Chapter 39

“What do you mean, Master? Why do you suddenly want me to visit the guild?”

“Didn’t you say that you wanted to visit once, because you were looking for someone?”

“That’s true, but…”

Arua Raven, a sixth rank wizard belonging to the Magic Tower, put on a grumpy expression and mumbled.

It was true that she had business at the guild, but…

She’d been planning to take a good rest and do a rough study of the ‘object’ she’d gotten this time, and go there only afterwards.

“The branch manager made an official request for support. From what I’ve heard, it seems that something big has happened there. Wouldn’t it be nice to earn some pocket money?”

“… I see. Fine, I’ll go.”

Raven reluctantly agreed.

It was true that the guild was a place she needed to visit at least once.

If she went now, she’d even get a small monetary reward, so there was no justification for procrastinating further.

‘I spent a lot of money in the labyrinth this time…’

Besides, it didn’t seem bad to meet that barbarian a little earlier, either.

That unprecedented variant rift –

Wasn’t he the one who ate the guardian essence from it?

He was as interesting a specimen as that ‘object’.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a while.”

“Ah, take Tarzine with you.”

“That’s alright. He wasn’t particularly useful last time.”

Raven travelled to the nearest location to the relevant guild branch office, using the warp gate on the first floor of the tower.

It should take about ten minutes on foot from there to reach the destination.

As soon as she came out to the street, she frowned.

“Why are there so many people here?”

The crowd seemed to be several times denser than usual.

And the closer she was to her destination, the more people were packed into the streets.

As if something big had happened here.

‘By the way, did he say that the branch manager has officially requested support?’

Raven let out a long sigh.

She was just here to earn some pocket money, but she thought she might have to really put in the work.

“Hey, let me ask you something. What the hell is going on?”

Raven grabbed hold of one of the spectators, the one that looked the most reliable, and asked.

And she heard something that made her doubt her own ears.

“There’s been a mass breakout of the pillagers who’d been locked up in the branch office.”

It was truly an unprecedented event.

Not only was there a jailbreak, some prisoners even managed to escape to the city proper…

One of the suspects was said to have taken the daughter of the regional chief, who’d just happened to stop by the branch office, hostage.

“He doesn’t seem to have any brains. There’s no way the guild will negotiate for something like that.”

The guild had no authority for such negotiations in the first place.

The Rafdonia royal family gave the guild a lot of authority related to the labyrinth, but they strictly adhered to the principle of punishing pillagers.

If he’d run away like the rest of the prisoners, he might’ve at least had a slight chance of surviving.

“But things have gotten kind of fun.”

“What do you mean?”

“The hostage-taker is screaming that he’s been framed.”

“Really?”

“Yes. All he wants is to bring in the parties involved and use magic to reveal the truth fairly, in front of everyone.”

So he was rather asking for an indulgence, instead of negotiating for amnesty.

He only demanded ‘clarification of the truth’.

Because of this, suspicions were spreading among the crowd of spectators that his words might actually be true.

‘What kind of a crazy guy is he?’

Of course, if the story was true, the biggest culprit would be the investigator who’d messed up his job.

But did that mean that this guy had to cause a large-scale jailbreak and, not content with just that, also take the daughter of the regional chief hostage?

It was definitely something no sane person would ever do.

“Anyway, that’s why everyone is waiting. The branch manager has already asked for support from the Magic Tower, but eh, who knows when the wizard will come.”

Raven smiled awkwardly as she watched the onlooker smack his lips in anticipation.

Now she knew for sure.

That this wizard happened to be herself.

Raven took a deep breath and recited a spell.

“Vatuna corvier.”

Her body began to rise into the air, with a shimmering blue light blooming under her feet.

“Ooh, lady! You were a wizard?”

Raven passed over the crowd and landed on the third-floor terrace of the Adventurers’ Guild branch.

And when she found the man already witing there, she was stunned.

“Bjorn… Yandel?”

Why was he here?

Was it because the daughter of the regional manager was being held hostage?

All the prep work was done quickly.

“This is Cordo Biermann, whom you asked to bring. Like you said, he was down below, unconscious.”

“Thank you. You can go.”

The first to arrive was the investigator bastard.

He was still unconsciousness.

It didn’t look good, so I shoved him into the closet, too.

After a short wait, the second shipment arrived.

“W-, wait! No matter even if it’s the guild, how can force people like this?!”

The name of this male adventurer in his twenties, who walked in with a slumped posture, was ‘Hearth Young’.

The asshole who lost his masculinity while trying to do something to Erwen.

“Thank you for taking care of my request. You can go back downstairs.”

“Yes.”

“A-, are you the branch manager? I, why am I… “

In sync with the footsteps of the staff member going down the stairs –

I jumped out from behind the ajar door and shoved my fist into his face.

Puff–!

One wasn’t enough, though.

If the investigator was the number one contributor to the situation coming to this point, this bastard was undoubtedly the second.

Had it not been for this man giving a false testimony, there would’ve been no basis for the investigator to sentence me to death.

