With the first week coming to a close, it was time to officially open our guilds and stop looking over our shoulders. All members had to be there, so after we struggled to wake Isy up, we got going and met up with Bear in the city, grabbing breakfast with my Mafia which was… A little too honored to meet me… With the way, they bowed and practically worshiped me, I really did feel like I was a mob boss…
Anyway, we all headed to the great hall together and there we met up with Kai, who shared the results of the former bronze blades that he had trained. Apparently, using my strategy, they were more than successful. Although they did suffer some setbacks, overall they came out ahead, each meeting the requirements I had laid out for them… All except one… Apparently, one of the guys was caught out on his own towards the end and got all of his marks taken away. He apologized for failing, but beyond that seemed to have already accepted that he would have to go home… Commoners that didn’t belong to a guild would be expelled after all.
It seemed ridiculous to me at first, but given I spent very little actual time with them, it made sense they would think I was similar to every other noble, and any other noble probably would get rid of someone for failing…
When I gave him the marks to make up the difference I expected him to beam with joy… But instead, he was too shocked to speak. On that note I figured it would be best to just move on and address all of them together, asking Kai to go find Gild for me while I did.
‘The former blades collected around 400 marks, and the mafia collected around 245… If I was playing the game by the rules… I’d have to form them all into my guild and only have one… But as I’ve known for a long time now, the rules are stupid… So I might as well just change them a bit…’
“Mo, how many marks did we collect from winning last night?”
“One thousand.”
“And before that, I had well over a thousand. How many did you two gather?” I asked, glancing over at Bear.
Mo responded to both of them. “In total, we should have around 300 or so?”
“Right, let’s divide them up now.” I took another look at everyone's stats, analyzing their capabilities. For the bronze blades, they would form a guild called the Dragons Talons. The leader would be the large man who had both the presence and the ability to speak. The vice-captain would be the girl who, while timid, was still able to ask questions when things didn’t make sense. Coincidentally, they were also the two that had improved the most from their training.
The Mafia would be led by the two selected from Mo and Bear, although I made it clear to them that they would be replaced if they didn’t live up to my expectations. Because I lacked creativity… And because the name fit so well. We went ahead and just called the guild Mafia… Even if I was the only one that knew what that word actually meant.
Finally, my guild would be called Volatile Eminence… Or… It would have been if Mo and Bear didn’t both think it sounded stupid… So in the end, we went with Undead Kraken instead, which I had only suggested as a joke… And yet there I was… Writing it on the official register… ‘Did people on earth think our name was stupid too? Maybe it just fits E-sports better? I was looking forward to the nostalgia.’
We divided up the Marks and each officially formed our guilds, turning in our marks and writing our names on the registries before reconvening. ‘I’m starting to have the makings of a real army… Or at least a unit. If I can’t become strong enough to become king, should I just go with the revolution plan? Although if this was a strategy game assassinating all of the people stronger than me would be the way to go… No, the unrest and destabilization modifiers would be too much of a pain.’
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I grabbed a handful of my hair as I scratched my head. ‘I mention something from my old life one time and suddenly I start treating everything like a game…’
I sighed, refocusing. “In battle, I want the Talons to wear red, and the Mafia to wear Orange. Completely those colors. It will make each easy to identify. My guild and I… Well, actually there are only four of us, and I feel like we’re pretty distinct. Just on the principle though, we should wear blue.’ “Mo, divide the money you made from mugging people and use it so they can all buy clothes or armor in these colors, along with the flags. And finally, we don’t know where we will start on the battlegrounds, so I need each guild to establish their fastest runner, it can’t be the leader or second in command.”
It didn’t take long for each group to determine who those members were, and checking their stats, sure enough, both had plenty of endurance and a decent agility level. “You two will work as messengers too and from me.” I picked out the second fastest on my own to speed things along. “You, and you. You two will be secondary messengers. Originally you will be on standby for communicating with each other, but if one of the main messengers gets hurt you will take over their job, does that make sense?”
They nodded… Well, the one from Talons did… The member of the Mafia Bowed, shouting “It’s an honor.” and making me hesitate before continuing.
‘Now that just leaves...’ I turned around at the sound of approaching footsteps to see Gild finally making his way over to us. “My lady.” He said smugly with a bow that looked more like a nod than anything.
“Perfect timing. Tell my brother I plan on communicating through archery the moment the wars begin. If we are too far though, then I will send a messenger to him. Can you show me what your flag looks like?”
His smug grin instantly turned to a frown. “So that’s why he told me to take this with me…” He grumbled, pulling a flag from behind his back and unrolling it.
“Of course, he would choose something like that…” I shook my head, staring at the giant red bull with massive gorilla arms in place of its front legs. It was plastered on a faded white and orange background, and since the beast’s eyes were blue, it technically had all the family colors too. “Right… Well, just make sure you put it up right away. I’ll be able to see it, even if you're not with an arrow shot.” ‘The thing he said he was scared of… Does he think he’s Batman or something?’
Gild rolled the flag back up and tied it neatly. “Was that all?”
“Yeah, that about covers it… You’re all dismissed. Mo, you can take of things with regard to money, right? But make sure you only use the money you have, don’t use any of your family's money ok?”
“Yeah, yeah. I remember…”
‘Just making sure…’ As she took off with the other two guilds I turned to bear, and before I even said anything he was furrowing his brow, making me pause and start guessing as to what I might have done wrong.
“I’m not giving you the money I made. It’s mine.” He said gruffly.
Finally, I could breathe again, relaxing that it was just that. “Of course. I was going to say you should use it to buy some armor, or maybe fist weapons… Although thinking about it, you are a commoner, right? If that’s the case then I should be able to use some of my family funds to purchase those things for you without any political implications. So you can just consider everything else as kind of like a uh, payment for a job well done. Sound good?”
He relaxed as well, letting out a low-pitched sigh. “Sounds good Little Lizard…”
“Although… If it’s not too much trouble, I do want that bow you looted from the battlefield, at least if you haven’t pawned it off yet.”
“Will you pay me for it?”
“Is it yours…” I grumbled.
He shook his head, starting to smile again and rubbing my head. “Yeah, I still have it… I thought I could teach myself to shoot, but not only are they crazy hard to draw, they’re hard to aim too.”
‘What’s with everyone all the sudden… Even bears doing it now? My head isn’t a good luck charm…’ I growled and he quickly stopped, as if he hadn’t even realized he was doing it.
“I’ll grab it and bring it to your room then. Is that fine?”
I quickly fixed my hair. “Yeah, that’s fine. Then we can go shopping for gear together.”