The lean man smacked his lips and said, "Why don't you join the alliance of dojos? If you do, you will be subject to the ranking system of dojos. This ranking system is used to determine the quality of a dojo. It also determines how high the fees they charge can be."
"If you join the dojo and rank at the bottom of the system, you will not only become part of the system, but you can continue to sell your breathing for almost free. What do you think?"
Arthur liked the idea, but not much. He asked about his major problem, "So I won't be able to sell it for free?"
The man shook his head and said, "Unfortunately, that isn't possible. But you can sell it for an amount so low that most people can afford it."
Arthur thought about the suggestion before asking another question. "What do I have to join your alliance?"
The lean man said, "Joining the alliance of dojos is free. But you have to pay a monthly fee of 1 gold coin to the alliance for them to fund the services that they deliver."
Arthur's face fell when he heard that. He already didn't like the suggestion when he couldn't teach the breathing technique for free. Now that he still has to pay for such a restriction, he felt that he would just kill people than bend.
He asked angrily, "What services does the alliance render for them to ask for that much money?"
The lean man replied, "Our current mission is part of the services we offer. We accredit dojos and collect data on them, which we use to rate the dojos. It is a lot of work, so the people that do it must be paid."
He shook his head. "I don't care. I'm not paying."
The lean man's face also fell when he heard that. He tried to convince Arthur, "You don't need to look for more money. You already have the breathing technique and the expertise. All you need to do is charge some fees from those who want to learn it from you. You will surely be able to afford the membership fees then. You will even be able to make a profit."
Arthur shook his head. "My dojo is free, and that's how I like it to be."
The fierce man couldn't help asking, "If you're not earning any money, then why are you running a dojo? Why go through so much effort for nothing? Is this a scam? Are you earning some hidden benefits from it? If you're not, then what you're doing doesn't make sense. It is unreasonable."
Arthur frowned and said, "Enough talk. I am not joining your alliance of dojos. If that is all you've come for, you should leave now."
The lean man shook his head and warned him. "Please, don't be unreasonable. What you're doing here is not going to be worth the trouble."
Arthur's face became fierce. He retorted angrily, "You're the unreasonable one telling me what not to do in my own home. Now scram."
The two of them didn't shelter him anymore. They turned around and ran away.
It was when they turned around that they noticed the giant dog crouching so close to them. The sight of the massive beast made them shiver.
They realized how close to danger they were in. It was a sort of danger that they had no way out of because even if they managed to defeat the dog and its owner, they would fall into a bigger danger of offending a member of the Dyson family.
On the other hand, if they fail to defeat the dog and its owner, they might die here. So there was no way out for them if the meeting had devolved to an exchange of violence.
They felt grateful that they had been the reasonable one despite the young noble being unreasonable for no reason. Then they rushed to their headquarters to report the result of their investigation.
Arthur couldn't relax after they left. He felt that he had to know more about who he had just offended because he didn't want to be caught off guard.
As things are, he won't be surprised if he and the alliance of dojos start trying to kill each other. It is the worst possible outcome, but it is one that he expects.
So he has to know who he might come to blows with soon. He can't relax without having that knowledge, so he couldn't exercise.
Since he wanted information, the best way to get it was to visit information brokers. The information is not free either. In fact, it is very expensive.
Information brokers are not difficult to find. There is practically one on every street.
Finding an information broker of high repute and reliability is also easy. He can find one at the Agate market at the center of the city.
The difficult things about acquiring information come after he has found the information broker. Because he was asking for information about a whole organization, they asked him to pay 1 gold coin for surface-level information or 10 gold coins for deep-level information.
The deep-level information is the best option available to him. It is not the best option, as there is a third secret level, but even if they had offered him this third secret level of information, he wouldn't be able to acquire it because he can't afford it.
He is sure of that because he can't even afford the deep-level information. Even the surface-level information was a pain to acquire. After all, one gold coin is 5,000 loaves of bread.
The cost of knowing who the potential enemies are was worth it, though. At least the amount of karma he has received from his dojo makes it worth it.
On average, he receives 5 karma from each student every hour. He has taught an average of 200 students for the seven days that the dojo has been open. So he has earned 7,000 karma, or 70 silver coins worth of bread, in one week of running the dojo.