“Ah! Whoa, what are you doing! Who are you –!”

“Okay, let’s get it right.”

One, two, three…

As I slammed my fists down on his face, Hearth Young passed out with blood bubbles foaming at the corners of his lips.

This time too, it didn’t look good, so I put him in the closet as well.

It looked a little cramped thanks to the inspector’s girth already taking a lot of room, but it shouldn’t be a problem.

The more I looked at them, the more they matched each other.

After watching for a while, the branch manager cautiously spoke to me.

“… What the hell do you want?”

Oh, I hadn’t told him yet.

But there was no need to explain twice.

After all, when the next preparations arrived, even if he didn’t want to know, he’d have no choice but to know.

With that thought in mind, I refrained from talking.

But…

“Chief! It seems like it’d be difficult to get a priest.”

The most important card in this game, the priest, was missing.

The reason being that the priest officially assigned to this branch was currently absent.

It was impossible to just call another priest.

No matter even if it was the Adventurers’ Guild, they couldn’t just call a priest who worshipped the gods like a friend from the neighbourhood.

‘Even at the request of the branch manager, it’d take at least a day.’

In this worldview, priests were like nobles.

Not in their identity, but in their job.

All of a sudden, I had a taste for it.

‘There is no way to solve this neatly.’

I’d wanted to do things as quietly as possible.

If the branch manager had heard me, he probably would’ve pointed to how the situation already was and shouted what kind of bullshit was I spewing…

The jailbreak was an ‘accident’ and could be hushed up somehow.

But what about the guild sentencing an innocent rank nine adventurer to death?

The moment this was known to the outside world, the prestige of the Adventurers’ Guild would sink to the absolute bottom, covered in shit.

‘Especially because they claim to be an organization that protects adventurers.’

That was why I’d asked for a priest.

If I could prove my innocence in front of a priest, I could do things relatively quietly.

And the Adventurers’ Guild wouldn’t have dared to cover this up either.

But from the very beginning, the plan was hampered.

“Thank you for the news. Go back down.”

“Yes! You’ve worked hard, Branch Manager!”

As I listened to the footsteps of the staff moving away, I finished my brief deliberation.

‘If it is impossible to entrust a priest to be the notary… ‘

There was no choice but to enlarge the gameboard even more.

Only then, the Adventurers’ Guild won’t be able to silence me by killing me.

Of all the methods that came to mind, I chose the most radical and the most effective one.

“Ahhhhh!”

“W-, what are you doing!”

As I went out to the terrace with the sword at the neck of the regional chief’s daughter, I saw people flocking to the street.

They seemed to be spectators who’d gathered here because of the previous jailbreak incident.

“Up there! There’s a suspicious guy up there!!”

One of them noticed me and shouted.

Their attention focused on me in an instant.

“Hmmmm.”

After clearing my throat once, I shouted using the natural outdoor voice of a barbarian.

“My name is Bjorn Yandel! A level nine adventurer that the guild tried to frame and kill! I swear on my honour that I am innocent!”

The reaction appeared immediately.

“Who is this guy?”

“One of the prisoners?”

It didn’t matter whether they believed me or not.

Since I threw some bait, people would gather, even if only to sate their curiosity.

Even for the Adventurers’ Guild, it wouldn’t be possible to forcefully bury the incident, not with all these people keeping watch in real time.

Now I just had to wait until the wizard came.

Instead of my old shield that’d already become a lump of scrap metal…

“Uh, hey!”

I made good use of the regional chief’s daughter, who happened to be my new one.

How long had it been since the jailbreak?

“What? Why is Mr. Yandel here?”

“You must be the wizard sent from the tower.”

Hearing the conversation between the pair of male and female voices, Cordo Biermann opened his eyes wide.

It was dark, and his body couldn’t move.

‘What? Am I locked up? Why?’

Forcibly ignoring the blooming headache, he recalled his memories. There were a few scenes that immediately came to mind.

Prisoners running rampant, escaping from the prison.

The interrogation room where he’d escaped to, locking the door behind him.

And the barbarian who smashed the door, and hit him with his fists!

‘Oh, but what happened after that?’

He didn’t know.

He didn’t have the faintest idea.

So he focused on his sense of hearing.

“It’d be quicker for me to explain the situation to everybody at once.”

“Quicker, who cares about quicker! What were you thinking! Mr. Yandel, how many lives do you think you have?”

“If I had more than one, I wouldn’t have done this.”

Mr. Yandel?

What? Maybe that barbarian was out there?

“Okay, now do some magic.”

“If you promise to grant me one request later.”

“I don’t know what you want, but if it’s within the range of possibility.”

“Nice! Remember, you promised. Dertei narvas! Uh, um…? Why doesn’t this work? Mr. Yandel, do you have any magical tool that reinforces mental barriers?”

“Isn’t it clear just from looking at me that I don’t have anything like that on me? I guess I have no choice but to wake these guys up. Do you even know how to use the ‘image of remembrance’ magic?”

