"Roger, don't go over there anymore, understand?"
A kid who was about to head out to play as usual was stopped by his mother, who warned him with unusual seriousness.
Seeing how stern she looked, the boy—who'd been ready to clown around—could only nod and agree first.
"I know, Mom."
Scenes like this had been playing out all over the nearby homes these past few days.
Everyone knew that empty plot of land had an owner now.
And in barely a week, it had gone from nothing to a private estate that looked like a noble's manor.
They said a lot of people had seen a red dragon inside.
So, worried parents in the neighborhood were putting their kids on lockdown—
terrified the little brats would wander into the fenced-off compound and get eaten like a snack by that ferocious-looking red dragon.
…
Gauss had no idea the neighbors were this anxious.
And even if he did, he'd only laugh it off.
For one thing, one of the rules for letting Hephaestus roam freely was that it wasn't allowed to use "force" without Gauss's permission.
And even without that gentleman's agreement, kids couldn't climb a fence that tall anyway.
Besides, above and around the company grounds, there was always a flock of hidden black scouts.
On tree trunks, along the fence, or circling overhead—
those black crows were like roaming eyes, watching every movement inside and outside the estate.
"Finally… some peace."
Gauss sat on his balcony with tea in hand, surveying Red Dragon Company's base as it steadily slid into proper operation.
At the moment, Red Dragon Company had recruited several dozen employees.
Two days ago, his family had arrived in Falrim—but he hadn't moved them into the company grounds.
Instead, he bought them a separate house to live in.
"It's time to get things moving."
Gauss narrowed his eyes.
If he had to name the biggest difference between an adventuring company and a small adventuring party, it was authority.
Back when they were just a party, the number of commissions they could take at once was limited.
It wasn't guild staff being difficult—those were the rules.
A party was only a few people. If they accepted too many commissions, the guild worried they'd spread themselves too thin, or miss deadlines and cause avoidable losses.
But an adventuring company was different.
A company could have dozens of people, or hundreds—sometimes more.
That kind of manpower made the guild far more willing to hand over more commissions, and harder ones.
And if the company caused major losses through its own mistakes, the guild could hold them accountable more easily—because they had a base. You couldn't exactly skip town.
A small party, on the other hand, could come and go. Worst case, they retired and disappeared.
Outside the Red Dragon Company grounds—
several uniformed riders pulled up on fast horses.
Seeing the imposing red-dragon emblem mounted on either side of the gate, their laughter died away automatically.
"Come to think of it… I still haven't met the boss up close."
"Yeah. What's he like?"
"I haven't seen him either. Heard he's been grinding commissions nonstop—total quest maniac."
"And he just took on another huge stack."
"When I accepted these, the receptionist almost fainted. Made me confirm it like three times."
"…."
Talking amongst themselves, they entered the clean internal roadways.
They stopped at one of the residences.
After checking in with the steward, they took a deep breath and headed up the stairs toward the second floor.
Before they could reach it, a massive figure came down from upstairs.
They hurried to the wall to give way.
"Thanks."
The voice sounded… female.
A beat later they realized who it was—one of the boss's personal guards, the giant woman warrior.
Unlike Gauss—who was constantly out doing commissions—this giant warrior-turned-blacksmith had a strong presence in the company grounds.
Plenty of people walking past the forge often saw her working inside.
But in the last two days she'd finally had time to breathe, even taking on a few apprentice helpers.
They'd heard she wasn't bad-tempered, but that hulking physique still made them swallow hard when she passed.
So strong…
Before being screened into this newly founded Red Dragon Company as ordinary members, they'd been adventurers too.
But after nearly ten years of scraping by with nothing to show for it, they heard this place was recruiting and decided to gamble.
They'd performed unusually well that day and got chosen by the snake-man priest—earning a place in the company.
Even now, it still felt unreal.
Reaching the second floor, guided by the steward, they stepped onto the balcony.
And there they met the company's leader.
A man so handsome it felt unfair.
"B-Boss…"
"These are… the commissions we picked up."
The middle-aged man in front stammered, handing over the papers.
"What are your names?"
Gauss took the stack, reading as he asked.
"Reporting, boss—my name's Donovan."
"Boss, I'm Debbie."
"…."
The rest introduced themselves quickly.
"Mm. I'll remember."
Gauss looked them over.
Truthfully, he'd been watching the recruiting process all along—just without showing his face.
With his current soul strength, it was hard for ordinary people's character to hide from him.
When hiring regular members for Red Dragon Company, he cared about integrity even more than competence.
If you judged purely by adventurer standards, these people weren't remarkable—otherwise they wouldn't still be grinding at the bottom after ten years.
But they had experience, they were steady and law-abiding, and they were locals with families in the city.
Most of the people he hired were locals like that—family rooted in Falrim.
Gauss skimmed the commission sheets.
In no time he had every commission's key details—especially the map coordinates—locked into memory.
Overall, no problems.
They'd accepted dozens of commissions, mostly clustered in the same areas—exactly what Gauss wanted.
"Get yourselves ready too."
"Yes."
Gauss called for his core team to assemble.
"Finally, we're working again."
Alia stretched lazily.
After days of staying inside watching construction progress, she'd started feeling itchy. Unlike Gauss the hands-off boss, who ran off on missions every other day, she'd been stuck babysitting the build.
Her eyes drifted toward Gauss, full of wordless resentment.
Gauss pretended not to understand.
Hephaestus flapped down into the company courtyard.
