Allen had already reached a cooperation agreement with Judge Victor, planning to combine the forces of the War Hound mercenary group and the Heretic Inquisition Squad to completely eradicate the cancer lurking in the capital city—the Thieves’ Guild.
To prevent the Thieves’ Guild from rising again, Allen intended to base the new organization on members of the Dawn’s Children and officially register a legitimate guild with City Hall—the Handicraft and Labor Mutual Aid Guild, abbreviated as the Mutual Aid Association.
The Mutual Aid Association would thoroughly replace the underground niche previously occupied by the Thieves’ Guild, taking over its gray-area functions while expanding numerous lawful operations.
The traditional handicraft guilds maintained strict barriers, monopolizing industries and suppressing apprentices and “illicit” laborers from outside, leaving many unable to survive through their skills.
These desperate grassroots people, with nowhere else to turn, had no choice but to join underground gangs or the Thieves’ Guild.
The Mutual Aid Association, controlled by the Dawn’s Children, would completely break this monopoly and create a path for the common people to survive.
Essentially, the Mutual Aid Association was a modern human resources and labor dispatch platform.
It widely absorbed the city’s unemployed population, providing members with basic literacy education and vocational training, while acting as a strong intermediary that signed collective contracts with major workshops and merchant associations, supplying certified skilled labor.
Unlike the exploitative Thieves’ Guild of the past, the Mutual Aid Association charged only a symbolic membership fee, yet offered a full suite of services including training, job placement, and mutual assistance guarantees.
Its most revolutionary core lay in representing members in collective negotiations with employers to establish fair wage standards, working hours, and conditions.
At the same time, the Mutual Aid Association had set up an efficient internal arbitration system, prioritizing the resolution of disputes among members or between labor and management, thereby avoiding the corrupt and inefficient official judicial system.
Furthermore, this guild was an indispensable armed extension and intelligence arm of the Dawn’s Children, its power embodied in two core institutions:
First, the Intelligence Division: it would fully take over and purify the old Thieves’ Guild’s intelligence network, transforming its functions into commercial intelligence gathering and countering hostile forces, abandoning past illegal acts like extortion and invasion of privacy.
Its personnel operated under the cover of reporters, editors, and news correspondents, building a highly efficient and covert urban intelligence system.
Second, the Workers’ Patrol: composed of repentant former enforcers and fresh elite recruits, it was responsible for maintaining internal discipline, protecting members’ safety, resisting old forces’ counterattacks, and executing “special persuasion” missions when necessary.
This team was the armed force safeguarding the entire organization. In the long run, Allen planned to package it as a legitimate security company, aiming to eventually integrate and monopolize the capital’s armed mercenary market.
Once the old forces represented by the Thieves’ Guild were replaced by Allen’s new order, the entire city would undergo a profound transformation.
The lower classes would no longer be victims exploited by criminal gangs but builders who could earn dignity and stable income through their skills.
Public security would naturally improve as livelihoods were secured.
The Mutual Aid Association would become the new core of the community, with people voluntarily resolving disputes and seeking help through it rather than resorting to violence.
Many gray-area tasks—such as debt collection or investigations—would be regulated and transformed into legitimate consulting services offered by the guild, with revenues used to maintain the Charity Fund and the Orphan and Widow Relief Fund.
In this era where imperial authority was weak, the Church had continuously filled the grassroots governance vacuum.
What Allen was doing was not competing with the Church for influence but purifying the underground world to make the Church-led communities more prosperous and stable.
Allen’s vision struck Bernard with an unprecedented shock.
He realized that this seemingly peaceful reform was essentially no different from rebellion.
While the nobles still looked down on the commoners, the oppressed populace under Allen’s organization would steadily grow and eventually become an unstoppable force.
At that moment, Allen suddenly spoke up: “Marianne, as the future leader who will take command of the Dawn’s Children and lead the Intelligence Division, have you spotted any problems with this plan?”
“Yes, Young Master, I do have some concerns.”
Marianne appeared quietly this time, and Bernard had prepared himself mentally in advance.
He sighed helplessly, “Do you two really need to play assassin stealth games inside the house?”
