Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

"Don't think that you can deceive me and get away young man. I'm the guild manager of the Adventurers guild branch located in this town. No matter who you people are I must hold you responsible for this mess" Gill stated tapping his cane on the wooden floor.

Seeing the situation was going nowhere with both the parties, Chuck decided to interfere.

"These people have simply been knocked unconscious. I say, old man… why not let them explain themselves".

Inside a room that was above the main hall of the Adventurers guild, four people sat on two wide sofa's facing each other. The room was not overly decorated but still gave off a feeling of mystery with multitudes of papers, books and weapons all around.

This was the office of the guild manager of the adventurers guild, Gill. One could see many bookshelves and paperwork lying all around the table waiting for his inspection.

"So how are you going to explain yourselves?" Gill brewed some tea for the so called guests before asking in a somewhat sour mood. His years of attitude towards his work, did not allow him to treat the guests without manners even if they were the culprits who had completely devastated his guild.

Simon spoke first before Adalinda could open her mouth and worsen the situation.

"As I have said before, we only came here to obtain some information. However, due to an uncommon skill we recently acquired, we weren't able to contain it and it ended up backfiring and going out of control, knocking all of the adventurers that were inside the hall unconscious".

Simon tried to be as vague as possible and lay all the blame on a skill. When in reality it was all because Adalinda wanted to vent her frustration and knocked everybody out with her aura. Of course, he couldn't say the truth and that was why he decided to lie.

Simon did not know how much of his concocted lie would be effective, but regardless, he still decided to try.

To his surprise, his words evoked an intense reaction from the guild manager and Chuck who was seated opposite them.

"A skill going out of control you say?" Gill mused as he thought about the strange energy that had enveloped the entire guild.

'It wasn't impossible for it to be an effect of a skill going berserk' he thought internally. Earlier when Adalinda's aura descended onto the building, it only appeared for a moment hence Gill was unable to clearly identify the origin of that pressure.

Thinking back to what happened back at the hall, all of the adventurers appear to be just unconscious.

Chuck who was the branch guild leader of the previously strongest guild of the city of Mountmend and also an adventurer, pondered over the words of Simon. According to his knowledge, it wasn't like there were no skills that could do something like that.

[Intimidation], [Ruler's Aura], [Glare], [Mystical Eyes], there were many such skills that could achieve such an effect and given that Simon had admitted that it was a new skill that they acquired, it made all the more sense for them to be unable to control it.<br/><script>ChapterMid();</script>

However, given his rich adventurer's experience, what he couldn't understand was that there were so many adventurers on the hall, although they couldn't be said strong, they weren't weak either.

This question was similarly rose inside the mind of Gill. A skill wouldn't display this much of an effect if the level of the user wasn't very high. But sensing the presence of the two of them, Gill didn't feel like they were overwhelmingly strong.

This was especially true for the little girl whose energy aura in his view wasn't even above level 150.

"My attempts of [Analysis] are repeatedly being blocked… by any chance…" The old man tried to probe but he was quickly cut off by Adalinda whose mood have become a little better after she was offered tea and some snacks.

"Nom… nom.. Isn't it because he possesses some skill that blocks all attempts of probing by [Analysis]". Sitting on the sofa, she lazily sipped on her tea and commented. Her answer naturally dissolved all doubts that they had.

It was rare, but not overly extreme to sometimes meet people whose level wasn't very high but their status hidden due to them possessing a certain skill.

'Was it because the adventurers were drunk that they got easily affected by the skill?' one could see a crease appearing in the forehead of the old man as he fell in deep thought.

"Well… at the end other than a few bottles of liquor breaking and floor cracking here and there, it appears there are no irreplaceable damage. Old man why don't you let them go?" Chuck said aware of what Gill was thinking.

Guild Manager Gill immediately snarled when he heard Chuck's words.

"Hah? I can't let them go so easily after what they have done. Even if all this was due to an accident, they still have to pay a sufficient remuneration".

The old man was adamant; Simon had no choice but discard any thoughts of getting away from this unscathed.

"Ten Blackgold coins for all the damage" Gill stretched all of his ten fingers and specified.

What was black gold coin? Was it different from the gold coins? Simon was clueless. Unlike the Dungeon Points that all the Demon Nobles used for transactions, humans have various currencies that are being used amongst the numerous nations.

Thinking that the black-robed young man was not from the Kingdom of Ellesmere, Chuck explained.

"The kingdom follows the denomination flowing in from the Viridian Empire. The money system used are mainly: Copper, Silver, Gold, Blackgold and platinum. Most ordinary things can be bought with copper and silver coins but to buy weapons, armours and other various quality goods, you will need Gold, Blackgold and Platinum coins. 100 copper coins amounts to 1 silver coin, 100 silver coins= 1 gold coin, 100 gold coins= 1 blackgold coin and so forth".

Simon nodded his head in understanding; thanks to Chuck he was able to roughly get an idea of the monetary system used by humans. But wait a minute… suddenly his head which was nodding, stopped in mid-motion as the realisation of the words from Chuck struck him.

If 100 gold coins= 1 blackgold coin, then wouldn't it mean that 1000 gold coins= 10 blackgold coins?

The old man who was the guild manager of the Adventurers guild wanted him to spill out 1000 gold coins for the damage. Simon's eyes twitched as he remembered the total amount of money that Laris had in his emerald ring.

The adventurer who claimed to be from one of the greatest guild around here, only had a pitiful sum of 10 gold coins in his stash. He couldn't help but curse Laris internally for boasting so much.

What Simon didn't know was that, although Laris only had 10 gold coins, he had spent most of his fortune indulging himself on bars and seeking the pleasure of life. The only real treasure he ever had inside his space ring would be the spirit orbs that he forcefully plundered from the innocent Forest Spring Spirits and the [C] tier weapon.

Additionally, 10 gold coins were by no means a small amount and was the entire six months fortune of a low-level adventurer.

No matter who it was, they would have a hard time spilling 10 blackgold coins unless they were high-level adventurers renowned across the kingdom.

Even Chuck himself made a strange face when he heard the old man demanding 10 blackgold coins. No matter how he looked at it, no adventurers died from the accident. The hall and the bottles of drinks might have taken some collateral damage, but they were by no means items which would cost that high amount of sum.

The guild manager asking such a price could only mean one thing…

Simon made an awkward face as he looked at the old man and Chuck who was seated beside him. How was he supposed to explain them that he did not have any more than 10 blackgold coins with him.

From the corner of his eyes, he spotted Adalinda who was quietly having her tea and snacks, behaving as if all of this had nothing to do with her.

"Is there no way the amount could be reduced any lower?" Simon asked thickening his face.

The thick eyebrows of Gill trembled, he said in a stern voice "Brat on top of all the damage you caused inside my guild, you even had the audacity of running away? Snort, I'm already being lenient by just charging you that much and you still have the gall to bargain? Ten blackgold coins.. no less".

His voice which did not have the slightest intention of negotiating, rang inside the room.

Listening to his words, Simon could only dejectedly sigh, there was many a times he thought about storming out of here but he ultimately suppressed such notion. If he really did that, it would be like burning the bridge, there would be no way of reconciliation.

Plus, he couldn't make a scene lest he risked his identity being discovered by some strong individuals currently residing in this city.

"The thing is…" Simon tried to explain embarrassedly but was cut off by Gill's angry roar.

"What? Don't tell me that you don't have that much money".

Simon could only nod his head when his thoughts were already seen.

The old man clicked his tongue and tapped the floor with his cane a few times, he then closed his eyes and went into contemplation. When he next opened his eyes, there was a stern and sharp look in his eyes with which he observed Simon.