Episode 106 — Bidding War
Episode 106 — Bidding War
Twenty-Ninth Day in the Month of Bush Clover (June 29) in the Year of the Griffon
Floor 61 — Thorn Island — Front Line Floor 64
Bladescape stood atop their gatehouse, far enough back that seeing her was not easy, and certainly not with enough detail to spoil the reveal. Doombunny was spotting for Bladescape, to let her know when it was time, as Hide kept her invisible to all, including Bladescape. Only Colorra was visible, coiled on the ground beside the corner where Doombunny was perched.
Bladescape could see the guest teleport plaza and the flashes of blue as teams teleported in. Ishoku Inji, the major crafting guild, had multiple teams coming. Most of the furniture guilds, not that there were many, had teams coming as well and several groups were formed out of independents. There was a lot of money to be made today. Some teams were clearly seeing it also as money to be lost. Ishoku Inji might be a large crafting guild, but their members were allowed to compete for business with each other. No guild had ever done such an open invitation for bidding and the Wondercolts were a very well-known guild, although the merger was not quite public knowledge yet. Despite that, everyone was clamoring to win the bids.
They had been given just enough information, specifically the major rooms with their dimensions, that needed contracts. They also knew that player rooms were available for personal contracts. Most importantly, they were informed that each room was a separate contract. There would be no winning the whole thing unless they were that good. All bids would be submitted blind and judged off their merits. While price was a factor, the Wondercolts had advised that price was an important secondary consideration. They were willing to pay for what looked best.
The main condition was they had to present a full bid. That included an itemized list with estimated costs as well as a written plan and drawing. That was perhaps the strictest bar, the anticipated image. There was no getting around it for custom work, but unlike other skills in SAO, even things like Painting and Heraldry, sketching was not a Skill. It required natural talent and only talent. Players either could or could not draw. Those that could and were not a part of a crafting guild, or furniture group, certainly had been hired for this.
Wondercolts were out front, directing the teams to line up so they all could see. It was a bit like herding cats, but they all, eventually, played nice and got in line.
"Kiefer just signaled me," Doombunny reported, staying invisible.
"Thank you," Bladescape said as she took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. Now was the big moment. She strode forward to the wall so that she could be seen by everyone. They were clearly shocked to see her in a kimono. They were expecting Bladescape in her armor, which the paper had described, multiple times, in detail.
"Welcome to Thorn Island, home of the Wondercolts," Bladescape greeted them as strongly as she could without yelling. "I am Bladescape, Kaisho of the guild. Yes, it is a rank that we now need, as the Wondercolts took in the clearing guild, Meigibu, which was the main driver for our acquisition of this place. Now at fifty members strong, we need a clear chain of command. This also means there are plenty of personal rooms that need furniture and decorating. Each team will be assigned a guide to escort them to the various rooms and assist in any way necessary. The guides are not a part of the decision making process.
"Food and drink will be provided throughout the day, but one of the rooms we need furniture for is the dining hall. Our cooks are looking forward to you all enjoying what they make. While we are happy to provide it as compensation for your time and effort, we do ask that you focus on the bids first.
"As a guild, we will be receiving bids for the mentioned dining hall, as well as the private dining room, the meeting hall, the main living room, the gatehouse atrium, and twelve of the sixteen team rooms, which all need to be outfitted the same for party organization and strategy meetings. Those details, and more, are going to be in a booklet your guide will give you. When a bid is turned in for each room, as it is blind, Kiefer Socho will be the one to accept them and he will present them to us. He is not a part of the decision making process.
"Now, good luck to you all and may the best designs win for their respective rooms!"
Before Bladescape could step back, someone yelled out a question. "Is Diemond one of the decision makers?"
It was a valid question and it did have bearing on how they approached their bids. Diemond was seen almost on par with Ashley when it came to skill, but she was the main one players feared for fashion and decor. She knew things no one else did and had an eye and sophistication Ashley did not. After all, many of the crafters had attended Diemond's color wheel classes, which she put on for free to ensure they understood how to properly mix and match colors. Players wanted her approval.
"Yes," Bladescape admitted. "Diemond is one of seven members who are voting on the bids. As you will soon be learning, there are a number of separate buildings inside the castle. The committee is going to be in a location that you will not have access to. Not because we don't trust you, we simply want to stay out of the way. It is also for all of you, so you can work without the pressure or distraction of our presence. Please refer other questions to your guide and the booklet you will receive. If need be, they will send the question to us to be answered and we will do so quickly."
