Chapter 104 – A new business venture?

Two hands were raised for and two against Armand being relieved of his position as an instructor. The ones that were against it was the man with the scars on his face which didn’t come as a surprise to Roland. The man was a similar type of person as Armand and he wanted to settle it with a fistfight instead.

The other person that was against it came as a surprise as the woman with the glasses that was a receptionist raised it. He could somewhat tell that she hesitantly raised that hand for some reason. Was this Armand guy blackmailing her or did they have some history?

The old lady and gnome that were clearly people that worked more with their brains were for it though. It all came down to the guild master now, would he choose to fire Armand or would he keep him here. The impression Roland had through the interactions here was that they two were close.

It was as if the guild master was an older brother that liked to make fun of their younger sibling. He would constantly laugh at his anger outbreaks while pointing his finger but not like Roland could do much about it. The real perpetrators were banned from the guild so this was already a win for him.

“Two against two? Maybe little Elodia shouldn’t have been assigned to this hearing…”

The man commented while rubbing his chin, his bald head shining in the room light. This comment only strengthened Roland in his beliefs that the woman was involved with Armand in one way or another. The woman in question just turned her face to the side while evading the gaze of the other people in the room.

“You put this old man in a tough position.”

He shrugged a bit while standing up, after a few steps he was in front of Armand that continued to be in a foul mood. The large bald man from the goliath race smiled brightly while the recipient looked even more dejected.

“Don’t worry Armand, you can keep your adventurer card.”

‘Here it comes…’

Roland wanted to give out a sigh as it seemed that this rowdy adventurer would be getting out of this without losing his position.

“I knew I could count on you old man!”

Armand rejoiced and wanted to stand up while grinning in Roland’s direction. Before he could go through with that a large hand was placed on his shoulder and kept him in place.

“I’m not finished yet, brat.”

The man’s voice got colder and the aura around him also changed.

“You can keep it, but it will need to be updated as your position as an instructor will become vacant.”

“Old man, what are you…”

“It seems like I’ve been too lax on you. Ever since you got here you have been picking fights with everyone that was up for it. Then when someone comes along that can contend with you, you do nothing but complaint like a little brat!”

Soon Roland could see the guild master grabbing Armand’s other shoulder and slowly lifting him up into the air. With both, his mitt-sized palms clenching together even Armand with his large frame looked like a small child in comparison.

“I gave you too much freedom! And what do you do with it? Attack a Runesmith in my city? Do you want our guild to go bankrupt or something?”

The conversations soon shifted into something that Roland didn’t expect. It started to sound like the guild master was more concerned about offending a Runesmith than about what Armand was actually doing.

“He is a human Rumesmith of all things! Do you know how rare those are? Do you realize how hard it is to find a Runesmith that isn’t forced into the dwarven union? Huh? Do you?”

‘Dwarven Union?’

Roland knew this name, it was a huge behemoth of united dwarven companies. At one point all of the dwarven craftsmen gathered under a large banner to hike up the prices of the magical items.

They were the gatekeepers of 80% of all the magical weapons, armor, and items. Their race had a natural knack for smithing and creating, which also caused them to have the most Runesmiths from everyone.

Being a Runesmth and a Dwarven Runesmith was also seen differently. The race of craftsmen had a long history and shared secrets among each other. They were seen as superior item makers. When people had a choice between a human or a dwarf they would always go with the latter for blacksmithing.

“S-stop shaking me around o-old man!”

The guild master continued to berate Armand while finally letting him down to the ground. He then turned over to Elodia while maintaining the menacing look.

“Go file the paperwork and don’t think I don’t know what you were trying to do here. Next time something like this happens you will also be out of a job.”

The woman with glasses went pale in the face while bowing before the guild master.

“My apologies, I’ll go get it done swiftly.”

The other guild members that were here remained silent and soon started to stand up. Armand was a bit stunned by the decision and it looked like he wanted to say something. One stare from the large man that owned this place was enough to make him not to.

“Okay, everyone get back to work, this hearing is now over!”

Armand managed to stand up from the ground and it looked like he wanted to contest this decision. Before he could do that Elodia approached him started to yank him out of the room. In time Armand dropped his shoulders in defeat and followed along, the look of defeat plastered on his face.

The two didn’t look all that happy about this resolution but the guild master word was the rule. They soon left probably to carry out the orders. Armand would be keeping his adventurer card but he would lose his position. He was still a promising silver rank adventurer so this wasn’t the end of the world for him.

There were many ways to make money even without those bonuses he received by being an instructor. For Roland this was enough of a punishment, he didn’t want to push his luck with this guild master that was now showing some interest in him.

At his word, the people started to stand up. Bernir that was next to Roland remained quite quiet during this whole predicament. The half-dwarf looked a bit pale, probably a bit affected by the guild master’s killing aura.

“Everyone but you kid that is.”

“Huh?”

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Roland was about to call it a day but was held back by a rather large hand. He considered himself to be tall but this guild master made him look like a ten-year-old.

“Me? Is there something else?”

He looked up at the man, the baldy before him was back to being all smiles. This person was quite fast to change his mood. It was better not to get on his bad side though, otherwise you could be shaken around violently like Armand.

“Yes human Runesmith, we need to talk about money.”

Roland wanted to refuse at first but after thinking it through he just nodded. This was the guild master he was talking with. There was a certain degree of respect that he was required to show here.

Otherwise, he could be very well removed from the guild as well. Besides that, he was also interested in what this man was offering. It seemed that he wanted to strike a deal with him, probably to craft weapons for the guild while abandoning the auction house.

“About money?, not that many guilds offer runic weapons or armor.”

“Exactly.”

The bald man nodded while the others slowly removed themselves from this room. Bernir remained next to Roland while not knowing what to do. He wasn’t really an adventurer so he didn’t feel like the guild master here could order him around. The only person he would actually listen to was his own boss.

“It’s fine Bernir, just wait for me this shouldn’t take long.”

Roland told Bernir to wait for him mostly as he wasn’t sure if his assistant should be walking back home alone without protection. He looked a bit meek today and was probably stressed after seeing Dread End try to escape from their faith.

“Okay boss.”

“Just don’t drink too much…”