split rewards unless the recipients are under or over 5 ranks from the average of your team. Dungeons must be taken on with at least 2 more members than the minimum, and at least 1 rank higher for each member, unless you have double the required quantity or a member 5 ranks over the minimum. Read the guild tomes only within the living area. All members can provide ores and materials for the guild smith, Amalia Lehmann, to create gear appropriate to your rank at 25% of the price of the item. On signing, you will be given a full set of weapons, armour, and/or shields. These must be returned if replaced. Repairs of items below rank 10 are free. Never enter the rooms of the guildmaster and sub-leaders. Never allow others into the guild without a leader present. Necromancy and summoning are allowed, and the creatures made of such are fine within the guild house. You must carry a tracking rock at all times so that the leaders know of your location. When in danger, you may use these rocks to call for aid from all other members. The maximum tax is removed until you repay this item after use. The guild tax is 10% of each quest, with a minimum of 1 silver per week and a maximum of 10 silver per week. You must have served the guild for 1 year before asking to leave.

Logan’s 10% tax was one of the smallest in Gauntlet, beaten only by charity-style guilds that had 0%. It was tied with Twain Dagger, a hunter's guild.

Everything looked to be in order, and the rocks had already been made by Logan in his downtime. Smooth blue stones with a single-line sigil carved into them. They sent out an alert to all other stones but could only send out once before cracking. This would let Logan make sure his guildies stayed alive. Their market name was typically “Safety Stone” but Logan had altered them a bit.

As Logan finished checking the leaflet, a window appeared to inform him of new developments.

“As you have set your guild tax to 10%, all guildies will have their experience gain reduced by 10%. This tax will be held in your guild storage. You may use this experience to craft relics, in place of your own experience.

You may grant the experience to individuals up to reaching the next level. This can only be done to targets below your level. For those at your level, it only grants up to 10% of the experience gap. Both of these functions can be used only once per person per month.”

“I had thought the experience gained could be used that way. I wonder if NPC guilds use this feature at all without knowing?” Logan pondered.

Another window appeared to congratulate Logan further.

“You have gained the ‘Guildmaster’ title.”

“Guildmaster: As the head of a guild, adventurers commonly know your name and prefer to not do anything to offend you. People may ask to join your guild, while other guilds may ask for alliances. Regardless, the title comes with many expectations and allowances. You have gained 1 skill point to distribute.”

“How can I hold all these skill points”, Logan thought to himself as he mimed holding orbs.

“You alright there?” Marcus asked.

Logan coughed, “Yeah, just thinking about something.”

Logan quickly assigned himself, Marcus, and Amalia to be not included in the tax system which was a normal option for the guild leaders. The taxes gathered from the other guildies would be used to pay off the guild house and guildie taxes, plus other fees included in running the guild. Logan didn’t feel the need to use much of it for personal use anyway.

“So, about the name”, Amalia started.

“Very Important Players”, Logan answered clearly.

“Oh, it’s an acronym”, Amalia replied.

“Huh? That’s what you call it?” Marcus wondered allowed.

“Yeah, when you use letters for words to make a shorter name.”

“We don’t call them that, we just, you know, use them.”

“I suppose this world is too ‘early’ for the naming convention. Earth used them for over 2000 years, but I think we only coined the term in the past hundred or so”, Logan thought to himself. “Either way, the letters stand for those words. It also means Very Important Person or People in our world. Oracles should understand it and approach us”, Logan explained.

Marcus nodded, “I remember you saying that, yeah. Alright, at least I know what it… stands for. But most people will just call us Vip.”

“It’s meant to be V.I.P. but yeah, a lot of people have just been thinking I was spelling it out for them.”

“It is probably best we stick with Vip for now, in conversation. If a PC does find out… sorry, an Oracle, then they should talk about it”, Amalia said.

“As the guildmaster, I should be approached about it. I doubt people will talk to the sub-leaders about the name. And, Marcus is very much not an Oracle if they can detect that. Amalia, you’ll be staying in Gauntlet most of the time too, right?”

“Yeah. Unless I get a quest to go beyond the walls”, Amalia replied.

“If she does get found out, she might need a ‘boosting’ like you talked about before”, Marcus informed.

“Her focus on crafting will at least let her not fall behind in the equipment side of things.”

“I am keeping the better crafts for myself, I have two legendaries and a pristine”, Amalia apprised.

“Good. We might need you to do the same for us when you’re able.”

“A steady supply of legendary arms, what a thought”, Marcus laughed.

“I am already in talks with the neighbouring buildings to the left and behind for purchase. We’ll use them for expansion when possible. The left for a forge, and the back for a training yard. Both of their first floors will be for rooms.”

“We have to fill the ones we have for now”, Marcus smiled.

“Logan’s got this, he is quite charismatic”, Amalia teased as she nudged Logan’s shoulder with hers.

“Got a few people in mind at least”, Logan notified.

“Are we looking to max out the number?” Amalia asked.

“Yeah. At the Yestar Tournament”, Logan replied plainly.

“The what?”

“It’s a tournament that’s held within the Coliseum grounds at the start of each year. It would normally be cancelled this year due to the Ice King, like every decade, but with the rowdyness of adventurers due to wasted death insurance the governing bodies decided to house it.”

“Logan and I will be joining it. Showing off our skills and spells will be amazing advertising for our guild”, Marcus added.

“That was sudden”, Amalia admitted.

“A bit. But we talked it over during our downtime. It’s also a nice spot to fight each other again without worry for the surrounding area”, Logan replied.

“At our rank, we’d be causing havoc for the populace in the streets”, Marcus sighed.

“Well, it makes sense anyway. I suppose no Spellthief powers?”

“No. But aside from that we’re going all out”, Logan answered.

“Any prizes?”

“Each bracket awards higher amounts of money, split in ranks 1 to 5, 6 to 10, etc. We’ll probably be level 20 by then, looking at 200 gold as a reward for the victor, plus any bets. If you’re up for betting on our behalf.”

“You can’t do it?”

“The combatants are kept within the pits before our fights, and we only know when we’re on the field. It’s normal to get proxies to bet for you because of that, and it’s legal.”

“Okay. I can do that”, Amalia accepted.

“Good. It starts in twenty-four days. The first day of the new year.”

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