Bladescape stepped back, out of sight. Below her, Thunderborne was sending Wondercolts to each team to be their guide. The teams appeared to range from two to eight members, with most having four or five.
Bladescape headed to the closest wall tower to access the stairs. The other Councilors were inside the gatehouse, ready to greet each team as they entered, but then they would be falling back to the palace's deliberation chamber. Kamishi had pointed out at breakfast, before Bladescape had arrived, that they were not listing it in the booklet, so why not use it? The others decided it was best and had made sure a table or two was up there for them to use. They would be looking out for designs they liked and extending an offer for decoration, rather than having an open bid, for their private deliberation chamber.
Diemond and Shikiku were waiting for them in the deliberation chamber. Shikiku had not changed out of her formal kimono and Diemond was in a dress Bladescape had never seen before. It seemed like a mash up between a sundress and a ball gown, but leaning towards casual.
"How did it go?" Diemond asked as she nervously tapped on the table.
"Someone did shout out a question asking if you were making the decisions," Bladescape admitted. "I was honest in my answer. Otherwise, it went well. We have something like twenty teams. Kiefer will know the actual count. I don't expect the others to take long. The teams seemed eager to get to work."
Soryuto entered the chamber. "It's eighteen teams," she explained. "But only fourteen are going to be placing bids for the requested rooms. Four teams are here just for bedrooms. They're likely very pleased that it's more than ten Wondercolts because that will give them a considerable advantage. They will get to work immediately on bedroom designs and submit offers. Those four teams already have multiple portfolios prepared for different matching sets of furniture, including pictures of designs they have already made. Interestingly, none of them are members of Ishoku Inji. They are not trying to compete with them. I am unsure if it's a wise gambit or not."
"Several guilds exist to cater to player owned housing," Shikiku said. "Ishoku Inji focuses heavily on armor and weapon crafting, as well as metal refining. They only have a small fraction of the talent when it comes to furniture and only half of the textile manufacturing is under their control. Many of those guilds specifically target players Ishoku Inji will ignore, unless a player goes to them for business. Those guilds will likely make off like bandits because the others lack the experience working with player owned housing. Pictures in the room portfolios will also go over very well."
"That’s an angle I had not considered," Bladescape said. "Or information I didn't know, but it makes sense. I did see our old designer, Gunk and Valk. They had a third member with them that I have not seen before. Not that we have seen them in a while. I was sort of planning on going back to him and expanding from what I already have, but maybe I shouldn't."
"At least explore the idea," Diemond said. "Personally, I will be sticking with them for my workshop and rooms. They understand my personal vision. It was not easy crafting it with them to begin with. Not that it was their fault. Teaching someone new is going to be too much trouble. I only want to expand what we designed for me, not change it."
"There is no right or wrong answer," Shikiku added. "All that matters is your answer. You have a unique room and position in our guild. You do not need to settle, but you also do not need to change what works. Our new members did not have personal furniture. This is brand new for us. It is perfectly acceptable to let the designers fight over the new Wondercolts, while you work with a team you trust. Assuming it still fits your current desires."
"I like the designs and colors of the wood," Bladescape admitted. "The wardrobe is excellent. It is what I would base everything else off of. I might need to redo some things, simply because of how different my space is, and the two levels. I also like my bed. I just want a bigger version of it."
"Full, queen, or king?" Diemond asked as she absentmindedly sketched something.
"Queen," Bladescape answered. "I certainly have the space for a king, but not the need. Just for myself, a queen is plenty of space to stretch out on."
"You also could use something like a chaise lounge," Diemond stated. "But yes, you have plenty of space. A regular member had a hundred and eighty square feet. The palace is six hundred and forty. Your two upper floors, which are set as your property, total about six forty. The bottom is twelve hundred. Use it, just don't abuse it. It will easily become cluttered and visually messy if you are not careful."
"Yes, I have a lot of space," Bladescape said. "But I don't need to fill the vacancy immediately."
"Planning is good though, darling, as it gives you something to look forward to," Diemond replied. "There's a lot we can do with your floor plan, including the bottom floor."
