Vol. 13 - Ch. 724 - Laying Out the Groundwork - New Collaborator: Marie-senpai & Eden Shop Manager: Hannah

After the successful advancement of Aruru, Aruru and I returned to the Eden's Guild House.

With all guild members gathered for the first day of Dungeon Week, it was the perfect time to announce Aruru's new advanced job.

"So, as I mentioned before, Aruru is now the holder of the advanced job, «Blacksmith King of Divine Flame»!"

"I'll be cranking out advanced gear for all of you, so get ready to be amazed!"

" " "Wow!" " "

" " "Congratulations, Aruru!" " "

As sudden as it was, guild members showered Aruru with their amazement and blessings.

Everyone was long aware of my arrangements for Aruru, after all. As a fact, I had often brought up the importance of advanced production jobs, so they understood why I did it.

At the advanced level, Aruru would be able to craft equipment of advanced and of better quality—and powerful equipment meant strengthening of combatants. If anything, they welcomed them with incredible enthusiasm.

"Aruru-kun, what is the first piece of equipment you're going to craft with your advanced job?"

The sudden inquiry from Kairi, Aruru's best friend, immediately had everyone's attention on the answer.

Aruru, however, put a hand to the back of her head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"To be honest, I'll start with practice. I can't even make prototypes until I've tested out my new skills."

"Right. I got ahead of myself."

She had been right. Kairi backed down, a little flushed.

After that, she promptly became the centrepiece of everyone's curiosity and all. I also received a few questions.

The first came from Sierra, Eden's strongest tank, whose armor and shield would be heavily influenced by Aruru's skill.

"The top-tier forge is complete, right? With whom you'll be starting?"

"I just checked it out, and the forge looks magnificent. It will definitely assist in forging the best equipment, that I am sure. Once Aruru gets the hang of things, I'm thinking of starting with the vanguard, especially the tanks, as their defense is paramount."

"I agree. I've heard a bit about advanced dungeons, and it seems there are opportunities to take damage everywhere. We won't be able to progress if our defenses aren't up to snuff."

I nodded in agreement with Sierra's words. When heading into an advanced dungeon, the tank's armor takes priority. Tank was the defense that held the entire party in shape, and without them, it would be a domino fall, so it's best to invest heavily in the tank, outfitting them with the best possible armor.

Of course, weapons were ranked teensy-bit below in importance; we'll definitely get to them, too. Albeit, we didn't have a single suitable weapon recipe as of yet, so in the worst case scenario, we might turn to the advanced dungeons as it is.

After all, the party's growth was on track, and the number of Advanced Jobs was steadily increasing. To put it simply, we could probably brute-force our way through by splurging MP and relying on the fourth-order skill tree. Of course, that would quickly deplete our MP, and the consumption of MP potions would be astronomical, so I'd rather avoid it.

In contrast, with insufficient armor, our party will always be treading thin ice, and speed up MP consumption. And in this reality, you wouldn't want to go through a party wipeout since «Rescue Committee» cannot venture there. A wipeout would remain for eternity.

Hence, I wanted the update in armor first. And, as the submaster of this guild and a tank, Sierra was clearly aware of what required our attention first.

Moving forward, several others stepped forward to inquire about our next course, so once things settled down, I announced to everyone what I had explained to Sierra.

"So, the highest priority will be the equipment for the Advanced Dungeon raiding party. Once that's mostly complete, we'll gradually prioritize equipping those with outdated equipment in respect to their floor clearance level. And furthermore, I'd like to introduce a collaborator—not exactly a 'helper,' but an external contributor. Marie-senpai, please come in."

"Excuse me~"

I had asked Marie-senapi to join us specifically for this meeting, to use this opportunity with everyone present to convey the guild's direction. I had chatted with her earlier when everyone was surrounding Aruru. I was incredibly grateful that Marie-senpai came so quickly.

"Some of you may already know this, but I used a rank-up ticket from my personal asset for Marie-senpai. In return, Marie-senpai will be Eden's exclusive armor crafter."

"Eeeh?!"

"Is that true?!"

"You gave your personal ticket..."

