By now, Fire Finch had grown accustomed to managing the guild, no longer the newly awakened girl she once was; her vision and methods had evolved far beyond her past capabilities.
“Oh, Aunt Bai,” Fire Finch began, “I’m only looking out for your best interests this time, aren’t I? I hear you’re quite short-staffed over there, and my side has plenty of people. How about I lend you some?”
Ever since Aya Tone joined the guild, Fire Finch hadn’t seen a single dungeon overflow.
Even when a troublesome A-rank dungeon appeared, it would be cleared within minutes. At such a rate, an overflow was practically impossible.
This was the perfect opportunity to acquire some resources from Bai Xiao’s territory and, incidentally, alleviate some pressure on her people.
“What do you want? Just say it.”
Bai Xiao stared intently at the screen, without beating around the bush.
Her niece had been a guild master for several years and possessed her own methods; the notion of free lunches was long outdated.
Seeing Aunt Bai look at her that way, Fire Finch feigned deep hurt. “Aunt Bai, I’m not that kind of person. I only want seventy percent of the dungeon proceeds, how about it?”
The nation entrusted all dungeons below S-rank entirely to guilds, and naturally, this included all their yields.
Seventy percent, even from the lowest-grade E-rank dungeon, could yield over a hundred thousand in profit.
“Fine.” Bai Xiao didn’t waste words, agreeing immediately. Seventy percent wasn’t an excessive amount.
Her own territory lacked sufficient personnel; clinging tightly to those resources would inevitably lead to problems. It was better to entrust them to her niece, who also belonged to a Four Symbols Guild.
If not for the limited capabilities of the other smaller guilds in the country, she would have outsourced these uncleared A-rank dungeons already.
Fire Finch’s proposition perfectly suited Bai Xiao’s intentions this time, and besides, thirty percent still remained.
“Thank you, Aunt Bai!”
Fire Finch smiled as she hung up the call. She truly enjoyed trading with Bai Xiao, who was decisive and never procrastinated.
After sending a message to Aya Tone, she happily munched on chips while scrolling through videos.
Indeed, tricking Aya Tone into joining the Vermillion Bird Guild was the best decision she had ever made in her life.
****
“Ding!”
Hearing the message notification from his phone in his pocket, Aya Tone, who had just returned home from little Aya Jiu in his arms, couldn’t help but show a bitter expression.
The familiar vibration brought an ominous premonition.
A message at this hour either meant he had to work overtime or had a task for tomorrow. He wanted to do neither.
After all, his past in this world was a complete blank. Having dropped out of university, he was seen as worthless by his high school classmates, who had all cut ties with him.
Naturally, in Aya Tone’s contact list since entering the workforce, there were only a sparse few names, all of whom were work colleagues. He didn’t even have a single friend.
Only these few people could send him messages. Surely, Fire Finch wasn’t inviting him to dinner.
After gently placing the sleeping little Aya Jiu onto her bed, Aya Tone finally took out his phone to check it.
[Guild Master: Come to my office tomorrow. There’s a mission.]
Just as he thought…
“Ugh, I don’t want to go! Tomorrow’s the weekend! I want to play with Xiao Jiu!”
The mere thought of working on a weekend made Aya Tone reluctant to move.
But!
[Aya Tone: Understood…]
He couldn’t afford not to go. After three years of work, his savings still hadn’t reached a point of financial freedom.
Though every mission he undertook involved clearing A-rank dungeons, he only received a little over one hundred thousand yuan in actual payment.
Some might wonder how an E-rank dungeon could yield so much income while clearing an A-rank dungeon brought in less money.
Hah, this was all due to Aya Tone’s youthful ignorance back then.
Without fully understanding the market, he carelessly signed a contract with a certain unscrupulous merchant, selling himself for 150,000 per dungeon, and signing for a full five years.
Sniffle, two more years of working for peanuts remained. The thought alone made him want to cry.
Actually, he couldn’t entirely be blamed.
After all, Aya Tone, who was penniless at the time, wouldn’t think too much upon hearing 150,000 per dungeon. He just signed it immediately.
