Remy was shocked. Even if she knew William was a rich tycoon, she never met someone who was willing to spend lots of his wealth over others.
"Isn't it enough?" William's line of thoughts was a bit different than hers.
"No, no, it's indeed quite enough," she feared that if she said no, he'd raise the price again, "but like this… We will welcome lots of people here."
"That's why we need more buildings," William shrugged, "and make sure to add in any contract this clause… For those working for me, they'll have a twenty percent deduction from the prices of gears, potions, and other products my guild will make."
"..." As if giving double the treatment here wasn't enough, William added another scary privilege.
Remy was from the fort and knew how bad the reputation of things produced here was. But for a reason, she felt like William was going to revolutionise everything.
"You take this," William took one of the five rings she once gave to him, "make sure to pay half of the promised payment in advance. Then let everyone just sign the contract and stay put."
"Waiting for what exactly?"
"For you to finish up the buildings here of course," William rolled his eyes as if what she asked was something funny, "no matter what you'll do, make sure the central building remains untouched."
"That one? It looks a bit old like others…"
"Just consider it as the symbol of our mighty and scary fox master," William winked before adding, "aside from people with permission, it's forbidden to get in there. And it's going to be the main headquarter for our guild."
"Ok," she knew he was the boss. And she had nothing to say about any of his orders.
"As for materials, you can have them from your former group," William waved his hand, "go and sign that contract on my behalf. Later on, I'll provide a long list of supplies, and they need to prepare these in the next week. Got it?"
"Sure, but how about my salary?" she paused before adding, "will it also be double?"
"No," what William said made her face drop for a moment, "you'll get five times that amount."
"..." she didn't know what to say and the only response she showed was to blink twice while staring at him.
"Don't give me this look," he laughed, "you are now working as a normal manager, you are the manager! It's normal for you to have this much. Now go, go and show me you worth every single crystal paid for you."
His words made her realise her new status and rank. She got used to working under others, not in the high circle of power. So, she never imagined getting such a crazy amount as a salary. Even taking a double was considered a crazy dream.
"Thank you," she honestly said, cupping her hands, giving William a slight bow. Then she turned around, taking her leave while Thomas was feeling inwardly excited.
He knew more than what Remy knew, knew that his master was able to do miracles. And so, he stood by the side, watching in silence such historical moments for him.
The next hours, news spread far and wide. The name of the Fox Guild was now the most mentioned name on the tongues of people. They spoke about the scary owner of it, the one who got resurrected from death, the presumed strongest spirit master in the entire region.
And that wasn't all. The special and rich treatment proposed by such a respectful master came as a shock to all of them. Not to mention the promise to pay half of the promised salary upfront, which made anyone doubting the value to join this guild shut up.
As for the one who was behind the storm that erupted in the fort and outside, William was now standing in front of the gate of the central building.
Remy was right. This one looked a bit old and seemingly about to collapse at any given moment. It was around five storey high but made mostly of wood and weird ores.
By the passage of time, there were lots of effects over this building. There weren't big cracks there, but many small ones existed.
"Master, isn't it better to demolish this and build a new one?" Thomas stood by the side, watching how his master kept gazing at this building without moving or saying anything for the past ten minutes.
"No, let it be," William felt like this building had a grand secret. After all, it was the one which held the mysterious message from that old fox. "Did you check other buildings?" he asked without turning to Thomas. And the latter nodded.
"I found nothing of value," he said in a bitter tone, as if he was regretting this, "I thought…"
"You thought you'd find treasure chests waiting for you to open or what? Hahahaha! Our biggest treasure is this place, not anything else."
William found the line of thoughts of his man quite amusing, "stay here. I'm going to see what lies inside."
William moved and for the first time ever, he went inside that building. And the first thing he saw made him freeze in his place.
"What the heck is that?!!" The building was enough to accommodate a thousand people standing together without any problem. But instead of having a hall or an entrance or something, William saw just an empty building inside.
It was literally empty! The sides of this building rose high up in the air, forming something like walls, surrounding nothing but thin air and a huge hole in the ground.
It was so big that it took up most of the entire space of the ground. And that wasn't all, that hole released weird cold air from time to time, as if it was breathing.
All William could see was a pitch-black bottom of this hole, which meant he couldn't see its bottom at all.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om