Chapter 69: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 4 (3)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 69: The Tin Knight and The City of Clockwork — Act 4 (3)
Peter was by no means an impulsive brat who acted without thinking.
Although he often acted without thinking, and it was true he was impulsive, he was also a seasoned veteran who had been through thick and thin.
If he weren't, reaching the gold grade would have been impossible.
There were two main reasons why such a man started moving immediately after hearing just a few words from Sophia.
One was, as he himself had said, that rumors about the guild had spread so far that he would be in a difficult position if he didn't make some kind of move.
The other was Peter's own pride.
To put it more simply, Peter trusted his own judgment.
‘She wasn't lying. There were parts she intentionally left out, but that woman really knew about the vampire!’
While stories of adventurers swindling innocent clients were widely known, the truth was that there were just as many nasty clients.
They would grovel until the request was resolved, only to flip on you and refuse to pay properly once it was done. They’d ask you to defeat a single, insignificant magic beast, but when you got there, you’d find an entire colony. Or you’d simply carry out a request, only to find yourself unknowingly involved in a crime. To deal with all sorts of scumbags, having a good eye for people was essential.
Peter was certain Sophia hadn't lied, and he had a gut feeling that she knew a lot more dangerous information—information that reeked of adventure.
Well, even so, he hadn't anticipated the sharp turn into ‘legendary magic beast (himself)’, but that was more Sophia’s strangeness than Peter’s fault, so it had to be viewed with a merciful eye.
Humming a tune, Peter began preparations to complete the request.
It was a rather pathetic sight if one knew the truth, but at least he was enjoying himself, so that was a relief.
*
Meanwhile, it is the way of the world that for every happy person, there is an unhappy one.
Unlike Peter, who couldn't stop smiling, the employees of the Schwartz branch had no reason to smile.
“How the hell did you handle this?!”
With the Schwartz branch manager’s roar, a stack of documents on his desk scattered into the air.
As the employees summoned to the branch manager’s office all flinched and glanced around nervously, the manager’s direct subordinate, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu, spoke up on their behalf.
“…I apologize.”
“Apologize? Apo-lo-gize? Yeah, you should be sorry! You have to be! If you did a job this shitty and didn't feel sorry, you wouldn't be human, you'd be a son of a bitch!!”
Seeing their boss snarling and barking with bloodshot eyes, the employees all had to suppress the urge to show him a mirror.
As the saying goes, you see what you are. It seemed that since he had become a dog himself, he was seeing others as dogs too.
The branch manager didn't notice his subordinates’ subtle glances.
In truth, it was doubtful he would have cared even if he had.
He didn't have the luxury to worry about such things right now.
“How, just how did you handle things…! You incompetent fools! You pathetic fools!”
He simply couldn't comprehend the current situation.
The quasi-knight level force he had dispatched to silence them had been cleanly wiped out, for reasons unknown.
Strictly speaking, one of them had survived, but that one had not only betrayed them and joined the enemy but was now exposing every single dirty secret of the Schwartz branch. It was a situation worse than if he had died.
In the northern part of the Empire, the ‘vicious, petty, and vile conspiracy’ of the Schwartz branch was already being chewed on by drunks like squid legs at a bar. The story was even beginning to creep into the social circles near the capital.
White Gold from the Weiss branch, far from joining the fight against the threat to the guild's reputation, was instead grating on his nerves, demanding he reveal the truth quickly. The other branch managers had entered spectator mode, as if they were just there to watch the show and reap the rewards.
As the guild, which should have been uniting its strength, descended into a state of civil war, the Halder Company saw its chance and initiated legal proceedings. Other companies, which had been wary of the Adventurers Guild's formidable name, also began to swarm like a pack of hyenas once they realized they only had to deal with the ‘Schwartz branch’ and not the entire guild.
