The Guild I
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"The registry for the district office, my Lord."

"These are kids from the slums?"

"Yes."

"15 year old E-ranked adventurers. Impressive. And they're really slum kids?"

"They shrug the quests off to the younger children. Little orphans, few older even than 11, who are able to finish tasks too great for their little beings by joining their Littlenesses together, and forming bands wherein each member is as replaceable as slabs in a golem, and all are innocent of death... They receive only a margin of the reward for this work, but that meager fortune, for these abandoned ones, is sufficient to risk limb and life for: for to fight, to die, to slave for mere brass, is still more than what they had. There is no dearth of willing children, and as a result, those enterprising middlemen -- the Young Adventurers who adorn this registry -- have only to worry about keeping others off their 'turf', the quota of quests each is entitled to distribute... Once this is secure they are able to progress quickly through the ranks, taking on as many quests at once as they can lay their hands on, and fulfilling all without risk of injury."

"Less impressive then. And I suppose we use the older ones as a cover... Ah! I see..."

"Yes, my Lord. There are tens of thousands of children in the slums. An untapped resource."

"What a fortunate development. And for the thing you mentioned earlier...on expansion. Eventually.-- Let it wait however. I would rather grow securely than grow too quickly. The district office, profitable as it is, and all the more so for its promise, must first be safeguarded from the attention of the authorities -- and from the envy of our rivals. Like these 'middlemen' of whom you speak, our task is, first, to stronghold our business in the area... Not to overplay our hand... As for growth, there are alternatives to expanding the operation itself, at least in its locality... But later, later... For now, set up a meeting for strongholding the district."

"Yes, my Lord."

"That's it then? Why are you still standing there."

"Because. That wasn't the thing I wanted to talk about."

"Well? What's the gist of the matter?"

"That everything I've described right now might already be coming to its end... There's a change happening among the slum children. All of a sudden -- Justice. Justice in the depths of the slums. Justice, where previously there was only chaos."

"'Justice'?"

"I mean -- fairness. Justice may be the desired of the ill-natured and ill-fortuned, as you often say, but Fairness is the gift of the strong. The former a prop for courage, the latter the domain of the brave and honest...to observe this Latter gaining dominion where Formerly there was only formless chaos, where exploitation, selfishness, and violence were the Rule, where immediate reward was the logic of action...is, in my humble opinion, admirable."

"If there was a rule then it wasn't chaos. But why is this a good thing, as judging from your tone, I take you to take it?"

"Well...that it didn't originate from any intervention, so far as I can see. It grew organically, and not among these older youth, but among the weakest of the bands of children. And that...for your Project..."

"It is interesting, if it is as you say... But, the business aspect? If 'fairness' settles in, won't a good situation be disturbed as you tell it?"

"But, my Lord, isn't that Project of yours a business as well, and indeed a higher 'business of businesses', whose gain takes precedence over the loss of smaller businesses?"

"That is true. Ah, well, go on. You haven't told me what this 'fairness' consists of."

"That is in the report as well. But I will give you a summary."

"Sum away, sum away! My eyes, so used to Visionary Designs and grandiose scopes, no longer can parse the nearness of a script with ease. Sum away, young man. Read me what it says..."

 

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