Desolate World

Sofia was silent for a moment. And then she nodded, "You are right. But, the guild's finances are a little tight at the moment. We will need a lot of money to build it. Although the merchants have listed the materials' price in the auction house yesterday. I haven't checked it, as I was mostly in the plaza. I don't know if it is plausible to build it anytime soon."

Ace frowned. Actually, he had expected it. But hearing it himself from Sofia made him disappointed. As he thought it was better for him to offer the elders for cooperation, he heard his brother's voice.

"Actually, I met a new guy who then joined our guild. He said he was a former speculant. You know, he bought the goods from the auction house at a cheap price, and then sold them to the craftsmen in his former town for some profit. 

However, he then offended a big guild that later tricked him into a debt trap, so he lost all of his possession in this world. So he started over and luckily came to our town. He said, if the guild needed his help, he would help. 

I have a good feeling about him, as he seemed like a trustworthy man. But I don't know. 

By the way, he was ranked two in the guild ranking when I saw it this morning. His name is Troy."

Sofia seemed surprised. She then said, "Troy? Our runemaster? I don't expect him to have such a past. Because of his job, I had to issue a special quest for him. And based on his efficiency and hard work, I think he will be our guild's pillar beside Emily and some others in the future."

As his brother and wife had a good impression of him, Ace became interested in him. And about the streamer, Emily, she was also a good seedling. It was a waste to not cultivate her. As she was not only a streamer, she was also a diligent member. So besides the two of them, Ace intended to cultivate some diligent and promising new members.

"Okay, honey, brother. Bring the top ten ranked members and those who have rare jobs to the 3rd floor this morning. No, it is better if everyone else could also come. I will welcome all of them on the second floor. Any other ideas?" Ace asked.

"You seem to forget about something. We need to bring Geo to the mana pool this morning. Lord Mars urged me to bring him there to raise the rest of the undead, yesterday," Sofia then said.

Ace then facepalmed himself. He then looked at Geo and said, "Sorry Geo, I really forgot about it."

"You are helpless," Cloud then commented.

"Oh! I have also just remembered. Can we go now?" Geo said enthusiastically.

"That's my son. Brother, today is your turn to wash the dishes. I leave it to you," Ace said and then stood up. 

"Wait!? I'm busy too, alright," Sampson then said. After gulping a cup of water.

Cloud that wanted to stand up then stopped. She then looked at Sampson fiercely, "What did you say? Should I wash them?"

"N-no, ma'am. I will do it," Sampson then backed down.

"Good," Cloud then said.

***

Walking towards the center of the town with Geo, Sofia, and Cloud, Ace saw some guardians that also walked through the street. Most of them were members of Nightglow guilds. They were led by some high-level Personnel to do a level up. They did it as a mandatory mission for every member of the guild that had a level less than 15. Of course, production members weren't included.

Although it was called mandatory, in fact, no guardians would complain about it. As it would help them level up without fearing being killed by monsters. As the combat personnel of the guild would prevent it from happening. And they also got some guild points by participating in the mission. 

As it happened, the personnel that 'babysit' the guardians were Mila, Nila, and 2 other combat personnel. Ace talked to them for a while. When Cloud asked about how her relationship was going with Noah, Nila was flushed red. It made everyone laugh hard. 

Ace then introduced himself and his family to the guardians. The 23 guardians that participated in the leveling up mission also introduced themselves to Ace. There were some top ten members in the party. They were Ruby, Cody, and Anna. After talking with them for a few minutes, Ace excused himself and his family.

Along the way, they met many guardians, either from his guild, or not. Ace always nodded to each of them when they passed each other. The guardians then nodded back to show their respect to him. 

In fact, he was also always polite to the townsmen, however, as he was one of the elders of the town, they always restricted themselves from behaving 'inappropriately' in front of him. It made him helpless. He was not like his brother who had an open personality, it was a little hard for him to be familiar with many people.

As they exited the human block, they arrived in front of their guild house. At that moment, Ace could see that their guild house became livelier than the day before. He could see many new guardians were socializing among themselves in the lobby of the guild house. Sofia then pointed to a human girl among them. It was Emily.

In Ace's eyes, she seemed to only mix herself among the multi-raced guardians. But Cloud commented that she was in live streaming. His mother-in-law praised her for being able to fastly adapt to the situation. She would be a good seed to be a spy or diplomat.

It made Ace frowned. But, then he remembered that Cloud was an old fox in the bureaucracy of the Human Union on the moon. So, her assessment should be true.

Ace also saw his guild shop and restaurant were also pretty crowded. While guardians were entering and exiting the shop, the restaurant was quite full of townsmen, especially from town guards. As it was still breakfast time. 

***