Volume 1 Chapter 3

「That was really excessive, Lucius-sama.」

Said Zens, the representative from the best alchemist guild in town.

Right now, he was in the 『Golden Hawk』’s guild leader office.

Lucius discussed with a friendly alchemy guild.

He was negotiating over the possibility of buying the manufactured goods.

「Haven’t we sold our goods to the『Golden Hawk』 at exceptional prices? We are always working hard to deliver your request at the required value and delivery time. And we never late or anything. We have been committed wholeheartedly working for 『Golden Hawk』. And that treatment is just too much. Even now, we were in deficit every month and had been looking forward to our loan repayment. If we reduce the prices any lower, we won’t survive. 」

「That’s fine. Let’s end our business partnership today. From now on, we will use another guild’s service. 」

The one who said that was Deanna, who standing reserved next to Lucius.

Lucius didn’t move; he was thinking with his eyes closed.

The representative choked up upon hearing what Deanna said.

The order that came from Lucius was always massive, and if he broke the contract, he would be unable to support many of his members.

And it didn’t end there.

The marketplace of the weapon and metal also in his grasped, and he fear if Lucius did terminate their contract, he would be blacklisted from the market.

Deanna looked down at the troubled representative with a despised look.

You can tell her sadistic side is showing.

As the representative turns to look at Lucius for help, he suddenly turns his chair and turned toward him.

He smiled and spoke.

「Zens-san. Don’t get me wrong, and we don’t want to terminate our contract. However, I want us to keep working together, but from now on, I want you to work a little bit harder to keep our deal. That’s it. 」

「……」

「200 gold for one A-rank iron. Will you do it? 」

Zens leave with a heavy step.

As he looked from the window, Lucius sighed.

「Good grief. He’s a slow-witted guy, isn’t he? He can’t go against us. 」

「Absolutely. 」

Said Deanne to flatter him.

「If they dare to go against Lucius-sama, they can’t live in this town. They should’ve understood that. 」

Lucius basks in joy; he’s not as disappointed as he looks.

「Now, what’s next? 」

「I’m going out. I’d like to consult with the noble Count Elsen about the quest. There’s something I’d like to ask about our guild. I have to ask him directly. 」

「Huh. Why Count Elsen so desperate to cultivate a connection with us? And it’s not a bad thing to be relied upon by the nobles. 」

Lucius stands up from his chair and puts on his cloak.

As if he remembered something, he looked back at Deanna.

「Speaking of which, what are you doing with Laurent? Have you removed him from the adventurer quests? 」

Lucius’ meddling was the reason why Laurent can’t get a single quest.

He used the major guild’s influence to pressure the Adventurer’s Association, refusing those who left his guild from taking the quest.

「Ah, somehow Laurent has established an alchemy guild. 」

「Alchemy guild? 」

Lucius smiled bitterly with a knitted eyebrow.

「Really? What alchemy guild? You know that we had the alchemy guilds under our control, right? Is he finally going crazy? 」

「Perhaps, he hasn’t noticed that you blacklisted him from the adventurer’ association yet」

Deanna chuckled at that.

「We control the manufactured alchemy goods’ sale. He got no funds. And he didn’t have access to the market. How on earth do you manage a guild in such a situation? 」

「The guild is called 『Arsenal’s Spirit』. 」

「Haha. What “arsenal”? Is he planning to make a weapon? How is he going to sell them? 」

（After all, he’s someone who can only see other people’s talents, what can he do? He thinks too shallow. ）

Deep down in his heart, Lucius feels threatened by Laurent. He felt relieved at Laurent’s indiscretion.

「Are you going to maintain your relationship with him, Lucius-sama? 」

「Didn’t I already have drawn the line? 」

He suddenly thought.

「Well, the good old time. If he’s going to come crying and begging, it’s not going to work. It was provided that I’ll get an A-rank iron for 100 gold coins. Any more than that, I’m not going to pay for it. Tell him that when he come back. 」

「Yes, sir. I’ll pass that on. 」

Lucius was about to leave the room when he suddenly stopped and turned to Deanna.

「By the way, are you available for dinner tonight, Deanna-kun? 」

Deanna immediately withdrew her derision and blushed.

「Certainly.」

「Then, come to the usual place at 6 pm. 」

After saying his words, he quickly left.

For a moment, Deanna sat on her desk, too absorbed on sorting the papers when she remembered something important.

「Ah, I forgot telling him that Lilianne supported Laurent. 」

Deanna considers running after Lucius and telling him, but she stopped.

Doing so would only hurt his mood.

（Oh, well. We controlled the alchemy guilds in this town, anyway. I don’t have to tell him. ）

She continued doing the work in front of her eyes, feeling annoyed.

Laurent was interviewing the people who had applied to join 『Arsenal’s Spirit』.

And now that he could choose the people he is going to work with; it’s a good feeling.

Everyone who applied for employment is desperate for him to hire them.

They tried to show off their abilities as a pitch to him.

And they are modestly flattering the interviewer or the guild a little.

The alchemist’s girl, who is now interviewed by Laurent, was also working hard to impress him.

「 I’ve got a connection to the『Guardian of the Magic Tree』 and has excellent potential. If you give me a chance, I would like to do a great job with such a promising guild and staff. I applied because I was hoping that I could work under Laurent-san’s guidance at such a wonderful guild. 」

She tried to make a pitch with her doe-eyes and bashful expression.

She was wearing a jumpsuit alchemist wear to work and tools for smelting, including the hammer; on the other hand, she also acted as a female.

She’s an adult who doesn’t like to do such things, but she’s trying to appeal using her appearance by letting down her shiny brown hair that is usually tied up.

If luck is on his side, he takes a liking to her appearance.

If he keeps acting like this, he would inevitably grow impudent like Lucius.

Rather than his likes and dislikes, he should’ve chosen people because of their abilities.

（However, I have 『Appraisal』 skill. ）

He used his appraisal skill to look at the current skills of the alchemist he interviewed.

The interviewee, the alchemist alchemy related skills are on display on the airspace next to her.

Ore Mining：E→D

Ore Refining：E→A

Metal Forming：D→C

Gold Craftmanship：E→D

Laurent decided to ask a question.

「Do you have any desired duties? 」

「Hai. I want to be in charge of 『Metal Forming』. I’m the best at metalworking. 」

Hearing her answer, Laurent can’t help but laugh in his heart.

Metalworking was the lowest skill in her skillset, both in current abilities and her potential growth.

Maybe it is because you can make pretty ornaments in metalworking and the pay is high.

「How about 『Ore Refining』? Right now, we had a shortage of people who’s in charge of 『Ore Refining』. 」

When she heard Laurent said that, she let out a troubled laugh.

「『Ore Refining』? I’m weak at it, and I thought I’m better at 『Gold Craftmanship』. But if you hire me, I don’t mind doing it… 」

Afraid that she had been giving a bad impression, Arie quickly correct her statement.

Laurent wrote 『Arie Ore Refining E→A』 at the paper in his hand.

「Okay. I’ll send the interview results by next week. Thank you for coming. 」

Arie went home feeling downhearted.

（I won’t pass this interview…）

Feeling bad that Arie went home feeling rejected, he will send her acceptance notification to her address soon.

t/n;