“Count Tik-Tok, the great lord of the north, has sent a request to the Adventurers Guild headquarters, asking them to ‘reveal the purpose of infiltrating Tik-Tok with an armed group of questionable intent.’ Headquarters hasn't responded yet, but we don't know how they'll react if public opinion in the north grows stronger.”
“No need to worry about headquarters! A great lord? Please! He’s just the top dog of a toy town that got famous for its toys!”
“The silver-rank adventurer Kumara and his party seem to be sending letters to adventurers they knew in the past, informing them of the situation.”
“Issue a warning not to be swayed by malicious rumors! No, just capture them! They colluded with traitors, so they might be the culprits in this affair too!”
“Adventurers are leaving the branch one by one. The number is relatively small among bronze-rank and lower adventurers, for whom moving their area of activity is a burden, but the mood among the silver-rank adventurers, who had ties to Kumara’s side and are financially better off, is grim. If we don't act quickly, our branch will be left with nothing but dregs and rookies.”
“The company union has cut off the supply of various goods, so we're running out of stock on all sorts of essential items.”
“Fuuuuck!!”
Crash! Clatter.
The branch manager kicked his desk, sending various objects on it tumbling to the floor.
“Incompetent fools. Pathetic fools! Don't just stand there chirping, do something to solve it! You useless freeloaders!”
“……”
Objectively speaking, the branch manager had brought this upon himself.
He was the one who had let things escalate this far when he could have just negotiated nicely with the Halder Company and received the treasures.
He was the one who had driven out or relegated any employee who displeased him in the slightest, while promoting flatterers and bribe-givers to key positions, dragging the entire organization's integrity through the mud.
Normally, using the Adventurers Guild's reputation as a shield had been enough to avoid problems, but now that the shield was proving ineffective, the organization itself had fallen into chaos.
The Weiss branch was actually confused, wondering why the Schwartz branch was in such turmoil when all they had done was throw a light jab.
“Hoo, hoo.”
After chasing the employees out, the branch manager, now alone, rummaged through his shelves to soothe his churning stomach.
He finally found the bottle of wine he was looking for and turned back around.
“Hiek?!”
He screamed and collapsed as he came face-to-face with a strange person who had appeared behind him.
Crash!
The contents of the shattered wine bottle soaked his pants, but the branch manager didn't even think of wiping it off.
No, he couldn't even get up, just breaking out in a cold sweat.
Toward the collapsed manager, the masked figure with a green mask asked.
《The master awaits results.》
It was a truly bizarre voice.
It spoke a human language, but it was not a human voice.
The wind that slips through cracks in rock. The wind that rustles the branches. The wind that makes a high-flying flag flutter.
All the sounds wind could make in nature gathered as one, as if mimicking human speech.
Feeling a shiver run down his spine, the branch manager tried to act bold, as if refusing to admit he was afraid.
“Ahem, what is this insolence, barging into my room without any notice? I will forgive you this time, but be careful in the future.”
The masked figure tilted its head.
It was a gesture that suggested it didn't understand what the branch manager had said.
《Ruins. Treasure. Retrieve. Not yet?》
As if it hadn't heard him, the figure spoke only of its own business. The branch manager frowned but soon replied curtly.
“Tsk, it seems he is in need of some quick cash. Very well. I shall show sufficient sincerity. So, you may leave for today.”
《The master awaits results. The master wants the treasure of the ruins.》
“Ahem, did I not say I understand! I said I’ll send a generous sum of money!?”
《You really are an idiot.》
The sudden fluency in its tone made the branch manager flinch.
The color of the mask had changed.
While the overall color scheme was still green, the part corresponding to the mouth was now painted blue.
The type of sound had also changed, now a mixture of water sounds from nature instead of wind.
《Stupid human. Greedy human. Incompetent human. What the master wants is not mere wealth. Don't treat him like a vulgar creature like yourself. It's disgusting.》
“Wh-what did you say!?”
The branch manager, incensed, tried to grab the figure by the collar, but he failed.
Several streams of water had shot up from under his feet, wrapping around his entire body like ropes.
