Once the trials were over, Jas didn’t waste any ti and rushed Adrian to the director’s office on the tower’s highest floor.
Adrian was taken aback by their hastiness, as he wanted to watch the rest of the trials. However, the DRA had no ti to waste and acted quickly. The trials were over, and the recordings were made public as per the protocol.
Having seen the recordings, the hungry guilds were rushing to the gates, and not even the DRA could keep them out of the tower anymore. Not legally, at least. But they could delay the inevitable, and that’s what they had done.
They knew every guild would be after Adrian and his team as soon as they set foot inside. That’s why they only had a few minutes to offer Adrian the best deal under the sun and convince him to join them. Though unlikely, they had to shoot their shot and hope for the best.
Jas ushered Adrian inside but didn’t enter the chamber himself. Adrian looked around. It was a typical elitist’s office, enclosed in glass walls that overlooked the bustling city below.
Multiple screens were lined next to each other, broadcasting the latest news bulletin. The headlines blared in bold letters.
Almost all the headlines were about Adrian, with so even adding the age-old photographs he had forgotten existed to show what little they could about him.
Adrian raised an eyebrow upon reading all those headlines. He didn’t think it would be such a big deal but wasn’t disappointed. He wanted to make an explosion and did just that.
In the middle of the screens stood a man Adrian hadn’t seen or heard about before. From his physique, Adrian guessed it was soone no older than his thirties, but he was wrong.
The man was in his fifties, but his form remained chiselled like a Greek god despite his age, muscles rippling beneath his tailored suit. He looked like he could benchpress a truck.
He watched the news with all his attention until he noticed Adrian’s footsteps and turned around to greet the man of the hour.
"Super Rookie," the man scoffed. "What a childish title. Don’t you think so, Mr Fenrir?"
"Maybe it is. But I’m more concerned about the unfairness of the situation."
"...I don’t get it?"
"You know everything about , but I don’t. How are we supposed to negotiate like this?" Adrian replied, shaking the man’s hand. "Also, you have quite a grip..."
"I can say the sa for you," the man replied, gesturing towards the chairs beside them. "Regarding your query, you can call Rick like everyone does. I am the executive director of this fine establishnt. What will you have? Tea, Coffee, water, liquor?"
"Your offer will do just fine."
"I forgot I was dealing with a businessman," Rick chuckled. "Our offer... there’s little to nothing we won’t offer to have you on board. So, let ask you what you want from us?"
Adrian couldn’t help but smile at Rick’s words. To have the upper hand in negotiations was why he went all-out to garner as much attention as he could. But still, allowing him to dictate the terms was a bit too much, even from Adrian’s perspective.
’I got them hooked, alright. Ti to pull the fishies out now.’
However, now that Adrian thought about it, he had almost everything he wanted. A golden goose of a company gave him more funds than he knew what to do with. The world’s greatest blacksmith was in his pockets working for him. Other than that, what did he want the most?
Skills. Training. Power. And a freaking army.
So day, he’d have to return to Nexaria to deal with the Church and exact his revenge. Besides that, the elves were officially his enemies, too, and so were the Netherites.
To deal with them, he would need to gain power and surround himself with people who were just as big of maniacs as he was.
The best way to do it was undoubtedly to create his own guild. But he was too lazy to do that. Instead, taking over an existing guild and making it his own would be better and quicker.
It would be easy to do that since he wasn’t alone. With two S-rankers and A-rankers, any guild would be begging to have all of them join them.
Unfortunately, DRA wasn’t that association. Taking over a global organisation wasn’t on his list and required too much work. But that didn’t an Adrian should outright refuse Rick or his potential offer.
"What I want the most is... freedom," Adrian mumbled, breaking the silence. "I want to do whatever I want, whenever I want. Can the DRA make it possible?"
"I heard you were quite greedy, but those rumours don’t do you justice." Rick chuckled, leaning back in his chair. "You want to offer you sothing even I don’t have?"
"Soone once said, ’With great powers cos great responsibilities’," Adrian shrugged. "Been there, done that, but those things are not for . You can call selfish or greedy or whatever, I don’t mind. You asked what I want, so I’m telling you."
Rick didn’t reply. He just nodded along. Maybe he knew the negotiations weren’t going anywhere, so he didn’t bother saying otherwise. The DRA fell under the UNSC, and as such, they always have to answer soone.
Besides, they had to act responsibly because of it. So, Adrian’s request wasn’t sothing Rick could entertain, even if he was a ’Beyond S-rank Super Rookie’.
Rick had hopes from the negotiations, but it seed he would have to let Adrian go, and he wished the young lad wouldn’t do sothing stupid to end up on the other side as the DRA.
"If that’s all you’re after, then I wish you luck. But this isn’t the kind of organisation that can welco you-"
"I already knew that," Adrian interrupted Rick, wanting to say his piece first. "So, my idea is you could hire as a contractor. I’d work with you on a contract basis, one job at a ti."
"...I’m listening."
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