Chapter 7
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: The Search for Wirkeu
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The list of successful applicants for the 3rd Training Center was announced.
A massive sheet of paper bearing the names of those who passed was posted at the entrance of the 3rd Training Center. Perhaps for that reason, the entrance was already bustling with applicants from early in the morning.
“...There are so many people.”
Could I even find my name among this throng?
Demian grumbled as he began to search for the list of names posted at the entrance.
“Ah, no! Noooo!”
“Dammit! This is ridiculous! Why did I fail?!”
The first thing he heard were the despairing complaints of others.
If there was one common reaction among them, it was that they reread the list several times, unable to believe their names were missing.
Of course, they were equally unable to accept reality.
“Woooah! I passed!”
“Mother! I passed!”
On the other hand, those who had passed were offering thanks to some nameless god, their voices thick with emotion.
Demian wore a slightly bewildered expression at the sight.
‘...Is this really something to be so happy about?’
During the Age of War, soldiers were in such short supply that they were forcibly conscripted.
Everyone tried to come up with excuses to avoid being drafted, and there were plenty of men who went so far as to break their own perfectly good limbs to escape service.
‘But now...’
They were clamoring to get in first.
It was so different from the picture he had in his mind that he was almost baffled.
But just then.
“Hey, Demian!”
“...Apel?”
Demian saw Apel, who had approached him at some point. Apel grinned and spoke to Demian.
“Congratulations. We’re fellow recruits now, huh?”
“Ah, you passed?”
“Yeah, I confirmed your name is there too. It’s right at the top.”
“The very top?”
At Apel’s words, Demian lifted his head.
[Demian XIII]
“Ah, there it is.”
As Demian broke into a grin, Apel said.
“Let’s get along. Of course, we might not end up in the same unit, but hehehe.”
“You too. I never knew having someone my age around could be so reassuring, just like you said.”
“Right?”
Demian responded to Apel’s words with a small smile and a nod. Apel then asked.
“We have a week until enrollment. What are you going to do until then?”
“A week... I think I’ll be pretty busy. I have a few things to do.”
“What is it, another secret?”
“Hehe, it’s not really anything worth mentioning. I’m just planning to buy some necessary items before enrolling.”
“Hmm, really? Well, I don’t know about anything else, but make sure you get some sole and heel patches. They say the combat boots they issue are so stiff that a hundred out of a hundred new recruits get blisters.”
“Oh, really?”
Demian chuckled inwardly and asked with feigned ignorance.
After all, he was someone who had experienced every single one of those heel and sole blisters.
“Yeah, there’s a military supply store called Lion Eagle in the bustling district near the capital’s east gate. I hear their patches are good.”
“Thanks for the info, I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Eh, it’s nothing.”
Apel shrugged, and Demian asked.
“What about you? What are you doing for the week?”
“Me? I have a few things to do as well.”
“...You seem like a guy with just as many secrets as I have.”
At Demian’s words, Apel let out a low laugh.
“Hehe, I’ve always been a man of mystery.”
“Heh, alright. Prepare well, and I’ll see you in a week.”
Demian shared a light handshake with Apel and then turned to leave.
As Demian walked away, an old man approached Apel’s side.
“Young Master, everything is ready.”
“...Allen, I told you not to call me Young Master in a place like this.”
“Ah, my apologies.”
“Sigh... Let’s go.”
Apel finally turned in the opposite direction from Demian.
*Swish.*
He then turned his head back in the direction Demian had gone, watching him.
At that, Allen asked.
“Who is he?”
“...Let’s just say he seems like someone I’ll be seeing for a long time.”
“...Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. Let’s go.”
With those words, Apel and the old man walked away somewhere.
* * *
The capital held many different meanings for Demian.
‘I used to... come here a lot.’
Back when the outlying cities had all fallen and they were becoming more and more isolated, he would come to the capital for supplies whenever a battle broke out on its outskirts.
‘It wasn’t this beautiful back then.’
While it couldn’t be called a famine, the long war had wiped any trace of ease from people’s faces.
Even in the capital, not everyone ate their fill.
On the contrary, the back alleys were teeming with beggars who had fled to the capital from ruined cities.
“...Unbelievable.”
The capital seemed to sparkle and shine.
For that reason, it was hard to comprehend how the atmosphere could change so drastically.
But everything Demian had experienced was true.
In five years, when the Age of War arrived, a change would come that was so profound it couldn’t be grasped with ordinary common sense.
‘I’d better hurry and prepare.’
The only drawback was that the information Demian possessed was merely the broad flow of the era.
When it came to the details, his information was extremely limited.
‘But...’
He felt that the most important thing was to make the most of even that limited information.
For that reason, Demian sought out the Wirkeu Merchant Guild.
The Wirkeu Merchant Guild was a major merchant guild that had achieved tremendous growth during the Age of War by being quicker than others to recognize the skyrocketing prices of food and weapons, buying and selling them.
Demian himself had only heard of its name and achievements later, but what was surprising was that the guild master, Wirkeu, was a young man not much older than himself.
‘In five years... when the Age of War comes, the first thing to change is food.’
The luxury goods of this era will be meaningless then.
It will become an age where the only things that matter are practical artifacts, weapons, and food that can help one survive on the battlefield.
“Hmm...”
Of course, there were many other things he had to do, but time was far too short.
‘First...’
Find the Wirkeu Merchant Guild.
Demian headed to the main thoroughfare and began to gather information on the merchant guilds in the capital.
