102 Chapter 102 - Even if Things Change, They Stay the Same (2/2)

”I'm, uh, Gren's wife, Jasmine.Sorry about my outburst earlier.”The rest of the guild knew how Jasmine could get worked up but she still felt embarrassed when she was seen by strangers.”It's nice to meet you, Eleanor, Len.Welcome to the FMC headquarters.”

”FMC?That's the female-run guild that sells things, right?”Gren was surprised that Eleanor had heard of the guild.”I help manage a clothing store and the owner struggles to keep it up thanks to this place.He makes all of his clothes alone so the wait times are a bit long but the quality of the clothes are pretty high.”That wasn't a good reason to know of the guild, Gren left the price of their products up to the team that Jessica picked but didn't want to harm other businesses.”Your clothes are cheaper and take less time to get made so, even if the build quality is lower, customers will still prefer to buy yours.”

Talking business was not Gren's expertise so he'd need to talk to the group about the problem of killing other businesses.”I don't know anything about the business but I'll bring up the complaint that you've mentioned.I'd hate for you to lose your job because we killed off your business.I should probably find out what other business owners think about us before we get an angry mob at our door.”...again.It would probably be best if he didn't bring up this morning's incident so he stayed silent about it.

”I'm not complaining about it.I think that I'll be quitting after what just happened.Those guys were customers that came into the store today.”Jasmine was out of the loop so she didn't know what Eleanor was talking about and had a clear look of confusion on her face.”My boss isn't bad but he does business with terrible people.The little bit of money that I make working for him isn't worth the risk.This isn't even the first time I was followed home by people.”

Gren didn't think that it was a good idea for her to keep working there but wanted to offer her an alternative since she seemed to be forced into making a decision.”If you do decide to go back to work then I can have some guild members escort you to and from the guild in the meantime.You don't have to worry about paying for it since I'll cover the fees for the guild members.”

”You three seem pretty focused on your conversation.”Jessica came from the regular path so Gren and the others didn't see her until she spoke up.”You know, we're still in the middle of a meeting.It might be a good idea to save your conversation for another time when there aren't a bunch of people waiting for you to explain where you've been.”

Looking around, Gren could see a bunch of eyes on him.It was pretty clear that he was wasting their time.”Well, I guess I'll finish off with a Q and A before letting them go back to what they want to do.”Gren stepped up to the edge of the balcony and looked down.”Thank you, everybody, for gathering together and, sorry; I didn't mean to make people worried about my disappearance.We haven't had a meeting in a while so I'd like to address a few things today while we have this chance.Please wait until the end to ask your questions.The first thing is that I plan on introducing new weapons to our arsenal and I will be selecting a small group of people to train with them; if everything goes well then I will slowly expand the number of people using them.The second thing has to do with our business; apparently we're running other merchants out of business which is going to give us a bad reputation.The third thing is about our lax security; I'd like to fortify the courtyard further and add a guard tower.Finally, I want an investigation into the actions of other guilds; if their actions show that they're nothing more than bandits in disguise then we will take them out.That last task will go to Annie but it won't happen immediately.Any questions?”

The Arachne raised her hand; her name was Akumo and she was the source of their most expensive clothes since her silk was extremely tough and had a high quality appearance and texture.Gren called on her since she was easy to notice with her bright red carapace.”How will it give us a bad reputation if the other businesses go under?”

”Good question.It's more complex than I have time for but, to put it shortly, it makes things worse for everybody but the customer that doesn't care about choice.People will lose their jobs, other merchants will either join against us or leave for more profitable places, and the nobles might see us as a threat to their income as imports and exports decrease thanks to us.At the very least, the people that lost their jobs or a place they liked to shop won't like us.”Gren wasn't entirely sure if his words were true but it seemed accurate to him.

To Gren's surprise, Ahk had her arm raised.She had never raised her hand at one of these meetings so Gren picked her next.”What weapon?”

Gren couldn't make one right now so he was forced to explain it.”It's similar to the weapon I've been using lately.There are other types that I'll be making and I want people to be trained in using them.They're long range weapons that make a lot of noise but they can even penetrate iron armor.Not everybody here has seen them and some people would need customized ones but, in your case, it would be a much stronger version.”

There were a few more questions about the gun that Gren answered but he couldn't give specifics without the gun itself picked out.Everybody seemed focused on the guns and business except for one person that Gren didn't want to pick but decided to anyways to try being fair.”Okay, Inari.What is your question?”He knew that the question was going to be bad since she clearly disliked him.

”Why are you the person answering questions and making decisions?It's Jessica's guild.”Wasn't a similar question asked before?Either way, it needed to be addressed.

”The guild was my idea and I still supply most of the equipment used by the mercenaries.Jessica can't answer all of your questions since I haven't told her anything about the weapons yet and this was a sudden decision.”It was more accurate to say that even he didn't know anything about the weapons they were going to use just yet but that would only make them question him more.

”Even if you came up with the idea for the guild, it's not fair.You're not the guild master.You only make decisions when it's convenient for you.”Nobody else had the system so of course it wasn't going to be fair.

”Alright.Fine.I'll make just one last decision without being considered a leader.We'll take a vote on whether or not I should have an official position in the guild that allows me to make decisions like this.If it passes then the guild will create a position for me.If it fails then you'll never have to worry about me standing up here ever again.”Gren was pretty sure that people saw him as an important member of the guild but if they didn't then he wasn't sure what to do.

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The vote was agreed upon; in one week, Judy would collect all of the votes.Gren's family--with the exception of Jessica--wouldn't be able to vote so that he wouldn't win by having his growing family vote in his favor.Even with such unfavorable rules, Gren agreed to them because he was both convinced that they would support him and he felt that he had something more urgent to do.It had been a very long day and he needed to take a bath.

As he sat in the warm water, Gren thought about what he would do if they really didn't want him to be making decisions.What would actually change?Gren couldn't think of anything but the Q&A sessions that would go down differently.His life shouldn't see any significant changes so there wasn't anything to worry about.With that in mind, Gren felt that he'd be able to get a nice rest.