The Teleportation Gate inside the Royal Palace had access to all the teleportation Gates located in the territories of the Kingdom.

Because of this, Lux, Cai, and Keane were able to instantly teleport to the Stronghold of Norria, and their arrival surprised its commander, Thoram.

“What a tragedy…” Thoram sighed after hearing Lux’s story about what had happened in the Wolfpine Barony. “If not for you, I would still be in the dark about what happened in Dunspear City. The Royal Family must have given a gag order, preventing those who knew about the incident from speaking about it.”

Lux nodded. “The King didn’t mention anything to me, so I guess he might have forgotten about it. Even so, I would appreciate it if you didn’t spread the news, Commander. Right now, the public is not ready to know about the existence of the Creature of Ruin.”

Thoram wholeheartedly agreed with Lux and promised to keep the information to himself. A moment later, the Dwarf Commander chuckled before giving the Half-Elf a thumbs up.

“Yesterday, Nevreal talked to me and said that you robbed him of his money.” Thoram smirked. “Is this true?”

“Yes,” Lux replied. “But, I’ll make it up to him in the future. The funds that I got from him and His Majesty is barely enough to build our Headquarters and add a few other guild facilities. In this regard, I would like to have a second opinion about what you think would be the better option for our guild.”

Lux told Thoram about his plan, and the Dwarf Commander listened without interrupting him. Only after the Half-Elf finished his explanation did the Dwarf give his opinion on the matter.

“Right now, we’re not in a hurry to gather Guild Members,” Thoram stated. “The fewer who know about this secret, the better. Naturally, you have the right to recruit whoever you want to recruit, and I am confident that you will take great care to only bring trustworthy people into our guild. As for the Guild Facilities you want to build, may I offer a suggestion?”

Lux nodded his head and waited for Thoram to give his expert opinion on the matter.

“First, as much as I want to have a Dragon Mount, it will be best if we put this on hold,” Thoram said as he raised his index finger.

“The moment we are seen with these powerful mounts, people will wonder where and how we got them. Dragons are very rare in the Kingdom of Gweliven. In fact, there are only two people who have Dragon Mounts in this kingdom. One is a Saint, and the other is the General of the Armed Forces.

“If we add Bedivere in the equation, then we have three. Now, do you understand what will happen if a sudden influx of Dragon Riders appears out of nowhere? This is simply asking for trouble. Sure, we might look good on our Dragon Mounts, but we won’t be able to enjoy it for long, especially if the King orders an investigation.”

Cai, who was also in the room, was heartbroken. It also wanted to have a Dragon Mount so badly. Now that Thoram had said that adding the Bestiary would spell trouble, the Boar bitterly wept at the corner of the room. It could no longer have a Dragon that it could use to brag to its family and friends.

Thoram then raised a second finger, voicing his second suggestion.

“Having a smithy is good and all because it gives us good weapons and armor. However, it is far too early for us to even need that,” Thoram explained. “I’m sure that when the smithy is built, you will ask Randolph to manage it, right?” ᴡ ᴏᴠʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛʀs ᴀʀ ᴘᴜʙʟsʜᴅ ᴏ NovlFire(.)nt

Lux nodded because that was his initial plan.

“Randolph is good and can even craft Mythical Level Equipments, but that takes a lot of time and resources,” Thoram continued his explanation. “Also, a blacksmith can only work if he has something to work on. We will need to gather a lot of resources if we want to create high quality weapons and armors that can be used by our members.

“But, like I said, since we are keeping our Guild a secret for the time being, there is no immediate need to craft a lot of weapons and armors. Besides, Randolph is busy repairing and crafting weapons for the Elysians and Foreigners that come to Leaf Village. A single Blacksmith is simply not enough to work on many commissions at once.”

The Half-Elf felt as if his horizons had been broadened after hearing the Commander’s words. Right now, the majority of the weapons and armors that they owned could be found in dungeons and treasure chests.

Boss Monsters usually dropped these rare items, so it would just be easier to hunt them, rather than have Randolph craft a weapon for them. Also, even if he didn’t build the Guild Smithy, Randolph could still work in his own Smithy for the time being, while their members were still so few.

