The Kicked Out S-Rank Appraiser Creates The Strongest Guild - Chapter 143

Chapter 143   Interpretation of Contracts

Laurent, who had just secured the surrender of “Knights of the Black Wall,” left the main force under Leon’s command and led a unit down the mountain together with “Knights of the Black Wall.”

When the “Knights of the Black Wall” returned to town, the island’s residents quickly gathered around them.

A crowd began to form.

“It’s the ‘Knights of the Black Wall!'”

“Laurent is with them too!”

“They don’t seem nearly as worn out as the ‘Crimson Sand Players’ or the ‘Fortress Archers.'”

The residents had already seen the Crimson Sand Players and the “Fortress Archers” return earlier in a battered state and had discovered that they had been defeated by the “Spirit Alliance.”

Because of this, their curiosity about what had happened inside the dungeon was even greater, seeing the “Knights of the Black Wall” return almost unscathed.

Unable to contain their curiosity, the residents rushed over to Simon and bombarded him with questions.

“What happened in the dungeon? How did the competition with the ‘Spirit Alliance’ go?”

“Did you manage to defeat the ‘Spirit Alliance’ and bring back the ores?”

“Everyone, please calm down,” Simon said, trying to soothe the crowd.

“As a result of negotiations with Sir Laurent in the dungeon, we decided to join the ‘Spirit Alliance.'”

The crowd buzzed even more loudly.

“What’s important for us is how we cooperate with the local guilds,” Simon continued. “Therefore, the ‘Knights of the Black Wall ‘ will terminate our contract with the ‘Dragon’s Ember’ and establish a new equipment-related agreement with the ‘Spirit Workshop.'”

A cheer erupted from the crowd.

“Laurent!”

Aina, holding a pamphlet in her hand, came running over to Laurent.

“Ah, Aina. You came?”

“Yes, I thought I’d try to pitch to the returning guilds.”

“I see. So, you’ve approached the other two guilds as well?”

“Yes. I went ahead and made my pitch again, handing them the pamphlets. Though it didn’t result in a contract, they seemed to be seriously considering it. What about the Knights of the Black Wall?”

“As you heard, we’ve reached an agreement with Knights of the Black Wall. We’ll need to start crafting equipment for them now. The team at the workshop will have their work cut out for them.”

“Understood!”

Simon breathed a sigh of relief internally.

(Phew… When we were surrounded by the ‘Spirit Alliance’ in the dungeon, I wondered how things would turn out, but at least we’ve managed to save face with the townspeople.)

Upon their return to town, Simon and his group immediately headed to “Dragon’s Ember” to initiate the contract cancellation procedures.

However, things didn’t go as smoothly as they had hoped.

“No, it’s not allowed.”

“What?”

“We won’t allow you to cancel the contract.”

“But… what do you mean, you won’t allow it?”

“It’s clearly stated in the contract. Without a valid and substantial reason, neither party can unilaterally terminate the agreement.”

The representative from “Dragon’s Ember” said this while pointing to the contract in front of Simon.

“We’re willing to pay the cancellation fee, though…”

“No, we won’t accept it.”

The representative pointed again to the contract.

“The contract states that we can charge a cancellation fee only if you are unable to fulfill your obligations. However, we are under no obligation to accept a unilateral termination request from you.”

“……”

“You haven’t become unable to continue dungeon exploration, have you? In that case, you’ll keep purchasing our equipment for your next exploration, and the one after that. Whatever agreements you have with ‘Spirit Workshop’ are none of our concern. You can’t just cancel on a whim because you think their products look better. We won’t accept that as a reason!”

“Those contract sharks!”

Back at the inn, Simon muttered in frustration.

“They keep pushing new prices and equipment onto us, but when we have our own requests, they hide behind the contract and won’t let us cancel.”

“This is quite a problem,” Liz said.

“We’ve already informed Laurent that we’ve terminated our contract with ‘Dragon’s Ember.’ If we can’t cancel it now…”

“This is ridiculous. As if it wasn’t bad enough without the local guilds’ support, now we can’t even explore the dungeon with ‘White Wolf’ and the ‘Spirit Alliance’ targeting us!”

“Well, how about this?” Archie suggested.

“What if we impose an unreasonable demand on the people from ‘Dragon’s Ember’?”

“An unreasonable demand?”

“Yes, exactly. The contract states that ‘Dragon’s Ember’ is responsible for maintaining our equipment three times, and we, the ‘Blackwall Knights,’ have to pay for it. However, it doesn’t specify the exact status of the equipment. They probably left it vague to force us into accepting whatever is most convenient for them later. So, we demand equipment with stats they can’t possibly meet. If they can’t deliver…”

“Then it gives us a legitimate reason to cancel the contract.”

