"Hahaha... So the jerk I smacked just happens to be from that legendary guild in the [Free City] I’m heading to?" Medith let out a few stiff laughs, like dry twigs snapping.
The women stared at the crimson coin, faces darkening like storm clouds gathering.
Olivya pressed her forehead, helpless like a captain in fog. She knew Medith was no saint, but cutting first without a word—like a scythe through wheat—this was her first time seeing it.
If Olivya knew Medith had casually, like brushing dew from grass, taken a Southern Kingdom Hunting Corps squad leader’s head on the way, would she still dare let Medith move in?
"The wood’s already set into a boat," Olivya sighed, her head shaking like a willow in wind. "There’s still room to turn. I’ll talk to my dad, see if we can press this down. Luckily no one died, or it would be real trouble."
"Your dad? Who is your dad?" Sais looked at her, puzzled, eyes curved like crescent moons. She seemed about twenty-five, the age when matchmakers circle like sparrows.
"He’s the Grand Chair over all guilds in the Western Expanse—what we call the Priest." Pride flickered in Olivya’s voice like a banner lifted.
"Ah... no wonder you’re so sure—you’re a proper official’s kid, huh. Heh... heh..." Medith knew she was at fault and tried to cover it with a fool’s laugh, like dust thrown into sunlight.
Olivya sighed, breath like a cooling breeze. "My great general, my Commander—could you spare us some trouble? Whatever they are, they’ve got the ‘right’ on paper. Black and white, clear as day."
"No way... He never said it would be this kind of bastard demand..." Lilina’s voice was small and wounded, like a bird with damp feathers. She was young, just past twenty, beauty dazzling like sunrise over water.
Her glossy black hair fell like a waterfall to her waist, and her dark pupils drew you in like twin black holes.
"You... are you from the East?" Medith asked, testing the waters like toes to a stream.
Lilina lifted her head, surprise flickering like a startled firefly. "By ‘East’... which people do you mean?"
"Uh... it’s..." Medith stalled, words snagging like thorns on cloth.
Before Lilina answered, Olivya flicked out a sheet of paper, white as frost. Her jade finger tapped a bold line of black. "Hey, look here.
Clause Three states: Three months after [Crimson Rose] is founded, its owner must pay monthly support for five years. The support can be paid with any asset.
The sponsor has the right to designate the sponsored party’s assets for equal-value offset.
He’s the sponsor. Lilina is the sponsored.
Otherwise, how would she have reached today’s [Elite Guild]?"
"Tsk." The women hissed in shared disdain, like a kettle spitting. "‘Any asset can be used as collateral.’"
One line covers all, like a net flung wide: houses, money, intel, food, Divine Stones—everything. It doesn’t name who leads or who yields; Lilina can pay, and the Kuso Guild can take.
The next clause is tighter, like a noose: they can demand you yourself to clear the debt, or wipe it with intel and goods, and you can’t refuse.
No wonder no one stopped them; in law, they stand like a fortress on a high cliff.
"Isn’t this a garbage pact? This can really be enforceable?" Rita’s anger flared like sparks from flint.
Olivya’s tone went cold, like frost on steel. "Sprite, let me be blunt. It was signed after both parties were briefed and agreed, and sworn by blood at the [Witness Council]. In our circle, its effect is as strong as a king’s edict."
"No! I asked him—he never said people count as assets..." Lilina broke into tears, a spring overflowing.
Medith pulled her into an embrace, protective as wings. "Hey, don’t cry, it’s not your fault...
Rest easy. Since I’ve stepped in, I’ll see it through. If he dares come again, you throw my name like a thunderclap."
"General, this thing carries legal force, you—"
"So what? Who grants it that force? You? Your dad? Or that Kuso Guild boss?" Medith’s voice cracked like a whip.
"Medith, listen. I know you’re furious. Yes—even I must admit this is excessive.
But do we have a way?
This is recognized by our circle. Break it, and the [Enforcers] will seize you, maybe throw you in a cell.
Not to mention, the Kuso Guild is one of the four legendary guilds still standing, with depths like an ocean. Their chair is one of the four Priests.
I’ll smooth this out. I’ll try to make him amend Lilina’s clause. Promise me—don’t be rash, okay?" By the end, Olivya sounded like rain begging the drought.
"First: your circle recognizes it, not me," Medith said, calm as two rivers refusing to meet.
"Second: in the end, you’re just afraid of the Kuso Guild. So what if their roots run deep?
Does power mean you can do whatever you want?
What’s human nature? The strong grind the weak; the weak get eaten, like wolves in snow.
If the law you boast can’t shield the vulnerable, then let it burn away like chaff.
Laws live only when people accept them. Those who say ‘I am the law’ end up ruined, like towers struck by lightning.
This person’s under my wing. If the Kuso Guild comes once, I’ll hit once. If the Enforcers push hard, I won’t be gentle."
"Medith... you want to start a war?" Olivya tilted her head, eyes wide like full moons.
"What if it’s war? You think we’re hung up on the Kuso Guild alone?
We can’t stomach how they brandish this contract, preaching as they go. They wield a shield for the weak to strike the weak instead," Iling said, voice bright as a bell.
Olivya began to panic, breath fluttering like a sparrow. "I know the Elf Clan’s laws are different. You’re all of one root and tribe, no racial rifts. You could sleep with doors open and be fine.
But humans aren’t the same. Our world’s much more tangled. You can’t judge us by your elven standards."
"Aren’t humans a single race called ‘human’?" Melia blurted, words clear as mountain spring.
"Are you not of one root and tribe?" Melia’s question fell like a stone into still water.
Olivya was stunned, like thunder without rain. The words felt off, yet she couldn’t refute them.
"Let’s stop the debate here. I know my measure," Medith said, closing the book like dusk. She led the women out of Olivya’s chamber.
...
"Commander, we heard about today. Are you truly going to do this?" Nora looked much better, wounds closed like stitched leaves, though her body still felt weak like windblown grass.
Medith and the others shared a rare hardened look, like steel under frost. "The Kuso Guild is like the Southern Kingdom Hunting Corps—using their size to do as they please, crowning the law as a weapon for their cruelty.
If we can’t handle this guild, how can we talk about wiping out a hunting corps even worse, even wilder?"
Hearing this, Nora and the rest smiled with relief, like dawn warming frost. They were glad they’d followed the right person, and deeply comforted.
"Then, what do you plan to do?" Martina asked, worry like clouds before rain.
Medith was silent for a while, quiet as a still lake. "We watch and wait. We can’t strike over a trifle.
The road is long and the burden heavy, like a mountain path. If talk can settle it, that’s best. If they escalate and try to bend me by force..."
"Remember rule three of the field: strike first," the women said in one voice, like a single drumbeat.