The other councilors entered the deliberation chamber.
"You can keep on that, but the rest of us need to begin to organize the major parties," Bladescape said.
"About that," Kamishi said. "How did scouting go? I didn't realize Argo would be joining you."
"She didn't," Bladescape explained. "She crashed in our gatehouse and I noticed in the logs that someone had entered, but not sought an audience or left, if it even logs when they leave. I'll know tonight after everything. I caught her asleep on our couch and then brought her inside, for her safety, to sleep on my couch.
"As to your question, the location is great. We can't do team training there, but we can probably blitz everyone to the quotas faster than projected and then work on the team aspect.”
“Just tell me where and I'll take care of it," Malus said. "Y'all got enough to do with this fandangle. I ain't good at this dance, but the dance of trainin, that I can do."
"Just make sure Kiefer is your second," Bladescape said. "As best as you can, but we really need a Councilor leading the effort, to fully inspire everyone. Your energy is best spent on the training push, not on dealing with the guilds and receiving the furniture."
The Council and Shikiku set about organizing the parties, leaving Diemond to her sketching. Soryuto joined in to advise them, but mostly ended up keeping silent. First they had to solidify their senior, Ito, and junior, Nito, party leaders, which wasn't terribly hard. They knew who could lead parties and who couldn't. Then they had to balance their primary teams, BluCon, for daily work.
YelCon was easier, as it allowed them to purpose build the teams for specific roles. Their lancers formed a squad, Yellow Three, under Pyrrha, with Val and Ida supporting her leadership. It allowed the three of them to pair off with Babs, Dinah, and Tate if they needed to. Bladescape was leading the first YelCon party, having Malus, Konpeito, Diemond, Kiefer, and Sonita. Even if Sonita never joined them for a boss raid, her axe and shield were strong and would serve Bladescape well, even on the toughest of days. Natora was leading the second YelCon party, with Thunderborne, Reisenki, Lobelia, Kamishi, and Pell under her lead. Pell was the party's second tank. He would not fail them. Yellow Four, under Eos, was a team of six tanks. Those four teams should be able to crush any challenges set before them, be it during clearing or if they specifically went after a dungeon or difficult task.
The rest of the teams were organized as balanced as they could be to gather materials, run lower risk dungeons, or do whatever was decided, as YelCon days were fully intended to smash the front lines, leaving everyone else with a lighter load. RedCon would force them to organize the teams to specifically suit that day's needs and WhiteCon would mean a day off for everyone.
The flag pole would allow them to fly a flag designating that day's color, to quickly notify guild members in the morning what was needed. The dining hall would also have a plaque or flag to notify them without the need to pass out direct orders or gather everyone together. The Council would just have to grab team leaders, a much easier task, and notify them of anything they needed to know. Most days they expected to be in BluCon and working together in elements of two or three teams.
It all depended on the training. Yes, they had a great place lined up where they could blitz for levels, but then they would need to train them in two different tactical configurations, plus they needed to convince their trial members to fully join. Those would add different challenges, but first they needed to push, hard, on the levels. Malus was already formulating a plan for that, as she didn't really follow the rest of the planning. All she needed to know was "who," "when," and "where," not the "why." They didn't have her on the council to be a strategist for the larger picture. She was doing exactly what they needed her to do. Between Bladescape, Natora, Lobelia, and Kamishi, they did not need her.
Kiefer came in at one point with a stack of folders. He set them on the table Diemond was using, away from her. He sorted them out into several piles while the council worked and then left. It was not easy putting together eight parties. There were a lot of factors to consider. They could redo them later, if needed, but they wanted to avoid that extra work. They were projecting what they knew about each player's skills and attitudes and matching them together as best as they could. There would certainly be some issues when they were as large as the Wondercolts were, but most of those issues could be dealt with while training and familiarizing with each other.
It was lunchtime by the time they were finished with leadership roles for BluCon, and YelCon. Soryuto brought lunch to them so they could turn their attention to the proposals Kiefer had been silently stacking up.
Except Soryuto did not return alone. Gunk, Valk, and their third member was with her.
Soryuto bowed to the council. "Forgive the intrusion," she said. "They wanted to speak to Diemond, Natora, and Bladescape, as friends, nothing to do with the bids."
