Chapter 40 - Guild (5)

“Wh-what do you mean, Madam Mage? Even if you know him, defending him like that could...”

The investigator spoke in a fluster. His voice suggested less disbelief than a desire to turn away from the truth.

But her response was nothing but sharp.

“Are you suggesting I'm lying?”

“N-no, th-that's not what I meant...”

“Then what did you mean? Has investigating explorers with that pathetic scrap of authority made you think you can look down on mages, too?”

Mages of the Magic Tower were practically minor nobility. They belonged to various schools, but stood united as a single group when it came to rigorously defending their rights and interests.

In short, the problem was that a bottom-rung employee like this investigator bastard had dared question her honesty at all.

Unable to watch any longer, the branch manager cautiously intervened.

“Perhaps we should leave it there? As you must realize, young mage, without knowing the circumstances, anyone would find the story preposterous.”

She nodded in apparent agreement.

“True, there's never been a recorded sighting of a Vampire in a first-floor rupture.”

Unlike when she'd addressed the investigator, she wore a friendly smile.

Though only for a brief moment.

“Thank you for say—”

“But ever since the Labyrinth came into existence, it's been filled with all manner of unknowns, and still is. Yet you call the story preposterous? Isn't that a rather inappropriate thing for someone from the Explorer Guild to say—let alone a branch manager?”

A scathing rebuke, delivered after that brief delay.

Was this what mages were like?

Even the rank of guild branch manager seemed beneath her notice.

“...”

The branch manager had only made things worse by needlessly stepping in. Just as he clamped his mouth shut—

KNOCK, KNOCK.

Someone knocked at the door.

It wasn't a request for permission. The door swung open before anyone could grant it.

“You must be the barbarian.”

“Who are you?”

“Nile Urbans.”

Two men entered the room: a middle-aged man in a strikingly neat tuxedo, and a younger man who appeared to be his bodyguard.

“D-district Manager!”

“Father...?”

Julie, still my hostage, and the branch manager both gaped.

I, too, went back on alert just as I'd begun to relax.

'... So the district manager's here after all.'

The guild's administrative structure was simple. Each of its hundreds of branches throughout the city had a branch manager, and thirteen district managers oversaw them.

The only position above them was guildmaster, so those thirteen district managers could effectively be considered the guild's seconds-in-command.

They were unquestionably big shots. A rank-9 explorer would struggle even to catch a glimpse of one from afar.

But even men like these couldn't have everything go their way.

“You've made a farce of things, haven't you?”

Feeling the district manager's deeply displeased gaze, I smirked.

A farce, huh...

“Sure. From your side of things.”

If that bastard Hartz Young hadn't given false testimony.

Or even if he had, if the investigator hadn't gotten greedy and had followed proper procedure.

No, if the Explorer Guild had been a fair, impartial organization that properly supervised its employees in the first place...

I probably wouldn't have had to go through this shit.

But they hadn't.

“Because to you, it was a trivial matter.”

Not to me, though.

My life had been on the line.

“So that's why you did something this insane?”

“Insane?”

I turned the question back on him.

“Is struggling to stay alive insane?”

“Whew. Still, surely there was another way? You've let this get far too out of hand.”

Another way, my ass.

Until I broke out of my cell and made it here, the branch manager hadn't even known I existed in his branch.

The same went for this district manager, who would have had a say in changing the guild's internal regulations to allow rank-9 explorers to be investigated on suspicion alone.

“None of this would've happened if you'd done your jobs properly.”

The moment I uttered those cold, mocking words—

“You! How dare you speak so insolently to the district manager!”

The branch manager cut in.

The investigator bastard and the district manager's bodyguard were also staring at me as if wondering what kind of lunatic I was.

Well, to them, I must have seemed like a freak.

A thickheaded idiot beyond all common sense.

The district manager sighed and shifted his gaze.

“May I ask your name, Madam Mage?”

“Allua Raven.”

