Qin left the four art students and Sir Zweig to discuss the hiring arrangements, then followed President Sherlock into his office.
Since the matter of Transia's foreign spirits joining the Adventurers' Guild had gone through the Steam Lords, all the necessary procedures had already been prepared. The only problem was that the number of people applying for membership this time was, well, just a little bit huge.
"Huh? You want to prepare slots for ten thousand people all at once?"
Old President Sherlock was a refined halfling who wore glasses. He even brought out some tobacco he'd acquired from the New World to share with Old Qin. But when Old Qin told him how many people wanted to join, the pipe nearly fell from the old halfling's hand.
He pushed up his glasses and asked in confusion:
"To be honest, after we made contact, many of my people began guessing how many of you foreigners there were. Based on our analysis of the military supplies you needed, we estimated your numbers at between five and seven thousand.
"But it turns out there are even more of you than we'd anticipated after running the numbers from every angle.
"It seems your connection to Transia is far more complicated than we imagined.
"Still, I've only prepared a master list for seven thousand people. Even that required compiling your information separately and handing it over to someone for safekeeping. With another three thousand on top of that, there's no time to make membership cards for them now."
"That's all right, President. My compatriots can wait. Patience is our greatest virtue."
Qin enjoyed the excellent tobacco the old halfling had offered him, leisurely blowing smoke rings as he spread his hands and said:
"Our group has its own internal system, and we won't immediately