-=[Ash Sparks]=-

The gang and I spent hours going over the contract’s composition, making sure that it was acceptable for everyone. Yes, I realise that referring to the most powerful Guilders of the Gold city as a “gang” was rather silly of me, but I just couldn't resist.

Sure, they were quite wealthy and controlled the lives of many, but to the Ash-Pharmacist amalgamation these men and women weren’t anything too impressive or special - they acted and looked akin to 1920s Chicago gangsters, bickering and threatening any time something was said that was mildly displeasing.

I made each of them introduce themselves to me and tell me of their resources. I had no clue who half of them were or what they did. Only a few select Guild leaders came to visit Lillian’s underworld brothels for a bit of fun and relaxation while I was there delivering loot from the dead city.

I already knew Jovius since he came to the brothels pretty often with his merchant buddies, spending exuberant amounts of silver on alcohol and lap dances. If I suspected anyone to screw me over and sell me out, it would be him - to the Merchants Head everything was about profits. I think he was interested in my proposal only because the Stormweavers burned down a quarter of his warehouses last time.

Next in line of people I knew was the Adventurers Guild Secretary Emerald Glimmer. I was relatively sure that Emerald had a boss, but he didn’t show up to the meeting. If I had to hazard a guess he was probably an old, retired adventurer since she referred to him a couple of times in a conversation. Like her name implied, she had dark green hair and lime-colored eyes. For the Guild this enterprise would be a massive loss or a massive win, depending if the power-sharing contract worked. The adventurers generally fought and died on the frontlines being the highest cultivators in the land, almost equal to the people running the cult compound in terms of strength due to the unique servitors they possessed.

Emerald often hung out with Jovius discussing prices for newest acquisitions, since a lot of the weird or dangerous stuff the adventurers procured from the dungeons beneath the city was sold off by the Merchants Guild. They were frenemies as far as I could tell, sometimes making snappy comments at each other. She was also constantly, inexplicably behind the welcome desk at the Adventurers Guild even when she hung out with Jovius. People speculated that she either had a twin sister or she had some kind of servitor-power that allowed her to be present in several places at once.

The fourth person I was only vaguely aware of - Alchemist Kane, the Head of the Alchemists Guild. He looked quite ancient and wrinkled and was likely at least a few centuries old. He didn’t even bother telling me his last name. Most of the time he spent glaring at me not making any comments. I think that Kane presumed that I was a mere young upstart. He had salt and pepper hair, a black mustache and wore incredibly elaborate gold and black robes that sparkled like arrays of diamonds in the sunlight. Maybe he had actual diamonds embedded into the robes, he could likely afford that.

The fifth in line was the Head of the Builders Guild - Magnolia Milliard. Magnolia was relatively young in terms of looks for a Guilder, somewhere in his 40’s. His parents had perished in the last Deathstorm Convergence, so he immediately offered the use of the Builder Servitors to aid in our fight. This made me instantly like the orange-yellow haired, muscular man.

The Sixth Guilder of importance was Lanark Silverleafium, the Head of the Hunters. The old, pink eyed, silver-green haired woman didn’t seem like she liked me one bit. I was relatively sure that the Hunters worked very closely with the Boundless Chorus cult and she was just waiting for the cult Administration to order my capture and execution, simply humoring my presence here. Her snappy comments made it seem like she didn’t care if ten or ten thousand people died during the convergence.

From what I understood the line between Hunters and Adventurers lay in their specialization. Hunters as the name implied hunted, captured or killed specific people for bounty or powerful beasts for their beast cores. Hunters were reactive, had a salary and obeyed orders of their Guild or the cult. Adventurers, on the other hand, were more akin to freelancers. They mapped the catacombs, dungeons and caverns and searched the deep for unique mushrooms, herbs, species and other miscellaneous resources. Some even managed to bring back treasures and strange, alien artifacts from the fathomless depths of our cosmic-lord.

The Crafters Guild had a very eccentric-looking, old geezer as its Head. He reminded me of a steampunk-ship captain that was covered in quirky artifacts head to toe. I didn’t know what to make of him because it was hard to see his eyes under the fancy multi-lense goggles. His mouth was covered by an elaborate, crystalline shield and he wore power-gloves covered in beast cores. He introduced himself as Magelius Magestrum, tipping his fanciful artifact hat ever so slightly my way.

The Head of the Blacksmiths was Allistrum Modia, a bearded, scruffy, overly-muscular blacksmith. He was so wide that he barely fit through the doorway. I was certain that he must have merged himself with some sort of elephantine thing to become so buff and cube-like. He momentarily glanced my way and likely presumed me too scrawny to even bother paying attention to, likely thinking that I was a tool of the Magistrate’s family. Most of his attention was focused on princess Arianna.

The ninth Guilder at the table was the Head of the Farmers, Gilliam Kooper. Gilliam immediately shook his brown hair and stated that his "farm servitors are essential to maintaining food production" and that he can’t contribute any of them to the war effort. I sighed at that - this was going to be another tough nut to crack. There were a lot of tough nuts in this bunch.

The Head of the Entertainers was Majestica Ellizahora. I knew her because her face was on every poster marketing the grand coliseum. I was relatively sure that she was making big money out of Convergences, lawful ones anyway, not the ones that tried to burn down the entire city. She laughed a lot, her voice unnaturally clear and loud, rainbowy hair constantly billowing about as if blown outward by an invisible fan. She suggested we make a big show out of the Deathstorm Convergence war preparation - six days of events in the coliseum that would educate the people of the city where to hide and how to get ready, for a small price of the ticket entry fee.

