Ch 169 -- Ugor-san Gets Extremely Angry (Again)

We soon arrived at the Adventurers Guild. I had found two nice baskets in the general store and had placed the pound cakes in them, ready to hand them over to Ugor-san and Elland-san. As soon as I made an appearance the Guild"s staff hurried off to fetch Elland-san without me having to wait or even ask for a.s.sistance. It was a bit unnerving for someone like me to be treated as a VIP like this. Elland-san soon made an appearance and we went up to the now-familiar Guild Master"s office on the second floor.

Once we were seated Elland-san said "Please wait for Ugor-kun to arrive." Elland-san looked somewhat dispirited, he wasn"t even trying to ogle Dora-chan like he usually did. I heard him mutter "I told him I could deal with this myself. I"ve done it before when he wasn"t around..." No, I could understand Ugor-san"s feelings, you would try to dodge out of doing your job or mess things up with your selfishness. Best to wait for Ugor-san to get here, Guild Master.

Shortly after the office door opened and Ugor-san hurried in. "Thank you both for waiting." he said, throwing a hard glance at the depressed Elf sitting behind the big desk before he took his own seat and produced a large sheet of paper.

"Let"s get on with business, Mukouda-san." he said, "I would like to pay you for the dungeon goods you delivered to us yesterday. Well, the details are..." Ugor-san ran a finger down the paper as he read out the items I was selling to the Guild.

"First there are 125 Orc skins for 1000 gold coins then there are 63 Lizardman skins for 630 gold coins, 102 Ogre skins for 2040 gold coins, 113 Troll skins for 2486 gold coins, 88 Minotaur skins for 1,672 gold coins, 21 small Ogre magic stones for 315 gold coins, 23 small Troll magic stones for 460 gold coins, 20 small Minotaur magic stones for 380 gold coins, 7 small Giant Killer Mantis magic stones for 147 gold coins, 15 vials of Paralyze b.u.t.terfly paralysis powder for 75 gold coins, 20 Wild Ape furs for 160 gold coins and a small magic bag for 280 gold coins." He stopped to glance up and down the paper again before announcing, "That makes a total of 9645 gold coins."

He tapped the paper with a finger before saying "Because the amount is so large I"d prefer to follow the example of the Merchants Guild yesterday and pay you with platinum coins and large gold coins. Is that okay with you Mukouda-san?"

When I nodded Ugor-san got out a large lockbox and counted out 96 platinum coins, 4 large gold coins and 5 gold coins, arranging them in piles of ten on Elland-san"s desk. "Please confirm the amount," Ugor-san said as he put the last coin down.

I leant forward and counted them, "Platinum coins 1, 2, 3 …… (Omitted) …… 96, yes, plus 4 large gold coins and 5 gold coins. Yosh." I looked up and nodded. "Yes, that"s correct." I started putting them away in my Item Box, rather regretting the absence of those utilitarian sacks I normally received payment in. Ah well.

"Lately we"ve been able to secure a large amount of skins and magic stones thanks to you, Mukouda-sama." Ugor-san said with a smile.

"...But getting the Vasuki"s fangs, the Manticore"s Poison Stinger, the Gustave"s fangs and spine would have been better..." came a whisper from the other side of the big desk. Ugor-san"s darkening face turned towards his erstwhile superior.

"Did you have something to add, Guild Master?" he asked dangerously.

"I didn"t say anything." Elland-san muttered. Really, Guild Master, did you really expect Ugor-san to not hear that? I waited for the explosion to come but I was disappointed as Ugor-san shrugged it off.

"Well, that"s okay." Ugor-san settled back in his seat. "I wanted to have words with you when you purchased the Earth Dragon materials without consulting with me. I might have demurred over the expense you incurred but, as it turned out you were right and the Dragon blood and liver quickly sold for more than I expected." He shrugged. "In fact that extra cashflow enabled us to buy more of Mukouda-san"s dungeon items today than we would have normally been able to afford."

Elland-san perked up at Ugor-san"s words. "Yes, that"s right." He nodded enthusiastically. "I did tell you that, didn"t I? And I was right, wasn"t I?" An avaricious smile spread over his fine Elvish features. "So are you ready to give me a budget to get the Dragon Sword made from that Dragon fang now, as a reward?"

Uh oh. As soon as Elland-san said that a vein started to throb on Ugor-san"s temple. Bad move Elland-san, you just made Ugor-san extremely angry (again). I didn"t understand Elland-san"s obtuseness, after all he worked with Ugor-san every day, surely he would have learned not to aggravate him like that? I could only congratulate Ugor-san for his patience in dealing with his blundering superior day after day.