Over the past few days, Gauss had also arranged flying "clearance" for himself, Echo, and Hephaestus.
For now, the airspace above and around the Red Dragon Company grounds—and the corridor from here to the city walls—would no longer be restricted by the no-fly array.
Restrictions outside the city had been loosened too, making travel in and out of Falrim much more convenient.
"Then we move out."
The red dragon slowly spread its wings—
and under the stunned gaze of Red Dragon Company's new recruits, it rose into the sky, flew over the walls, and vanished from view.
Gauss replayed the addresses from the thick stack of commissions in his head.
It had only taken a few seconds, but he'd already stamped every location onto his internal map—and plotted an efficient route.
The first commission was a village outside Falrim.
Villages and hamlets like that were scattered all around the city like stars.
"Goblins threatening a village… fifty of them?"
Even the worst adventuring company wouldn't bother with such small fry.
But Gauss didn't care.
Small gains add up—and these commissions were low risk. With his mobility, he could clear several in one run. Taken together, it became real profit.
When they reached the village's airspace, Gauss didn't bother landing to talk to villagers.
That was another benefit of being an adventuring company, especially around Falrim—submit proof of completion and you were done. No need to chase signatures.
"Locate Creature Spell: Goblins."
He had Hephaestus drop lower over a patch of forest, then cast the spell.
An invisible ripple spread outward from his body.
Down in the trees, goblins that had been resting suddenly felt uneasy.
Something had changed in the air—like a terrifying predator had arrived.
"WAAH-WAAH!"
They started barking warnings at each other, grabbing weapons and scanning the undergrowth.
Thump—thump—thump.
Before they could make sense of it, several figures dropped from above.
The goblins never expected slaughter to arrive that fast.
Two shadows moved like assassins through the camp, each step claiming a life.
Worse, several strange, powerful "kin" were suddenly attacking them too.
By the time the goblins realized they should run, the entire tribe was down to a handful.
A final sweep of the shadows—clean, merciless—and the last few stragglers died screaming.
A goblin tribe of fifty was wiped out in under a minute.
Hephaestus descended with the team.
Gauss cast Locate Creature again to confirm there were no survivors—
then organized the loot.
He might look glamorous in public, but Red Dragon Company's books only had three hundred gold left.
They needed cash, badly.
And now the company could maximize profit by actually processing what they took.
So…
Pack it all.
Gauss stuffed everything into storage.
The potion-makers, sorters, and appraisers he'd hired were there for exactly this: turning piles of junk into real value.
Back when they were just a party, a job like this might net one or two gold.
Now, with their own team to refine, repair, and resell—profit could easily double.
Rusty swords, broken tools, arrowheads—take them.
Even goblin corpses: with proper processing, some organs could become alchemy ingredients.
They stripped the camp bare, mounted up, and immediately shifted to the second job site.
And then the same pattern repeated:
Arrive → Locate Creature locks targets → execute → loot and pack → move on.
Their efficiency was terrifying.
By noon, they'd cleared more than ten commissions.
And while they worked, another member of their "team" was grinding too—
Echo the raven.
It carried storage bags back and forth between the field and Falrim.
Whenever it landed at Red Dragon Company's warehouse, it handed the haul to the receiving officer, Ivan.
Ivan was an occultist who also worked as a part-time alchemist—and his potion work was genuinely solid.
Normally, in just one week, there was no way Gauss could've recruited someone like that.
The agency he'd hired through was low-end; the people it brought were meant to fill basic roles.
But Ivan had come on his own.
At first Gauss wondered if there was a catch—why so eager?
Then he met Ivan and understood immediately.
Ivan was a sorcerer with thin draconic blood.
Hearing Red Dragon Company had a "red dragon," he came to verify it himself.
But once he saw Gauss, his attention shifted sharply—from the dragon to the young leader.
Gauss noticed Ivan's stare was… a little too fervent, but he sensed no malice, so he kept the self-delivered "fanboy."
Ivan unloaded the bag, returned the now-empty storage bag to Echo—
then stared at the warehouse.
Not long ago it had been empty.
Now it was overflowing with supplies, weapons, corpses, materials.
His eyes filled with worship.
So this is the man who conquered a dragon…
No wonder he was terrifyingly strong.
Ivan couldn't stop thinking back to their first meeting days ago.
That man—beautiful as a painting—yet carrying a pressure that felt familiar and alien at the same time.
Ivan's legs had nearly given out. He'd almost dropped to the floor.
And just before he embarrassed himself in front of the other applicants, Gauss had steadied him with a hand.
Ivan knew that feeling.
Bloodline suppression.
It meant the other party's draconic lineage stood far above his.
And honestly—when he later saw that vicious-looking red dragon drake, it still didn't hit as hard as the pressure Gauss himself gave off.
A human with purer draconic blood than a drake?
Ivan shook his head.
Before coming, he'd used his own channels to dig up rumors about Gauss.
Every story sounded ridiculous—too exaggerated to be real.
And yet…
The longer he stayed, the clearer it became: that "slim" body held something monstrous.
If bloodline closeness had drawn him in, understanding Gauss's potential sealed it.
The boss's future was blindingly bright.
"Move, move—get working!"
Ivan snapped out of it and started ordering the staff to process the incoming materials.
His heart hammered, his body heating up.
Right now, as an early member, he still had a place.
But as Red Dragon Company grew, recruits would flood in.
He had to seize this once-in-a-lifetime chance—
and stay glued to the boss's footsteps, no matter what.