Chapter 61 Licenses Cost More Than Monsters

Paloma placed the guild-registration estimate over Ossian's rib scan, covering the fracture that medical staff had ordered him to stop ignoring.

The total reached 246,000 credits once insurance, property security, staff reserves, plus twelve training contracts entered the same application.

'We own 210,000, while survival apparently costs another thirty-six thousand,' Ossian moved the scan aside, 'monsters should learn paperwork... read every line.'

The depot qualified as an operating address but failed the property test for sleeping quarters, medical isolation, plus reinforced equipment storage.

Its current Class Four licence allowed contract work, not the expanded guild status the rescued candidates had requested, paloma circled the insurance reserve, which alone required ninety thousand credits to remain untouched for six months.

"No new rescues under our name until this structure can pay for the people it promises to keep," she said, taking his pen away.

Ossian looked toward the loading bay, where twelve applicants waited beside borrowed chairs and a water dispenser Bastien had repaired twice.

'They asked for protection after Solenne... refusing feels filthy, accepting without wages becomes the same ownership with cleaner forms,' he counted chairs, 'find a paid middle.'

Bastien entered with twelve equipment sizes, dietary notes, plus transit costs collected before anyone had discussed combat value.

He had separated the applicants by training availability rather than compatibility, preventing mask potential from deciding whose time earned payment.

"They can work evacuation drills under the existing licence," he said, setting down a payroll sheet, "if each shift has a supervisor."

The first-month trial cost 28,800 credits at six paid sessions per candidate, reducing available operating money without touching the insurance reserve.

That figure included meals, transit, basic injury coverage, plus a small completion payment even if the trainee rejected later work.

Paloma refused unpaid orientation hours, reminding Ossian that rescued people could still be exploited through gratitude after every formal chain disappeared.

Beside them, paloma crossed out guild membership on every draft and replaced it with paid trainee, revocable by either side after one completed shift.

[Twelve unclaimed creatures are requesting Court shelter]

[Available tribute can sustain the pack for 43 days]

'The system sees trainees as creatures before it sees wages, while forty-three days pretends to be safety,' Ossian closed the screen, 'say what we can offer.'

He entered the loading bay without Dreadweight equipped, keeping the interview away from every object that made refusal harder.

The twelve applicants included seven rescued candidates, three former support workers, plus two people discharged after unstable assessments.

Five protected candidates had chosen treatment without employment and did not attend, preserving the distinction Paloma had written into every file.

"We cannot promise permanent protection yet," Ossian said, standing beside the repaired dispenser, "we can offer paid evacuation training for one month."

One applicant asked whether accepting training improved compatibility access, while another wanted the exact injury coverage before signing, while Paloma answered the insurance question with figures, then made Ossian answer the more dangerous one himself.

"Training buys work, not a mask place," he said, feeling the room tighten around disappointed faces, "binding stays separate from employment."

'Some applicants may walk when power isn't included... let those people keep the transit payment anyway,' Ossian kept his hands visible, 'don't sell hope as salary.'

Three applicants withdrew from immediate signing but accepted copies for review, leaving nine ready to discuss paid shifts.

Bastien stopped the process until all twelve received the same meal allowance, including the people who had walked away from work.

Paloma appointed him logistics chief under the existing filed role, adding schedule authority without pretending a new member had joined.

His first instruction moved the chairs away from the equipment lane, where one emergency shutter could have trapped every applicant.

"That lane stayed clear when this was only a depot," Bastien said, shifting the last chair himself, "more people don't improve fire."

'He became logistics chief and used the title to move furniture... good, authority should touch something real,' Ossian lifted a table, 'help before announcing plans.'

They rebuilt the waiting area around two exits, then attached wage sheets to clipboards that could leave with each applicant.

Calista arrived from treatment with her left palm wrapped, refusing field work until the clinic cleared the cut skin.

She read the training terms, added separate command-removal procedures, plus required every trainee to practice refusing an unsafe order.

Ossian wanted recruits who chose The Unmasked, yet the first useful choice he offered them was a clean way out.

The thought hurt more than the rib fracture when four applicants requested another day before deciding.

'Chosen recruits don't appear when I say the right sentence,' he signed the delay receipts as four applicants kept their distance, 'they need rent, fear, families... let them keep their own timing.'

By noon, eight applicants had accepted paid trials while four remained under review with transit costs covered.

Two of the four requested independent advice before returning, which Paloma funded through a clinic advocate outside The Unmasked.

Another wanted to know whether refusing combat would end evacuation work, forcing Calista to create a noncombat route assessment.

The guild account reserved 28,800 for all twelve contracts, lowering spendable funds from 210,000 to 181,200 without changing the protected insurance portion.

Paloma filed the reserve proof, property deficiency, plus provisional training program as three separate registry submissions, ione supplied the Veil Court rescue record but refused to endorse guild competence beyond the operations she had witnessed.

"You want legitimacy, then stop asking one report to prove a future organisation," she said, closing her evidence case.

'There is the word I want now... legitimacy, priced higher than any mask and earned by people who can contradict me,' Ossian accepted the limited statement, 'build it.'

He said the word aloud to Calista after the applicants began their first equipment check.

"I want legitimacy," Ossian said, watching Bastien reject three damaged harnesses, "not fame, a structure people can leave without losing treatment."

Calista tested the sentence against the wage sheets rather than rewarding him for saying it.

"Then you need supervisors who can overrule you," she replied, adding Odelia and Bastien to the halt-authority list.

Odelia could not use her altered throat for another forty-seven hours, so she approved the role by writing beside her four binding conditions.

Maelle refused a training title until the guild paid workshop hazard coverage, forcing Paloma to add another 3,600-credit reserve.

Bastien added locked chemical storage to her demand, making the expense protect trainees who would never enter Maelle's workshop by choice.

The registration file grew by nine pages while the depot gained one cabinet that could survive Furnace heat for sixty seconds.

'Every person gains authority by increasing the invoice... lovely, that may be the first honest institution in this city,' Ossian approved the reserve, 'pay it.'

Spendable funds fell to 177,600 after the remaining reviews cleared, while all twelve trainees remained distinct from the six filed members and thirty-nine protected candidates.

The afternoon equipment test began with lifting, route memory, plus safe refusal rather than combat ranking.

One applicant reached the front without completing any station in the expected order, dancing around the entire waiting line while carrying her form.

Her two flat circular blades shifted from forearms to calves whenever the lane narrowed, never touching another applicant or chair.

Every change cleared a person, completed a station, or protected the form she carried, leaving no movement that existed only for attention.

Calista watched the route twice before lowering her failure stamp, while Bastien checked whether the unusual order had skipped any paid task.

Bastien checked the clock and found she had completed every required task in less time than the straight route allowed.

The woman placed her compatibility request on Ossian's table without stopping her feet, then wrote Seyra as the only name she wanted used.

Her completed wage sheet remained beneath the request, keeping paid work ahead of every supernatural offer the system wanted to make.