Chapter 2: The Alchemist Guild Is Truly Benevolent
Before long, news about the Alchemist Guild tripling the reward for their Stone Monkey raid spread like wildfire.
Major digital boards accross the fort displayed in bold letters the conclusion of the Alchemist Guild's rewards reassesment. The system prompts were flashing in gold. The world channel exploded. Adventurers who accepted the mission were ecstatic. Some praised the Alchemist Guild for their benevolence.
A dishevelled man was looking out his window with an expression akin to having been force fed a crate full of lemons. His coat -- which sported the Alchemy Guild's logo, a half filled flask cirled by a wreath -- was stained with an assortment of medical escences. He could only rage in silence.
"That woman is at it again! Didn't Wallace promise to keep things under wraps?" A shaking voice behind from behind the dishevelled man sounded out. Palor was pacing back and forth accross the room. His face was twitching -- clearly frustrated.
"Does it matter? Promise or not, it doesn't change the fact that she found out."
Palor halted in his steps and faced the dishevelled man. "But Guild Master Dext, she trippled the reward! Trippled! That's basically cutting off another arm and a leg for us," he spat as he waved his arms in wide exasperation.
"You think I don't know that!?" Dext shot the pink man a glare. "That woman has bitten off a considerable portion of our market shares yet she still wants us to listen to her.
I've already tried to contact Guild Master Ruth about that rogue but I've never even received a reply! Even worse, the Adventurer Guild just kept giving me excuses about that person's whereabouts. It's as if they don't know where Guild Master Ruth is."
Guild Master Dext sighed and turned back to the glaring words on the holo-board accross the street. "Any word from Wallice?"
Palor shook his head, "apparently, the fort's higher ups swamped him with even more paperwork."
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --
A blue robed mage took trepid steps into Frontier. Glancing around the tavern, Vice Manager Wallace thanked the Guardians that Avery's Black Pigmy Rochet Gryphon was nowhere in sight.
Pigmy Rochet Gryphons are a breed of lightning attributed dwarf gryphons. They could at most grow to the height of a three or four year old child when they stand on all fours. Generally speaking, Pigmy Rochets have a white coat of fur and feathers with varying patterns of blue lightning streaks across their bodies.
On rare occasions, a mutated Pigmy Rochetwould make its appearance. One kind of mutant Pigmy Rochets are the Black Pigmy Rochet Gryphon. As their name suggests, they have a black coat and the lighting scars on their bodies are deep purple in color.
Don't look down on Pigmy Rochet Gryphons just because of their size. Dwarf gryphons are just as ferocious as their larger counterparts. In place of power that comes with a larger body mass, dwarf gryphons are faster and more agile. They would never lose to regular sized gryphons in terms of speed.
Wallice's relief didn't last long when a black streak crashed into him. Sparks of lightning were shimerring over the growling mass' coat. A pair of slit eyes were trained onto his. Talons would have dug into his flesh if his robe didn't have an anti-pierce effect. Even so, Wallice felt as though he was burning through another stack of [Life Talismans].
"Bolt, down! Go back to your room. You know you're not allowed down here." Avery's comand was his life saving grace.
Bolt got off of the poor mage. He used two of his claws to point from his squinted eyes to Wallice as if to say 'I'm watching you'. Bolt flicked his tail before strutting up the stairs through the dog door.
If Wallice wasn't afflicted with [Frozen With Fear], he might have kowtowed three times in front of the woman straddling a wooden chair. The little gryphon had been doing whatever he could to antagonize Wallice ever since the mage made brash comments about his size. Except for Avery, he didn't like it when others reminded him of his height.
Shaking her head at the beast's pettiness, she shifted her attention to the bundle of nerves on the floor. "I assume you know why I called you here."
"I-Is it because of the Stone Monkey raid?" He didn't -- no, couldn't dare deny his involvement with the Alchemist Guild. And even if he did, there would be no meaning in it.
Avery gave him three claps. "I didn't know you were this smart," though her tone had hints of excitement, her eyes proved otherwise. Rather, Avery just seemed bored.
"Do you know why I haven't handed you over to the diciplinary comittee?"
"N-No, Ma'am!" Wallice shook his head vigorously.
"Do you want a lie or do you want to hear the real reason?" Avery's fingers were drumming onto the back of the chair.
Just as the mage opened his mouth to answer, Avery changed her mind. "You know what, I'll just tell you both. The lie is that I trust you not to let those geezers continue to bribe you and that you won't do it again. Especially when this is technically your fifth offense. And the truth is I'm just too lazy to try and figure out who the next victim Old Palor would drag into their pit after I fire you. So instead, I'm going to let you stay and keep doing whatever it is you're doing."
"Huh?" The shock and confusion from Avery's blunt statement were more than enough to completely dispell his debuff.
"Of course there are conditions to you keeping your job. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to convince Tomoyo to let me handle those old fogeys."
"T-Tomoyo!?" He couldn't wrap his head around the words that spilled out of the woman's mouth. He understood the laguage she poke in. He also understood that Avery had implied that the fort had known about his misdeeds for quite a while. What he could not comprehend is how she hadn't either handed him over to the diciplinary comittee or sent Bolt after him.
Under ordinary circumstances, any form of misconduct, when discovered, would warrant you a visit from a diciplinary deputy. How much skin they peel off of you would depend entirely on how deep you dug your own grave.
"So? What did they offer you?"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
AkinomaHNU
AkinomaHNU SHHhhhhhh!!!! Don't tell Bolt I called him little. I still want to live longer.
Happy Hollidays!!
And yes, I did change the title. I guess you could say that I felt that the old title wouldn't fit well as well as it could have for the story.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone