"Yes you may leave." The mayor quietly said, after which Zaran and Mubar quickly left the office and rushed towards the mercenary guild.
As the two walked around the market place hushed whispers resounded from the nearby knights and Virul's soldiers.
"What's up with all the whispering soldiers?" Zaran asked.
"Eh? They are just probably just wondering how long my next master will be able to train me." Mubar said with a grunt. "The previous ones weren't that great after all and could barely teach me anything that I could not figure out on my own. As my father always payed a good amount to my teachers he wasn't glad to know that I had barely improved in skill after weeks of tutelage under another trainer. And when my father is not happy with someone... nasty things happen."
Zaran gulped. "Good to know." He didn't think that he would fall into the same category as Mubar's former teachers but he still found it valuable to know that the mayor was one to pay back his grudges with interest.
The duo quickly arrived at the mercenary guild and due to Mubar's presence, the two of them instantly got an audience with the leader of the guild.
"So what brings you here Mubar? And why is that Zuno in here with you?" The leader said, showing sheer disdain for Zaran.
"This is master Zaran, from today onward he will be my new greatsword teacher. To be fair it's not me that has business with you but it is my master that has some important matters to discuss with you." Mubar said, addressing Zaran with the necessary respect.
The guild master scoffed and turned his attention to Zaran. "What do you want this time? Again about those darn Nayeran?"
"Yes and no. While I am not here for the nayeran this time, the matter I have to discuss does affect them. I visit the mayor prior to my visit here and became Mubar's master. Now as I do not ever work for free I asked for a small favor in return from the mayor. The small favor I asked was to receive the rights to establish a town in the Ergan area, a favor which the mayor granted me." Zaran said with a casual smile.
"That damn bastard of a mayor! This is the fifth time he has messed with my business!" The guild leader silently cursed, before forcing a smile on his face. "Oh, is that so? Can I see the deeds to this? You should have them with you, no?"
Zaran took out the two scrolls the mayor had prepared for the mercenary guild leader alongside the deeds to the Ergan mountain. He handed the three scrolls to the mercenary guild leader.
Taking a quick glance over the three scrolls, the guild leader knew he had been out maneuvered. He couldn't do anything else. There was no way to exterminate the nayeran anymore. On top of that the mayor had even requested to open a guild branch in the area as soon as possible and stated in the scroll that the local mercenary guild leader was going to be one of his personal connections.
The mercenary guild leader angrily sighed and handed the scrolls back to Zaran. He had wanted to rip them up but he knew the mayor had copies and was probably making more just in case.
"Fine, I'll recall the troops and cancel the mission." The guild leader said. "But don't think you have won. This matter is far from over!"
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Zaran smiled. "I never thought it would be over with just this in the first place. We'll see each other again guild master." Zaran said as he stood up and left the guild master's office, Mubar quickly following him.
Mubar quickly caught up with Zaran. "Master, why did that feel too easy?"
Zaran chuckled. "Because it was. Like he said it's far from over. He'll find some way to hurt the nayeran and now it has become my duty that this will not happen. So pretty much we declared war on each other."
"I see... Should I have my father step in?" Mubar whispered softly.
"No, men should solve their problems themselves. While I did need help from your father so get this far, the rest will all be dealt with by me. Whoever of us wins though... that's a question that will be answered in time." Zaran said before continuing, "In the future, don't think you can just count on me or your father to clean up your messes. Make sure you can clean them up yourself. So in short... don't cause any trouble that you can't handle by yourself."
A few quiet seconds passed before a glimpse of enlightenment appeared in Mubar's eyes. "Mmhmm. I understand what you are trying to say master. I will make sure to remember it."
"I hope you understand, it's most likely the most valuable lesson I can teach you." Zaran said with a chuckle. This one small wisdom is what he always made sure to remember whatever situation he was in. While he sort-off broke the rule in the matter concerning the nayeran, there was still no way for the mercenary guild leader to deal with him forever. He was rather sure the creators of the game and the gods would not allow for something like this to happen. That would make it far too easy for competing gods to mess with another god's scions and force them out of the game forever.
"Regardless, let's make our way to the Ergan mountain. I will quickly set my guild to work on building the city and afterwards I will have you show me your techniques, so I can see how much of a base you have built up so far." Zaran said as he quickened his pace.
"All good." Mubar said, quickly following after Zaran.
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Meanwhile at the battlefield, the main guild was cleaning up the corpses and looting whatever they could, while Ruina and the sideguild were busy chopping trees, brought them to the mountain and formed a sloppy palisade.
Florance and Nuvahn were the only two members of the guild who were not working and were instead lazily talking amongst themselves. Suddenly, Florance noticed two silhouettes in the distance and seeing that one of them was Zaran, she sped forward and rushed at him.
"HEY YOU!!!" She shouted, jumped at Zaran, wrapped her legs around him and kissed him full on the mouth.
Zaran embraced Florance and lovingly answered the kiss and only broke it off after a full minute of passionately kissing his little Flo. "Aren't you happy to see me?" Zaran said with a slight chuckle, to which Florance rolled her eyes upwards and cheekily said, "Mmaaaaybe." with a pensive look in her eyes.
Then all of a sudden her expression turned extremely serious. "Hey, does you asking that question mean that you didn't miss ME," Florance gasped.
Zaran laughed. "Flo, drop the act please, you're killing me. Of course I missed you love. But eh... could you let me go so I can introduce you to my new student?"
"Oh? A new pupil? You took on an actual new pupil?" Florance cocked her head, looked at mubar, sized him up and said. "Hmm, he looks like he can wield a sword at least."
"Flo. really. Stop it." Zaran said as he chopped on her head.
"Aye aye, sir." Flo said with a light smirk as she jumped of Zaran and extended her hand towards Mubar. "Hi, I am Florance, Zaran's one and only lover!"
Zaran facepalmed and deeply sighed. "Fine, be like that, I'm going to gather the guild."
A few minutes later the guild was all gathered before Zaran. "I have been able to convince the mercenary guild master to stop the attacks on the nayeran. However for this we have paid a price. I had to pull favors with the mayor and to price we had to pay is that I have to personally teach his son the way to truly use a heavy sword."
The guild stared at Zaran in confusion. That clearly wasn't such a huge price to pay. Why had he even bothered to explain this and why was he so serious about it.
After a few seconds of waiting, Zaran continued. "On top of that we will also have to build a city here. So that means we will have to spend quite some time not leveling and instead will need to pull our resources together and build up a base of operations here. While having a base is not a bad thing it will mean we will be falling behind a bit. I hope you guys don't mind that."
The guild let out gasps of surprise.
"I know, I know, this might be too early for us. But, it is the only way we can keep the nayeran somewhat safe. Who is with me to build up this city and save the nayeran?"
"WE ARE! WE ARE!" The guild cried in unison.
Zaran calmed down the guild. "However even if we build a city, I think we will still need to continuously deal with Virul's mercenary guild master, he won't be letting go of the matter so easily."
"Let him come! We will deal with him!" One of the guild members cried out.
"Yeah who does he think he is!" Another member yelled.
Soon all the members were shouting and bickering, cursing the mercenary guild master to bits and pieces!
Seeing this, Zaran nodded. "Let's get to work! Start collecting wood for houses from the nearby forest but don't plunder too much! Blacksmiths and carpenters, get to work and tell the others what you need to make some sturdy houses and walls. Use my pets how you see fit. I'll need to teach Mubar a bit before I can help you guys out."
The guild quickly gathered around the few carpenters and blacksmiths they had and went to work.