Chapter 40

“W-, w-, what do you mean, wizard? Even if you two know each other, you can’t just cover thing up like this…”

The investigator stuttered in a panic.

His tone wasn’t just incredulous, it was close to denying the reality that stared at him in the face.

But the wizard was in no mood to coddle him.

“Oh, you calling me a liar?”

“Ah, no, that wasn’t what I meant…”

“Then what did you mean? Because you got the authority to investigate some two-bit adventurers, even wizards don’t look like much in your eyes anymore, is that it?”

Wizards from the tower were close to semi-nobles.

Although they were split into several schools, they were always united when it came to thoroughly protecting their rights and interests, so it was no wonder.

Hence the fact that the investigator, a junior employee of the guild, dared to doubt the truth of her words, was a problem.

The branch manager, who’d been watching from the sidelines, now cautiously interrupted the conversation.

“How about stopping here? Lady wizard, even you should understand, this sounds like nonsense for those who don’t know the details of the situation.”

Raven nodded as if in acknowledgment.

“Certainly, there’s no precedent of a vampire sighting in a rift on the first floor.”

Unlike when she’d been dealing with the investigator, now there was a friendly smile on her lips.

It was very fleeting, however.

“Thank you for saying that –”

“But ever since the labyrinth had been born, it’s been filled with all sorts of unknowns. So what’s all this talk about nonsense? Is that something a branch manager of the Adventurers’ Guild should say?”

Harsh criticism poured out.

As expected of a wizard, perhaps?

Even the opponent’s position as a branch manager of the guild didn’t seem to matter to her.

“…”

The branch manager, who’d gone to battle but had come back defeated, chose to shut up.

Rap.

There was a knock on the door.

It wasn’t a request to open it, however.

Before anyone could move, the door had already swung open.

“Are you that barbarian?”

“Who are you?”

“You can call me Nile Urbans.”

Two men entered the room.

A middle-aged man dressed in a neat tuxedo, and a young man who seemed to be escorting him.

“R-, Regional Chief!”

“Father…?”

Julianne, who was being held hostage, and the branch manager both spoke up at the same time.

I, too, ratcheted up my muscles that had relaxed.

‘… In the end, the regional chief came.’

The guild’s operating system was simple.

Each of the hundreds of branch offices in the city had a branch manager, and there were thirteen regional managers to oversee them all.

The only rank higher than them was the ‘guild leader’, so one could actually consider the thirteen regional chiefs as the guild’s second-in-command.

There was no doubt that this was bigshot, one a tier nine adventurer would usually never even catch a distant glimpse of.

But even they couldn’t control how the world turned.

“You, so you were the one behind this absurd situation? Do you think this is a joke?”

Facing the regional chief’s gaze that was full of displeasure, I grinned.

Absurd, was it…?

“Yeah, you guys might see it that way.”

If only Hearth Young hadn’t given false testimony.

Even then, if only the investigator hadn’t been greedy and did his job properly.

No, if only the Adventurers’ Guild was a fair organization that properly managed its staff…

Maybe I wouldn’t have needed to go through all this trouble.

But they didn’t.

“It might seem like a very small thing for you.”

But not for me.

For me, my life itself was at stake.

“So why did you do such a crazy thing?”

“Crazy?”

I retorted.

“Is it crazy to struggle to survive?”

“Hah! Didn’t you have any other choice? You’ve caused too much trouble.”

Any other choice? What bullshit.

Until I broke my iron cage and arrived here, the manager of this branch hadn’t even known that I existed in this building.

And this was also true of this regional chief, who had the right to change the guild’s internal regulations so that only level nine adventurers could be investigated.

“If you had done things right, none of this would’ve happened.”

As I responded with cold sarcasm –

“You! How can you take that tone in front of the regional chief!”

The branch manager cut in on our conversation.

The investigator bastard and the regional chief’s escort were also looking at me as if they were wondering what kind of madman I was.

Well, I felt the same about these guys.

Common sense couldn’t explain this situation.

The regional chief sighed and shifted his gaze.

“What’s your name, lady wizard?”

“I am Arua Raven.”