And so, Fire Finch had always settled payments at that price. By the time he realized the situation, it was already too late.
Adhering to the principle of “raising a daughter richly,” Aya Tone had never compromised on little Aya Jiu’s quality of life.
After little Aya Jiu started kindergarten, expenses had immediately soared.
For his daughter’s milk money, he endured…
****
The next morning, Aya Tone glumly arrived at Fire Finch’s office, pulling his hood low.
Earlier that day, when little Aya Jiu heard he had to work and couldn’t play with her, her tiny mouth had pouted miserably.
‘It was all this woman’s fault!’
Aya Tone glared fiercely at Fire Finch, who was leisurely sipping tea while leaning back in her executive chair.
If looks could kill, Fire Finch would have been sliced into a thousand pieces by now.
Fire Finch didn’t mind. It wasn’t Aya Tone’s first time glaring at her like that; she was already used to it. “I have good news for you. Last night, I accepted an outsourced commission, and I’m planning to…”
“Refused!” Aya Tone rejected it outright, without a second thought.
‘Outsourced? That meant leaving the province.’
He still had a little one to take care of at home. Let alone leaving the province, he wouldn’t leave Yan’an City under any circumstances!
Fire Finch wasn’t angered by the interruption.
Aya Tone’s refusal was well within her expectations. She simply extended two fingers, her expression nonchalant. “Twenty percent.”
“Of the remuneration gained from clearing this dungeon, I’ll give you twenty percent. How does that sound?”
“Mom! Pfft, Guild Master! I might have spoken a little loudly just now. Where’s the business trip to? This mission, absolutely! Please, you must entrust it to me!”
Aya Tone slapped both hands on the desk, leaning forward, and stared at Fire Finch with sparkling eyes.
His hands trembled, his heart pounded with excitement.
He admitted he had been shallow just now, failing to recognize Mount Tai.
Twenty percent of the remuneration! This was vastly different from the 150,000 specified in that shady contract.
As long as he cleared it fast enough, a single day could equate to three years of his current income.
Moreover, he could complete the round trip within a single day. That way, he could still pick up Xiao Jiu from school in the evening.
“Guild Master, I wonder if we could depart tomorrow instead? Today is the weekend, and I promised to spend it with Xiao Jiu.”
Before coming out, Aya Tone had simply assumed it was a regular mission. He hadn’t expected it to be a business trip.
This simply wouldn’t do. When he left, he had told Xiao Jiu he’d be back for lunch. He couldn’t break his promise!
“You may.”
Fire Finch knew his family situation. He was a doting father, and Xiao Jiu’s kindergarten was likely closed for the weekend.
‘Leaving Aunt Bai to wait for a day shouldn’t bother her, right? Tee hee.’
“Guild Master, I love you!”
Having received permission, Aya Tone left the Vermillion Bird Guild without a backward glance.
‘Yes! A day off today! Going home!’
“Heh, he’s so adorable when he transforms, why doesn’t he realize it?”
Fire Finch watched the solid wood door swing shut, unable to help but chuckle.
Her finger gently glided across the tablet in front of her, and in moments, she pulled up the surveillance footage from the Guild Master’s office.
When Aya Tone had leaned over the desk, staring at her with such excitement, he had been absolutely adorable. After saving the footage, she planned to turn it into promotional photos and release them.
It would undoubtedly send the fans of the ‘Silver-Haired Witch’ into a frenzy.
The thought of those eager little darlings made her breath quicken.
Hehe~
Yeah, don’t think I’m going to continue this, so you have someone that’s like an S-rank powerhouse, that could probably level a city or something, signed up in a shady contract, and is too much of a pushover to just say “screw you I’m moving to another country” or something in that line. Like he’s been mercilessly exploited by the guild leader for how many years at this point and brought her in so much money and I’m sure she’s not going to get punished like she should, even though she literally abandoned him in the middle of a dungeon which should have killed what would have been a random civilian at the time. She should literally be in jail.