Chapter 370: Sixty Percent

Sage gave her a small approving nod. "Correct. Nobody is voting on whether the Guild should buy thirty new tables or whether a receptionist should be promoted. That would be ridiculous. Voting exists for major matters: ownership changes, large asset sales, major financial commitments, structural changes, certain appointments, and anything that could permanently affect everyone who owns part of the Guild."

Brutus frowned thoughtfully. "And profit rights?"

"When the Evergreen Regional Guild earns profit beyond wages, operating costs, reserves, expansion budgets, emergency funds, and whatever else must be paid first, part of the remaining profit may be distributed according to ownership percentage," Sage explained.

"That doesn’t mean every coin entering the Guild immediately gets divided. If we did that, there would be nothing left to build branches, repair facilities, or fund major missions."

Boren looked personally offended by the concept of expenses."So before my money becomes my money, the Guild spends some of my money?"

Gregor turned toward him. "You just discovered how businesses work."

"I don’t like businesses anymore."

Mina, sitting near Sage with her chin barely above the table, looked toward Boren with complete seriousness. "You liked them five minutes ago."

"That was before expenses."

A few people laughed, and the stiffness in the room finally loosened.

Sage waited for the noise to settle before turning everyone’s attention toward the percentage table. "Now, the actual allocation."

The first name was obvious.

Sage — 40%.

Below that came the others.

Valeria — 8%.

Gregor — 5.5%.

Vanthrice — 5%.

Brutus — 3.5%.

Caelis — 3.5%.

Lyana — 3.5%.

Boren — 2.5%.

Twenty Vault Expedition Adventurers — 1.425% each.

For several moments, nobody spoke. The numbers were simple, but their meaning was not.

Everyone had known the total would be distributed, yet seeing their names written beside actual ownership percentages made the whole thing feel far more permanent.

Gregor read through the list twice before looking toward Valeria. "Eight percent is fair. Honestly, if we were measuring the Vault alone, she probably deserves even more."

Valeria did not react to the praise. She only looked at Sage. "You included contributions outside the Vault as well."

"I did," Sage said. "Otherwise the numbers would be distorted. This structure is not meant to compensate people for one expedition. It represents ownership of the Regional Guild based on everything thatbrought us here."

Vanthrice tapped the line beside her name. "Five percent is more than I expected."

"You’ve been carrying major combat responsibility for the Guild almost from the beginning," Sage replied. "You’ve also become one of the people everyone naturally looks toward when something goes wrong. That matters."

Brutus looked at his own 3.5% before letting out a low laugh. "I joined this Guild thinking I’d get paid for punching beasts and carrying heavy things. Somehow I ended up owning part of the organization."

Caelis gave him a sideways glance. "You still punch beasts and carry heavy things."

"True. Now I apparently do it as an owner."

Lyana stared quietly at her percentage for longer than everyone else. "Three and a half percent..." she murmured. "I didn’t think I had contributed enough for something thislarge."

Gregor immediately looked at her. "You kept half of us from falling to our deaths with those vines."

"That was the Vault."

"You’ve been helping the Guild outside the Vault too."

Sage nodded. "And your value isn’t measured only by combat. If everything were about who could hit hardest, Valeria would own half the organization and the rest of us would be begging her for salaries."

Several heads slowly turned toward Valeria.

She looked completely unimpressed. "Do not involve me."

That earned another round of laughter.

Boren had already stopped listening.

His eyes were fixed on the number beside his name.

2.5%.

His fingers moved faintly against thetabletop as he calculated something invisible. After a while, he leaned closer to the paper, narrowed his eyes, recalculated, and then slowly leaned back with a strange smile beginning to spread across his face.

Gregor noticed immediately. "Stop."

Boren didn’t look at him. "Stop what?"

"You’re calculating money."

"I am not."

"You have the exact expression you make whenever you’re trying to calculate how many meals you can buy."

Boren finally turned toward him with complete dignity. "Gregor, please don’t reduce everything I do to food. I am considering long-term asset appreciation."

Gregor stared at him.

Boren placed one hand over his heart. "I am not counting money. I am appreciating my future."

The room erupted again. Even several of the twenty Adventurers who had remained quiet throughout most of the meeting laughed openly this time.

One of them looked down at his own 1.425% and shook his head in disbelief. "I hate to admit it, but I understand him. If the Guild is already this large and keeps expanding, even one percent could become something ridiculous."

"That is exactly why I prefer this system," Sage said once the room calmed. "If I gave every one of you a huge sack of gold and sent you home, the reward would end there. Maybe you invest it well. Maybe you spend it. Maybe someone steals it. Shares connect your reward to the future of the Guild. If Evergreen grows, your stake grows with it. If we make terrible decisions and damage the Regional Guild, your stake loses value. That gives everyone here a reason to care about what happens beyond their own salaries."

One of the twenty Adventurers frowned. "What if someone thinks their percentage is too low?"

"Say so," Sage replied immediately. "This is exactly the time to argue. I’m not offended by questions."

The man hesitated before shaking his head. "No, I’m not saying mine is low. I just wanted to know whether the numbers were final."

"Proposed, not final. Nothing becomes final until everyone understands the rules and signs. If someone has a serious objection, we discuss it."

That answer seemed to satisfy him.

Another woman among the expedition members asked how Sage had calculated the twenty equal percentages when their individual performances in the Vault had not been identical.

Sage explained that he had deliberately grouped them together because trying to rank every wound, every strike, every rescued teammate, and every treasure bubble opened would create endless arguments over tiny differences.

The senior core members had broader responsibilities before, during, and after the Vault, while the twenty were being recognized as the expedition’s elite supporting group.

Giving each of them 1.425% also avoided turning comrades into competitors over who supposedly deserved 1.46% instead of 1.39%.

That reasoning was accepted surprisingly quickly.

Lyana, meanwhile, had barely joined the jokes. She had spent most of the discussion reading the ownership table, then flipping between several pages Sage had prepared.

Her eyes narrowed when he reached the section identifying exactly what the shares represented. After checking it twice, she finally rested his pen on the table and looked toward Sage.

"There’s something important here."

The room quieted.

Lyana turned the document slightly and pointed toward the heading. "And these percentages remain tied specifically to the Evergreen Regional Guild, correct?"

A small smile appeared on Sage’s face.

"Exactly."

He leaned back slightly, looking around at everyone gathered around the round table.

"Which means now we need to talk about what that actually means."