Chapter 86: Chapter 86: To think like a guild master, what must one lose?

Armaros had marched out of the dungeon. Breaking formation and not giving any explanations. They all stared after him, the glow of his light wisp becoming fainter as time went by.

"We will fix this," Leander spoke. He did not want Armaros to be angry with him, but the hourglass was a too valuable a resource. "But we are not 'burying' the hourglass."

"What is more important to you, Leander? Someone who loves you, or wealth?" Morris snapped and Leander looked at him.

"Do you know how bad our budged has been, of late?" Leander hissed. "We are running on red. This is a good way to fill in the holes in the guild's budget, return the free barrier stones, and maybe even add potions to the list of free stuff that people could get each month. If I begin to rob the S ranked adventurers and up, they will crucify me!" Morris blinked, like he was now seeing Leander for the first time.

"I am the guild master now, Morris," Leander spoke in a calmer tone, despite feeling livid on the inside. "And I have to think like a guild master. If we can't pay our taxes to the king, he would disband the guild and make a new one that will pay its taxes."

"Why didn't you tell us anything before?" Valerie had not known that their finances were that bad. Leander did not let either Baleg or she to look at them.

"Because things like that are for me to lose sleep over, right, Alklair, sir?" Alklair nodded at Leander's words.

"The hourglass can become the property of the guild as a whole," Alklair suggested. Leander nodded.

"For eternity. As soon as we come back, I will put the imprint on it," Dorian looked at Leander pleadingly at hearing him say that.

"Think about Armaros's feelings," the tank pleaded. Leander sighed.

"Armaros is an adventurer. His enemies are fellow dungeon cores and mobs. He should consider his position carefully. If he wants to quit being an adventurer..." Leander's voice hitched. He did not want for Armaros to leave his party. Because, he knew, that if the dungeon core left the party, Armaros's feelings would cool towards them all.

And Leander did not want that. He wanted to wake up in the snuggle pile of blankets laid on the floor, for there was no bed big enough for all five of them.

He wanted for Armaros to be the first to kiss him awake, as usual. Followed by Morris, who would climb over whoever was between him and the two.

Then, he wanted to hear grumbling come from the person who was so rudely awaken, and Morris's bell chime laughter easing the discontented lover.

But Leander was the guild master. Invested in the guild and determined not only to keep it as number three in the world, but rank it up. To rank himself.

Alklair watched the mix of emotions passed on Leander's face. Had he been like that, when he took the mantle of leadership? Could he have spoken with Asmodeos, instead of alienating him? Did power corrupt him as fast as it seemed to be corrupting Leander?

"Leander, a word?" Alklair made a couple of steps out of the chamber and the healer came to him.

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"Yes?" Leander looked as torn as he had when he suggested that he was ready to let go of Armaros.

"Do you know what is thought of as my greatest mistake?" Alklair asked and Leander nodded.

"The expulsion of the necromancer Asmodeos, who was also your...lover," Leander felt like this was private, somehow. He didn't want for this old hurt to be used as a lesson for him.

"Precisely. Asmodeos had his own set of beliefs. He wanted adventurers to be escorted by undead platoons. Only to solve puzzles and adventure, as the civilians understand it. He did not believe that children should be soldiers. No matter how well-paid they were," Leander blinked. Wait, Asmodeos wanted for adventurers to turn quests into play time? But, then, what was the point of them?

"A well-made wraith could have done the job of the adventurers," Leander spoke. The guild would have consisted only of Asmodeos himself. The rest would have been useless, Alklair included.

"I could have said that to him, I did not. He was my staunchest supporter. His group of admirers, the reason why I was voted guild master. And I send him away.  A good guild master protects and keeps his friends. Bury the hourglass. Find another way to rise funds. There are plenty of precious flowers in this dungeon, or so the client has said. Instead of picking a basket each, why not get a couple with the roots? Or, at the very least, some seeds?" Leander blinked. Not only had he forgotten why he was here, he had forgotten the name of the flower they have come for. It was a Bell, something. And blue.

"If word gets out to the guild that I have destroyed something this valuable, while keeping this armor for myself," Leander pointed at his enchanted leather armor, which looked like it had been just made.

"You will have requests for honor duels. You can refuse them, as I have, but you will just find adventurers storming your office. And, I doubt they will be as polite as you and knock," Leander bitt his bottom lip.

There was no easy way out. He could alienate Armaros or the guild. Or, both. Depending on how he blundered this. Or, he could do something that he rather not. Leander turned to Dorian, and spoke.

"Dorian, give me the hourglass," Dorian handed it to him without a word, not even looking at him. The tank was disturbed that Leander would pick wealth over Armaros, who didn't have a single mean bone in his body and loved them all to bits.

Leander then began the process of creating a mana crystal. Dorian's eyes widened at the sudden spike of mana. He recognized the feeling from all the times he, himself, had created the crystals.

"Leander, don't!" Dorian screamed, but Leander was already pouring a sliver of his soul in the dungeon core that was never alive in the first place.

The blonde healer felt his mana link to the hourglass, and the hourglass stopped smocking.

"Oh, now I've done it," Leander spoke, trying to do his best to ignore the sudden emptiness he felt after splitting his soul in half and placing the sliver inside the hourglass. "Oh, well. It was an accident."

They all gaped at him. But Alklair knew what the healer had done. By becoming a dungeon core by the merit of joining his soul to the dungeon core dust, he would get to keep the ability of the hourglass to create treasure. And he could face Armaros as an equal. And, perhaps that would pacify the raven-haired dungeon core. Because, now, Leander could promise Armaros eternity.

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