Soul Art Online

- Shiroe -

"Five hundred thousand gold coins is just robbery!" Shiroe complained.

"Hey, you asked me for a price and I gave you one." Gareth shrugged.

"Even something with these stats will not cost more than two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins."

"For others maybe….but you lot have four other pieces of the set, don't you. With these two you would have six, only one piece below the total seven pieces with that juicy set effect. That alone makes it worth double the gold coins." Gareth smirked.

"It's true that we have four pieces but the piece you have will only give us the five piece stat effects. Even then, it would not be worth the price. At this point, you people are just trying to blackmail."

"I don't think you realise how business works, kid. Supply and demand. A bottle of water might be free in one place and cost a thousand dollars in others. You need the items. We don't need to sell them. We hold the advantage in the negotiation."

"Yeah, if you don't buy it at this price, you lose out the effects of that seven piece set effect but if we don't sell it, we would still have the above average pieces of armour while also dragging down our biggest competition in the town." The guy beside him, Messer, smiled arrogantly.

Shiroe narrowed his eyes.

As discussed yesterday, they had gone out to search for Gareth and Dwain, the first thing in the morning.

The seven piece effect was too much for them to give up.

Veena had decided to stay back at home and try out the new recipes. The Greater Healing Pill and the Miasma Pill were going to be a great help for everyone.

So it was just him and Arthas. On the way here, they met Star right outside the Inn and he joined them as well.

Finding them was not hard either. Shiroe already knew their usual resting place.

But as he had thought, the other party was being stubborn.

"Now now, I am not so heartless. We can always reduce the price if you offer any of those Skill Books you know." Gareth continued with a smile. "How about four hundred thousand and two Skill Books."

"I see. So you have no intention of trading honestly."

"Hey hey, it's not like we don't have any intention of trading. You people just don't want a fair price. We will not sell our hard earned loot for lower prices."

He was about to say something more but felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Arthas."

"Let it be, Shiroe."

"Are you sure?" He asked. He already had another idea in mind to bring them in line.

"Yes." Arthas nodded and then turned towards the other party. "Thank you for giving us your precious time. Too bad we can't agree to your prices. Our final price is two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins. We do not have a budget above this. If you can't agree to that, then we will depart."

"That's too low. I did offer them to you cheaper if you added some Skill Books. You lot have a bunch of them after all."

"That is not possible. I apologise for wasting your time." Arthas replied, politely and got up. "Let's go, Shiroe. We have to prepare for the evening's event." He then turned back towards them. "Oh, please come to the meeting." Arthas smiled.

Now Shiroe wasn't into guys or anything but Arthas was damn handsome and had a smile which would have made girls in his college swoon. This was a fact.

But right now, Arthas' smile was not giving Shiroe any such friendly feeling.

They got up and walked out.

"Well, that was something. But I agree with Arty here. Those guys were being a bit too high handed. Too bad we can't get that seven set effect. +10% attack….sigh." Star was shaking his head.

He did the same when he heard Artha' voice. "Don't worry. They will trade us those two items for two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins." He said, while they walked towards the Knight Academy.

"They won't. Two hundred and fifty thousand would be too little. I was expecting three hundred and fifty. Worst case, we would have to trade some accessories or information but…." Star shook his head.

"They will trade the two items for two hundred and fifty thousand….or less." Shiroe confirmed. "You're planning to use that aren't you?"

Arthas nodded.

And a smile lit his face. "Yeah, I was planning to use it too. At least for the next six months, if nothing unexpected happens, we would be the only ones having a monopoly on it. They would have to if they don't want to get left behind by others."

"Hoh, now I am interested. Where are you both getting that confidence from?" Star asked and even he looked at him.

"Yes. That reminds me." Arthas quickly opened his menu and Star paused, his eyes widening.

"Wait, seriously? It was you guys?" The guy replied as he accepted the option and Shiroe got the message of a new member joining the guild.

"Look at the perks." Arthas added.

Star whistled and then laughed. "Yeah, that would do it. I would like to see them running back if they want this. So, where are we going now?"

"To our guild hall. When that is over, we will find Dwain's team and see if they wish to sell us the boots for a fair price."

They reached the Knight Academy and Arthas collected the keys of the Mansion and one of the people showed him the way to the mansion.

It was just a few minutes away from the Knight Academy.

"This area is quite good. However, we will need furniture and some remodelling to make this place into a suitable Guild Hall." He said looking at the place.

The mansion was big but mostly empty. There were three floors and several rooms with a big hall on the lowest floor of the building. It was ideal for the Guild hall.

"It will take a lot of gold to get the place up to the mark." He commented.

"We can always collect some fees from people who wish to join the Guild. I mean, they will get benefits too and we have limited slots." Arthas offered.

"Hmm, normally I would be against such methods but in this case, it does make sense. We are all given equal chances in the Game. You three worked for this with your own hands and for them just walking in and enjoying the same advantages without paying anything would be unfair to you three. On that note," Star brought out a pouch with coins. "Here's my share."

"You don't have to…." Shiroe tried to deny.

"That wouldn't be fair to others." The guy insisted.

Arthas accepted the money with a nod.

"Any idea how much we are going to charge?" he asked.

"What is the average income for a T3 Player in a month?" Arthas asked in return.

Shiroe thought for a moment before coming to a number. "Around twelve thousand Gold Coins. It's different for different players. Production Classes could have more but they have to pay for raw materials too so their income is reduced if they don't collect the raw materials themselves."

"Then one thousand gold coins." Arthas replied before thinking of something and adding, "As a registration fee with five hundred gold coins every month."

Shiroe thought of the numbers in his head and they did seem fine. "We are in a way cutting away a tenth of their work when levelling and with other perks, even the gold they spend will be recovered. Yes. This seems good for now. Did Veena-san agree with the price?"

"She was the one who suggested the idea but she didn't know the average income of T3 Class people. I would hardly call our team….average."

"Hahahaha yeah….I can see that." Shiroe laughed. It was true that their team was anything but average. Especially Arthas and Veena who had been anomalies from the very start.

Over the next hour, they explored the mansion and Shiroe made a note of things they would need for the Guild after which they tried searching for Dwain but didn't get anything and decided to return.

"How was your trip?" Veena asked as she prepared some lemonade for the three of them.

"No deal. They were asking for too much." Shiroe explained the situation to her.

"You made the right decision. If you had agreed to their demands, they would have probably made some more outrageous demands. It's not good to show weakness at the negotiation table. As Arthas said, they will come to us on their own."

"We still have a few hours till the meeting time. In that time, how about we decide what rules we need to have for our Guild?" She asked suddenly, making them aware of something they all had overlooked.

"Rules….yes. We do need those." He agreed. "Nothing too strict but still something to keep everyone in line."

Over the next two hours, Veena-san drafted some basic rules.

They were the basics of basics like no fighting between guild members.

In case of any alterations, they would go to a third member who could mediate the matter.

Over time when they had more members, they could assign ranks like Officers, Veterans and Admins to the senior Guild Members who could look over these matters.

Another rule was about not using the Guild Name for personal matters or for illegal stuff and if found doing such a thing, they will be kicked out of the guild immediately.

Threatening people with the Guild's name is not allowed either. They could use it for self defence but not for coercion.

Harassing anyone based on gender, religion, race, colour or sexuality was strictly prohibited. Anyone found doing such a thing will be permanently banned from the Guild.

Finally, they ate their lunch and it was time for the meeting.