The Corrupt Guildmaster, Shouldering the Adventurers’ Expectations
A week after driving away Raltos’s messenger.
Just as I expected, the tightening of quests for our guild began a few days ago. The total number of commissioned quests hadn’t changed. However, Emidia noticed that the request fees had been drastically reduced.
Following guild regulations, we had posted the quests on the board… but even if we completely removed the guild’s commission fee, no adventurer would be able to take these quests at such prices. Just buying recovery potions and maintaining gear would put them in the red. As expected—Raltos was exactly the pride-filled man he had been in the original story.
“Emidia. Bring me last month’s account ledger.”
“Yes!”
Emidia brought the ledger detailing our income and expenditures. After checking it, I saw that even the Roll Bear subjugation quest had been lowered by 60 silver coins. The Wyvern subjugation was down by a whole 10 gold coins. By the middle of last month, 130 quests had already been accepted. Now we had fewer than 40.
Even high-risk monster hunts—which should be extremely popular—weren’t being taken at all. Of course not. Adventurers take risks because the rewards justify them. This would only cause the acceptance rate to plummet for no reason.
“This is… this only harms the clients who issued the quests! It’s an insult to the entire guild system!!”
Emidia’s hands trembled. The fact that Raltos had resorted to such blatant tactics meant he likely had some secret plan strong enough to survive accusations.
But the lord who governed the town of Delta—the place where Raltos worked—was known for fairness. Even in the original story, he was never in league with Raltos.
In this world, local trials were presided over by the local lord, who acted as the judge and delivered rulings. And Raltos had always been at odds with that lord. Yet he was taking direct action now… something smelled rotten.
Hm?
I looked at the date on the ledger. It was the 6th month. Something had happened in the original story around the 6th month. If I remembered correctly…
…
I see. Raltos might already have “her” in his possession.
Not bad. I’m now in a position where I can openly pick up the fight Raltos has started. And I can confront “her”—the girl who is probably working for Raltos under legitimate circumstances.
If so, I can save her. The girl who was destined to die in the original story. A girl searching for a place to belong… depending on how I approach it, I could probably recruit her as an adventurer.
Heh, heh… I can still expand my pool of top earners. Turning misfortune into profit, as they say.
◇◇◇
When Emidia and I went down to the first floor, adventurers were staring at the quest board with slumped shoulders.
“Sigh… still no new quests coming in?”
“No way I can take a Wyvern hunt at that price.”
The adventurers drooped. At this rate, they couldn’t make a living. For them, this was a matter of survival.
… It was the same for me—my income was dropping too. I couldn’t just sit and watch.
But this crisis was also an opportunity. A chance to expand the guild even further. Either way, it couldn’t be solved unless I went to Delta. The problem was what to do with the guild while I was gone.
I placed a hand on my chin and thought. It took one week by carriage to reach Delta, where Raltos was. With a round trip taking fourteen days, plus the time needed to resolve the situation, I would be absent for the rest of the month…
I glanced sideways at Emidia. She could run the guild even without me—but dealing with the Guild Association might require sudden paperwork in Delta. I wanted her by my side for that. What to do…
As I pondered, Emidia looked at me and smiled brightly.
“Zilkein-sama. You intend to go to the town of Delta, do you not?”
“Hm? Yes, but… what’s with the sudden question?”
“Please leave things to me. I will ensure no dissatisfaction is directed at you, Zilkein-sama.”
Before I could even ask what she meant, Emidia raised her voice.
“Everyone, please listen!! The quest rewards these past days are clearly abnormal! Zilkein-sama has perceived ‘signs of misconduct’ within the Guild Association!!”
“Hey, did she say misconduct?”
“Knew it… something’s been off for a while.”
“The rewards are so low I can hardly survive…”
“Can’t something be done…?”
The guild began stirring with noise and unease.
“Hey, Emidia.”
I grabbed her arm, and she nodded once before speaking loudly once more.
“In response to this emergency, our guild will suspend operations until next month, and we will head to negotiate directly with the administrator!!”
“Eh!? Suspend operations!?”
“You’re going to confront the administrator directly!?”
“I mean, that’s great and all but…”
“Having no income is rough…”
“That’ll be trouble…”
Complaints arose. It had been my decision to leave the guild unattended. Emidia had said “suspend operations” likely to divert their blame away from me. Smart woman.
Fine. Since she took on my burden, I’d ensure she didn’t end up bearing all the negativity either.