"Guild Master," Ugor-san said, thin-lipped, "You convinced me that the Guild would benefit from possessing a Dragon Sword made from a Dragon"s fang even though I was somewhat reluctant. But!" he raised a finger. "We only have the funds to spare at the moment to purchase the necessary materials. Getting the sword made will cost a lot more, money we don"t have yet. You don"t seem to realise that the Guild"s finances are limited." He sighed. "We"ll need to consult with the blacksmiths here in Doran to determine which workshop can actually make such a sword, how much it will cost and so on before we can even begin to figure out where the money to pay for it is going to come from. It won"t be cheap, or soon." Ugor-san gestured, indicating the office we sat in and by extension the rest of the building. "It takes a lot of money to operate the Guild and we have to earn that money first and foremost. Fripperies like having a Dragon Sword made to satisfy one particular Guild member"s selfish desires come well down the list." He fixed the deflated Elf with a hard stare. "Wouldn"t you agree, Guild Master?"

Ooooh, Ugor-san"s argument left nothing for Elland-san to rebut. Excellent work, Ugor-san.

"No, no, no, that"s not what I said." Elland-san replied weakly, "I just-"

Ugor-san held up a hand. "I didn"t say the Guild could never afford to have the sword made in the future, it"s just that right now all we can do is solicit bids from some of the larger blacksmith workshops to get an idea how much it will cost us. Really, Guild Master, sometimes you..."

Ah, it sounded like Ugor-san was going to deliver yet another sermon and Elland-san was slumping in his seat in resignation. I didn"t want to sit through this even though Elland-san deserved the stern talking-to he was about to receive. I decided that intervening before Ugor-san could get going would be a good idea, after all Elland-san had been helpful to me in his own Dragon-obsessed manner and right now he looked like he could use being rescued.

"Ahem, Ugor-san?" I interjected. Ugor-san stopped abruptly and turned to me.

"Oh, excuse me Mukouda-sama." He looked down sheepishly. "I can"t help myself when the Guild Master starts acting like this. I"m sorry." I totally understand, Ugor-san.

"No, apart from that I have a gift I want to give to you, Ugor-san and you too, Elland-san." I put the baskets with the pound cakes inside on the desk in front of them. "Here you are." As they lifted the lids and peered inside I went on to explain. "I thought the a.s.sistance Ugor-san provided me at the Merchants Guild yesterday deserved a reward, and I"m indebted to Elland-san for disa.s.sembling the Earth Dragon. They"re a sweet sort of a cake, please enjoy them."

"Oh, are you sure?" Ugor-san asked, peering into the basket in front of him.

"Yes, please accept them."

"Thank you very much for this gift." Ugor-san smiled broadly. "My wife and children really like sweets." It seems that my choice of confectionery as presents was not a mistake.

"I like sweet things too." Elland-san said. "I"m very happy to accept this, I"ll have some of it with tea right away."

Ugor-san scowled. "Guild Master, what"s with this "right away" business? Do you really have time for tea?" The vein on Ugor-san"s forehead started to throb again. Not a good sign. "Surely you"re not going to stop work to indulge yourself? There"s a lot for you to be getting on with after all."

Elland-san quickly closed the lid on the gift basket and sat back, waving his hands. "No, no, I didn"t mean right now as in, well, "right now". That would be the wrong thing to do, Ugor-kun. After finis.h.i.+ng work right now, that"s what I meant of course ha ha..."

Yes, you should work hard, Elland-san. You"ve got a lot of things to do to get ready for your trip to the Royal Capital after all, but for us we were done for the day and it was time for us to leave the Adventurers Guild. However Ugor-san had mentioned blacksmiths and their workshops earlier when the subject of Elland-san"s desire to have a Dragon Sword manufactured came up and that gave me an idea. Could a blacksmith here in Doran make a barbeque stove for me? When I asked Ugor-san about this he explained that Doran was a dungeon city and nearly all of the blacksmith workshops here specialised in weapons and armour.

"Can they make anything other than weapons?" I asked.

Ugor-san shook his head. "In my experience the best blacksmiths are single-minded and quite stubborn about what they"ll work on. I can"t say for sure, you"ll have to ask around and see for yourself."

Ah, so that"s how it is? Well I supposed I could go to a few workshops and negotiate with the smiths directly if I had to. With that I said my goodbyes and left the Adventurers Guild, following Ugor-san"s directions to the blacksmiths quarter in the city.