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Chapter 197: Overcompetitive

“What can I help you with?” she asked, tapping a finger on the desk and rolling a quill around with her other hand.

“I wanted to check on the status of a guild application I put in a little while ago,” Arwin said. “I know it hasn’t been that long, but it’s a bit of a pressing matter. If there are any updates…”

“Yeah, yeah,” the attendant said with a wave of her hand. “I’ve heard it before. I can take a look. What’s the guild?”

“The Menagerie,” Arwin said.

She glanced up at him for the first time. Her head tilted slightly to the side before she nodded. “Ah. I do remember you, actually. Came in a few days ago.”

That’s what I said, yes.

“I did,” Arwin confirmed. The attendant ruffled through the papers on her desk and a small frown crossed her lips. She leaned back in her chair and pulled open a drawer, filing through the papers in it before finding the one she was looking for and pulling it out.

“Here it is,” she said. “I remember this coming in. I thought it was odd.”

Arwin’s eye twitched and he resisted the urge to pluck the paper from her hands. “Odd? I don’t suppose you’d be willing to tell me why? It sounds like the request got processed, right?”

The attendant cleared her throat and set the paper down in front of her on the desk. She splayed her fingers out across it and pushed it an inch forward. “I’m afraid not. It didn’t get processed.”

Arwin froze. That couldn’t have been right. Getting rejected was one thing — not that it would have made any sense — but not getting processed was completely different. “What? It didn’t get processed? Why? Was it not submitted?”

“Everything was filled out and submitted properly,” she said, a note of defensiveness entering her voice. She took her hand off the paper and shook her head. “That wasn’t the problem.”

“Then what was?” Arwin asked, fighting back his irritation. Getting pissed off wouldn’t solve anything, but if they couldn’t get recognized as a guild, they’d have no way to get the land from Jake. That would be bad. Really bad.

“I’ve never seen anything like it, so I can honestly say that I have no idea.” The attendant finally handed the paper over to Arwin. He took it from her, scanning across lines of worthless information in search of the reason why the application had failed.

He nearly passed right over it. Near the bottom of the page, in a small box at the right corner, was his answer.

The request to establish a general guild known as ‘The Menagerie’ has failed to process due to its qualifications.

Arwin stared at the paper. He blinked, then read the words on it again. They made absolutely no sense. There weren’t any expressly stated qualifications to establish a guild that they hadn’t met.

“What qualifications is this talking about?” he demanded. “We had people, a name, and the money. Is there anything else?”

“That’s what got me so confused as well. I’ve never seen a rejection on a basis like that.” A mixture of embarrassment and pity passed over the attendant’s face. She felt bad for him — but that wasn’t going to change the words on the paper before him.

“Well… can we resubmit?” Arwin asked.

She shook her head. “There’s no point. It’ll get you the exact same answer. You need to fix the issue. You could maybe try to apply as a different type of guild? You got rejected on the basis of being a general guild, but if you go for a different kind, it could go better.”

Arwin’s jaw clenched and he tapped a finger on the top of the counter. “Like a crafting guild? What would the steps to that be?”

“You’d need to find the Crafter’s Guild and send them the information about your new guild as well as samples. If they approve the quality, they’ll send back an approval and we can put that through to the Adventurer’s Guild.”

“And how long would that take?”

“Probably two or three weeks. It’s a lot of bouncing paperwork. If you really push or know someone high up, you might be able to get it done in a week instead, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

Arwin grimaced. That was too long. They didn’t have weeks. At best, they had days. Jake couldn’t just hold onto their land forever — and even if he was willing to, leaving their livelihoods in the hands of the Merchant’s Guild was less than appealing. Jake was a decent enough guy. That didn’t mean his bosses were.

“What about applying to be a combat-focused guild?” Arwin tried. “A normal adventurer one.”

“You’re welcome to do that.” The attendant beamed at Arwin. “All you’ll have to do is prove the abilities of yourselves and any members at an Adventurer’s Guild branch — which is here. I can get our examiner here by tomorrow.”

Arwin’s jaw clenched. That was somehow just as bad. They’d have to reveal at least a portion of their abilities to the guild itself. He was more than aware of how invasive their tests could be. If he brought any of his magical gear, there was a chance they’d be able to see what it was.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

And forget my gear. Lillia definitely couldn’t take the test. I couldn’t either. We could both get revealed. That’s not something either of us can afford.

He dug through his mind in search of another option. In search of another way they could get recognized as some sort of guild so they could take control of the land that their street was on. His efforts found nothing.

Did the Ardent Guild somehow find a way to screw us over? Or was it one of the other people that tried bidding on the street to steal it from us? Jake said there was more than just one. I have no damn idea. What do I do?

The attendant cleared her throat. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”

Arwin sent her a flat stare. He handed the paper back over. “Resubmit this.”

“I — uh… it won’t do anything. It got rejected.”

“It could have been a mistake,” Arwin said. He felt Zeke’s helm warm around his head, reacting to the anger thumping in his chest, but he didn’t let any of it seep into his voice. “I already paid the fee. I think I deserve the chance to get a proper response rather than refusal to process. That would only be fair.”

The attendant looked from Arwin to the paper. Then she nodded. “Okay. I’ll see what I can do. There’s always a chance it was mistakenly sent back. I’ll try again.”

She didn’t sound very convinced, but it hardly mattered. There wasn’t anything else they could do. Not unless he found out what was going on and determined why the Menagerie’s application had never gotten through processing.

“Thank you,” Arwin said curtly. “And how long will that take?”