‘So... there are about 40 guilds in the capital...?’
Dammit! There were far more than he expected.
And the problem was that among them, there was no guild named the Wirkeu Merchant Guild.
“...This is giving me a headache.”
How should he narrow it down?
The only information he had was that Wirkeu of the Wirkeu Merchant Guild was the son of the previous guild master, and that this Wirkeu would be in his early thirties in fifteen years.
‘Ah, no. There’s one more thing.’
It was the fact that the Wirkeu Merchant Guild had continuously engaged in charity work, helping those in need.
That was why, despite earning a fortune and growing immensely during the Age of War, they gained the support of the people.
‘Normally, becoming a war profiteer gets you cursed to hell and back.’
He remembered it as a guild with a special business philosophy.
‘In that case, if I filter out only the guilds that do charity work...’
The number would surely shrink.
Demian hurriedly began to sort through the list of guilds in the capital again, picking out those that were currently engaged in or planning to start charity work.
And...
“My head is going to explode...!”
He had gathered information by visiting quite a few places, but since he was doing it all by himself, a considerable amount of time had passed.
“Still... I’ve narrowed it down.”
Despite casting a wide net, the number of guilds had shrunk from over forty to just seven.
But gathering just this information had already taken three days.
‘Should I have used an information guild...?’
No, that’s not right.
Demian immediately shook his head.
There was a reason he was searching for the guild on foot instead of using an information guild.
‘I won’t leak even a speck of information.’
Those information guild folks are extremely sensitive to a client’s situation and background.
They don’t just take on a request; they dig into why such a request was made in the first place.
In this era, only a handful of people would know about the Age of War coming in five years.
If anyone else caught on, things could go wrong.
‘I can’t leave even the slightest possibility to chance.’
That was why he was going through all this trouble.
“...I’ll just have to tackle it head-on.”
He still had four days left, after all.
That was enough time to visit seven guilds.
Demian personally visited the seven guilds he had shortlisted.
“Excuse me.”
“Welcome.”
Demian first visited the largest of the seven guilds.
He figured that since it was a guild that would grow into a major one, a place with a bit of scale had a higher probability.
“May I see the guild master of this establishment?”
“For what reason do you wish to see the guild master?”
The employee in charge of reception asked Demian. Demian replied with a faint smile.
“I heard that your guild is involved in charity work, and I came because I wish to invest to help with your good deeds.”
“...Please wait a moment.”
The employee looked at Demian’s youthful appearance with a bit of skepticism, but the mention of an investment seemed to prompt him to relay the message to the guild master.
Soon, a man who appeared to be the guild master approached Demian.
“Are you the one who wished to see me?”
“I am Demian.”
Demian looked at the guild master before him.
He was a man in his early fifties, with a fair number of wrinkles on his face.
‘Wirkeu is in his late teens right now. This isn’t him.’
That meant...
‘He must have a direct heir.’
As far as Demian knew, he was the son of the previous guild master, so all he needed to do was confirm that.
“You wish to invest in our charity work?”
“Yes. It’s not a large sum, but I have some money left to me by my parents and I wish to use it for a good cause.”
“Hahaha, what a commendable thought for one so young.”
The guild master smiled benevolently and ordered tea to be brought.
Demian then steered their conversation about the investment and carefully asked.
“I have something I’d like to ask. Do you happen to have a son?”
“I do. As I’m getting on in years, it’s time for me to think about succession.”
The topic of a successor came up so easily.
As Demian’s eyes lit up, the man even introduced his son, the heir who would take over as the next guild master. However...
“...”
The man introduced as the next guild master looked to be close to thirty, at the very least.
‘Dammit... A dead end?’
Well, it’s not like things in this world were ever easy.
Demian wrapped up the conversation appropriately and quickly left the guild.
One, two, three.
He continued to visit guilds, gathering information about them under the pretext of discussing investments, when...
“...Is this the last one?”
Was approaching them based on size the wrong choice?
Demian stood before a small merchant guild that had been doing charity work for three years.
‘...Hamel Merchant Guild.’
This place seemed quite small. With what money were they running a charity?
‘Still... I have to check.’
He had come this far anyway.
There was nothing to lose by visiting one more place.
Demian entered the Hamel Merchant Guild and spoke politely.
“Excuse me, is anyone here?”
“What can I do for you?”
As he entered, a middle-aged man greeted Demian.
Demian bowed politely and said.
“I heard that the Hamel Merchant Guild is involved in charity work... I came to discuss an investment to help with your good deeds.”
“An investment? Hahaha, you have a very good heart for one so young.”
The man gestured for Demian to take a seat and brought him a cup of warm tea.
“I am Wirkeu, the guild master of the Hamel Merchant Guild. Thank you for taking the trouble to come.”
He offered Demian his business card as he spoke. At his words, Demian’s eyes flickered for a moment.
‘Wirkeu...?’
This man’s name is Wirkeu?
He hadn’t even considered that the current guild master’s name would be Wirkeu.
He had been looking for the Wirkeu Merchant Guild, not a place where the guild master’s name was Wirkeu.
Demian swallowed hard and asked.
“This may be a rude question, but do you have a son?”
“Yes, haha. I don’t have a son, just one troublesome daughter.”
“...A daughter?”
What, is this a dead end too?
The moment he heard the name Wirkeu, he thought this might be the place.
But a daughter...
But at that moment.
“I’m back!”
Demian’s head turned at the sight of a woman entering the guild, dusting off her clothes.
“...Huh?”