When I made the announcement, for some reason, shrieks erupted from the female members, including Noel, Lacritta, and Tabasa-senpai. Learning about the 'bride ticket' from Lana earlier, I promptly clarified.

"Ah, let me say this first—there are absolutely no other intentions beyond what I just stated, okay? Marie-senpai and I are simply business partners, making transactions. Nothing more, nothing less."

"Is that truly the case, Sierra-san?!"

"Sierra-san?!"

"Yes, it's true. So, everyone, please rest assured."

Woah, there. Why would you turn to Sierra for confirmation, Rina, Aegis? Am I missing something?

Regardless of my thoughts, I kept my mouth shut. I wouldn't want to be cornered by guild members again, like Sierra and Lana had done before.

"Then, is Marie-senpai joining the guild, too?"

"Nah, I'm not transferring; I'm staying with «Wappen Seal Sticker.» It's what you call outsourcing. My role is to exclusively take on requests from Eden, and sometimes cooperate with Eden's production team to create armor. Also, I want to explicitly state again that the relationship between Mister and I is nothing more, nothing less than what he said."

Marie-senpai clearly articulated her position in response to Hannah's question. Many of the female members seemed visibly relieved, so Marie-senpai's clarification must have got through to them. Strange, I explained the same thing, though.

"Ahem, well, Aruru alone can make armor and metal weapons, but she can't do other processing. I'm really looking forward to Marie-senpai's skills."

"Just wait for it. I won't let you regret bringing this up with me."

"That's reassuring."

With the explanation of the collaborator concluded, I then discussed the guild's future direction. After that, it was time for the long-awaited topic of the guild house.

"The guild house renovations were finally completed yesterday. I'm sure you all saw the storefront when you arrived."

"Of course! It was amazing! So that's Eden's shop!"

Lana exclaimed, her enthusiasm evident. That's right, that's right. Having our own shop is exciting, isn't it?!

"And the shop—«Eden's Shop» would be under the management of Hannah as its manager."

I shot a decisive glance at Hannah, who stood up nervously, attention at the ready.

"Y-yes! I accept the appointment (?). I'll do my very best!"

"You don't have to be so nervous. Basically, Maria and Melina-senpai will run the shop, so you can focus on production, Hanna."

"Even so, Zephyr-kun~"

Hanna gave me a pleading look, but I hardened my heart and entrusted her with the manager position.

Hanna was a veteran of the Eden guild, and I had heard that in her «Production Major,» she practiced buying and selling goods at a facility called «Mart,» a flea market. Plus, as I just said, the actual operation would be left to Maria and Melina-senpai, so it wouldn't be a problem for Hanna to be a manager in name only. As for why Maria or Merina-senpai weren't managers, it's because they aren't affiliated with Eden, so someone from Eden had to take the role.

I had been talking about this with her for a while, but it seemed she's still as nervous as ever. Well, she did request to run it with her party from «Production Major»—not to be confused with «Eden»'s party that she joins—so I could assume her heart was there.

It seems that forming parties like this for production and trade is encouraged in the «Production Major.» And Hannah had approached me, inquiring if her usual party could work with «Eden Shop».

I, of course, agreed. While Maria and Melina-senpai would primarily manage the «Eden Shop,» they couldn't be there every day. If Hannah's party could handle things like minding the shop, it would benefit us as well. In return, I also arranged for products made by Hannah's party members to be placed in a section of the shop. Of course, if they minded the shop, they

would also be paid. Melina-senpai would handle those arrangements.

For now, that's all for the «Eden Shop» discussion.

"Hannah, do your best! I'm rooting for you!"

"I hope lots of customers come!"

"Y-yes!"

Hannah, flustered between Lana and Sierra, looked even more overwhelmed. Go, Hanna! I'll help out with the shop sometimes too.

Alright, all three production jobs were now assembled. The guild renovation was complete, and both the «Eden Shop» and the top-tier workshops were ready. We were progressing at quite a steady pace!

Now, while the production team tests their abilities, I decided to proceed with our conquest of the Intermediate-high dungeons. The one we're heading to this time was the «Four Seasons Fairy Dungeon.»

We've already cleared 30 floors of this dungeon; so let's conquer it by the end of today.

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