“Yes. Can I record everything from now on?”

The more he listened to the conversation, the more confusing it was.

“Ouch! Ugh!”

Suddenly, the space widened and the centre of gravity shifted downward. He fell down with a bang and hurriedly raised his head.

It was the branch manager’s office on the third floor, which he’d only been to a few times.

“What, were you awake already?”

A total of four people were looking at him.

The barbarian and the branch manager were both there.

There was also woman who was presumably a wizard, and another woman who looked like she had some kind of high status.

He didn’t know what was happening, but he cried out.

“B-, Branch Manager! It was this bastard! This bastard led the jailbreak!”

“I know that already.”

“Ye-, yes…?”

His head went numb for a moment.

He couldn’t understand.

If the branch manager already knew what an outrageous crime this bastard had committed, why was he just observing quietly?

“I heard you were in charge of the investigation of his case. Is it true?”

“Well, it is…?”

It was then that he felt the heavy atmosphere covering the room.

He could tell because he had experience as an investigator.

That this atmosphere was in no way favourable to him.

“This barbarian… no, Mr. Yandel here is claiming that you identified him as a pillager without clear information. What do you have to say about that?”

“Nonsense!”

“The word… it has to be true. It won’t end with just hanging up your uniform, otherwise.”

“Wh-, wh-, what are you talking about! Isn’t he just a level nine adventurer!”

“Watch your mouth! Can a guild staff, of any grade, say something like that!!”

“Ye-, yes?”

Biermann completely froze at the thunderous shout.

Why was this man, who’d always been the first to despise the lower-ranked adventurers, saying this all of a sudden?

As if he was conscious of the gazes of outsiders…

‘Ah! I remember, they were talking about ‘image of remembrance’ magic or something!’

Apparently, the conversations they were having now were being recorded on the crystal ball the wizard was holding.

“Ahem! As far as judging right and wrong goes, the guild’s actions must be meticulous and perfect. Please tell me the reasons behind your judgment.”

Biermann, focused, recited the contents of the investigation as the branch manager directed.

Because he thought that was the only way for him to live.

“Ah, the first one is the mana stones. At the checkpoint, he presented mana stones that far exceeded the average income of a level nine adventurer, and he looked suspicious, so his backpack was checked. Then equipment that seemed to have been stolen from others were found.”

“Therefore?”

“During the investigation, the authenticity of the charges could not be confirmed. Because the truth magic didn’t work.”

“Then, on what basis did you make the final decision that Mr. Yandel was a pillager?”

“Because of a separate incident. A message stone was found within his belongings. Based on this, we traced the origins of the original owner, and we were able to obtain testimony from his clan members that Bjorn Yandel murdered innocent people and robbed their belongings.”

As he talked about the investigation, his voice gradually filled with confidence.

He didn’t know why the branch manager was treating him so harshly, but there had to have been something wrong.

“Chief, there’s nothing wrong with my judgment. If you suspect that I might’ve lied to you, you can use magic to determine the truth.”

“I’m doing it already. Everything you’ve said so far is true.”

The wizard, who was watching silently, nodded.

However, at that time, the rude barbarian who didn’t know his place spoke up sarcastically.

“Yeah, it was only the testimony of the clan members. Neither confirmed by magic nor evidence.”

“Is what Mr. Yandel said true?”

“That, that, that’s right…”

“Why didn’t you check that part?”

The branch manager’s voice suddenly became cold again.

It wasn’t that he had nothing to say.

“First of all, the attitude of this barbarian was the problem! Knowing that magic doesn’t work, he just kept making false statements instead of cooperating!”

“He lied? What exactly do you mean?”

Biermann answered confidently.

“One time, he said he survived being stabbed in the neck. But there was no trace of the wound, so I asked him about that, and do you know what he said? Goodness! The scars disappeared because he ate a vampire essence from a rift?”

“He said he ate the essence of a vampire?”

“Yes! Branch Manager! Does this make sense? Vampires coming out of a rift on the first floor?”

From start to finish, this barbarian had been speaking gibberish.

“Spitting out a new lie to hide a previous lie. This is the most common statement pattern for criminals. How could I just listen to this guy and let a precious wizard suffer in vain?”

Of course, there were times when he’d wondered if there was any truth in the barbarian’s repeated claims of innocence.

But he thought it wouldn’t matter.

After all, what did it matter if an innocent, young adult barbarian died without just cause?

‘… Besides, if I called in a wizard, my own take would’ve decreased.’

Still, it was fortunate in the midst of all this misfortune.

Ignoring everything else, meeting a vampire on the first floor?

If it could be confirmed that the barbarian had made such a rubbish statement, it’d be enough to convince everyone of his judgment.

‘If he was really going to lie, he should’ve done it a little better!’

So he looked at the barbarian with triumphant eyes.

But only for a while.

“That’s true, though?”

His thoughts froze at the wizard’s voice.

“… Yes?”

“Yeah, I was there… or do you want me to prove it too? You can’t use magic on me, though.”

What the hell was this wizard talking about?