“Gack, keuk!”
The branch manager tried desperately to loosen the water constricting his neck, but it was useless.
No matter how he clawed at the rope around his neck, it only produced a splashing sound as its shape distorted, while the pressure on his throat didn't lessen in the slightest.
Just as the branch manager was about to pass out, a gust of wind blew, scattering the water rope that was choking him.
With the mouth of the mask painted green again, the figure spoke.
《Human. Subordinate of master’s friend. We. Master’s subordinates.》
As if to rebut, the mouth of the mask turned blue again.
《Don't make me laugh. Even among subordinates, there are ranks. We are the master's precious right hand, and this pig is just one of many lackeys. He tried to lay a hand on me without knowing his place, so of course he should be disposed of.》
《Must not bully. Master did not order.》
《Among humans, doing things without being ordered is a sign of competence, you know?》
《Lies.》
The sight of what appeared to be a single person conversing in two different voices was as bizarre as it gets.
This went on for a moment.
Finally, a conclusion seemed to have been reached between the figure, or figures.
《Treasure location. Tell.》
《You're fired. Get your hands off this. You'll just be a hindrance.》
Having just regained his breath after being pushed to the brink of suffocation, the branch manager's face flushed red upon hearing that verdict.
He struggled, as if wringing out his last shred of pride.
“…Th-this matter will not be overlooked! My family is the heart of the imperial faction! The most loyal of loyal retainers who supports the Empress! No matter how much he-”
The branch manager’s words stopped.
His tongue was completely paralyzed, as if the root had been severed.
No, not just his tongue, his entire body was in that state.
Only then did the branch manager realize what he had done.
The mask, now split perfectly between green and blue, stared at him dispassionately.
《Human. Violated contract.》
《Didn't your family explain it to you properly? That you shouldn't blabber carelessly about the master?》
“──.”
The fear of suffocation, which he thought had receded, came for him once more.
This time, he couldn't even struggle.
《Does not know treasure location. Problem.》
《Can't be helped. Honestly, this isn't our fault, is it? It's the fault of that ‘friend’ who put such an incompetent fool in this position. Oh, or is it? Was he pushed into a dead-end job like this because he's incompetent? Ahaha!》
Leaving behind a mocking laugh that echoed in his ears, the figure's form scattered and vanished.
One day later.
The corpse of the branch manager, stiff as a board, was discovered, and the Schwartz branch was thrown into an uproar.
Two days later.
The Adventurers Guild headquarters announced the Schwartz branch manager’s ‘suicide by poison.’
People whispered that the branch manager had made an extreme choice under the pressure of the rumors, or that the Adventurers Guild had cut its losses.
Three days later.
The Guardian Lord of the Empire, Duke Lennart, made a statement: ‘There are those who are scattering filth in the garden that His Majesty the Emperor so neatly arranged.’
The Duke did not specify what that garden was, but people understood it to be a reference to the Adventurers Guild.
Four days later.
A major personnel reform began at the Guild headquarters and the Schwartz branch.
However, since both the Stenheim family, which had previously controlled the Guild headquarters, and the Filene family, which newly took over the core, were aligned with the Empress, many voiced doubts about its effectiveness.
Five days later.
The Adventurers Guild delivered an official apology to the Halder Company.
Furthermore, the new Schwartz branch manager purchased all the treasures that had caused the incident through official procedures.
Six days later.
The new branch manager declared that he would use the purchased treasures for those who had suffered due to the former branch manager's tyranny, and he actually introduced many welfare systems.
Many adventurers who had left or were planning to leave the Schwartz branch returned.
One week later.
The pinnacle of the Empire's mages.
The Witch of the South’s protégé, Algind Goodwitch, left the imperial capital.
And so, a major incident that would embroil the entire Empire—
“I'm done here, so I'm leaving.”
[The 'Tin Knight' protests that it hasn't finished all the side quests yet!]
—did not begin.