TBAGM Vol. 1 Chapter 2 Part 5

Later that morning—

Ellis and I had visited over ten blacksmith and alchemist guilds, and now we were eating lunch at a café…empty-handed.

“As expected, every last one turned us down…”

Just as we feared, none had agreed to a partnership.

Apart from One-Eyed Workshop, we hadn’t even gotten to the negotiation stage.

It was clear Kyros had already pressured them behind the scenes.

“Do we really need partnership contracts?”

“Yeah. It’s not absolutely mandatory, but… I’d rather have them.”

Of the 25 adventurer guilds besides Veiled Moonrise, a few operated without partnerships.

But they were all scraping the bottom.

That wasn’t the kind of guild we were trying to build.

“We’ve already visited all the big names, haven’t we?”

Ellis furrowed her brows and hummed in thought.

She was right: we had covered all the major players.

That’s not to say smaller guilds were inherently bad.

But smaller outfits were harder to negotiate with.

They lacked experience and were often stubborn or eccentric; frankly, tough to work with.

“I do have one last idea up my sleeve. Might be worth betting on.”

“What kind of idea?”

Ellis’s expression grew tense.

No surprise; we’d spent all morning walking. Even I was starting to feel it.

I looked her straight in the eye and said:

“I’ll build our own blacksmith and alchemist guilds.”

“…Huh?”

Her voice cracked with disbelief.

Well, we did just found Veiled Moonrise a week ago.

I suppose her surprise was only natural.

“You’re… you’re cheating on me!?”

Huh? What? I’m cheating?

“Pfft! Huh!? Cheating!?”

The shock almost made me spit out my tea. Ellis stood up, her cheeks burning red.

“Because it’s true… You’re abandoning the child we made together…”

Abandoning a child!? Ah—oh. She means the guild. The guild! …Still, seriously?

Was that accidental, or on purpose? Well, knowing Ellis, it’s probably the former.

“Wait, wait, wait! That’s not what I—”

We were in a café. A public space. Naturally, every nearby customer turned their judgmental eyes on me.

“Trouble in paradise, kid? Maybe don’t cheat next time.”

“He dumped her after she got pregnant? What trash.”

“Seriously. Guys like him are the worst.”

Their total misunderstanding stabbed me repeatedly like emotional daggers.

For the record, I’ve never had a girlfriend in my entire life. Ever. So how did I end up here?

“It’s not cheating! Just sit down already!”

“Then what do you mean!?”

“I’m saying I’m going to start a new guild, and have it operate under Veiled Moonrise.”

I gently coaxed Ellis back into her seat. Please, no more shouting. I don’t need any more undeserved slander.

“Can I hear the details, then?”

“Yeah. But let’s head back to the guild first. It’s a bit awkward talking here.”

It’s not like I was cowering from the surrounding glares.

Though, yes, they hurt like hell. But there was a bigger concern.

If it’s that meticulously prepared Kyros we’re talking about, there’s no doubt he has someone watching us here too.

“Eh? O-Okay.”

Ellis seemed confused by the sudden suggestion but nodded. We paid the bill and quickly left the café.

†

At that same moment, what I feared was already happening.

(C-Cheating!? W-What does she mean!?)

Wraith, the intelligence officer of Incarnation of the Sun, was secretly following us on Kyros’s orders.

She had snuck into the café earlier and pretended to read a magazine while eavesdropping. Lloyd’s wary whispers had made it hard to hear anything clearly, but the one word Ellis had shouted, “cheating,” had come through loud and clear.

(Wait… they’re leaving without explaining anything?)

Lloyd and Ellis left the café without clarifying a thing.

Naturally, Wraith continued her pursuit.

“Did I really need to be the one to come all the way out here for this?”

Wraith followed the two as they made their way back to the guild, muttering a complaint.

Wraith was the leader of the Zero Unit; Incarnation of the Sun’s covert operations team under Kyros’s direct control.

Their missions didn’t involve dungeon raiding. Their job was intelligence work and rooting out corruption within their own guild.

The unit had originally been proposed and staffed by Lloyd. Among them, Wraith had always stood out for her talent.

.

[Name]	Wraith (23)
[Title]	Incarnation of the Sun – B-rank Adventurer, Leader of Zero Unit
[Stats]	Vitality: B/A    Magic: B/B    Ambition: C/ALeadership: D/A    Intelligence: C/A
[Skills]	Ambush – B/A    Information Manipulation – C/A    Information Theft – B/A
[Profession]	Assassin
[Attributes]	Agility: B/A    Dark Vision: B/B    Strength: C/C

.

She was a prodigy: wielding both Information Manipulation and Information Theft. 

Originally a total nobody with D-rank stats across the board, she’d risen to B-rank thanks to Lloyd’s eye for talent. But Wraith herself believed it was all thanks to Kyros and thought little of Lloyd.

