B4 Chapter 434: Briefings and Plans, pt. 7

Kaius took a sip from his tumbler of brandy, grunting as the burning liquor slid down his throat.

Along with his team, he was in yet another Guild meeting room, this one set up with a large war map on the far wall. Bronwyn was there with his team too, as were Rieker and Ro at the room’s front. All they waited on was Arc’theros, the Gold out of Grandbrook.

A runner had come from the governor’s office, saying that Arc’theros would be a few minutes late, tied up as he was in a conversation with the governor.

He wasn’t in a particular rush, and it wasn’t all that surprising either. In many senses, the Gold was here as a diplomatic envoy, and, according to Rieker, Governor Hanrick was attempting to make overtures at the man about further collaborations with Grandbrook, tightening their alliance during the tumultuous times that they faced.

From what he’d heard from the others in the room, more in tune with the frontier’s local politics, Ark couldn’t exactly make decisions for the city’s governor, but he’d been in Grandbrook longer than almost anyone in the power structure and was more than trusted enough to be able to speak of official matters and inform Hanrick of what was likely possible, as well relay the governours word back to Grandbrook official diplomatic offices.

In the seats next to him, the giantess Yanira shot him a grin after the grimace he made at the burn of his brandy.

“Heard you had your first meeting with Grandmaster Olmos, eh? I bet that was an experience. He’s quite the character.”

“You’ve with the man?” Ianmus asked next to him, his voice curious.

Bronwyn grunted in his seat next to Yanira, throwing his arm over the back of his chair as he turned towards them. “We all have. Most Silvers have far more experience working in a Guild structure, considering most of us chip away at it over decades. I still can’t believe that the lot of you managed it in a bloody year. Ridiculous.”

Just behind Bronwyn, the ranger Dross rolled his eyes. “What my dear leader means to say is that the Guild’s leadership is structured and segregated by area and rank. Olmos is the Grandmaster for both Deadacre and Grandbrook — so, all of the frontier, really. Silvers are rare enough that all of them are introduced to a Grandmaster, even if they don’t speak with them regularly.”

Kaius tilted his head. That was news to him. He’d known that the Guild was centered around Guild Halls, but he knew few details of how the upper echelons of their power worked, other than their nebulous link to the city of Wight’s End. Even that wasn’t saying much of anything — just about every major power on the continent had some presence there. It’s location deep in a high-mana zone full of rare materials and powerful beasts made it too valuable to the high-tiered to ignore.

He supposed it made sense for the frontier to have an entire Grandmaster to itself. Even with its low population, it was large and sat as a key intersection separating many significant powers. There was Mystral to the east; the Arboreal Sea, with its elven conclaves, above that; the Green Sea Dukedoms to the west; and the Altair Steppe to the south, home of the Hiwiann, with the Drozags further south still.

The Guild couldn’t just let such a pivotal crossroads grow wild and untamed. Still, regardless of its position and how large the frontier was, it still only had two major cities. If the Guild had a Grandmaster to run just that, it implied that there were an awful lot of them. A surprising thing if all of them were Golds — or higher, as they had been told.

“He was rather pleased to have met us,” Kaius said, replying to Yanira. “And, well, he wasn’t too dissatisfied with the information we had to share,” he said with a grin.

“Ha, I’ll bet,” Yanira replied. “And I double down that you all made a pretty penny from something as invaluable as the information on honours and those skills.”

Kaius only grinned. That they did. The conversation with Olmos had been fruitful indeed. The chance to upgrade their dynastic trait was a huge reward. With how rare and controlled the fruits were, that was no small move. Still, on the level of it, Kaius knew that what they had provided was in many senses more valuable. Honours alone could provide more stats than a simple upgraded trait. But, like the Grandmaster himself had said, it all becomes priceless in the end, and the difference had to be made up in goodwill.

They didn’t share their knowledge with the Guild because they thought the rewards would be worth more than what they would gain from secrecy. No, they’d done it because it was the right thing to do, because the world needed change. It was necessary if they were going to survive the changes that came with future steps in the integration.

Before their idle chatter could continue, Kaius heard the deep clacking thumps of someone tall and heavy walking down the hall, followed quickly by a knock on the door. Arc’theros entered shortly after. Kaius marveled at how a man so physically intimidating, clad in natural armor like some terrifying beast from the hells, could manage to be so visually meek and apologetic. The Defender of Grandbrook’s head hung low.

“This one apologizes for his delay and pleads for forgiveness. Hanrick was quite insistent that our meeting run its course.”

At the head of the room, Rieker gave the man a casual wave of his hand. “Think nothing of it, Arc. Hanrick’s an incorrigible blabbermouth. As soon as I found out you had a meeting with him before this, I expected a little delay. We haven’t been waiting long.”

Arc’theros only bowed his head and moved to take one of the many empty desks that were scattered around the room.

“Right then,” Rieker said, clapping his hands to draw everyone’s attention. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

The Guildmaster nodded to Ro, standing off to the side at the head of the room. “If you would.”

Ro nodded and walked to the front and center, standing in front of a map that showed Deadacre and its surrounding lands. In front of her was a podium — one that Kaius could see the subtle glow of mana emanating from. He assumed it was some sort of illusion projection system, similar to others he had seen in the Guild, one that Ro would potentially be able to use to aid in their brief.

“We have two major problems that have cropped up,” Ro started, “both of which carry the potential to be regional threats that could cause serious issues for not just Deadacre, but Grandbrook as well. We’re all aware of what they are: our problem of missing beasts and unknown imperial ruins beneath the city. Bronwyn and his team will be handling scouting out the beast threat while Kaius and his will explore the ruins.”

Ro waved her hand over the lectern in front of her, and a hazy glow spread out across the map behind her, covering a swathe of the territory southeast of Deadacre, stretching almost to the city walls.

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“We’ll start with the beasts. What you see on the map behind us is the extent of the affected area.”

Kaius raised his eyebrows. It stretched far beyond the bounds of Deadacre’s influence, a region hundreds of leagues across.

“The beast presence in these regions has decreased, falling to almost entirely absent. Towards the edges of the map, we know that they’re still out there, and, thanks to the information Kaius and his team have brought us, that they are likely a controlled force. But we need to know more. Anything that can control that swathe of territory is a dangerous thing. It is potentially a threat that will require full mobilization inside the frontier and the introduction of external help to quell it. To do that, however, we need something more concrete than a hunch from a group that had been running for their life at the time and a simple absence of danger.”

Kaius nodded. He knew it wasn’t a comment on their trustworthiness, rather an observation on the realities of the situation. Even if higher-ups knew of his presence, the Guild couldn’t force people to come to Deadacre. And his nebulous warnings wouldn’t be enough.

Ro stared at the lit-up swathe of the map. “We need a full scouting report from Bronwyn.” She nodded to the man. “You have the floor.”

Bronwyn nodded, rising from his seat as he strode to the head of the room.