Weston sat with his brother and sisters in the dining hall for the nobles. In all honestly to himself, he was nervous. There were not just noble's children of all ranks present, but also royalty from multiple races. In the very center of the room were the dragonkin and in the middle of other younglings of their kind was a scaleprince. One of the youngest of one of the dragon's grand elders. Which one he was not sure, but the color of her scales hinted she might be the descendant of the thunder lord.
In front of him across the room was two of the elven royal family. Twins as he understood it, a rarity for their people. To his right are the dwarves. The full plate adamantium makes it apparent which one that one was. To his left were the sons and daughters of higher-ranking nobles, such as earls and dukes, while behind him were the royal families of humans. It was also quite apparent that he and his family were positioned to take the brunt of any conflict to keep the higher ranks safe.
Dinner consisted of an otherworlder staple, pizza. He found the flavor a good mix of heat and savory with the chewiness of melted cheese. It is a dish he hoped he could have more often, but to make it, he knew, required specialized cooks and ingredients. After dinner, many separated into their own groups. Political alliances and factions were clear here. This was made rapidly clear when the humans left the lesser nobles who were unaffiliated in the middle of a no-man's land that separated them from the other races. Luckily, and to the shock of many of the senior noble children, a servant called them to a meeting with Guild 88.
Naturally, this caused several other groups to send their lackeys without permission, with the exception of the dragonkin, whose scaleprince asked to tag along. Refusing to sully their pride by sending someone else to spy on the meeting. Which she was allowed to join. This caused the elf twins and dwarf royal child to do the same. Only the humans refused to do so and instead sent a few mid-rank lackeys to join as well.
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Weston and his family, among the other nobles soon found themselves in the training courtyard that was used before. The stands were still there and it became obvious they were to take them again, but this time near the center where they had a view of four people sitting at a table. Even though the symbol of the cardmancer was present on the table as a fifth seat, he was not there.
“ Thank you all for accepting our invitation. Well, those invited please take a seat in front of us. Those others can listen in on the outside seats. We will address your questions after we hear those we invited first. If you do not agree to these terms I must ask you to leave.”
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Weston did not see it, but he felt the sudden shift of acknowledgment from the priestess as everyone began to take seats, naturally the uninvited humans took to one side of the bleachers while the other races to to the other.
“ Right, I am Saintess Rachel and I am a contemporary member of Guild 88. The reason why I am here is because it was felt to be the best in-between that could be arranged. Starting from my far right and moving left we have Administrator Bobby, Caravan Master Amanda, and Master of Postal Janice.”
Each stood briefly as they were called before sitting down again. Amanda more noisily than the other two due to her heavy armor.
“ The why we called you here is that each of you is the sons and daughters of nobles that both run along the border of human and nonhuman lands as well as are considered on or close to the front lines with the demons. In short, Guild 88 is looking to build a town somewhere in this area.”
Janice unrolls a map that then produced a hologram over it that started showing the entire region of the continent not controlled by the demons and the glowing area on the map represented most of those called here. However, one of the uninvited guests stood in offense to this.
“ What is the meaning of this? Do you think because you are champions that you can just settle wherever you wish? The destiny of all you champions is the front lines!”
Rachel was about to speak but Amanda raised her hand to stop her as she stood.
“ Guards, please escort the speaker out of the area. This is not the time for the peanut gallery to make noise about things we are permitted under the lawful agreement that put us in such debt. After we have made our pitch AND after we have heard the questions of those we asked here then we might entertain the extras questions.”
Weston watched as the son of a Duke was quite literally dragged away kicking and screaming before a bell on the desk was rung. He then noticed Rachel was sitting while Amanda remained standing.
“ Right, now that that is taken care of, What the guild intends is to lease the land for a total of ten years. Where we will build infrastructure and trade to support our front-line unit. Considering we are planning on trading with each race and nation indiscriminately, our central location to each is key. This is why we chose where we chose as our primary attempt at securing a home base. To each lord and lady that we will be settling on and their neighbors will receive first a yearly payment to be discussed in private with them as well as possibly several boons.”
Amanda then sat down with another clang of her armor before Janice stood.
“ First off, the lord we settle on will naturally receive a tax of the town to later be discussed. In addition, they will receive a discount on goods and services we shall provide, also later to be discussed. Finally, and this is directed at all of you, the lord of the land we settle on will receive a council seat in the guild, to be granted to any of their heirs.”