CH 100

After I let Neurath and Schunzel go back, I went to the Adventurer Guild. I was surprised by how lively this place was. I had been doing paperwork in the quiet office after all so I felt a bit of culture shock when I entered the lively guild.

“Oh! Is it not Viscount-sama? How about a drink to celebrate your safe return?”

“Later. My treat of course.”

“It has been a while, Viscount-sama. I have heard the rumor about your achievement.”

“Please stop mentioning those embarrassing rumors to me.”

Many people approached me in the guild. While avoiding both the adventurers’ rough congratulations and the sexy ladies who seemed to be drooling over me, I headed to the counter. Even on my way to the counter, many people were trying to strike up a conversation with me.

“As expected of Viscount-sama. You have become pretty famous.”

“Sigh… I don’t know how things ended up like this even though the war in Finnoi was Mazell’s achievement, not mine.”

“Haha. As your acquaintance, I feel proud.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

One of them was this guy. Honestly, I was serious when I said it was Mazell’s achievement, but people didn’t listen. Also, how did my acquaintances suddenly increase like that? Unlike the Iron Hammer adventurer team, we were practically strangers!

Some people who came to talk to me were drunk, even though it was still early, but I mostly ignored them and finally, I arrived at the counter.

“I will get straight to the point. I want to put in a request for a job.”

“That’s quite abrupt.”

The receptionist lady gave me a wry smile. Well, I was pressed for time and I was tired, so I wanted to get it done as soon as possible.

“I need to have groups of scouts go out in pairs and investigate something for me.”

“Does this request only involve information gathering?”

“Yes. I still haven’t decided on the rest.”

Even though I had lived in this country since I was born, that didn’t mean I knew everything about other nobles’ territories. Not to mention Marquis Knap and my house didn’t have the friendliest relationship.

The capital had its own defense capability but it would still be a problem if the fourth Demon General cooked something in former Triot land so I needed to be prepared and for that I needed information. This should be the job of the royal family, but His Highness asked me for ‘some ideas’ so it wasn’t like I had any other choices.

At the very least, I wanted information about the geography, population… or, to be more specific, the thoughts of the people in that area. If the investigation was done by the people of the Zeavert family, it would create a political complication, so I needed the adventurers to do it.

“Geography?”

“Yes. I want to know the topography of that area. However, I don’t want others to know that it is Zeavert house who is doing the investigation.”

“Is it not too late for that?”

“Really…?”

I felt a pang. Did I look like an evil mastermind that always plots something? I just wanted to survive. To be thought of as some mastermind… I felt uncomfortable. In any case, I hoped this wouldn’t lead to a political storm.

I actually also had something to do in the Commerce Guild, but I decided to put it off for later. Talking to the people of the Commerce Guild would definitely take a long time, I would mostly just listen though. It was just that I still had a mountain of documents I needed to finish… Sigh.

For this aspect, considering the circulation of money and goods and the Guild’s position in this world, my past life memory would have little to no use. This world didn’t have anti-monopoly laws. In fact, it was common for a powerful guild to be backed by a powerful nobility house so the business world was tightly connected with politics. I didn’t have enough time or energy to be involved with that sort of business world.

The fact that the Iron Hammer wasn’t here was unfortunate, but there was nothing I could do about it. After purchasing alcohol in a small pottery jar, I left the Adventurers Guild and went to the Mercenary Guild to leave a message for Gekke-san. It would be best if Gekke-san was somewhere in the capital. I doubt everything would go that smoothly though.

♦

It was morning when I left the mansion and now when I was finally finished with everything it had gotten dark. I think it was time. On my way, I stopped at a second-hand clothes store and bought some old clothes, an old cloak, and old shoes. It seemed like there were nobles who often disguised themselves for some ‘night activities’ so the store employees looked at me with a lascivious gaze as I walked to a place prepared by the store to change my clothes. I felt violated. Anyway, I changed my clothes then covered my body, including my face, with the cloak, and left the store. My destination was the slum.

I had only read about it in the report, so I spent some time looking around before I finally found him. I approached the man who looked like a beggar. He glanced at me with his eyes, which were covered by his bangs. I could sense he was being cautious. Maybe because I had been to battlefields several times, I ended up developing a sharp sense for this kind of thing.

“Sir, may I have your blessing?”

“Sure.”

I gave him a couple of chopper coins, then I sat beside him. He smelled a bit, but compared to the smell of blood on the battlefield, this was nothing. 

“…Is there something a matter?”

“My name is Welner von Zeavert. I would like to meet your boss.”

The second he heard my name, he started to become openly wary of me. Usually, there’s a password for this kind of thing, but I skipped the password part and just went straight to the point, so of course, he would react like that.

“I do not understand what you are talking about.”

“Stop playing dumb. I’ve figured it all about you and the rest of the red-haired beggars. Normal beggars won’t just stay in the same spot every day.”

Children were brutally honest. The report I got from the orphanage mentioned that the children who were cleaning the street saw the same old man in the exact same spot every day. That was how I found it. I mean, who would be cautious with children that picked up trash for money, right?

