Chapter 425: The Largest Job Opening in the Capital

"Right," Sage muttered. "Now we have to fill it."

The words followed him back upstairs, where the three of them returned to the Kingdom Guildmaster’s administrative section instead of wandering through another empty facility.

There was no point admiring buildings anymore. By the time Pax returned from collecting his notes, Sage had already covered the meeting table with lists. Boren took the chair opposite him, Mina occupied another with the last of yesterday’s pastries, and Sage drew three headings across a sheet of paper.

"We recruit in stages," he said. "Guild Administration. Facility Personnel. Adventurer Membership. Those are separate problems, and we’re not mixing them."

The first category was the least glamorous and probably the most urgent. The Grand Guild Hall needed receptionists before adventurers could register, mission clerks before requests could be properly processed, accountants before money began moving through dozens of facilities, and record keepers before the Kingdom Headquarters accumulated documents faster than anyone could organize them.

Inspectors would eventually travel between branches and facilities. Logistics officers had to coordinate materials entering and leaving the complex, warehouse supervisors needed to control inventory, and security personnel had to protect public areas without turning the Headquarters into a fortress.

Boren studied the growing list before tapping the paper.

"Start with people who let everyone else work," he said. "A brilliant smith is useless if nobody knows where his materials went, and a hundred receptionists are useless if Finance can’t pay them."

Sage nodded. That was exactly why Boren was here.

Facility Personnel formed the second category, and that list grew even faster. The Smithing Complex needed smiths, repair specialists, enchanters and workshop supervisors.

The Alchemy Center needed alchemists, assistants and ingredient managers. The Medical Center required healers and support staff.

The Grand Library needed librarians, archivists, researchers and people capable of turning expedition reports into useful records. Twelve restaurants required chefs and entire service teams.

The hotel needed managers, cleaners, attendants and reception staff of its own. Then came stable workers, monster-processing specialists, instructors for the Training Complex, auction personnel, appraisers and maintenance crews.

Sage circled several positions that required practical examinations rather than interviews. "Someone claiming to be a healer doesn’t touch a patient because their handwriting looks convincing," he said. "Same for alchemists, smiths and monster processors. We test them."

The third heading was Adventurer Membership, and Sage deliberately left it separate. Adventurers were not employees.

The Guild didn’t pay them salaries to stand around waiting for orders. They registered as members, accepted missions, earned rewards and gained access to Guild services under established rules. Some might eventually become instructors, guards or officials, but membership itself was different.

That distinction mattered in the Capital, where warriors and Mages already belonged to mercenary companies, noble households, Knight Orders, academies and independent parties.

Sage wasn’t going to advertise a salaried job and then surprise applicants with mission-based work.

"Employees first," he decided. "We need enough people to operate the doors before inviting half the Capital through them."

Mina raised her hand as though they were in a classroom. "What about restaurant testers?"

Sage looked at her. "Not a position."

She lowered her hand with visible disappointment.

Pax waited until the lists were complete before explaining the problem waiting outside the gates.

"Finding people won’t be difficult. Finding good people will." He unfolded a rough map of the Capital and marked several districts. Skilled labor moved constantly through the city, but so did competition for it.

Great Houses employed private administrators, accountants, guards, healers and craftsmen. Merchant associations paid well for people who understood logistics and finance. Mercenary companies competed for experienced warriors and support specialists.

Mage organizations attracted alchemists and researchers, while established hospitals and temples retained healers through reputation as much as wages.

Even the best chefs and hotel managers had wealthy establishments trying to keep them.

"There are more skilled people here than Evergreen," Pax said, "but there are also more organizations offering them somewhere to work."

"Then ordinary hiring notices aren’t enough," Sage replied.

Pax nodded. "Not if you want the best to notice us quickly."

That changed the recruitment plan. Sage wasn’t interested in quietly placing a notice at one labor office and waiting weeks for applicants to wander over. If the Adventurer Guild intended to establish itself in the Royal Capital, then the Capital would know it was hiring.

Pax’s network could spread information through places formal recruiters overlooked, while ordinary channels gave the campaign legitimacy.

