Chapter 15

—A Week Later—

Arriving at the Merchant's Guild for a morning meeting with the Adventurer and Merchant Guildmasters, I showed my family emblem to one of the receptionists when I arrived at the counter. Requesting that she notify the Guildmasters of my arrival, she looked at me briefly before her eyes opened wide with excitement.

"You must be Leon Fou Bartfort, we have been expecting you nya!", the young, cat-eared receptionist said, with a toothy smile, "Please follow me, I will take you to see the Guildmaster nya!"

Rising from her seat, the receptionist told her colleagues she would be back before putting a closed sign on her station. Motioning for me to follow her, we headed into the Staff Only area of the Guild Hall and proceeded up several flights of stairs. Winded by the time we reached the fifth floor, the poor woman slumped over trying to catch her breath.

"Your Guildmaster must be incredibly muscular and fit to walk up here every day.", I remarked, giving her a moment to steady her breathing.

"The Guildmaster can use Teleportation Magic, the rest of us have to walk…nya.", she panted, wiping the sweat from her brow, "Do you have any inventions in your head to fix this problem, nya? Rumor has it you are a genius so I thought…maybe you could help us, nya. Hauling boxes up to storage every month damn near kills us, nya."

"It is doable, assuming the Guildmaster approved it, I could install a lift in the Guild Hall. I would need an area roughly ten feet by ten feet that went from the top floor to the bottom floor. Using one of my levitation platforms, it could haul everything up to the designated floor you want to go to.", I said, rubbing my chin, "Add in my dollies, and it would make short work of moving large boxes of documents or shipping crates."

"Nya, you must tell the Guildmaster of your suggestion!! All of the staff members would be eternally grateful to you, nya!!", she pleaded, giving me a sheepish smile, "If you were to do it, I would be more than happy to show you my gratitude in bed, nya."

"Haha…you do not need to go that far. Save yourself for the man you fall in love with. The Guild would pay me for the work so please do not worry about it.", I told her, 'Jeez lady, we just met and you are offering to sleep me for a freight elevator?! Just how many documents are all of you hauling around every month!?'

Taking a few additional moments to steady her breathing, the receptionist got back on her feet and continued leading me. Heading to the right of the stairs, we walked by several private conference rooms and stopped before two enormous stone statues. Showing them her Guild Badge, their eyes lit up briefly before the iron door they were guarding opened.

'They take security seriously here.', I thought, "I assume the statues allow the Guildmaster to see who is standing outside this door?"

"That is correct, nya!", she acknowledged, "To activate the system, we show our badges to the statues, nya. If someone were to attempt to enter, with or without a badge forcibly, the statues would turn them into ashes, nya. Since I have worked here, it has happened maybe five or ten times, nya."

Stepping into the room alongside me, the cat woman introduced me to her boss before promptly turning to leave. Pleading with me to tell him about the lift, she swore she would rock my world if I helped them out. Retreating from the room before I could respond, I let out a frustrated sigh after the door closed.

"Whatever she said, I am sorry!", a well-dressed, lean man stated, from behind a large, cedar desk, "My name is Hamilton Hendrickson, I am the guildmaster for the Merchant's Guild."

"I am the guildmaster for the Adventurer's Guild, as well as his brother. My name is Nicholas Hendrickson.", a much more muscular version of Hamilton laughed, sitting beside him, "Pleasure to finally meet you, kid!"

Calmly approaching the desk, the three of us exchanged firm handshakes before I took a seat in front of the desk. Presenting the men with gifts, I gave both of them a bottle of Bartfort Whiskey Five Year. Having already received praise from the King for my "new" alcoholic beverage, I felt it was only right to give each of them a bottle.

"Oh my, these bottles are exquisite!", Hamilton remarked, holding the bottle up to the light coming in from the wall of windows behind his desk, "The amber color of this liquid is mesmerizing."

"Bartfort Whiskey Five Year…is this the stuff that you have had Lucoa tasting?!", Nicholas shouted, jumping almost four feet off the ground, "Hot damn, she has sent many glowing reviews about the various alcohols you have been making back home. Do you mind if I pop it open now?!"

"By all means, they are gifts.", I said, handing them two roughly made Glencairn glasses, "Please let me know what you think."

Accepting the ornate-looking glass cups, the two men popped their bottles open and poured themselves a small amount. Taking a sniff of the aroma coming from the glasses, they let out a relaxed sigh and took a sip. Closing their eyes as they did so, both of them sunk into their seats blissfully.

"Ah…now that is some fine alcohol.", Hamilton stated, "I can taste hints of honey, cherries, and maple syrup in this drink."

"Haha, Lucoa was not lying when she said it was strong stuff!", Nicholas chuckled, "This would go great with a cigar!"

"Brother, you are brilliant!", Hamilton responded, pulling two out of a container on his desk, "My apologies Leon, I would offer you one but you are still a bit young for smoking."

"It is not a problem, I am just happy you like the alcohol. I hope to start mass-producing a lesser version for the public, and something slightly more refined for the nobility.", I told them, "As Lucoa may have told you, I am currently making several new types and varieties of alcohol that should be ready for market in a year or two. When they are ready, I hope we can come to a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Of course!", Hamilton agreed wholeheartedly, "Just this kind alone will make you a very rich man. I can assure you that nothing comes remotely close to this in quality and taste."

