"Do we have a deal now?"
Rodrick said while looking at Agatha eagerly. He hadn't come empty-handed. He had kept tabs on the White Raven Guild since its inception.
Rodrick explained to Agatha what he, Altashia, and Eren had discussed that day after his duel with Altashia. Agatha listened to Rodrick's side while checking up on the spells and techniques he had shown in front of her.
"You mean to say you were so moved by Eren's idea that you decided to implement it without a second thought? Did you not think for a second that he might have said all those things to get the transcendent-grade spell from you?"
A third voice suddenly resounded in Agatha's office. Both Agatha and Rodrick turned around to see a striking B-Ranker walking toward them. Levine had finally shown herself.
"Aaah! Lady Levine de Montmorency. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
Rodrick stood up from his seat and bowed a bit. Agatha thanked Levine with her eyes before bowing as well. She then gestured her hand for Levine to take a seat beside her.
Levine nodded at both of them before sitting beside Agatha. She folded her arms over the table after taking the seat and rested her head on the cradle of hands she created for herself before looking at Rodrick curiously. The latter sat down with Agatha before replying.
"Even if Eren had his own motives to give me that advice, his advice itself wasn't wrong. I am not stupid enough to think that he did that out of the goodwill of his heart. But he did me solid nonetheless.
I know I'm asking a lot here. I think I have also given you guys something valuable in return with the ranking resources I received. I just hope you consider this as well as the discussion I and Eren had before making a judgment."
Agatha observed that Rodrick's persistence softened by a huge margin in Levine's presence. She also breathed a sigh of relief now that the B-Ranker was involved in this decision-making process.
Levine pondered a bit after listening to the whole story. She was already keeping tabs on the two's conversation before entering the office. Even she was against the idea of keeping Rodrick who had a target on his back.
But his talk with Eren had complicated things. The guy had walked on the path Eren had shown him. He had even dared to regress in rank. He was close to achieving a ranking breakthrough when he met up with Eren. And now his mana core was in the gaseous state of the Ace rank.
Levine and Agatha both couldn't turn down Rodrick after learning about what he had done to become a summoner. The guy could quickly regain his ranking as long as he wasn't targeted. With his talent and the resources he must have accumulated, it wasn't too difficult for the scion of Renar to retrace his steps back to his previous level.
Levine talked about a few things with Agatha telepathically before speaking up.
"Alright, Rodrick. We'll keep these ranking techniques and spells you have given to the White Raven guild under your name and offer you a place to stay.
As for becoming an official guild member. It's better if we waited for Eren to come before making that decision. Is this arrangement enough for you?"
Rodrick felt really relieved after he heard Levine's words. Even if she didn't directly include him as a White Raven guild member, the fact that she had allowed him to stay on the guild lands told him that she would take responsibility for his safety.
Rodrick bowed to Levine again from his seat before responding positively.
"But of course, Master Levine. Agatha, I also thank you for listening to my selfish request. I'll try to pay back whatever you have done for me when I get my position in the royal court."
Rodrick said before getting up. Agatha ordered one of her subordinates to take Rodrick to a secure location on the guild lands, which was on the Kukenan plateau.
Agatha and Levine both knew what they were signing up for even when they had decided to keep Rodrick on their guild's estate. They could be sure that other royal scions would come looking for Rodrick once they got the wind of his whereabouts.
Levine wasn't particularly worried because she knew how royal affairs worked. Sure, the fights among loads of royal contestants in any generation would get brutal. But players playing big had to bet on one horse anyway. She was fine with it being Rodrick this time.
Agatha just wished that Eren would be here before Rodrick's whereabouts got known to his royal cousins. She thanked Levine for her assistance before discussing a few more topics with her.
Levine agreed to help Agatha set up another potion manufacturing setup when their exchange of ideas was over. The setup was for the potion called Pleasure Paradise, vials of which were getting sold in the markets like hot cross buns.
Although both ladies maintained a professional decorum about it, they couldn't help feeling a bit awkward about discussing the setup related to the potion. However, the money generated through the sales was no joke. Levine was offered a sufficient royalty cut in exchange for setting up the manufacturing hub. So there was no reason she wouldn't be on board with it.
Similarly, Levine was also experimenting with a peculiar version of Elven ale based on the ideas and data provided by Eren. The latter had told her that she only needed to give him her analysis and her opinions related to various methods he had come up with. She also needed to include a possible alternate method if there was any.
Eren had offered her recipe for monster ale, which he had received from Sharog long back. He was moving towards making his own blend of Elven ale and naming it White Raven ale. It was just that he was expediting the creation of the recipe by including Levine on the project.
Initially, Levine had no interest in ales that stimulated elemental attainment. But the data and concoction recipes provided by Eren were pretty convincing.
Thus, Levine got to work on the creation of White Raven ale right away after finishing the rest of her affairs outside. It'd be a while before she came out of her potion lab.