(Let me guess. He was just listed as an S-rank for appearances. Kyros probably pulled strings for him.)

Wraith lacked an Appraisal skill, but she had a sense for people’s strength, and she pegged Lloyd as a C or D at best. No way someone like that could’ve led anything without charity.

“They’ve gone inside…”

She watched Lloyd and Ellis enter Veiled Moonrise’s guild house, then crept closer.

Normally she wouldn’t risk getting this close. But this time, her instincts screamed not to miss what came next.

“If I don’t hear this conversation, I’ll regret it later.”

Staying out of sight, she placed her foot on the outer wall.

“Alright, just climb up and—”

She’d done this countless times. She was sure she wouldn’t be caught.

But then—someone growled from beside her, voice laced with killing intent.

“Well, well… What’s a damn rat from that trash guild doing sneakin’ around here?”

†

When we returned to the guild, I immediately called Ellis into my room.

Thanks to Orgus’s arrangements, a soundproof barrier had been installed in my quarters. 

Even if the Zero Unit was operating nearby, there was no chance of our conversation leaking out.

When I invited Ellis to my room, Serina had given me a knowing grin. She was clearly misunderstanding something. I would have to explain things to her properly later.

Now that I thought about it, Orgus had also seemed oddly amused when he informed me about the barrier.

Yeah… I’d better make absolutely sure I didn’t misuse it.

“This is your room, Lord Lloyd…? It’s… rather plain.”

“Sorry for being plain. I just don’t have much to put in here.”

Ellis perched herself on the bed while I took the chair.

This wasn’t the guildmaster’s office, but rather the room I used for sleeping.

Naturally, only the bare essentials were here: a bed, a desk, a chair, and a single ornamental plant.

“Well, let’s continue where we left off.”

“You’re really going to establish two new guilds?”

“Yeah. That’s the plan.”

That said, Veiled Moonrise had only been founded thanks to Orgus’s immense support. 

Normally, if an ordinary person asked to establish a guild, the answer would be an immediate rejection.

But that only applied to the Adventurer’s Association.

“Creating a blacksmith guild or an alchemist guild is easier—at least just applying for one. Think of it more like registering a brand.”

There were hundreds of blacksmith and alchemist guilds across the country.

Most of them were small, privately run guilds, barely recognized.

Rather than rely on an unknown guild, it would be faster to make one ourselves.

“I can find talented people. But… there’s one problem.”

“Problem? What kind of problem?”

Seeing my expression tighten, Ellis asked with genuine concern.

Truthfully, if not for this one problem, I would have chosen this route from the start.

But now that we couldn’t depend on any major guilds, we had no choice but to face it.

“With partnership contracts, we could have arranged installment payments. Even a weak guild like ours wouldn’t have had to shoulder massive debts upfront.”

A partnership contract was built on mutual trust.

You would receive equipment upfront, dive into dungeons, earn profits, and then pay off the costs gradually.

That was the norm.

Only giants like Incarnation of the Sun could afford to pay everything in one lump sum.

But when it came to founding a guild, installment payments weren’t an option.

“To establish a guild, you need massive initial capital—not just for the building, but also for equipment, supplies, and materials. It’s not something we can afford right now.”

Even if we started tackling dungeons, right now it was just Ellis and me.

There was no way we could pull in huge profits immediately.

At this rate, it would take years of steady work before we could even think about founding a guild.

“That’s why I was planning to… take out a loan.”

It was a last resort, but at present, it seemed like the best solution.

Seeing me troubled, Ellis’s face softened in relief.

“I told you, didn’t I? Leave the funding to me. I’ll go negotiate for an investment right away.”

“…What?”

“You thought I was joking? Don’t worry. This much is within my responsibilities.”

Had I thought she was joking?

Honestly… yes, I had.

Who in their right mind would invest in Veiled Moonrise at this stage?

Any sane investor would see us as a massive risk.

At best, it would be a scam.

Still, Ellis puffed out her chest confidently.

“Just leave it to me! I’ll secure the funds somehow!”

“Wait, who exactly is this inves—”

I was about to ask for details when Serina’s voice called from outside the door.

“Lord Lloyd, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor? I—I’ll be right there!”

Who could it be at a time like this?

I quickly left Ellis behind and hurried to the reception room.

—

When I arrived, I found a young man sipping tea, freshly served by Serina.

He had striking crimson hair and carried himself with an aura of strength.

As soon as he spotted me, he sprang to his feet and bowed.

“Ah, ah, it’s been so long, Mr. Lloyd! Sorry for barging in like this!”

The young man seemed extremely nervous, his smile stiff, his entire demeanor oddly strained.

But more importantly, why was he here?

I couldn’t hide my shock.

“…Ne-Nero!?”

It was none other than Nero; one of my former pupils from the Incarnation of the Sun.

 †