10^th Guild Master, Brak

The average man, after a life of hard work, reaches his peak at around [Level: 40], it doesn’t matter his [Class], if he is a [Farmer], or an [Architect]. Adventurers, however, are expected to go beyond this, way further beyond, the guild was designed in every aspect to push its member into higher and higher places of power: the quests are almost perfectly set so to make the adventurers stronger at every newly completed objective, and ranking up they receive more fame, more money, more special treatments, and even more information of all kinds.

Supposedly, things were like this because, when the guild was created, the world was young and it needed strong soldiers to defend itself, though, this organization keeping so many secrets as it does, and I being just a 10^th Guild Master, I wouldn’t trust this story 100%… In either case, these efforts showed results, and the average successful adventurer (in other words, those who don’t die or drop the adventuring business within a year… like it happens to 73% of the newbies) retires at [Level: 60], and at rank 94. Out of the 4 million adventurers alive, only about 200 thousand were 80^th rank or of a lower number, a single team of 3 then occupied the 3^rd rank, and a “team of one” served as both the only adventure(s) at 1^st rank, as well as the highest authority within the guild. And, just like me, all the strongest adventurers were of long-lived species, and have been training for decades, if not centuries;

The kids that Taffy brought to me were, each, at [Level: 100]. At 19 years old.

I could only ask myself: were they empowered in some kind of profane ritual? Or… through what kind of torment have they gone through to get so strong so quickly? How much pain someone would have to feel to get that strong in such a short amount of time?

…No, I was lying to myself. I knew how, but I didn’t want to face the truth. For, when I closed my eyes and imagined their training, I could only see a thousand deaths. Torture. This was the only way for those twins to level up so quickly.

“Guild master?”, Taffy called, from the other couch, the one before mine, tilting her head.

“I’m sorry, I was a little distracted. Still thinking about the amazing duel your children had”, I forced a laugh, still not knowing how to deal with that… thing.

Taffy sighed, looking disappointed.

“Amazing? What was amazing about that? Oh, my… The Adventurer’s Guild is already quite old, you know? I thought that, by now, the average volunteer would be at least [Level: 100].”

“H- Haha… ha… Yes, well, because of the efforts of an entire team of [Wizards], [Trainers],[Mathematicians] and more people calculating and planning the best ways to level up, the power of your common adventurer has been going up since the foundation of the Guild. Just fifteen years ago, we still had never even had a 1^st Guild Master since the Ceacatle, see? And to have a 3^rd Guild Master, like we do right now, is also a pretty rare occurrence!”

“Still, you’re taking too much time…” the woman whispered, pensive, looking down. Putting on her usual smile, Taffy continued: “Anyways, now that the kids are proper adventurers, allow them to make an official [Party] of two only!”

“This…”, if I had pores, I’d be breaking into cold sweat right then. “Is a complicated request, isn’t it? I already broke a quite unyielding rule by accepting them immediately at the highest rank I can give to someone, and worse, it even looked like I did so for money…”

Being a 10^th Guild Master, I had the authority over any adventurer from rank 100 to rank 90 only; though this small section of the ranking system was of only the 10 weakest positions, the vast majority of adventurers around the world at any given moment fell within them. This meant I couldn’t give anyone ranks under 90, but it did not mean that I could allow anyone to “skip” rank positions.

This was due to the fact that the team that I just mentioned, the ones who put up strategies to make people stronger faster, didn’t just systematize the strength of the accepted adventurers, but a bunch of other things too; for example, once the guild was one of the most influential forces in the world, many countries constantly tried to infiltrate our ranks all the time, and to not generate unnecessary conflict, we accept them, feign ignorance, and just don’t let them go past certain ranks, or fed them wrong information.

“So? What’s the problem?”, Taffy asked back.

“Darn me…”, I cursed in a whisper, getting even more nervous. I was just the weakest Guild Master, why did I have to deal with that thing?! Darn me! “Well, the word that I already bent to your will and accepted someone immediately at the 90^th rank will spread quickly, you can be sure of it. If rumors that I also allowed them to break the minimum number of [Party] members rule, and the [Tank] and [Healer] rule start to circulate too, I’m sure the guild will capture… unwanted attention, lady Taffy.”

Though I wasn’t lying, I already needed the help from the other Guild Masters to cover up the mentioned scandal already; I planned to do everything in secret, but that Taffy just had to order me around in public, didn’t she? Darn me…

I didn’t know what the higher-ups would come up with to justify the decision I was forced to take; from creating a fake past for the twins, to pretending the entire incident never happened in the first place; and I honestly didn’t care, but they needed to do something about that if they wanted to keep the guild’s reputation.

Taffy, however, didn’t even flinch after listening to the implications. Instead, frighteningly, her smile only grew wider, as she answered:

“Oh, my!”, she laughed. “If the [Gods] are the ones who make you afraid, don’t worry about them, 10^th Guild Master. Few are the [Gods] with balls big enough to defy me.” Her smile wavering, she added: “Differently from, apparently, a certain old man…”

I froze in my seat on the couch facing Taffy, unable to even shiver in fear.

Darn… No, FUCK ME!

What was I doing, going against her, I was just a [Level: 103] [Treespeaker], could I even stand a microsecond of fighting that walking calamity?! No!

However…

“That’s not the only thing that I fear, lady Taffy, but also the fact that the Adventurer’s Guild could fraction and break under increasing suspicions of corruption and favoritism…”

Taffy seemed thoughtful for an instant, divided even. Then, surprisingly, she said, while walking off the room:

“I see, this really would be troublesome. Do as you see fit, then, find them a [Party].”

Did… I do it? Did I convince her to abandon her unreasonable requests?

Finally relaxing, letting my back sunk into the couch of my office, I finally found enough mental strength to reflected on that entity, and not just follow it around:

Taffy. I learned about her when I became a 10^th Guild Master, alongside many more secrets, and received a few privileges, in exchange for, basically, stagnating at my [Level], after I attained a half-hearted revenge.

Well, not that I still felt the thirst for adventure anymore… not after I became the last surviving member of my [Party] 60 years ago.

In any case, while the higher-ups disclosed much information about the world and its inhabitants, even the [Gods]. But, back then, what surprised me was a very specific order, one that didn’t seem to make any sense at all: if I ever came across a human-looking woman named “Taffy”, she should receive the best treatment possible, and all of her requests should be attended, if possible. And, most important, no one should make her angry. Other than that, everything concerning her was information of the highest level of secrecy; everything, from age, to [Level], to [Class], to a real identity. The only exception to this was that I was told that she was strong.

“Oh, my! I was already forgetting…”, the mysterious entity commented, stopping at the exit of my office. “Once their [Party] dies out, I don’t want to hear any more excuses to let the kids work by themselves, okay?”