“Got it. Let’s go with that.”

Simon immediately went to “Dragon’s Ember” and confronted the sales representative.

“For our next dungeon conquest, we need new equipment with these specific stats.”

“What? New equipment, you say…? Wait, what is this?”

The representative from “Dragon’s Ember” was stunned by the outrageous demands.

“We need equipment of this caliber to stand a chance against the ‘Spirit Alliance.’ You’ve heard, haven’t you? ‘The Crimson Sand Players’ and ‘The Fortress Archer’ were completely wiped out by them.”

“But this… these stats are unreasonable! Come on, Simon, can’t we just settle for the standard equipment from our existing line? Wouldn’t that suffice?”

“No, it won’t. Our lives are on the line here. Besides, ‘Spirit Workshop’ claims they can produce equipment with these exact stats.”

“……”

“If you can’t produce the equipment we require by the deadline, then we have grounds to consider it a valid reason for contract termination. And if you can’t do it, we’d like to cancel the contract altogether.”

The salesperson, at a loss, returned to Medes and explained the situation.

“Then make it,” Medes said nonchalantly.

“What?”

“The customer wants it made, right? Then make it. What’s there to hesitate about?”

“Well, but the stats are outrageous. Can we even make something like this within the deadline?”

“Edgar, what do you think? You can make it, right?”

Medes turned to Edgar, who was standing nearby.

Edgar scrutinized the specifications.

“Hmm, these stats are certainly quite challenging… But with our resources, we might be able to pull it off.”

“Alright then, pass this to the manufacturing team.”

(Is this really going to be okay?)

The salesperson hesitantly forwarded the request to Raoul.

When Raoul saw the order form, he was stunned.

“What the heck is this? Did you seriously get a contract with these conditions?”

“Well, the guild leader said it was fine with these specs…”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Raoul stared at the order form again, but no matter how many times he looked, it was an unreasonable request.

“No way. These stats are just too much… I can’t do it. I’m bowing out.”

With no other choice, the salesperson brought the request to Edgar.

When Edgar saw that the request had been passed to him, he frowned.

“What happened to Raoul? He’s supposed to handle the highest-stat jobs like this.”

“Raoul said it was impossible for him…”

“Hmm, is that so…? Oh, sorry, my stomach suddenly started hurting. Ask someone else to do it.”

With that, Edgar quickly left the scene.

Charles also refused the task.

In the end, the request was assigned to a rookie named Tim.

Tim felt conflicted.

(This is my first job as a newly appointed member of the Quartet. If I refuse, my evaluation will undoubtedly drop.)

Unable to refuse, Tim accepted the task, but then decided to push it onto one of his subordinates.

That subordinate, in turn, passed it on to another subordinate.

And that subordinate also passed it on to someone else.

The culture of shirking responsibility at “Dragon’s Ember” had permeated every corner of the organization.

Ultimately, the task was passed around so many times that it ended up in the hands of a complete rookie who had no idea of the difficulty of the task or how to assess the quality properly.

Then the delivery date arrived.

The finished equipment was delivered to the “Knights of the Black Wall.”

Simon turned pale when he saw the final product.

(No way… They actually made equipment with those stats? What on earth am I supposed to do with this?)

“Well then, this completes the delivery of the agreed-upon equipment. The second part of the contract is now fulfilled. Is that correct?”

The “Dragon’s Ember” salesperson pressed eagerly.

“Uh, well… I mean…”

While Simon hesitated, Liz stepped forward and thrust a dagger into one of the delivered swords.

The great sword shattered effortlessly.

The salesperson turned pale.

“What is the meaning of this, ‘Dragon’s Ember’?”

“Well, this is… um…”

“What is this? How could equipment with these supposed stats be destroyed with a single stab from a mere dagger?”

“Did you falsify the stats and deliver a defective product?”

Seizing the opportunity, Simon and Archie began to make a scene.

Liz stepped forward, glaring directly at the salesperson.

“You failed to deliver the quality product we requested by the deadline. On top of that, you attempted to deceive us with falsified stats. Such conduct is unacceptable. Isn’t this more than sufficient reason to cancel the contract?”

Thus, the “Knights of the Black Wall” successfully canceled their contract with “Dragon’s Ember” and boldly walked through the gates of the new workshop at “Spirit Workshop.”

“Spirit Workshop” officially took on the order from the “Knights of the Black Wall.”