(T/N: Welner pays the orphanage children from picking up trash and cleaning the street.)

I gave him alcohol and continued to speak.

“There’s something I really need to ask you guys for help. I just need you guys to listen, then I will forget everything. I won’t cause any problems and I will pay. I’ll even leave my sword to you here if you want.”

“…. Follow me.”

After he looked at my feet, he stood up and left, so I quietly followed him. After a short walk, we arrived at a surprisingly neat building.

After the man standing in front of the building entrance talked to the man who guided me here, he glared ferociously at me. He was trying to be scary, I guess.

“Here my sword.”

“Ah.”

It was a sword, not a spear, so even if I carried it inside, there would not be any significant difference in my fighting power, but of course, I wouldn’t say that here.

The inside of the building looked like a bar, but there weren’t any customers inside. I was asked to wait here for a while. The people inside were probably discussing me. After a while, a man came out and opened a door to a kitchen and there were two people following behind me. You two, at least hide your killing intents a bit, would you?

As I went further inside, I saw an old man looking at me across a desk. I was expecting a burly man, so I was quite surprised. So this old man was one of the bosses of the slum or, to be more specific, he was most likely the boss of the information guild.

“So you are the young man of the Zeavert’s house?”

“Yes. My name is Welner. First, let me thank you for your time.”

“How do you find out about us?”

“Sorry, but that’s a secret.”

Half of the reason why I found out about them was my previous life. It was common for thieves and beggars to create an organization to help each other in any country. If I used a tabletop RPG term, these guys were the thieves guild. In the future, these guy’s descendants would probably form something similar to the yakuza or the mafia.

“In any case, although it might be strange for me to say this, I was surprised that you agreed to meet me.”

“I heard your name from Feli. Plus, some of our youngsters have been under your care.”

I’ve been working with the refugees and people of the slum for the aqueduct construction project, so most likely they have known my name for a long time. I was also sure that there were people who came from the slum among the adventurers and scouts that I’d hired, just like Feli. From now on, I should let Feli put as much sugar as he wanted in his tea. Actually, making connections with these people wasn’t the reason I worked with people from the slums, but I was glad that they became useful here.

“Besides, you don’t seem to be an amateur at this.”

The old man said to himself while looking at my old shoes. It seemed like this old man and the man who guided me here earlier were impressed by my disguise. I never thought the scene I saw in a drama in my past life where the character got suspected because of his shoe would become useful like this. You sure didn’t know what things would become useful.

“So, what do you want to ask me?”

“I’m looking for someone.”

I described Sir Puckler’s appearance to them in great detail while only mentioning that he was a person who caused a disturbance in the palace. You hide a tree in the woods, so for a human or, to be more specific, a demon disguised as a human, a slum would be a good place to hide.

If he didn’t appear in the slum, it would be safe to assume that he ordered his subordinate to escape with the black gems, so the first thing I needed to do was to eliminate this possibility.

“If you find him dead, it is fine, but if you find him alive, you don’t need to pursue him. If he is left to his own devices, he will be a danger not only to the capital but also to this slum. That’s the kind of person he is, so I want you to at least find his trails.”

“I can’t give you an answer now.”

“I know, so just inform me when you have found him via adventurer guild. You got a connection to it, right? I’ll pay you in advance.”

I took out the considerable amount of money that I’d prepared. The old man looked at it in silence before he finally said, “I didn’t say that I will accept this job.”

“If you plan to refuse my job, you will say something like ‘take your money and leave.’ right?”

“You’re a strange man.”

“I got that a lot.”

People rarely say that right in front of my face, though. I paid in advance to gain their trust since I understood people like them couldn’t trust nobles. There were many nobles who also wouldn’t even dream of trusting ‘filthy people from scum’, so I guess it went both ways.

“It’s rare to see a noble who doesn’t look down on us. Alright. We will take your job. My name is Bert.”

“Welner von Zeavert. Thanks.”

“You two, escort Welner-dono. Don’t try to do anything to him.”

I wondered if this meant I gained his trust. After my sword was properly returned to me, I left the building. I might look calm, but inside I was nervous to the point my stomach was hurting again. I might have to thank my experience on the battlefield for being able to withstand that kind of exchange. The me who was just a student wouldn’t be able to.

♦

After dinner that day…

Lily-san showed me the drawing she had done, so we were discussing the fine change and corrections to the detail.

I suddenly received a message from Father that there was a guest who wanted to meet both me and Lily-san.

We looked at each other in confusion, then we went to the reception room together after I instructed Frenssen to sort out the documents.

“My deepest apology!”

“I would like to offer my sincerest apology to the Viscount and to the Hearthing family.”

Um… I thought I had never met him before, but I remembered his face. He was a noble who belonged to a different faction from the Father. He came here accompanied by a knight. Both of them were quite handsome middle-aged men. Damn. The value of our faces were just too far apart.

If I was not wrong… he was Count Witthoft. So both the Count and his knight, who was probably the Knight Captain of the Witthoft family, bowed their heads in front of me, Father, and the Hearthing family.

Lily-san and her parents looked flustered. So could the two of you raise your heads and talked with us properly?