“I see, Miss Raven. How much would it take for you to sell me that crystal ball?”

An unmistakable attempt to buy her off.

I hadn't expected him to be so blatant about it.

My heart lurched, but...

“I'll have to decline.”

“A pity.”

“You're not thinking of taking it by force, are you?”

“Haha! Of course not. Your school's master would never stand for that.”

The district manager laughed heartily.

“Why does everyone look so tense? It was all a joke. With all those people outside waiting for the results, how could I possibly dare?”

A joke, my ass.

Cold sweat trickled down my back.

“...”

This was why I'd wanted a priest in the first place.

Visual Memory or not, a mage could always be bought off if it served their interests.

If she and I had been complete strangers, and the district manager had bought her off...

'I'd have died right here, crowd outside or not.'

In any case, the outcome wasn't bad.

She'd kept faith with me, and now even the district manager wouldn't dare use his power to bury this.

In other words, all I had to do now was prove my innocence.

One way or another, the end was in sight.

“Enough of that. How about we wrap this up?”

I went over to the wardrobe and woke Hartz Young, who was asleep inside.

“Wh-what? Why am I here...?”

I heard people swallowing around me.

Understandable.

The moment this bastard's testimony was proven false, they'd find themselves in a situation that really was a farce.

* * *

“This man is lying.”

As soon as Raven spoke, a heavy silence settled over the room.

“So what are you going to do now, District Manager?”

“Bjorn Jandel, was it? You're innocent.”

Looking at the district manager's forced smile, I replied,

“I can't say I'm grateful.”

This time, even the branch manager listening beside him didn't dare comment on my tone.

He merely trembled, watching the district manager's reactions.

“Then what would you have us do for you now?”

“Isn't it obvious? I demand punishment and compensation.”

“I see.”

The district manager nodded quietly, as if running the numbers in his head, then spoke.

“First, the investigator who handled your case will be dismissed.”

“D-district Manager! I-I swear to heaven, all I'm guilty of is following the regulations...!”

“Are you trying to blame the guild for your incompetence? Every verdict you've issued will be thoroughly reinvestigated. And if even the slightest wrongdoing is uncovered in the process, you will be punished accordingly.”

“Y-you can't!”

The once-arrogant investigator dropped to his knees, deathly pale.

Judging by his terror, he hadn't exactly led an honest, upright life.

Well, given his past behavior, that hardly came as a surprise.

“S-spare me! Please...!”

'Shouldn't you be begging me instead of him?'

He was pleading with the wrong person, but I didn't bother saying so. If he were that sort of man to begin with, things would never have gotten this far.

That was how the world worked.

Nobody felt remorse while dealing the blows.

They only regretted it when the consequences came back around.

“Then what happens to him?”

I looked at Hartz Young, another key contributor to this mess, as I asked. The district manager answered without much deliberation.

“His false testimony seriously impeded the investigation, all to conceal his own crimes. He will receive the same treatment.”

“The same treatment?”

“A thorough investigation, followed by the execution grounds.”

A district manager's words carried that much weight.

The investigation hadn't even begun, much less a trial, but that was effectively a death sentence.

“N-no...”

Hartz Young's eyes rolled back and he fainted, but nobody paid him any attention.

“While you're at it, I'd like you to investigate his clan, too.”

“The Crystal Union has already been the subject of various unsavory rumors. I'll do as you ask.”

The district manager readily agreed to every demand I made.

He seemed quite clever.

It meant he understood perfectly well that he had no choice but to give me what I wanted.

“Will that suffice as far as punishments go?”

“Well...”

I trailed off and fixed my gaze on one spot. The branch manager hastily averted his eyes when they met mine.

I smirked and nodded.

“Asking for more would be greedy.”

“Thank you for considering our position.”

No need to thank me.

I intended to collect on that another way.

“Now that we've settled the punishments, we should discuss compensation for the mistake we made in your case. Is there anything you'd like?”

