Armipotent

Tang Shaoyang was sitting across from the three Guild Masters from three different branches. He recognized two of them, The Sorcerer Guild Master – Hera, and The Raven Guild Master – Alves. The third one was the Chevalier Guild Master, and they got a new Guild Master.

After what Justen did previously, he lost his position as a guild master. He lost his position and also his mercenary rank, but the Mercenary Guild did not kick him out. Justen and his trusted people remained in the guild, but they got their rank reset.

Seven God Ranks started it from White Rank again, but that was lenient considering they almost killed two Grand Generals. Of course, the reason they got it off easily was because of Grand General Marko. If not for Grand General Marko, they would be kicked out from the Mercenary Guild. The guild would not want to be associated with a Grand General killer and war against a monarchy.

Justen’s replacement was Colas, an Obsidian Rank Mercenary, and of course, a God Rank as well. Colas looked younger than his predecessor, and he had a calculative gaze in his eyes.

“I only asked you to update my rank after the last mission. What is this about?” Tang Shaoyang asked with a frown. With three Guild Masters present, he felt like this would take a long time while he just wanted to update his rank. He checked his rank after the mission, and it remained as Red Rank. His rank had been updated automatically previously, so he asked Guild Master Alves what had happened, but he received a call to meet the three Guild Masters instead.

“We have a suspicion that you are manipulating the mission for your own gain in your last mission, Sir Tang Shaoyang,” Colas was being straightforward, not being as cautious as the other two Guild Masters.

In the last debacle, he was staying behind at the Dominion Army’s camp. He did not get to witness what happened, and how Gianni, Ruben, and Nikolas handled Benedict’s people.

“What do you mean?” Tang Shaoyang furrowed deeper as he did not like where this was going. He had spent so much time reaching Obsidian Rank and following the storyline. He did not want to restart with a new quest after everything he had done.

“You have completed 9857 contracts for Killing 10 the Dominion Army, but only you. Your team members did not complete a single mission, meaning they are giving you all the kills. This is a contract manipulation that will boost your rank. It’s an unspoken rule between mercenaries not to do this kind of act. That’s why we can’t update your rank until we hear an explanation from you.” Colas explained with a smile.

Tang Shaoyang furrowed his brow. He checked his contract, and it indeed said 9857 completions. He did not ask his spirits about their contracts, so he did not know that their kills were considered his kills. He understood what happened and why the three Guild Masters came to him like this. However, he was quite to pick up that Colas mentioned it as an unspoken rule, meaning he did not really violate an official/documented rule.

“What kind of explanation do you need, Guild Master Colas? And I don’t think I owe you any explanation. As you mentioned, it’s an unspoken rule between mercenaries. How am I supposed to know since it’s an unofficial rule? You can’t blame me for your guild’s faulty rule.”

Instead of telling them what happened, he would rather brute force it and get his rank by using this loophole. He was not going to stay any longer on this floor. If he could not finish the quest by today, then he would return to his home instead.

“Since you don’t want to explain it, then we will nullify your previous contract. We have that kind of authority as Guild Masters,” Colas smirked. His face was telling Tang Shaoyang that he could also play a game, if Tang Shaoyang wanted to play a game with him, “If you decide to explain to us, then we can proceed with the reward. We will be waiting for you.”

Hera and Alves’ eyes widened in shock as they turned toward Colas. They understood what Colas tried to do. Colas wanted to establish himself as a proper Guild Master, and this was the first problem he faced as a Guild Master. Colas wanted to be accepted as a Guild Master as quickly as possible, and he wanted to use Tang Shaoyang’s fame to do so.

The two Guild Masters were terrified when they saw Tang Shaoyang smile after what Colas said. Alves remembered very clearly that Tang Shaoyang sided with Volans because he just wanted to see the despair in Benedict and Albin for using him as their tool in their scheme.

The brothers paid the ultimate price as Volans took the throne from their hands. It was very clear that Volans was very behind in the race to the throne, but Tang Shaoyang made it happen just because he resented the older brothers. Tang Shaoyang witnessed the despair he wanted, and this new Guild Master tried to play a dangerous game with someone like Tang Shaoyang.

Hera and Alves did not want to turn this meeting like this. The reason they set up the meeting, they hoped to know what happened. They were curious about how the battle went and wanted to know if Tang Shaoyang was willing to share the story. Also in case their contract system had a flaw, they needed to fix it. They had no plan to hold off Tang Shaoyang’s rank advancement, at all.

“I see…” Tang Shaoyang nodded, smiling, “So you have the authority to nullify my contract. Does that mean the mercenary guild will deny my achievement in the battle against the Dominion Army?”

