When The Cute Godkiller Opens A Tavern [Stubbed]

Chapter 89 - Stories and Contracts

”I’ll be honest, they’ve come a long way.” ~Phey’lan vin Drokinia

As soon as reinforcements arrived, Shallies took the opportunity to disappear, grabbing her students and taking them with her. Of course, she left Yoshelle with a quick goodbye, saying that there was no need for her to linger.

On their way home, Shallies decided to slow down to a walk so that she could speak with her students about what had happened. But before she could start, she turned to see them already sparkling with anticipation. The Godkiller could only smile.

“Go ahead, what is it?”

“You were amazing!” they all said at the same time.

“There were so many stars!” Tayin added, jumping with joy.

“And that strategy for the Boss Monster,” Ren followed up. “It was so quick. It basically had no chance.”

“The mana-channeling, too,” Grace said last. “I know you have a lot, but it’s still amazing to see.”

“Thanks,” Shallies said, lightly scratching her cheek. “Hopefully it wasn’t too fancy. I don’t want more people being suspicious.”

“Are you sure?” Ren asked. “I think they would be. If the massive amount of Dancing Stars didn’t, they surely would’ve been suspicious of your mana.”

“Not to mention how you kept that lavashifter from digging,” Grace added. “What was it? It looked just like mana-control.”

“It is mana-control,” Shallies said. It caused her students to stop walking, stunned by her statement.

“What?” Tayin started before the others could speak their minds. “Are you kidding?”

“It’s just normal mana-control.”

“Normal for you!” Grace complained.

“Come on, guys,” Shallies said, trying to calm down her students. “Sure, Hero Class holders might not have that same level of mana-control, but it’s something those who are thinking of ascending into Favored Class actually practice. If you actually know how to precisely control and maintain your mana-control, you can even stand in the air.”

To prove her point, Shallies stepped in the air, using mana-control to serve as her stairs. Then she stayed there, standing on nothing but mana.

Her students stared at her, looking bewildered. It reminded Shallies that she was wearing a dress underneath her Manaweave Coat, so she subtly used mana-control to make sure she didn’t accidentally reveal anything unnecessary. Almost too quickly, she came back to the ground.

“I’ll teach you once you’re used to The Perpetual Method,” she said.

“It sort of sounds easier to do that instead of the method,” Grace commented.

“Sure, but you spend more mana without the method than with it,” Shallies reasoned out. “It’s basically impractical to do without it, though you’ll see some Favored Class holders utilizing it in case of emergencies.

“I want you to learn The Perpetual Method first, to make sure you have proper foundations for the other techniques like precise mana-control. It’ll make everything easier, including engaging all of your Attributes.”

“But even Valor’el hasn’t mastered it yet,” Tayin pondered. “There’s no way we’ll be able to surpass someone who’s been doing it his entire life.”

“No, Valor’el took a break,” Shallies said. “And I’m not saying that it’s impossible, but that’s not what I’m expecting you three to do. What I need you to do is be able to perform The Perpetual Method while being able to fight. It doesn’t have to be at the same level as I do, that part will be your lifetime goal.”

“Ahh…” The realization was apparent on the faces of all her students.

“In any case, I want you three to reflect on what happened with the initial wave. Don’t just take in the details from when I intervened, and especially not what I just did. I want you to focus on the tiny details that involved the entire guild. How they operated, how they communicated, and how they reacted. Tomorrow, I’ll be sending you to Vice Guildmaster Coraline for team training.”

“When are we going to train The Perpetual Method, then?” Grace asked.

“Every morning,” Shallies replied. “You’ll be with me first, then after lunch, I’ll send you to her.”

The half-orc nodded. “Gotcha.”

“Now then. Let’s hurry up a bit.”

---

That afternoon, Shallies received Coraline into her tavern.

“I didn’t expect the Vice Guildmaster herself to be the one sending the contract,” she said, offering some biscuits and tea. “I’ll let my students know you’ve arrived.”

“Before that,” Coraline started. “Would you mind joining me for a bit?”

Shallies blinked a few times, acting surprised. “Sure.”

“I received Yoshelle’s report about the initial wave at the Rift. You were a tremendous help. Thank you.”

