BXBX NOVEL Chapter 187: Business Expense
It was common for parties to reserve rooms and timeslots with receptionists at this branch due to its size. Though Lelvern was a more densely populated city, the capital of the country was much physically larger and had a much higher standard for what the government considered \'safe\' for the territory surrounding the seat of their nation.
Because of this abundance of caution, adventurer work was never-ending, and the guild in this city was the largest in the country. In most countries, the guild halls in their capitals were also the largest and busiest branches.
"Yes. These others with me will be joining my party. We are students at the Arcadios Royal Academy, so registration examinations are exempt for them. Lady Kane and I are already registered, though our registration might need some updating."
Lucius passed the woman his and Rena\'s guild cards they received back in Pelith all those years ago. Neither of them had visited any guilds in the time since, so now was as good a time as any for them to renew the information.
"Ah, so Lady Kane will need her surname changed. Yours will need added… oh, that\'s strange…"
"What seems to be the matter?" Desmond asked from his seat, a few positions away from the receptionist.
"Oh, it\'s just that we did not receive notice of a party being disbanded, yet there hasn\'t been activity recorded for any of your party for the last four years…"
"That makes sense." Lucius sighed. "Go figures the bitch would ditch their disguises after trying to kill me. Seem\'s like she thought I wouldn\'t die so easily."
"What do you mean?" Rena asked.
"May we have a moment alone? I take it you have the information you need from the documents we submitted. Would you be willing to register us as the protective detail for the Grimspire ruins? Thanks."
"As you wish, Lord Kane."
Lucius sighed once again. "I hate this nobility shit…"
"I know," Rena said with a teasing smile.
"Anyway. Our previous party was a group of five, Rena and myself, along with an elf named Lethen, a human named Paul, and another human named Jen, the leader." Lucius explained. He had yet to tell this story to Rena either, so she was curious where it was going.
"As it turns out," he continued. "They were hired by an entity that shall not be named for now to kill me while I was out in the Alorek desert attacking supply lines with the former party known as the Marks.
"Their leader, Mia, along with Jen, Lethen, and Paul, all tried very, very hard to kill me out in the desert. That\'s how I got all these scars on my back. Fun fact, by the way, Jen was using some sort of disguising device from Aedrider, and she\'s actually a black-haired elf named Shiyani."
Desmond seemed to freeze. "Did you say: Shiyani?"
"I did. Know her?"
"Enough to know she\'s not one to fuck with. She\'s one of the best assassins out there."
"Well, assassinating someone unawares in a city or under the cover of night is vastly different than confronting them in the middle of the day directly to their face."
"From what I know, she\'s not a specialist in one-on-one frontal combat… sure she can handle herself, but anyone who knows a few things about wielding a sword could fight her off… why would she put herself in such a disadvantageous situation…"
"Don\'t know, don\'t care. When I find her, I\'ll be sure to ask her as the light of life slowly drains from her eyes." Lucius stated coldly.
A light knock on the door indicated the receptionist had returned, so they allowed her inside. She quickly went over the standard rules and guidelines of being an adventurer, then threw on a few additional rules that came with being a student applicant to the guild.
The only major differences were known failure fees and the registration expired after six months of non-activity for the guild. The temporary registrations could be upgraded to permanent registration upon submission of documentation of either graduation from the academy or dismissal.
No one else seemed to have any questions, so they bid their goodbyes to the receptionist and headed to the nearest carriage company to reserve a ride to the Grimspire ruins.
Grimspire was given that name because there was a singular massive tower that was somehow still standing even though the ruins were estimated to be in the realm of two thousand years old. No one knows what the ruins used to be called, how big it truly was, or really much of anything. The only known fact was that it was a city belonging to the long-extinct demon race.
Renting a wagon out that far, especially since it was not a regular stop, was rather expensive. The final fee landed at almost two thousand gold coins to cover most of the distance. Even then, they only stopped at the nearest village with a dedicated road, so there would still be some walking required.
Desmond was about to offer to pay for it, but Lucius declined. "Actually, do not worry, I will cover the expense."
"Oh, how wealthy are we? Honestly, I\'m alright if we go back to being adventurers to live. That was my original plan anyway, but just out of curiosity?" Rena asked.
Lucius thought back to the last count of their treasury and then did some mental math on the family\'s assets and businesses that were not as liquid as their coinage. It took him a few minutes to think of an answer, which was starting to worry Rena.
"I think last count was somewhere in the range of two or three billion gold, give or take a couple million. Then we have a bunch tied up in some bars, inns, transport businesses… oh, there\'s a joint venture for a salt mine that we co-own with Kalliope\'s family. I don\'t really have numbers on value for those right now."
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His answer dropped the jaws of everyone in the group. "So yeah, no need to worry about me," He continued, "However, since technically I\'m on assignment from the King of Eroa. This is classified as a business expense. King Verdayl will cover the bill of all related costs."