Boren suggested publishing clear wage ranges where possible rather than forcing every applicant to negotiate blindly.

Sage added advancement opportunities, training access for qualifying employees and the simple advantage of joining an organization expanding beyond a single Region. They weren’t promising everyone wealth. They were promising stable work inside a new Kingdom Headquarters with room to rise as the Guild grew.

By noon, the first recruitment notice was finished. It carried the Guild emblem at the top, followed by categories of positions, application requirements, dates for interviews and practical examinations, and directions to the Old Western Garrison that no longer looked remotely like an abandoned garrison.

Sage read through it twice, removed three unnecessary sentences, then stopped at the final line Pax had suggested placing in larger lettering than everything else.

THE ADVENTURER GUILD IS NOW RECRUITING IN THE ROYAL CAPITAL.

"That works," Sage said.

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The campaign moved faster after that. Pax dispatched runners carrying copies toward the western and southern districts first, then deeper into the Capital.

Paid notice spaces were secured near labor offices and major commercial streets.

Inns received posters because travelers and temporary workers passed through them constantly. Tavern owners accepted notices where warriors, caravan guards and craftsmen gathered after work.

Copies went toward craft associations, smithing circles, alchemical suppliers and merchant areas. Mage gathering places received notices emphasizing specialist positions and future Guild opportunities.

Warrior districts received versions listing security work, instructors and the coming adventurer registration program. Markets, caravan yards and public boards carried simpler copies directing applicants toward the Headquarters.

Sage didn’t personally supervise every poster. That was the point of having Pax. Instead, he spent the afternoon with Boren establishing the first recruitment spaces inside the Grand Guild Hall.

Registration counters became application desks. Empty waiting areas were divided according to profession. Interview rooms were assigned to administrative recruitment, while practical specialists would be directed toward the facilities where they could actually demonstrate their skills.

Credentials still needed verification. References had to be checked where possible. People handling money required deeper scrutiny. Security applicants needed background checks. Anyone applying for a leadership position would face more than one conversation.

By evening, reports began returning from Pax’s network. The reaction was exactly as mixed as he’d predicted. Some people recognized the Adventurer Guild immediately from stories coming out of Evergreen.

Merchants who had traveled through the Region knew its branches were real and busy. Warriors had heard rumors about standardized missions, dungeon information and the organization that had somehow expanded across Evergreen with ridiculous speed.

Others knew only that a provincial Guild had purchased the Old Western Garrison and transformed it into something enormous in a month.

Not everyone was impressed.

At one tavern, several mercenaries reportedly laughed at the announcement and wondered whether "the Evergreen organization" had built too many offices and suddenly realized it needed people to sit inside them.

A clerk working for a merchant house dismissed the Guild as provincials with Vault money and an oversized property. Someone else claimed Sage would discover that running branches in Evergreen was different from surviving the Capital.

Pax reported each comment without embellishment.

Sage wasn’t bothered.

Curiosity was enough.

The people mocking the notice were reading it.

The people questioning the Guild were talking about it.

More importantly, skilled workers who had never considered traveling to Evergreen were now learning that the Adventurer Guild had positions available minutes or hours from where they already lived.

Others would arrive hoping to use the Guild as leverage against their current employers. Sage expected all of that.

He only needed the right ones to stay.

Night settled over the Royal Capital by the time Sage climbed to the upper administrative level overlooking the Grand Complex.

Lights had begun activating along the avenues below, illuminating the Grand Guild Hall, the hotel, the distant Production Quarter and the hundred-floor Mana Cultivation Tower rising above everything else.

The streets inside remained mostly empty tonight, but beyond the walls the recruitment campaign continued moving through the city. Posters were being nailed to boards. Notices were changing hands in taverns. Craftsmen were discussing wages.

Clerks were wondering whether advancement opportunities were genuine. Healers, accountants, cooks, smiths and administrators who had never heard Sage’s name a month ago were reading the same announcement.

For once, the Capital was about to see the Guild as an employer, not a rumor.

Behind him, the Kingdom Headquarters waited.

Tomorrow, the gates opened.