My talk with Oldbeard was rather… enlightening, I’d say. I was able to get a glimpse at what it was like for other people… normal Keepers to gain their ranks. Even I knew that my situation was very far from the norm, so it was somewhat refreshing to learn about how others became Keepers.

In the end, I paid Oldbeard the five thousand points for the level transfer orbs, as well as an extra three hundred for the Aurans. Given what she had said of the race, I was rather looking forward to introducing them to my dwarves. They sounded like they’d be the perfect supplement for a crafter race.

Just as I was getting ready to bid farewell to Oldbeard, I saw her manipulating an invisible menu again. Curious, I waited a moment, before she seemed to notice that I wasn’t doing the same. “Are you not going to send a notice to the Gilded Branch?” She asked in confusion.

“Pardon?” This wasn’t exactly my first trade, but it was the first time that I had ever heard of sending a notice to that guild when doing so.

Oldbeard gave a light chuckle, explaining herself. “I’m guessing you’ve never traded outside of the Gilded Branch before. It’s a sort of insurance policy. Basically, we both send in a notice that we have a pending trade. After the invasion where I ship everything over, you’ll get a message from your contact in the Gilded Branch asking to confirm that you received your items, once they’re done with their own business.”

“I’ve traded before, but that’s the first time I’ve heard of that.” Though… thinking back, my very first trade was with RedRose, who Balu introduced as another member of the Gilded Branch, and my second one was to Kathy. I doubted that she knew about this policy any more than I did. “Do they charge for this or anything?”

“Hmm? Oh, no.” Oldbeard shook her head. “No charges. It’s… you know how the Gilded Branch are trying to keep the peace with the good Keepers, right? This is just another layer to that. So, purely hypothetically speaking, let’s assume that I took your points and didn’t deliver. It’d be your word against mine, with no way to confirm whether you really gave me the points.”

“Worst still, I could take your points and then send in an army against you. If I killed you, there would be nobody to say that you had paid me at all. Anyone that knew your previous match history would know I was your last opponent, but I could spin up any number of excuses. Believe it or not… accidental wins can happen if you get careless. A lot of people don’t have the will to just go down quietly when they know they’re at death’s door.”

“Those kinds of people, once they get in front of the enemy Keeper to deliver the merchandise, will suddenly lash out in one suicidal attack. It doesn’t happen often, but there have been people that accidentally killed other Keepers like that.”

“As long as we both send this notice to the guild, though… well, if the first situation happens, it will be a black mark on my record. You’ll also be on a list for suspected scamming, just to watch out if you make those reports against trusted Keepers repeatedly. If the second situation happens, I’m expected to cooperate with the Gilded Branch to offer what little compensation that I can, or be blacklisted.”

“What sort of compensation?” I asked in confusion. After all, if that situation happened, I’d be dead and my world reset. What could really compensate for that?

Oldbeard let out a huff, crossing her arms over her chest. “First, I would give them a notice of how many points I won from you, and be expected to immediately refund your world. Then, I wait. Once the blank slate that replaces you cycles out, and there’s a proper Keeper in charge, I would be asked to make contact and begin making monthly payments based on the new Keeper’s rank.”

“Obviously, I can’t pay a Third Rank Keeper’s full net worth at once to a First Rank Keeper, or they’ll self-destruct by spending faster than they can train themselves up. That’s why they came up with the monthly payment plan. I’d be expected to keep making those payments until I paid off the total amount of points that I earned from you.”

Ryone thought about that, speaking up for the first time since our arrival. “In other words, there is no benefit to you going back on our deal. Even if you killed us, the Gilded Branch knows the rough value of a Keeper’s worth, so what little bit you could scrape off from that would not be worth the scrutiny you’d be under. Meanwhile, if we claim you never delivered, we would not receive any sort of compensation.”

“However, that mark on your record would serve as a deterrent. Nobody wants to be blacklisted by the Gilded Branch, unless they are able to defect to another faction. Just how much trust does that guild have among the Keepers for everyone to grant them this level of authority…” Ryone seemed genuinely impressed by how the Gilded Branch had conducted their business until now.

Oldbeard smirked, shrugging her shoulders. “They were one of the first guilds. Even before guilds were a thing, they were apparently trying to sort out the good guys to make the ‘faction’ safer. From what I’ve heard, they’ve even got a backer among the Big Three.”

