"You really think I'm ready? I don't really feel ready," Kyle said.
Fighting was one thing, but representing a big organization like the Stark Brotherhood was different.
This required a lot of knowledge about politics, rules, laws, economics, conduct, etiquette, and so on.
"Your power is enough. Your Momentum is enough. That is the hard part," the Chief said. "You can acquire the remaining skills easily with some effort."
Kyle took a deep breath.
That was a lot of learning.
"Give me a month, okay?" he said.
The Chief nodded. "In 32 days, the yearly agreement with the Ancient Bark Guild has to be renegotiated. You will go in my stead."
Kyle took another deep breath.
His first job was already a big one.
The Ancient Bark Guild was the local Sorcerer Guild.
Naturally, if Fighters had Guilds, Sorcerers could also have Guilds.
Most of the time, Sorcerer Guilds didn't interfere with the business of Fighter Guilds.
Fighters were very versatile and could be used to fight any kind of foe. Building an entire team out of Fighters was feasible.
Meanwhile, building an entire team out of Sorcerers was not very feasible. The enemy would charge at them while they were preparing their Spells and kill several of the Sorcerers.
That was not a very economical use of resources.
Because of that, Sorcerer Guilds mostly offered their services to other Guilds.
Kyle still remembered the two Fighters he had met on his way to Starkhold after he had left the peninsula for the first time.
They had a Sorcerer with them.
This Sorcerer had been part of a Guild, and the Fighters had hired him to help with their mission.
Hunter Guilds and Merchant Guilds also often tasked Sorcerers with certain missions.
While Fighter Guilds sold their services to basically everyone, Sorcerer Guilds sold their services to other Guilds and organizations.
They were also far more expensive.
Sorcerers were more expensive to raise due to the Spells. Spells were far more complex than techniques, making them much more expensive.
Naturally, when it came to big clients, like the Stark Brotherhood, there were big contracts involved that included a lot of details.
Minimum number of requests per year, minimum payment, reaction time, minimum quality of the Sorcerers, and so on.
The negotiation Kyle would be taking part in would be dealing with all of this.
"Sure, I'll deal with it," Kyle said.
The Chief nodded. When Kyle noticed that the Chief wasn't saying anything else, he sighed and left.
"Boss, I guess I need to put my training on hold for now," Kyle said.
"Learning these things will be beneficial in the long run," Theodor answered. "As it stands right now, politics will be a greater enemy than your physical enemies."
Kyle sighed. "I might need some help."
"My knowledge is out of date, but I was an Advisor for almost two centuries. Teaching you about the basics should not be an issue," Theodor said.
Kyle was still surprised that Theodor was suddenly so cooperative.
He hadn't received any backlash in days or weeks, but it still felt unusual.
Theodor told Kyle to go to the city library.
"Why don't we use the library in our Guild?" Kyle asked.
"The books I want won't be there, most likely," Theodor said.
After they arrived in the library, Kyle had to pay several Ether Stones to gain free access to the library.
In this world, knowledge wasn't as freely available as on Earth.
The knowledge contained in this library could make poor people rich, and such knowledge was valuable.
Libraries were not for the poor.
"There," Theodor said as Kyle walked by one of the many bookshelves.
Kyle looked to his right and saw that the bookshelf was filled with copies of the same book.
"This one?" Kyle asked, pointing at one of the books.
"No, the one in the top left," Theodor said. "That's the first edition. You are currently pointing at the 37th edition."
Kyle blinked a couple of times. "Shouldn't I read the newest one?"
"If you do that, you will understand how things are currently, but you will not learn why things are as they are."
"Start at the beginning. Read the entire thing."
Kyle took a deep breath.
Then, he wordlessly walked over and took out the first edition.
The book was thick, but it seemed surprisingly new.
"When was this written?" Kyle asked.
"A bit over 800 years ago."
Kyle looked at the title.
"Encyclopedia of Trade."
Kyle sighed.
"Fine," he said as he opened the book.
Kyle read through the book at inhuman speeds, but that was to be expected.
After all, he had an improved mind, and he could absorb information much faster than normal people.
The pages were filled with text, but Kyle only needed around five seconds to absorb all the information on the page.
Yet, the book had over 500 pages, which meant Kyle still needed almost an entire hour to read through the entire thing.
As he read through it, Kyle became a bit annoyed.
'The stuff in here is ancient. Offering a lamb to show respect before a trade? Using gold as currency for valuable trades? Nobody even used Ether Pebbles or Ether Stones as currency. Everyone just converted their Ether Pebbles into gold before trading.'
'It's filled with inefficiencies.'
'It seems almost stupid to waste time on reading this, but Boss knows more about this than me. If he tells me to read this, there is probably a good reason for it.'
Eventually, Kyle finished the book. "Alright, I have everything memorized. Want to test me?"
"No need," Theodor said. "Your work ethic is commendable, and if you say you have it memorized, I believe you."
'I'm still not used to this new Boss,' Kyle thought.
"Read the second edition now."
When he heard that, Kyle looked at the shelf.
"How many are there?" he asked.
"158," Theodor said. "They publish a new one every five years."
"You are going to read all of them."
Kyle took a deep breath.
That was over an entire week of nothing but reading!
He only had 30 days or so to get ready, and Theodor asked him to spend seven of them reading this one book series?
"Is it worth the time investment?" Kyle asked. "I only have 30 days."
"Yes, it's worth it," Theodor said.
Kyle sighed.
"If you say so," he said as he grabbed the second edition.
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