NOVEL WEB Chapter 233: Manager In Trouble
"P-President Hal!" exclaimed a member who noticed him first. "Greetings, President!"
Hal scratched his head, a bit embarrassed.
He didn't like being called "President Hal".
"Aiih, stop it with the president thing. Boss Hal is fine, alright?"
"Y-Yes, Boss Hal!"
"Oh, right, tell the other members as well."
After the short conversation, Hal proceeded to enter, returning a few more greetings with amiable nods and fist bumps to the more daring members.
Hal wasn't too interested in becoming a stuck-up young master and much preferred casual interactions.
"Greetings, Boss Hal!" greeted the observant staff member, Luddy, to which the union boss nodded.
"Is Vyse in?"
"Ahh, the vice president is still in class…he usually drops in at around the fifteenth or sixteenth hour to check things out."
"I see."
He then headed to the rewards exchange room, scanning the rewards shelf.
'Hmm…I guess I can confidently leave union matters to him whenever needed…'
Vyse did everything he instructed, even taking a few liberties to stock the rewards exchange room with a few extra items he wasn't familiar with.
The last thing he wanted was stingy management.
Hal believed that as long as the union didn't become overly greedy, then it would flourish for years to come, serving the purpose he intended for it to.
There were a few claimed rewards, but the juicier ones seemed to still be there, like his Unique-tier Spellbook Voucher.
The most famous one seemed to be the Rare-tier Spellbooks.
Nodding in appreciation at the job well done, Hal quickly headed over to the storage room to check the stocks of crafting materials.
'H-Holy…'
The darned storage room was almost full!
And so, Hal quickly returned to Sheila, who was the staff member responsible for the rewards exchange.
"S-Sheila, I just have something to do and might be gone for a few days again. Tell Vyse that I returned today and would be selling half of the crafting materials in the storage room."
"Understood, Boss Hal."
Hal then returned to the storage room and took more or less half from each pile of crafting materials, stored them in large boxes, and kept them inside the system's inventory under the same stack of boxes to save space.
He would've had to upgrade the system's inventory, otherwise.
Hal left the union chamber, heading over to Wanzin's Arcane Emporium on his Suzoke Pathblazer IV motorcycle.
To his surprise, before he could even enter the door, it burst open.
"S-Sir Hal! Thank the gods you're back!" greeted Manager Maximus, evidently struggling to maintain professional composure.
The past two weeks had been rough on him.
"Oh? Manager Maximus. I apologize for not being able to stay in contact."
"No worries, Sir Hal! Please follow me."
The manager then took him to the office and sat across from him.
Hal found Maximus' actions a bit unusual and overwhelming, though he had an idea why this was the case.
"I-I'll be honest, Sir Hal. T-The people are filing complaints against us, and the higher-ups of our company have questioned and reprimanded me many times for not being able to keep the relationship with you.
I informed them that Joker has a special identity and couldn't be forced to craft artifacts.
However, they just wouldn't listen. I-I really need a big batch now, as we're to distribute them to other branches. Do you think you can deliver five hundred artifacts of the common-tier, two hundred of the uncommon-tier, and a hundred of the rare-tier?"
Hal's eyes widened at the request.
It would probably take him almost two months to complete such a request!
And so, Hal fell silent, not daring to promise something he might not be able to deliver.
He was but a lone, tall, fair, handsome, and talented arcanist!
Unbeknownst to Hal, Maximus was already in business mode and was only hoping to know the absolute maximum of what he could deliver.
The manager didn't expect him to deliver such a massive batch at all.
As if to further cover his business cunning, Maximus quickly added: "Ah, but don't worry, since the demand is high, we could increase the prices significantly, and I can purchase each of your artifacts for a price thirty percent higher than usual."
Hal's heart skipped a beat at the offer, falling hook, line, and sinker for the older man's clever yet partially honest business schemes.
Maximus wouldn't cheat Hal when it came to the prices; he just needed way more stocks than usual this time, part of which was because Hal might be sent to another mission again.
The Aeloria Branch Manager simply believed it was best to be prepared for such circumstances, even if he had to pay a larger sum far in advance.
Hal gulped at the thought of money flowing in.
But then, memories of Targon and Cedar's haunting faces resurfaced in his mind, bringing back his rationality.
The east was lost, and he couldn't be sure when Aeloria would be attacked by the fell bastards.
It might be next month, next year, or next decade, but it would be best to prepare.
His plans have changed.
He wouldn't move his mother and aunt to Aeloria anymore, instead aiming to move them to the capital, where the cost of living is exorbitantly higher.
He had to prioritize safety over cost-efficiency.
Aeloria wasn't as safe as he thought it was, and Hal was glad he discovered this ahead of time.
In any case, money became way more important now, and he had to secure a huge amount of funds, especially since land and accommodation in Aetherforth were far too important to be given as a reward, even to someone as highly regarded as he.
As per his master, rich and powerful wizardry clans have long been vying for the last few available ones inside the city, hoping to establish themselves a base of operations at the capital.
But the Emperor wouldn't even allow them to purchase the lands, even for a huge sum of money, the reason being that only the Imperial Divination Tower had the authority to accept or reject the purchases, as per the Imperial Laws of old.
In short words, only those the Imperial Diviners deemed worthy would be granted the fated residential lands, and apparently, if the Emperor didn't respect the divinations, the empire would fall.
This was why the lands couldn't just be rewarded or sold to everyone, making Hal's heart sink.
Nonetheless, he could only try his luck.
Crafting a huge batch of arcane artifacts and selling them to Wanzin's Arcane Emporium should be a good start.
But there was just one problem: he hadn't crafted Rare-tier artifacts yet and was unsure if he could even be successful, let alone ensure that it would be of the usual superior-grade and above.
Hal decided to come clean.