In the backrooms of the Guild Hall, Kazuma was going through the laws and bylaws of the guild. He had been trying to find any rules or regulations regarding the topics he'd brought up with Feldart and Luna. So far, he was disappointed to say the least. Apparently, the establishment of rules for the guild were handled by the guild master directly upon founding and Gerald had effectively made every bad decision he could when the guild was founded. He'd not only made no safety measures for the adventurers, he had seemingly gone out of his way to make it as dangerous and low reward for them as possible. It took a lot of digging, but Kazuma had even managed to find the cost splits and the like between the guild and clients. The charter had a pre-suggested split of twenty-five percent going to the guild and the rest being paid to the adventurers. Gerald had done the exact opposite, making it so the guild hall got seventy-five. A bit more digging found out why he'd made such a decision. After certain minimum payouts were given to guild staff and facilities, all the guild's profits went to him.
Not only was the old fart grossly incompetent, he was comedically corrupt.
One might think there would be rules or procedures for removing a head of the guild, but it seemed that any such documents had either been disposed of, or had simply never even existed. The only methods remaining would be Gerald willingly stepping down or the local lord revoking his charter. Given that the general attitude toward a powerful institution like the guild could be best summed up as, so long as they do the job and pay their taxes, we don't care, that would take quite a coup to pull off…
That in mind, the idea of getting Gerald to just agree to their demands was much more reasonable than getting rid of him. Well, it would be if it weren't for the fact that they'd eat up a LOT of his illicit profits and bring to light just how little he had cared for others.
Starting on making their list of 'requests' that they wanted Gerald to give into, Kazuma raked a hand through his hair. There was no way that the guild master was going to agree to half of this, let alone all of them. He tried to make them sound as reasonable as possible, but the fact that most of it would cut into his personal gains doomed it to fail before it even began.
Letting his pessimism go for now, he kept writing out the demands for Feldart to hand over when the time came. That was another part of the plan they'd planned; Luna, Aqua, and Kazuma were to maintain their positions inside of the guild as 'loyal' workers (and 'girlfriend') while the adventurers did what needed to be done.
Now though, he was regretting agreeing to write it all out. The fact he'd decided to make it sound as official as possible only made it that much worse. The fact that he didn't understand legal speech in Japan, let alone Axel, was only giving him that much more of a headache and he'd resorted to just making it sound as fancy as possible, regardless of the legalese. It wasn't as if he understood Axel's legal system anyway, which seemed to be more a set of guidelines for local lords to interpret as they saw fit. If it weren't for him getting fluency for free, he'd have given up hours ago.
A knock on the door brought him from his stupor, Aqua opening it a moment later with a small plate. "Luna said you were working back here so I figured you might be starting to get hungry." She sat his meal down, some actual meat accompanying the hard tack that he was normally given for free. "Luna and I decided to spend a bit to give you some extra to thank you for all the hard work you're doing." Setting it down next to his paperwork, she took the seat next to him to read over what he'd written out so far. "Heh, you should make joining that Axis Cult compulsory! That way they can know of my greatness!" she suggested, reaching to make the addition herself, only to have her hand slapped out of the way. "Hey!"
"None of that. We are not forcing religion on people. We want happy adventurers, not deranged cultists" he teased, flicking her forehead.
"Oi, my followers aren't that bad! They follow my tenants to the letter and lead their best lives" she tried defending, but the words sounded hollow even to her own ears.
"Aqua, I have heard nothing but horror stories about them. They are con-artists, they don't accept consequences for their actions, and they talk smack about Eris. You know as well as I do that she hasn't done anything to deserve such treatment," he listed off, having prepared for this debate. "That's not even accounting for the fact that picking a fight with Eris means starting beef with the most popular cult in Axel! Really not doing their image any favors there!"
"I-uh, but… They're happy though? Sure, they might get a bit enthusiastic from time to time, but they mean well!"