After teasing the master and servant pair, Bernard unconsciously fell into thought—what exactly was the problem Allen was referring to?
Allen’s concept was nothing short of genius, but…
Bernard’s frown deepened.
Sensing his father had grasped the key point, Allen looked to Marianne. How would she respond?
Marianne calmly analyzed, “First, Young Master, our most urgent threat is the counterattack of the old forces.”
Allen nodded, “The collapse of the old Thieves’ Guild will inevitably affect the interests of their protectors behind the scenes. How do you think we should respond?”
Marianne uttered a single cold word: “Kill.”
This answer pleased Allen. As the leader of a vast organization, Marianne must be decisive and uncompromising in matters of life and death.
Her attitude was right, but the method still required careful consideration.
He then turned to Bernard, “Father, what do you think?”
Bernard pondered aloud, “Your daughter is correct. Some enemies must be physically eliminated. But the more dangerous ones are the invisible enemies.”
He continued, “I believe we will face four types of adversaries.”
“First, corrupt officials and guards. They have lost their largest gray income source and will do everything to obstruct the Mutual Aid Association’s operations, possibly conducting searches and arrests on charges like ‘illegal assembly’ or ‘disrupting guild order.'”
“Second, remnants of enforcers and bosses. They will attempt to assassinate leaders, sabotage places, and threaten members, scheming to restore the old order.”
“Third, traditional guilds. They will see us as a threat to their monopoly and apprentice systems, possibly exerting political pressure and boycotting workers dispatched by the guild.”
“Fourth, the provoked nobles. Some nobles with vested interests connected to the old Thieves’ Guild might leverage higher powers to crush the Mutual Aid Association as an ‘unstable factor.'”
Bernard, the shrewd noble, quickly clarified friend and foe.
Allen nodded and responded, “That’s why I need you. Your Media Empire and the Mutual Aid Association are on the same front line. You need the labor and armed protection provided by the guild, and the guild needs your propaganda machine to wage the battle of public opinion!”
Allen began to elaborate on his strategy:
“Whoever controls the propaganda machine controls the narrative! Our newspapers can expose the crimes of the old Thieves’ Guild and the corruption of officials. We can portray the Mutual Aid Association as the ‘protector of the common people,’ gaining broad public support!”
“Your noble status and the bankers behind you will become the new protective umbrella for the Mutual Aid Association. We can prove to the authorities the guild’s value in maintaining security and stabilizing the workforce, earning tacit approval or even support.”
“For the lower-tier members of the old guild, we absorb and reform them; for stubborn bosses, we eliminate them precisely. Facing guild oppression, we can launch collective economic boycotts and support commercial allies.”
“But ultimately, we must build a strong armed force and use fists to decide the order of the underground world.”
The Dawn’s Children Brotherhood and the Handicraft and Labor Mutual Aid Guild were, in essence, a comprehensive revolutionary organization integrating social reform, vocational training, labor dispatch, and grassroots governance.
Its birth was destined to be filled with bloodshed and conflict, but its goal was to transform the underground world of the capital from a purely destructive force into a distorted yet constructive order.
This transformation would be difficult, but every successful negotiation and every member who learned a skill and found work would deal a heavy blow to the old order and accumulate organized grassroots power for the final social revolution.
Allen’s vision was so perfect and grand that it shocked Bernard, Marianne, and the old steward.
Bernard couldn’t help but ask, “Son, the Thieves’ Guild hasn’t been defeated yet, and you’re already thinking this far ahead?”
Allen gave his signature villainous confident smile, “Whenever I do something, I do it right. After I meet Archbishop Lucien tomorrow, the Thieves’ Guild will already be a corpse in my eyes.”
He looked around at everyone, “Father, steward, Marianne… you will help me complete this great plan, won’t you?”
“Of course!” the three said in unison.
They had long formed an alliance to protect the God’s Messenger. For Allen’s ultimate goal of redeeming humanity, they were willing to face any danger!
Allen’s gaze then shifted to the Wild Dog Gang members still wolfing down food in the dining hall, a wicked and ambitious smile curling on his lips:
“Then, the Dawn’s Children Brotherhood’s recruitment ceremony—officially begins!”