"This is ridiculous, it's obvious Carlo should be the Guildmaster," Jacob White was back. And wearing what looked like mecha armor? "He's the strongest so far, he's a combat class-"

"I don't think that's obvious at all," Grand denied. "Lila's a little weird, but she's got a good head on her shoulders. And she killed the Warg first, let's not forget- before anybody else."

"I think it's quite obvious the entire process is a farce," I interjected. "The strongest gets the title? That's just begging for tyrants of all kinds. Thank god other classes count, or we'd be screwed beyond all reason."

"That is concerning," Michael Lawson was newly garbed, as was everyone else. His was a long doctor's coat with surgical tools in the front pockets. Everything underneath appeared to be sterile scrubs. "Is there any way we can change that?"

No message from the system.

We were in the basement we'd had converted into a meeting room. Kind of. We just sort of pooled our money together to buy some stuff that everyone needed from the shop and one of those things was a big meeting table that could seat like twelve people. The chairs were just unused dining room chairs from the empty apartments.

"Well, if someone is the Guild Master, they just manage the Guild, right?" Sarah Johnson again. She was dressed... witchy, like me. But she appeared to be some form of actual mage. Not a crafter. And it was much more... feminine? Femme Fatale?

"Don't go thinking we can just overrule them by ordering them around," Olivia Turner was wearing something... different. It had fish scales on it? "They're going to be the strongest, remember? Or the person with the best progress in their crafting or magic crafting skills..."

"Oh, right," I said and checked my menu. "Ah. That's why I qualified. My skill in Spellcards is also D-rank."

"I think it would've been enough on its own, either way," Olivia said in a consoling tone of voice. "But I do think Carlo is a good choice. Carlo used to be a fireman. Lila has a child to take care of. Who knows when she'd be unavailable for some reason, randomly?"

Carlo himself seemed deep in thought on the issue.

"I think it would be predictable enough most of the time, but there are unforeseen circumstances," I said. "Regardless, people don't really like me."

"The System isn't giving us a choice," Jacob said. "Can't you just throw whatever duel it is?"

"No, absolutely not," I retorted. "Do you want it implied that we're already corrupt and our leader is a weak bully who got me to throw the match?"

"She's right, we can't rig anything," Olivia stated. "Even if it's the best option, we have to at least try to make it fair or people will start muttering about it."

"Thankfully, there's a vote at the end of the year," Sarah said. "I checked the announcement, did everyone else?"

We'd all likely read it, but we pulled it up in our systems anyway. Because that's just simply what you do when someone references a document in a meeting.

"Yeah," Michael sighed. "The vote is on what to vote on. Apparently there's going to be a tournament-style vote. Narrow down the subjects, pick one, vote on it. We might not even end up fixing the problems that are actual problems because the other guildmasters don't know how to lead any better than ours will, either way. No offense."

"I'm no Politician," Carlo said, finally speaking up. "None taken. But don't politicians... do something to get people on their page?"

"Politicking is a good idea, but we have no idea where to start," Jacob said.

"I dunno that it's a good idea," David spoke then. The Structural Engineer was wearing... something with bricks on his shoulders. "Politics ruined the country."

"I do believe you mean capitalism and corruption," I retorted. "Every political system is flawed, but the base principle is 'talk out your differences until you can agree on something' and I do believe that's what we teach our children in preschool."

"I think we need to do it different this time, though," John was the one to speak that time and his outfit was hard to describe. It was like a tuxedo but it was patterned and had long tails on the coat part. Like he was supposed to be some kind of fantastical butler? "Before, it was all money changing hands and people staying in power because they had money. Now, we have means to go to war over it. People aren't going to want that. We just need to keep each other in check and actually do the job instead of taking every excuse not to." His accent was very light and he sat with a casual businessman's posture.

"No offense," Jacob began.

"You know it's going to be offensive," I cut him off. "Politicians weren't the only ones expected to take part in politics. Politics is just life. It's the issues that plague us all. Telling him he can't have an opinion because you assume he doesn't have a degree in politics or because he is a janitor specifically would be incredibly stupid."

Jacob turned beet red. "That isn't what I was going to say! I was only going to say we have more experience and knowledge in politics!"

"You assume," I stated again.

"I know about as much as anyone else," John said. "The Average American doesn't even know they're supposed to be voting in state elections until they're an adult and get an advertisement about it."

"Also, I've been to college for polysci," Olivia stated with her hands folded on the table in front of her. "A lot of people here might've taken classes or might've studied on their own. We're all representatives and John is about to get a lot of underlings working for him, so it'll be about the same number of people as every other faction. He has a right to his opinion here."

"Fine!" Jacob flicked his wrist. "I'm just saying, I wouldn't say I know more about cleaning than he does."

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"Because upper class white men do their own cleaning," I muttered to myself, turning away from him.

Carlo snorted. Because he likely knows as well as I, that it's a terrible comparison.

It wasn't even a political stance to have, it was just statistics and facts. Men of his age in his income bracket have a mother and then a wife to clean for them. And even if they do half the chores, it's likely the uncomplicated half, like putting dishes or laundry into a machine, measuring some soap and hitting a button. Everyone is expected to vote or take part in political discussion at some point in their life. Not everyone is expected to learn to deep clean.

"You're white too!" Jacob protested.

"Yes," I replied. "I am."

He turned even redder. He didn't have a comeback, because my response didn't give room for one. Explaining the difference between upper class white and lower class white and men and women wouldn't get me anywhere. He's right in that we're both white and we both have advantages. Explaining how I have less than him is a moot point and will just allow him to steer the conversation as he likes.

