Vol. 8 - Chapter 405 - Welcome Party and the deities of ‹Eden›

"And the above ten people are the members of ‹Eden› sub-guild ‹Arc-Arcadia›. Everyone, I hope you can help them out and get along with them."

With five of the jobs—Princess Knight, Songstress Princess, Racc-Shell, Tri-Element Dwarf & Scion Star—being the high-high ranking job, and other five—Magic Swordsman, Magic Archer, Magic Companion, Collector & Seeker—being high-low ranking, the members of sub-guild, too, were a force to reckon with.

In the game, sub-guild mainly functioned as a gathering of substitutes for the regular members and a stoppage measure to keep them instead of expelling. Their function basically didn't expand much from there. Even the exploration was automatic.

Well, it was kind of understandable. I mean what was the point of a sub-guild if we could manage it just like the main guild. Or it would have been like we had guild members just with extra steps. That would have made the members limit a joke.

Therefore, the rewards from the sub-guild after exploration was a very small amount. The material and equipment that passed to players were barely any worth in contrast to the QP guzzler they were. That said, this situation was now different—no, completely a flip in reality.

In reality, I could freely talk with sub-guild members, form a party with them and regular members and even clear the dungeons together that was impossible in game. I could also give them much more support and likewise, instructed them to gather the materials we wanted.

The difference in reality and game was just sublime. I couldn't stop myself from imagining what else we could do!

Ahem, the only thing that I couldn't do was guild battle together with them. You couldn't have members of other guilds in your team, the same goes for sub-guild. Aside from that, anything was possible.

It wouldn't be wrong to say they're the ‹Eden No.2› or ‹Second Coming of Eden›. Uh-huh, the difference with the game was so much that I have a lot of things to do, haha!

‹Eden› might still be an E-rank guild but it wouldn't be wrong to say we now have 25 members in all! Amazing, right!? I couldn't start with just how much I had a headache whenever it came to the limit of members, and the pain when I had to remove some of them! But, then again, this was reality, wouldn’t it be a pity that if the sub-guild just remained as an eternal substitute?

No, calm down, me. I need to first discuss with Sierra and others before taking any step. Yeah.

While my mind was a maelstrom of neverending ideas, I conveyed my plan for the guild from here on.

"‹Eden› is going to be promoted to D-rank in a few days, so we're going to have an additional 5 spots for new members in the guild. Basically, I would like to promote the members from ‹Arc-Arcadia› to ‹Eden›. This will be our first internal promotion test."

When I said that, a noise broke out among the sub-members. Well, having the chance to get promoted to parent guild immediately after joining sub-guild must have stirred their spirit.

"Does anyone have any questions they want to ask?"

"Then, I would like to take upon your words and ask something. Can I?"

"NIco...of course."

Our rookie researcher ‹Collector› Nico raised her hand following my query.

"My job's expertise lies in dungeon research. So I will be giving up on this promotion test. I would be glad to have just the items and all from ‹Eden›."

This time, even the members of ‹Eden› raised a voice of surprise. Right. It must have been impossible for someone to relinquish the opportunity of internal guild promotion from this world's perspective. I guess so. Guild battles were kind of a status in this world after all. Depending on the result they obtained in the guild battle, it could very well grant them elite treatment!

In the world advocating for meritocracy, students were the performers on the stage of guild battles. This served as their lifelong aspiration. However, the sub-guilds were limited in the fact that they couldn’t be promoted to C-rank, which in turn meant they had very few chances to promote themselves if they remain as a sub-members till the end.

When even the audience always paid attention to the higher rank, then there was much less to talk about the VIP who didn't put anything except B-rank of higher guild in their eyes. With all that many cons to pros, it was hard to imagine someone wanted to stay in the sub-guild, which was the cause of everyone’s surprise

Well, Nico’s job was ‹Collector› that hardly was going to be a part of guild battles though.

“Brave soul, huh. I like it. Alright then, you can just focus on dungeons.”

“Yes, leave it to me!”

“Good. Anyone else?”

“Hmm, then can I?”

“Go ahead, Alulu.”

“I also have a production job with no combat abilities. So I would like to give up on promotion as well. Rather, the promise to give ‹Advanced Job Ascension Ticket› is already a huge boon to me, and I fear I might be struck by lightning if I get any more greedy, ahaha!”

Ooh, do we have another quitter here? But, she was right. Both ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia› were guild battle specialized guilds.

Production jobs weren’t combat jobs. They had little to nil combat skills. (Important things need to be repeated twice)

As for Alulu, I did promise to give her a ‹Advanced Job Ascension Ticker› if I have extra of them, so that also makes sense why she would give up. On one side was to be a part of a guild with excellent achievement but that result may not necessarily be linked to her, while on other side was the glory of being one of the few advanced jobs holders. She seemed to not mind the rest.

I asked for the rest of member’s opinions, and these two were the only ones stopping there.