Thoram nodded his head in satisfaction because he could see that Lux could now see the bigger picture. Because of this, he decided to give his recommendation for which Guild Facility that the Half-Elf needed to build in order to enhance the quality of life of his Guild Members.

“Lux, what is the greatest problem in our Guild right now?” Thoram asked. “What is the thing that limits us from building the things we want?”

Lux didn’t bat an eye and answered Thoram’s question without skipping a beat. “It’s money.”

The Half-Elf added, “If we have money, we won’t even have a problem in choosing which guild facilities to build.”

Thoram nodded. “That’s right. So, since lack of money is our problem, what is the solution?”

The Dwarf Commander smiled as he looked at the red-headed teenager whose eyes widened in shock.

“We need to make money,” Lux answered. “A lot of money.”

“That’s right,” Thoram stated. “I don’t know what kind of place Karshvar Draconis is, but if we want our Guild to expand, we need money. I suggest you build the Alchemy Shop first and buy an Advanced Alchemy Recipe Book, and give it to Annie. Laura and Livia are now her Disciples, and they are learning the art of Alchemy.

“Compared to Randolph who only has you as his Apprentice, Annie has it better because she has two more people helping her. Also, Bedivere’s wife, Lilia, has some background in making medicines. If Heidi also joins, then we have one Master Alchemist, One Veteran Alchemist, and three Apprentices.

“As long as they study hard, Annie can advance to Grandmaster Alchemist, allowing her to craft powerful pills, potions, and medicines that we can sell to earn money. You already know that pills, potions, and medicines are all consumables, right? It means that it doesn’t matter how many we make. People will buy them because of demand. So, I suggest you build the Alchemy Shop first and buy an Advanced Alchemy Recipe Book.”

Thoram paused for a bit before rummaging through his drawer. After grabbing an old scroll, he then handed it to Lux, which the latter accepted with great curiosity.

“That is a deed for a small lot in the capital city,” Thoram explained. “It may not be much, but that is the land that my parents gave to me before they retired to the countryside. My dad was a baker, so he bought a piece of land on the third busiest street in the capital using his life savings.

“We were able to live comfortably back in the day, but after I joined the military, and became a Commander, I told them that they no longer need to work and that they should live a quiet and peaceful life in our hometown. They agreed, so they left me the deed of our land, but since I’m too busy here, I have no time to use that plot of land for business.”

Lux opened the scroll and read its contents before shifting his gaze back to Thoram, who seemed to be reminiscing about his childhood.

“Thank you, Commander,” Lux said before giving Thoram a respectful bow.

“Don’t thank me. This is for our guild. Make sure to hire a good manager who has a knack for business. Let them deal with these things, so you can focus on other stuff.”

“Mmm.”

Now that the first of the guild facilities had been decided on, Thoram then raised a third finger, to tell Lux the best way to use the remaining funds they had.

“For now, we will use the remaining gold for investment,” Thoram stated. “If we can find another good source of income, we can invest in that. Talk to Keelan before you leave for Karshvar Draconis. That person is more business-minded than I am. Ask him to help you find good locations to open up a store.

“We can use the money to open up more store branches. The beginning phase is going to require us to fork out some money, but once we gain customers, the money will come back to us tenfold. If we are lucky, it might not even take us a year to build the other guild facilities with the funds we will gain through our Guild Stores.”

Thoram and Lux discussed a lot of things before the Half-Elf went to look for the Guildmaster of the Adventurer’s Guild, Keelan, who was more than happy to assist Lux in making money for their Guild.

After the rescue operation with the Princess, Keelan, as well as the Adventurers who joined the rescue mission, were handsomely rewarded by the King. Because of this, Keelan gained a good reputation among his peers.

The two Rankers that had assisted Lux and Millie in fighting against Twilight Rain also voiced their willingness to work with them again in the future.

For Keelan, building up his network allowed him to gain some leverage in other things, which was quite useful for the expansion of their upcoming business.

After everything had been settled, Lux, Cai, and Keane traveled to Leaf Village to rest for a day.

The Half-Elf was the only one that could travel to the Floating Island at the moment, so the others would have to wait until their Guild Headquarters had been built before they could see for themselves just what kind of place the Floating Island, which was ruled by the Dragon King himself, was like.