Chapter 389: One Percent Each [ 1 ]

"Completely."

Sage’s answer remained hanging over the conference table as Leona and Caelista looked down at the appointment documents he had pushed toward them.

Neither woman reached for the papers immediately.

Leona was still trying to come to terms with the fact that Sage wanted her to become the Regional Guildmaster responsible for the entire Evergreen Region, while Caelista looked even less certain about accepting the position of Vice Regional Guildmaster.

Sage could understand their hesitation. Several months ago, the Adventurer Guild had been little more than a strange organization trying to establish itself in Greyvale, but the organization they were being asked to lead now had branches spread throughout the region, hundreds of thousands of registered adventurers, enormous amounts of money passing through its branches, thousands of employees and an economic influence that reached far beyond warriors taking missions.

Becoming Regional Guildmaster was no longer equivalent to managing a large adventuring group.

Leona would be taking responsibility for an institution whose decisions could affect entire cities, while Caelista would be standing directly beside her.

Sage allowed them several moments to process everything before reaching toward another stack of documents beside him. "Before either of you gives me an answer, there’s something else you need to know. Your appointments aren’t the only reason I called you here today."

Leona slowly lifted her eyes from the document. "There’s more? You just offered us control over the regional Guild, Sage. I’m not sure what you could possibly add after that."

"Oh, he can always find something," Boren muttered from the other side of the table.

He had finally stopped eating and was now watching Sage with the suspicious expression of someone who had attended enough meetings to know that the Guildmaster rarely gathered everyone for a single announcement.

"I’ve learned that whenever he says there’s one more thing, you should prepare yourself. Sometimes it’s money. Sometimes it’s work. Usually it’s both."

Sage ignored him and looked toward Gregor, Brutus and Caelis before returning his attention to the two women. "When we returned from the Vault, everyone who participated in the expedition received ownership shares in the Evergreen Regional Guild based on their contributions. Gregor received his portion, Brutus and Caelis received theirs, and the others who entered the Vault received theirs as well. Those shares came from the sixty percent of the Guild that I specifically set aside for the people who participated in that expedition and helped bring back the resources we’re now using to expand Evergreen."

Caelista’s expression shifted slightly as she began understanding where the conversation was going, while Leona leaned back in her chair and glanced toward Gregor.

Sage continued before either could interrupt. "Neither of you participated in the Vault expedition, so I’m not going to rewrite that agreement and take shares away from people who earned them. Leona stayed behind because Caelista was still recovering, and Caelista obviously wasn’t in any condition to join us after what happened during the Crimson Abyssal Lion mission. None of that changes the fact that you weren’t there, which means neither of you has a claim on the sixty percent distributed among the Vault participants. But that sixty percent isn’t the entire Guild."

Gregor’s eyes narrowed with realization almost immediately. "You’re taking it from your own shares."

Sage nodded. "Exactly. I currently own forty percent of the Evergreen Regional Guild. I’m transferring two percent of my personal ownership. One percent will go to Leona, and one percent will go to Caelista. Once the transfer is registered, my stake becomes thirty-eight percent, while both of you become one-percent shareholders."

The reaction around the table was considerably stronger than Sage had expected. Leona stared at him as though he had casually announced that he was giving away part of the Guild Hall, while Brutus stopped leaning against his chair and sat properly upright.

Caelis looked between Sage and the two women with raised eyebrows, and even Vanthrice appeared mildly surprised.

Boren immediately started moving his lips as he silently calculated percentages, but Lyana noticed and gave him a look that convinced him to keep whatever thought had entered his head to himself.

Gregor simply stared at Sage for several seconds before slowly shaking his head. He already knew Sage had a strange relationship with money and ownership, but voluntarily reducing his own stake after deliberately retaining only forty percent in the original agreement was something else entirely.

Caelista was the first to reject it. She pushed the unsigned appointment document a little farther away from herself and shook her head. "No. The position is already difficult enough for me to accept, but I’m definitely not taking part of your ownership because I lost an arm. If this is supposed to make up for what happened during the Crimson Abyssal Lion mission, keep it. I accepted the risks when I became an adventurer."

Sage had expected that response, especially after what Caelista had said earlier, and he answered without becoming defensive. "You’re mixing two completely different matters together. The Guild does owe you compensation for what happened during that mission."

He looked at her and smiled."You suffered a permanent injury while carrying out an officially registered Guild mission, and as the organization becomes more established, I intend to create proper policies for injuries, disability and death instead of pretending adventurers are disposable because everyone understands the profession is dangerous. Whatever compensation you receive under those policies will be separate from this. The one percent I’m offering you isn’t payment for your arm."

Caelista studied him carefully. "Then what is it?"

"It’s ownership tied to responsibility," Sage replied, tapping the appointment document between them.

He paused for a few moments and then continued. "I’m asking you and Leona to take responsibility for Evergreen after I leave. If this Regional Guild grows stronger, expands its operations and becomes more valuable because of decisions the two of you make, I don’t want you functioning like ordinary employees who receive salaries while building something they have no ownership in. You should benefit when Evergreen succeeds because you’ll be among the people responsible for that success. That’s why the shares are coming from me instead of the Vault allocation."

Leona slowly picked up the ownership document and began reading through it. "So you’re not trying to make the five of us equal."

"No," Sage answered. "That wouldn’t make sense. Gregor, Brutus and Caelis earned their existing percentages through the Vault expedition. Their shares aren’t being touched, and I’m not pretending everyone contributed equally. This is a separate transfer from my personal stake for a separate reason."