Fantastic episode with a great deal of world building in which we find out that Elm’s house really do amount to a small fish in the grand scheme of things. This is another episode involving a high level negotiation, but the problem for Elm is trying to figure out if the guild master is a friend or foe before he shows too much of his hand.

I suppose if we try to consider the situation from the guild master’s viewpoint, she doesn’t know these adventurers and intelligence on them will amount to almost nothing. She isn’t sure what they want and knowing what they actually want is when the real negotiations can begin.

The most natural resolution is probably having these two adventurers perform some sort of service that achieves two different goals: Elm and Ruche will provide intelligence on their capabilities and prove their trustworthiness.

Or they come to an impasse and no one gets anything. That is a valid outcome if they can’t agree on anything.

I suppose while I find this interesting to consider, many people will not and that’s perfectly fine! This is just my opinion!