Golden Bother

"Hey, Rose!" Came a cheerful greeting from the entrance of the guild, as a young elf strode in under the wide-eyed looks of the rest of the lobby, including a redheaded Werewolf.

"Is that a Jack Bird?!" Rose asked stunned at seeing it squirm in Cassian's hand.

"No, it's my pet rooster that I painted gold."

Rose raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the sarcastic remark, causing Cassian to smirk in amusement.

"Yeah, it's a Jack Bird. We captured it just now when we were exiting the dungeon."

"How in the world did you even manage that? Those things are fast and mobile enough to outmaneuver level-two adventurers. Killing one is already considered impressive, capturing one would take a level 3!"

"If it's that hard to catch up to, then you just have to outsmart it." Cassian shrugged and winked at her in a knowing manner. Getting the hint, Rose did not press the subject anymore. "Anyway, how much do they go for?"

"Hmm, the golden egg they drop usually sells for around 1 million with the guild. Captured Jack Birds are even rarer so they go for around 15 times that. You can get more for it, but you'd have to look for buyers and arrange the exchange yourself."

"15 million Valis? Impressive. Why do they cost this much anyway? Do they have any special properties or something?"

"No, it's because of their rarity and luxury, they are rather hard to obtain since lower-level adventurers have difficulty catching them, and for higher-level ones, it would be inefficient to spend their time meandering on the 1st floor, hoping one would appear. Usually, they are bought by wealthy merchants and nobles as a way to show off their status and wealth. They are not valuable in the same way a precious crafting material is. Their value comes from simple vanity."

"Ah, should've guessed." Cassian shook his head with a bit of disdain. He always did prefer practicality over vanity, but that may have been the result of his upbringing. "Anyway, I'd like to sell this Jack Bird then, along with today's loot."

"Of course, give me a moment." Rose retreated from the desk to task one of the employees to bring a cage for the Jack Bird. It may not be hostile or dangerous, but if it escaped, catching it would be a pain in the ass. "You can hand over the drops to one of the clerks for assessment."

"Sure." Cassian then slung off the loot bags, including Nico's and Leo's that they gave him, from his body and handed them over to one of the clerks. "While they are at that, I wanted to talk to you."

"How can I help you?"

"Well, there are 2 things. First, we're searching for a house to buy and move to. Can you give recommendations?"

"Of course, can you give me specifications? Where do you want one to be located and what's your budget?" Rose asked as she pulled out a thick journal from one of the shelves.

"Around 20 to 50 million Valis. As for the location, I'm not sure, I'd like it to be near the dungeon, but can you explain more about different spots?"

"Sigh, I should be shocked at such an absurd number from barely minted adventurers, but I guess there is no point in it anymore. Very well, there are 8 districts the city is divided in. I suggest eliminating both Southeast districts. One is the entertainment district, certainly not a good place to live in due to immense traffic and noise, while the upper one houses the Daedalus Street, so the overall living conditions are not the best." Rose started mentally going over the landscape of Orario.

"Lower Northeastern and upper northwestern districts are the industrial districts. Same as the entertainment district, living there would not be ideal. This leaves the remaining 4 districts, all of which would be a good place to live in. Any other specifications?"

"Close to this guild branch maybe."

"Lower Northwest District then. The outer ring is mainly occupied by the super wealthy individuals or groups, with giant estates, like Folkvangr and Twilight Manor, so that may be out of your budget. The middle or inner ring will be the best. Size?"

"Big, very much so, with a manor big enough to house a couple dozen individuals and lots of land for possible future developments."

"Hmm, that spikes up the price. Okay, let me sort this out." Rose started flipping through the journal for appropriate estates and continued to do so for the next five minutes, before taking out several dozen sheets of paper and stacking them up. "Here, these 45 estates fit in your description well. The prices range from 35 million Valis to 70. You can have them and go over them as much as you want. The addresses are also listed so you can check out the ones that interest you."

Taking the offered stack of papers, Cassian flashed a smile at Rose and expressed his gratitude.

"Thank you, Rose, this helps a lot. I was worried I'd have to do real estate hunting myself with nothing to go on."

"You're quite welcome. Helping you is my job as your advisor." She returned with a slight smile, which she herself had not noticed, gracing her beautiful face.

Cassian could suddenly feel dozens of pairs of hostile eyes burning a hole in the back of his head. Not wanting to agitate the situation any further than his fiasco with the Jack Bird, he quickly shifted the subject.

"As for the second subject. Ah-" He was interrupted by the guild employee coming back. One with a cage and the other with the calculation.

"Sir, if you would please place the Jack Bird in the cage." The Chienthrope with brown hair held out the small cage with the front open.

