Chương 170: Green Thorn Guild

"I'm quite jealous of your new armor," Elicia said to Damion, once they were back on the tram headed to pick up her armor from Quality Surplus Artifacts.

"Why is that? My old armor is good quality, only D Rank, but it should still work well for you."

"Because it has the comfort glyphs in it that will adjust the armor on the fly. You'll never feel it pinching or rubbing in awkward places."

"I'm sure if you save up your money from missions and doing Breaches, by the time you reach C Rank, you will be able to afford some quality armor as well."

"I'm not so sure about that," Elicia told him.

"You had it easy in your first few years. It is not easy to get into dungeon groups when you are not part of a guild. And when you are, the guild takes most of what you earn. Plus, you always went in with a Spatial mage, meaning you could take pretty much everything out of the dungeon with you."

"I did have to do a little of the work, you know," Damion joked.

"Not saying you didn't. Just that you got paid a lot more than I will. And I heard you discovered a Breach. The reward for that was probably enough to pay for your new armor twice over."

"It was only a D Rank dungeon."

"My point is, I won't have it as easy as you did. And after you leave Silver Spire, you probably won't have as easy a time either."

"You think the noble families will make it difficult for me?"

"Maybe, but you can easily move out of their reach. The noble families don't pay any attention to Yellow Zones, and most Green Zones are beneath the notice of the larger families. Where you will run into problems is guilds. The guilds won't want you taking missions they could do from the Association, and they certainly won't want to let you in their dungeons."

"I'll just have to cross that bridge when I get to it," Damion answered. Before returning to Quality Surplus Artifacts, Damion had Elicia take him to an adventurer supply store to replace the rations he had lost fighting the C Rank Fire Scorpion. He had not bothered replacing the spatial stretching pouch that was destroyed in the fight. With the Magic System Inventory, Damion felt he did not need as many of the bags anymore. Just enough to keep people from questioning if he pulled something from his Inventory.

The two stepped out of the tram and headed to Quality Surplus Artifacts. When they reached the store, they found it in a bit more disarray than when they had left earlier. Most of the artifacts that had been displayed were knocked off their displays tables and were strewn about the floor. Damion looked around briefly before he saw three large men at the back of the shop, with a terrified Amos Flannery cowering in a corner. In the hand of one of the men was the chest piece of Damion's old armor.

"Didn't we tell you to stop crafting high-quality work and no sets?" the man holding the chest piece said as he threw it at Flannery's feet.

"Please. I'm telling you. I only repaired that piece."

"If you don't work for us, you don't work on anything," another of the men said.

"It was just a repair. Please, you have to believe me," Flannery pleaded This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Hate to interrupt, but I'm here to pick up my order," Damion said loudly to get the attention of all four men.

"Ah, my esteemed customer," Flannery said scooping up Damion's old armor off the floor and scrambling over to him.

"The repair and adjustments you requested are finished. Please take a look." Flannery was obviously quite relieved to see Damion show up to take ownership of his property. What confused him the most in this situation was that these three men were D Rank, but Flannery was a B Rank mage. Damion had a hard time understanding why the store owner was letting himself get pushed around by people so much weaker than him.

"Listen kid, this has nothing to do with you. Take your armor and leave."

"I would," Damion said as he inspected his repaired chest piece. The work was excellent. If it were not for that the armor had been resized for Elicia, he would think it was exactly as it had been the day he bought it from Leland.

"But you see, I'm quite happy with this mage's work. And I'm thinking of investing in his store." Elicia's eyes bulged when Damion said that. Never had he ever mentioned or alluded to investing in a shop. She knew full well what was going on here. These knights were sent by a guild that had been tasked by one of the noble families with making sure Flannery did not craft anything or repair anything he was not supposed to.

Damion's armor should not fall into that category since it was D Rank, but Flannery must have been working on something else that caught their attention.

"You want to invest in this junk shop?" The idea of investing in Flannery's shop seemed to confuse the men greatly.

"I find Mage Flannery's work to be quite exceptional. So, yes, I would."

"I'm Haden Bell of the Green Thorn Guild," the leader said to Damion evidently expecting Damion to know who he was or at least who his guild was.

"And I should care why?"

"Look kid, I can see you are an elite student at Silver Spire since you have your little attendant running around behind you. But don't think your position as an elite student there can protect you from the Thorns."

"Ah, so your guild is aligned with the Thorn family. My mistake."

"Good to see you know your…" Before the man could finish his sentence, Damion punched the man in the face. Knight Bell slammed into the wall at the back of the store and slumped to the floor. The other two men looked at him in stunned silence. Since their leader had just been knocked out by a single punch, they knew they did not stand a chance against Damion.

"Listen kid, I don't know what family you are from, but your elders won't like you messing with the balance."

"My name is Damion Wells and I'm not from any family. However, I really don't like bullies." The two remaining men looked at each other, but did not know what to do. Despite Damion's name having been widely publicized, that was months ago. With him being at Silver Spire for schooling, it was out of sight out of mind for most of the world.

His actions were watched by the higher ups with hopes of recruiting him, but the average noble family member or guild would not remember Damion's name unless they had some invested interest in him.

"Grab Haden," said one of the men to his companion. Then, as they were dragging Haden out the door of the store, he turned back to Damion.

"You really don't know what you've done." After the Green Thorn Guild members were out of the store, Elicia and Flannery both turned to Damion for an explanation.

"Did you pick a fight with them because they are from the Thorn family?" Elicia asked Damion when he remained silent.

"Well, I would have picked a fight with them just because they were blatantly intimidating a shopkeeper. They shouldn't be allowed to do that."

"Mage Wells, I really do appreciate you standing up for me, but you must realize the trouble you have caused," Flannery said in a panic.

"I meant it when I said your work is good. I don't actually have a lot of money to be able to invest. But I can give you a couple contacts for some friends of mine who might be willing."

"Truly?" Flannery perked up.

"Would they be willing to help me relocate? You see this dreadful White Zone atmosphere stifles my creative processes."

"I'm sure something can be worked out. But first, why didn't you wipe the floor with those three yourself? You are a B Rank mage. There is no reason for you to be intimidated by three D Ranks."

"I let them have their moment and then they run along and celebrate how they intimidated me. Besides, if I, as you say, 'wipe the floor' with them, they will just send someone more powerful."

"Fair enough," Damion said as he took out his communication tablet.

"This is the contact information for Demetri Leland and Ethan Hoyt. Leland has his own shop in Saung, and Ethan's family has a shipping business. They should be able to facilitate a move or offer you a bit of backing should you want to stay."