"Registering a slave…I'll do it, but I might get in trouble if the guild found out that I didn't declare her." Selena shifted in her place, wiggling a bit as she looked at Liam with worried eyes.
"Since we finished that quest we would be ranking up to A-rank, right?" Liam tapped a finger on the table. "The guild only cares about merits, the people who get the job done, solve problems, and make money. As long as no one complains, they won't care one bit. I bet that even if ten people complained about Melany, they won't bother starting a problem unless they are losing money."
Selena sighed, pinching her nose ridge with a worried yet stern face. "You're right, I know that but it's just too much, especially if a noble was the one to open their mouth, which would put me on the road to jail." She looked at Melany with a sharp glance.
"Normally you'll be handed to the authorities, interrogated then executed later. But that would be a cover-up for the real thing; you'll get freed and banished from the country. Letting you live normal here is simply telling the salvers they can silence you." She smiled. "Won't it be safer for you to start another life peacefully outside the country, away from all the bloodshed?"
"I want to stay. I can't be the only one to run away." Melany looked at her hand. "I would much rather stay with Liam for now. Can you please cover up for me?" She bowed slightly.
"Fine…" Selena sighed, "But, I have something else to request in return." She looked at Liam.
"Wasn't this for our late payment?" He stared at her with a judging face.
"I'm not going to ask for much." Selena gasped. "You're becoming an A-ranker soon. How about I become your personal guild staff? That would allow us to work closer."
"Won't that be good? Having Selena help us like that?" Alice looked at Liam with a smile. "I'm sure we can start getting better quests and even paid more."
"Both I and Alice are rising to A-rank. The guild forbids any of its staff to try and sweet talk adventurers into picking them. What you're doing now is also illegal; you can't hoard two A-ranks to yourself under the table like this." Liam smiled. "You'll get punished harder than just getting sent to jail. You might even end up shunned out of the guild entirely."
"What's the harm now that we're already breaking the law with Melany?" Selena smiled.
Alice and Liam stared at each other while Melany sat there with a confused face.
"I see." Liam nodded, "I was intending on hitting you. But it's seems you are clueless about this idiot."
"For real, I'm glad you're not involved." Alice sighed.
"What are you two talking about?" Selena tilted her head.
Liam jumped out of his seat and flew above Selena's head, kicking something behind her to the wall. Alice pulled her sword and jumped in with a stab, piercing the wall. Liam then followed with a quick grab, pinning that something to the wall.
Selena cried and stood up, and looked behind her to see the two pinning an old wizard to the wall. Alice had stabbed his robe and Liam grabbed him by the neck. "Guild master!" She gasped.
"Those two are good…no the three of them are splendid." He chuckled, "Liam was it, since when did you notice me being here?"
"Mana was getting drained from the air so I had Melany pin any false shadow that was made by magic, and so we located you." Liam glared at the wizard's eyes, "I got bitten by invisibility before, that Samara maid was a pain to deal with."
"Let him go! That's the guild master!" Selena cried, knowing full well that their entire scheme had gotten exposed. There is no way for them to hide it. The man responsible for this whole branch was standing there listening behind her. She'll be spending years in Jail and the two of them will get kicked out of the guild, and Melany will be banished.
"Are you sure what you're doing is a wise decision?" The guild master giggled. "I've sensed a slave collar while I was playing with my magic upstairs so I came down here to check. I didn't expect to come across this whole mess."
"So? What will you do wizard?" Liam smiled, "You barely have any A-rankers here, do you?"
"This is a small city after all. We have a decent amount of C and B-rank adventurers, but we only have three A-rankers now that Jamile died." The wizard's eyes shifted toward Melany, "So what should I do about this?"
"You'll do nothing but sit, sign the papers and watch." Liam pointed a finger at the ceiling, [Wind Spear] He pierced a hole in the ceiling.
"What are you trying to achieve with such a weak spell?" The guild master smiled.
"Melany, you know what to do." Liam said with a passive face.
Melany teleported into the room above now that she had a line of sight to the shadows in it. The guild master tried to block her [Shadow's step] with magic, but he couldn't, his magic refused to activate.
He blinked twice, confused, dumbfounded, and baffled, "Why isn't my magic activating?" He looked at Liam. "Who knows?"
Haa? Wait! Wait! Wait! I've been studying magic for decades, who's interfering with my magic? Is it this guy? How skilled is he at controlling mana? That's impossible, I'm a wizard and he looks like a fighter, how in the hell is he canceling my magic?
"Can I use my magic?" He looked at Liam with a dumbfounded face.
"Nope, you're a regular old man as long as I'm touching you." Liam replied with a passive face and Alice sighed in disappointment. "So this is the guild master, I thought he'd be stronger, but if Liam can overpower his magic control, what a disappointment."
Wait! Wait! Wait! I'm an S-rank though, how is he canceling my magic? I'm not the weak one, he's the ridiculous one. Those two survived the demonic shrine dungeon, does that mean they were the ones to defeat the boss and not Jamile's party, not, this guy came back carrying her, so is he the one to beat the boss?
He also survived an assassination attempt and cleared a quest that hadn't been cleared in decades; he's an S-rank seedling. The guild doesn't rank people based on strength, but based on merits as it's a business after all. It doesn't matter if you're as strong as a dragon if you are lazing around and not doing any work.
"Whatever you're planning to do, you work for the guild. I'm willing to pretend I saw nothing but for a price." The guild master smiled.
Melany teleported back into the room and looked at Liam with a smile. "Got it done."
"That was my office above. What did she do?" The guild master gasped.
"I've taken all the papers you had there to the city lord and came back. His mansion is just a bit east."
"Wait, what?"
"You're a wizard; I know you have a shady thing or two hidden in there." Liam smiled.
"You cheeky adventurer, you two have a lot of dirt today. Who of us do think would end up in jail? The city lord will look into you as well. I'm the guild master and you're nobody." He giggled.
"Hmmmm. Want to make a bet?" Liam kept his passive face with a faint grin; he had several cards up at the city lord.
Selena was about to start panicking, but Alice assured her that things would be all right.