“Yeah, not a problem,” Shallies said, scratching the back of her head. “Since you only prohibited my students from joining, I took it upon myself to help out.”

“We didn’t think the only enemies that would show up would be fire-based monsters,” Coraline said, moving on to the next topic she wanted to discuss. “It’s an extremely rare occurrence, but next time, we’ll be ready. Without your help, our people would’ve resorted to desperate maneuvers.”

“How many Thrush’ven Alir Raids have you participated in?” Shallies asked. “Sounds like you’ve been in quite a few.”

“Just four,” Coraline replied. “The Great Storm showed up in the exact same year I got married into the family. My husband has more experience, but even he was surprised by the report.”

“Do you think something’s influencing Thrush’ven Alir, then?”

“In what sense?” Coraline asked in return, tilting her head.

“The Great Storm’s involved with a Divine Entity, right?” Shallies implied, making sure she made her words a little distant from her true knowledge. “Don’t you think one is currently involved? Maybe more?”

In response, Coraline rubbed her temple. “That would be incredibly problematic.”

For some reason, Shallies realized there was something more to that statement. And the look that Coraline gave was of someone about to ask for discretion while divulging her problem.

“It’s fine,” she said to the Vice Guildmaster. “I won’t say a thing.”

“I have an inkling that my husband told Yoshelle which Divine Entity is favoring Grace and the others. He wouldn’t tell me at all, but the fact that my daughter’s trying so much harder than before only implies that it might be the Godkiller.”

“Are you saying she’s the one moving Thrush’ven Alir?” Shallies asked.

“No, no, not like that.” Coraline was absolutely quick to deny the notion. “I’m saying that the Godkiller might be eyeing the one involved with Thrush’ven Alir. And that makes the entire ordeal a whole lot more dangerous.”

“Ah, right, that makes more sense.”

“In any case, I was wondering if my husband has told you anything? Or maybe Yoshelle?”

“Umm…” Shallie scratched her head, continuing her act. “It’s more like she discovered something from my end, instead. She found out that I was Godkiller Bernadette’s student.”

“Wait a second,” Coraline said, blinking multiple times as she was caught off-guard by the fake revelation. Bewildered by the fact, she struggled to maintain her poise, taking deep breaths and blinking yet a few more times. “I’m sorry, I didn’t have the impression that you were once the Godkiller’s student. That explains why your three students also have her interest.”

“Yes, I’d appreciate it if you can be discreet about it. I haven’t told your husband, and it’s probably better to keep the number of people in the know as small as possible.”

“Oh, then I appreciate you telling me that,” Coraline said in return. “You didn’t have to.”

“If your family’s keeping secrets, you can’t be the only person without one, right?” Shallies asked, smiling.

“We technically don’t keep secrets,” said the Vice Guildmaster. “We know our past. While a lot of people appreciate what we do, we also know that a lot of people can’t understand it. We know people get jealous.”

Shallies didn’t know why Coraline chose to go into this tangent. She just knew that the Vice Guildmaster probably didn’t have a lot of friends outside of the guild to confide in. She didn’t mind listening. As a tavernkeeper, she had expected something like this to happen once in a while.

“I was like them at first,” she continued. “I didn’t know why Maxims went out of his way to mingle with us poor people. He sponsored my career, you know? Part of his very first program, lifting the poor and helping them earn for themselves. I had to go through the Academy at the age when people are already graduating.

“Even then, the people thought that The Gaiamaxims Guild was using their riches to bolster their numbers. While a lot of us, who were part of the program, did end up with the guild, we were free to choose where to go after we graduated.”

“I don’t know much about your guild,” Shallies said, continuing to lie. “But what made it have such a mixed reputation?”

“Maxims’ grandparents were not really nice people,” Coraline replied. “When his parents inherited the guild, they made an effort to change the guild’s ways. But it was with Maxims that our efforts made a significant push. Now that he owns the guild, we’re doing our best to make our image look better, but it’s not without its faults.

This aligned with Shallies already knew. Back when she had first worked with Maxims, there were still traces of his grandfather’s legacy. She had seen guild members literally throwing piles of bits on the floor to try and fix an issue. She had seen them die thinking that their legend-crafted armors and weapons could protect them.

