Chapter 540: The City’s Schemes Run Deep (Part 2)

Chapter 540 -336: The City’s Schemes Run Deep (Part 2)

“Adventurers shouldn’t be defeated by such a small setback.”

Zog began the second step of his routine: establishing value.

“If there are still many uncompleted High Tier commissions, it proves there’s still plenty for High Level Adventurers to do. The so-called ‘difficulty’ the Adventurer Guild is facing is just a lack of determination to become top-tier adventurers, and a lack of spirit to endure hardship when starting from the bottom.”

“But… we’re even short on the most basic commissions.”

“Think carefully. Are you really short on even the lowest-level commissions? Or is it that the Adventurers are unwilling to do them?”

“Maybe… maybe some Adventurers are unwilling, but the fact that we’re posting medicine-testing commissions proves we really are out of quests. If there were commissions that didn’t involve self-harm, no matter how low-level, many Adventurers would take them. Even if they were reluctant, the Guild would persuade them to accept.”

Hearing the Chairman say this, Zog knew it was time for the third step of his routine: reluctantly agreeing.

“In that case, I have a proposal. I can provide a lot of commissions—a continuous, endless supply.”

“Really?” The Chairman sounded as if he were grasping at straws.

“They’re not very adventurous commissions. I’m developing an online shopping platform. Goods will be delivered to buyers via express delivery. I can handle the transportation between cities, but the final leg—delivery to the buyer’s doorstep—has to be done by people.”

The Chairman understood Zog’s meaning. “So, delivery commissions.”

Delivery commissions were a very common type.

“Yes, but it’s just transportation within a fixed area of a single city. It’s very repetitive and quite dull.”

“That’s still better than nothing! Will there really be enough?”

“Initially, we’ll launch in a few major cities, but we plan to expand across the entire Continent in the future. As long as people are shopping online, the commissions will be endless.”

“That’s wonderful.” The Chairman was thrilled.

“But there is one problem,” Zog said, feigning difficulty.

“What problem?”

“The delivery service requires establishing stations in every city. For the Zog Group, this is a rather strenuous task. If we could build these stations quickly, it wouldn’t take long for deliveries to cover the entire Continent. Unfortunately…”

“No need for ‘unfortunately’! The Adventurer Guild has a branch in every city!”

“Really? It might be more appropriate to entrust this to the various merchant groups the Zog Group partners with…”

“Not appropriate at all! No merchant group has a wider reach than the Adventurer Guild.” The Chairman felt he needed to up the ante to secure these commissions for the Guild. “I heard you’re also gathering Dragons from all over the Continent. If you entrust the delivery business to the Guild, we can find the Dragons hidden in every corner of the Continent!”

Zog appeared to be hesitating, as if he couldn’t decide whether to give the delivery business to the Guild or the merchant groups.

Inside, he was already celebrating.

‘This was something I just learned from the bankers: take a mutually beneficial arrangement and frame it as a favor.’

‘It really works wonders.’

‘Come to think of it, bosses on Earth used this trick all the time, too. A job is just an employment relationship, but they act like it’s some kind of ‘blessing’ bestowed upon the employee.’

A few minutes later, the council voted. The resolution for the Guild to take on the delivery business passed unanimously.

Zog and the Chairman happily signed the Contract.

“Thank you so much. From this day forward, anyone who tries to post a dragon-hunting commission at the Adventurer Guild will be an enemy of the Guild. Rest assured, not a single Dragon will be harmed by a Guild Adventurer ever again.”

The Chairman promised gratefully.

This made Zog feel just a tiny bit guilty.

‘But the delivery business is definitely a good thing for the Adventurers. It might not be a great job, but it’s a hell of a lot better than starving. It’s just that a lot of Adventurers will have to say goodbye to their dreams of thrilling adventures, of becoming heroes and achieving fame and fortune.’

Just before he left, the Chairman added a word of caution, “Although the Adventurer Guild has canceled all dragon-hunting commissions, there are quite a few powerful Adventurer Corps taking on private jobs now. Among them is the Broken Tooth Dragon Hunting Corps. Their main business is hunting Dragons.”

“Do I need to find this Dragon Hunting Corps?”