I tapped her shoulder and whispered a method that would instantly dispel the adventurers’ dissatisfaction.
“…!? Are you sure!?”
“That’s fine. They’re all anxious.”
With tears welling up, Emidia dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. Then, with a firm expression, she spread her arms toward everyone.
“While the Guildmaster is away! The material purchase counter will remain open, and purchase prices will be raised to 1.5 times the usual amount! This is Zilkein-sama’s decision!”
The material purchase counter could be managed by the remaining receptionists alone. And with 1.5× buy prices, adventurers could survive by collecting materials and items from nearby dungeons even without taking quests. And by letting Emidia say the announcement, she wouldn’t attract resentment either.
“1.5 times!? Seriously!? Guildmaster’s a real man!”
“And he’s negotiating with the higher-ups for our sake…”
“I respect him!!”
“Hohoho, quite the admirable fellow.”
“Guildmaster’s amazing~!”
“I’ll follow our Guildmaster for life!!”
The murmuring atmosphere had completely transformed into cheers.
Wait a minute. Before doing it for you guys, I did it for my own earnings…
“We’re rooting for you!!”
“The guild shutting down hurts, but…”
“I’ll survive with material gathering!”
“We believe in you, Guildmaster!!”
Sigh… they’re all turning into Emidia.
Well, fine. Their dissatisfaction had been addressed. Next was the matter of escorting us. Ideally, I’d want to bring Aron, but… there were concerns. What to do?
“Guildmaster.”
The adventurers made way. From behind them stepped the A-Rank party, “Red Dragon’s Wings”—Aron and his companions.
“Aron. I was actually thinking of consulting you about escort duty.”
“About that… for this escort, could you take Fiel instead?”
The guild stirred again, and everyone’s gaze turned toward one corner of the room. Leaning against the wall and listening, Fiel pointed at herself in surprise.
“M-me!? Aron-dono, surely you are more suited for that!?”
“No, our party wants to stay behind to guard the guild. You and Emidia-san will both be absent, Guildmaster. Thieves might target the vault. Right? Guildmaster?”
That was exactly my concern. The guild functioned like a bank for adventurers. If left unattended for a long time, rumors would spread and attract thieves… but if Aron’s party handled security, I’d have no worries about leaving.
“Are you sure, Aron?”
“Of course. I’ll never betray your trust, Guildmaster. Will you believe in me?”
“Obviously. I’ll pay generously.”
“That makes me happy.”
Aron smiled faintly. His party members nodded as well. Aron had grown remarkably sharp these past months.
Fiel’s unique skill would be a good match against “her” in Delta. Aron would guard the guild. And I would bring Fiel to recruit new talent… that would work.
I turned to Fiel and called her over. Flustered but smiling shyly, she hurried toward me.
“You heard the situation, right? It’s an escort request. Fiel, I want you to guard me and Emidia.”
“Understood!! Emidia-dono, I look forward to working with you!”
“Likewise, Fiel-san.”
Placing a hand to her chest like a former Knight Captain, Fiel answered with dignity. Seeing that, Emidia smiled and tugged lightly on my sleeve.
“Zilkein-sama, your words to everyone.”
At Emidia’s prompting, I turned around. All the adventurers seemed to be waiting for me to speak. The guild fell silent. I drew a breath and spoke.
“I’m sorry, everyone. The hardship you’re suffering is my responsibility.”
I bowed my head. Better to let them vent now—suppressed frustration was dangerous. When you make a mistake, the most efficient way to move forward is to apologize sincerely. That was something I learned in my previous life.
“Guildmaster…”
“You’re too kind…”
“No one’s angry at you!”
“We know you yelled at the higher-ups for insulting us, right!?”
“This isn’t the Guildmaster’s fault!”
“The bad ones are those guys!!”
Voices of sympathy rose. I lifted my head and shouted.
“But! I will not end this with failure alone!! I promise you all this! I will expose this wrongdoing!! And I will bring back better working conditions for everyone!!”
“Uoooooooohhh!!”
“He said it!!”
“S-so cool…!!”
“Guildmaster is the greatest!!”
“M-my tears…!!”
The guild erupted in thunderous cheers.
… The people of this world really did have intense reactions. Well, whatever. Let them dream a little. They’d better work themselves to the bone for my sake once I come back.
“All right, we’re off.”
With the cheers swirling through the Luminage Guild in the city of Luminage, Emidia, Fiel, and I departed—headed to the town of Delta to confront Raltos.
What do you think about this chapter?