"Please, come in," Bladescape said, smiling at them. "We welcome our old friends. Obviously we are limited in space right now."
"Think nothing of it," Gunk said. "We don't want to take up much of your time. We just wanted you to meet our sketcher, Blazon, a wonderful gal with tremendous skill. Also we wanted to find out what the three of you were planning on for your rooms? I know, the bedrooms are a separate bid, but we wanted to know if we needed to build bids for you or if we should expect to expand on what we already did."
"Expand," Diemond stated. "Well, for me. You know my private vision. Teaching others is not worth the hassle, especially with the marvelous work you do."
"Thank you," Valk said. "Your room was fun. I hear the new layout will be a great challenge to add to the fun."
"I'll be sticking with you," Natora said. "I really don't feel like going through the struggle of flipping through furniture designs again. I like what I have and I have more important things to deal with."
Bladescape realized the sole reason why she would stick with them. It had nothing to do with design. She didn't want to show off her room to many people, especially those she was unsure she could trust. She was Kaisho now, which meant she required a level of secrecy to her inner life, otherwise she would never get the rest she needed. Plus, her room was special, above the rest. She wanted to keep it special, which meant limiting who had seen it, or at the very least making it feel like a secret, one nobody would speak of, even if they all knew.
"I love my wardrobe," Bladescape stated. "You did an excellent job on it. My room is nontraditional. I'll have to show you it later and we can handle it then. I have everything I need right now, but that does bring to mind a question which you may not be able to answer or be the answer to."
"Ask away,” Gunk said. "We're all ears and will help you however we can."
"The garden, we wanted to do a special memorial for those we know who have died in Aincrad," Bladescape explained. "We were thinking a Shinto shrine."
"Shinto shrines have little to do with that," Blazon said. "What you need is tamaya, a house altar, but, while that is feasible, it's not easy to do, as it's small, specifically designed for inside the house. You seem to want something bigger."
"The details are a bit muddied in my mind," Bladescape admitted. "I visited two Shinto shrines and my mind has been focused on getting out of here, but the garden was brought up as a place for a memorial. We quite like the idea, as sad as needing it is."
"Many of those things are sadly being forgotten or people are abandoning our foundation," Blazon replied. "I don't necessarily blame them, I'm not the most well versed in it either, but it makes me sad. My grandfather is very observant and my father observes much too. A lot of the traditions and meanings have been passed down to me. Many of the traditions actually are Buddhist, not Shintoism. But yes, the garden would make an excellent place for that. I think, if I sat down and thought through all of it, I could remember and come up with a design that would hybridize the shrine with the tamaya altar into something usable for us in Aincrad. It would take me some time to remember everything and sketch, but it shouldn't be that long. Putting it together is another thing, but I know that if it can be done, Gunk can figure out how. Valk is useless since it's not cushions or upholstery. We might need a mason or sculptor, someone who works with stone. We'll figure it out."
"She's not wrong," Valk said with a shrug.
"If we can't do it, I'll find someone who can," Gunk added. "I know some masons and sculptors who I trust for such a project."
"This is a quiet request," Bladescape added. "I recognize that others might need to be brought in, but we don't want it as part of the bids. Aside from that, it would be very much appreciated if you could design something and show us. We would love to make something, be it your design, or someone else's, but, honestly, we don't know who else to go to."
"I've not heard of anyone doing a shrine, let alone an altar," Blazon added. "I will do what I can as quickly as I can. As it is, Kiefer has all of our bids. We were going to look at bedrooms and place a few portfolios for members to look through, so I will be able to get on that later today."
"We didn't come to see you without getting the real work done first," Gunk stated with a grin. "What kind of friends would we be if we did?"
"I do remember you, Blazon," Diemond stated. "It took me a minute, but I do. You were at my second color theory seminar. You quickly left a donation in the box and then disappeared. You were absorbed in that notebook of yours the entire time and really the only one to do so, but I saw the intention in your eyes. You were there to learn and very interested in the topic."
"Yes," Blazon nodded. "I was taking a lot of notes. I sketch. That's my sole medium. Black and white with some shades of grey. It's not a colorful world to most people, so I needed to learn more to make my skills applicable. I wasn't making a decent living fighting and I certainly wasn't having any fun. My sketches used to have life in them, despite lacking color, but my whole life felt colorless. I had no choice but to expand my knowledge and you were a wonderful teacher. I only wish my donation could have been bigger. It wasn't long before Gunk and Valk rescued me, but that was still after they did your guild's first place."
