"Hey, Gilmas! What did he come here for?!"
"Outrageous! The Knights calling us dead weight—are they kidding?!"
After the earl departed, angry shouts erupted throughout the adventurer guild hall.
"...I understand how you feel. But when nobles are involved, there's nothing we can do. Even if we could deal with Lord Douglas—no, if we did deal with him, the other nobles won't stay silent."
"So you're telling us to just take it lying down, Gilmas?!"
The veteran adventurer raised his voice, but Gilmas could only look apologetic.
"If we attract the wrong kind of attention, it could mean the annihilation of our families. I believe you're all skilled adventurers. Please handle the nobles carefully and make it back alive. I'm sorry."
Gilmas and the adventurers continued talking for a while after that.
Or rather, it felt like Gilmas was letting the adventurers blow off steam.
Getting unreasonable demands forced on him by the country while catching flak from the adventurers—it really reminded me of middle management in my past life.
◇◇◇
"...So that's what happened. What do you think, Sharu?"
I asked Sharu at a deserted café that rarely saw any customers (though the dark guild "Sky View" was hidden in the back).
The café Sharu had dragged me to was actually built by Sharu as a front for the dark guild "Sky View," and Sharu served as its master as well.
"Ah, you mean the magic stone mine in Volcania. That belongs to the Gumbard Trading Company. It's their lifeline."
"Huh. Come to think of it, wasn't the Gumbard Trading Company once the top firm in Maygrant but has since been overtaken by the Grandel Jewel Company?"
I'd actually met their young lady once, back when I took on an escort job to the capital.
She had golden drill curls and a big pink ribbon, but that...
hairstyle...
1. I'm curious how she manages to set her hair like that.
2. "Yeah, Grandal uses dark guilds. You won't hear Gambard pulling that kind of talk."
3. So the Grandal Gem Company makes use of dark guilds, while the Gambard Company plays it straight.
4. "Alan, Gambard's been hit with one scandal after another over the past few years, and every time, Grandal swooped in and bought up those troubled businesses. Now they're the biggest trading company in the country."
5. "Ah, right."
6. "Prices have gone up ever since Gambard started running those operations. The nobles tied to Grandal are sitting pretty."
7. "So this whole mine affair is their grand finale?"
8. "Most likely. They're probably looking to put Gambard down for good. And Count Douglas, who's tagging along this time, is one of Grandal's pet nobles."
9. "The Grandal Gem Company had a noble in their pocket?"
10. "No, not like that. Douglas is buried in debt to Grandal. He probably thinks he's keeping it under wraps. And on top of that, word has it one of the Electors is standing behind Grandal."
11. They'd use the resolution of this whole mess as a pretext to move into the mine, with Count Douglas's knight order occupying it outright.
12. Unable to operate the mine and left with no income, the Gambard Company would eventually have no choice
13. but
14. to
15. sell
16. the
17. mining
18. business
19. to
20. some other trading company.
So yeah, that about covers it?
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse] [Divine Eye] [Sword God] [Fist God] [Spear God] [Scorching Magic] [Frozen Ice Magic] [Clear Storm Magic] [Rock Iron Magic] [Holy Magic] [Dark Magic] [Space-Time Magic] [Thunder God Sword] [Phantom Thief Gentleman] [Ninja Master] [Seeker of Truth] [Uncanny Strength] [Swift Runner] [Pain Dampening] [Complete Status Ailment Resistance] [Dark Spirit's Protection] [Super Intuition] [Heaven's Gate] [Abyssal Contractee] [Magic Hand] [Treasure Search] [Temptation] [Incitement] [Eloquence] [Great Luck] [10× Growth Speed] [Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!