A meeting with Ylialkemisti

Youngwoo looked at Melinda for a long moment, his mind filled with one thought. ‘They want to test me.’ He knew what she was here for. This made things… complicated. ‘I wouldn’t have lied anyway, but with her here, they might try to question my skills. I can’t let that happen.’

“Hello.” He nodded, trying to make it look like he wasn’t taking forever to decide what he wanted to do.

“Then.” They both heard Sigi’s voice. “If you two can sit down, we can begin.”

Youngwoo looked towards the brown-haired woman, and quickly nodded. Without much hesitation, he came closer to the desk, and sat down in a nice chair in front of it, barely a metre between him and Weiss. Truthsayer quickly made her way to the sofa, pulling her legs together and placing hands on her knees. Still, her face looked like she was quite a bit tired, wanting to go to sleep. Was it simply her appearance, or something else?

“Firstly, would you like anything to drink, mister Lee?” Asked Sigi, sitting down.

“No, thank you.” He shook his head a little.

“Melinda?”

“No, thank you.” Truthsayer also declined the offer.

“Very well then. Alright. I’ll have to admit, your fame precedes you, mister Lee.”

“…fame?” He tilted his head ever so much.

“Clearing a floor with the best rank is already an achievement, but you managed to create such a buffer that even if you divide the quests made between you and Dragon Witch, it’s 40 of them. That’s nearly double the amount the second place managed to do.”

“…I wouldn’t have done it without Dragon Witch’s help.” He replied, deciding not to call Hilda by her name. It would be… discourtesy on his part, even if she wasn’t around.

“Still, that is quite an achievement. Did you know that in all of the 11th floor quest, nobody even thought about making a group to clear quests?”

“Is that so?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Yes. And look how far you’ve left everyone behind. And that’s only on 11th floor. On 12th, you managed to find a secret quest, and even cleared it without killing a single soul, despite killing being a daily norm on that floor. I mean really, who in the world would’ve thought that digging a tunnel was a viable strategy?”

“…again, it wouldn’t have been possible without Dragon Witch.”

“And who came up with the plans?” She raised an eyebrow, but it was done not in a questioning manner. She already knew, after all, she must’ve read Hilda’s report.

“…”

“But I didn’t call you here just to praise you, mister Lee.” Sigi put her hands on the desk. “Do you perhaps know how many reporters wanted to find you in the past few days?”

“…no?” ‘How would they even know it was me and Hilda?’

“Let’s just say, a few dozen doesn’t cut it.” Sigi sighed lightly.

“But how would they know? It was only me and Dragon Witch in both instances, plus mister Ackerman on floor 12th.”

“Do you not know that there is a tablet with great contributors to Issar? You and Dragon Witch both appeared on 11th and 12th floor, alongside your scores. Did you not read any articles online?”

“…I haven’t read ‘Tower’s Daily’ for past few days.” ‘So, that’s how they know… didn’t Savi say something similar lately?’ He thought momentarily, but shook the thought off. “So, what are you saying, miss Weiss?”

“Listen, we’ve been keeping reporters off of you because you work together with Dragon Witch. We don’t need a thousand reporters trying to **** their way in here, looking for answers to their billion and some questions. But, and I want to emphasize on this, there is NOTHING we can do if it’s other guilds trying to get to you. You’re not a part of our guild, so we have no right to be hiding you or your information. We’ve been doing this so far under the pretense of fending off reporters and preventing fake information from leaking, but we can’t do this for much longer. I think you can see where I’m going with this.”

Youngwoo was looking at Sigi silently, his face in a completely neutral expression. On one side, he felt like this deal was decent, and on the other… ‘Where is the hook here?’ He pondered. There must’ve been something more going on. He wasn’t of much value to them as far as they knew, so… why the hassle?

‘I just cleared 2 floors, and suddenly one of the main guilds wants me? If she really read Hilda’s report, she’d know that I only came up with ideas and did maybe 10% of actual work. It was her who was working herself off to finish the quests…’ It was Hilda dealing with heaviest work, like transport of large quantities of materials or digging the tunnel they took Dulan Moll into. Youngwoo, in reality, only came into play when it came to making plans or doing precise work, like skinning the boars with his sword.

He glanced towards Melinda. The dark-skinned woman was sitting on the sofa, hands on her knees as she was calmly listening to the conversation. Still, her yellow eyes were half-hidden beneath her eyelids, and she generally looked like she was about to fall asleep any moment.

And then, he turned to Iris, floating above Weiss’ head. She had been visibly listening to the conversation, but kept quiet so far. Her violet eyes looked back at him, and seeing how silent the room became, she rolled her eyes and turned away.

“If you really want my advice, just decline.” She stated shortly. “There’s no reason for you to accept this offer.”

“…” He looked back at Sigi. “I… Thank you for your offer, miss Weiss, but… I’m not sure if I want to.”

“…?” She looked at him, visibly wanting an elaboration.

“It’s a generous offer, don’t get wrong.” He added. “It’s just that I don’t really want to join a guild. Not yours, not Knights, nobody. I enjoy hunting on my own, without having to worry about any superiors or anything.

“Surely that’s not set in stone, is it?”

“I’m afraid it is.” He shook his head a little. “I don’t intend on changing my approach. Not anytime soon, at least.”