"Yeah, but they could do better if you asked them to. They follow you blindly anyway, so why not make them be better? Shouldn't be too hard for such a grand and benevolent goddess like yourself" he trailed off, putting the finishing touches on the paper. "Alright, done at last! I'll give this to Feldart tonight and he can present them whenever he feels is best. Thank you for the food though, Aqua. Itadakimasu!" Rolling up the parchment and sealing it with a bow thread, he started on his meal, enjoying it while he could. "So, before this all goes down, we need to give you a 'real' job. Luna and I were thinking about it and would you be fine being a Resident Healer until all of this blows over? You still haven't found a party to adventure with yet, right?"
Letting out a frustrated groan, she slammed her head on the table. "Yeah, I still have a bad rep from the whole undead incident… Not that the ungrateful mortals have a problem taking advantage of my divine healing magic.
"And have you thought about charging for that?" he asked, knowing full well she hadn't considered it at all. Otherwise she'd have been able to buy decent food and the like.
"Of course I… Why didn't I think of that first?! Urgh, I could have been making bank already!"" Aqua's eye twitched as she wailed in mourning of the money she'd missed out on, before running off to Luna about going rates for reattaching limbs.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
Feldart was leaning against the wall in the training wall, watching the younglings practice as he waited on Kazuma. To prevent Gerald from getting suspicious of Luna and Kazuma, they had agreed they'd only meet here when it was time for training.
Kazuma showed up, right on time, handing over a 'mission' scroll for Feldart before they started. "Hey, we have a mission Luna wants you to take if you think you're up for it. It's all summed up inside there." In reality, yes, there was a mission there, but rolled up inside of that was the talking points he should use when he went to confront Gerald. "So, ready to beat me up again?" Kazuma cheekily asked, punching the older man's arm playfully.
"Bah, start putting up a decent fight and maybe you won't get your arse handed to you so badly. Alright, in the ring with ya" he commanded, shoving the string bean forward and setting the paper down for now.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
Gerald was happily counting his Eris, the fat-cat gleefully going over the day's earnings in what could only be described as a caricature. Fourteen successful missions that day netted him making well over a million Eris, after having to pay the clueless sword-slingers downstairs and the ungrateful staff. If he could have swung it, they'd be happy to take the room and board and let him have what he rightly deserved for providing it for them! Unfortunately, that wasn't a viable option - they weren't conscripts he could just tell to like it or take a short drop with a hemp necktie and even the stupidest among them had to have some sense of when they were being swindled. Besides, armies tended to be even more expensive in the long run, demanding pay and food even when they weren't being actively useful. Getting the suckers to pay extra for slight luxuries, as well as take care of their own upkeep and care resulted in more sweet, sweet Eris in his pocket at the end of the day.. Although, he thought as he admired the light glinting off the goddess's likeness on the back of one coin, while money spoke for itself, having absolute command of so many pawns did have it's own appeal.
His musings were brought short by a knock on the door, Feldart barging in without even waiting on a response. "What are you doing in here, I told the girls no distractions" Gerald snapped, leveling a contemptuous glare at the seasoned adventurer.
"And I told them I didn't give a shite. Look, I'm going to do you a courtesy and be straight with you, not that I expect you to return it. Myself and the boys and girls downstairs have had enough. We're sick and tired of how you run this place. So, we decided to write up a list of… requests, for you to look over. I'd suggest you give them a good look and as much consideration as you can manage, because if we can't come up with a compromise that leaves everyone equally unhappy… Well, we'll burn that bridge when we get there, won't we?" Feldart didn't even give Gerald a chance to respond, slamming the itemized list on the table and taking a seat while he waited on his response.
"Are you serious?," the guildmaster scoffed. "You 'don't like how I run things?' Let me guess, this is about the payouts isn't it? Bah, like I'd ever give you lot an Eris more than I do! You know as well as I do that not a single layabout down there deserves it! I'll read your 'requests' alright, just so I can laugh you out properly afterwards!" Leaning forward in his chair, Gerald fixed his reading glasses and started to read, his face turning progressively redder the further he got. The ingrates had the audacity to ask for a 'more reasonable' split in the distribution of mission funds. How had they found out the rates the other guilds paid out?! None of the other guild masters had shown any sign of knowing about how he ran his hall! Regardless, the fact remained that he would need to bury this as soon as he could so he could sweep any probing questions under the rug. It only got worse from there, with demands for different 'safety precautions,' 'workman's compensation' and the like that would cut even further into his profits while giving him nothing in return. "You have all got to be joking. There is no earthly way you can possibly believe I'd agree to a single one of these preposterous demands! There is no incentive for me to listen to this at all. What do I get for even one of these? Adventurers living longer? Like I care. If they can't appreciate the risks when they walk through the door, that's their own damn problem, not mine! A greenhorn with a sword makes the same as a veteran fulfilling those entry-level 'quests' on the board and if they've got the potential to be more, they wouldn't need these frivolous safety nets in the first place!"
