14. Guildmaster

14. Guildmaster

Sitting cross-legged on the floor of her office, Rune stared at the wooden coffer holding her reward. The completion of her [Guildmaster] quest had come, as promised, with a fresh pile of gold coins. They glinted in the light, stacked high, at least a hundred of them. Maybe more. She would have to count.

"Holy biscuits," Rune murmured, unable to tear her eyes away. "That's a lot of freaking money, Gryphon."

Gryphon meowed loudly in agreement. Rune idly scratched under his chin, the gray-haired cat straining upward to give better access.

"It's even minted properly," she mumbled, leaning forward and plucking a gold coin out of the box to study. "Not even like they're from a dungeon. Straight up, magically appearing, minted Liren gold coins. What the heck."

Gryphon bumped his head into Rune's knee, who had briefly gotten lost in her astonishment.

"What should I do with it?" she asked, obediently returning to petting him.

It wasn't like there was an obvious choice. Or rather, there were too many obvious choices, considering how far behind Rune's guild was. They needed a training yard. A vault. A proper dining room. A proper common room. To put it plainly, the entire house needed to be torn down and rebuilt as a standard guildhall. The [Schematic Builder]'s simple six-bedroom house had been all she could afford, and while it did the job—it put a roof over their heads—it certainly wasn't the 'real thing.'

"Being a [Guildmaster] is hard," Rune complained, falling backward and splaying her arms out. She flailed her limbs in impotent frustration.

In response, Gryphon climbed onto her stomach and started kneading.

"Even cheating, is it possible?" she asked the air. "I've got a skill that makes gold out of thin air for doing what any Guildmaster would have to, but it still feels like I'll get nowhere. We've only just got our first members, and they're level ones." In Flint's case, not even that. He had no class whatsoever.

Not that she was complaining about the three arrivals. She was ecstatic she'd gotten anybody to join her guild. Rune was entirely aware of how little she offered. That they were willing to pay guild dues for such a meager suite of benefits was a blessing.

Though, unlike most guilds, the income she would be making from guild dues was almost irrelevant. Paltry, compared to what she earned for completing her class quests.

[Guildmaster].

What the heck kind of class was that, anyway? She'd never heard of anything like it. Sure, classes came from anywhere, and imitated common societal roles, like [Banker] or [Builder] or [Farmer] or almost anything else under the sun, but [Guildmaster]? Rune hadn't found even the smallest mention of such a thing. Only peripheral classes like, perhaps, [Manager] or other administrative-leaning roles, which were already uncommon on their own.

As far as she knew, she was the only [Guildmaster] in the entire world.

And the class was strong too.

Not in the throw-fireballs-that-can-blow-up-buildings kind of way, but strong nonetheless. Because Heavens. She'd just gotten a chest filled with gold for doing literally nothing.

Okay, not literally nothing, but recruiting Vesper, Morgana, and Flint had hardly been some impossible task.

And she'd be getting another reward soon, too. One quest had been to recruit her first members, and another was for them to make their first dungeon run. Seeing how they had been eager to get going, that next payday would be coming shortly. By the evening, likely.

She doubted the quest would give her another pile of gold—'first Guild member' seemed like a big milestone, with an appropriately large boon—but the rewards did seem to be uniformly ridiculous.

Which was good, because she would need every copper her class was willing to give. There was so much that needed to be done, and none of it cheap.

Again, Rune groaned at the daunting future ahead of her, flailing her arms in complaint. Gryphon meowed in protest at his suddenly unstable resting spot, having settled down to sleep on her stomach.

The Gemforged weren't an unfamiliar sight for Rune. Though they also weren't something she saw every day, or, well, hardly ever, since she had moved up north. But her surprise stemmed from his sheer size, not his race.

After a brief pause at Rune's accidentally frank greeting, the golem-man let out a hearty chuckle.

"That I am," he agreed. "It's nice for someone to just say it, for once."

It was Rune's turn to blink. "Oh?"

"The people of Quarrygate clearly haven't seen much of my kind," the golem said wryly. "You're the first to be so straightforward. As if they think every Gemforged is as tall as me." He shook his head in amusement.

"Oh. Um. Yeah," Rune said. "I'm from Petrat, which is, uh, a small town you definitely haven't heard of. It's on the southern border." So, bordering the Snarl. "We had golems passing through every once in a while." Not frequently enough that Rune was wholly used to seeing them, but she was well past the point of having her eyes glued to them in fascination whenever one passed by.

Though, Rune would admit they were seriously interesting to study. Rock people that moved as fluidly as organic life. Of course they were interesting to look at. Elves and such were at least made of flesh and bone, not all that foreign, but golems were something else altogether.

"That explains that," the golem said with a nod. "The southern border, huh? I suppose we're both a long way from home." After a brief pause, he added, "I'm Gabbron."

"Rune," she offered back.

"The Guildmaster, correct?"

"O-Oh. Yeah. That's me." Had he approached her for a professional reason, then?

"I was pointed your way," Gabbron explained to her. "You're looking for a craftsman?"

Her eyes widened. She straightened up in her chair. "I am, yes. You're one?"

They were at the Craftsmen Association, so that was hardly surprising. In fact, Rune was the odd woman out here. Guildmasters didn't generally have to seek out their members, at least not so actively; they were supposed to come to her. Rune's trip to the Craftsmen Association was honestly a bit of an embarrassment. Showing her desperation.

"Oh, and sorry," Rune said. "Who's this?"

With Rune's attention returning to the young golem girl hiding behind Gabbron's leg, the girl narrowed her eyes and, for whatever reason, glared even harder at her.

"This is Cora," Gabbron said. "She's not used to meeting new people, but she's friendly once she warms up." He nudged her with the leg she was clutching to. "Say hi, Cora. Don't be rude."

"Hello," the girl replied angrily.

Rune hid her amusement. "Hi," she returned cheerfully. She fiddled at her neck. "I like your necklace."

The glower continued. "Thank you. It's an opal."

Gabbron spared an amused and slightly exasperated look for his ... daughter? Rune guessed that hadn't actually been clarified. Then turned his attention back to Rune.

Rune straightened up, trying not to look too eager. "So," she said. "I'm assuming you're looking for a guild to join? What kind of craftsman are you?"