Chapter 122 - Shaking The Deal

"I didn't expect to hear that," Claudia muttered as the two of them followed the guild master to the room in the back of the guild. 

"Don't tell me you didn't like it," Tom replied, putting a wide smile on his face. 

"And just when did you get the misconception that sleeping together would lead to that?" Claudia asked with a lovely smile, leaning her head over her shoulder. "Don't tell me you still live in the past age standards," she muttered a moment later before sending her elbow towards Tom's side. 

"Hey," Tom dodged, although only barely. "Can you stop with the nudges?" he asked in a normal voice. After all, there was nothing that they needed to hide about a small banter.. "I could handle it once or twice, but you are getting too used to hitting me like that," Tom protested, sending the girl a dreadful stare. 

"Stop looking at me like that," Claudia protested, wrapping her hands around her own chest as if in an attempt to make herself smaller. "What will you do if I piss myself?" she asked, lowering her head and looking at Tom with upturned eyes. 

"As if you would ever do that," Tom replied before shaking his head and dropping the topic. 

"Are you guys done, now?" the woman leading them asked, proving that Tom picked the right moment to cease the friendly fight. 

"You sound like you really want to give me the opportunity to create an even bigger mess," Tom said to the guild master before he could bite on his tongue to stop. This was one of the downsides of turning as powerful as he was. With his body improving beyond any level he could ever expect, it seemed that his brain seemingly lagged behind, making it a lot easier for both Tom and Claudia to jump the gun even in the simplest situations. 

"You know I didn't mean it in that way," the woman shook her head before raising her fist to her shoulder and pointing with her thumb at the doors behind her. "Still, you don't want to enter the treasury with that kind of attitude," she said as the corners of her lips twitched. 

"Is that a threat?" Tom asked, gently raising one of his eyebrows. 

"More like advice," the woman replied before releasing a long, depressed sigh. "Keep in mind that being a guild master is a given job, not one I got just by reaching the top. As such, I'm not the only and absolute authority of the guild," she added as her expression soured. 

Then, without any further delay or explanation, she turned around and pushed the doors open. 

"Get the fuck out," a low, deep voice instantly made itself present as soon as the doors pried open. Without any regard for the guild master's authority, whoever was inside was quick to lash at her and anyone else coming in. 

"Shut your crap," the woman replied as she indicated with her hand for Tom and Claudia to follow her. "I came here for all the money that you have," she said before reaching with her hand towards Tom. 

'That's... Well... Unexpected?' he thought, pulling out one of the grade five stones he had and passing it to the woman ahead. 

"What for?" the man asked, finally revealing himself from behind the counter. 

On its own, the overseer of the treasury didn't look like someone managing a vast amount of money. 'Doesn't he look like your average geek?' Tom thought, watching at the relatively young face of the man, hidden behind some massive glasses. 

Instead of some old geezer who ate his teeth at the job, the local treasurer appeared to be in the middle of his twenties. As much as Tom could tell through his clothing, he had no muscles at all nor the aura that would indicate some kind of magical prowess. 

To put it in simple words, the man was weak. As weak as the monsters on the early floors in the dungeon, if not even weaker. Yet, despite all of that, he had some kind of aura that made it hard, even for Tom, to tread lightly in his presence. 

"Here," the guild master placed Tom's stone on the man's counter as if she would slam a cup of beer in some low-key tavern. "They are stupid enough to sell it. I tried to talk them out of it, but who am I to refuse free profit?" she asked, glancing at Tom over her arm. 

"Grade five?" the hostility in the man's voice vanished without a trace as he leaned over the stone, focusing all of his attention on the item. "No, this is actually a pristine grade five stone!" he exclaimed a moment later, fixing the position of his glasses as if he blamed them for the unrealistic sight before his eyes. "And they are selling it?!" The man's voice turned weird when a tone of bewilderment found its way to his throat. 

"Yes, we are selling it," Tom said, taking a step closer and emerging from behind the guild master's back. "Unless you don't want us to, then we will take our business elsewhere," he added as he shrugged his arms. 

"No, I will take it," the treasurer instantly replied, clearly worried that Tom would turn his threat into reality. Then, the man raised his eyes at the guild master. "How much do we need to pay?" he asked as his hands trembled slightly.

'I guess they are really treating it as a treasure,' Tom thought, already forming several plans for several different contingencies. 'Well, worst-case scenario, if they are scamming us on the stone's worth, we will just burn this entire guild down,' he thought, looking up at the ceiling with curiosity. To his pleasure, the support beams were made out of some kind of wood, proving that the building would be susceptible for Tom's everblaze if using it inside ever proved to be necessary. 

"Forty princals," the guild master replied hastily as her face turned still. "Don't ask me why only this much. It's a part of a bigger deal," she said as a sour grimace took over her face. 

"And why would I ask?" the man looked at the woman as if she was some kind of stupid hoe. "Like you said before, there is no reason to refuse free profit!" he added as a smile grew on his lips only to brim from ear to ear in the very next moment. 

But instead of wasting his time on rejoicing, the man quickly sat back down and started to surf through a stack of papers hidden underneath his desk. 

"Right now," he started, only to turn silent as wrinkles appeared on his forehead, indicating just how focused he was, "We only have a quarter of that in the treasury, discounting for the daily operating costs," he said after a few more moments before casting a quick glance at Tom's face. "Will that suffice for now? I know this might be a bother, but we will need to auction this stone out to pay you the rest," he said, averting his eyes as if worried that this inconvenience could kill the deal. 

"I understand," Tom nodded his head, "how long will it take?" he asked, staring right into the man's eyes. 

"A week at most," the treasurer answered before biting his lips to the point when they started to bleed. "I will do my best to hasten the process. If I pulled some favors, I could get it done even in two days..." he said before turning silent as he hesitated. 

"But that would mean the price would fall down," Tom finished the man's sentence for him. Then, a small smile appeared on his lips. "To be frank, if you can get it done by tomorrow, I will settle for thirty princals," he added only to leisurely stretch his hands to the back. 

"Deal," the treasurer rocketed up from his chair, instantly pushing his hand forward in an attempt to seal the deal.

'I wonder how much the princals are worth,' Tom thought, reaching forward and shaking the man's hand. 

"Then, give me a moment," the treasurer said, breaking the handshake and running off to the back of his room. With a weirdly huge number of bookshelves filled with texts to the brim hiding the majority of the room, Tom couldn't even follow the man's movements.

'Huh?' he shrugged in surprise. 'I can't even track him by his aura!' Tom noticed, bewildered by the unexpected discovery. Yet, before he could even create a guess as to what just happened, the man returned with a small pouch in his hand. 

"Here," the treasurer said, slamming the pouch on the counter and opening its top. "Ten princals for the down payment," he said before passing the pouch to Tom. 

"I will be back to collect the rest tomorrow afternoon," Tom said, snatching the bag and turning around. 

"What now?" Claudia asked, not caring for the presence of other people around them. 

"Now," Tom started, only to put a huge smile on his face. "Now we go to eat something nice," he added before pulling the girl away from the room.