“I'll decide after hearing your offer.”

“First, we'll raise your rank to rank 7.”

“A promotion...”

Not bad.

Rank-7 explorers had less crowded exchange counters, for a start, along with various other benefits.

If I hadn't been rank 9, that investigator bastard wouldn't have been able to treat me so arrogantly in the first place.

“D-district Manager! Straight to rank 7, for someone who's only been an explorer for two months?”

The branch manager raised an objection, apparently worried about future complaints of unfair treatment, but the district manager shook his head firmly.

“We are making amends here. Don't raise any objections on this point.”

“... Understood.”

The district manager looked like a politician offering a sincere apology.

Especially in how little substance there was to it.

“Hold on. Something about this doesn't sound right.”

Just as I was about to speak, Raven, who'd been quietly listening, beat me to it.

Signs of tension appeared around the room as everyone wondered what she would say this time.

She herself couldn't have cared less.

“How does a promotion count as compensation? Promoting capable explorers and giving them the corresponding benefits is simply the guild's job, isn't it?”

“But as you just heard, this man—”

“Hasn't been an explorer for long? What does that matter?”

“There's no precedent for such—”

“Of course there's no precedent.”

Having interrupted the district manager repeatedly, she continued at a rapid clip.

“No other explorer has ever returned after just two months with the Essence of a rank-5 Vampire—one that appeared as a rupture's Guardian, no less.”

“... What exactly are you trying to say, Miss Raven?”

“Oh, nothing. I just thought it was a little unseemly to seek credit for doing what you should be doing anyway.”

She turned to me with a grin.

I wasn't so clueless that I'd miss an opportunity handed to me on a platter, so I quickly played along.

“Then I suppose I can look forward to some real compensation.”

“... What do you want?”

Well, after everything I'd been through, I deserved something to show for it.

Just as I began considering what to demand, Raven spoke again, as if she'd been waiting.

“Money, of course. What else can the Explorer Guild offer?”

There were other things, if you looked. Free Unity magic for life, permission to post personal notices on guild bulletin boards, and so on.

'All things money can buy, in the end.'

When I nodded in agreement, the district manager sighed and surrendered.

“How much will it take?”

Now all that remained was to fill in the amount on the blank check.

I looked at Raven, who'd been feeling strangely dependable for a while now.

I meant that I would trust the mage's rational judgment.

Fortunately, she seemed to understand. Looking rather pleased with herself, she spoke.

“Since you nearly killed a promising explorer by mistake...”

She trailed off, then casually added,

“Shouldn't he receive at least five million Stones?”

The district manager nodded without protest.

“... Very well. I'll pay it.”

I wasn't particularly surprised.

Five million Stones was far, far above the maximum I'd expected, but...

'That was the maximum if I did the asking.'

Without Raven, the negotiations probably wouldn't have gone this smoothly.

Was this the power of status?

As I privately took in its impact and wondered how to repay her for today's help, Raven spoke again.

“Oh, and my fee is a separate one million Stones.”

“Your fee? What do you mean? If you're referring to the assistance fee, the amount agreed upon with the Magic Tower—”

“That includes the price of this crystal ball, which recorded your little joke earlier. You may have called it a joke, but... I imagine I could find quite a few people who'd like to get their hands on it.”

“... Hahaha. You take your jokes too far, young lady.”

“I'm not joking.”

When her expression turned serious, the district manager's face went beyond stiff to downright sour.

Still, he didn't deliberate for long.

“Very well...”

He nodded.

In a sense, that single slip of the tongue earlier had just cost him a million Stones.

'... Guess I don't need to pay her a separate fee.'

Was this what mages were like?

As I marveled at how swiftly she'd secured her own share, her voice rang out in my head.

[Thanks to you, I'll be taking home a little pocket money.]

Hearing her voice, I found myself thinking something about another person that I hadn't thought in quite some time.

If at all possible, I should stay on good terms with her.