Chapter 375: Preparations

Gregor leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. "How close is Evergreen to being fully covered?"

Sage thought for a moment. "Not completely covered, but close enough that I can start preparing for the next stage. Riverdale, Stonebridge, Silvercrest, Greyvale, and the surrounding branch network already give us strong reach across the region. We still need branches in several important cities and smaller offices along major traderoutes, but that can be handled here without me personally supervising every step."

"So several more branches," Gregor said, "and Evergreen is basically ours."

Boren immediately looked at him.

Gregor noticed.

"I mean Guild territory, not personal property." Gregor rolled his eyes.

Boren relaxed. "Good. For a moment I thought we were going to have another meeting about ownership percentages."

Sage ignored them and continued. "The important thing is that expansioncannot wait until Evergreen is perfectly finished. If we wait for every village, every town, and every road to have a Guild office before looking outside the region, we’ll waste years. Evergreen is stable enough now that preparation for the Royal Capital can begin at the same time."

Valeria, who had been silent until now, finally spoke. "Several months."

Sage looked toward her. "You said you would leave in several months. Why wait that long?"

"Because walking into the Royal Capital without preparation would be stupid," Sage replied. "The Guild is influential here, but in the Capital we’ll be the newcomers. There are powerful houses, merchant groups, political factions, existing mercenary organizations, Mage groups, Knight Orders, and people who will immediately wonder whether the Adventurer Guild threatenstheir interests. I need information first. I need money prepared separately for the Kingdom Headquarters. I need people trained to run Evergreen properly while I’m gone. I also need to complete several more branches before leaving."

Valeria gave a small nod. "Reasonable."

Gregor looked at Sage with a thoughtful expression, then glanced around the room at the people who had built the Guild with him.

"So Greyvale was never meant to be the end."

Sage smiled faintly.."Greyvale was the beginning."

The words settled naturally over the room.

For several seconds, nobody joked.

Even Boren seemed to understand the weight behind that answer.

Greyvale had been where Sage started, where the first Adventurers joined, where the rules were written, where missions became organized, and where the idea of an Adventurer Guild stopped being something strange and became a normal part of life. Now the same organization was preparing to reach the center of the Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Boren could only remain serious for so long.

He slowly raised one hand.

Gregor closed his eyes immediately. "Here we go."Sage looked toward him. "What?"

Boren cleared his throat. "Since we’re discussing important preparations for the Royal Capital, I have a question that I believe directly affects morale."

Sage already disliked where this was going.

"Ask."

"Are the restaurants in the Royal Capital better than the ones here?"

The room became silent.

Boren looked completely serious.

Sage stared at him. "That’s your important question?"

"Yes. Think about it. If we’re moving Guild operations into the most important city in the Kingdom, I need to know whether the food standards rise accordingly." Boren said with a serious expression on his fat face.

Mina’s eyes suddenly brightened. "Petty Uncle Sage, what about desserts?"

Sage slowly turned toward her.

She leaned forward eagerly. "If the Royal Capital is where the Royal Family lives, they must have really good cakes, right? And sweets. And those small pastries with cream inside."

Boren immediately pointed toward her. "Exactly! Mina understands strategic planning."

Mina nodded enthusiastically. "Food is important."

Gregor looked between the two of them and rubbed his forehead.

Brutus started laughing.

Lyana covered her mouth, but her shoulders shook slightly.

Even Vanthrice looked away for a moment, clearly hiding a smile.

Sage stared at Boren and Mina as a terrible realization settled over him. "You two have the same priorities."

Both of them looked offended.

"We do not," they said almost at the same time.

That only made the room laugh harder.

Boren immediately tried to defend himself.

"My concern is proper cuisine. Mina is talking about sugar."

Mina pointed at him. "Uncle Boren eats everything. He has no standards."

"I have extremely high standards." Boren grinned at Mina.

"You ate unknown food from an ancient treasure bubble." Mina stuck out her tongue and rolled her big golden eyes at him.

"That food was delicious."

"And you didn’t even know what it was."

"That does not make it less delicious."

Sage leaned back and allowed the argument to continue for a little while. The laughter helped loosen the tension that had come with his announcement, and more importantly, nobody seemed frightened by the idea of expanding to the Royal Capital.

Surprised, yes. Curious, certainly. But not resistant.

Once the room settled again, one of the twenty Adventurers asked whether some of them would be expected to accompany Sage to the Capital.

Sage explained that he had not finalized the team yet. Another asked whether new branches outside Evergreen would recruit independently, and Sage confirmed they would eventually recruit from their own regions rather than relying on Greyvale.

Lyana asked how much authority Evergreen would retain once the Kingdom Headquarters was established, and Sage explained that Evergreen would continue managing its normal regional affairs unless the matter involved Kingdom-wide rules or direct intervention from the Kingdom Guildmaster.

The discussion became more serious again, but this time it carried excitement rather than uncertainty. Everyone could see what Sage was trying to build now. The Guildwas no longer expanding randomly from city to city.

A structure was forming: Kingdom, Region, City and Town.

Each level connected to the next.

Eventually, Vanthrice, who had listened to most of the discussion without interrupting, leaned forward slightly. Her fingers rested lightly against the table while her eyes remained fixed on Sage.

"There’s one problem we haven’t discussed."

The room gradually quieted.

Sage turned toward her.

Vanthrice spoke calmly. "When you leave for the Royal Capital... who runs Evergreen?"

Sage became silent.