Chapter 11: Special
"Where is she?"
"She'll turn up, don't worry."
"How can she afford to behave like that?"
"She can just do it, and now stop talking about her."
It is Sami, the guild leader who lost half of his members in this tragic incident some weeks ago, who has to calm down the representative of the Ministry of Magic.
"You can tell you're new. Your first time at a meeting like this?" Wace, the co-leader of the current mage king's guild, asks.
"Yes, it is. Do you have a problem with that?"
Wace laughs and waves it off. "No, no. Not me. But you better leave the behavior for when Lilith gets here."
"What's so special about her anyway?"
"Are you talking about me?" a woman with long, wavy white hair enters the private room of the restaurant where the meeting of various guild leaders is taking place today.
All eyes are on her, some admiring her incomparable beauty, others doing it for their sense of security. Lilith enjoys a special reputation, especially as one of the most powerful witches of them all. The unknowing would say that she doesn't show it, but anyone who can sense her aura is literally overwhelmed and crushed by it.
"Absolutely right. Did you get the time wrong?" Jora, the king of mages, asks as if he's telling her off. The man with long platinum-blonde hair and bright red eyes is probably the only one who is not afraid of Lilith in any way.
But the only person who gets up and greets the witch with a hug is an elderly man with a long gray beard dressed in a rather odd-looking robe.
"How are you?" he asks as she wraps her arms tightly around his back.
"I'm good, and you? How are the old bones?"
"They're still carrying me, so I can hardly complain."
"Heartwarming, but could we maybe start soon? I don't have unlimited time." The only one who dares to interrupt this lovely scene is a serious businesswoman. Even if you would never recognize her as such at first glance. In spite of the restaurant's classy appearance, she marched in wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt with an anime character on it. But she is also the leader of an influential mages' guild.
Now that all the participants were present for this meeting, everyone took their seats and ordered something to eat before getting straight to the point.
"While we wait for our food, I'll summarize again so that everyone is on the same page." The ministry employee begins to speak somewhat meekly. All the fire he had earlier has died out with Lilith's arrival.
"Sami's guild encountered true, non-mana-made monsters in a regular C-rank dungeon. Lilith's guild was called in to help treat the injured. Afterward, the ministry was informed of all this, and a decision had to be made on how to proceed with the still-active dungeon. Jora, who, as King of the Mages, was present at the conference for this decision, put forward a proposal not to simply destroy the dungeon but to find out how it was possible that the presence of these beings could not have been detected in advance. This mission was written out, and the participating parties met here today to make further preparations."
Lilith applauds for a brief moment. "Very well presented." Wace, among others, chuckles briefly before the old man, who had hugged Lilith earlier, takes the word.
"Some of you may be wondering what I'm doing here as a school principal. After all, I don't have a guild, but I do have a number of highly talented students who I would like to give the opportunity to explore a dungeon and its hidden mysteries. To prevent them from holding back the mission, I contacted a former student of mine who now runs a very successful guild to send one of her best witches to make up for the inexperience of my students."
He throws a warm smile at the woman wearing the anime-printed T-shirt, inviting her to say something.
"It's just like he said. As you may know, my guild is more active in show business, but some of our girls have a considerable history in dungeon guilds."
"I offered to help, of course, since it was my suggestion to explore the whole thing," Jora explains without further ado.
"Our guild will participate again because we already know the dungeon, and we don't want to leave it to you just to clean up our leftovers," Sami says with a grim expression, his thoughts fully with all the members he has lost, but right now he is determined to stand strong.
Lilith looks briefly at the faces of the others and sighs a little. "I have to say something now, too, don't I? Um, I'm sending my little guild along because our dear Jora has been campaigning for some time to finally give my sweet Miko a chance to prove herself and get rid of this ban that prohibits her from working inside dungeons."
"With regard to Miko, we have agreed to lift her ban if this mission is completed successfully and without incident," mentions the ministry employee, handing Lilith a piece of paper across the table. "The details are on here."
"Thank you." She gives him a gentle smile, and his heart skips a beat. "Maybe you can make an effort to loosen my ban as well. If you can manage that, I'll arrange to meet you alone next time, okay?" she winks at him and rests her chin on one hand.
Lilith knows that she won't achieve anything with her flirting. In fact, she's making things worse, but she's almost lost all hope that she'll be allowed to enter a dungeon again, let alone be near one anyway.
"What about the payment?" Lilith asks after she realizes how everyone is a little shocked by her proposal to the ministry guy, who then starts to rummage nervously through his notes before he finds the right one.
"Basically, you get the standard rate for a C-rank dungeon, but there are several bonuses available. For instance, securing the corpse of a monster to study it. I will send you the complete list by e-mail."
"Lovely, thank you so much," Jora says, winking at the poor employee of the ministry. Whether he ever wants to attend a meeting like this again is highly questionable.
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