Thanking him for the compliment, I gave the brothers some time to finish their drinks and cigars. Sitting there, enjoying the relative silence in the room, the three of us relaxed and took a short break before getting back into our meeting.

—Thirty Minutes Later—

Tossing their spent cigars in the trash, the men resealed their bottles and tucked them safely away in their coats. Getting straight back to business, Hamilton pulled out a folder from his desk and sat it on the table. Opening it up, he began sifting through the small stack of papers inside.

"So, Leon Fou Bartfort, my brother and I both see a lot of potential in you as an inventor, merchant, and adventurer. Your Levitating Platforms and Dollies have revolutionized the way shipping can be done. Not only are we able to load and unload ships faster, but our dock crews are sustaining injuries over seventy percent less now.", Hamilton said, with a big grin, "With that in mind, the Merchant's Guild would like to contract you to retrofit twenty of our busiest harbors. Assuming that we see the numbers change the way I think they will, once you are done, we will contract you to complete the remaining harbors in our jurisdiction."

"That works for me.", I agreed, "We can discuss the finer details and distribution of goods I am producing at a later time. I have three years to complete all the ports before I attend the Academy. By that time everything should be done, and I will just be overseeing the manufacturing of my goods back home."

Agreeing to discuss this later at length, Hamilton motioned to his brother to speak now. Shifting to a more attentive position, Nicholas cleared his throat and began with an apology.

"To start with, I want to be honest with you…at first I thought you and your girlfriend were just two kids stealing from hardworking adventurers. Never in the guild's history has a five and a half year old kid cleared a dungeon, nor has anyone managed to clear nearly eighty dungeons before coming of age. With Lucoa's testimony and all the drops you have brought back, there can be no doubt now that you are the real deal. As the guildmaster of the Adventurer's Guild, you have my sincerest apology for doubting you.", Nicholas said, lowering his head remorsefully, "As much as I would like to officially make you an Adventurer right now, as you are only twelve, we must wait till you are sixteen. Giving you the title now would cause you more harm than good I am afraid."

In the Holfort Kingdom, becoming an Adventurer before the age of eighteen made you a legal adult. For noble children not born as a female or the first/second son, this option gave young men a means of escaping an arranged marriage that benefitted the family. In many cases, young men in my position would end up married off to old, widowed hags, or ugly noblewomen who did not find a partner during their time at the Academy. That was what almost happened to the original character I took the place of, but he became an Adventurer before the marriage happened.

"I understand, it would be a sticky situation for a twelve year old to become an adult. Other boys in my position would probably die trying to mimic what Roxanne and I have done.", I acknowledged, "Since I have to wait a bit…does that mean I will start at a higher rank than a newbie would?"

"Haha, that can be arranged.", Nicholas laughed, amused by my request, "I will start Roxanne and you off as B-Rank adventurers."

"Could we maybe have Lucoa as a personal receptionist as well?", I inquired, "I heard she had a bad falling out here at your HQ. If it is not possible, I understand."

Cracking a smile, Nicholas nodded his head in agreement. Assuming that there was something I did not know, I asked him if something was wrong.

"It is just humorous that it was a nobleman that got her thrown out of the capital, and it is a nobleman that will end up bringing her back.", he chuckled, "I am not sure how much she told you, but her banishment from the capital was the result of a spat she got into with the son of a nobleman. He and his party of adventurers like to flirt with the receptionists all the time, and sometimes they cross the line between harmless and violent."

"Yeah, she told me she scorched them and was banished because no one backed her up.", I remarked.

"That is partially true, in reality, it was either send her to the countryside or watch her be enslaved for harming a noble. The kid's father wanted her turned into a Criminal Slave for harming his boy, but I think we both know what the real goal was.", Nicholas said, with a scowl, "To avoid her suffering that fate, I had my staff keep quiet about what happened and sent her away to the countryside. I understand she is upset about them not standing up for her, but had they done so, all of them would have likely been enslaved for embarrassing a noble family."

"I take it the family is a Marquess or higher?", I inquired.

"They are an Earl's Household, specifically the "Purchased" household no one likes.", Nicholas sighed, "Their second son is a real piece of work. He assaulted two other staff members before making a move on Lucoa, she was the only one to fight back. The others were too afraid for their families to resist."

Recalling that they were a shady bunch of people, I decided to start doing some digging on them in the future. Seeing as they would cause issues for my space ventures and targeted Lucoa, it was only fair that I remove them from existence. Whether I used a space laser, a mini nuke, or even a 500kg bomb, they would not be a threat for very long.

"Ahem…so moving things to a more lighthearted topic.", Hamilton said, switching gears on us, "I received a notice from Queen Mylene that you had items you wanted to sell to us."

"Oh, do you have anything that would be handy for adventurers?!", Nicholas asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"I do have some.", I chuckled, pulling several different items out of my Item Box, "Let me walk you through what I brought with me."

—3rd Person POV—

Arriving behind schedule, as no one understood how to pilot Leon's ship properly, the Bartforts and Lucoa arrived in port as Zola's ship was being unloaded. Mooring the ship, Lucoa jumped off the ship and began heading into the city.

"Wait a moment, we will come with you!", Luce shouted, as she and her family disembarked.

"Well then hurry up!", Lucoa retorted, "Based on his itinerary, he should be at the Merchant's Guild Hall right now."

Catching up to Lucoa in a hurry, the four of them ran into the city to find Leon. With only seven days left before the auction, they did not have time to lose.