Reincarnated as the fourth son of a noble and tamed an SS-rank dragon-Chapter 49: New Guildmaster

Garbage was not a problem in this world, although it looked like the Middle Ages, it was relatively clean, the floors of the Capital’s streets were connected with a magic stone, every time horse and other animal droppings fell to the ground, after a few seconds the ground absorbed them and then it dumped them in another place that could be used as fertilizer.

Other objects remained on the ground, so they weren’t lost. But food scraps, spoiled food, or even old tools were given to the slimes, and they would feed on anything from dead animals to pieces of metal.

Giving them metals to feed on wasn’t a problem, as magical and precious metals and stones grew in this world based on accumulated mana. They were extracted from dungeons and, depending on your luck, you could find gold, silver, copper, mythril, iron, and various other metals. Interestingly, the currency system would never run out, as it was common to lose money, considering that people kept it in small bags.

There were adventurers who specialized in collecting coins in the forest, and they made more money this way than from the Guild’s own quests.

Even so, Darius avoided using materials that didn’t exist in this world, such as plastic. He opted for glass for the bottles and metal caps instead of plastic caps similar to those on plastic soda bottles.

The next day he was reading a letter he had received from the Adventurers’ Guild. He was supposed to go to the Merchants’ Guild with Kaly and Lucian. He was surprised at the request and even more surprised at his father’s presence, but he decided to ignore it, at least for the time being.

The three of them went to the Merchants’ Guild, which was much more organized and sophisticated than the Adventurers’ Guild.

Elara was sitting on a sofa near a pillar. She was wearing a more modest outfit and holding a piece of paper wrapped in a red bow.

"Let’s go to the Guildmaster’s office."

They followed her, but no one barred the entrance, the security guards seeing who it was, cleared a space for them to enter.

"They did it out of respect, in case you didn’t know. Guildsasters have the status of army captains, but the head of the Capital Guild has the status of general and is above all the other masters. This is in case of war or revolt, but we are still a very important military power in this country. Since we’re the ones who look after the security of the cities and villages nearby."

"You mean the adventurers take care of that, don’t you?" He just thought he didn’t want to offend. But he had never seen her in combat, he only knew that she was strong, and for the rest, he never knew why someone strong would stand behind a desk looking after documents.

"Welcome," said the head of the Guild as they entered his office.

"Hello, Carl Balcoak," Elara greeted.

At that moment Darius realized that he really had no idea what his name was. Perhaps he never spoke it, or if he did, his attention was on something else.

Carl signaled for them to sit down.

"We’re not going to stop selling the food, it will continue at the same price and we can expand the sale. Also, on the day of the House Lestor tournament, we’ll be selling in and around the Arena, we have the license for that. We also have a special license," she said as she handed over the paper.

Carl read it and then he went blank, Lucian wondered what could be written on it to make the man sweat.

Elara just laughed quietly, she seemed to enjoy the situation, maybe seeing Carl in trouble made her like this, or she just liked seeing men in this situation.

"This is signed by the King himself..." Carl was almost stuttering.

"Yes, he signed the special rank license, so even you can’t interfere with what Darius wants to sell or how he wants to sell it, apart from the price of the products.

"Special rank?"

"The Adventurer’s Guild also has this rank, it’s offered by the King, so we can’t interfere in actions or mission choices, the adventurer can take any mission and is not responsible for paying failure fees, however, some ministers are responsible for the adventurer, if he dies on a more dangerous mission, we are exempt from any blame. In the case of the Merchants’ Guild, it means that you don’t have to accept any limitations imposed by the master, and you don’t need any other license to open a store."

"That’s not all, with this position, you become more powerful than the head of the Guild because someone close to you can open a store and you become a sponsor, so the person doesn’t have to pay the fees and is free from inspection. In other words, you can extend your influence even further," Lucian said.

"It’s rare, only two or three people have this license, it’s for life and can’t be inherited."

"I’ll issue your special rank card," he said as he got up and left the room, he was shaking and Elara couldn’t stop reveling in the situation. She was a little more sadistic than Kaly had imagined.

"How did you get something like that?"

"I’m closer to the King than you think," Elara said as she laughed louder.

They waited for a few minutes, Darius was already impatient, but he didn’t show it.

Darius stood up and stared out of the window.

Carl returned and handed over a gold card, on which was Darius’ name and some other information, and at the bottom was his rank. Other merchants didn’t have a rank, they were just merchants and could open stores or sell on the street. What varied was the purchasing power of each one, the bigger the store, the more tax they had to pay and there was no limitation, as long as they paid.

"That’s not all, I called Lucian here as His Majesty requested. He is a landlord and is now the new head of the Merchants’ Guild, you had the audacity to humiliate an important member of the nobility and for that, you must pay with your resignation."

"I’m the new master?" Lucian thought he had heard wrong, but he had heard right. The King himself had put him in this position.

This position would give him more money and more influence, but it would be more work for him, so he saw it as a way of ceding House Lestor to his successor, who should be the eldest son, even though he wanted Darius to look after the lands, he was too young and couldn’t take on the responsibility. Even if he was the most qualified.

"But if that’s the reason, why would the King want this?" Lucian kept thinking. But he came to the conclusion that it wasn’t that, he just wanted to see if Lucian was capable. Or something, but he didn’t come to any definite conclusion.

"Should I resign?"

"Or you could just get kicked out and be seen as a loser, resigning is a way of showing that it was your decision."

In other words, Carl had only one choice to make, to come out as someone who for some reason decided to leave the position, that reason could be anything from retirement, or taking care of his own family. Or leaving as someone who lost for challenging a nobleman’s son.

Leaving by choice was better than leaving because he had done something wrong. So he agreed to resign.

The next day Lucian would officially be head of the Guild.

Leaving the Guild, Elara kept asking for more exclusivity with the products. Darius didn’t want to accept this, but he agreed that the new foods should come out first in the Guild, he felt he owed her something, so he accepted the request.

Lucian returned to the mansion; he had to prepare for his new role.

When Darius arrived at the Guild he saw a long queue, it was the lunch queue, many people wanted to buy cheaper food, so he saw that what he had done was both better and worse than he had thought.

The good part was that he was able to sell the food and had lots of people wanting it. It made a lot of sense, it was a different taste and anything new could have that same effect. As well as being cheap.

The bad thing was what it could do to the other vendors, they could probably get angry and have some kind of boycott or something. Or even go bankrupt.

But that was a matter for his father since he was now officially the head of the Merchants’ Guild.

"My father is going to have a lot of work," Darius said aloud.

Elara and Kaly didn’t understand, but after a brief explanation, it all made sense. It also caused Elara a little concern, but it was too late for them to turn back.