Blood Shaper

Book 3: Chapter 8

“I’m here!” Eleniah announced as she jogged into Kay’s office. “Meten’s on his way; he just wanted to grab some better clothes.”

Kay set down the reading Amanda had given him to go over while she grabbed some more material from her office. He saw Eleniah was wearing a nice dress shirt and a well-tailored pair of silk pants. “Is that what formal wear looks like in the Isles?”

She glanced down at herself. “Yeah. I mean, this isn’t good enough for a formal meeting between Nobles or anything, but it’s nice enough for a business meeting.” She looked up at him and grimaced, “That’s another thing to think about, isn’t it? What kind of formal wear we want to use.”

Kay shrugged. “I don’t actually think that will take much on our end. Once we really start ramping up and have to have formal meetings, people will start taking note of what we’re wearing and copy that. Fashion will change over time.” He saw her hopeful look and laughed. “Why am I not surprised you aren’t big on formal wear?”

“Back home, it isn’t that bad, but some of the stuff I had to wear while I was in Isermani territory was horrible.” She brushed at her flowing pants, “At least in these, I can still move around. They had these weird leather…” She waved her hand around, “I don’t even know how to describe them. They were just pieces of leather you tied really tightly around your arms and legs, and they restricted movement like crazy. It was so weird.”

“I’m sure we can work on a style of formal clothing that isn’t restrictive.”

Amanda stuck her head in the door as Eleniah took a seat. “Sir, I’m going to have some furniture moved so that there’s better seating for the meeting.”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Kay answered, then called after her after she vanished, “And make a note that we need to add a designated meeting room in here!”

Eleniah got comfortable in her chair and gazed at Kay. “You ready for this?”

“I’ve done all the preparing I can think of, so… Yeah, I think so.” Kay sighed and stared at his papers.

Eleniah cocked her head to the side as she watched him. “What’s going on with you?”

Kay looked up. “I…” He sighed. “You obviously know that I wasn’t super excited at the prospect of being a leader.”

“Right…” Eleniah answered slowly.

Kay leaned back in his chair as he tried to marshal his thoughts. “My parents died when a self-driving tractor-trailer blew through a red light and t-boned the family car.”

Eleniah’s curious and slightly worried expression shifted into a somber one. “Sorry to interrupt, but I didn’t understand that.”

“Oh, um, back on Earth, someone made vehicles that can drive themselves without someone watching them. They started using that tech to send large vehicles that haul products around because it was cheaper in the long run than paying people to drive them. One of those vehicles kept going at a spot where it should have stopped and hit my family while they were going through an intersection of the two roads they were on.”

“Okay.”

“There was a court case because of that, and thanks to some legal loopholes about the height of the traffic lights or something, the massive company that owned that one truck was held blameless. Legally it ended up being no one’s fault; we’re so sorry for your loss; if you try and say anything negative about the company because of this, we’ll sue you out of existence, have a nice life.”

She scowled and kept listening.

“After I dug myself out of the pit I made of my life following their deaths, I started looking into that company. They’d been putting out all these statistics for years, talking about how their self-driving trucks were incredibly safe. They reported roughly thirty accidents a year, with only one or two of those resulting in injury. That’s crazy low for vehicles on Earth at all, let alone vehicles that drove themselves without a person.” Kay’s grin was humorless, and his eyes filled with harsh anger. “If you dug a little deeper, you’d find out that there were actually multiple thousands of accidents a year involving their trucks and hundred of injuries or deaths. The company used legal loopholes like the one they used during my family’s case to claim it wasn’t their fault. If you were an obsessed person looking to avenge your parents and little sister’s deaths, you might dig a little deeper and find out that those specific laws and ordinances that let that company get away with the same trick over and over again were put in place by politicians that had really good relationships with that company, and others like it.”

Eleniah stared stonily at him.

“So I decided that I was going to change the system. Undo the corruption. Take down the company that killed my family and the politicians that helped them get away with it.” He waved a hand, “So on and so forth. I changed my major to political science and decided to go to law school and become a politician. I was going to change it all from the inside. And then I ran into the obvious brick wall that I ignored while I was focusing on my goal.” He sighed again. “The powerful people that benefit from a corrupt system don’t want the system to be fixed.” Kay scrubbed at his face and then sat back. “So… yeah. I learned a bunch and did a lot, and in the end, I got nowhere because corruption kicked my ass.” He paused before admitting, “And I realized once I got a good look at myself that I was slowly becoming the same type of person that I hated. I cut corners to get to what I wanted, and I let things slide that I really shouldn’t have.”

