These Demons Do it for Free

“Hold on a second. I’m having a bit of trouble following this,” Ray said, pressing her fingers to her temples as if to fend off a headache.

“We’re forming a guild and taking the promotion exam. But…? Aren’t we missing something critical? Is there even a point if it’s just us?”

She was right. The real value of a guild would lie in its strength—enough power to deter threats, like the professors or Abyss worshippers of that level. We needed strong allies.

“Once we form the guild, we’ll affiliate as a sub-guild,” I explained.

“With the Frontier Guild?” Leif asked.

“That’s right.”

But not only the Frontier Guild.

If it were only about joining them, we’d hardly need to start a guild. We could simply join individually. So, if we were going to establish a guild, I’d take it a step further.

“We’ll affiliate with multiple guilds.”

“Multiple…?” Ray trailed off, processing my plan.

“Frontier, Enigma, and Conquerors. I’ll propose sub-guild arrangements with all three.”

“Roman, you’ve officially lost it,” Ray blurted, her words slipping out on pure reflex.

I sighed. “Is it really that ridiculous?”

If we managed to secure affiliations with all three, they’d have difficulty influencing us directly. Like the old saying goes, a tripod is hard to topple when all three legs are balanced.

If one guild wanted us to do something, the other two would have to agree or at least stay neutral. One veto would mean we couldn’t be forced into anything. The power dynamics would shift; we’d be in an oddly advantageous position—a “super subordinate,” so to speak.

“Well, I can see Frontier working out. We’ve got good connections there, and Viola’s on our side,” Ray mused, her expression shifting as she analyzed the situation, almost as if she were a strategist now. Watching her ponder it made me feel… oddly proud, like a father watching his child grow up.

“But what about the other two? We don’t have much to do with them, do we?” she asked.