Here we are once again, sitting in the guild master's office couches. Kareena seems to be with a headache. What would be the reason?

"Beowulf, why do I have three requests for the collection of 'Dungeon Golden Treasure' on my desk if the adventurers I sent to investigate the dungeon haven't even reported their mission was complete?"

Title set: Swindler King. Nevermind, it is already set since this morning. Time to BS my way out.

"We arrived early, and since it has been so long without seeing family, we decided to skip request rush and see Helen's family. My father-in-law dragged me to the merchant guild, and one thing led to another..."

"And?"

"I ended up oiling the social relations with the merchants by distributing some samples. Just samples."

"And what is exactly this 'dungeon golden treasure'?"

"Honey. Harmonic bee honey. Here, I had this for you. It is a souvenir. Please take it," I hand her a one-gallon bottle of honey. Very fancy glass bottle cost me 2 silver coins. "And this vial is for your immediate appreciation, taste it!" And a small vial with about two spoons of honey.

She uncorks the small vial and drinks the contents. "Wonderful! Where can this be obtained?"

Marcy takes the lead, "In the fifth floor. The Harmonic bee's hive. We estimate that a single harmonic bee is an F-rank threat. But they can gather in swarms of hundreds or thousands. We have killed over five thousand bees."

"this is a lie, isn't it?" She is cautious about something. What is it?

I'll bite the bait, "Why do you think it is a lie?"

"Because a party composed of a magician, a scout, and an apprentice magician can't have killed all those things! It is impossible!" She yells, hysterical. "I have seen you fight and I doubt mere bees could have killed you, but these girls are just normal adventurers! Before they joined you they were just doing enough requests to get their day by!"

She is curious, and she might strongarm us to surrender more information than we wish to share. The first misconception is that we entered as a 3-people party. The second was the classes. The guild obviously can tell the last job change anyone went through. I have changed our jobs back to what they 'should' be before entering the town. I bet a guild master has a special appraisal skill for jobs. I think we should try to make Marcy get the guildmaster job.

"Yes, it was all because of me. There are several unique skills of mine that can enhance party members as well as enhance me. But I am afraid I won't allow myself to be pushed around. I have very important matters to address in a hurry, so I will be abstaining from guild activity for a while."

"I understand. I won't pry into your secrets, Beowulf." She lied so bad in this. But regarding my person, the guild is grasping at straws right now. If they pressure me too much I might go rogue. If they let me go they will lose track of me. They are looking at some means to rein me in.

"Then please hand me the guild cards, I will process them for the quest turn in."

I let Marcy pick up. "Sure! Here are our cards. We have sketched the dungeon floors we found. The layout of the first six floors is described in this parchment."

"Did you clear or visit the sixth floor?"

"No. The outside of the dungeon was completely taken by the bugs. We are currently considering the outskirts of the entrance as the 'floor zero' of this dungeon. My assessment is that the danger rating of the dungeon should be 'S'. We would be dead before we left sunlight if it weren't by the presence of Beowulf. There were several tricky floors too in just the five we cleared. I cannot even fathom what lurks in the depths."

"Probably something like an SS rank archdemon," I add in a joking tone. I get a glare from the seraph. "Just joking."

Kareena stops our foolery, "Yvonne, have you finished processing the quest?"

"Yes, master. Their ranks were updated to C as you ordered."

"Good. Now, my dear adventurers, may I offer you a promotion to rank A? Of course, I can't admit out there that a C-rank party defeated such a dungeon if I am going to rate it S. And I will have enough trouble with these requests already."

"The requests for honey? How much honey are they asking for?" I am curious now.

"A few hundred 5 oz bottles. Each request. The total amounts to around 1,500 5 oz bottles." It seems I unwittingly created a standard. Now all the honey from the dungeon will be dealt with in 5 oz increments.

"How much are they paying?"

"3 silver a bottle. A grand total of 50 gold coins if someone fulfills these quests." That is half an S-rank bounty. For how much will they sell the honey for?