The Weavers Guild was represented by Secretary Vim Moss, a girl with ocean-blue hair and blue eyes that wore a shimmering gold gown with a cape of golden wool. She constantly sent her servitor hawk back and forth to her boss to update them on the details of our meeting. The Weavers were a Guild of clothes-craftsmen. They specialized in making magic and mundane armor and clothes.

The twelfth Guilder present was Nimbus Acadia. He was the Secretary of the Innkeepers. As I understood it, the Innkeepers Guild didn’t just own hotels - it owned at least half of the properties in the Gold city and was also in charge of a whole bunch of lesser Guilds like the Scriveners, Goldsmiths, Messengers and Skywhale-Pilots. The black-haired, black eyed man was interested in my proposal mostly because it would greatly reduce property damage.

The Guild of the Barber-Surgeons was obviously not present, which made the event somewhat awkward since we couldn't discuss or plan anything relating to Qi-skill healing and medicine. This irritated me to no end as having a medical corps was extremely important to any engagement. I had to either start converting barbers on a personal basis, for which I had no time or try to teach people how to become nurses with my twenty-first medical knowledge, for which I also had no time.

We had also brought up and discussed the potential problem of the cult opposing what we were planning to do, eventually arriving at no decisions on that front. Everyone was too terrified to act against the cult and nobody knew what the cult’s position was. Since I couldn't lie to these mighty cultivators, I had to admit that I had no idea what the Boundless Cult really thought about my war plans.

In the end... after a long and needlessly heated debate we didn’t manage to arrive at the perfect contract, so we disbanded, promising to meet tomorrow morning after the Breakfast gong. A few more people confirmed to attend this near-future meeting via servitor mail. Important people such as the Magistrate, the smaller guilds Heads and a few Heads of highborn families promised to be there. Having more people present at the discussion table would likely cause even more indecision and bickering. I felt a future-migraine coming on as I thought about tomorrow.

Basically, I had wasted nearly the entire day listening to old men and women yell at each other, achieving absolutely nothing. This had reminded me of the many pointless business meetings the Pharmacist had to attend in the distant past.

What did I expect, really? Half of the Guilders present thought that I’d end up dead before tomorrow morning, executed by the justice system of the Boundless Cult. They knew that I wasn’t an “authorized” chosen one. They knew that my dead city knowledge was deemed “cursed” by the cult and people like Clint.

The furor of the crowd support could die down or become silenced by force. Anything could happen! Even with what I had promised, they were afraid to form a coalition and some of them really hated each other’s guts.

As the last Guilder left, I slumped face-first into the table, feeling emotionally and physically drained. I failed to arrive at the much-needed contract. I wasn’t sure if I even managed to unite the guilds. I didn’t know if Celes was okay or if she was being tortured in the catacombs beneath the cult's compound for answers. I realised that I was suffering from withdrawal of her serenity field as I started to quietly sob into the table. Damn it all.

“Now you see why the Guilders can’t ever get anything done,” Arianna commented. “I told you that they’re greedy incompetents, didn’t I?”

I nodded, trying to relax. It didn’t work. I was swiftly sinking into the mire of depression.

“Lady Sparks?” Sylver noticed my state of suffering.

“Mhmm?” I outputted.

“Would you like some dinner and wine?”

“Did you just offer a sixteen-year-old alcohol?” I muttered. I had no idea whether the Gold city even had alcohol laws for minors. Was I even a minor? Was being a minor even a thing here? I had no idea. Living on the fringes of society left me with serious gaps in knowledge.

“Hrm,” Sylver hummed. “It’ll be the best one we have in the house. It’ll help you relax and wind down. I can see that you’re stressed.”

“Make with the wine,” Arianna demanded. “I’m just as stressed over here, although you don’t see me turning into a pathetic sniveling snail.”

“What are you even stressed about, princess?” I muttered from my face-into-table position as Sylver swiftly departed to fulfill our order.

“Really don’t want to see my grandfather tomorrow,” she gritted her teeth. “Gods I’m in so much trouble.”

“Pfff.” I waved her off. “You’ll probably just get yelled at for a bit. I, on the other hand, might get executed anytime between now and tomorrow. I have no idea how I’m going to survive till Convergence. I’ve dug myself a pretty deep hole with this whole save the city biz.”

“This whole thing is your fault, Sparks.” Arianna pointed out. “However, as awful as you are… I still want answers.”

“Let me wallow in peace,” I lamented.

Chef Sylver was back with a fanciful bottle of wine. He must have got a very quick servitor to fetch it. He expertly poured a glass in front of me and another one for Arianna and vanished once again with a bow. He must have worked as a waiter too to attain such fantastic serving skills. I wondered what his level was in both and tried to feel my Dantian. My Qi rejuvenation rate was absolutely abysmal, worse than ever before due to the damn holes in my aura.

Arianna tasted her wine. “This is good stuff! Definitely the best one I’ve had in years. Have some, you’ll feel better!”

I eyed the glass of wine. It was bright purple. Questionable. I looked at Arianna. She didn’t seem to be suffering from poisoning. If anything she started to look upbeat. I grabbed at my glass with a sigh, defeated by her villainy.