"He's dead serious about this. After all, he even placed a commission with a tiny information guild at a steep price."
Oh… the commission Char had accepted with a grin — could it possibly be…
I'll save that to ask about later.
"Cancel this commission right now. Do that, and I might consider letting it slide."
Even though I figured Othello would probably refuse, I asked him anyway — since he was, after all, the boss here.
"No way. Besides, it's already too late. I've already sent an urgent report to Lord Hannibal!"
"Ugh, now I have no choice but to go to the Marquis's place. And besides, accepting a commission from a noble who rose to power through illegal slavery — there's something seriously wrong with that."
"You fool! This world runs on mutual give-and-take! Lord Hannibal is an unparalleled client. He even provides me with contacts skilled in information-gathering through illegal slavery!"
Ugh, they're in way too deep.
He said he'd "consider it" earlier, but I'm definitely not letting this go.
For now, let me just strip Othello of his skills — [Snatch Skill].
"What have you done this time?!"
"I took your [Hyper Analyze]."
Incidentally, Othello's [Hyper Analyze] was absorbed into my [Divine Eye] and ceased to exist.
"Idiot! Without that, I can't do my job!"
"So that's how you identified me? With that skill?"
"That's right. I saw through the invisible Subordination Collar placed on you by Stolte, the owner of the White Slave Guild, and I used [Hyper Analyze] to identify the creator as well."
"Did Stolte say anything about it?"
"No, I couldn't get a word out of him. And the moment I started surveilling you to investigate, this happened — what the hell are you?!"
Ah, so that's how they figured out who I was.
But he'll never be able to work as an information broker again. Not ever.
◇◇◇
I had Othello summon the executive members of the information guild 'Green Eyes' and stripped every last one of them of their detection-type skills.
Furthermore, I fitted them all with Subordination Collars and sent every one of them — Othello included — off to the White Slave Guild.
However, I left those who had no knowledge of the dark side of the business untouched, so that the 'Green Eyes' information guild could continue to operate as a clean, legitimate front.
◇◇◇
"About the commission Char took on."
"What about it? I shouldn't have told Alan the contents of the commission in the first place."
In the office of the small-time dark information guild 'Skyview,' Char tilted his head.
"It was about the illegal slaves from the White Slave Guild disappearing, right? Did you know the client was completely corrupt?"
"Wait a moment. How do you even know about the commission? Don't tell me you peeked at the commission document!"
Char shot me an accusatory glare.
"I would never do that — unless there was no other choice. The thing is, the 'Green Eyes' guys had me under surveillance, so I barged in and cleaned out half of them."
"Cleaned out…? What exactly do you mean…? Oh, never mind, I get it. No need to spell it out. You know about the dark side of 'Green Eyes' too."
"Yeah. And while I was there, I heard that Marquis Hannibal had placed a steep commission even with a tiny guild. Hey, do you know anything about Marquis Hannibal?"
"He's the Marquis who rose to power through illegal slavery, isn't he? His payments are apparently reliable, but he'd never come to a tinpot guild like ours — except for this time."
"Well, tinpot guilds and all that. Anyway, I'm the one who cut off the supply of illegal slaves."
"Then this commission is a no-go. I don't want to die."
"Exactly — you're so reasonable. Oh, I just thought of something great. Capture me and hand me over to Marquis Hannibal."
◇◇◇◇◇◇
Skills: [Reverse], [Divine Eye], [Sword God], [Fist God], [Spear God], [Scorching Magic], [Freezing Ice Magic], [Clear Storm Magic], [Rock Iron Magic], [Sacred Magic], [Dark Magic], [Space-Time Magic], [Thunder God Sword], [Phantom Gentleman Thief], [Ninja Master], [Inquirer of Truth], [Monstrous Strength], [Idaten], [Pain Reduction], [Complete Status Ailment Resistance], [Dark Spirit's Protection], [Super Intuition], [Heaven's Gate], [Abyss Contractee], [Magic Hand], [Treasure Search], [Seduction], [Agitation], [Eloquence], [Strong Luck], [Growth Speed x10], [Growth Limit Breakthrough]
Rank: Orichalcum
Thank you for reading!