"If someone accepts all of them do they have to supply the bottles? I doubt there are that many lying around."

"No. Just delivery of the honey is enough." I need to do some math. 1,500 bottles of 5 oz, convert to gallons...

"Is sixty gallons of honey enough to complete these quests?"

"Yvonne, is that enough?" Kareena seems unsure.

"Yes, master. It is more than enough."

"I have a sixty-gallon barrel of honey in my warehouse. I'll take these requests if all I need to do is turn it in and get my gold."

"Thank you for your help." She says without a gotcha tone.

"I have other materials from the dungeon that I did not turn in. They are for my personal use. Shall we go fetch that barrel now?"

"I will be grateful if you did."

"But make sure to tell any other greedy merchant that comes around that there is no more honey."

We say our goodbyes to the guild master. I actually have honey by the cubic meter in my storage. But to think that the greedy merchants would be already pushing the guild. There is no way there aren't expeditions being assembled to make an incursion to the dungeon before snow makes it too dangerous.

And it means that I too need to rush things before the thick of winter.

"Girls, I will return the cart and get the barrel of honey, what do you want to do?"

"We are going with you." They reply in unison. My arachnid-danger-sense is tingling. Was the ice widow radioactive?

I make my broad smile, "Sure, why not. Let's go everyone together."

There was little trouble to purchase barrels, crates, boxes, large sacks, small sacks, bags, and rucksacks. About a dozen of each. We drove the cart to our warehouse and I sent everything to the subdimension of the item box. I'll finally have no trouble storing fluids. Two of the barrels were filled with honey. One in storage, one on the cart. A full barrel of honey weights less than a thousand pounds.

We did the return trip to the adventurer's guild and delivered the barrel to Soren. She still hasn't finished appraising everything, but she gave me a lot of smiles. They need time to turn in the honey and get the gold, so we'll return in two days to get everything. Another quick jaunt to the merchant association to return the cart and we are on foot again. Next stretch goal: get some disguised mechanical or golem horses or a self-moving cart. A vehicle of sorts wouldn't be bad. Anything that can go into storage and out...

Walking down the street in our way to the warehouse, the girls have not left my sides. Literally. Each is grabbing one arm. And they are intentionally doing it in a way that rubs on me. Zahariel is walking a bit ahead of us, whistling. Is this some kind of setup?

"I'd like to discuss our next moves. Tomorrow I will spend the whole day training with artisans to learn their techniques. The next day Zahariel and I will need everyone to come here so I can craft gear for everyone. I want to give Helen's family a fighting edge in case something bad happens. In three days the guild will have our gold. I will be traveling south before winter closes the roads."

Marcy makes a bitter smile. "We already talked about this, why are you bringing it up again?"

"I just wanted to make sure everyone is at the same page..." The tension in the air is thick.

Zahariel claps to get our attention. "Alright, everyone! It is time to send the girls home. Marcy, Helen, can you please go ahead? Beowulf and I will be doing a big enchanting session soon, we need to discuss some things. Boring things. Please go ahead, we will join you in less than an hour."

Marcy replies, "Fine, I guess. You guys want some privacy, right? Helen and I will leave, we are being a nuisance here." They leave with droopy shoulders.

Something is very wrong indeed. I feel a tug in my chest, but I can't pinpoint the reason. My head is foggy. Maybe I'm too stressed and rushing things. There are many new developments.

Zahariel comes to me and asks, "About the enchantments, have you thought about what you want to do?"

"Yes, it is drafted in this parchment here."

"What is this? Why are you hanging magic items into people like it is a parade float?"

"Isn't it the way to do? One magic item on each body slot?" I am getting a hunch that game-like knowledge won't work here.

"Only if you are attempting to murder the person. These many magic items will suck the magic out of the person and leave a dry husk behind. A normal person can handle only one enchanted item. Adventurers, two or three. Some higher level adventurers maybe five. But seven is the absolute limit. Too many and the resonance will be terrible."

"One item per person, right. Let me redesign the items."