Feldart only smirked, unfolding his arms and sticking his thumbs in his belt. "Oh really? Well you probably won't be surprised to learn we thought you might feel that way. Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough why you should have at least tried some of them. I did warn the lads that it would come to this. Enjoy today's earnings, they're the last you're likely to see" he ominously warned, leaving the room without being dismissed.
"Are you threatening m- Don't you just walk ou-!" Gerald barked, his voice falling on deaf ears. He slumped back into his chair, grumbling. "Ingrate. Just because he can throw a punch, he thinks he can dictate terms to me? I might not have the prestige I once did, but I still have my family name and the Eris to back it up. If he thinks his popularity with the unwashed peasants that blow in here looking for a handout will save him from a cell, he's got another thing coming! " The embittered old fool, disgraced and swept away to an inglorious position by his own noble house, gripped the arms of his chair and plotted his revenge on the impudent adventurer, not realizing he'd just signed his own retirement.
-Ko-No-Su-Ba!-
Forty nine days. That was how long Aqua and Kazuma have been in Axel now and today was the first time he was truly nervous. Feldart had told him last night that they were ready to move forward with the plan and that he was to be prepared for it. The requests/demands had been given to Gerald ten days earlier, and today the strike started in earnest. They'd had volunteers putting posters up for the "Adventurer's Union" all night, hoping to get public support before Gerald could do anything to silence them. For him though? All he and Aqua had to do was act like it was any other day.
Aqua was, again, holding him this morning, though a bit less clingy than usual. It seemed she'd been sleeping better since she started healing and helping out wounded that came back. When he'd commented on it, she'd shyly shrugged, giving some half baked excuse about the 'extra work and thanks' that burned off some of her excess energy. It had been great for her though, leading to her becoming more sociable with the regulars and her people skills improving by leaps and bounds. She'd even managed to make enough that they were regularly eating real food now instead of the free rations they'd been allowed before. As for their bet? Well, they called it even since she technically didn't drink anything the whole time, but admitted that was only because Luna had stopped her early on.
Stretching out, he started to shake Aqua awake, wanting her to join him for this. "Come on Aqua, today's the day. Get up."
She let out a small whine, gripping him tighter. "Can't we sleep a bit longer? It isn't like there will be anything for us to do, right?"
"Well, if it all goes well, yeah. We aren't supposed to know that though, remember?" he asked, turning over a bit so he was on his back.
Grumbling, she pouted before releasing him. "Bah, why do you have to be right? I wanted to sleep in a bit more. Alright, get out so I can change and then you can have the room. No peeking, kay?" she teased, gently prodding him to get moving.
He rolled his eyes, conceding to her demands and getting up. "Yeah yeah, I'm going, I'm going."
Time soon finds them downstairs, the usually full and rambunctious guild hall devoid of life save the staff. Luna is already at the counter and the waitresses are looking around, confused at the lack of customers. "Morning Luna. Have anything you want me working on today?" They'd planned this out a bit, making sure he'd be 'busy' despite the lack of adventurers around so that they couldn't be blamed easily.
"Well, today I'd like to spend some time studying materials and the like. There are a handful of guide books in the back that you can start with. Just come and find me if you manage to somehow read them all, okay?" she instructed, the books being a bit more than she was letting on. While they were good for finding out what kind of materials looked like and similar details, they were even better as general knowledge guides for adventurers. Without Feldart and others around, he wouldn't be able to continue practicing so this was the best she could come up with to help him.
With their day 'planned out,' they started letting the Adventurers' Strike commence, waiting to see how long it would take Gerald to even notice.