Eleniah leaned forward and took his hand in hers. “So, you were in a position where you were a bad leader once, and you were worried you’d do that again.”

“Not… exactly? I wasn’t a leader; I was… half of an Amanda.”

Eleniah grinned at that. “But close enough?”

“Right.”

She shrugged carelessly. “So don’t do that. You have people here, including me, who will make sure that you won’t.”

“That’s why I eventually agreed to it,” Kay nodded slowly in response as he talked, “And I think I’ve matured more since then, and I’m not going to be like I was once.” He shrugged, “I wasn’t sitting here moping; I’ve just been comparing what is to what was and reminiscing. The pressure of the Adventurer’s Guild showing up so randomly got me in a thinking mood.”

Eleniah squinted at him, “Well, stop because it looks like you’re moping, and we can’t have that right now.” She leaned forward to pat him on the shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry. You’re doing a good job.”

He smiled back, “I wasn’t, but thanks. Now go over this with me, and let’s make sure we’re on the same page.” He held out a sheet of papers to her which she took with a groan. “We are not going to fuck this up.”

A few hours later, after Avalon’s leaders had more than ample time to double-check their preparations and the new guests from the Adventurer’s Guild had been settled in the guest accommodations, the meeting between the two groups began.

Three people were led into the hastily constructed meeting room in Kay’s office building, which was slowly becoming the town hall he’d planned it to be. The first person was an armored figure with no discernible features beneath the metal armor that covered their entire body. They turned their head as they examined the entire room, staring directly at each person inside for a moment before turning their head and nodding at the open doorway. They stepped to the side and positioned themselves in one of the back corners of the room.

The other two Adventurer’s Guild representatives walked in almost simultaneously. The first was a gnome woman with silver hair, and the other was a dwarven man with a bright red beard and hair that was just slightly darker than that. They were both wearing comfortable-looking if expensively made clothes. Kay had to use some of the lessons he’d gotten from Eleniah and Amanda about meeting dignitaries to pick that out, but he did manage to notice it.

“Hello.” The gnome bowed slightly as she stopped in front of the wide table they’d grabbed and quickly polished before the meeting. “I’m Representative Gemglass from the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“And I’m Representative Forn.” The dwarf introduced himself in a deep voice. “We’re here to talk to you about the Dungeon that you’ve located.”

Kay thought about whether or not to bring up the guard they’d brought, then decided against it. The fact that they were armored so heavily as to hide their identity might be a purposeful thing, and he didn’t want to potentially anger such a powerful organization right at the beginning of their negotiations.

“Hello, I’m Kay, Mayor of Avalon. These here are Eleniah, Meten, and Ahthia; they’re serving as my advisers.”

They both nodded at everyone as they sat down in offered seats.

Kay waited for them to get settled, then started the conversation. “If I may, how did you even know there was a Dungeon here? We’ve been keeping it secret, and I know knowledge of it hasn’t left the area yet.”

“There’s a type of enchanted item that can be made, if you know how to do it, of course, that can detect the mana of a Dungeon from quite a distance away. It can also detect changes in the mana, such as the first time a Dungeon is cleared.” Gemglass answered easily, “We’ve known that there was a Dungeon in this area, we actually know of multiple, but it isn’t worth the Adventurer’s Guild’s time to hunt them down. Once we were notified that the Dungeon had been cleared though, and its signature remained…” She shrugged, “The Tumbling Rapids branch sent out a call, and a Dungeon Response Group was rushed over.”

“What would have happened if there was no one around? What if it had been cleared by some random person who stumbled upon it?” Kay asked.

“You know, of course, that we brought a larger party than just us three?”

Kay nodded, “Of course.”

“A portion of the remaining group are a specialized group of delvers suited to investigate new Dungeons, and the rest are specialized at setting up new outposts of the Guild very quickly. Each Dungeon Response Group has those three sections whenever one gets dispatched.” She shrugged again, “In this case, myself and Representative Forn’s services were needed as the Groups negotiators.”

“Why isn’t it worth it for the Guild to hunt down Dungeons?”

Gemglass’ eyes narrowed, and she smiled. The smile was both pleased and a little predatory in a sudden shift of her persona. “Good.”

Kay pulled his head back a little, surprised and confused, but she kept talking before he could formulate a thought.