“I’ll try to push it through quickly. Two or three days?” the attendant offered. “There’s really nothing I can do more than that, but I wouldn’t hold out hope for a different result. I could try to put an inquiry into it, but that could take quite some time.”

Resisting the urge to blow out a sigh, Arwin nodded. “Do that too. Might as well. I’ll come back in a few days to see if the results are different, then.”

“I hope I’ve got a better answer for you. Best of luck.”

Arwin just nodded in response as he headed out of the guild, a faint ringing in his ears. It didn’t make sense. The Ardent guild shouldn’t have been anywhere near large enough to interfere with him this badly. Even though he knew the Adventurer’s Guild was corrupt, there was no way they’d be this blatant about it.

I’m overlooking something… but what? I don’t know nearly enough about establishing a guild to see the forest for the trees.

Arwin headed out on to the streets of Milten and continued off the street, wandering into Milten’s main square as he thought. His mind spun with a mixture of confusion and determination to figure out what had happened. If there was even a single useful hint he could go after other than blindly blaming the Ardent guild, he’d actually have a path before him.

Maybe I could ask Jake? He could tell me who the other bidders in the auction were.

He came to a stop. His walk had already taken him away from the guild street, but it was only a minute away. Arwin shook his head and crushed out the rest of his surprise. It wouldn’t help anything. What he needed now was to act.

Jake is a good start.

But, before Arwin could leave the square, a flash of black robes beside him caught his eye. Arwin turned to find Selen, the Secret Eye representative, standing in the shadows of an alley.

“Ifrit,” Selen said as she inclined her head.

“Selen,” Arwin replied, matching her tone. He didn’t have any lost love for her after what the Secret Eye had nearly allowed to happen with the Dungeon Break, but there was still a good chance she didn’t know how bad things had gotten. He couldn’t quite hold it against her — not yet at least. He’d need more information to do that. “Something tells me this isn’t a meeting of chance.”

“All meetings are chance. Some are just more chance than others.” Sellen said. “I spotted you walking in the square and felt it appropriate to give you my congratulations.”

“Congratulations?” Arwin blinked. “For what?”

“You haven’t heard? The letter should have arrived by now.”

“What letter?” Arwin asked, his eyes narrowing behind his helm. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Luckily for you, I make it a business of carrying proof.” Arwin could hear the smile in Selen’s tone as she reached into a pocket and pulled out a folded slip of paper. It had a picture of an open eye embossed onto its back.

An official letter from the Secret Eye?

“Are you going to read it, or do you plan to try and make me beg?”

“Patience. I’m getting there,” Selen said. Her eyes traced down the paper and she started to read. “In addition to the above updates to the guild rankings, The Secret Eye acknowledges three new guilds in the Eastern Quarter of the Kingdom of Lian. The Stonehoppers will be added to the list at rank 452. The Falling Stars will be added to the list at rank 489 — and the Menagerie will be added to the list at rank 499.”

“I don’t understand,” Arwin said. He stared at Selen as she quirked an eyebrow up at him and folded the paper back up. He shook his head. “We were told our guild formation request was rejected. How—”

“Rejected?” Selen let out a snort of laughter and shook her head.” “By whom? The Secret Eye’s list is our own, but there’s no greater authority on strength in the kingdom than us. Making it onto our rankings isn’t easy. You’ve impressed some people, Ifrit. You and your guild. We had an investigator come through to look at the Journeyman Dungeon you cleared. It was really close to a Dungeon Break. Closer than I thought — but you knew that, didn’t you?”

“I was under the impression you did too.”

Selen’s features grew serious and she shook her head. “I didn’t realize how close it was. It progressed far faster than I was expecting. I wouldn’t have allowed anyone in at all if I knew it was a breeze from detonating — but that’s beside the point. You’re at the literal bottom of the list but making it there so quickly… that’s something to be proud of. Most guilds never make it at all. So, congratulations. It’ll take the Adventurer’s Guild a bit of time to update their personal records with our ranking and acknowledgement, but you’ve got some weight to throw around now.”

Arwin’s thoughts flashed back to the paper he’d read in the adventurer’s guild. Their application to be a general guild had been rejected due to qualifications. His skin prickled. Not lacking qualifications.

Over-qualifications.

Basic guilds were for starting teams, not seasoned adventuring groups. Selen laughed at his stunned silence.

“Make sure to do your ranking proud. Our list isn’t static, so we expect to see a lot more from you if you want to keep this rank, much less climb any higher. I suggest reading through the rankings we sent you — but if it somehow got lost, just go to any tavern in the kingdom. Our network is quite extensive.”

Arwin shook off his surprise before he could fall into another stunned silence.

“Why? There aren’t rewards for advancing, are there?”

“Just the usual ones of fame and power,” Selen replied. “It’s a lot easier to recruit talented individuals when there’s some proof as to your accomplishments.”

Recruit talent, huh? I wonder if there are any dwarven smiths in search of a guild.

“I see. Thanks for the information. I’ll be off, then,” Arwin said. His heart felt like it had been taken on a ride. The worry he’d felt in the Adventurer’s Guild was replaced with relief. This was even better than a basic guild — and it meant they could get their land from Jake after all.

“Information is what we do,” Selen said, raising her hand in farewell. “And, Ifrit?”

Arwin paused to glance back at her. “Yes?”

“Recruits aren’t the only thing ranking gets you. It’s not easy to get on the list, and people can get quite competitive. I’d watch yourself and your guild.”

With that, Selen stepped back into the alley and faded from view. Arwin’s lips pressed thin as he stared at where she’d been for a second. Then he turned and strode off to find Jake.

One problem at a time.