“And there’s another group I haven’t heard of yet…” Today was turning out to be a very interesting and informative day. I should make trips out to other Keepers more often…

Oldbeard blinked, looking at me. “Wow, you really need that newsletter, huh? The Big Three are what we call the three Seventh Ranked Keepers. Officially, none of them are part of any guild, to prevent their guild members from being heavily targeted by the opposing forces. We only know that one is a Monster Keeper, one is a Tyrant Keeper, and one is a good guy. Those three haven’t changed ranks ever since I showed up, so I’m guessing they keep each other in check.”

“From what I’ve heard, that third one is secretly backing the Gilded Branch. Can you imagine the regular point income of a Keeper that big? According to the rumor mill, that’s how the Gilded Branch can afford their monthly meetings and hand out all those points as prizes. Their guy in the Big Three is keeping them stocked up on points, so they can make themselves everyone’s best friend.”

Ryone furrowed her brow at that, the merchant in her clearly coming out. “With that Keeper being the source of their extra wealth, the Gilded Branch can perform its charitable activities while making itself appear as the center of commerce. Add in their squad of First Rank Keepers ready to dispatch armies against known enemies, and they also become a stable police force for the lower ranks. And with their information business, they know more about any one Keeper than anyone else.”

“Nobody wants to be blacklisted by the Gilded Branch, because that would mean that they lose access to that community. Furthermore, there is the threat that a blacklisted member could have their information given out, making future invasions harder to fight against. They have rooted themselves into practically every feasible facet of Keeper life. Without everyone in the community unanimously blacklisting that one guild, their position has become all but unshakeable.”

“Yup!” Oldbeard nodded in agreement. “That’s about how my merchant put it, too, when she heard about the situation. I’m guessing that makes you one, too. Anyways, as long as someone in the Big Three is backing that guild, they’re basically the one stop shop for whatever official Keeper business you have. Though… there are exceptions. Even the Gilded Branch doesn’t have a better Game World developer than EverLasting. Not anymore, at least.” Oldbeard grinned playfully as she said that.

“EverLasting used to be part of the guild, back when I first got involved in the community. It wasn’t long after that when she left, though. Word is that she just wanted to go independent. Everyone watched to see how the guild would react, but they never made any attempt to hurt her business or anything. Speaking of… think you could put me in touch with her?” Oldbeard leaned over the table to ask that, eyes practically shining.

“I’d love to join her guild, if she’ll have me. And also learn how to make games like she does! I’ve been a fan of hers for ages.”

I let out a light, surprised laugh when I heard that. With a smile, I opened up my chat window to fire off two messages. The first was to Alkahest, letting him know that I had made a trade with Oldbeard. The second…

Nodding my head, I looked over at Oldbeard. “She said to toss her an invite. She’d like to meet you to see if you’ll fit in the guild.”

The sound that came out of Oldbeard could only generously be described as a squee. “Thank you! I’ve been wanting to meet her for so long, but I didn’t want to just come across as some weirdo! You know how my name doesn’t really fit me, and I don’t know what she looks like to look for her at the annual meetings.”

Oldbeard jumped to her feet, quickly navigating her menus and firing off the invitation. Afterwards, I could see her pacing nervously back and forth, waiting for Sarah to arrive. I could only hope that she had a more graceful entrance than I did.

Thankfully, it seemed that Oldbeard had left the door to the reception area open, as Sarah emerged from it only a few moments later, not looking as if she had to deal with anything too bad. “There is a giant stuffed animal mopping up the floor.” Sarah pointed out, waving at me before looking at Oldbeard, and blinking. “Well… certainly not what I was expecting.”

“The mess is me. Weird pastel ball thing. And this is--” I started to handle the introductions, but Oldbeard ran over to stand in front of Sarah, looking up at her with glistening eyes.

“My name is Alice! I’ve been looking forward to meeting you for so long, Miss EverLasting!” Oldbeard, or rather… Alice introduced herself. She didn’t even consider using her Keeper title, as if feeling it too awkward for her celebrity idol.

Sarah simply chuckled, shaking her head. “If we’re using real names here, just call me Sarah. Dale here says he thinks you’d be a good fit with our group? You know I don’t actually run the guild for business or anything, right? We’re all just a bunch of friends.”

Alice’s head nodded so fast I was seriously concerned it might fall off. “I’ve heard! But that’s okay! Just being your friend and being able to learn from you is already great!”

Sarah smiled, reaching down to pat Alice’s head, the childlike Keeper letting out an adorable giggle-squee. “Sure, I think I can give you a shot. Welcome to Lasting Bonds, Alice.”