“That won’t be necessary. It’s just that, with the Zog Group publicly opposing dragon hunting, a man with that corps leader’s fiery temper will probably come looking for you directly. It’s best to prepare early to avoid unnecessary trouble. If you need their information, the Guild can provide it.”

‘He’s a quick study.’

‘Selling out the Dragon Hunting Corps so proactively.’

Zog couldn’t help but feel that maybe the Chairman held a personal grudge against them, probably because that Dragon Hunting Corps was taking on private jobs.

“Alright, I’ll make preparations,” Zog said, turning to leave before another thought struck him. “Can the Guild guarantee that the Adventurers will accept the delivery commissions?”

From Zog’s impression of most Adventurers, they were all adrenaline junkies who didn’t value their lives much.

If extreme sports were popular in Feilin, every single one of them would be sponsored by Red Bull.

So it was very likely they’d be dirt-poor but still refuse to do delivery work.

“Rest assured,” the Chairman said, looking very confident. “We’re very good at this sort of thing. There will be enough willing Adventurers. Once they work for a while and realize the benefits of a stable job, they’ll come to accept it.”

‘Why would they only realize it after working for a while?’

Zog had a hunch about the Chairman’s methods.

‘I never would have guessed… this thick-browed, wide-eyed Chairman isn’t such a ‘goody-two-shoes’ after all.’

…

「A small town in the western part of the Sutton Kingdom.」

The whole town was filled with short, flat-roofed houses, built to suit the arid, rain-scarce climate.

A wailing wind blew through the streets, kicking up clouds of dust.

Besides the drought, the place had a second defining feature: the wind blew only twice a year, each time for six months.

Normally, a city wouldn’t be built in such an inhospitable place.

But this was once the site of a famous city from a previous era, now buried beneath the yellow sand.

Countless underground Relics had made it a paradise for Adventurers.

Later, mines were discovered here, and it gradually developed into a small town.

But in recent years, while the mining continued as usual, the number of Adventurers had been dwindling.

The reason was simple.

The once “countless” Relics had been counted. Not only had they been counted, but they had also been nearly picked clean.

Only a few large, highly difficult Relics remained, handled by High Tier Adventurer Corps.

As for the “freelance” Adventurers, they had almost no room left to survive.

However, the Black Cat Squad hadn’t left, because its members were locals. This was their home.

In the nearly empty hall of the local Adventurer Guild branch, a few members of the squad were squatting in a corner, waiting for their captain to return with a commission.

“What kind of commission do you think we’ll get today?”

“I say we’ll get no commission today.”

“Hey! Be more positive. There’s bound to be a commission. At worst, there’s always the medicine-testing one, right?”

“Give me a break. If you want to take that one, be my guest.”

“Tch. How about this? I bet we’ll get a proper commission today. One Copper Coin. You in?”

“Hah. You even got one Copper Coin in your pocket to spare?”

“I… I’ll go earn one right now by working in a restaurant kitchen!”

They were still an adventurer squad in name, but their main source of income was actually odd jobs.

They just weren’t willing to give up their identity as Adventurers.

It was their childhood dream.

A few minutes later, their captain came rushing towards them, running and skipping. His bizarre, titan-like gait was a testament to his uncontainable excitement.

“This is great! Today is our lucky day!”

“You don’t think the captain’s finally gone crazy from being poor for so long, do you?” a team member whispered.

“It’s fine. He probably doesn’t bite, even if he is crazy.”

“You’re the crazy one!” The captain looked radiant. “I was in there and found an absolutely incredible commission!”

He excitedly showed the commission papers to his team members to prove he wasn’t lying.

“Look! A long-term commission! Transporting mysterious cargo within the city! It’s super important, and lots of people in town will know our name! And look here!”

The captain pointed to a few lines on the commission sheet.

“See what it says?”

“Uh… ‘Execution of commission is highly dangerous, with an extremely high probability of close-range contact with a Giant Dragon.'”

“Yeah! Contact with a Giant Dragon! Not a Dragon Beast, not a Juvenile Dragon, not stealing eggs—a Giant Dragon! I knew there was a reason the Guild pulled all the dragon-hunting commissions. They must be planning something big! This is the Black Cat Squad’s chance to make a name for ourselves…!”