"I'm glad players are using the knowledge I offer," Diemond said. "Even if it's just you, which I know it isn't, and I'm glad they found you and that you found a way to make your skills be a viable way to live.”
"Being a sketcher is not an easy life, but it's fun," Blazon added. "A lot more fun for someone like me than fighting or dungeon diving. I'd rather draw adventures than star in them, especially with the stakes. I joined to see the artistic world created, not to fight monsters. I knew I would have to adventure and fight, but my goal was to seek out greater and greater works of art, not gold and jewels. Then the rules of the game changed."
"I absolutely understand what you mean," Diemond said. "This is such a beautiful world, at least in certain ways. I've been almost entirely swallowed up by the bashing part and rarely get to make it shine or polish it. Yet it is what I chose to do alongside my friends and I have not regretted it. Well, maybe once or twice, but not anytime recently."
"And we are better for it," Blazon said.
“If you were not fighting, what were you doing for income?” Diemond asked.
“I was surviving by designing guild icons and crests,” Blazon explained. “Which wasn’t very lucrative. Most players just used the preset and I had to join the guild temporarily with high enough permissions to do the final design. That made many guilds nervous. Most preferred to choose a preset and live with it.”
“We used a preset at the start,” Diemond said. “I just upgraded our design to the stylized horse head. I knew it was possible for a while, I just never had the time or the need. This is a bit of a rebrand for us, so I took the time.”
“It’s well drawn,” Blazon praised. "I really like it. But we could keep going on and on, while you have important things to do."
“We should sit and talk sometime,” Diemond added. “After we are settled from our merger and move, and when I can find the time.
"We got what we needed," Gunk added, bowing. "Thank you kindly. We will go design offers for the others' rooms, begin to work on a meaningful memorial, and let you three seek us out when you are ready for our help with your rooms. I know it's going to be a busy time over the next few weeks for the Wondercolts."
"Thank you," Bladescape said. "We appreciate it. The best of luck to you for the bedroom bids and to the others. We will begin reviewing them shortly and have the results as soon as possible."
Gunk chuckled. "So long as there are bedrooms to fight over, plus food and drink, everyone will be satisfied as you take the time you need to make your decision."
"That was the goal," Natora said.
Soryuto showed them out and the council quickly began to eat. It was a good reminder, although not intended to be one, that they had many players waiting on their decision and they should not keep them waiting any longer than necessary. Kiefer came back with a plate of food, for himself, and with the last of the bids.
"Everyone is enjoying lunch, now that the bids are in," Kiefer said before eating. "Our kitchen has impressed them."
"Then let's start with the dining hall," Bladescape suggested.
There were ten bids for the dining hall. Immediately five could be tossed out. They were too modern or minimalist and did not work well with the architecture of the room. Three were set up with rows of tables, along the length, and two used shorter tables, spanning the width with walking space at the ends. First they decided on the table orientation. They could fit more than their current number if they went with two longer rows. That would allow them to comfortably invite people over. After that, it was down to three designs, but one immediately stood out. It used a "head table" at the far side from the kitchen that stood a little taller, and used taller chairs than the regular tables and their benches. It would allow their council to sit a little separately from the others. The design was more practical than simply placing their councilors in a position of seniority. It would allow players to approach them for questions or talk during meals and give the council the ability to look out and observe their members. That was particularly advantageous on RedCon days when they had to organize and judge their members on a variety of factors, when many may need to rest for the day.
The wooden design mimicked the rafters and gave plenty of table space for Diemond to use for decorations. It also used only five tables for the two rows, with a sixth half-sized table to keep space open for the main doorway's entry. Creating tables as long as they had designed took skill. Far beyond what others could pull off.
Kiefer did not tell them who it was. He simply took the chosen portfolio and set it aside while they decided what to look at next. They stuck with the dining room, but the private one this time.
There were some obvious copies among the twelve bids. Some teams had kept the theme going, including the one they chose, with several of the continued themes clearly expecting them to use the private dining hall for their council to eat every meal at. Obviously, they were not going to separate themselves that much, but it did spark a new debate about the role of the private dining hall. It didn't take long for them to decide that it needed to be as formal as possible. After all, they would entertain their most important guests in it.