He leaned back on his chair, looking like he was thinking of something. Colas thought Tang Shaoyang was supposed to explain what happened, but he was wrong.

“I think I also have authority… Maybe not authority, but friends with authority that can replace you. That way you will no longer have the authority to nullify my contracts,” Tang Shaoyang smiled while looking at Hera and Alves.

He could turn this against Colas with Hera, Alves, the new Sorcerer Monarch – Volans, and also two Grand Generals. He believed those people would gladly remove Colas for him.

Colas could not accept that on his first day as a Guild Master, someone was threatening him. People would think of him as a pushover if he backed down from the threat. They would label him as a spineless Guild Leader who gave in under a threat. However, he felt something off when Alves and Hera did not take his side. He thought the two might want to see him for who he acted. He assumed and went on.

“You can try. The Mercenary Guild is an independent organization that can’t be influenced by external authority.”

Tang Shaoyang shook his head, “Nah, that will take too long. I don’t have that much time to handle someone like you. I prefer my plan b to that. Aside from “friends” with authority, I also have power. I can get a new guild master that will not nullify my contract by tomorrow… No, by tonight.”

Alves pretended to clear his throat and interfered, “Ah, don’t worry about it, Sir Tang Shaoyang. We don’t plan to nullify the contract. You have done brilliantly to complete the contract and bring safety to the Eptas Monarchy. It’s never our intention to nullify your contract over a stupid unspoken rule.”

Colas wanted to say something, but Hera signaled to him aggressively not to do anything. The younger Guild Master did not like how it was going, but he followed the instructions.

“The meeting is supposed to be for something else, but Sir Colas is still new to his job and gets sidetracked. We apologize for that.” Alves bowed his head slightly.

[Congratulations! You have completed the quest!]

[You have fulfilled the condition to go to the next floor!]

[Do you want to go to the 23rd floor? (Yes) (No)]

Tang Shaoyang heard the notification in his head and checked it. As soon as Alves took over the conversation, his mercenary rank went up, and he finished his quest. He checked his mercenary profile.

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[Mercenary Profile]

Name: Tang Shaoyang

Credits: 218,492,850

Mercenary Rank: Herald

Mercenary Organization: The Reds

Contract: none

————————————

Tang Shaoyang was aware that he had enough rank points to reach Herald, but he did not expect to be promoted to Herald Rank. He thought the mercenary guild would use some lame excuse to put him down to Obsidian Rank. He did not care that much about the rank as long as he could get to Obsidian Rank and finish the quest.

Tang Shaoyang had a lot of credits, but he did not care about it either. But that would be a good capital to set up his organization. He kept his smile and stood up, “We don’t have to go this far if you did this from the start. Since the matter is resolved, I have to leave for another matter.”

He met with Aella and Aelka in their new building near the mercenary guild to transfer the credits. The sister and brother would be in charge of The Reds during his absence. They were shocked to receive more than two hundred million credits from Tang Shaoyang.

“That will be our capital and don’t be afraid to spend it for the team. I will leave my team in your care, Aella. If you are doing good, then you don’t need to worry about our promise.”

Aelka was flabbergasted by the numbers, but Aella recovered faster, “I have something to discuss before you leave, Captain! I know you told me that I can make the final decision for almost everything, but I need your approval for this one.”

Aella brought Tang Shaoyang to another room and told him to wait there. Not long after, she returned with seven people, and he was familiar with one of them. The former Chevalier Guild Master, Justen, and his six trusted friends.

“They want to join The Reds, but you know… Their reputation is bad… I am afraid accepting them would harm our team’s name. So I need your opinion…” Aella was kinda nervous because she was talking about a God Rank.

“What’s your thoughts on this?” Tang Shaoyang asked back.

Despite her nervousness, she answered in front of the seven God Ranks, “I think we should accept them. They might have one taint in their reputation, but I have heard a lot of good things about them. Their positive value offset their bad reputation, and with them joining us, I believe there would be a lot of mercenaries willing to join our teams.”

“Then let’s do it. You just need to inform me if they do some shady things, and I will take care of it,” Tang Shaoyang then turned toward the seven God Ranks, “As you heard it. I will accept you into my team, and she will represent me when I am not here. Her decision is my decision, her order is my order.”

“Thank you for accepting us despite our reputation. We will do our best and make The Reds the best mercenary organization in the Eptas Monarchy!”

Aella was relieved that Tang Shaoyang was not the same as those nobles she knew and was quite open-minded to accept the mercenaries with a traitor label. She believed in them and what happened before was just a lapse of judgment in the moment of greed. The moment they saved Grand General Senton and Marko, she believed Justen was a good person.