“Alright, then, Miss Raven. How much would you want for that crystal ball, if you had to sell it?”

A conciliatory offer with no hesitation.

I hadn’t thought he’d be so open about it.

My heart pounded for a moment, but…

“I will decline the offer.”

“That’s too bad.”

“You aren’t going to try and take it away by force, surely?”

“Haha! How could I? The master of your school wouldn’t stand still if I did.”

The regional chief brome into a cheerful smile.

“Why are you all so stiff? It was all just a joke. There’re people out there waiting for the results, how’d I dare do something like that?”

It was a pretty shitty joke.

Cold sweat was still running down my spine.

“…”

This was why I’d tried to bring in a priest.

Forget that ‘image of remembrance’ magic or whatever, wizards could always be bribed according to their interests.

Maybe if I hadn’t known her at all, she might’ve even accepted the bribe from the regional chief…

‘So what if there’s a crowd outside, what happens in here…’

Anyway, the results weren’t bad.

She kept her word, so even the regional chief wouldn’t dare to forcefully bury this incident.

In other words, now I only needed to prove my innocence.

Either way, it was time to end things.

“Alright, how about we slowly finish things up?”

I walked to the closet and woke up Hearth Young, who’d been sleeping inside.

“Wh-, why am I here…”

I could hear gulps from the surroundings.

Yeah, they were right to be nervous.

The moment I proved that this guy gave false testimony –

They really wouldn’t be able to take it as a joke anymore.

“This man is lying.”

As soon as Raven spoke –

A heavy silence descended on the room.

“Then what are you going to do now? Regional Manager?”

“Did you say your name was Bjorn Yandel? You are innocent.”

Seeing the regional chief’s forced smile, I answered.

“I hope you don’t expect a ‘thank you’.”

This time, even the branch manager, who’d been standing next to me and listening quietly, didn’t dare question the sarcasm in my tone.

He just trembled under the gaze of the regional chief.

“Then what do you want us to do now?”

“The usual. Punishment for the guilty and compensation for the victim.”

“Right.”

The regional manager nodded quietly as if he was running some mental calculations, and spoke.

“First of all, the investigator in charge of your case will be fired.”

“R-, Regional Manager! I, I swear to God, I only made a mistake…!”

“Are you trying to pass on your incompetence to the guild? All the judgments you’ve made in the past will have to be thoroughly reviewed. And if any injustice is found in the process, you’ll be punished accordingly.”

“Y-, you can’t!”

The arrogant investigator fell to his knees in despair.

Seeing him so afraid, he didn’t seem to have led a life of integrity.

Well, looking at his past behaviour, I couldn’t say it came as a surprise.

“S-, save me, please! Please…!”

‘Shouldn’t you beg me here instead of him?’

I thought he was barking up the wrong tree, but I didn’t dare say it out loud. And anyway, things wouldn’t have come to this point If he hadn’t been such a bastard in the first place.

This was just how the world was like.

I, too, never had any regrets about attacking anybody.

I just regretted when the time came to pay the price.

“Then what about this guy?”

The other contributor to this case, Hearth Young.

When I asked a question looking at him, the regional managed answered without much thought.

“He’s seriously jeopardized this investigation with false testimony. He’ll face the same.”

“Meaning?”

“Imprisonment and a thorough investigation.”

A regional manager’s words carried significant weight.

The investigation had not yet begun, let alone a trial, but it’d almost certainly result in a death sentence.

“N-, no…”

Hearth Young’s eyes rolled to the back of his head and he fainted dead away, but none of us paid him any attention.

“I wish you’d investigate the clan this guy belongs to, if at all possible.”

“You mean the Crystal Union? They’re a bunch of noisy rabble-rousers. Fine, we’ll do as you say.”

The regional manager readily agreed to my request.

He was a pretty smart guy.

He must’ve clearly recognized that he had no choice but to accede to my demands.

“Then, is the punishment enough?”

“Well…”

As I dragged the word and glanced to the side, the branch manager who met my eyes hurriedly avoided his gaze.

I smiled and nodded my head.

“If I want any more, here, I’d be overstepping.”

“Thank you for considering this situation.”