Bladescape picked up one of the three designs left. "This is the only viable one." She flipped it so the others could see. "The circular table seats ten comfortably. That's our council and five guests. The circular table also doesn't put us in a greater position than our guests. Be it one, two, five, or a few more, we don't want the private dining hall to put us in a position of authority over them. They already are in our house, our castle. We are entertaining them. While formal should be the setting, we don't want to alienate them by going so far in the other direction."
"Bladescape has a point about the circular table," Natora said. "If we were, just as an example, to be hosting the KoB leadership, we don't want to put ourselves senior to them. It would put off the wrong vibe. I expect them to do that to us if we visited them, but we don't want to do that. Especially if we invite the guests compared to them dropping by and then us offering."
"You two are absolutely right," Lobelia said. "Formal setting should not mean we are senior. The private dining hall is not reserved just for the council. Diemond is the first to come to mind, because she clearly has the most contacts among the players, for someone who would entertain guests who isn't on the council. Having a circular table makes that much more friendly to any member who needs to use it."
"That's very true," Diemond said. "I would prefer the circular table for entertaining, not that I'm planning on it, although I could see us entertaining Gunk, Valk, and Blazon. However, I don't think I have the most contacts. I bet Konpeito has way more than I do."
Bladescape asked for any objections and none were given. They gave Kiefer the winning bid.
They decided to move to the meeting hall and he brought over the eighteen bids. Twelve were immediately thrown out because they lacked some specifics the others had. The other six detailed everything out, down to the exact chair designs to be used.
The chairs mattered, but it was the dais that was the center of attention. How that looked and was oriented mattered most. Straight or curved were the two choices, with two being straight designs and the other four having curved designs which varied in the degree of the curvature. Two were almost a full half circle which was too much, and passed on, leaving them with four. Diemond screened out a straight dais because the meeting chairs were not to her liking. Natora did not like the councilor chairs on a curved dais design; they were an odd height for their backs, likely making meetings difficult.
That left them with two designs. Bladescape picked up the main sketch for both and laid them side by side. She noted how the room itself was drawn. It was accurate, down the floorboards, but what caught her eye was how it was drawn. There was something familiar to it. "Die, are these the same artist?" Bladescape asked.
Diemond took both and gave them her own examination. "Yes, but two teams could be sharing a sketch artist, or they submitted two designs. There were more designs than the teams expected to make bids on the meeting rooms. Who the artist is really doesn’t matter."
"No, it doesn't," Bladescape clarified. "It's just something I noticed."
"They have different chair counts," Malus noted. "The curved one’s got two less rows. I ain't gotta clue if that matters, but it's true."
Both designs had the chairs set up in four quadrants, using the doorway to guide the cross aisle. Plus they had a center aisle and side access. They were set up for the maximum number of seats, seven rows of twelve chairs. For the curved dais, they were short two rows in the front quadrants, a maximum of two hundred and eighty-eight chairs total. The straight dais had three hundred and thirty-six chairs. Although there were differences in the chair style, the backs were carved to match the decorated rafters.
"That's a difference of four dozen chairs," Lobelia said. "Both will be more than sufficient for almost everything, even a boss raid meeting. Although two hundred and eighty-eight might be a little light for the numbers on the front we have, assuming we needed to run a floor strategy meeting here.”
Both filled the space needed, but they were also gauging the distance to the front row by the edges of the dais.
"I don't think it's a chair issue," Kamishi said. "The curved dais allows us more room in front in case someone needs to come before us or we need to induct new members. That has the forward space, while the other is left lacking, in my opinion, the space necessary to comfortably do so."
"Kamishi is right," Diemond said. "There is a big difference in space. The curve is slight, but it's substantial in the amount of space it creates in front. I think the member chairs are better in the curved dais as well. Both feature carved panels on the face of the dais with different animals and creatures, which match the rafters."
They debated some finer points and did a blind vote. Soryuto took the count. It was unanimous in the decision for the curved dais.
