The Great Thief

Lu Li and Square Root Three stood up as the others arrived to greet them, then they each sat down in their respective seats.

Lu Li, Square Root Three and Wandering were the main leaders of the guild, the executive team that made most of the decisions.

With the continuous growth of the guild, Square Root Three was struggling to keep up. White Bread was appointed to be his assistant, but she was feeling unwell today which was why she was absent in the meeting. As for Wandering, he had basically been forced by Lu Li into his position right now.

He was a very capable person, and overlooking the fact that he was a little lazy, narcissistic and toxic, he was actually the perfect Guild Manager.

Lu Li would not forgive himself if he didn’t put such a capable and trustworthy person to use. After countless times of trying to persuade him, he finally annoyed Wandering enough for him to agree. After careful evaluation, Lu Li finally built an executive team for the guild.

However, they were only in their positions by name.

Even though Square Root Three was the Guild Leader, he had never been officially appointed.

“Everyone sit. We’re all family here; there’s no need to be so courteous,” Lu Li said as he spointed at the seats around the room. Besides Cat Dad, everyone else that had gathered were professional players of the guild – Moonlight, March Rain, Sakura Memories, Mu Qiu, Kitty Likes Meat and Fat Monkey.

They had been together since the beginning and considered each other to be as close as a family.

They were probably only discussing tournament related topics which was why Hachi Chan and the others were not invited to this meeting. It would do more harm than good for them to be here anyways.

“How come you’re being so polite today Lu Li?” Cat Dad laughed.

Kitty Likes Meat glanced at her dad, pouting in anger and remaining silent. Even she could tell that there was something off about the atmosphere in the room.

“Well, I’ll get straight to the point then,” Lu Li said, deciding not to waste any more time.

Lu Li had always been someone who planned ahead and would do things that were beneficial to himself. However, he only acted like this to very specific people and never to his friends and family.

“It’s free agency right now, and I’m sure everyone has received offers from different guilds. I want to hear what everyone thinks of this and if anyone want to leave, I won’t force you to stay. I don’t even want the penalty fees; I just want everyone to go to a place where they want to be,” Lu Li said seriously.

Square Root Three’s face dropped.

Why would he not want to take the penalty fees? The penalty fee was the only leverage that Guilds had in keeping star players. If another Guild wanted to poach a particular player, they would have to pay for their new contract, buy-out the old contract and pay for the penalty fees.

Even Ruling Sword, who were considered as one of the most easy-going and generous guilds, had a sizeable penalty fee.

Last year, Fat Monkey’s contract was worth one million, but the penalty fees would be three million if he wanted to join a different guild. The guild that poached him would have to pay for the penalty fee and also pay for his contract.

It would take months and years to make back the profit.

However, if Lu Li didn’t want to take the penalty fees, he was putting up his players for others to take.

There were plenty of guilds that would happily offer Fat Monkey two to three million, and he would gain a more important position than what he had on Ruling Sword’s team.

The same went for all his other players.

“Brother Three, there’s no need to say anymore; I’ll put my words to action. No one has to feel bad at all because Ruling Swords got to where we were today because of you guys. We would be sad if we wouldn’t be able to fight alongside you though,” Lu Li interrupted Square Root Three before he could open his mouth.

He was being sentimental; everything he was saying was how he truly felt.

“I won’t be leaving. If you want to leave then you can leave by yourself dad.”

Kitty Likes Meat pouted her lips again and decided to ignore her dad.

“Sigh, I never said I was leaving child. Everything I do it’s for your own sake.”

Cat Dad was disappointed. He had invested so much time and effort into raising his daughter right and now she was being moody with him. All he wanted to do was to give his daughter more appearances in tournaments and a higher salary.

Once free agency began, everyone was fair game, even if the Guilds would lose out on certain star players.

This was why when free agency season came around, teams would do anything to hold on tight to their players. If they didn’t add certain incentives or match other offers, they would lose all their players.

“No thanks. I’ll become the best Warlock in the game by myself,” Kitty Likes Meat asserted, giving up on communicating to this old man.

Her dad took her to meet other guilds to gauge their offers, then returned to Lu Li to ask for more incentives and play time. Kitty Likes Meat could not take this anymore and finally exploded.

Bam!

Bam!

It was Fat Monkey that had slammed the table.

“Kitty, that’s the spirit! We’re both become the best in our respective classes. Screw Sorrowless, Unforgettable Maple and the other players; I’ll eventually stomp on them like ants beneath my feet!”

“Then why did you meet with the other guilds as well?” Lu Li asked, exposing him.

Fat Monkey’s face turned bright red; he scratched his head and mumbled awkwardly, “It’s because they offered to meet at all these cool and expensive restaurants. I was hungry so I decided to meet them to get a free meal. I promise I did not take any offers.”

“You went to karaoke as well,” Kitty Likes Meat said, adding fuel to the fire.

“Goddammit, whose side are you on and how did you know? I bet you went as well,” Fat Monkey shot back in defense.

“I didn’t go. Someone from our guild kept saying that you were going to karaoke with the representatives of a few major guilds,” Kitty Likes Meat accused.

“What the heck? That’s because Mr. Shen opened up a crappy karaoke store and always complained that I never went. I brought him some business by taking people there and he snitches on me?!”

Fat Monkey was furious and was about to murder that guy.

“Everyone, shut up,” Lu Li commanded as he massaged his head.

In Lu Li’s mind, Fat Monkey was the one that was most likely to leave. He and Kitty Likes Meat had always been on the lower end of the rotation and their salary was less than a million a year. Fat Monkey was very hot-headed and didn’t think with his brain; he could have easily agreed to a tempting offer.

Who would have thought that he was actually meeting up with them for a free meal?

If the other major guilds knew, they would have blacklisted him and never let him sign a deal.