He didn’t need to be thankful, though.

Because I planned to be repaid in a different way.

“Fine then, now that the punishment part is over, we should talk about compensation for our mistake. Is there anything specific you want?”

“What are my options?”

“First of all, we’ll raise your rank to the seventh.”

“A rank up, huh…”

It wasn’t bad.

Once I became a level seven adventurer, the money-changing counter would be less crowded, and there’d be many other benefits.

The investigator bastard wouldn’t have been so arrogant if I weren’t a level nine in the first place.

“R-, Regional Manager! He’s only been an adventurer for two months, to promote to level seven at once –!”

The branch manager added that he was worried about rumours of favouritism arising from this, but the regional chief waved it away.

“This is how we’re apologizing to him. So please don’t disagree on this.”

“… Understood.”

The regional chief’s attitude seemed like a politician who was apologizing sincerely.

Especially in how slick he was talking.

“Wait. This sounds a bit strange, doesn’t it?”

As I was about to speak, Raven, who’d been quiet so far, joined the conversation first.

I was nervous about what she was going to say, but…

As it turned out, she was pretty impolite.

“How can a rank upgrade be called a reward? Isn’t it the guild’s actual job to give such benefits to adventurers if they have the ability?”

“But, as you just heard, it hasn’t been long –”

“So what? Why does that matter?”

“Unprecedented –”

“Of course it’s unprecedented!”

Interrupting the regional chief several times, she spoke like a rapid-fire cannon.

“How could there be another adventurer who ate the essence of a level five monster, a vampire rift guardian, after two months!”

“… So, what do you actually want to say, Miss Raven?”

“Well. It just seemed a little ugly to call it a reward when you’re just doing what you’re supposed to.”

Raven looked at me and smiled.

I wasn’t so ignorant that I couldn’t eat when somebody set a buffet, so I quickly fell into step.

“I think I can expect real rewards.”

“… What do you want?”

Well, since I’d suffered this hardship, I should get back something commensurate.

What did I want?

As if waiting, Raven spoke up again.

“Of course, it’s money. Is there anything else the Adventurers’ Guild can do for you?”

If you looked, you could indeed find other things.

Lifetime free bonding magic, or allow posting personal announcements on bulletin boards within the guild, etc.

‘But at the end of the day, everything can be done with money.’

When I nodded as if in agreement, the regional chief sighed and raised the white flag of surrender.

“How much?”

Now all I had to do was to write the amount on the blank cheque.

I looked at Raven, feeling I could trust her on this.

I could believe in a wizard’s rational judgment.

Fortunately, she read my glance properly, and spoke with a somewhat proud expression.

“You almost accidentally killed an adventurer with a bright future… “

As the sentence trailed off, she bit out after some suspense.

“Isn’t five million stones the least you should reward?”

The regional chief nodded his head without saying a word.

“… All right, I’ll pay.”

It wasn’t that surprising.

If it was just five million stones, it was quite a bit beyond the maximum I’d expected, but…

‘Because she’s the one asking.’

Without Raven, the transaction wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.

Was this the true power of having an identity?

With a deep sense of realization, I wondered how I could repay her for the help I received today.

But then Raven spoke again.

“Ah, and my hard work costs one million stones, separately.”

“Are you trying to make trouble? What do you mean? If it’s the fee for your visit, the amount agreed with the tower is –“

“This includes the price of this crystal ball that recorded that joke of yours, Regional Manager. Even though it was just a joke… still, I think there’d be quite a few people interested in this crystal ball, don’t you think?”

“… Ha ha ha, you’re pretty funny.”

“I’m not joking though?”

At her retort, the regional chief’s expression hardened and distorted.

However, it didn’t last long.

“Fine…”

The regional chief nodded.

This one million was the price for his own mistake.

‘… I don’t need to pay extra for her work, I suppose.’

Was this the true form of the tribe called wizards?

As I was admiring how quick she was to snatch others’ money, Raven’s voice resounded inside my head.

[Thanks to you, I got some pocket money.]

Hearing that, I stood still looking at her for a moment and thought –

As much as possible, I wanted to stay friends with her in the future.