They switched to the team rooms. Those designs were a lot simpler. Well, they wanted simple. Over half were thrown out because they were too much. They just needed a table and six chairs. After that, they slowly worked down to the design they wanted. It was a split between two, with the more modern design winning. It was also cheaper and had a head spot at each table. They were only setting up twelve of the sixteen rooms, meaning the others were open and available if something came up. Knightstar likely would use one as a library and consultation chamber for her fellow Wondercolts, rather than taking them to her Algade shop.
They were doing well on time with just two rooms left. They chose the living room next. It was a difficult space to fill, since it was much longer than it was wide and to get to the back they had to pass seating. Of the fourteen designs, none were similar. They were surprisingly varied. The room layouts were each different and so were the couch designs. There was a mix of sizes for couches and cushioned chairs. Some used more wood, others had almost no wood showing. Half tried to maximize seating while others focused on comfortability during conversation.
After a lot of back and forth, Natora put forward her suggestion. "I hate to suggest this, but the room is twice the length as it is wide. None of these take that into account. We need a more open front half, with more and closer seating in the back. So that players who are going to be there a while can easily get to the back. We could split the room and choose half contracts.”
“That’s not bad, but there is an issue with that,” Diemond said. “None of the designs match enough to piece two together.”
“Fair point,” Natora admitted. “Have a better solution?”
“Well, we have many other rooms,” Shikiku said. “Yes, only one that is a living space, but the observatory on top of the barracks is unused. We never added it to the list, but we should have.”
“That would probably be more useful to the general members,” Lobelia said. “I love the idea.”
“How does this solve our current room choice?” Diemond asked.
“We make the living room a more open and formal place,” Natora said. “We put the homier one in the observatory of the barracks.”
The design for the living room was finally chosen. While it needed some reworking, they chose the style they wanted for the barrack’s observatory. That invitation would be given, but the designer may not wish to accept the adjusted challenge.
They moved on to the gatehouse, their final room. It was a large space. Ultimately, they chose a split design, with two sitting arrangements. The left was gold and the right was blue. Outside of the different colors, the bid had each side mirror the other.
Soryuto was sent to inform everyone of the assembly time. Kiefer prepared the chosen portfolios. Now he placed the name of each in the front, but they still did not know who was chosen for each. The council headed down at the appropriate time. Almost everyone was there. It took a few more minutes to gather the rest as they paused working on the player rooms. Even the teams who were there only for the bedrooms were in attendance, to see the selections made. Plenty of Wondercolts were in attendance to witness the results. It was all standing room, but everyone understood why.
"We want to thank all of you," Bladescape said to start them off. "And we wanted to add that until we saw the bids, we didn't always know the direction we wanted for a specific room. Anything we knew was minor. You helped us define how we wanted each room to be. Everyone gave us fantastic bids."
Bladescape picked up the first portfolio. "We still have not seen who they each are for, but our choices are made." She opened it to see the meeting hall’s bid was first. "The meeting hall's contract goes to Gunk, Valk, and Blazon. Congratulations!" Everyone clapped for their success.
Lobelia announced the dining hall. It went to a party of four - Arumu, Shiki, Kyrin, and Jimbo - who were a small future guild. Likewise, it received applause. They all would happily clap for those who won.
Natora announced the private dining hall. It went to a team in Ishoku Inji. Malus was up with the meeting rooms. It was another team from Ishoku Inji who won that bid. Like the others, it was well earned. Kamishi announced the gatehouse, which went to a small guild, the Tatami Weavers. Only their three designers were there, but they had nine members total.
Bladescape picked up the living room portfolio. The winner was Gunk, Valk, and Blazon. The other winner was a small crafting guild, Kojo Tsuki. Bladescape told them to come up after to discuss some things.
"Thank you all for giving your best," Lobelia said. "We had plenty of choices and you did not make it easy for us. We appreciate that. I know that Kamishi Kui, Shikiku Socho, and myself need to plan our bedrooms. I doubt the others are finished deciding. You are welcome to stay or go. I know more food will be out. We will wrap things up at six and any undecided bedrooms can still be decided upon after using the room portfolios provided and you will be contacted about those."
Kojo Tsuki approached the council. They quickly explained the plan and the team readily accepted the challenge. They would have a sketch done shortly based on the room layout. They left to go do that.
