Ch 56: Baal’s Plan ━ Preparation Stage

After a night of intense fighting, the sun hung high in the sky. The shopkeepers in the town had already opened their doors, and passersby were either walking or running. What a gentle and peaceful morning.

“Lecher! You scoundrel!”

A series of tender reproaches broke the silence of a certain room.

Phia was held in Bal’s arms. She pounded his chest with her small fists while playfully scolding him. Bal watched every move of the adorable catgirl in his arms, enjoying everything about his wife.

“Okay, does your waist hurt? Do you want me to massage it for you?”

Bal stroked the head of the person in his arms. The smooth silver hair paired with the soft cat ears was a perfect combination that he couldn’t put down.

“Hmph, you know how to care for me now. Why weren’t you this gentle last night?”

Phia turned around in Bal’s arms, her smooth back pressed against her husband’s strong chest.

“That’s because my wife is too cute. And last night, the way you were lying on me was so alluring, I couldn’t help myself.”

Bal smiled, resting his head on Phia’s shoulder. After speaking, he kissed his wife, who was still sulking.

“Shut up! Quickly massage my waist. Don’t touch me randomly, and don’t just randomly touch me.”

Phia pushed Bal’s arm away and lay straight on the bed. Bal got up and sat beside Phia. He was just about to reach out to massage her when Phia interrupted him.

“Put your pants on first.”

“But weren’t you very fond of it last night?”

“Do it when I tell you to! Don’t talk back so much.”

“Yes, yes, yes, I’ll listen to my wife.”

After getting off the bed and putting on his clothes, Bal got back on the bed to massage his wife’s waist. His technique was skillful, and his control of the pressure was perfect. The catgirl occasionally let out comfortable sounds as she was being massaged.

After the massage, Bal helped Phia get dressed and carried her downstairs. It was already past ten o’clock in the morning. They couldn’t have breakfast, so Bal simply toasted a few slices of bread to fill their stomachs.

Nia came down from upstairs. She saw her sister-in-law sitting on her brother’s lap eating, so she decided to make a joke.

“Older Brother, you really worked hard last night. Sister-in-law’s sounds reached my room.”

Upon hearing this, Phia glared fiercely at Bal and stepped on his foot.

“Ouch… Nia, you can’t say such things casually. Our room has a soundproof barrier, it’s impossible for it to be heard outside.”

Bal arched his back in pain, then looked resentfully at his mischievous sister. Phia felt a little embarrassed, and she gently stroked the spot where she had just stepped on.

“I’m not teasing you two anymore. After lunch, I’m going to buy some alchemy equipment, Sister-in-law, can you give me some funds?”

“How much?”

“Five gold coins, for now. If it’s not enough, I’ll add some myself.”

Phia took out five gold coins from the extradimensional space and handed them to Nia.

“If it’s not enough, ask me again. Don’t buy those inferior products to save money.”

“Sister-in-law is the best! Unlike a certain man, he doesn’t care about his own sister, and he often uses violence against her.”

Bal, who was suddenly implicated, was drinking water. He choked upon hearing Nia’s words.

Seeing Bal’s defeat, Nia smiled, then returned to her room and didn’t know what she was doing.

After filling their stomachs, Bal and Phia returned to their room to formulate the management policy for the Adventurer’s Guild.

“There are still some problems with the guild. For example, insufficient manpower, and an inadequate reward and punishment system, etc. I feel that we can start with the reward and punishment system, establish a complete reward system, and allow adventurers who have outstanding performance over a period of time to receive a bonus. This can attract everyone to take on more commissions. If any adventurer is found to have improper conduct, regardless of who it is, they must be severely punished.”

Bal put forward his views, thinking of using the reward system to motivate adventurers to work harder. However, Phia pointed out the shortcomings of this view.

“The reward system will bring competition. Benign competition can promote development. But if someone starts malicious competition, such as poaching from other teams or deliberately taking on a large number of commissions and then secretly subcontracting them at low prices. These situations will lead to serious consequences. In particular, malicious acceptance and subcontracting not only disrupt the market order, but also cause disappointment among other capable adventurers towards the guild…”

The two discussed how to ensure the healthy development of the guild while maintaining people’s trust in it. They were still thinking about strategies until lunchtime.

After lunch, Nia went out to purchase alchemy equipment, and Phia went out to move the dragon, and also collapsed the cave to prevent anyone from discovering this dangerous place.

