Eil, the master of the Merchant's Guild, saw immense value in Ryuujin as a merchant and issued orders to everyone involved, prioritizing building a good relationship with him.

He was also at odds with Daniel, the guild master of the Adventurer's Guild. As a result, he was oddly enthusiastic about harassing the Adventurer's Guild.

Upon hearing that Ryu was forbidden from accepting requests through the Adventurer's Guild, Eil decided to issue requests through the Merchant's Guild instead.

It was standard practice for adventurers to accept requests issued through the Adventurer's Guild. However, it wasn't forbidden to take jobs directly without going through the guild. It wasn't uncommon for adventurers to be directly employed by nobles or merchants.

However, accepting direct jobs meant taking full responsibility. Any contractual disputes, such as unpaid wages, would not be guaranteed.

For requests through the guild, the reward would be paid upfront to the guild and then paid to the adventurers after the request was completed, eliminating the risk of unpaid wages.

The downside was that the guild took a commission, resulting in a smaller reward. By accepting direct requests, adventurers could avoid the guild's commission and receive higher pay.

But what if there was an organization other than the Adventurer's Guild that could guarantee transactions?

Adventurers would no longer be bound to the Adventurer's Guild.

And there were no laws in this city prohibiting such a thing. (Depending on the location, there might be such laws. In this world, laws concerning major crimes and general principles were set by the nation, while other laws were left to the lord, resulting in varying laws from city to city.)

In this city, there was no problem with the Merchant's Guild taking over the Adventurer's Guild's duties, managing requests, guaranteeing transactions, and handling disputes.

Eil began recruiting adventurers to register with the Merchant's Guild, similar to the Adventurer's Guild.

He started competing directly with the Adventurer's Guild by collecting requests from merchants through the Merchant's Guild and introducing them to registered adventurers.

Moreover, he decided to pay the full reward to the adventurers without taking a commission. He also offered to buy materials at a higher price than the Adventurer's Guild. (The Merchant's Guild had always offered a higher purchase price, but the Adventurer's Guild standardized the purchase price at a minimum.)

Merchants needed escorts for transporting goods.

While some merchants directly hired familiar adventurers, they usually issued requests through the Adventurer's Guild.

However, the merchants affiliated with the Merchant's Guild were now instructed to issue escort requests through the guild instead.

All merchants were required to register with the Merchant's Guild. This meant that the Adventurer's Guild no longer received escort requests from merchants.

There were no rules against dual registration with the Adventurer's Guild and the Merchant's Guild. Many had registered with the Merchant's Guild as a side business while being registered as adventurers, and it had never posed a problem.

This led to an influx of adventurers into the Merchant's Guild. Naturally, the Merchant's Guild offered better conditions in every aspect.

Escort requests from merchants, along with requests for gathering herbs and materials, were all channeled through the Merchant's Guild, leaving the Adventurer's Guild without any merchant requests.

But Eil's offensive didn't stop there.

He offered to cover part of the cost of security (such as monster extermination requests) previously borne by the lord, successfully shifting the lord's extermination requests to the Merchant's Guild.

For merchants, monster extermination was crucial for ensuring the safety of trade routes, so there was no significant opposition from them. In fact, merchants were looking forward to being able to more easily issue extermination requests related to trade routes.

Daniel, the master of the Adventurer's Guild, was increasingly receiving critical and opposing opinions from the staff. He disliked this and avoided talking to them as much as possible.

This resulted in him receiving situation reports late, falling behind.

After learning about the situation, he panicked and tried to prohibit adventurers registered with the Adventurer's Guild from registering with the Merchant's Guild. However, there were many adventurers with side businesses registered with the Merchant's Guild, leading to backlash and ultimately increasing the number of departures.

The Merchant's Guild quickly responded. After hearing about the Adventurer's Guild's ban on dual registration, they decided to allow adventurers to receive requests even without registering.

In response, Daniel declared that adventurers accepting jobs from the Merchant's Guild would be expelled from the Adventurer's Guild. However, the staff vehemently opposed this, fearing that they would lose all the adventurers if they went too far. The proposal was eventually abandoned.

Adventurer's Guild registration cards served as identification. They allowed for relatively free movement between cities and even across national borders. Many registered because they sought this freedom.

However, if the Merchant's Guild's identification card offered the same guarantee and freedom, then registering with the Merchant's Guild alone would allow them to continue their activities as before. In fact, the connection with merchants across various locations could even offer unexpected benefits.

This raised the question, "What is the value of the Adventurer's Guild?" This was the Merchant's Guild's strategy to crush the Adventurer's Guild.

Merchants were shrewd and had great agility in seizing profits. They had abundant capital, were less prejudiced against new things, and were highly flexible. They were also quick to adapt to institutional reforms.

This trend quickly spread globally.

Meanwhile, the Adventurer's Guild had become rigid over time, with numerous cases of abuse of power and personal enrichment. This led to growing dissatisfaction.

In such circumstances, the Adventurer's Guild was no match for the Merchant's Guild.

Eventually, the Adventurer's Guild went into a temporary decline on a global scale. They later made efforts to improve their structure and prevent corruption in order to regain their position, but the events that triggered this change in the city of Ryu were not recorded in history.