“Very well. Then the rest of eight will be the main contender for ‹Eden›. Also, I hope you all remember, while members of sub-guild will be the main contestant and ‹Eden› will also help everyone in leveling up, we might also consider an outside talent if they meet the requirement. In short, there’s no absolute for the members of ‹Arc-Arcadia› in these 5 available spots.”

They might be our sub-guild, but it was just not set in stone if they would be among the five spots available.

“Yes, everyone knows that very well. This is the usual case in other guilds as well, so there’s no need to worry about that.”

‹Princess Knight› Aegis, the guild master of ‹Arc-Arcadia›, nodded in affirmation to my words.

Actually, I had wanted to keep all the five spots for the sub-guild members, but Sierra and Mert told me to put this decision on hold for now. Apparently, that wasn’t a good idea according to them. It was a problem to bar sub-members from regulars of course, but the crux lies in making ‘only’ them the regulars.

Poaching—it was a problem that often happened to other guilds as well. Some guilds would recruit the advanced job holders through the offer of making them regulars, even if they had a sub-guild as substitute. To put it in detail, imagine a student, whom you never pay attention to, coincidentally found a ‹Advanced Job Ascention Ticket› and promoted themselves to an advanced job. How could such a person just agree to be a mere sub-member when recruited? You either lure them by offering a regular position or wash away your chance to get them to their side.

Basically, while not always the case, they could be proved to be landmines.

Well, it might be a bit unfair to them, but I would like to have their understanding on this matter.

I also talked about a few points they need to be careful about as a sub-guild of ‹Eden›. There weren’t just a few secrets that we have after all.

By the time we were done with introduction and all, it was getting almost late. We swiftly began the ‹Eden› customary Welcome Party ‘n’ Get-Together to deepen the friendship between ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia›.

Oh, damn. I almost forgot to introduce ‹Eden› last member, didn’t I?

“Everyone of ‹Arc-Arcadia›, I would like all of you to gather here for a moment. This is the moment to introduce our precious friend. The god of cats that we, the ‹Eden›, worshiped. Behold ‹Sachineko-sama›, the last member of ‹Eden›, and recently joined junior ‹Koneko-sama›!”

Ta-dah! Though the sfx like the anime didn’t appear behind me, I enthusiastically introduced our local deities to sub-members.

I had taken advantage of the gap while others were helping out in preparation for the party and snatched back ‹Sachineko-sama› from Lana! It was like I was walking on eggshells, but justice prevailed!

Ooh, ‹Sachineko-sama› was radiating a sublime glow today as well. I reflexively bowed my head to ‹Sachineko-sama›. I hope you continue to shower us with your blessing.

And next to ‹Sachineko-sama› was ‹Koneko-sama› that we had found in the ‹Cat-Dun› just the other day. I had suspected an attack on ‹Koneko-sama› would happen as well, this is why I kept ‹Koneko-sama› to myself. But since it was a party, I wanted everyone to bask in their benevolence.

“So cute—!”

“What an adorable—!”

“Ugh, I really want to stroke it.”

I know, right? The harmonic trio were instantly spellbound by the appearance of ‹Sachineko-sama› and ‹Koneko-sama›. But, no touch. Only pray.

“Let me show you the correct way to pray. O’ great ‹Sachioneko-sama›, ‹Koneko-sama›. We have gained new members, I call upon thee to grace us with your ‘Blessing’~.”

I clapped my hand twice in front of watchful gazes of ‹Arc-Arcadia› and said my prayer. The next moment, an orange radiance shone upon every corner of the guild room.

“Woah, so pretty.”

“W-What a surprise. Is this the power of ‹Sachineko-sama› and ‹Koneko-sama›?”

“It’s like a scene out of a fantasy. It’s really beautiful.”

Following the harmonic trio, Noel and Lacritta said in admiration. Reglam was also astonished by the radiance.

Even ‹Eden› members, who had been setting up arrangements for the party, stopped doing whatever they were and as they gazed at the spectacle.

“What a nostalgic scene, isn’t it?”

“Truly, Sierra-san. It reminded me of the time ‹Eden› was first established.”

“Oh? So this had happened with ‹Eden› as well? I guess ‹Sachineko-sama› has been with ‹Eden› since the beginning then. Right?”

“Yes! ‹Sachineko-sama› has been an integral part of ‹Eden› since its inception!”

Following the sentiment-filled words of Sierra and Hannah, ‹Seeker› Kairi immediately showed her interest in the details and asked them. Hannah responded to her and explained the story.

Slowly but surely, such subtle discussions gradually closed the distance between ‹Eden› and ‹Arc-Arcadia›. I believe the current spectacle must have blessed ‹Arc-Arcadia› with the ‹Luck› as well.

I hope they can take it easy and enjoy the party to their heart content today. After all, they are going to move in all seriousness from tomorrow onwards.