“A majority of dungeons that get discovered end up being destroyed. Three out of five, on average, aren’t useful or are too annoying or difficult to utilize. Another one out of those five gets destroyed for being dangerous. That leaves one in five discovered Dungeons that are worth keeping around. Now, Dungeons are only profitable if there are people using them, and the Guild doesn’t create settlements. We join them, create branches in them, and help build them when necessary, but we don’t make them.”

Kay nodded, still watching Representative Gemglass, who watched him back. “Why… why was my question good?”

Her smile turned into a grin. Forn sighed and shook his head at her.

“Because it means you’re at least a little bit smart, which is good since I despise dealing with stupid people.” She replied, “But also, it means that you’re open to talking about things plainly.”

“No, it doesn’t.” Forn complained with a sigh, “We’ve talked about this; not everyone will want to talk openly after one…” He trailed off as he looked at her and saw something in her expression. He threw up his hands, “Fine, whatever.”

Gemglass turned back to look at Kay, “I absolutely loathe double-talk, speaking around things, and being circumspect. I don’t hate people who do those things; I just hate doing them myself. So when I don’t have to, I won’t.” The only word Kay had to describe her smile was “sharp”.

“Alright…”

She shrugged, “So, I’m happy that you outright asked me that question. It was an opening to dispense with the formalities and actually have a real discussion.”

Kay glanced at Eleniah, who shrugged and made a “sure, whatever” face. “Alright.” He watched her for a moment, and she stared back steadily. “You’re here about the Dungeon.”

“We are, but that’s actually a more complicated topic than you might think.” She motioned towards Eleniah, “Your teacher here has more information about the subject, but she doesn’t know everything.” She held out her hand to Forn, who took a series of papers out of his jacket pocket. “This is our standard agreement with settlements that contain a Dungeon. It includes the same wording in certain sections for starting a new branch since we’d have to do that anyway.” She reached across the table and handed it to Kay. “If you want, you can read it over while I summarize some background information.”

Kay held the papers out. “Amanda, read these, please.”

“Yes, sir.” Amanda took the sheets, then stepped back to the desk where she’d been recording notes and started to read.

Gemglass raised her brows but said nothing about that. “So. When the Adventurer’s Guild starts a new branch location because of a Dungeon, the Dungeon Response Group becomes the first employees. Forn and I will become the Guildmaster and Vice-Guildmaster, the construction team becomes our support staff, and the combat crew becomes our on-hand powerful adventurers.” She grinned at some of the expressions on people’s faces. “A headstrong woman who hates double-talk doesn’t make the best negotiator, but they do make good Guildmasters.” She waited a moment for that to sink in then she continued. “There is one somewhat more important topic, though. Something that I doubt you know, even with your relationship with the Seramist Isles’ Queen.”

“The fact that the Adventurer’s Guild is a country.” Kay interrupted her, voicing one of his pet theories.

Gemglass grinned widely. “Close. The Adventurer’s Guild is an organization, but we’re an organization in service to a Nation.”

Amanda, Meten, and Ahthia stiffened in surprise at the unexpected revelation, and a few of them visibly gaped.

Eleniah shrugged. “That’s one of the rumors that’s been floating around for years.”

Gemglass nodded. “It is, and we don’t really do anything to suppress it. The whole thing isn’t a secret, although we do encourage people not to spread it around.” She turned her gaze to Kay, “We do tell the leadership of every location we end up putting branches in, though, in order to be transparent with them.”

Sitting quietly in thought, Kay organized the new information while he worked on what he wanted to say. “… How can we trust you if we let you create a new branch here? You’re an organization in service to a foreign country, and we’ve already seen how the Guild will meddle in unsavory ways while we were in Tumbling Rapids.”

Forn winced, and Gemglass frowned. “Yes, I heard about that business. We did some research while we were in the area once we heard about a settlement up in this direction.” She leaned forward in her seat and rested her elbows on the table. “I can say, without a doubt, that that kind of skulduggery bullshit won’t happen in any branch I’m in charge of.”

“How can we trust you when you say that?”

“Because I don’t give a shit about what kind of pressure some asshole brings to the table, I’m not any of the Guild’s tenets.”

Kay cocked his head and motioned for her to continue.

She took a breath, then started explaining, “The country that the Adventurer’s Guild serves is called the Three Star Alliance. It’s a small country, technically a city-state, to the west of the Bannerthrust Empire. The three founders of the Alliance were all leaders of small groups that decided to band together and make a safe place to live. Then, later on, one of the founders formed the Adventurer’s Guild to help achieve one of his goals.”

“What was his goal?”