Bal sat idly in the study, casually flipping through books on management strategies. At this time, Grey walked into the study. Seeing Bal’s furrowed brow, he stepped forward to hand him a glass of water, and then offered his opinion.

“I didn’t expect you to read these things. Instead of thinking about theory in your head, why don’t you go find someone who specializes in this and ask them? Maybe you’ll get unexpected results.”

Grey’s words awakened Bal. Yes! Books and theories are dead things, why not find Anda and ask her for her opinion. After all, she has worked in the guild for so long, she must have her own experience and solutions.

“Good brother, I’ll treat you to a drink tonight.”

Bal patted Grey’s shoulder and quickly left. He walked all the way to the Adventurer’s Guild.

Anda saw Bal coming alone, so she stepped forward to ask.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Buck. Are you here to take on commissions alone today?”

“Anda, I have something I want to ask you about. When do you have time? I hope to talk to you alone.”

Hearing Bal’s words, Anda thought Bal wanted to pursue her, so she quickly waved her hand.

“Don’t do that, Mr. Buck. You just got married to Miss Fei’er, this isn’t good, is it?”

Bal realized what Anda meant and quickly explained.

“That’s not it, I’m not pursuing you, and I don’t want to wrong Randall. It’s just that there are some issues about the guild that I need to discuss with you.”

Knowing that she had misunderstood, Anda looked very embarrassed. She squeezed out a smile and told Bal about her break time.

“After lunch tomorrow, I have two hours free, you can find me then.”

“I understand, thank you very much. I’ll go back first.”

“Goodbye, be careful on the road.”

Bal left the guild and strolled through the streets. He now wanted to become the Guild Master of the Adventurer’s Guild. He wasn’t necessarily sure he could excel at the management aspect, which was quite agonizing for him, a top student. He walked aimlessly, and then went to Gu’er’s Inn.

“Oh? Isn’t this Buck? Long time no see. You haven’t been here much since getting married, Sister, I’m so bored.”

Bal looked at Gu’er, and a flash of inspiration came to him. Why not gather all the shopkeepers he knew and figure it out together? He immediately asked Gu’er if she could spare some time to help him.

“Spare some time? I’ve only had diners lately; except for meal times, I should be free.”

“Thanks! I’ll come find you again after I’ve set a time.”

After thanking Gu’er, Bal ran out. He found Rea from the farm, Shelly from the ranch, Latina from the clothing store, and then Randall. His idea was to have these people with management experience, along with himself, Phia, and Randall, think of strategies together. This way, they could brainstorm and gain many management strategies, and they could also directly connect with the adventurer profession and revise and improve based on the actual situation.

After running around, Bal set the time for 1:30 PM tomorrow, at Gu’er’s Inn. He returned to the guild to inform Anda, and then bought a decent bottle of red wine from the bartender to take home for Grey.

Back home, Phia was asleep on the sofa under a blanket. After putting the wine in the kitchen, Bal carried Phia back to their room and let her sleep comfortably on the bed.

Soon after, Phia woke up. She looked around and found that she was already back in the room. She knew that Bal had carried her back. So she lay in bed and called for her husband.

“Husband～”

“Coming, coming!”

Bal immediately hugged Phia and kissed his wife.

“You big man is acting coquettish towards me, it’s embarrassing. Where did you go this afternoon? I didn’t see you when I came back, and Xiaoyue didn’t know where you went either. I asked Grey, and he didn’t know either.”

“I went to ask people for help. Tomorrow afternoon at 1:30, let’s go to Gu’er’s Inn and brainstorm with everyone together. We’ll definitely come up with some good strategies.”

“That’s amazing. I’ve taken care of things here. After I sent the dragon to that deep pit, it went into the pit itself to find a place to start digging. I also collapsed the cave to the south; nobody should be able to enter.”

“You’re amazing. What do you want to eat tonight? I’ll make it for you.”

“I want to cook myself.”

“Can you cook?”

“Just wait and see.”

At dinner time, Phia brought out a table of delicacies. Everyone tasted them and praised them endlessly.

“I didn’t expect my wife to be so virtuous.”

“That’s right, you can praise me more.”

After Bal and Phia finished eating, they began to show their affection. Grey returned to his room with the wine Bal gave him. Nia took Xiaoyue to the secret chamber to tinker with her own things.

Everything seemed to be heading in a beautiful direction.