Kyle went back to his usual business.
Just as Theodor had expected, the captain of the guard was nowhere to be found the next day.
He had fled.
The Chief knew that he had been a traitor.
The Ace Team knew that he had been a traitor.
Yet, there was nothing they could do about it.
The Count returned about a week later, and when he heard what had happened, he almost couldn't believe it.
His trusted captain had been a member of the Cult of Final Fate?
Naturally, the first option of business was to name a new captain.
Of course, he asked the Chief, but the Chief declined.
He did not want to be the captain of a city.
So, the Count named the captain's old second-in-command the new captain.
Sadly, the new captain was not yet a Royal Knight. He was just a Peak Knight.
But they didn't have any better options.
While naming the new captain, the Count also publicly thanked the Stark Brotherhood for their actions.
Without them, the city would have most likely been destroyed.
The Count also ordered another statue to be created in a different plaza.
This statue showed the five members of the Ace Team standing on top of a piece of ice, which represented the Greater Ice Demon.
"Is there a chance we will become a Four-Weapons Guild?" Kyle asked Theodor as he looked at the statue.
"Not impossible, but also not easy," Theodor answered. "This accomplishment might earn the Guild an invitation to the promotional tournament, but the Guild is not strong enough to win it."
"The Guild needs a full team of Grandmasters, and it also needs over 20 powerful Peak Fighters and over 100 strong Fighters who are not Peak Fighters. The Guild has not fulfilled any of these requirements yet."
"Lastly, the Guild needs to show that it can actually compete with the other Four-Weapons Guilds. It's not enough to be the weakest of the bunch. In order for a Guild to be promoted, they must prove that they are, at least, average within the next level."
"Huh," Kyle said. "So, there are Three-Weapons Guilds that are stronger than Four-Weapons Guilds?"
"Yes," Theodor said.
"Why is it like that? Wouldn't it make more sense to choose the strongest Guilds?"
"The difference in power must be clear," Theodor said. "The strongest one doesn't always win. Luck, condition, and many other things have to be considered."
"Lastly, changing the status of a big Guild is a lot of work. The Kingdom doesn't want to change the registers, permissions, and so on every couple of weeks."
"A promotion should be significant and secure."
"Sounds reasonable," Kyle said. "What's with this tournament? How does that work?"
"The strongest Three-Weapons Guilds fight each other in a tournament based on different categories. The winner becomes a Four-Weapons Guild."
"At the same time, the Four-Weapons Guilds are also holding their own tournament, and the loser of that tournament will fight the winner of the other tournament."
"95% of the time, the Three-Weapons Guild wins and replaces the old Four-Weapons Guild."
"Interesting," Kyle said. "How strong is the Stark Brotherhood?"
"I would assume top 20% of the Three-Weapons Guilds."
'Quite a bit to go,' Kyle thought. 'We need to be in the top 1%.'
Kyle became a bit more interested in the topic and decided to ask Noah about the distribution of Fighter Guilds in the Skysand Kingdom.
Noah just showed Kyle a map.
Apparently, the sole Five-Weapons Guild was analyzing the missions every Guild accepted and colored the cities and connected territories with that Guild's colors.
This created a map of the Guilds' influences.
'Our territory is pretty big,' Kyle thought. 'It's 500 kilometers, or like 300 miles, long and about 150 miles or so wide. It's definitely among the bigger Three-Weapons Guilds.'
From what Kyle could see, the Stark Brotherhood was essentially surrounded by five Three-Weapons Guilds, but none of them were as big as the Stark Brotherhood.
'If we add up all six Guilds, the Stark Brotherhood owns around 30% of the territory.'
To the east of this territory was the first Four-Weapons Guild.
'It's just barely bigger than our territory. This is probably one of the weaker Four-Weapon's Guilds.'
The Four-Weapons Guild was in Deep Cove, which was a couple hundred kilometers to the east.
It bordered the biggest river in the Skysand Kingdom and covered the river's entire western coast.
'Then, there is another Four-Weapons Guild to the east, and that one is quite a bit bigger. It's also bordering the Five-Weapons Guild.'
'Naturally, the capital belongs to the Five-Weapons Guild, and it only borders two Four-Four Weapons Guild.'
Kyle analyzed the entire map.
'Alright, so there are five Four-Weapons Guilds and 17 Three-Weapons Guilds. We are probably somewhere within the top five of all Three-Weapons Guilds.'
'At least, in terms of mission completion. That's a good indicator of growth, but it is not necessarily a good indicator of strength. It's not the strongest one who completes the most missions but the one with the best offer.'
'It just means we are earning more than most other Guilds.'
As Kyle looked at the map, he started to feel a bit excited.
It felt great to be part of a growing power.
'Gotta get back to grinding,' Kyle thought, giving the map back to Noah.
Kyle had been in the Guild for six months already, but he had essentially just started growing.
He could fight some of the Fighters in Gill's course relatively evenly, but just as Theodor had said, they were at a disadvantage.
Although they had access to their True Bodies and the ability the Mental Tome gave them, Time Slow.
So, in a way, it was even.
'I need some actual experience when it comes to fighting humans.'
'I should keep an eye out for missions about deserters or something like that.'
'That might help me quite a bit.'
Kyle decided to check out the missions, but obviously, all the good missions were gone.
'A good one will appear eventually.'
Then, he left to undertake another bullshit mission.
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