“His goal is, in his own words, ‘To have a less fucked up world.’” Gemglass’ smiled turned sad for a moment, “He hates that people die all the time in this world, from monsters, bandits, and people just throwing their power around. He wanted to create something that could help channel the power people got from Classes and Skills in helping others.” She held up three fingers. “The three tenets he installed when he started the Guild are the driving force behind the Guild and its most important rules. The first is to work to make the world a better place.’ Her voice was filled with steely resolve as she recited each tenet, and Kay could hear her belief in them. “The second is that the Guild protects its own. The third, and the one that the Tumbling Rapids Guildmaster broke, is to remain neutral in all politics and national conflicts, with the exception of direct threats against the sovereignty or safety of the Three Star Alliance during a state of emergency voted upon by the Three Stars Assembly and the Three founders.”

“Really…” Kay mused, intrigued. Just from that, he had an interesting theory about at least one of their founders.

“Yes. What happened in Tumbling Rapids is that a member of the Assembly, which is an elected body, who has ties with the Isles,” She nodded at Eleniah, who made a face, “Decided to put some pressure on the Guildmaster there. Guildmaster Caruion made several complaints but ended up bending under the pressure the Assemblyman brought to bear.” She shrugged and shook her head. “The Guildmaster and Vice-Guildmaster are going to be punished for breaking one of the tenets, though they’ll get leniency since there were outside circumstances affecting their decisions.”

“What’s going to happen to them?” Eleniah asked.

“Demotion. They’ll probably get moved to other branches too, with someone to watch over them for a bit.” Gemglass shrugged, “Not the worst thing, but not very fun either.”

“And the Assemblyman?” Kay asked quietly.

“Oh, he hasn’t been punished.” She grinned hungrily. “Yet. Founder Hernandez gets very angry when people do things like that to the Guild. He’ll have words for the Assemblyman once the complaints get to his desk.”

“And his chances for reelection are shot once word of this gets out.” Forn commented, “Every few years, some idiot politician gets it in their head that they’ll be the one to get away with it. It never ends well for them.”

“I understand that that isn’t a real reassurance to your worries.” Gemglass continued, “Since punishment after the fact doesn’t change the fact that the meddling happened. But I can promise, once more, that that isn’t going to happen with me in charge.”

“Why? Or maybe, how?”

“Because I don’t bend to outside pressure. And if someone resorts to threats, like they did with Guildmaster Caruion, I’ll bring their world crashing down around them.” Her gray eyes glinted like hardened iron in the fires of her resolve.

Forn leaned in close, “She really will.” He said quietly, “Something somewhat similar happened once, and they tried to go after her family. Her family is fine, and the people who tried that are all dead.”

Gemglass scowled and snarled. “Fucking criminal scum.” She turned and spat on the ground.

Forn looked at the spit and sighed.

She stiffened in place and blushed deeply. “Sorry, bad habit.” She jumped out of her chair and cleaned it up with a handkerchief before sitting back down. “Sorry, I really need to stop doing that.”

“Thank you for cleaning it and your apology.” Ky decided that he would leave it at that since the apparent badass of a gnome looked so embarrassed. “So, you can guarantee, on your own…” He waved his hand around as he looked for a word that fit, “Your own integrity, that something like that won’t happen here if we let your form a branch of the Guild.”

She nodded. “Yes. The Guild is also willing to offer recompense to make up for the trouble the two of you got caught in.”

“Really?” Kay asked, surprised at that. He’d expect them to offer recompense to the governments they’d annoyed, not the two random people caught up in it. Technically they’d been involved because of Eleniah’s relationship with her cousin, not the Guild.

“I’m the highest-ranking Guild member here, so yes, we will because I said we will.” She shrugged.

Kay glanced at his panel of advisers and made a few quick decisions. “Can the reparations be in the form of a favor?”

“Depends on the favor.”

“Can the Guild find people that will swear to be loyal to Avalon who can help with administration and other important positions?”

The two Representatives shared their own look before nodding at each other. “We can do that. We could also offer training to get people you already have into the right positions if we couldn’t find anyone to fit your criteria.” She trailed off as she got lost in her own thoughts, then looked back at Kay a few moments later with a cautious expression. “We can also offer certain other favors and possibly some amendments in the contract in exchange for a favor of our own.”

Kay raised an eyebrow at her. “What kind of favor?”

Forn looked at Gemglass with a “Really?” kind of expression, and she shrugged at him in return. “We’d like you to fight someone.”

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