"Movin' on," David said and leaned forward over the meeting table. "All that is for later. For right now we need to shore up our defenses, make money and get stronger. That duel will determine whoever gets control of the Guild, and we can't effect that. We need to focus on everythin' else."

"That is true," Jacob said and then smiled. "What if the System gave us a duel like that? Whoever improves the guilds' condition fastest, wins?"

Ping!

Ugh!

DUEL TYPE CONFIRMED

The two candidates competing for Guildmaster of Grandview Guild will be given one week to improve the conditions of the Guild!

The Candidates LilaCooper and CarloRuiz will each be given tasks that can improve the Guild's well-being. How they carry out these tasks, how quickly they finish and how much they improve the Guild's condition, will determine who is chosen to be Guildmaster.

All Trial rounds will be concluded with a combat trial!

"It really does just do whatever it wants," Grand sighed.

"It's trying to do what we want," I replied. "It's just very... limited ...in its understanding of us."

"Well, only one person wanted that kind of trial-" John paused and thought about it. "Chale. Do you think it reads minds?"

"It has to," I replied. "It takes our cue mentally to work the system. It's trying to anticipate our needs instead of asking us. Which is strange, considering the amount of people who were upset that their class was chosen for them."

"Right?" Sarah's head jerked up to respond. "It's like it's not allowed to do certain things. Or make certain rules on its own."

Everyone went silent for a moment. It was still new and strange to consider that there were 'gods' in play. And only in the most literal definition. 'Powerful beings beyond our comprehension.'

"No, I mean when we're not using the system," John said suddenly in the silence. "Do you think it's 'scraping' us?"

And that was another horrifying thought. AI scraping was a controversial issue. After all, why not just ask permission and use the documents given by people that they themselves owned? But it was also the next wave of technology that was supposed to make everyone's lives easier. And it was... really cool and futuristic. A lot of people hated the reality of AI but kept supporting it because they wanted to see where it went.

But scraping your brain for data was something nobody wanted, which is why those brain chips weren't popular with anyone but the physically disabled. If you can't move and your entire existence is dependent upon others, you'd prefer the slightly dangerous option that allowed you to get your own groceries and play video games with a thought, even if it was really icky. At least, I would.

Michael sat up straighter, "this is our reality now, we better get used to it. First things first. We have to move everyone on the first floor that isn't an elderly resident and get all the elderlies down there. They might be in danger, in case of attack, but it'll also be easier and faster to evacuate them that way."

"We've got people agreeing to move right now," Grand reported. "And there are enough empty rooms on the ground floor. You guys are taking up a few on the second?"

"First floor is first responders, second floor is... the closest we can get to surgery," he said. "It'll be as sterile as we can manage. We've wallpapered it with 'sterile plastic' from the Shop and we've got all the tools we need. But only one of us was taught any surgery and not a lot. I took the Chirurgeon class with the Anatomancer subclass..." He pressed his lips together. "But earning high-level skills will take time and a lot of patients."

"You'll go out with the parties, then," I said. "For a while, instead of relying on lotions and potions, we'll rely on the healers. They'll level up and it benefits the fighters and everyone else, in the end."

"And we wouldn't have to pay for the potions in bulk yet," Grand said. "Just pay the healers their salary."

"Alright, next we should probably talk about the... quests," David said.

"Yes, those," Jacob wrinkled his nose. "Quests posted by people are 'jobs' and Quests by the system are just Quests? Why is it all in the same menu?"

"They're all tasks to complete," Carlo said. "I'm a little worried about that too, 'find the dungeon'... that means there's monster farms out there, essentially."

"It's typical of video games to have such a convention," I said. "And that does appear to be what it's mimicking in its structure."

"Which one do we send people for?" David said. "They're all D Rank. We're not ready, are we?"

"So let's get ready," Olivia said and sat up straighter. "My Class is Enhancer. My Subclass is Siren. It's a Buff and Debuff class. I can improve physical condition for thirty seconds at this point. But at a really harrowing time, it would be useful. And I'm sure we have others."

"I'm a Black Mage, Subclass Cursed Witch," Sarah Johnson stated. "I can do incredibly powerful magic... the problem is the tradeoff. Since I'm Cursed, that means it's not just mana I have to pay. It's physical condition, too. Not as bad as it could be, but it'll cause me pain and suffering if I have to use my powerful spells. I can use the normal ones, no problem, though."

"We can't send our leaders," Jacob protested. "We've already got a whole squad of combatants. Somebody has a gun, somebody has a... shield sword thing..."

Right, Jonathan the Guardian. His weapon was very strange. A shield on a sword. Kind of. It was a sharp sword in the shape of a shield? Difficult to describe.

"We'll go," Carlo said. "One of the instructions from the system is to clear a dungeon. Me and Lila can do that together or take two different dungeons. We have to do it either way."

"I'd like to take this one," I said. "The Corrupted Copse of Elderglen Grove."

"Well, it's got some adds and a boss monster," Olivia stated. "But it's less combat-intensive than the other options, besides the... gathering quests?"

"Yeah," Carlo said. "We'll take the Monster Infestation of Gleamwell Springs. More combat, more rewards."

You would certainly think so.

"Okay, so now that that's figured out... who's going with whom?" Sarah asked.

"We'll put it up to a vote," Grand said.

And that is where I would ultimately fail, I believed. After all, some of these people knew me. Word could've gotten around about the last party I led ending up with a nearly-amputated leg.

Thank GOD the Shop let them buy special equipment to fix the damage. Even if it's slow.

I might get a few people, who didn't want to judge me before they met me. People who wanted to go to the less dangerous place... but I doubted it'd be anyone I really needed. Oh well, I tried. If only two people show up, I can just say that I can't in good conscience take them into a dungeon with me alone. It's true.