“How long have you been in the Tower for, mister Lee?” Sigi asked, putting on a neutral expression, both her hands together.

“…” ‘Damn.’ “A little under 6 years.”

“And have you been in any guilds?”

“No.” He shook his head.

“I see. I have been here for a little over 3.” She replied. “And at first, I’ve been trying to hunt on my own. Got my own chemistry set, made use of my alchemy skill, created potions, concoctions and whatnot.” Sigi was speaking in a refined manner, as if she were distancing herself from the story she was telling. “But, over time, it became apparent that there is a limit to what I can do on my own. I earned quite a bit, but so what if my chemistry set broke down because of poor working conditions? Almost half of my savings went to buy food and sustain my poor little abode I got for myself. And where did that get me? Do you know how many people came around and asked me to make LSD? Or amphetamine, or ketamine? And do you know how mad they were when I declined?

People’s attention was brought to me because of what I could do. I got famous. Requests started flooding in like a downpour. I worked overtime, but I never got real profit. Moreover, people started getting angry with me because I needed to sleep and eat. And they scammed me, because I was alone. I was powerless on my own. I couldn’t stop them. But that changed after a certain person invited me to join a guild. I didn’t know if it was really better than going on my own, but I decided to give it a shot. You know, I just thought ‘I can always just leave.’. But… after I joined, it all stopped. There were no more scams. No more furious customers, no more **** requests, no more overworking myself. I finally became an alchemist with a passion.”

“I don’t want to interrupt, but where are you going with this, miss Weiss?”

“Your popularity, mister Lee, is only beginning to form.” Said Sigi. “You will experience a high of fame, a flow of money, requests from reporters, maybe even an invitation to a show for an episodic entrance. But that will change, eventually. The fame will die off, the money flow will dry out, the requests will stop. Unless you can keep on delivering over and over again, who will really remember your name in 5 years? But it doesn’t have to be that way. If you join a guild, you can secure an income, write down your name in history. In next generations, you can be remembered as one of those who formed the future for the ones who will come after us. You can be remembered as a person who made an actual change, not just sat down and bode around their time.”

Youngwoo looked at her, still with neutral expression. However, he suddenly looked at Iris when he heard her speak:

“Che. Businessman speech.” She put on a pout, but there was clear frustration in her voice. “Speaking like they know everything. Like they’re the ones who struggled the most.”

Youngwoo didn’t respond to her words in any way, but he felt how right she was. He had lived in Tower for nearly three times longer than Sigi, and never once did he rise above his F-rank until recently. If anyone knew a thing about having it difficult, it was him. But, he decided not to speak up his mind. There was no reason to, after all.

“Even so, I don’t want to join your guild. With all due respect, miss Weiss, I don’t feel like this is a place I belong to.”

“I’m sure there is something we can do to change your mind, mister Lee.” She was quite a bit adamant in her position.

‘As expected of Ylialkemisti.’ Thought Youngwoo. ‘She doesn’t let go easily.’

“There is nothing, miss Weiss. I already have everything I need.”

“Surely so, but you can have more, can’t you?” She asked, seemingly rhetorically. “If I remember correctly, you are a swordsman?”

“That’s true.”

“And how long have you been using your sword for? 3 years? 5? All your stay? Hasn’t it become dull by now? We can provide you with a dozen better ones.”

“Miss Weiss… I appreciate your offer, but… there’s something I don’t understand here.”

“What is it, mister Lee?”

“Why do you care? I’m just a nobody who happened to clear a floor or two with Dragon Witch.”

“So you think, mister Lee. But I can see it. You have a brain. An intellect that really helps you. That allows you to see what others do not.”

Immediately, Youngwoo heard Iris snort loudly. Nearly instantly, he noticed how her face became red, her trying to hold back laughter at Sigi’s words. With a bit of internal dissatisfaction, he refocused on Ylialkemisti, who continued her thought:

“And I want to help you grow. I want to see you expand upon the skills you have, and to give you a little push to become more. I wish that one day, I can just look at you clearing another floor with a thought ‘I raised that boy’. [Reference] Well, ‘boy’ being only figurative, of course.”

“…”

“I’ve seen talents like yours get wasted. I almost got wasted myself. But that’s exactly what I needed to truly blossom. A helping hand. And I’m offering one to you, because I can tell that this is what you need.”

“…”

“And besides, if you join, you won’t be bothered by other guilds, and we can shield you from reporters easily, as well. Isn’t this the ‘two birds with one stone’ type of deal?”

“…It sure is, miss Weiss.” He looked at her, and formed a smirk.

“See? I knew you’d be able to see what it really means, to join us.”

“But my answer is still no.” He replied sharply and bluntly, catching her off guard.

For a long, silent moment, he could see a vein bulge on Sigi’s temple as she was clearly stupefied. Youngwoo could easily imagine how in her head, there were hundreds of gears turning at lightning speeds, trying to figure out something she could say or do to respond.

[A/N: Hello! For once, I decided to allow for readers to let decide how this will continue on. We have 2 simple options:
1) Sigi figures out one thing she could do (which will be NSFW)
2) Sigi doesn’t figure out anything (no NSFW)
Do note, both will end the same way. Anyway, have a good one!]