With that matter settled, Bladescape was free to browse what was available for rooms. Shikiku had offered her bedroom as the space to be used and to hold the portfolios. There were a lot of options, enough for everyone to find something they liked. Bladescape also struck up conversations with many of the teams, or a member from the team. She shot down several inquiries about her own room, honestly explaining she would be sticking with her original designer to keep the theme going. She didn't have to tell them who it was and they didn't ask, understanding why.
It was a good day.
BLADESCAPE: Level 85 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint — Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics — Greatsword
NATORA: Level 81 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce — Sprint — Extended Weight Carry
MALUS: Level 81 — One-Handed War Hammer — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts — Rend — Sprint
THUNDERBORNE: Level 81 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts — Blade Throwing — Search
KONPEITO: Level 81 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard — Extended Weight Carry — Rend
DIEMOND: Level 81 — Mace — Greatshield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry — Jewelry Creation — Rend
DOOMBUNNY: Level 82 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Listen — Reveal — Main-gauche — Search — Sleight of Hand
KIEFER: Level 80 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense — First Aid — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts
SORYUTO: Level 78 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry
REISENKI: Level 80 — One-Handed Axe — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining — One-Hand Weapon Creation — Two-Handed Weapon Creation
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 74 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry — Armor Pierce — Search
LOBELIA: Level 62 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Search — Meditation — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Painting
KAMISHI: Level 64 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Katana — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Reveal — Trap Dismantling
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Knightstar is shown twice, under Doombunny and under Reisenki.
12118558
Thanks. I thought I fixed that. Evidently not. It is fixed now.
This was a wonderful chapter! I rather wonder how much Col is going to be spent on the rooms in total lol
12118578
A lot. I don't know the exact amount or even ballpark. It is avoided in stories for a reason. I tried to pin down the system better, but that would require way to much and the market is always changing. Several million is really all I can say. There will be other times specific costs are discussed, but usually it is not that important.
Same.
Good to know she's gotten used to it by now.
12118731
It is a fantastic view. Some to get to used to, but the view is amazing. Also, those teams just focusing on bedrooms did well. They were able to get the most portfolios made, four, five, or six, compared to one or two.
Bidding wars can be fun, but thankfully nothing got ugly like you would expect from something like Storage Wars or something. The Wondercolts are going to make a fortune.
12119374
They are two fundamentally different types of bidding wars. Contract/service bids compared to purchase bids. Service bids go lower, purchase bids go up. Seller or buying bidding. In this case, the sellers/producers were bidding for the rooms. By providing portfolios for each room and not being able to see the decision makers, it kept things cool. Buyer bid wars do get to be fun. There is a rush to the entire thing, which the companies/auctioneers want because it drives up the final price. Conversely, a large pool to pull from for contracts means more competition among the contractors. When they can see 10+ groups bidding for the same room, that lowers the price to a certain degree. There always is the angle of "mine is better despite higher cost," but it has to be played correctly.
Sleight nitpick Doombunny’s “Sleight of Hand” isn’t yellow.
Glad I caught back up. With the guild merger of the 2 girl guild made me wonder if the people of SAO refer to the Wondercolts and the American guild. In this version of the story you kept everything in Japan so I wondered if a guild with almost every American in the game would be referred to as such rather than just the girl guild.
12123073
Fixed. I thought I had those taken care of. As to the other, yeah, they might. It depends on what energy they are putting out. I thought I had a guild that was the Foreign Tigers or something, but not seeing it in my notes.
12123249
Were these the guys? I posted my comment the literal chapter before you mentioned a group of foreign players.
12123651
I scrolled through that and totally missed it! I thought I had them somewhere. I know it is slid into a chapter somewhere too.
Yep!
All through my undergrad (I still saw them as a grad student years later but a master's was out of their paygrade) were several teach English in foreign countries programs. One of the largest is South Korea (at least at my school), with plenty in Japan and others. Most non-English countries teach English in school (Brazil, Belize, Mexico, Japan, South Korea), but learning to read and write it is not the same as being able to work through pronunciation and verbal skills with a naturally fluent speaker. Many countries are desperate for natural instructors. Trade, global communication, English is one of the dominant global languages for several reasons. College students not tied into a career or married, who have just proven they can handle plenty by getting their degree and think well enough, are a prime candidate for those roles which usually are only a year or two. Same with groups like the Peace Corps and other entities. Spend a few years doing something for others looks great on a job resume and shows flexibility and initiative.