But she had barely noticed any of that now. The impression that Yoshelle, and her troops who met the initial wave, left, was devoid of any arrogance or reliance on their riches.

“So my husband and I make a lot of effort to not keep any secrets involving the guild,” Coraline continued. “Of course, if he’s holding back, that means the Divine Entity involved withheld him from divulging any information. I won’t take it against him.”

“Looks to me like you guys are doing a lot of good,” Shallies said. This was her true impression of them now. “I don’t mind working with you all.”

“That means a lot to us,” Coraline said in return. “Thank you. And I apologize if I took a lot of your time.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. It looked like you could use an ear. I’m here anytime you need one.”

The Vice Guildmaster smiled at that.

“I suppose now, I should discuss our contract with you and your students.”

“I’ll have Apple call them back.”

While they waited, Shallies prepared more tea and biscuits for her students. They didn’t take long to arrive. After positioning them on the opposite side of the long table, and providing them their snacks, she gave the spotlight to Coraline.

“Since this will be the first time our guild will be working with you,” she started, opening her System Console. “We’ll provide you with our standard contract.”

She passed a document to everyone, prompting their System Consoles.

“You can read it on your own before you sign, but I’ll point out some of the important parts of the contract.” She took a moment to sip from her teacup. “First, your entire party will be labeled as an independent entity in the raid group. I’ll need your party name for that one.

“Second, the System will dictate the owner of each Loot Source that will spawn from the sub-raid. Your odds will be set at a standard thirty percent. Meaning, that out of a hundred Loot Sources, thirty of those will be granted to your party. You’re then free to share among your group who gets what. Out of most guilds, our thirty-percent offer is quite high. You have other people here who’ve already worked with different guilds, so you can confirm that with them.”

Shallies gave a nod, when her students looked at her.

“Third, you have your standard compensation. For a sub-raid, our reward is 10,000 bits per person. On paper, that doesn’t sound much, but you have to put into consideration that we’re not counting the bits you might find in your Loot Sources.

“Lastly, we’ll talk about your insurance. There’s no guarantee that even with Shallies here, you will leave the Thrush’ven Alir Raid unscathed. If there’s still a guild after the raid and you’ve suffered irreparable harm, The Gaiamaxims Guild promises to provide you with a monthly pension of 1,000 bits. Again, not a lot, but that’s how it is with outsourced people.

“If for any unfortunate event that your lives should be taken away during the raid, we will compensate your families with 50,000 bits once we’re sure that you didn’t simply forsake yourselves for the money. I know that sounds disingenuous, but we need to protect ourselves. We’ve been at the end of such desperate acts before. In addition to that, they’ll also receive the equivalent of your monthly pension for a year.”

“That all sounds fair,” Tayin said first. “Feels like we don’t really have any room to negotiate.”

“It’s a first, no doubt,” Ren added. “I’m not sure what my exact value is, in relation to this raid, or sub-raid, so…”

“I’m all good on my end, too,” Grace said lastly. “But we should probably read the whole contract first before we sign it.”

“That’s expected, yes,” Coraline said.

“Oh, I should probably point this out,” Shallies intervened. “I won’t be joining the sub-raid.”

Heads turned her way.

“I’m joining the main raid. I’ll be grouping up with Valor’el, Phey’lan, and Arun’dul.”

“Then we’ll be on our own,” Ren concluded.

“Miss Shallies, I think the seraphim can manage on their own,” Coraline interjected. “Without their mentor, they might not be able to handle the chaos.”

“Just look at their faces for a second, Vice Guildmaster.” Shallies afforded a smirk. Her students were all tense, but also smiling at the thought of being able to operate on their own. “Do they look worried to you?”

“Ah, but…” Coraline caught herself, shaking her head while massaging her temple. “Alright. You know them best. But in that case, I’ll doubly make sure they get familiar with our formation.”

“Yep, they’re at your disposal.”

“We look forward to working with you!” the three said at the same time, bowing.

“Likewise,” Coraline said. “But to clarify, I’ll need your signatures first.”

“Oh, right,” Shallies started. “That means we need to settle something first.”

Her students looked at her again, confused. She frowned at them.

“Your Party Name, duh.”