Jones P.O.V.

The look of the Adventurer’s Guild in the capital really put into perspective just how much of a backwater we had been staying in. It wasn’t just the size of the place, but the line to talk to the receptionist was easily twice as long here despite them having three receptions instead of just one working at one time. Combine that with the fact that there were also a few guild outposts throughout the capital and you realized just how many more adventurers there were.

The other massive difference came with the strength of the people. Back home we were the top of the food chain, yes the guild master and a few select people in the city were stronger than us but we were one of the top teams. Guild rankings worked differently depending on the branch, they were all based on the closest dungeon, back in Lessis we were silver ranked because we could clear the second floor of the dungeon. Here we might actually end up gold ranked considering the dungeon the guild based their ranking on had a smaller jump.

Bronze and Silver and Gold were only rookie classification here however. Having a smaller jump meant people had to spend a lot less time grinding the dungeon while being stronger than its current level but not strong enough to handle the next jump in power. At gold rank the badges started to hold stars, your rank increasing from gold one star to gold two star if you could clear the fourth floor, with three stars to a rank. Having caught sight of a diamond ranked badge, this would mean that they could clear a floor that had level ninety-eight bosses on it, really putting into perspective how low on the food chain we were.

The receptionist's attitude towards us was very professional, despite raising an eyebrow at our guild badges initially she had no problem supplying us with a set of silver badges for this branch since our dungeons level jump was actually bigger than the one here. The news that we would have to subject ourselves to an inspect, a combat test or clear the second floor of the local dungeon before anyone would trust us with contracts was a kick to our pride. We had spent decades clearing the first floor of the dungeon back in Lessis and at least a decade doing the same to the second floor.

“I couldn’t help but overhear that you are The Collectors? I represent House Goldmancer.” a very well dressed man approached while I was debating whether we should do the combat test or just go for a dungeon delve without any contracts.

“Do you happen to come from Lessis by any chance?” he continued.

“We do.” I confirmed while trying to ignore the curious looks everyone was giving us.

I knew very well why we were approached the moment he said he represented House Goldmancer. Oddly enough I also saw Ajax, the reason why the Goldmancers knew a team like us, also just so happed to enter the guildhall and was standing near the door.

“If you would please follow me.” he said as he led us to one of the private rooms off in one of the wings of the building.

The room gave me a strange feeling. It was one I recognised, it came from my [Mana Detection] skill and it was the tell tale sign of a warded room with the wards being active. Unlike all the warded rooms I had been in before, this one didn’t bother to hide the runes on the walls like the nobles did.

“First of all, let me thank you for taking up the request put forward by House Goldmancer.” the man said after Donny closed the door. “We have confirmed that your team took the young man, Ajax, right after his enrollment in the guild and have delved a considerable number of times.”

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

None of us said anything after the man finished his statement. It wasn’t like we would deny it, after all the delves and the members we took with us were all part of the guild records and we all knew a house like Goldmancer could have people infiltrated in the bureaucracy of the Adventurer’s Guild.

“At this time I would like to ask what you can share with me about the young man’s abilities and power.” the man continued after he saw none of us were going to comment.

“None of us would betray a team member's trust and share anything about them, whether they were temporary or not.” I responded, though a bit of fear did run through me at resisting such a powerful house.

The rest of the team seemed to agree with my words but it was easy to notice they were quickly becoming uncomfortable thinking through the implications of keeping quiet. For the first time since the man approached us his calm and pleasant mask broke showing a flash of annoyance for a brief instant.

“I see,” he sighed. “In that case I am sorry to say that you are not eligible for any of the monetary rewards we had been ready to give you.”

I relax at the man’s words. Yes it did suck to lose out on a reward but the time we spent with Ajax was worth a lot more than a few coins, his admittance that we only lost a monetary reward also meant they wouldn’t pursue us for not offering up the information we had.

That being said I could also see the bitter taste the whole situation left in the mouth of our entire team. We had originally taken in Ajax as a favor to the two noble girls who were passing through and now we were going to end up empty handed despite keeping our side of the bargain.

Donny headed for the door with all of us turning to head on out when the man asked. “Where are you going?”

“Are we not free to go?” I asked, wondering if I had misinterpreted anything.

“You most certainly are.” the man said “However we have not yet discussed your reward.”

“I thought we made it quite clear that we weren’t going to give you any information on Ajax.” Nelly said with a frown, she was the one who had gotten quite attached to Ajax, with him being the only other mana used on our team before Tristan joined as a healer.

“Yes, that is regrettable.” the man said, looking at the floor for a quick moment. “However the request from our house was simply that you let him join your team on delves, we were and are prepared to offer a monetary bonus for information you may have gathered but your initial reward is not dependent on that.”

Everyone's faces started to show a mixture of greed and excitement at the man's words. “And what reward is that?” Bobby asked hurriedly, the anticipation getting to him.

“The Archduke himself heard of the open request his daughter made, so he decided that whichever team ends up fulfilling it we would reciprocate with the same.” the man said.

“You would have us join one of House Goldmancer’s teams?” I ask, irritation and some excitement in my voice.

On the one hand I was annoyed that claiming the reward would mean we would lose our autonomy, on the other hand joining an official team of House Goldmancer was one of the biggest opportunities one could get in the capital.

“Sadly no.” The man said. “I am sorry to say that your team doesn’t meet the required level of strength to join as full members of a team and you are all too old to join as talented trainee hopefuls.”

“Then what did you mean by reciprocate with the same?” Nelly asked.

“I am here to settle on two different dates with your team.” the man said. “ You would have to select each from a list.” He pulled out two different scrolls.

“What are we picking the dates for?” Bobby interrupted the man with his impatience as he spread out the scrolls on the table.

“These are all dates where our house has access to the dungeons near the capital.” the man said as I noticed that one scroll had a lot more dates written on it than the other. “On the date in question, two of our house's higher agents will accompany you into the dungeon during our time slot, where you will proceed to try and climb as high as you want. Once you have passed as strong a floor as you are willing to try they will clear the next floor.

A boost. No, two boosts. That’s what House Goldmancer was giving us. Two boosts in the dungeons near the capital. Not only that but they were boosts for as high as we could climb. With all of us around level forty-six this meant we would be able to gain the floor bonus from two floors from each of the dungeons, maybe even three from the five floor jump dungeon if we found a good match up against a level fifty-three boss. That would mean we would all gain plus five to all stats. Two whole levels worth of stats!