Cassian complied and shoved the golden rooster in there, before the guild employee quickly shut the cage door, trapping it in there. Over the course of dragging the chicken over Orario, it had gone remarkably docile after realizing the futility of struggling and giving up, now though it started thrashing against the walls with renewed vigor.

"Your total amount has been calculated as 865,000 Valis. So, the total payout would be 15,865,000 Valis. Would you like to receive it in coins or added to your bank account?" Asked the second employee as the first one hauled away the Jack Bird.

This was one of the reasons the guild held so much power and authority in the city. In addition to its administrative role, the guild also functioned as the city's primary banking institution, making it the central figure of Orario's economy. In addition to having a monopoly over the magic stone market, and the Guild essentially established itself as the key component of the city. If anything happens to them, Orario faces total economic collapse and risks descent into a dystopian, lawless warzone.

That's why familias have to accept the guild's authority and economic decisions, such as taxes and laws, or they can be isolated and sanctioned into poverty with relative ease by the guild.

"Deposit it into the Hecate familia bank account. Also, if I could get some promissory notes, please?"

"Certainly sir." The clerk walked off to complete the request.

Back to Rose, Cassian continued his previous discussion. "Anyway, as I was saying, the second thing I need, are supporters. When we went down to the middle floors, we discovered that our pace is significantly bogged down by the need to process the monster corpses."

Random people as supporters would create some problems in terms of privacy and secrecy of certain subjects, but the amount of time they needed to spend after each battle harvesting the monsters was horribly inefficient. He would simply have to figure things out for that, like maybe a subtle Axii to ignore certain things, or keeping them more hidden, like the monsters needed to sustain Leo's buff.

"Yes, I thought you may need a new supporter now that Leo joined your familia. Although, supporters? As in multiple?" She asked with a questioning look.

"Yep, I doubt a single one would be able to keep up and not slow us down. 2 or 3 should be ideal."

"Sigh, you do realize how ridiculous you are right? If any other fledgling adventurer dared to even insinuate that they needed multiple supporters to keep up with their pace, they would be laughed out of the guild." Her tone was filled with exasperation.

"Heh, what can I say, we're simply special." The smug smirk he wore made Rose want to smack it off.

"You're not overworking that poor girl to the bone, are you?" She asked with narrowed eyes.

"Oh no, in fact, she turned out to be quite a beast herself. She's already capable of keeping pace with us and not falling behind in any way. I am quite happy to have her in my familia, and have you to thank for introducing her to us."

"Hmph, I knew she was special, I've seen many adventurers come and go, and few have had eyes as determined as her." She remarked with slight pride, although there was a faint tinge of sadness to her words.

"Pft, you say that, and yet you didn't know she was a girl before recently?"

"Please, you actually think she had me as fooled as she did your brother?" Rose asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You knew?" Cassian was surprised.

"Of course, her act was not as convincing as she believed."

"And here I thought I was the one with special perception. Why'd you play along with it?"

"Because it was none of my business. It was her secret and if she wanted to cross-dress, who am I to deny her?"

"Ah, fair enough, I guess."

"Anyway, finding free supporters for you will be hard. Not only are they usually rare, but few of them would even think of going down to the middle floors. And even if they did, without a Falna, they would be a huge liability and simply slow you down. If you want to recruit supporters, they'll have to be from another familia. Are you fine with that?"

"As long as their familia is not shady and you think they're trustworthy, I have no problem with it."

"Hmm, I can think of a few candidates. I'll ask around for more details and have something ready for you in a day or two. Now, if there is nothing left, off you go. You've taken up the queue for long enough." She waved him off.

"Heh, tactful as always. Thanks for this Rose, I know you've been going well above the defined duties of an advisor. I'm grateful for that and if you ever need anything, just ask. I'll help to the best of my capacity."

"Yes, yes, whatever." Though try as she might, she couldn't feign indifference.

Cassian smirked, happy to have further breached her walls. He took the estate documents and the promissory notes for the Hecate familia and headed out of the guild.

He thought of going back directly to their suite, but looking up at the sky, he determined it to still be early in the evening. So, he decided to start heading towards the industrial zone for some forging. He still had 6 pieces of gear to complete for the Takemikazuchi familia members and several of them had already described their desired gear. Might as well get one over with today.

Cassian started making his way over to his workshop, but fate seemed to have conspired against him, as he saw someone come to an abrupt halt ahead of him and start gawking at him with her jaw wide open.

It was a girl with a graceful, slender body and long legs she had clearly put on display. She had vibrant golden hair cascading down her shoulders and the most beautiful green eyes Cassian had ever seen.

Finally, getting her bearings together, she elegantly strode forward towards him with a wide smile.

'Ah, this is going to be a headache, isn't it…' Cassian could only sigh in resignation.